The Now of Wolf Thought

The Task At Hand

Snape turned the corner and Sirius heard keys jingle and mumbling. He found it amusing that the Professor's personal stores would be guarded by only a simple muggle key. Sirius stole up on him and closed the door behind him. Snape turned to find Sirius Black leaning against the door, wand in hand.

"Get out," Snape growled.

"I'm here to help you."

"Your presence on this planet is an affront to my very soul."

"Same. I get it. And I'm sorry. But I'm a natural forensic detective and I'm better than you are. You can't deny it."

"I can and I do," Snape growled as he pulled down several bottles, huffed and returned them. "You're far out of your league here Black!"

"Well I admit, I'm slightly out of practice. What are you checking for anyway? Maybe I can help you?" Sirius' eyes scanned the bottles, quickly reading the labels of the various ingredients and realized that the man could poison the entire population of the school, as well as heal it.

"I...I am checking to discern if my personal stores have been tampered with."

"Oh. Well, I really can't help you with that, can I?"

Snape turned to face him red-faced. "No Black, you can't! So if you please, I have work to do!"

Sirius sighed quietly and nodded as he turned to exit the tiny room. "I meant what I said. Let me know if I can be of any assistance, Professor."

Snape watched Black's eyes soften. He nodded and returned his attention to his potion ingredients. The former prisoner of Azkaban quietly let himself out to return to the infirmary.

Snape stepped out of his closet-sized room. "Black," he growled.

Sirius stopped and turned toward him, removing the cloak, wand in hand, just in case. Snape saw the wand and raised his brow as he shook his head and tossed a small bottle toward him. Sirius popped the lid and smelled the thick substance. "Polyjuice?"

"You can't very well interrogate students as yourself, can you?"

Sirius craned his brow and grinned.

"You mist dilute it by seventy-five percent and brew a tincture. And don't take it within an hour of your other potion."

"Cool." He held up the bottle. "This is gonna be fun..."

Snape rolled his eyes as he shook his head as he watched Sirius Black turn on his heel to head toward the staircase.

_____

Sirius returned to the infirmary and returned the cloak to Harry, soothing the boy's fears, that he was indeed alright. He looked up toward the Grangers and saw that they hadn't moved from their place.

He advanced toward Remus' and Lupin's beds and pulled the curtains tighter. Remus was still fretting over Hermione and his Remus was resting comfortably. He withdrew the bottle that Snape had given to him and held it up for him to see.

"What is it," Remus asked.

"Polyjuice in it's most potent form. I have to get home to finish the brewing of this stuff up. I'm going to interrogate students. So I need to know if there's anyone besides the trio who knows about you."

"Everyone does," Remus said.

"Everyone?"

"Yup."

"Lovely. What about Toadface?"

"You don't think she did this, do you?"

"She's high on the list, Rey. In my book at any rate. Look what she did to Harry."

Remus nodded. "Right. The quill."

"I have to send an owl to Kingsley and Tonks to see if they want to help...So I have to get home..." He looked toward Lupin. "Hey you."

"Heeyyy..."

"Gods, you're snockered."

"Not as much."

"How come he isn't affected as much as Hermione and me?"

"Wolfsbane potion, I would imagine."

"Ohhhhh...." He looked toward his older self. "You've built up a tolerance to the stuff..."

Sirius nodded. "Yes he has." He looked to Lupin again. "You up to going home?"

"I'm not certain that I want to leave just yet. I mean, if she wakes..."

Remus watched Sirius' face grow pale in color, as if the wind had been knocked out of him and  look between them both. "I see. Well then. You rest and I'll erm...owl you later, I reckon?"

Lupin nodded and looked away with guilt in his eyes.

Sirius left them under the guise of the cloak and Remus looked toward his older self. "I changed something didn't I?"

Lupin nodded.

"What happened?"

"I wanted to marry her. Her parents refused."

"And?"

"We sort of ran away. We were going to elope. Harry put a stop to that. Wasn't long after that that I was returned to my own time."

"And you remember this clearly?"

"As if it just happened. Thought it was a dream."

"What if it was?"

"Not based on what I saw in your head...the look on her face, her kiss, the way you felt...Oh yes, I am fairly certain that it happened."

"Fairly certain...?"

Lupin nodded. "When she was in her third year and Sirius was on the run, I transformed. Right in front of them. He stopped me from hurting them. I chased him. Then Harry had threw a hefty rock at my head and, as you can imagine, I went after him. But, at that moment, in the distance, I heard a familiar howl and went after that. It was instinctive. I returned the call and they told me that it was more of a sad, sorry whimper that emanated from me. Something that suggested a desperate need and...great affection."

Remus nodded. "Alright...but only a mate...oh no. You changed her..."

Lupin shook his head. "Oh for god's sake, no! But she made the howl, Remus. She was familiar, much like Padfoot is familiar." He sighed. "There were two sets of them at the time. They had used her time turner, you see? They were trying to save him from the Dementor's Kiss. And they were trying to save Buckbeak from a wrongful execution."

"Wait, who's Buckbeak?"

"A Hippogriff. Supposedly hurt the Malfoy boy."

"Oh."

"She's quite precious to me, you know? Always was. The moment I saw her in my class, I knew that I knew her, but I wasn't sure why or how. I had come to think of my time travel as a long-reoccurring dream. That it never happened. That I had made it up in my mind..." Lupin ran his fingers through his graying hair and pulled at it for a moment. "My brain is so foggy right now."

"Mine's clearing up. Stomach still huts a bit though."

Lupin nodded. "Yeah. I know exactly what that feels like. I'll see if she has something for the pain that isn't contradictory. You should really get a shower as soon as possible. It's still on your skin. You're probably just merely building a tolerance to it is all. I'll let Poppy know. It'll mess up your heart and your brain in the long run if you don't. And quite frankly, we need you."

Remus nodded. "Thanks."

Lupin rose from the bed, still a little unsteady, but managed to make it to Poppy's office to request something for his younger self and let her know about getting him to a shower with the borax. Upon leaving her office he saw her parents and stopped to speak to them for a moment. He gave them his assurances that everyone was doing everything they could to help her come around quickly. He then left the infirmary and disapparated for London to be with Sirius, for they were all too aware that Sirius on his own was a dangerous thing.