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A/N - Werewolf in the Library - thought you ought to know that I don't own nor do I make any profit from this tripe. If I owned it Ron and Ginny would have died, Remus and Sirius would have lived and Harry would have married Hermione.
It was a beautiful spring day. The flowers starting to bloom their aroma wafting through the air. You could feel the love in the air.
The lonely handsome man sat drinking his tea watching as lovers walked hand in hand down the street. Reflecting on the last two years. The war is over, Voldemort had disappeared the night he murdered his best friend James and his wife Lily. Harry, their son, was placed in hiding and he can't get Dumbledore to tell him where. His mate betrayed their friend James and murdered another and is serving a life sentence in Azkaban.
Still, he is hoping to find someone that would not run screaming from him when they found out that he was a monster. Wondering where his life had really turned to shite.
He is now all alone, with his monthly problem. For you see he is a werewolf.
As he is watching people walking down the street he sees an intriguing sight. A figure walking down the street in a red cloak. As she walks past the outdoor cafe he catches her scent. It is the scent of chocolate, cinnamon and gardenias with an underlying scent that he can't place his finger. Something stirs within him. His wolf Moony is howling 'MINE.'
- ooOoo -
Back in his rented room, he lays in bed trying to fall asleep, but he can't get the image of that intriguing figure or her scent out of his mind. He is trying to understand why Moony was yelling MINE when his mate is Sirius Black.
Werewolves have a mate, one that magic binds to them, but what Remus doesn’t understand is that a wolf can have more than one mate especially if one is of the same gender as the wolf. Life must be persevered, after all, propagation and all.
That scent does feel as it belongs to him. He feels like one of those muggle cartoons that show a person floating after a scent.
While laying there that same intriguing scent wafts through his window. Bounding out of bed he looks out the window and sees that same figure quickly walking away from the rooming house he is staying in. The figure stops for a moment and looks up towards his window. He sees a delicate face looking up towards him with such a look of longing and sadness.
He rushes out of the room hoping that she stays in place allowing him to catch up with her. By the time he gets out the front door she is gone. He can still smell her scent, he wants to break down and cry that she has gone again.
- ooOoo -
The next morning as he was getting ready to leave his room to question the landlady about the woman in the red cloak a knock comes to his door.
Opening the door he finds his landlady. She is handing him a packet. When he questions who gave it to her, she tells him a beautiful mysterious young woman in a red cloak left it for him.
Thanking her he shuts the door and opens the packet. Inside he finds a muggle notebook of notes and a letter.
My dearest Remus,
You don’t know me, and will not get to know me for at least another 10 years. What I am about to convey to you is not a hoax but will seem like one. “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”
Don't trust Dumbledore, he knows that Sirius Black is innocent and yet lets him rot away in Azkaban. He has placed Harry with the last person on earth that Lily would allow him to be, The Dursley’s.
Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper and is still alive, living in his animagus form (THE RAT) with the Weasley's. While they do not know that they are hosting the rat fink bastard, be careful on how much you trust them. It is mainly Molly Weasley who is untrustworthy, (she is in league with Dumbledore, they have been systematically embezzling from Harry and have signed an illegal marriage contract.) I don't believe that Arthur knows anything about their arrangement. You and Sirius are supposed to be Harry's guardians according to the will that Dumbledore illegally sealed. If you two were unable to take Harry, then he was to go to in this order; Frank and Alice Longbottom, Amelia Bones, Minerva McGonagall and if all else are unavailable a magical orphanage. Never, ever was Harry to be placed into the hands of the magic-hating muggles Vernon and Petunia Dursley. A copy of said will is in the papers that I have given you. You will also read about the other atrocities they perpetrated upon Harry.
I would suggest you only trust Amelia Bones at the Ministry. The corruption runs rampant through that once august institution, but she is one of the few shining beacons of light. Madame Bones is incorruptible and a fair judge of character.
Bartimus Crouch along with Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore signed off on sending Sirius to Azkaban without a trial. He was never questioned under veritaserum or with a solicitors pensieve.
For you edification, this is my second visit to the past. The first time was before that fateful day in 1981. Because James and Lily were under the Fidelis charm I was unable to warn them directly, you were away on your secret mission (yes I know you were trying to court the European Werewolf packs) and Sirius, well was being Sirius. I did warn Dumbledore but when I got back nothing had changed. This is when I lost full faith in Dumbledore and found that he had done absolutely nothing to stop the murder of James and Lily and the imprisonment of Sirius. Because of the restrictions on my device, I cannot go back before 1981 and once used cannot go back to within 12 months of the first visit.
This time I will give you all the pertinent information to rid our world of Voldemort. You will need to figure out who to trust.
I would be hesitant to trust those of the Order of the Phoenix as the oath you take for that organisation is geared more towards loyalty to Dumbledore than to the Order itself.
You should also have yourself and anyone else you may trust from the Order tested for potions. We found after Dumbledore died that we had been dosed with loyalty potions geared towards him along with love potions geared towards the Weasleys. We were in the process of breaking away from the Weasley’s when the final battle broke out and the unthinkable happened, but you will review that in my notes.
When I returned from my first visit, James and Lily were still dead, Harry had been left like a bottle of milk on the doorstep (overnight, Dumbles didn't even have the courtesy to ring the doorbell. Uh, November, cold, child does walk could have wandered off or some sicko could have taken him. Just left him with a note that basically threatened Petunia if she didn't take him in.)
Remus could feel the anger rolling off the page as well as feel his own ire building.
When I came back the first time, I was only able to stay a month. While I tried to make an impression on Sirius to get the Potters to change the secret keeper from Peter to someone else, I guess he was unable to get through to them.
Knowing that if Sirius failed he would be stuck in Azkaban for 12 long and bleak years, (he escapes) I asked him if I could cast a spell you and I created. It shields the mind, similar to occlumency, from dementors. It corrals the dementors in the victim's mind and then they are able to project their patronus against them. This will even work for those who can only project a weak shield. This spell lasts a long time, I am just unsure how long as it is still a relatively new spell. I don’t think it would last the 12 long years that my Sirius was forced to endure.
Once you get Sirius freed you need to get him to a mind healer. While the spell will have kept the worst away being in there so long will still have some effect on him. It also helps that he knows that he is innocent and can transform into Padfoot, as Dementors don't affect animals (something about their simpler emotions). I have given you a copy of the spell, I just ask that you use your discretion on who to trust with the spell.
Once he has been cleared by the mind healers you will need to help him get Harry away from his horrid relatives. They keep him in the cupboard under the stairs, half starve him and treat him as a house-elf. I know that his fat cousin is encouraged to beat him and I suspect that his uncle does as well, though I could be wrong on the latter statement. At this time he doesn't even know his name. They only call him boy or freak. Once you get him away, he will also need a mind-healer.
I know my darling Remus that you want to rush out right this minute and take Harry away from them, but unfortunately, you cannot. Dumbledore has placed wards around the house that repels both those who bear the Dark Mark and he also put up an anti-werewolf ward. I do not believe that is for any other werewolf but you. He needs Harry to return to the wizarding world weak and malleable; so he can barely train him and get him to sacrifice himself, with Dumbledore swooping in at the last minute to kill Voldemort.
I must go back now. I wish I could meet you at this time but if I were I would never leave you. I do hope to meet you again in 10 years. That is when I first met you. You are still my favourite DADA teacher. I will not know you but I do believe that you will remember me. You always told me my scent was unique.
I started falling for you and Sirius in 3rd year. What started as a simple schoolgirl crush quickly became full blown adoration and later love. You protected us from the Dementors on that September day, and Sirius protected us from Moony when you in your haste to help your mate catch Peter, forgot your wolfsbane potion. While I was not afraid to die, something in me told me that you would not hurt me that Moony would not hurt me.
Remember that as witches and wizards age doesn't mean a thing. Yes, you will have to wait a few years until I become of age but a 20-year difference is not much in the life of a witch or wizard (I don't want that fight again along with the werewolf aspect). If I am able to make enough drastic changes and we never meet, just know that I have done this out of love. My love for my best friend Harry, for my murdered parents, but mostly for both you and Sirius. If we don’t meet, please make sure that you and Sirius love each other.
I am tired of the nightmares, the deaths and the lies, and selfishly I miss you and Sirius. I miss our talks, the way that your nose crinkles when you are in deep thought, I miss your strong arms holding both Sirius and me (A/N They only hugged before Sirius died, they were not intimate until after her 18th birthday), and most of all I miss your soft lips caressing mine.
“Mischief Managed”
With all my love,
Little Red
p.s. Please tell Padfoot that I love him and miss him. Kisses and Hugs.
Remus read the letter shocked. In the future is he in a triad with his mate and this young girl. His mate who is innocent. Dumbledore knew he was innocent and left his best friend to rot in that hell hole. The more he thinks about it the angrier he becomes.
From what he can discern he is in a full blown relationship with this young witch. A witch who is 20 years younger than him. Oh Merlin, please tell him that he at least waited until she was of age. Nimue, that means she is 3 years old now and he will meet her when she is 13. He puts his head in his hands and groans.
Next, he starts to read the notebook. It is a synopsis of the life of one Harry Potter and his two best friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, at Hogwarts.
The more he reads the more agitated he becomes.
The first year Harry had to deal with a full-grown mountain troll, wandering the forbidden forest at night with a deranged killer of unicorns, a baby dragon, an obstacle course of danger to only find the spirit of Voldemort stuck on the back of his DADA teachers head.
The second year was a diary that possessed a young girl, being vilified because he is a parselmouth, helping to brew polyjuice potion (Merlin, a 12-year who was able to successfully brew an N.E.W.T. potion), having his female friend petrified, and gigantic basilisk.
The third year, he becomes a professor and Sirius escapes from Azkaban and Harry has to save him from 100 Dementors.
The fourth year Harry is entered into the Triwizard Tournament. Has his best male friend abandon him, has to steal an egg from a nesting mother dragon (is Dumbledore fucking crazy)? Rescue his feckless friend from the bottom of Black Lake while his other best friend is a hostage of someone she just met, then run a maze filled with 5X magical creatures. Only to be portkeyed away to watch his co-champion murdered and Voldemort is being returned to a body.
Fifth-year he is stuck with that bitch from hell who has passed quite a few anti-werewolf legislation Umbridge who uses a blood quill against the students, and then fighting death eaters while watching Sirius falling into the veil.
Tears filled Remus’ eyes when he read that Sirius had died.
The sixth year finding out that Voldemort has made Horcruxes and watching Snivellus kill Dumbledore. Not that he is liking Dumbledore right now but to be betrayed by someone you say you trust is not a good way to go.
By now Remus is growling so loud that his neighbours are pounding on the walls to shut him up.
At that statement, there is a side note that tells how Dumbledore has made Snivellus trade one slave master (Voldemort) for another, himself. How he forced Snivellus to make an unbreakable vow to kill him as he was already dying and he couldn't allow a student to kill him. (Okay so Snivellus is not as evil as he portrays himself, but he is still an arsehole). This is Dumbledore at his best, sacrifice one who is on the side of good all to try to save one from the dark side.
The poor kids didn't even get a seventh year. He and his friends go on the run to find the Horcruxes.
Little Red explains what Horcruxes are. They are a repository for a piece of someone’s soul so that they can anchor it to the mortal plain. She goes on to explain that when you make one, you rip your soul in half. That they were originally only supposed to have one made as for when you rip your soul you also rip your sanity. For each Horcrux you make you keep ripping your remaining soul in half. So by this point in time, Voldemort only has 1/68th of a soul left. Having to listen to his best friend being tortured by Bellatrix, (if she is as he suspects Little Red, Bellatrix is going to have a very short life).
Well, at least he knows that Peter the Rat is dead and at his own hand. Maybe it was for the better that Harry stopped Sirius and he from killing him back in 3rd-year.
Breaking into Gringotts and riding on the back of a dragon. Finally, finding out that he is a Horcrux, dies and coming back to life, fighting Voldemort and dying (for good this time) as he kills Voldemort.
The notebook goes on to enumerate all the Horcruxes and where they were found in the future: Diary (Malfoy Manor) they have a crazy house-elf who may be able to help them, Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem (Hogwarts, Room of Requirement), Slytherin's Locket (and isn't Sirius going to love having to go back to his childhood home to find that one) tell him to ask Kreacher and mention that he is going to avenge his brother Regulus, Gaunt's Ring (Gaunt Shack near Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton), Helga Hufflepuff's Cup (Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black Gringotts Vault), Nagini (wherever Voldemort is at) and finally Harry.
The notes go on to say to be very careful on how you handle these objects. The ring has a compulsion charm to try it on and a curse that will cause you to slowly wither away. The diary will drain your soul if you write in it. The cup has a duplicating charm. The notes go on to say they are unaware of any curses on the diadem and the locket only affects you if you stay around it too long.
The note does say that Nagini might not have been made until right before he returns, this is unknown.
In order to destroy a Horcrux, you must do so in a manner where it is beyond magical repair. Basilisk venom or fiendfyre will work. Also, it says to speak to the Goblins, that they may have a way to rid Harry of his bit of Voldemort's soul.
Additionally, as the cup is in Bellatrix's personal vault, it is accessible by the Head of the House Black. Just because Walburga blasted him off the tapestry, she did not have the ability to disown him, so Sirius is still heir to the Head of the House Black. May want to get his Grandfather Arcturus to help. Just tell him that if he doesn’t the House of Black will fall on 18 June 1996. Also, explain to him that “Lord Voldemort” is really a half-blood whose father is a Muggle and his mother an inbreed near squib.
Next, the notes list all those who were lost during the war and in the aftermath of Voldemort's death. Halfway through the list, he finds his name. He is killed a few years after the end of the war while trying to capture Lucius Malfoy and his son Draco, and that Little Red killed Lucius.
He can see that the writer was emotional when writing his name down. The ink was lightly smudged over his name, and he can smell the tears on the page.
- ooOoo -
A few hours later Remus finishes going through all the notes, the Potter Will, new spells and a few potions recipes. Merlin, there is a potion that will allow him to keep his mind during his transformation. He can't wait to try that potion.
The Will is the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. Dumbledore witnessed the will which stated very clearly that if they died by Voldemort's hand that it was Peter Pettigrew who was the secret keeper and that Albus Dumbledore cast the Fidelis charm. It also clearly stated that at no time is Harry to be given to Lily's sister.
Amelia Bones is going to be his new best friend. He has a spell that helps corral the dementors and a potion that protects the user from 2 of the 3 unforgivable. Just to know that you can not be imperiused or suffer most of the pain from the cruciatus curse is amazing. His little witch is a genius.
He has never met the girl and already is feeling a sense of love towards her. ‘His little witch’ indeed.
Little Red said that whoever that he gets to help him needs to take an unbreakable vow, carefully worded to be true to the information, and not to any one individual.
The new spells and potions that she has not created cannot be allowed to go public until they are invented. He cannot take credit for any with the exception of the spell for the Dementors, after all, he did help her perfect it during her time. She is giving him full rights for the Anti-unforgivable potion and the improved Wolfsbane, that must be withheld for at least a year after the original is released. She only asks that the Wolfsbane be issued at a reduced rate or free. That decision she will leave up to him.
She suggests that he keep the recipe for the Anti-Unforgivable secret and just set up a potions lab that to sell the potions (he will need help as he is pants at potions, but Sirius was excellent).
The Wolfsbane potion will go public in another year so she asks that he only make the potion for himself (besides it is an improvement on the original version). She also gave him all the research on the improved Wolfsbane, so that he can recreate the trials and take credit (maybe get help with Damocles Belby, the potions master who will create the first Wolfsbane potion).
- ooOoo -
A week later after doing initial research on the validity of the notes, spells and potions, Remus has his first meeting with Amelia Bones.
He lays out all the notes, minus some of the spells and potions. Madam Bones takes the initiative and has her department, with the help of the Unspeakables, search to find all the Horcruxes.
She finds that Sirius Black did not have a trial and has him brought to her. She verifies that he was not the Potter's secret keeper and he did not kill Peter Pettigrew or the 12 muggles. She rounds up Peter Pettigrew and holds a trial for him. He receives the kiss.
After Sirius is found not guilty and cleared by mind healers at St. Mungo's, he and Remus have a discussion about what has happened. How Remus' other 'mate' was out there in the future. The two decide to wait and find the woman when the time is right.
Sirius tells Remus to remember that Little Red said that she would meet him for the first time in 10 years. That is not too long to wait.
- ooOoo -
Fifteen years later finds Remus independently wealthy and working for the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Creatures.
Since all the information he received from Little Red was valid, a new dawn has broken over the British Wizarding World. They have now moved out of the 17th century and are now ready to move into the new millennium.
The only blemish in his life is that he has not found Little Red.
It is the end of his day at the Ministry and he is waiting in line with Sirius so that they can floo home together to see their son Harry.
As they are waiting, he smells it. That haunting scent that he caught years ago. The one that was his mate, chocolate, cinnamon and gardenia, along with that tantalising scent he still cannot name. Moony rears inside of him screaming MINE, MINE, MINE. where is MY MATE, I SMELL MY MATE, I WANT MY MATE.
Snapping his head around looking for her he smells her just as she heads into the outgoing floo. Grabbing Sirius he points and tells him that is her, that is her scent.
Sirius knows now that Moony has caught her scent again, that he will not rest until they find this mysterious girl. Remus has been moping for the last 5 years. Not having found the child, which to Sirius was for the best, but now the girl must now be 18.
Speaking with the floo attendant, he finds out that she went through to the Leaky Cauldron. Both he and Remus quickly go through and Remus, like a starving man following the scent of a freshly cooked meal, finds her trail and finds it leads to Muggle London. Damn, shouts Remus.
- ooOoo -
It was a beautiful Saturday in late June when Remus and Sirius decided to just relax and have a picnic in the Wizarding park near the Ministry. They both had been working so much. Both trying to forget that it has been 20 years since that day that Remus started the Wizarding World on the road to getting rid of Voldemort. The day that Remus first caught the scent of their other mate.
Placing the blanket on the ground, Sirius lays back watching the other occupants of the park. Noticing a pretty young woman with curly brown hair sitting on a bench near them he shakes his head thinking there's something familiar about her. Turning to Remus he asks him if he knows that sad young woman on the bench. He is sure that he has seen her around somewhere before but just can’t remember.
When Remus looks up, he feels a stirring in his chest, but the more he watches her the more he realises he does not know her. So why does his heart feel like it is trying to break out of his chest?
Suddenly, a gust of wind blows through her hair wafting her scent over to them. Remus realises it is her, his mate. He grabs Sirius arm claiming that it is her, their mate.
They sit there watching her for a few minutes. Seeing that she is crying, Remus walks over and offers her his handkerchief asking can he help her. Breathing her scent in Moony is screaming inside him MINE.
Remus asks what is wrong if there is anything that he can do to help her. She looks at him with haunted eyes, starting when she sees him and Sirius like she recognises them. In a thick southern American accent, she asks, "W...who are you?" Remus introduces Sirius and himself to her. He tells her that they saw her crying and it was breaking their hearts.
Lightly laughing, she thanks them for rescuing her from these torturous memories. She explains that since she has returned to England a few days ago that inexplicably these memories of a second life, a life full of danger and war have invaded. It is like she has lived two lives and they are trying to merge together.
Hearing this gives Remus and Sirius hope. Hope that she will accept them, two older men. Remus says that maybe telling this new story as it unfolds will help. He and Sirius volunteer to listen, take notes even.
For some reason, she feels that she can trust them (she is still remembering the start of her second year at Hogwarts).
Remus and Sirius ask her if she would join them for dinner, where they can help her with her new memories. Hermione agrees.
At dinner that night, Hermione tells them her life story. How an unknown relative left her a home in New Orleans when she was three years old, and how her parents decided that they would live there. She told them how she went to school in New Orleans.
In New Orleans, the local school for magic is an offshoot of Tulane University. That you start at 6 going all the way up to higher learning (similar to Master's in Europe).
Both men wonder if her future self-had something to do with her inheritance. They asked who left her the home. She told them that they never found out who it was just that their initials were RRH (Red Riding Hood). She told them how she decided to return to England as she wanted to teach and she had heard that Hogwarts was one of the best schools in the world,
After dinner, they go to the library, where Hermione is overwhelmed with memories. While the memories are flooding her mind fast and furiously, Harry walks in with his girlfriend Luna. When Hermione sees him, she gives a soft cry of his name and faints.
Sirius picks her up and lays her on the sofa conjuring up a damp cloth. Wiping her forehead he wonders if she now remembers.
Hours later, slowly waking up, Hermione is overwhelmed with the memories. Dear Merlin, they are all alive. Her Remus and Sirius are alive and so is her brother of her heart, Harry. Bolting upright, Hermione frantically looks around the room. Crying out when she sees Sirius, "You're alive! It worked. Where's Remus?"
Sirius, seeing that she is awake and aware, rushes over and hauls her into his lap. Hugging her as if his life depended upon it, he profusely thanks her for saving him from Azkaban, for protecting his mind from the dementors while raining kisses down on her face. Flicking his wand he sends Remus, who had to go to work, a patronus.
Remus hurries home when he receives Sirius' patronus. He needs his mate. He rushes into the library where Harry, Sirius and Hermione have gathered. When Hermione sees him her face lights up. Jumping up she jumps on him wrapping her legs around his waist hugging him for dear life, crying tears of joy that it worked that he is alive. Reaching up she gives him a soul searing kiss, then turns to Sirius pulling him close and kisses him as well.
Even though these two men have just met her, they feel that they already know her. Remus pulls Sirius in and with Hermione still around his waist gives him a hug. Hermione sighs, and says that she is home.