The Tales of Marauders After Dark

Shadowhunters weren't on best terms with werewolves lately, but there was a silent respect for not killing one another's men. That's why the information about the wounds looking like a werewolf's job was a little unsettling. 

If people asked about Sirius's opinion, he would most probably say that there is no way in hell a werewolf would do that. But then he remembered how the Black family was basically black sheep of shadowhunters, how they ignored the rules and trained their children from the mere age of five instead of ten, how they taught them even the forbidden and tugged certain beliefs in their minds until they were all convinced of the same thing. 

The ideals taught to them, were respected by the whole family. But Sirius disagreed. 

And now, here they were. In an institute that was all in a hurry because the alleys of New York City were filled with demons and some werewolves thought it would be fun to kill some shadowhunters. 

Of course, they had no true evidence of the work being done by werewolves. The situation had to be carefully looked at before any judgment would be made. 

James was the one to step in first. 

"Werewolf? But don't we have an alliance with them?"  James asked, worry filled his tone.

"As much as that sounds appealing, we don't." The woman, James's mother, responded. 

"Why would they attack us out of nowhere?" Peter's voice was trembling slightly. 

"We do not know," The woman sighed. She looked a little sleep-deprived, with wrinkles all around her face. But her son had quite the different energy. "Mum, Where are the demon attacks?" He asked and the woman looked at him with a suspicious look.

"Across the whole of New York City, like I said."

"But it's the middle of the day," Peter spoke, confidence didn't seem to cross his path today for sure. 

"The Demon attacks are in underground places, like underground parking lots or underground floors of a mall, three hotels, a bank, and basements of many houses or skyscrapers." Now the situation made more sense to Sirius. But the werewolf attack thing still hung in his mind as a weird thing. 

"Maybe we should go talk to some werewolf packs. To get some more information." He spoke up for the first time in a while. Sirius was a talkative person, but in situations like this, where the weight on the shoulders of shadowhunters was too much to bear, he would keep his tongue in check. 

James's mother looked at him with widened eyes.

"Talk to werewolves? That's too dangerous!"

But James seemed to have a similar idea if not the same one, "Don't worry Mum, I am sure we can handle it!" The situation needed some optimistic sparkle. James was a perfect match for such an optimistic sparkle. 

The woman looked troubled. Sirius couldn't blame her, he would be too if his child would put their life in danger. But on the other hand, James was a good shadowhunter, or at least Sirius guessed so, and he was sure that James was much more than just capable of making it out alive. 

It's not like they were about to attack an army of werewolves. 

She sighed and nodded, "There is one werewolf pack in New York City that has its own reputation. They are strong and their strongest member is known for killing one of the higher demons with bare hands. I believe they could give us some information."

James nodded and in just an hour, he, Sirius, and Peter were on their way. There are three werewolf packs in New York City, James planned to ask all three of them, but Peter didn't want to ask at all, and Sirius couldn't care less. The first pack had its base in an abandoned building behind the NYC, the second one, which was the closest, had its base in a small restaurant with a library right next to it and the third one had its base in a larger building on the other side of the city. 

All three packs were hugely distanced from one another and managed to split NYC into three parts, each one belonging to one pack. 

And since they were closest to the one living in the restaurant with a library, their first station would be there. It was also the biggest pack and the closest one to the institute. 

"Have you ever talked with a werewolf?" Sirius asked James, who was sitting right in front of him. 

"Once, it was when my parents had some business with them. But I was too young. I asked them what was their favorite color and they just growled at me." That was a nice start. Sirius turned to Peter. The chubby boy looked like he was about to fall asleep any minute now. Did he not sleep well? 

"How about you, Pete?"

"Oh! No. I haven't. I always imagined werewolves as scary men, I never even wanted to talk to them." That answer was predictable. Sirius sighed, "I didn't talk to a werewolf either. I think it could be exciting." 

"Yeah, exciting. Until they rip your limbs apart," Peter rolled his eyes and pulled out a lollipop from his pocket. 

"They wouldn't do that," Sirius said confidently. He doubted a werewolf would dare to do such a thing if they didn't want to get in trouble with Sesia. But on the other hand, what if they did want to get in trouble? That was a stupid question. No one wants trouble... Right?

The train stopped and all three of them made their way out to the streets. Sirius could smell freshly baked pastries in the air, it almost made him drool. And just by the corner, there it was. A restaurant connected to a small library. Walburga always said that only walking around the base of a werewolf pack was a danger itself, and then proceeded to show them a way how to kill a werewolf with silver. 

The Noble House of Black had almost every single thing that they owned, made out of silver. Spoons, goblets, plates, jewelry, steles, ornaments above windows, door knobs, and even shoe ties were glittery gray so they would look like made out of silver. Sirius himself was wearing silver earrings in the shape of a sword. And the rings on his fingers were all made out of silver too. 

Walburga did not allow him to wear anything other than silver. So Sirius, obviously, tried to wear anything else, simple metal or gold. Walburga made him swim in pain when she noticed. It was one of the worst experiences and Sirius never once touched anything other than silver. 

But given this situation, entering a werewolf base with silver on him wasn't exactly a friendly gesture. 

James walked straight to the front door and entered the restaurant as if he just went there to buy a drink and chill. Peter followed him closely behind and the last one to enter the restaurant was Sirius. 

It was not one of those fancy restaurants where they give you a mm² of a desert on a plate bigger than your own head. This restaurant served huge plates filled with food the way it should be. Sirius for a second even stopped and looked at one of the customers eating, and suddenly, he felt hungry. Damn this place. 

All of the people in the restaurant were looking at them. Every single one of them. Were they all werewolves? It would make sense, but, in that case, the three shadowhunters were like pieces of meat in front of hungry wolves. 

James walked over to the counter, with a bright smile and waved at the waiter behind the counter.

"Hey there! How's your life going?"  Sirius facepalmed. That was a great start. Kudos to James for knowing how to talk with a clearly angry werewolf. 

The man frowned, "What do you want, shadowhunter?"

Sirius was sure all of the werewolves in the room knew about them being shadowhunters, but for some reason, it being said out loud drew even more attention. 

James bit his lip before he spoke, "Well... we... might want to... you know~... talk... a bit?"

Peter, who was right behind James, was already silently praying. And Sirius couldn't blame him. Who let James talk?

"We want to talk to you leader," Sirius interrupted before James could make the situation even worse. 

The man's eyes narrowed and he looked at them up and down. Sirius was right, this situation was sure as hell a mess but exciting just as much. 

"Why."

Good question. What is Sirius supposed to say now? "To ask your leader if he hadn't felt silly and by any chance killed shadowhunters, because why not?"  But saying that out loud was not a smart thing to do. Sirius shot a quick glance at James, who was already looking at him in a way that said "Should we run?" so, Sirius shot a quick glance at Peter, and the chubby boy's expression said, "We are fucked and I am scared."  Great. Looks like Sirius will have to try his luck. 

"There had been some... not nice... things to happen and we want to ask your leader if he doesn't know anything about it, to help us." There was this one small firework in Sirius's head after he said that. A small hint of celebration and praise. He was a genius. 

"Our alpha doesn't like to be disturbed." The man spoke, and the whole restaurant fell into whispers. Sirius's ears had caught a few sentences like: "They are trying to talk to alpha?" "They are out of their minds." "He will tear them apart." "They don't have a chance." "Why are they being provocative?"  

Sirius could only assume that the leader of this wolf pack had to be some huge bad dude with bloody hands and fangs bigger than fingers. 

"It will be quick. We mean no harm." James spoke. Finally, a coherent sentence flew out of his lips. 

The man hesitated, his eyes carefully looking from James to Sirius to Peter and back to James. He then sighed, "Follow me but blame yourselves if he slices your throats." 

Good warning. Sirius took note of that. He definitely won't blame himself. It was that dude's fault for letting them go to their leader. Even tho they had to go to him. The man led them through the restaurant to the library part of the building. Books were on every single wall and even on regals in between. Books were also in small towers placed even on the floor and the bookish hallway was slowly getting thinner the further they went. Peter even dropped some books on accident and in a hurry began to pick them up.  

At the end of the hallway, there was a HUGE round room with books all around, two armchairs in the middle with one small table in between. 

And there... he was. 

The man that led them, stopped in front of one of the armchairs and spoke up. The person sitting on the armchair, looked rather short, hidden behind a book twice his head.

"Sir... someone came to visit you, they insisted on a talk." 

So that short dude was their alpha? Really? Sirius almost wanted to burst out laughing. He had to hold back pretty much. 

"I don't like visitors and you know that. Also, don't call me "sir," I told you multiple times, we are equal, and you are not my subordinate" The so-called "alpha" spoke 

"I know, I am sorry. But they insisted." 

The leader sighed, "You can go, I will have a talk then." With that, the man left back to the restaurant, and the leader in front of them put the book down and showed his face. His skin was tanned and covered in scars as if he had been pushed into an enclosure with hungry tigers, he had curly brown hair and amber eyes that were screaming tiredness. When was the last time this dude slept? He seemed to be around Sirius's age. Also, the sweater he had on himself was torn and had holes in it in some places, showing the bare skin underneath. The werewolf also looked a little underweight. 

Must be fun to own a restaurant and not eat in it properly. 

"Shadowhunters... May I ask what brings you here?" 

"This morning, there had been found bodies of shadowhunters, all scratched and the work seemed to be done by a werewolf. We wanted to know if it was perhaps someone you might know." Sirius spoke. 

The werewolf narrowed his eyes, "I do not have any information about that."

"Don't you at least have any ideas?" James asked and the werewolf's eyes dropped on him.

"I can assure you, that my pack would never attack a shadowhunter. Not unless I tell them to do so. Which I promised to not." 

Sirius exchanged glances with James, "Ehm... my parents don't know about such kind of a promise..." Sirius hadn't seen James so confused in a while. Last time it was this morning. 

"Who says a promise has to be promised to the heads of the shadowhunters institute?" 

Peter stepped out a little closer. When did the chubby boy gain so much confidence and bravery? "But, if not to them, then, who did you promise that to?"

The werewolf sighed, "Personal questions, aren't they?"

Now that man was getting on Sirius's nerves. Personal question? What the hell is personal on that question? They had to find out who killed the shadowhunters, and not listen to a werewolf get offended by them asking simple questions. Maybe they should go. It wouldn't be such a pain in the ass if the werewolf answered their questions at least. 

Sirius took Peter's shoulder and pulled him back, he himself took a small step closer to the werewolf. 

"What do you mean by personal question? Just answer. How is that so hard?" 

James's eyes widened and he shot a stare at Sirius. The werewolf looked offended and stood up from his armchair. he was just Sirius's height. But Sirius had to admit that the werewolf's posture was horrible. 

"Watch your tongue, shadowhunter." 

"What? Offended because I am right? You are getting on my nerves quite a bit now. How can you even be the leader of the pack when you look like a fragile dwarf?" Sirius knew he had probably gone too far by now. But he didn't care. 

"Sirius..." James tone was warning. Trying to say that he should shut up. And Sirius knew that he should shut up. But he couldn't bring himself to do so for some reason. It was almost strange. 

"Are you trying to pick a fight in here?" The werewolf spoke, "That's not a good idea." 

"I didn't plan a fight, but I guess I don't mind one if you insist. What are you even gonna do to me, huh? Kitty."  

"Sirius!" James's tone was rising. Pick a fight with the werewolf was not a good idea. But Sirius had silver on him, and he was skilled. He could beat a werewolf for sure. 

But that was until the werewolf had straightened his back and fixed his posture. They were no longer the same height. The werewolf was overhead taller than Sirius. And the Black was barely reaching the werewolf's shoulder. Yep, he should have listened to James. Now he is fucked. Really fucked. 

"What did you just call me? I will show you who is the Kitty in here. I will do some things to you, but it surely won't make you purr." The werewolf smiled, almost like a menace. And Sirius was cursing at himself in every single language he knew how to curse in. But there was no backing down. The werewolf looked too skinny, too weak. He might be tall, but Sirius was sure that a little stronger blow of air would make him fall to his knees. 

Sirius put on a confident smirk, maybe he can win just by scaring him? Tho... It was unlikely to scare a werewolf...

"Bring it on." 

Sirius had made a lot of mistakes in his life. Stealing his mother's makeup bag to play with it with Regulus, drinking orange juice and hot chocolate right after, swinging his sword with closed eyes when he was seven, and many more. But picking a fight with a werewolf was most definitely the worst one. The werewolf didn't even care to go easy on him! 

First punch was to the gut. Sirius almost dodged it, but the werewolf's hand was too strong and too quick. Sirius tried to attack back, but the werewolf moved positions and the second punch was to his side. Sirius had for a second thought he would see a white light and arrive in the afterlife with scoliosis. 

James wanted to help him, but the werewolf pushed him aside and punched Sirius into his cheek. Sirius would swear he had a chipped tooth now. And once again, when he went to attack the werewolf, it did not work and the dude with a torn sweater punched him right between his eyes, followed by a kick between his legs. 

That was all Sirius needed. 

"I give up!!!" 

He said in a raised tone. Squirming on the floor in pain. So what do we have here again? Scoliosis, chipped tooth, broken nose, attacked cheek, and infertility. GREAT!!! He should remember this the next time he gets the idea to fight a werewolf. 

The dude in the torn sweater grinned widely, "Give up? Now tell me who is the kitty in here again?"

"I guess that would be Peter," Sirius spoke through gritted teeth. 

"Hey!" Peter glared at him. 

"Okay okay, it would be me," Sirius sighed. To hell with that werewolf, the kick hurt like a bitch. 

The werewolf, now clearly satisfied, took a few steps back and looked at James, "I apologize, but he himself picked the fight. I have no intention of hurting or killing shadowhunters. As I said before, I made a promise. And I keep my promises."

James, stunned, nodded and knelt to Sirius, "You okay, buddy?" 

Sirius could only wince in pain slightly and whimper with a shaky and not-so-convincing nod, "I hate my life. No... I hate my decisions more!" he mumbled. Peter instantly agreed, "I hate your decisions too." And lastly, even James let out a small laugh, "Count me in as well." 

The werewolf watched the whole scene, sat down, and looked ready to get himself some popcorn to enjoy the show. James helped Sirius get up back on his feet and turned to the werewolf.

"May we know your name?" 

The werewolf hesitated for a moment before responding, "Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you three, mostly the kitten in here." 

Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes at Remus, "Names Sirius Black, but thank you anyway I guess." 

James smiled brightly, "I am James Potter and this is our friend Peter Pettigrew!" 

James was being a little too enthusiastic with introductions. But The werewolf's eyes widened slightly, "James Potter? Is that really you?" James looked a little confused and shocked at least, "Ehm... yeah? Thats my name... why... do you ask? Have we met before?" 

Remus smiled, "No... I just heard a lot about you."

"From who?" Peter asked

Remus picked up the book he was reading before and smirked, "Does a name, Lily, tingle something in you?" 

Sirius had no idea what they were talking about, obviously, but on the other hand, Peter and James seemed to know quite well what was going on. 

"EVANS?!" they both said in one voice, surprised even more at Remus's nod. 

"How do you know about her?" Peter took a step closer to the armchair. 

"Me and Lily were friends long before she became a shadowhunter, even before I got turned into a werewolf. She is the one to whom I promised not to hurt or kill shadowhunters."

"And I always keep my promises. So the one who attacked was not from my pack. But... maybe... maybe I could help you find out who it really was."