Curing lycantropy and breaking curses
“I am very glad you were able to come to be part of this experiment Remus. You are sure you want to serve as a test subject?” Dumbledore asked Remus Lupin.
“Yes. If there is a smidgen of a chance of getting rid of the werewolf curse, I’m going to take it.” Remus replied.
“Previous tests have shown the magic would affect creatures normally resistant like Dragons and Skrewts, so in principle it should affect a Werewolf and if it cures Dragon Blight it could cure the Wolf. Though that is only a theory, as Dragon Blight was perfectly treatable before unlike Lycantropy and there is a lot we don’t know about the spell yet. While it won’t kill you, I’m sure, there may be side effects or permanent changes.” Dumbledore noted.
“Things would still be better then what they are now.” Remus said.
“But Remus, you may risk losing your ‘wand’. Look at all the other transformations whom became females.” Sirius said.
“Most of them were already female before transformation.” Harry pointed out.
“Not all. I mean…Buckbeak and Fawkes. And Maps and Bolt…” Sirius replied.
“Yeah, but Fawkes is genderfluent due to her immortal nature. The ones whom formerly were objects didn’t really have a gender and could choose them upon manifesting. And Buckbeak may not have gender issues like humans have.” Harry said.
“Even if I become a woman, I think it’s a lot more affordable to buy potions to deal with menstruation then it is to get the expensive Wolfsbane potion.” Remus said. “Just let them do it. No matter what happens, I’ll still be Remus Lupin.”
“All right. But if you lose your wand, I’ll be calling you Remi.” Sirius said.
“That’s fair.” Remus said. “You can go ahead, Harry.”
“It’s kind of terrifying. The first time it was an accident. Then it was a way to save a living creature when running out of options but…if something goes wrong it will be on me.” Harry said.
“No matter what happens, I will still be Remus Lupin, your honorary uncle. I do this of my own free will. If there is even a one percent chance of this spell able to cure me, I’ll take it because then the spell can be used to help others like me. It is worth the risk.”
Harry nodded. Remus prepared himself, standing still. Harry collected his thoughts. He had to focus on the good memories with Lupin. He was the first capable teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was a honorary uncle. Thanks to him he knew about his godfather’s innocence, he shared stories about his father and his letters helped keep him sane when he was stuck at the Dursleys. “Moefy!” Harry said as the spell left his wand.
The spell hit Remus head on. The flash of light died down. And Remus still stood there. Still male, still a wizard. Only his scars were gone and the grey is gone from his hair. He looked fitter as well, as if he never was infected or has been ill in his life. Also his ragged clothes looked new. “Did it work?” Remus asked.
Dumbledore conjured a mirror. “For now the spell seems to have cleaned you up rather nicely.”
“How do you feel?” Sirius asked.
“I feel healthier then before. Like I have had a good night’s rest for the first time in years.” Remus said. “And like I don’t have any inner demons.”
“So it worked?” Harry asked happily. “You no longer feel the wolf?”
“No, I feel something, but it’s something different.” Remus said as he looked at his hands. He tried to feel and reach out to the different magic inside of him. Then his hands sported claws. “Oh…” he turned the claw thing off and on. Then he grew a tail and retracted it. He grew fangs, and retracted them. “I think I know what the spell did.” He said as suddenly he transformed.
It was not a werewolf. At least not the humanoid long limbed barley wolf-like abomination he turned in each month. It certainly wasn’t the Chewbacca-like wolf from the old black and white horror movies. He looked more like an anthro wolf or action werewolf from a cool anime or fighting game. “Oh, now this transformation feels a lot better. It is painless, I look better and best of all, I still feel like me.”
“I admit that is a much cooler looking wolf.” Sirius said. “It didn’t exactly remove the curse, it…was altered. Turned into a blessing of sorts? Is that the right thing to say?”
“It sure is. I feel faster, stronger, my senses are better. Even with the Wolfsbane, the different senses felt alien. The Wolfsbane only held me back from snapping, there was still the wolf whispering. But here, I’m in full control. It is like a much improved Animagus transformation.” Remus said. He then started to shift. He shifted from anthro human into a larger then normal quadruped wolf. He was able to shift in different states between man and wolf at will.
“Safe to say we can call this experiment a success.” Dumbledore said, smiling and stroking his beard. “Not a full cure but turns it from something bad to something good.”
“All right. Look out world, there is a new Remus Lupin ready to enter.” Lupin turned back to human. Only most of his clothes were gone aside from his pants, whom were now looking more then shorts. “Dang, I liked the new clothes.”
“We can try to fix it with Reparo…” Sirius suggested.
At that point two things happened. First, the pants of Lupin had been stretched out a bit too much by his transformation and decided to drop. The other was an Auror whom decided to do a report. They have been patrolling Hogwarts ever since Barty Jr. infiltrated. And they had the password to Dumbledore’s office due to having to report to the headmaster. And the person had walked in not knowing about the experiment they conducted.
It also happened to be Nymphadora Tonks. “Professor Dumbledore, I need to bring a report and…WOTCHER!” her eyes widened, more so then any other person due to her Metamorphmagus powers. “Hot damn!”
“Ah!” Remus blushed and pulled his pants back up. “It’s not what it looks like, it was an experiment.”
“I want to be part of that experiment! I volunteer!” Tonks said.
“No, it was something to cure his lycanthropy. It resulted in a wardrobe malfunction.” Harry noted.
“Well a lot of the guys and girls I brought home from a successful date had a wardrobe malfunction too. At the same time as me.” Tonks said, licking her lips. “Though normally they buy dinner first. Don’t mind taking you to dinner, Remus. We call it a first date with some steps out of order.” Tonks noted. Lupin nearly choked on his spittle.
“I did not need to hear about the love life of my cousin;” Harry noted.
“You can rub your love life in my face. If you finally spit it out with your two cuddle buddies.” Tonks noted.
“My what?” Harry asked, confused.
“Boys…need to have the obvious spelled out for them.” Tonks said.
“Er… can someone please Reparo my suit.” Remus asked.
“Oh right, allow me.” Dumbledore said, and Remus was fully clothed again.
“Shame, I enjoyed the view. Though still looking dapper. The offer for dinner is still on, my shift ends at six.” Tonks said.
“Dora, as your cousin I respect your life and privacy but you can’t go hitting on my friend like that and just ask him for dinner after seeing him pull out his wand.” Sirius noted.
“Actually I would take her up on that.” Remus admitted.
“Remus, that’s my cousin.” Sirius said.
“And we’re both adults, Siri;” Tonks said. “You heard the man.”
“But you’re older then her.” Sirius said.
“We’re wizards, we are long lived, the age difference in our case won’t matter too much. If I still were the old type of werewolf I may have clung on to that excuse but for the first time in my life I feel free of my curse, and I want to be able to pursue what I couldn’t before the cure was cast.” Remus said. “And one of those would be interactions with the fairer sex.”
“I can understand that but why Nymmie…” Sirius said.
“Call me by that nickname again and I’ll defenestrate you.” Tonks said.
“Because she is willing, and doesn’t mince her words.” Remus said.
“While I’m glad in Remus’ newfound confidence to pursue a meaningful relationship, please can this be discussed in your own time and not when Harry is around. While Harry is old enough to know about the Joberknolls and the Glumbumbles he doesn’t need to be exposed to ‘familial squick’.” Dumbledore said.
“You’re right, I don’t.” Harry said. “Can I go so I can try and forget about the awkward aspects?”
“You can go Harry. Anything else about the experiment I can finish up myself.” Dumbledore said. As Harry left. “Now, what was your report supposed to be, Tonks?”
“Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are here and not as tutors, they are here about trying to break that curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher position?” Tonks said.
“Ah right. I’ll be along right away. Thanks for the heads-up Miss Tonks.” Dumbledore said.
“See you at six, Remus.” Tonks said.
“Don’t you dare, I’m telling your mom, Nym.” Sirius said.
“Window!” Tonks said as she pointed at the window.
“Please don’t, that is fine stained glass and expensive.” Dumbledore said.
“Don’t worry Sirius, unlike the other people she dated, you know me. I will not take advantage of her. But if she offers, it’s not taking disadvantage.” Remus said.
“Since when are you the hotshot and I’m the serious one?” Sirius asked.
“Since I got nothing holding me back anymore. And aren’t you always s-” Remus replied.
“That’s my line!” Sirius said.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“So, you found what you were looking for?” Dumbledore had met up with the Kents.
“Yes, and we think we may know where the curse comes from. Now, the curse needs something, an anchor to keep it around. Because as we know, magic can fade over time if it doesn’t kill you before it does.” Kent said.
“And we may have narrowed it down where the anchor is, whom drains the magic from the wards to keep the curse active, cut it off and it will fade before the end of the year.” Inza said. “Though we know its on the seventh floor somewhere, around that weird tapestry about that nimrod teaching trolls to do ballet dance.”
“Quite impressive he at least got as far as getting those trolls into tutus.” Kent noted. “Anyhow, we didn’t find anything but there may be a hidden room there.” Kent noted.
“I remember walking that corridor one day, I needed to use the bathroom but took a wrong turn. A room full of chamber pots. I tried to study that room later but it was gone. I don’t know if it was due to time of the day or month or week or even exact stance of the moon or that you need to go to the bathroom to find that one or not…man, Hogwarts has many mysteries and even I haven’t discovered them all. And then there was the room full of Chocolate Frogs that later was filled with Firecrabs…”
“Yeah, as disgusting as it sounds the Chamber Pot Room may be the closest thing we have to learning where the anchor is. How do we access the room? If even Dumbledore doesn’t know how it works…It’s not that like anyone is around from the day of the Founders that may know.” Kent noted.
“Oh…We have. I wish I had thought of it earlier. I guess my old age is getting to me.” Dumbledore realized.
“Al, bud…lose a couple of your million jobs.” Inza noted.
“It’s on my list alongside every other thing in existence. Oh, Helena?” Dumbledore called and the Gray Lady, the House Ghost of Ravenclaw appeared.
“You called, Headmaster?”
“You happen to know if there is a special room in this corridor and how to access it?” Dumbledore asked.
“Yes, it is the Room of Requirements. Walk past it three times and think of what you need, the room appears and will make it happen. Within the confines of magical limitations. My mother’s masterpiece aside her Diadem.” Helena Ravenclaw said as she looked sad.
“There is more to it then you tell me…Lady please, it is very important to us, and may prevent further death and harm in the future.” Dumbledore said.
“My mother’s diadem is also in the room. The boy…Tom Marvolo Riddle he charmed me with words and I spilled the location of the diadem of my mother’s…I stole it long ago. I was tired of living in my mother’s shadow. It was not my proudest moment.” Helena started to cry ghostly tears.
“Lots of people have been tricked, even I have fallen for some of his tricks before.” Dumbledore assured her. “But now you can make things right. Your information will help put an end to a Dark Lord.”
“Think of a room where you want to hide things. It is in a room where inhabitants of Hogwarts have dumped objects they wanted to hide or get rid off for centuries. Sometimes just embarrassing things. Sometimes evidence linked to crime they didn’t think of or couldn’t vanish.” Helena noted.
“Thank you for everything Lady Helena. We will make sure that the Diadem can’t be used for evil anymore.” Dumbledore said.
“Thanks Headmaster.” Helena said.
Inza and Kent had already walked in front of the wall three times with the room on their minds, and a door appeared. They opened it and they saw the room, cluttered to the brim with trash from over the centuries. “That’s a lot of trash.” Kent noted. “It may take eons to get through it.”
“Not for the House Elves, they will have it done in a jiffy.” Dumbledore said.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“And that’s how we found this.” Dumbledore said as he showed a transparent box holding the Diadem of Ravenclaw. “And it is slowly confirming a theory I have about Voldemort.”
“So he really did curse the position. It wasn’t a rumor, it was actually true?” Harry asked, now eying the relic.
“Yes. Not only that…no, if he wanted to curse the position he wouldn’t have just used one of the most famous lost magical relics in history. No, it has another function. It is not only an anchor for his curse, he has an anchor on life. It holds a part of his soul. He split his soul into various objects to insure his immortality. Now creating one is bad enough as it takes a foul action to split the soul. But to do it more than once…” Dumbledore explained.
“Believe us, as Cursebreakers we have stumbled upon a few of them. All of them were nasty in their own right. But this Voldemort guy…he must be the foulest.” Kent noted.
“The Diary, it was a one of these soul anchors too wasn’t it?” Harry realized.
“Yes, and it was the fact Voldemort was so loose with it, instead of hiding it allowing it to be distributed to open the Chamber of Secrets. My theory is that he must have had more so losing this one wouldn’t be fatal.” Dumbledore said. “How many he has I haven’t confirmed yet but at least we are closer to finally taking him down.” Dumbledore said.
“But we need to destroy it first. And of the ways to destroy it, the Sword of Gryffindor is the safest way.” Inza said.
Gryffi was listening in the conversation. She started to look at the Diadem, enthralled and with a sad look on her face. She shook her head.
“What is it, Gryffi? You don’t want to destroy it?” Harry asked. Gryffi pointed at the Diadem and then at her. “Oh, I get it. She doesn’t want to destroy the Diadem since she says the object is like her. It is an object that like her was a prized possession and creation of a Hogwarts Founder. So as a result it Gryffi holds it dear.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” Dumbledore admitted. “We will have to find a way to purify it instead. Luckily the conjured box will contain the evil.”
“It is not sentient, unlike Gryffi, so why not destroy it?” Kent asked.
“She wasn’t sentient before, but she was aware of her life as a sword still. For her, it is not destroying an object, it would be witnessing a murder.” Harry said.
“A purification ritual…it is not going to be easy, it is often easier to destroy Horcruxes. We can gather the tools needed for it.” Inza noted.
“Your spell may also work, Harry.” Dumbledore noted. “Though last time it was super-charged due to magical buildup in my machine so you need to get a bit more practice in before you attempt it again. And it will be needed because if I know Voldemort, Ravenclaw wouldn’t be the only founder he tried to obtain a relic from.”
“Then we’ll save them, we’ll save them all.” Harry said. He put a hand on Gryffi’s shoulder. “For Gryffi.”
From one of Gryffi’s eyes, a tear was shed. She put her hand on Harry’s head and affectionately ruffled his hair. She took another look at the Diadem. She could feel the taint, the evil energy emanating from it. Rage welled up inside Gryffi, her retractable blades popping out all at once as she clenched her fists. “We’ll make him pay, for doing that to the Diadem and the other Founder Relics. He has done enough harm.” Harry said.
“If it wasn’t for the Nelsons, it may have taken a few more years before I would have found this one. I did now what I should have done years ago and brought people into the search. I am going to gather my closest confidants to help gather them. Purify the objects that can be saved or destroy the ones that can’t be salvaged.” Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore remembered the chain of events that brought them here. It started with a Death Eater impersonating an old friend and rigging the tournament. Now it ended with the means to permanently end Voldemort. Not what he expected, but thankful. As the event allowed him to become more pro-active and not take everything on at once. For everyone’s sake, he is going to see it through.