Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it were so we would have had HHr, but alas it's JK Rowling's.
A/N: My reply to the challenge issued by PJ, you can find it here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26635 . This story will start right after fifth year, and it will involve sex, some blood, and such, so this is why it is rated NC17. I hope you'll enjoy it, I think this is the most complex challenge I've ever dared to reply to, so I sincerely hope I'll be able to pull it off well.
Thanks to my beta Gingercat!
Harry Potter and His True Sixth Year
Chapter Sixteen: Return to School
When Harry discussed the matter of Remus' illness with Hermione, she immediately offered to research a cure for the werewolf, no, scratch that, for the Lycan. Indeed, she busied herself for the last few days of holidays doing just that, with Harry's assistance, of course.
Remus and Samantha had told them all that they knew of his condition, which sadly was very little. Hermione, being a Muggleborn witch and thus familiar with Muggle illnesses, suggested that maybe it was the result of a genetic mix-up, but Remus explained to her it couldn't be. After all, he wasn't born Lycan, he was bit by another one and thus turned that way.
"I still remember his name, Gilles Garnier" the older man spitefully said. "Turned my whole life into a nightmare when I was only five years old" he said, his eyes clouding with sadness. Samantha soothingly rubbed his back, and Harry and Hermione exchanged a knowing glance at the gesture.
When their chat with Remus was finished, Hermione remained there, reading, biting her lip. Harry knew she was mulling over something, and that soon she would come up with some kind of idea. He loved when she bit her lip like that, by the way. He found it extremely cute.
His girlfriend proved him right when she smiled uncertainly at him.
"I was thinking, maybe the bite of the other Lycan produced an unexpected result when paired up with something already present in his blood. This way, the genetic theory I made up earlier might still stand"
Harry had to admit it made sense. Otherwise, Remus couldn't have turned to be an atypical Lycan, he would regenerate like the rest of them. Something must have interacted with the Lycanthropy in him and produced this side effect.
"Now we just need to check if anyone in his family, both on his mother and father lines, had some special power. Maybe some generations back, that would have left him the genes but maybe not the full ability, this would explain why he doesn't know about having those genes" she thought, making a note for her to research more at Hogwarts. She knew the school kept an archive of all past students, well at least for those of the last century, and maybe they would be able to find his family tree there.
--
On the train back to the school, Harry and Hermione shared their news with Luna and Neville, who were more than happy to help with the research.
"You never have a dull moment, uh, Harry?" Neville teased him, and the raven haired boy punched him lightly on the arm.
"You can say that again" he admitted with a smile.
The trip was uneventful, if you don't count Ron barging into their compartment before realizing who was there and hastily walking out, and Harry spotting Draco and Ginny snogging heatedly while doing his prefect rounds on the train.
He still had trouble believing Ginny could fall for the ferret, but Ron didn't seem to mind, so maybe he should do the same and just let the girl be. He was still miffed at her for sending that letter to Hermione's parents at the start of the school year, but he guessed if he ignored her, she might keep ignoring them, as the redhead hadn't pulled any stunts since then.
"Who knows, maybe Malfoy has come around and become kinder" Hermione suggested, but from her eyes he knew not even she believed that.
"Yeah, and I'm Minister of Magic" he snorted. Hermione looked at him appraisingly, before smiling. "You could be, if you wanted, you know that right? Not now, but in the future, you could" she said, and he nodded.
"I know, but I have no plans of becoming a politician. Too many empty words and too few facts for my liking" he said. She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder.
"That could change, if someone qualified took the post" she whispered, and felt him grin.
"That's why I'd recommend you, in fact" he said, kissing her forehead, and she blushed at his praise.
--
After the usual welcoming feast, Harry agreed with Hermione that if they were to find something useful for Remus, they needed access to the archive, thus they needed to tell Dumbledore about their research. So, he found himself walking the corridor to the gargoyle, while Hermione was in the library with Neville and Luna, starting to search for anything useful about genetic illnesses in wizards and witches.
He didn't know the password, but he guessed the Headmaster would be there shortly, so he simply waited. Fifteen minutes later, Professor Dumbledore finally arrived.
"Harry, were you awaiting my arrival?" he asked, his eyes twinkling as usual.
"Er…yes, I didn't know the password, but I needed to talk with you" the young man said, and the headmaster nodded. Leading him up the stairs to his chambers, Dumbledore as usual offered him a lemon drop, which Harry refused. Sitting in front of the desk, he told the older wizard about Remus' condition, what he and Hermione had come up with, and their need to browse the archive to see if they may be right.
"A most interesting theory, Harry" he mused, suckling on his candy, seemingly deep in thought. "You will find that I have already given the task to someone to look for a cure, but this never came to our attention"
"Would this person be Samantha, Professor?" Harry asked, barely hiding a grin. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more, as a smile graced his lips.
"So you have met her. Lovely woman, that she is" he said, shaking his head a little, "but no, she is doing her own research of course, but not on my orders. Professor Snape, on the other hand, is the one I tasked with this"
Harry groaned, and Dumbledore chuckled. "Believe me, Harry, I know that your relationship with him is not the best possible. Sadly, if you want to find a cure for Remus you will have to work with him. You will find he truly possesses a knowledge of potions unmatched by anyone else, thus is the best candidate for the job"
"I'm sure Hermione could do it too" Harry protested, and Dumbledore nodded. "She could indeed, she is a very bright girl. Quite like your mother, in fact, and this is something Lily herself would have been able to do, had she still been alive" the headmaster mused, his blue eyes darkening with regret.
Harry felt his own eyes water at the thought of his deceased mother, and hastily wiped the tears away.
"Do not hide your emotions, Harry, nor be ashamed of them. They truly make who you are, and in the end it is them what makes the difference between us and Voldemort" Dumbledore reminded him. "Back to the matter at hand, Miss Granger would be able to do so, of course, but not before having gotten the needed knowledge, something that would require her years even at her incredibly accelerate pace of learning things of various difficulty. And years is not a time span we have, I fear"
Harry begrudgingly nodded. He had suspected Remus had little time to live, as things were at the moment.
In the end, it was agreed that Dumbledore would give them access to the archive at any time, but they would have to work with Snape on finding the cure.
--
The four friends went to work once more, researching Remus' files through the archive. That feat alone took them several nights to complete.
"Blimey, I would never have thought they would keep so much information concerning each of us" Neville said, scanning a group of parchments.
"Look, Hermione! Here is your file!" Harry excitedly said, and showed it to her. She knew they shouldn't lose time, but she was curious too, so they spent the night peering over her ancestors, finding that there had been magic in her mother's family till a couple centuries before her birth.
Tracing back her heritage to the time of the founders, she found that her mother's family descended from Godric Gryffindor's first cousin. As for Harry, the Potters were one of the oldest magical families in England, tracing back to even before the birth of the founders. They also found he was loosely linked to Rowena Ravenclaw, something he would have never expected. If anything, he thought Hermione would be the one related to that particular Founder. His girlfriend, however, pointed out that he didn't lack intelligence at all, he only didn't like to use it to its best, or preferred to rush following instinct instead of thinking.
He playfully rolled his eyes at her, then he declared that maybe now she should start calling him the "smartest wizard of our age", considering his heritage. Hermione pretended to swoon, before jabbing him in the ribs with her finger, and telling him he would have to gain that particular title, if he wanted it.
"Fair enough" he winked at her as they resumed their research.
Neville and Luna's families were pretty old too, they found, but not as much. As things were, Harry found the Ravenclaw to be his distant cousin, while Neville wasn't related to anyone of them.
"I guess this explains why I've always felt comfortable talking with you, Luna" Harry smiled, and the blonde nodded.
"Makes sense" she declared, peering through a stack of sheets in front of her.
It was a few hours later that finally Hermione announced she had found Remus' file. They set to work tracing back all his family lines, and searching for known abilities like being Animagi, or Metamorphmagi.
It took them a couple days to research all of the Lycan's known relatives, but in the end they found it.
A few generations back in time, from his mother's side, they found two Metamorphmagi. Knowing that a gene carried on for at least fifteen generations before being lost if the ability didn't show itself, this told them that Remus had Metamorphmagus genes in his blood.
--
"Professor Snape, we are here to report on what we found about Remus Lupin's condition" Harry said, replying to the teacher's question about why they were knocking on his office door. "The Headmaster told us to report to you as you're in charge of finding a cure for him, and we would like to help. We can give you an insight the Headmaster feels both of you have overlooked, since we are both Muggle-raised. Particularly, we can explain to you the mechanisms of genetics, and how this might have affected Remus when he was bitten"
"Very well, Potter" the older man snarled, turning and billowing his robes as his usual, motioning for them to come in.
When they were finished telling him about what they had found, Snape looked sceptically at Harry.
"Potter, is there something you contributed to this theory, or is it all Granger's doing?" he asked, and Harry balled his fists, counting to ten before replying.
Hermione, however, was faster. "We developed it together, Professor" she said, which wasn't a lie, even if the basic idea had been hers. Snape seemed content with that, and was willing to let them work with him on the cure.
"If anyone asks you why are you coming to my office after hours, tell them it's for an extra curricular project" he advised them before dismissing the pair. As they were walking up to Gryffindor Tower, Harry was puzzled over Hermione's behaviour back in the Potions Master's office, and she elaborated.
"Harry, I admit it took me almost six years to understand it, but I've a pretty good idea why Snape treats you so badly"
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