Dark Shadows

Plot, new characters, new magical terms and abilities etc. are my intellectual property. If you want to borrow then please kindly ask. JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers.

Authors Notes: I am doing my own thing and am drawing on my own Nanticoke/Lenni-Lenape Native American heritage for this story for inspirational purposes, but am taking a number of liberties here. Some of the dialogue of the Native Americans in this story comes from famous quotes found through many sites on the web as well as my own recollections from various readings.

Summary: After the fall of Voldemort many secrets are revealed amidst new beginnings. But nothing is ever as simple as it would seem. Harry Potter once again is The Chosen One and there is a lot more to loose.

Dark Shadows

by NativeMoon

Chapter 1: And so it begins…

TAP! TAP! TAP!

Remus Lupin stirred underneath the blanket and turned over, pulling it over his head. He had fallen asleep on the sofa in his sitting room and couldn’t be bothered to climb the stairs to go to bed. It was enough to have made up the stairs from the cellar below. He was recovering from another painful werewolf transformation. The Wolfsbane potion he needed to prevent it was as inaccessible as ever without so much as a galleon to his name.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

Remus sighed. He really didn’t want to have to get up, as tired as he was. On the other hand, he didn’t know why he should be so fussed about getting some sleep. The dream would only come to haunt him yet again. Just as it had every time he slept over the last 18 years.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

“Alright, I’m coming,” he said with a yawn as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

He assumed it would be the familiar snowy white form that was Hedwig, the owl that belonged to Harry Potter. Harry was in the midst of training as an Auror and it had been a while since Remus had last heard from him. The werewolf finally had a look at his visitor and there was a sharp intake of breath. A few laboured steps and he opened the window where a red owl was perched. This was a highly unusual owl, not indigenous to the British Isles. It had flown a long way and there was only one place from which it could have come. Remus took the message from the leg stuck out to him and then opened the window wider.

The owl flapped into the room and settled onto a chair.

“I’m sorry – I don’t have an owl of my own. So no owl treats. And as you can see I don’t have so much as a sickle to my name. I have biscuits – cookies, will that do?”

There was a low hoot of acknowledgement and Remus headed off to his kitchen. After a moment he returned with a small dish of water and some butter biscuits and placed them on the arm of the chair. He then sat down with the note and opened it with trembling hands.

There was one sentence.

‘It is time.’

xxxOOOxxx

“It is time you learned the truth for yourself,” Alicia ‘Mourning Dove’ Woapanachke said gravely. “The truth about the blood that flows in your veins.”

Juniata Woapanachke looked over at the Council of Elders from her seat on the ground. Her grandmother was one of the most revered of all who guided the Unalachtigo Band of the Nanticoke/Lenni-Lenape. Only a fool with a serious death wish would not listen when she spoke.

Alicia regarded her granddaughter solemnly. It had been six months to the day that her husband Standing Bear had ‘gone home’ – the day that her beloved husband had died. And yet it seemed that when her immortal beloved walked on to the next world he had taken something of her granddaughter with him.

Hindsight being 20/20 she’d had many regrets about what had happened all those years ago. They should have anticipated that June would have total recall of that day. No matter what was said to her – her granddaughter always knew that everyone around her was lying to her about what happened to her parents. Her parents hadn’t simply vanished into thin air, leaving her to be raised by her grandparents.

June had just returned from her latest Vision Quest and something of significance had been revealed to her by her Life Totem. The truth of what she really was. She possessed a magic far beyond that of her people and was not meant to remain in Delaware in the territory of Mitsawokett, their ancestral home. There was an old one, like the Elders but not one of them who would come for her. This old one would lead her to her destiny.

And so her grandmother reported the messages of the quest to the Council. June had taken up the mantle of Sachem and the Council of Elders had decided that it was time she had the truth and embraced her true birthright.

“My parents did not simply vanish,” the young Sachem said respectfully as she sat on the floor of the Council wigwam facing the Elders.

“No, they did not,” her grandmother said gravely.

“There was a great conflict – one that was not ours, but one that my mother got caught up in unintentionally.”

“Yes.”

“A stranger came from another world, a world of strangebloods with conflicts not so different from those in the world of the whites, and it was through him that her destiny moved.”

Her grandmother nodded as she looked into her granddaughters piercing blue eyes. She was more daughter than granddaughter and it would kill her to let June go to her own peculiar fate.

“You see?” said Aida Susquehanna, another Elder as she gestured and nodded, “The power of their spirits move through her as much as ours. She knows. She knows.”

“What else, our daughter?” Aida asked as she took a seat across from June and clasped her hands. A highly significant gesture, for it was public acknowledgement of the high standing of the young Sachem and appreciation of her undeniably superior gifts in their eyes – most of them.

“I am here because my destiny was independent of my mother’s. She lived her life as she was meant to live it. What you all did, what she did – all was as it was meant to be. All is as it was meant to be. She and the one with the totem strangeblood – it was meant to be. She did have a choice – but it was not her destiny to remain here. Just as it is not mine.”

There was silence.

“I remember,” June said quietly. “I remember that day. I have dreamt about it for the last 18 years. I barely remember her. I would not remember her were it not for the photographs, Grandmother. But him – even now I remember him. I remember what it felt like to be held by him, I remember his voice singing me to sleep, I remember his smell. I remember what it was like to have his love. I have always remembered my father even though I have nothing from him but memories; especially those of that day…”

“He did leave something for you, Nicantet,” Alicia said quietly.

The old woman took a deep breath.

“You see, despite what happened all those years ago I always knew that this day was inevitable. Your grandfather had a father’s love for you, his only grandchild. He wanted to protect you, to keep you safe. But you have been no safer here than you would have been the world of the strangebloods in some respects. You have seen more and fought more battles than the whole of this Council put together. It is because of what you are as much as who. You know this, my daughter.”

June nodded respectfully. She was crying inside, but it was not the way of a Sachem to wage an emotional battle in public.

Alicia reached under her cape and pulled out a purple velvet drawstring bag with Celtic embroidery. She held it in both hands, sighed deeply and then took a seat on the floor across from her granddaughter next to Aida.

Once seated she held the bag out to her granddaughter.

June took it tentatively with slightly trembling hands. She held it for a moment and closed her eyes. A few tears streamed down both cheeks and her grandmother reached over and stroked them away.

June opened her eyes and her grandmother gestured for her to open the bag.

The young Sachem opened the bag and pulled out a silver heart-shaped choker with a ruby setting. It was surrounded by amethysts, emeralds, diamonds and sapphires. There was a matching cuff and earrings.

There were audible gasps from other Elders.

In addition to the extremely valuable jewelry there was something else. A long rectangular box with an inscription in what would in time be revealed as Ogham. June opened it and most curiously there was a sort of wand that had Celtic engraving and the same gemstones.

She looked at her grandmother questioningly.

“They are from your father – family heirlooms from his mother,” Alicia said quietly. “Although they hold great monetary value in this world – they are valuable for a different reason in his.”

“And that reason is?”

“That is for him to tell you…”

“He still lives in the world of the strangebloods,” said June evenly, “and we are meant to reunite through the ancient one who is revered in his world.”

“It is so,” said Aida with a nod.

“But there is something else…my life has a purpose and that purpose is to do with that world and not this one.”

“Yes, Nicantet,” said Alicia. “Your destiny is intertwined with those of others, your father included. It was not for him to know all those years ago, but he knows now. And now it is time. Your time to embrace what you are and the world you were meant to walk in.”

“I understand,” June said softly. “It is hard to accept…that I will never see this world again. That when I leave all that I know fades into the mists of time.”

“So it was written by the Great Spirit long ago and so it will be done,” said Eagle-Eye Lenapehoking, an Elder and one of the most fearsome warriors of the tribe. “But remember Juniata – always remember who you are and where you came from in this world. Your name will be exalted in the world of the strangebloods but the path you must walk will not be simple. The path of a Sachem is never easy. This I do not need to tell you, but time is short and what needs to be said will be.”

June nodded. Wisdom was always sacred even if it was already known.

But foreknowledge of a path never made it any easier to walk.

xxxOOOxxx

Several days later June decided go for a long drive. It was something that always managed to calm her when tensions mounted. The Elders were preparing for the visit of one Albus Dumbledore, a man of great prestige and power. It was more than she could bear at the moment.

All that time, her grandfather had known – he had known! All those years when she was teased and called names – oftentimes not very nice names by adults who should have known better; adults who resented her presence among them. So many people around her knew the truth and not one of her tormenters even saw fit to tell her. She had loved her grandfather, but right now in this moment she deeply resented him. June couldn’t help but to think that her life might have been different if he hadn’t stood against her mother and father. She could have had her parents; her mother might have even survived if she’d had her daughter with her. Perhaps her mother would not have taken so many risks.

It was late afternoon when she finally returned to the home she shared with her grandmother. In the distance she could see a thick plume of smoke from the Council wigwam.

He was here.

xxxOOOxxx

June had donned her ceremonial regalia, not wanting to be anything less than who she was – or who she was led to believe she was. It was a message for Him as much as the people she would be leaving behind. She was Nanticoke and Lenni Lenape first, last and always; the blood of her First Nations ancestors flowed strongly in her veins, even more than the other. No matter where she ended up in time, this would never change.

‘A Lenape He, Albus Dumbledore,’ she said firmly after scrutinising the old wizard carefully.

‘Hello, Miss Woapanachke,’ Professor Dumbledore said as he bowed deeply.

June looked at her grandmother who gave her a nod in return.

‘So – I am to go with you… just like that,’ she commented.

‘Nothing of the sort,’ the Headmaster replied respectfully.

‘Please June – sit down,’ her grandmother said softly as she patted the mat beside her.

June did as she was asked, feeling the old wizard’s eyes examining her carefully. He was searching for something, but he’d already known the minute he laid eyes on her.

‘Yes – I’m His daughter alright…’ she commented.

‘You remember your father… extraordinary…’ the old man mumbled.

‘How could I forget when I relive that moment every day?’

‘It was not my decision,’ Dumbledore said firmly. ‘I had no influence in this matter.’

‘You didn’t try to have influence either!’

‘June!’ Alicia admonished her with a guilty look.

June looked at her grandmother incredulously. ‘So what else haven’t I been told – after all this?’

‘He did come,’ another Elder, Cliff Ridgeway, said firmly, ‘But Standing Bear would not hear of your leaving for the world of the strangebloods.’

‘You didn’t want me here; why didn’t you convince him?’

‘Do not ask questions you already have answers to, girl!’ the Elder spat.

‘Right – you were afraid him and you still are!. Afraid of what he and the ones loyal to him could still do. But I didn’t ask for this! I didn’t cause it! Has it ever occurred to any of you that hate me that I am the victim in all of this!’

‘We know,’ commented Aida. ‘Which is exactly why you are still here; it would not have been right to send you away to the world of the strangebloods. You are still one of us and it is our magic that holds sway over you – not theirs! Ridgeway does not speak for the majority and never has done.’

‘And it’s our magic that he needs, isn’t that so Professor?’

‘Yes,’ Dumbledore sighed wearily. ‘We need you now more than ever. But I want you to understand that I need you as much for your father as I do for the trouble our world faces.’

‘Your world – not mine.’

‘It’s as much yours as it is mine, child,’ Dumbledore said gravely. ‘There has always been a part of you that longed for something more; that felt incomplete. It would have been quite easy for me to take you, even though force. But that has never been my way, nor will it ever be. To a degree you were safer in this world, but the sacred knowledge you have could have only come from your people here. We are not connected to the spirits as you are – and what we are potentially dealing with is nothing less than supernatural. My students and their teachers are woefully ignorant of such things – most of them.’

‘If my father needs me so much then why isn’t he here?’

Glances flew around the room but no one was willing to speak.

‘Are you that afraid of him; of what he can do?’ June demanded.

‘No,’ Dumbledore replied angrily. ‘They are afraid of what he is!’

‘What he is? But he’s one of you! He’s a wizard!’

‘He is more than that… unfortunately. His has not been an easy life by any stretch of the imagination.

‘So he is what our Navajo brothers would call a “skinwalker”’ June said firmly, eliciting gasps of horror from the Elders. ‘He’s not anything like that and he’s certainly not evil – the act perpetrated against him to make him what he is was evil. He can’t help what he is any more than I can.’

‘So you do have some understanding of what he is – he’s a werewolf,’ Dumbledore said simply.

‘The situation is anything but uncomplicated, Dumbledore!’ Ridgeway said. ‘It’s not OK that you want to exploit us! Your problems are your own – why should we be a party to them! It’s not right for her to reveal our secrets and especially not to people like you! And what he is – it is dangerous! She has bad blood in her veins and everyone knows it!’

‘So you finally get off your ass and tell me what you really think!’ June hissed. ‘All this time, you must think I’m stupid! I’ve know all along what you think – how you see me! I’ve had to live with your hatred since long before I was old enough to understand what you were putting me through. Your worst nightmare is that somehow there will be more like me for you to deal with. You know as much about werewolves as the rest of us – especially Spiritual Werewolves. The idea of it you embrace but the reality… You’re a hypocrite! And I also know that you want power for its own sake and you’d do anything to get it, even if it means putting up with me until you can figure out how to get rid of me so that there is no chance of me ever coming back! Well you’re wasting your time! When I leave this territory returns to the shadows and it won’t matter any more. If you want power you’ll have to go elsewhere to get it!’

‘June,’ her grandmother said sadly. ‘I had no idea it was that bad…’

‘You have not been hurt, have you Daughter?’ Aida asked.

‘There hasn’t been a day when I haven’t been, but not in the way that you think.’ June answered

‘It still shouldn’t have happened.’

‘We’re not perfect Aunt Aida; I don’t care how much posturing he wants to go through – there is no one here that is perfect, me included. We all make mistakes and if Mr. Ridgeway had been thinking straight, he would have done all he could to help me be happy and feel like I really belonged and had a purpose. I love my people and I love our way of life, but I know it’s not meant for me. I have to walk between two worlds, neither of which really wants someone like me.’

Dumbledore looked down, sadness etched in the crevasses that betrayed his age. He couldn’t lie to her; he couldn’t paint a picture of some Utopia that didn’t exist for mixed bloods.

‘I know it’s not your fault,’ June said to him as she took a seat next to him. ‘You can’t help who you fall in love with, my parents were no different.’

‘The years your father had with your mother were the best of his life. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for her within his power. And both of them loved you dearly, more than you may ever understand.’

‘Knowing it doesn’t make it easier.’

‘No – it doesn’t. But at least your mother had true love. She wanted a world of peace and love – and she fought for that for your sake and your father’s. Unfortunately she wasn’t you… she didn’t have the gifts that you have; gifts that would have made a difference.’

‘For her or for the rest of your world?’

‘Both.’