Weapon

Thank you to those who are still reading - or re-reading

Extra special thanks goes to my new beta - Lady B - and if there are mistakes still there, they are mine and probably put in after I got the chapter back from her very thorough going through.

Anyway, onwards!

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Weapon (Possession Chapter XCII)
Chapter XLI - Consider, If You Will
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Remus sat back watching Harry breath as he slept, his face a mask of contentment. He was still in his animagus form which had made navigating through some of the more narrow doorways rather interesting when they'd shifted him back to the infirmary. He smiled, wondering if it was even possible for this secret to be kept. Albus had confirmed that Harry was simply tired from his transformation and after seeing that the young man was comfortably settled he'd bustled off to attend to Order business.

Remus had agreed to watch him. Sirius hadn't asked, he hadn't needed to ask but Remus had agreed never the less to watch over Harry in his absence. As if there was much choice. He was not about to let Lily and James' child wander off alone. The Marauders' just didn't do that. So it was that he sat there, admiring the soft sheen of each feather as Harry slept, wondering about the future.

There was a chance of keeping this secret, the werewolf decided.

The Vampires didn't know. There was no reason to tell the Ministry. There was no reason to tell either, especially if this could be passed off as Harry trying to hard in the change.

After all, it wasn't as if the animagus transformation was essential or common and it was one of those bits of magic that was mastered only later in life, if the wizard or witch was interested in that type of thing. Completing it, while still in school was unheard of. Present company excepted of course. The Ministry wasn't really a problem. They'd either be told or not. It was the Vampires that were more concerning. Would Dumbledore tell them? Would he decide they didn't need to know.

It was easier speculating about the vampires and Dumbledore's handling of them than thinking about those things he had to... though his mind was too quick tonight to settle or to be distracted.

Albus was off planning with the vampires, probably some combined strike on some unimportant target. They were all unimportant. Until the battle against Voldemort himself, none of the targets were really bothering him. The compromises and the communications between the Vampires and the Ministry worried him... far more than he let on. It was not a good precedent and if this worked, how long would it be before Werewolves were declared anathema merely because they had not yet stated their loyalty to a Ministry that scored and persecuted them. The Order knew the price that would bring the Werewolves but it never seemed to be quite important enough for them to work on.

He'd asked Albus about it and had expected an answer but today was obviously Harry's day. Not that he minded this delay but the others... they were grating and it was becoming harder and harder for him to really see why he should wait, why they should wait for the Ministry to perhaps repeal their laws. The longer it took, the harder it would be to convince the Gathering, and the less he found himself wanting to convince them.

He shook his head. No. The only way for werewolves to be accepted was through the law. They had seen the other paths... they knew the other paths. The Ministry knew the other paths but they never seemed to remember that they had a role in forcing the werewolves to them. Why was it so hard to treat them as human? It wasn't as if most of the werewolves wanted to be what they were or wanted to hurt anyone. But they were pushed to that. A few, of course, took that path voluntarily and while Remus hated their actions, he couldn't bring himself to condemn them utterly. They though, the werewolves who voluntarily followed the Dark Lord, were another worry. It was all too easy to see how their mere presence would be used to persecute all of them. But those werewolves were also a part of the pack and contributed to the well being of the pack, often generously and mostly without reciprocation. Every now and then they did ask that some of the others come to serve the Dark Lord but when that happened they were reminded that the choice to serve was made by the individual. Because the pack had not chose the path of dark.

Yet.

Remus snorted softly to himself. That 'yet' was telling and the pressure was growing. Those Death Eater werewolves didn't have to say a thing. They continued to serve the pack and continued to serve the Dark Lord, and that was enough for most to see that serving the Dark Lord, while perhaps against their personal inclination, gave them a purpose, a future, let them contribute to the well being of the pack, let them feel useful. That feeling of worthlessness was something he understood far too well. He'd felt it when the news came through about Lily and James and when he'd watched Sirius dragged away. The little he'd done, keeping the canine animagus' wand safe, was pathetic yet it was all he could do. The fight against the feeling of worthlessness was why he had taken up the position of pack leader, why he continued to work with Dumbledore and the Order to influence the Ministry, why he continued to try for the werewolves... oh yes, he knew that feeling and he knew how much the pack suffered from it, how many it had broken.

He glanced over as Harry stirred, unconsciously moving his wings to wrap them around himself tighter, smoothing the feathers with an absent hand before he feel back into slumber.

The Gathering was after the next moon. And before he went, he would have to sort out his feelings. All the Pack Leaders would. Or else they would risk indecision at a time when they couldn't, because if they couldn't come to a decision - any decision - then it was all too easy to know what would happen. Those werewolves serving the Dark Lord would continue to serve, the Ministry would continue to use them as an excuse to avoid repealing their laws, and eventually some newspaper or ambitious Ministerial hack would get a hold of one of the Dark Lord's servants and would then use them to illustrate the evil nature of all werewolves, probably with some over dramatized photos of them biting innocent Muggles. No, this time they had to make a decision, they couldn't just let things coast along as they had during the last rise of the Dark Lord. For good or ill, they would have to make a stand and publically announce it. At the very least that should mean that Ministry could see that there were differences in the werewolves and that not all of them served the Dark Lord because even if the pack turned that way, there would be those who served the light - in some manner. Though, if the pack did decide to serve the Dark Lord, there was the possibility of sanctioned extermination... That argument had stayed the call to openly support Dark Lords in the past. Remus wasn't sure if it would hold now though... not with the Vampires serving the Ministry.

Which of course left the fourth option or the third, depending on if you counted making [i]no[/i] decision to be a fair option. Option one; serve the Ministry - unlikely without changes in how things were. Option two; serve the Dark Lord. This was increasingly likely with the Ministry's continued indifference and the Order's alliance with the Vampires. Option three; do nothing. The path they were very familiar with, had tried many times in the past, and allowed those werewolves serve as they would, while the whole declared no loyalty. It was a choice but this time, it was unlikely to be adequate. Option four; the new comer, the unknown power - a power that was prepared to give surety.

Remus shivered, remembering his meeting with that power's representative. They represented a dark path, that was certain, but it was not the darkness of the Dark Lord. It was something else but was it evil, was it just dark or was it something else entirely? Did it even matter?

Surety. Remus knew that that was what the rest of his folk would focus on. For once they would have someone to blame when things went wrong, for once they would be able to strike back.

But would surety matter if the Ministry won? Would surety matter if the Dark Lord won? Would going down that path be the same as doing nothing or would it be viable choice? It was a path. After meeting with the representative he knew that much, it was a path but was it the best path? That was the question he had to answer now. Their representative had been convincing without being over bearing and the last part of their conversation had shown... Lupin frowned as he considered the feeling. It was true. Yes, the last part had shown humanity. They offered the most tantalizing and appealing path, at least for him but would the others be able to see that, would they embrace that hope?

Remus blinked then smiled in contentment.

All that worry and he'd made his decision after all.

Though to convince the others he'd need some proof.

And he knew exactly what that would be.

---

Iavor suppressed the urge to curl his lip in disgust. The things the Ministry was allowing these days was enough to make any normal wizard scream in frustration yet he did nothing of the sort. He sat there, day after day, and smiled and nodded and felt sicker and sicker and more and more ashamed of himself with every non-human that went past that he did nothing about. Every application, every bit of paper bearing the mark of a non-human he'd processed, was just the same as the others. Because that was all he could do since he couldn't scream out his true feelings.

But this latest thing... he was very close to just getting up and walking away... except with the Dark Lord out there he had nothing to walk to.

He'd never been very good at History. Binns had bored him, as he had most other people in their year level but even he did remember the grinding tedium and hundreds of years worth of history with the goblins. And precious few of those years had been peaceful. Vampires, Iavor could stretch to accepting and the Ministry was rumoured to be running some joint tasks with them. Vampires had after all once been human for the most part. Hell, he'd even accept werewolves! Again they had once been human but goblins...

The Ministry just expected everyone to forget the past, forget their thieving, treacherous ways and just accept and give the goblins an equal part in the magical world! It was enough to make him scream. But he stamped the forms and sat there, smiling inanely as he worked, his mind seething with frustration he dared not voice.

Their supervisor had made it very clear that this was a Ministry Directive coming from the highest levels backed by the Order of the Phoenix. A small shiver passed through him as he considered the legendary group. The Order was something everyone knew of but nothing more. They had existed for centuries, so it was rumoured, open only to the best and the brightest and the strongest of Wizards and while they worked with the Ministry they had their own bases, their own rules and their own authority. They seldom stepped into the light but they existed, guiding, whispering advice, overseeing Wizarding society.

Up until now, Iavor had always assumed they had been working towards a balanced Wizarding world, one where they were still hidden from Muggles but otherwise free to do what they wanted. This latest thing, with them embracing the Goblins, insisting that they were equal now left him doubting. Except for the edict about Goblins, the edict that bore the official seal of the Ministry and was posted up on their information board, all else was pure rumour, speculation. Interesting, but unfounded. Though it left him doubting, left him wanting to know what else he could be doing.

His father always said he accepted things too easily as a Hufflepuff, that he just went along with the flow without considering. Well... time to do some considering, Iavor thought as he began stamping a new stack of papers, not even seeing the names beyond vaguely noting that they were things like Fiddlechop Hamlock... a definite Goblin name.

The Ministry had been caught by surprise by the Dark Lord and it was only the action of Lucius Malfoy that had saved the day. The Ministry had neither confirmed nor denied that Malfoy had been a rebel Death Eater and that his wife and son were also being circumspect in their dealings with the media, who was only too happy to proclaim the Malfoy patriarch to be a rebel Death Eater.

So if they'd been caught by surprise, what did that mean?

It meant that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had moved at a pace that the Ministry had been unprepared for, that he was stronger than they thought and that...

That they needed all the allies they could get.

Iavor suppressed a shudder, forcing himself to continue stamping the papers in unison with the others. There'd been a tension in the Ministry lately, since the attack but he'd assumed it was merely because they'd been attacked directly. What if it was something more, what if it was because they were truly afraid of losing? What if it was because the Ministry was holding on to order by a thread?

Now where did that leave him?

Up the proverbial creek.

Never let it be said that a Hufflepuff couldn't be eloquent, insightful and concise on occasion.

It left him stuck in this dead end job, stamping papers bearing the names of any non-human who could make a mark as the Ministry whored themselves to anyone who might give them power in the hope that they could hold off the Dark Lord. It meant that one day he'd probably see instead of Greythorp Idamin, one of the most bureaucratically inclined wizards Iavor had ever had the misfortune to meet, but who was still human, some goblin with an unpronounceable name giving the orders in the department and he'd be surrounded by anything with a hoof or a claw, slobbering and grunting and stamping.

This time he did shudder but his stamp never missed a beat and his mind seemed to fly as it considered options.

Firstly, the Ministry had offered the Goblins equality with wizards. That couldn't be undone and they would provide a viable fighting force, one that could spearhead any campaign and take heavy losses. Hopefully, that was what the Ministry intended all along.

Secondly, a further treaty or an update to the existing treaty with the Vampires was almost certainly signed off or about to be signed off. There was nothing he, a mere clerk, could do about that.

Thirdly, other species could be expected to sign on, especially if there were no visible problems with the integration of the vampires and goblins. Veela, Giants, centaurs, werewolves... the list was almost endless. The Ministry would be so busy dealing with the frictions between races that they wouldn't get anything done. Not that they were that efficient anyway but this would reduce the efficiency to close to zero and wizards and witches would just fall to the wayside. No doubt, institutions such as Hogwarts would be expected to educate the non-humans as well... leaving less and less space to the humans.

Those were things he could not change. And quite possibly he'd never be in a position where he could change them. Certainly not in the next few years. A year ago he would have raged about that. Today, he just shrugged it off as reality. He could however, give out information about his job more freely, just gossip more regularly, something he'd been reluctant to do when asked in the pub as he enjoyed a butterbeer after work. And he could make sure that any nonhuman paperwork that went past him that was not filled out correctly was rejected.

Neither of those would do much good though, he concluded somewhat glumly and rejecting the paperwork was particularly petty. There had to be something else.

You could join the Dark Forces.

The suggestion came from deep within his mind, so deep he wasn't sure he heard it. He considered it dispassionately, moving two to three reports into his file for 'Reconsideration' when he noticed their applicant's names and a few small discrepancies within the writing. He could join the Dark Forces, he acknowledged. But what would that do really?

He'd still be in this job. If called to fight, he'd likely be dead. He was a good wizard but not that good especially in combat. That was more a Gryffindor or Slytherin calling. He'd still be in this job, still working the same hours, processing the same information...

Information.

His office dealt with it incessantly. It was all they did. They transferred applications for almost everything to various Wizarding departments. Applications to research, applications for permits to build, applications for thestral ownership, griffon ownership, applications to open businesses, to transport goods, to travel overseas, everything. It was a truism that if you filled out of a bit of paper, at some stage somehow it would come through his department.

He could give that information to the Dark Forces. How many non-humans were called to muster, how many were issued with what equipment, were now legally allowed to practice their so called trades in the open, how many were helping the Ministry.

And in return... in return, what did he want?

His mind almost chuckled as it replied to his internal question. He wanted the wizards back where they should be - in control, in charge, not dealing or negotiating with the goblins or vampires or any other non-human. Not having to seek support for anything. Goblins, vampires, werewolves, Veela... all of them were a part of the magical world but none of them should be allowed to rise above their place. And their place was serving or otherwise providing education to wizards as they went about their ways, in their own communities, own environments that did not impose upon Wizard or Muggle societies. So how did he join the Dark Forces?

Let them find me, he answered his own question again. Just go to the pub, gossip as usual, though perhaps let slip a few more comments about wizard superiority and they would find him. Probably not immediately but it would happen. After all with the Ministry busy scrambling around seeking support, that implied that the Dark Forces had already recruited, had already put in position their means for support. All he had to do was let the right people find him.

And they would.

---

Elliot ground his teeth in frustration, looking down at the layout of tomorrow's front page with the screaming headline 'EXPOSED'.

This was going to be bad. This was going to be very bad but no one in the paper had believed him. No one really cared. All they were seeing was the instant reaction of the wizards and the sales this would generate.

He'd tried to stop the Editor. The Order knew he'd tried to explain but the man seemed almost possessed and was certainly determined. And it wasn't the determination of one under Imperio, it was the determination of one who saw accolades pending and didn't want to consider reality, didn't want to consider the consequences, one who didn't even see the consequences. He'd gotten word to Dumbledore but even Albus hadn't been able to think of a way of preventing this. Not without knowing how it had happened.

And that was the one thing no one was talking about.

No one was talking about how Wilbur O'Haresh, the dependable, stock standard reporter who's crowning achievement in his career so far had been correctly predicting that the knut would actually rise against the riven with the confirmation that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had returned, in other words, the Prophet's economic hack writer, had not only been able to find but had been able to confirm that an as yet unnamed Ministry official was not only a werewolf but one sworn to the service of the Dark Lord. Yet the photographs kindly provided by the Aurors and blazoned under the headline were conclusive and unarguable for all that they covered the werewolves face, his Ministry mark on his robes was clearly visible, as was the Dark Mark on this hitched up sleeve.

Who ever he was, he'd been caught, his Dark Mark revealed and he'd stood for the photograph with a sense of arrogant assurance. It was in the stance, this man, this Death Eater wasn't resigned to his fate now that he was caught. It was almost like the picture of Sirius Black, published all those years ago, laughing as he stood holding the card with his prison numbers. This wasn't the same, the werewolf wasn't insane but was coldly calculating and assured of his might. He really was one of those werewolves that took pleasure in his work and had been quoted as saying during interrogation, 'I'm just the first. Soon all of us will serve him.'

This was going to be very, very bad and Elliot couldn't help but wonder if the Dark Lord had set this up. Remus had made his position clear to the Order. The Werewolves wanted equality before they could serve with the Ministry but the presence of the Vampires was straining them, was pushing them towards the Dark Lord, though as a whole they had not yet made a decision. Once Lupin had explained why the werewolves hated the vampires, it had made rather too much sense that they could not just throw in with the Ministry, though their previous history did not help matters.

But this.

No matter that this man was a proven Death Eater, no matter that he had undoubtedly been doing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's work, the manner of his exposure, arrest and the subsequent press and backlash against the werewolves, Elliot didn't see any way that they would be coming in on to the Ministry side this time. Short of absolute full equality and some very harsh laws guaranteeing that equality, laws that were actually supported by the Aurors, something few of them would have the courage to do... Something the Ministry didn't have the courage to do…

Yeah... the chances of that happening… The Muggle phrase a 'snowflakes chance in hell' sprang to mind rather readily. No, the Ministry would not offer the werewolves anything like that. They couldn't, not after this. In fact, most wizards would want the werewolves to abase themselves and beg for acceptance after this. They wouldn't care, they wouldn't see that this was a media play, designed to create fear and that it wasn't the werewolves fault. But most wizards wouldn't care. They would see the non-human side and blame all of them, make all of them accountable. Never mind that such a standard was never applied to wizards. Never mind that werewolves were human for ninety five percent of the time and that most went to extreme lengths to ensure that they did not and could not hurt anyone for the five percent of the time when they had no control over their actions. After all this press, that would mean less than nothing to most wizards.

The werewolves might possibly be able to declare neutrality but even if they did, that would just make most wizards believe that they were all Death Eater's anyway. So neutrality may just be an option that was synonymous with destruction. Slower perhaps, especially if they were vocal about their neutrality and especially if the Order could perhaps show Remus helping out in significant ways but it would still be a path of non acceptance and most wizards would twist neutrality into the werewolves hiding the fact that they supported the Dark Lord, would twist it into some attempt of the werewolves trying to play both sides. That would be a very readily drawn conclusion, especially if other non-humans came in to support the Ministry and the Order, especially if the vampires had any say in the matter. And after they'd served on a few more missions, Elliot knew that Xeoaph would no doubt be willing to talk to the media. A few stilted phrases at first, but the vampire could be personable when he wanted, charming, logical and no doubt he'd take more than a bit of pleasure in taunting the werewolves, in pointing out that they weren't helping the wizards when the vampires, traditional enemies of wizards had put aside their dislike enough to counter the greater evil. Elliot could see all too clearly how that would unfold.

Which left the werewolves in an unenviable position; unable to support the Ministry with any degree of fairness or equality for themselves and unable to declare neutrality without it being construed as support for the Dark Lord. And potentially, Elliot prayed, unwilling to support the Dark Lord.

Though the way things were going 'unwilling to support' may soon be replaced by 'have to support' and when the Order won, Elliot knew exactly where that would leave the werewolves but right at the moment he couldn't see a whole lot of choice for them. Maybe Remus would, maybe Albus would, maybe anyone would but right at the moment Elliot couldn't see any choice.

He looked around the office at the radiant faces of his fellow journalists as they sought to congratulate Wilbur on a great article and an amazing bit of investigative journalism and he sighed, slipping his wand back into its holster in the small of his back, before moving unobtrusively to the door. As he pushed his punch card into the reader, hearing it click loudly, Elliot heard the Editor laugh, his voice showing no concern, no worry, only triumph.

He needed a drink.

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