Just Around the Riverbend

angeles
Voracious Reader
Alina
Jaime
LaBibliographe
HarryGinny4Eva (x2)
Serin Blackmoon
hairsprayX12
AnonymousAngrogeny
Dawn (Haven't forgot your ficlet. Just gotta get it done)
margaritama
angelnomiko
Jennifer
JadeLucky
The Sexy Muggle Librarian (Yay lurker!!)

Sorry I didn't get it up sooner. (Ha!) Real life and all that jazz. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hermione gently fussed over Phelan, clicking her tongue as she straightened up his dress robes. Today he was going to be testifying against some of the guards from Azkaban. The three he’d seen brutalize Remus, and the warden of the Lycan cell.

Over the past few months Kingsley had been quite busy gutting the prison staff. He discovered with horror that not only was there corruption and brutality in the Lycan block, but it had spread up into the main prison as well.

Of the one hundred and twelve inmates in the werewolf section of Azkaban, fifteen of them had been falsely imprisoned. Every single one of those fifteen had been beaten, starved, and raped. None of them were as bad as Remus, but their sickly, bony frames were enough to throw Kingsley into a fury. Of those fifteen, three of them were young women, and all three were in varying stages of pregnancy. Kingsley had assured them that the paternity of the children would be proved, and they would be allowed the right to sue the men for child support money.

Of the three hundred and fifty-two Aurors that were employed by the Ministry, forty were arrested for wrong doings. Twelve faced counts of attempted murder, eight faced several counts of rape, and all forty faced several counts of assault.

Phelan found he didn’t mind being fussed over a little by Hermione. He’d grown up without the loving touch of a mother, and she was close enough for him. Though they were close enough in age to be siblings, Hermione had a maturity about her that made her seem much older than twenty-one.

Serena was growing like a little weed. At three months old she could squeal and coo at her mother and father (along with Aunt Daisy and Uncle Phelan), blow bubbles, and push herself up to look around at her surroundings. She was a happy baby and Phelan had learned to appreciate her infantile quirks since he and Daisy had been home.

Phelan had yet to receive the scores from taking the OWLs, but he was fairly certain he’d passed with flying colors. He’d been exhausted after attempting to take so many OWLs, but when he’d told Hermione of his ambitious attempt, she’d merely brushed the hair away from his face and told him she was sure he’d done perfectly. He’d beamed for the rest of the day.

Now, however, he was in a somber mood. His testimony was important for the cases against those guards. He’d witnessed what they’d done to Remus. Remus was going to be there as well, and Phelan found himself looking forward to seeing the man again. They’d gotten together for the full moons since Phelan’s trial, and Phelan found he quite enjoyed frolicking with another werewolf. His father’s subordinates hadn’t been free to frolic, and any rough-housing broke things in the building they stayed in, and they had to face his father’s wrath in the morning.

“You’ll be just fine, Phelan.” Hermione said softly, smoothing his silver hair in a motherly fashion. She spotted a smudge on his cheek, and licked her thumb to wipe it off. Phelan stepped back, bristling.

“I draw the line at that, madam! You may fix my collar and tie, smooth my hair, and hug me all you want, but you will not smear my face with spit!” he growled. Hermione laughed softly, and put her arms down.

“Sorry, sorry.” She chuckled. “Lucius should be down momentarily to take you to the Ministry.”

As if on cue Lucius billowed into the room looking quite the part of an austere guardian. Phelan was impressed. He’d seen several sides of Lucius Malfoy. He’d seen the soft side that interacted with Hermione and Serena, and even Daisy. He’d seen the fierce protective side when dealing with the early relationship of him and Daisy.

“Are you ready, Mr. Greyback?” Lucius asked. Phelan nodded, and stood straight.

~~

Lucius and Phelan strode with a purpose through the halls of the Ministry. They approached Courtroom Ten, and Phelan found himself a bit nervous. He saw Remus standing outside the courtroom, dressed in plain new robes. He had gained more weight since Phelan had seen him at the last full moon. With Phelan’s advice to accept his transformations, along with pleasant full moon adventures with another werewolf (and occasionally a big black dog) Remus was coming out of his transformations looking much better.

Combine that with the fact that Phelan was also trying to get Remus to work out physically to get his strength back, and the white-haired werewolf was looking much better.

“Ah! I was wondering when you’d get here, Phelan.” Remus said, his nose twitching. Phelan was also teaching him to tap into the more useful werewolf traits, like increased smell.

“Well with Hermione clucking over me like a mother hen and trying to spit-wash my face I had a hard time getting away.” Phelan replied. Remus laughed softly, and then looked up at Phelan’s escort. “Mr. Malfoy.” He said politely, and inclined his head.

“Mr. Lupin.” Lucius replied. “I must say you are looking much better than the last time I laid eyes on you.”

“I’m feeling much better, too. With plenty of good food and some very nice company, I’ve found my recover coming along splendidly.” Remus replied.

“Oh, so you’re saying my cooking wasn’t good enough?” Phelan teased.

“Not that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy eating deer, fox and squirrel, but I find that I like beef, pork and chicken much better.” Remus said with a laugh. Lucius really did try to hide the disgusted sneer that crept up on his lips. Phelan noticed it.

“Oh, don’t even play the indignant aristocrat. You eat fish eggs.” Phelan growled. Lucius sniffed haughtily, and drew himself up.

“That is not the same. Caviar is a rare and delicate treat. I daresay that…fox…is neither rare nor delicate.” Lucius remarked. Phelan raised a silver eyebrow.

“I’d love to see you catch a fox to eat. The forest would end up eating you.” he said. His sentence held no malice, only stark truth.

“I daresay I’m not as advanced in survival in the forests, but you’d be surprised what this indignant aristocrat can do.” Lucius returned evenly. Phelan regarded him.

“Nah. I’ve seen you in action. I probably wouldn’t be surprised. Now, if we’re all done arguing about our unique culinary interests, I’d like to put these bastards behind bars.” Phelan said. Lucius gave a slight nod in acquiescence, and they entered the courtroom.

There was only a handful of the prisoners who were willing to testify. The others had been too terrified from the experience and too grateful to be out to even consider entering the courtroom. One poor individual had even needed sedation after they mentioned testifying.

One of the lycans that had braved the trip was one of the young women that had been imprisoned. She couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen, and she looked to be about six or seven months pregnant. She was rather plain in appearance. She had short brown hair, muddy green eyes and her face was pale and drawn. Phelan noticed that she was trembling like a Chihuahua.

Sirius Black had just entered the courtroom, and Phelan saw him sit near the back. He supposed the man was there for emotional support of his friend.

Remus was sitting beside Phelan and was nervously fiddling with one of the shiny steel buttons on robes. He knew he’d have to face those men again. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to do it. He jumped a bit when Phelan smacked his hand away from his buttons.

“Stop fiddling.” Phelan said, using a soft but firm voice. Much like a parent talking to a child. Remus narrowed his eyes.

“You’re not my father.” Remus whispered rebelliously. Phelan looked over at Remus, pinning him with those sharp yellow eyes. After a few moments, Remus looked away, and tilted his head slightly away from Phelan, baring his neck in submission.

“Just sit still.” Phelan returned.

~~

“They’re animals! Filthy, mangy beasts!” The guard spat contemptuously. Phelan saw the young lycan girl jerk nervously.

“But they are still people.” The tall lawyer prosecuting the guards snarled.

“No! They are not people! Once a month they grow the balls to attack us and our families, and the rest of the month they try to hide among us like they belong! They are nothing! I’m glad I got to put a few of the slobbering bastards in their place-”

“Enough!” Kingsley bellowed. The guard looked like he wanted to keep going. Kingsley looked down where the werewolves were sitting in the audience, and noticed first and foremost that Phelan looked ready to fly from his seat. He could see Phelan’s eyes glowing with rage. His teeth were bared and clenched together as he breathed deeply to calm himself. Remus was pale and sweating, the man’s diatribe having gotten to him. The others were in varying shades of emotional misery, and the young girl’s shoulders were heaving with sobs.

“Kevin Stokes, on fifteen counts of wrongful imprisonment I find you guilty. On forty counts of rape I find you guilty. On thirty-six counts of assault I find you guilty. And on a staggering sixty-seven counts of attempted murder I find you guilty. Your sentencing is as follows: you will spend the rest of your life in Azkaban prison. For the first two years of your imprisonment you will be given forty lashes once a month so that you may appreciate what you put these people through.” Kingsley snarled. Stokes lost all color in his face, and stared incredulously at the Minister.

“Y-you can’t…”

“But I can. It is not a common punishment. It has fallen out of use because of its unnecessary harshness, but a Ministry sanctioned lashing is not illegal. And you will receive one monthly for two years. Take him out.” Kingsley motioned to one of the Aurors.

The other guards didn’t roast themselves so easily. They actually needed the testimony from the werewolves to snare them. But the young woman, whose name was Betsy Yarboro, couldn’t even complete testifying because she fell into a panic attack and had to be escorted out of the room. Though they didn’t dig themselves into such holes as their mate had, the other guards fell to similar sentences.

The warden of the Lycan block, Gregory Robinson, was the slipperiest of all. He had the best defense money could buy, and he was slowly but surely making the witnesses look like fools as they were called. They finally called on Remus to come to the stand, and Phelan heard Remus take a shaky breath. Phelan reached over and laid a hand on Remus’ wrist. Remus looked up at him with nervous amber eyes.

“Sic ‘im.” Phelan said softly. Remus’ mouth turned up slightly.

~~

“I saw his face in my cell every few days for three years. At least once a week would have me shed my prison robes and whip me. He used a whip with a metal tip on the end.” Remus said, and shivered violently. “Sometimes he and a couple of the other guards would…they’d…take turns…” Here Remus faltered, his breathing going erratic.

“Mr. Lupin, I know it’s not easy, but I must ask you to continue.” The prosecuting lawyer said softly.

“They….r-raped m-me. I always felt s-so ashamed.” Remus said, and covered his face with his hand. There was murmuring in the audience, and Remus started to lose his composure. “I just wanted them to kill me. I had no hopes of ever seeing the light of day again, and all I wanted was a merciful death. But I was denied that. Mr. Robinson is a sadistic, cruel man.” Remus said, his amber eyes lighting on the man in question. Robinson held up his shackled hands slightly and made a suggestive gesture by putting his index finger through a loop make by the index finger and thumb of his opposite hand.

Eventually, Kingsley had enough testimonial and physical evidence to put in a guilty sentence for Robinson as well.

“Your sentence is as follows: you will spend the rest of your natural life at Azkaban in solitary confinement. For the first four years of your imprisonment you will submit to a twenty-five count lashing every two weeks with a Ministry approved whip.” Kingsley growled.

After the grueling trials were over, Remus found himself sitting on a bench in the atrium of the Ministry. He was staring at his hands and didn’t notice he wasn’t completely alone until someone sat down next to him. He looked up into Sirius’ face, and gave a watery smile.

“I’m sorry you had to hear all that.” Remus said softly. Sirius raised a dark eyebrow.

“I’m sorry you had to live all that.” He returned evenly.

“Yeah, me too.” Remus replied. Sirius threw his arm around Remus’ shoulders.

“Whaddaya say you go fetch that colorful tyke of yours, and I see if we can borrow Mini Snape and his great winged father, and go for some ice cream? I know a double-chocolate banana split with extra whipped cream and white chocolate shavings that is calling your name, Moony.”

“You’re on friendly terms with Snape?” Remus asked, quite surprised.

“Nah, he still hates my guts! But his son is a brilliant little patch of grass and is quite taken with Uncle Padfoot. Or Fawkes….one of us.” Sirius said. Remus grimaced.

“I bet Severus is thrilled.”

~~

Truth was, he was not thrilled. But he could not deny the ever-so-logical argument of one Sirius Black that Cole needed to play with children his own age. The kids at the park were good to Cole but most of them were much older than he was. Teddy Lupin was only a year older than Cole, and would be a much better play companion, loathe as his father was to admit it.

Yet so it was that he found himself sitting in Forescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, watching his son eat a bowl of chocolate ice cream with obvious relish. On the other side of Cole was a crimson-haired Teddy. Teddy had picked crimson because of the robes Sirius was wearing, and had colored his eyes inky black after getting a good look at Cole and Severus.

Sirius, Remus, Andromeda and Severus were sitting at a four-person table right next to the young ones, and no one seemed forthright in making conversation.

“So…Sirius…your eyes changed color…” Andromeda finally started weakly. Sirius blinked at her, and Severus seemed to notice for the first time that Sirius’ eyes, which had once been smoky gray, were iridescent, and turned a rainbow of colors as he moved and talked.

“Yea, they’re brilliant aren’t they? Near as I can tell it’s from opening my eyes while I was still trapped behind the Veil. I remember waking up, and not remembering much. A voice was talking to me, and telling me I had to go back and fight. Then Fawkes came flying up out of nowhere, and fire-flashed me out of the void. When I got out, I was wearing the uniform I arrived at Hogwarts it. Fawkes flew me there the long way, and told me a little about what had been happening since I went behind the Veil.” Sirius finished, and then took a large scoop of strawberry ice cream.

Severus opened his mouth to say something, possibly snarky, when Cole let out a squeak of awe. The adults turned to see Teddy sporting long black hair like Severus, and amber eyes like Remus.

“Papa! Look! Like ‘oo, papa!” Cole said excitedly, pointing to his friend’s long black hair. Teddy grinned toothily.

“I turn lo’sa colors!” he bragged, before making his hair go bright orange. Cole clapped excitedly.

“More! More!” he giggled. Sirius glanced over at Severus in time to see the normally dour man’s lips turn up into a smile while he gazed at his son.

If there was hope for Sour Grape Snape to get himself a progeny, then surely Sirius Black could continue his bloodline!

~~

Hermione was asleep on the sofa with Serena dozing on her chest. Lucius had come home with Phelan from the Ministry, and was sitting in a soft leather chair watching his wife and daughter. Phelan had gone off with Daisy to sunbathe (*cough* snog *cough*) in the garden.

He watched as Serena wiggled a fist sleepily, and saw her little eyes flutter open. She made a few soft smacking sounds with her mouth, and pulled her fist underneath her. Lucius saw her eyes shut and her lower lip begin to quiver, and decided to intervene before she could wake her mother. He quickly left his seat, and picked his little girl up off of Hermione’s steadily rising and falling chest. Serena calmed almost immediately, and looked up at her father as he settled her into the crook of his arm.

“Hey there, big girl.” He said softly. He had never been a fan of baby talk. And neither was Hermione. Sure, she cooed to their daughter sometimes to soothe her, but the rest of the time she had relatively normal conversations with the infant girl.

Lucius ran his finger over her cheek, and he saw her mouth twitch to the side. She was so close to grinning. He considered how his life had changed in the past year. And all from a single letter.

Daisy had written to him in grieving desperation, and he had replied in greed. And now, not even a complete year later, he was married to a wonderful woman, had a beautiful daughter (two if he counted Daisy), he had reconciled with his son, and had a type of son-in-law in Phelan.

Serena cooed softly and waggled a fist at her father.

“Sorry, dove. I got a bit distracted in my thoughts. I didn’t mean not to give you my undivided attention.” He teased the baby. She regarded him with her muddy-colored baby eyes, which seemed closer to turning a beautiful brown than blue, and her mouth cracked into a short grin, before she yawned softly. Lucius transferred Serena to his shoulder, and patted her back gently.

“Golden slumber kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep,
pretty baby,
Do not cry,
And I'll sing you a lullaby.

Care you know not,
Therefore sleep,
While I o'er you watch do keep.
Sleep,
pretty darling,
Do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.”

He sang soft and low, and when he was done he heard the soft steady breathing of his sleeping daughter.

“I didn’t know you could sing.”

He looked over to see Hermione watching him. He sniffed.

“There’s a lot of things people don’t know about me.” He said softly. She smiled brilliantly.

“Oh, like if I put my fingers in a certain place you scream like a girl?” she asked. Lucius’ pale face reddened slightly.

“To be fair you gave no warning about that, and I properly warmed your bottom for sneaking up on me like that.” He said. She smiled.

“It’s been a while since you warmed my bottom. What’s a girl gotta do around here to get a spanking?” Hermione asked. Lucius raised an eyebrow.

“We’ve been taking care of Serena. We haven’t had time for any night-time romps.”

“And thank Merlin for that. I don’t need any more siblings.”

They both looked up to see Draco leaning in the doorway. A young lady was standing behind him, looking quite shy.

“Who is your lady-friend?” Hermione asked, sitting up. Draco grinned.

“This is Anna-Marie Arx de Morum.” Draco said. “We met a couple weeks ago, and I decided to bring her here to meet you. I’m just glad both of you have your clothes on.” He teased.

“Oh Lucius! He’s bringing home a girl to meet us! Maybe our sweet little boy is growing up!” Hermione taunted right back. Draco gave a light-hearted sneer.

“Shove off. You may have my father wrapped around your little finger, but you’ll never ensnare me.” He growled. She grinned.

“Prat.”

“Bookworm.”

“Ferret.”

“You wound me.”

“Not deep enough, you’re still standing.” Hermione finally retorted. Draco put his hand to his chest, and gave a dramatic sigh.

“I guess since I’m not welcome in my own ancestral home I shall have to take my date and find one of those muggle ‘moving’ theaters Daisy keeps nattering on about.” Draco said. Hermione grinned as Draco took Anna-Marie’s hand and disappeared down the hallway.

“You two are incorrigible.” Lucius said softly, running his hand over Serena’s white-blonde hair.

“You love us anyway.” Hermione returned, watching him with a smile.

“That I do, dearling. That I do.”

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Okay...Next chapter is going to be a time skip. I've still got some hot kinky werewolf smut to write in before the end. I might have a couple of the time skip chaps before the end. Giminy Crickets...the end is near. 0_o