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Harry was exhausted. A two-year-old Lily had not slept in almost twenty-four hours. He had taken her to St. Mungos and had found she had some type of magical ear infection caused by what the healer had described as, “a type of magic fungi that feeds on the nightmares of children,” which absolutely horrified Harry, although when he wrote Ginny, who was currently away on a work trip for the Holyhead Harpies, she had just said that “everyone gets it when they're little,” so Harry didn't really know what to think. Ginny being the star player for the Harpies was away a lot, especially during the quidditch season. Harry didn’t mind it honestly. He still saw her very often when she was away and made sure he and their children attended every game. It also gave him an excuse to stay off work. Molly and Aurtur would of course be more than happy to watch them but Harry would rather do it himself. It wasn’t that he doubted their capabilities, or that he hated his job. He liked helping people, serving justice and saving them from dark wizards and witches. He just wished that that was a bigger part of the job. It wasn't like they stuck him behind a desk, quite the opposite. They had him enforcing every minuscule pointless law there was. It seemed the ministry categorized every odd thing as “dark magic”. He was tired of arresting people because they enchanted a tea kettle or going to investigate a potential violation of the statute of secrecy only to discover some muggle-born child doing wild baby magic without realizing it. He straight-up refused to enforce a new law banning all wandless magic. He would rather look after his littles than deal with the ministry. He had considered quitting on multiple occasions, but Ron, who enjoyed their job much more than he did, didn't want him to, in his own words “Leave him alone with these stupid bastards”. And he could only imagine what would happen if The Harry Potter , boy savior of the wizarding world retired to become a stay-at-home dad. They had given them a type of anti-magic-fungal potion that had been helping clear up her infection, but it would take about a week to recover fully and her ear was still giving her pain, He had dealt with colic-y babies before, but he was just exhausted (to be fair to Lily, Albus was much worse than her, when he was a baby he would scream and cry for hours at a time, and refused to be put down in favor of clinging to one of his parents twenty-four seven, but at least he slept like a normal baby). If Lily didn't go to sleep soon he would have to take her to St. Mungo's again, it wasn't good for babies to stay awake this long. On Top of that, James, the little trouble maker had gotten into the bottle of flavored coffee that they kept in the fridge and he convinced his little brother to help him drink all of it, so he not only had a colic-y baby that he needed to put down, he also had an nine-year-old and a five-year-old hyped up on caffeine bouncing off of the walls. Luckily enough, it was summer break and a now fourteen-year-old Teddy was with the Potters this weekend. “Hey, Harry,” Teddy whispered as he entered the nursery where a very tired Harry was rocking a little screaming babe. Two little boys came loudly running past Albus yelling “stop!” at his brother who was chasing him through the hallways of their home. “Boys! I told you not to run in the house,” He shouted just loud enough for them to hear them, without trying to sound angry, but it was still loud enough to startle little Lily who started crying harder. “Goddamnit,” he muttered under his breath. His two little boys had opted not to listen to them and he could still hear their little feet against the hardwood. “ I know it's a bit late but the park down the street doesn't close for another few hours, I thought maybe I could take them there and they could burn off some energy,” “Oh god, Teddy, you're a lifesaver, thank you,” maybe now he could manage to get Lily to sleep without the noise. … “It's weally dick out,” little Albus said, looking at Teddy. “You mean it's dark out,” Teddy knew that The five-year-old had a lisp, he couldn't pronounce his ‘Rs’ correctly, but it still caught him off guard on occasion. “That's what I said,'' Albus looked up at him again he was holding teddies hand as they walked towards the neighborhood park, the light of the full moon illuminating his chubby little face, framed by the collar of his light blue jacket. While James and Lily took more after their mother, with red hair, freckles, and light brown eyes Albus looked exactly like his father, minus the glasses. He had his same black hair and jade green eyes, if you looked at James and Albus side by side without knowing who they are, you might not even be able to tell they are siblings at all. “Hey Al, you know what dick means?" James asked giggling, he had grown into a true troublemaker, and he pitied the fact that Headmaster McGonagall would have to deal with him in only three short years. “Jamie stop it,” When they arrived at the park the two little boys immediately ran towards the slides, and that's when Teddy noticed some friends from school. “Teddy is that you?” Shouted Phil Coleman, a fellow Hufflepuff, as Teddy approached them he also spotted Shae Scott, Ravenclaw, standing next to him. “Hey guys, it's nice to see you,” “You too, man. I've barely seen each other this summer. So why are you here,” “Oh, I'm watching my little brothers,” “Where are they?” He looked and pointed over at the slides, only to notice they were not there, or anywhere else on the playground for that matter. “You have got to be kidding me,” … James was a brave, some would call reckless, little boy. He would kill spiders and small bugs when they got into his little brother's room, he could sleep without a nightlight, he didn't go and sleep in his parent's bed anymore after he had a nightmare, and he even stood up for the neighborhood kids when they were being bullied. Albus was more reserved. He preferred drawing, or playing pretend with his stuffed animals. He also liked to read books with his dad, although he couldn't read very well yet. That wasn't to say that he didn't get into his fair share of trouble himself, he would organize late-night snack raids with his brother, stole his father's invisibility cloak on multiple occasions in order to watch television past his bedtime, and once stole teddy's diary and implored James to help read it and the teased Teddy relentlessly about its contents (Teddy has a crush apparently). The neighborhood park was right next to a huge patch of wilderness, this is because like most Wizard villages they were located in very rural areas, away from prying muggle eyes. In this case, deep in the woods. They had gone through the woods before, there wasn't a clear path but there were plenty of small patches of clearings that you could walk through, the potter family walked through the woods and even had picnics there often, so it wasn't like James was too afraid when he heard a strange noise coming from the woods. “C’mon let's go,” he started walking towards the edge, his little brother trailing behind me, clutching onto the back of his brother's coat as the two boys went to investigate the strange noise. As they made their way deeper into the wood they heard a growl that sounded a lot closer than before. Albus clutched his brother tighter, noticing his brother's fear, and he tried to reassure him. “We've been in these woods loads of time, we'll be fine." As they approached a thicker patch of wood they saw what looked like an outline of a large dog, they tucked themselves behind some bushes to get a better look. As the dog stood up its humanoid figure revealed itself. James recognized it immediately as a werewolf that he had seen in books, Albus who had never really seen a clear illustration of a werewolf only saw it as a monster. Both boys were petrified in fear, only just realizing the danger they had gotten themselves into. The werewolf started sniffing the air and turned itself in the boy's direction, they took off running back towards the park while screaming for Teddy. Normally, am nine-year-old has no chance of outrunning a werewolf, but James was an exceptionally fast little boy, and this werewolf was slower than average and looked almost discombobulated. He would later find out that this werewolf was actually an old man that lived in the next village over with his wife, an old man that had not received his monthly wolfsbane, which he had to pay for, from St.Mungos and was insufficiently prepared to deal with his inner beast once more having been using wolfsbane for many years. He later committed suicide after learning about the attack when he returned to normal, not being able to live with the guilt. Even so, little Albus couldn't run at the pace of his brother and started trailing behind, the monster grabbing onto his leg the beast's claws ripping into his flesh. The babe tried to kick and get away from the wolf but that only made the beast fight more, as its claws tore through his jacked and tiny overalls and into the little boy's body. James tried throwing a few nearby rocks at the overgrown hound attacking his brother but it ignored him, it had its meal already. As it sunk its teeth into the littlest Potter son's shoulder the boy screamed in pain before the group of teens finally found the two brothers. The sight would haunt all four of their nightmares forever. “Confundo!” even though Teddy wasn't exactly thinking when he whipped out his wand, he still had enough sense even in his pure instincts he still had enough sense to cast the confusion charm first. Most other people he knew would have likely cast bombardo or the fiendfyre curse, those spells could've hit Albus and worsened his injuries. Besides Teddy had zero intention if battling this thing, he just wanted his brother safe. “Ascendio!” He knew he could not use magic outside of school, but no one really followed that rule. The ministry could tell where magic was being used but not by whom, so unless you are the only witch or wizard for miles they can't really catch you on anything, and they were on the edge of a wizarding village. Besides, saving his little brother's life was more than enough reason to break the law, no court in the world would convict him. The werewolf sufficiently spooked ran off, and no one dared follow it, too preoccupied with the bleeding boy. Teddy took a minute to assess the damage, Albus was still crying, there were claw marks all across his little body, a bloody bite mark, the consequences of which do not bear thinking about, spread across his shoulder. He scooped his little brother into his arms and ran back towards the potter home, Albus’s light blue jacket now bloody, abandoned forever on the forest floor. The three remaining boys took off after him, trailing close behind. It wasn't till much later would they all notice blood stains at the bottom of their shoes and realized Albus’s blood was dripping. The pain of being jostled while they were running caused Hilton to scream and cry even louder, he was calling out for his parents but his cries were so incomprehensible that it just sounded like a high-pitched screeching. Teddy wasted zero time bothering with keys or the door knob instead breaking down the door using the force and stamina he had from running over a mile at full speed, making contact with the door with his shoulder, so as not to bash his baby brother against the wood “HARRY!” ... Hearing his godsons yells he rushed down the steps of his home, just putting Lily down to sleep minutes before. He was greeted by every parent's worst nightmare, seeing their child bloodied and screaming in pain. Teddy held him out to Harry for him to hold, the teen nearly collapsed in exhaustion not even realizing how tired he actually was till Harry took Albus and he was free to fall without further injuring him. He was still screaming, his voice now hoarse but still loud. Harry knew floo powder wasn't exactly the best way to transport an injured child, but it was better than apparating with him and he needed to be there now. He stepped into his living room where the fireplace was and he could feel the four other boys trailing fast behind him. “Stay here, look after Lily,” He Jabbered at him, looking at the group of kids for less than a second only then noticing the two teenagers that he did not know standing behind his two older sons, he hadn't, however, noticed little James who had stepped into the fireplace with him. He flew the floo powder and was immediately engulfed in green flames. … St.mungo's hospital waiting room was as crowded as usual. Swarms of wizards and witches with ailments ranging from horrible disfigurements to people who were just waiting for scheduled appointments. A healer in green robes approached him, immediately tending to the screeching, currently bleeding-out five-year-old. She used her wand to conjure up a floating hospital bed and motioned for Harry to place him down and immediately started performing charms to stop the bleeding. She motioned for another healer to come assist her and ordered him to fetch a pain relief potion. “What happened?” She looked up at Harry and at that moment he snapped out of panic mode and realized he didn't know, he didn't know why he was there and why his son was bleeding out a moment ago. He was completely and utterly speechless. It was also the moment he noticed the little hands clutching the leg of his pants. “Werewolf bit him,” Harry's heart sank in his chest as he turned around to face his oldest-born son. He stared at James for a moment and could vaguely hear the healer mutter “dear god,” before He was whisked off to the creature-induced-injury ward, his father and an older brother following close behind him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was early morning. Harry had time now to travel back to Godric's Hollow to retrieve Teddy and Lily and got his and James' side of the story. He had wondered for a spare moment why Teddy even had them out of his sight when he remembered the likely hundred times that he turned his back for just a moment and one of his sons ended up running off somewhere. He had seriously considered putting James on a baby leash when he was Albus's age. He had thanked Teddy's two friends for fixing his front door before leaving Lily with Molly and Aurther (they had been very surprised when he showed up unannounced in their fireplace but were more than happy to watch Lily. Harry told them that Albus had been attacked but not by what) and got back to the hospital as quickly as possible. His godson is currently in the tea room on the fifth floor getting everyone something to eat. The youngest son was sleeping soundly, the pain relief potion they had given him had worked wonders and he was out like a light soon after. The healers had assured Harry that, no, his son wouldn't die, but had been inflicted with lycanthropy and would turn. He thought about Remus, all the horrible things he had heard people say about the man, the way he talked about being a werewolf the few times he did, how his biggest fear was that he would pass down his condition to his son despite there being no instances of lycanthropy being passed down by blood. He wished he could talk to him. He wondered if Albus even knew the thing that bit him was a werewolf. He knew what a werewolf was but it was such a taboo subject in the wizarding world that few children even saw an accurate illustration of one till they learned about them in their defense against the dark arts classes. James knew what bit his brother because he had borrowed his mother's and father’s old DADA textbooks very often, books that they were all too happy to lend him. He was sitting on a chair beside his little brother's hospital bed. They were put into a small, private room. While Albus was sleeping James had stayed wide awake, staying by his brother's side all night, watching him sleep. Harry knew he felt guilty, he shouldn't blame himself. He had contacted Ginny and paid a hefty amount for a portkey mail service so she would get his message as soon as magically possible. If Ginny could apparate from Wales to London she would, but she couldn't so she would likely also pay for a portkey service. The healers had talked to him about his son's condition but Harry didn't even know what half the terms they were throwing around even meant and he didn't want to decide anything without his wife present. “Is Albus gonna be Okay?” It was the first time James had spoken in hours, very unusual for the boy. “Yeah, he's gonna be okay,” He knelt down to face his smile and put his hand on his shoulder, he didn't meet his father's eyes. “But he’s gonna be a werewolf now,” Even though most children didn’t know what a werewolf looked like, every child knew the stories of the things that go bump in the night. Scary stories kids would tell other children on the playground. Most kids were scared of werewolves. Harry made a point to talk to his children about how many of these tails were false and how werewolves are just people, not the monsters people say they are. Still trying to instill into them that if they ever actually encounter a werewolf on the full moon to run to the nearest adult, which they did but it was still too late. “Hey, do you remember what I told you about werewolves?'' He tilted his son's head up so his son's eyes would meet his gaze. “that they are just people and that they are not bad just because they are werewolves," Harry nodded for his son to continue. “ Most of them don’t want to hurt anyone, but when they transform they can’t control themselves unless they have medicine.” “yeah that’s right, very good,” he realized at that moment that he sounded like one of his old professors. “But what about the one that bit Albus,” Harry had never prepared for this conversation, it wasn’t a conversation that he ever thought he would have. “Well…” he tilted his head down and thought for a long, hard moment before looking up at his son again. Looking at him again, he could tell his son was anticipating his answer. “Well we don't really know anything about that werewolf, he could be someone that went out on purpose and attacked with malicious intent, but they were probably just someone who didn't get the medicine they needed and didn't actually want to hurt anyone,” James nodded. They both turned to look at the little boy in the hospital bed as they heard him stir awake. He blinked his big eyes open a squidge and let out a pained groan, the healers had mostly healed his injuries but they said he might need a few weeks for them to heal completely. When Bill was clawed by a werewolf his scars never fully healed. Harry had been informed that the bite might stay raw for a while but the scars should heal fully given that, unlike Bill, his son had been fully inflicted with the lycanthropy curse and werewolves healed from injuries inflicted by werewolves like normal injuries, unlike when muggles and wizards are injured were the wounds could stay open forever. James rushed to his brother's side as soon as he showed a single sign of conscience. Leaning over the side of the bed getting into the babes face. “Hey, Jamie let's give him some space,” he stepped back a little, tilting his head as his dad stepped closer to the bed to get a better look at his brother. Harry turned to look at his older boy, “Mom’s gonna be here soon, why don't you go wait outside the door, I need to talk to your brother,” “But-” “Yes,” James reluctantly stepped outside while Harry turned to the boy in the hospital bed. “Hey bud, how are you doing?” The boy just waking up turned to his dad and just let out a groggy groan and blinked the sleep out of his eyes before turning to his father. “Where am I?'' His voice was so small it made his father's heart seize. “You’re at St.Mungos, Teddy is getting you some food, does that sound good?” His godson had warned that he might have hit his head when the beast dropped him. “yeah,” he wasn't sure how much of an appetite he would have. He wanted to make sure that he kept his strength up. “Do you remember much of what happened last night?” “a little.” “A little?” “Yeah,'' Harry sat his hand down atop his son's head. Like nearly everything else about his looks he had inherited his unruly dark mop of hair from his dad, and like his dad when he woke up he had the most utterly insane bedhead. Harry stroked his son's head, half trying to comfort half trying to make his boy look a bit less ridiculous. “ a monster was in the woods, then it got me, then Jamie threw rocks at it, then Teddy came and it hurt a lot ” it matched the events that the other two boys had described. “It hurt really bad, didn't it?” he nodded his head, “Hey bud, I gotta tell you something,” He took a breath.“ I want you to remember that your mother and I, we love you so much, Teddy, Jamie, and Lily, all love you so much. Everyone else in our family loves you so much and that will never change no matter what. I want you to understand that no matter what we all love you, do you understand?” Albus nodded. “ Do you know what monster bit you?” He immediately grimaced at the poor choice of words. How do you tell your son that he is a werewolf while in the same breath calling werewolves monsters? He shook his little head no. “You got bit by a werewolf.” “oh,” that was all his little voice could muster. “And you know what happens when someone is bit by a werewolf,” he nodded. “they become a werewolf.” His dad nodded “so I'm a monster now?” The little boy looked so scared it was ripping apart his father's soul. “No, get that thought out of your brain. You are not a monster, you will never be a monster.” He hugged his son as gently as possible, not wanting to disturb his bandages or wounds. He grasped his head with his hand, pushing his face into his chest and stroking his hair. “I wanna go home,” he mumbled into his father's sweater. “I know bud, I know.”… After Teddy dropped off the food that he had gotten from the tea room he had taken the liberty of getting some of Albuses things from home (the Potter family had used so much floo powder at this point that Harry thought St.Mungos would start charging them.) he had gotten a few of Albuse's favorite books, his colored pencils, coloring book, and the boy's favorite plush toy, a black cat he affectionately called ‘Inky’. The little boy was nibbling on a sandwich while his dad read him a story from ‘ The tales of Beedle the bard’. James was half listening while sitting on the edge of his hospital bed half listening while Teddy had contented himself with pacing around the room anxiously when they heard a knock at the door and the door opened to reveal Ginny. “Mama!” Albus turned his head away from the book to face his mother. “Hi, baby,” she knelt down to meet her son's face, cupping it in her hands. She had gotten to St. Mungos as soon as she had received Harry's letter. If it had gone by owl she might not have received it till next week, she was thankful Harry shelled out for the wildly overpriced portkey service, as did she. But how could they not, it was currently the fastest method of wizard communication and transportation in the wizarding world. “How are you?” “Im okay,” he half mumbled. “Oh, baby,” She had spent the last few hours since she got the letter consumed in worry and fear. The letter had not mentioned if her son was inflicted with the lycanthropy curse or not as the healers had not yet informed Harry himself at the time of his writing the letter. “My teammates heard that you got hurt and gave me some things to give you,” She started pulling candy after candy out of her bag. Mostly Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes as Ginny had informed them that those were his favorites, but there were also some Sugar Quills, Jelly Slugs, Caramel Cobwebs, and a box of Bertie Botts Beans. There was also a package of Pepper Imps but Ginny had chosen to not give those to her son on account that the last time he had them he nearly burned their house down. This much candy wasn't exactly the best thing for a five-year-old but as far as Ginny was concerned her son could have as much candy as he damn well pleased. “Hi boys,” She turned to face her other three boys who were in the room and were just standing there anxiously. She turned to look at her husband. "Who's watching Lily?” she half whispered with no accusing tone, she just wanted to know where her daughter was. “She's with your parents, could I speak to you outside for a moment,” he responded with the same tone. Ginny knew what Harry was about to say. “Yeah sure,” She apprehensively left her son's bedside to go talk to her husband outside the small hospital room into the hallway. “I know what you're gonna tell me but I have to ask, is he…?” “Yeah, the healers told me that he was infected with lycanthropy and would turn.” Ginny was not a bigoted woman, quite the opposite. In her youth, she definitely had some prejudice when it came to werewolves, because of the general culture of the wizarding world and on account of her oldest brother's face. She had since grown and no longer held those views, she had listened to Harry cry over Remus and others lost many a night and had often wept with him. Harley Brownlon, a beater for the Holyhead Harpies and someone who Ginny considered to be one of her closest friends confided to teammates coming up around a year ago that she herself was a werewolf, having been bitten in her early teens. Ginny had heard the awful things that were said about Teddy's father and they made her sick to her stomach. At that moment she still felt her heart drop down to her toes. “Does he know?” “Yes, so do Teddy and James.” “How'd they all take it?” “Well, Albus was upset when I told him, obviously. He has since calmed down but I'm worried he still doesn't fully understand what is really happening. Teddy has been very helpful and also a bit of a bundle of nerves the entire time, and Jamie has been uncharacteristically quiet and very worried for his brother.” It was a nightmare and she would soon spend many nights worrying about her littlest boy and his future. When Hermione became deputy director of The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures she had made great strides for the rights of werewolves, as well as many other creatures as much of her political agenda revolved around the advancement of non-wizard sentient beings. Helping do away with the werewolf registry that hung over the heads of so many lycanthropes and had pushed for more funding and a change of law for St.Mungos so they could get wolfsbane and other treatment options for werewolves more effectively and out to more people. Even still, news travels fast in the wizarding world and it wasn't like the public had lost interest in their boy savior since the war ended. If it ever came out that Harry Potter's son was a werewolf it would be on the front page of the Prophet as well as every other magical newspaper in Britain. “Hey, sweetheart, it's gonna be okay,” Harry brought his hand to her face and swiped his thumb across his wife's cheek. Ginny pulled away for a second and touched her own hands to her eyes and when she noticed the wetness on her fingers only then had she noticed she had been crying. “I know, harry. We'll make sure it's okay. I'm just worried that's all.” “Me too,” Ginny looked into her husband's eyes before she couldn't bear being away from her sons any longer and opened the door. She was met with a very comforting, very familiar sight. Albus was munching on a cauldron cake, giggling wildly while watching his brother gag on what was obviously a bad Bertie Botts Bean, the open box still in his hand. Albus had never been a fan of sweets that could potentially harm you, but his brother had always been the adventurous type. Teddy was chasing a rogue chocolate frog around the room, trying (and failing) to catch it. It was so them, they both could swear she had seen this exact scene play out with their children a thousand times before. Even though things would likely be hard for a while they could adjust, and they will get back to normal like they always do.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Why did this happen?” Ginny spoke first, but that question was one of the first that both parents had asked themselves. They were currently meeting with a Healer working at St. Mungos, that specialized in Lycanthropy, sitting at her desk in her office on the fifth floor. Ginny figured she must be some sort of rank above the normal healers since her robes were a darker shade of green and had much more ornate detailing. Her graying hair was up in a braided bun and her nurse's cap had two long white ribbons coming out of it that went down to her mid-back.
“I understand you two must have questions,” her lips were pursed, and she looked almost nervous which Harry thought must have been due to the pissed-off Quidditch player sitting next to him.
“Why did this happen? I was under the impression that St. Mungos supply wolfsbane to known werewolves.” Ginny sounded considerably more peeved this time she spoke. “Or did this one just slip under your Radar?”
“We supply medicinal potions, including wolfsbane to all who need them. Unfourtinatlry there are people who are simply unable to afford the prices we offer ” She was fidgeting with her hands now.
“So my son got bit because you charge up the ass for wolfsbane? I thought St.Mungos was free, it's always been a non-profit.”
“We do provide free medical care and medicinal potions to all those who enter our doors, but we cannot legally give out free wolfsbane because since we receive funding from the ministry, we are unable to treat werewolves for free, it is against the law,”
“So we are paying for this conversation?” Harry knew that wasn't the question he should be asking, but the whole situation caught him off-guard. He was in wizarding law enforcement and had pushed for progress for werewolves since he finished auror training. How could he not have known about this?
“Well, since your son presented into the hospital with werewolf-inflicted injuries and was not technically a werewolf when he presented into St. Mungos no, all future visits, even if they are not related to his condition would cost money, you will also not get wolfsbane for free, even if you'd decide to get it from us.”
“I don't think we will,” He could hear his wife next to him mutter ‘You've gotta be fucking kidding me’ under her breath.
“Well, in that case, there are plenty of private apothecaries that produce the wolfsbane tonic,” she produced a small scroll from the pocket of her robes containing a list of private potion breweries.
…
“I thought Minister Shacklebolt had gotten rid of all those old werewolf laws,” Ginny exclaimed walking out of the matron's office.
“He gave Remus the Order Of Merlin award and signed Hermione’s bill doing away with the werewolf registry, but there are still a lot of outdated laws still on the books.”
“Why?”
“People don’t view it as a priority, and there are still a lot of people in the Ministry that don’t want those laws changed.”
“Who cares about them? The Minister is the one with all the power, why doesn't he do something?”
“I don't know, maybe he thinks it would hurt his chances of being re-elected?”
“That’s stupid.”
“I know,” Harry sighed. “It’s so stupid.”
…
News travels fast in the Weasley family so as soon as Harry dropped off Lily at her grandparents of course every other aunt and uncle heard what happened. Although none actually knew what he was attacked by. Harry and Ginny decided it was best for Albus to tell them about his new condition when and if he wants to.
Everyone came out to visit the hurt child save for Charlie given he was in another country. Molly and Authur had come bearing a new plush toy and a balloon, as did Ron and Hermione along with a “get well soon” card Rose had made. The rest of the Weasley clan had gotten the little boy small toys and even more sweets, with George also giving the five-year-old a box of fireworks that he somehow managed to get through St. Mungo's security, which Harry quickly confiscated.
Albus stayed in the hospital for another five days. His wounds were still not fully healed but they were healing quickly, and the healers deemed him fit enough to return home.
Ginny had driven the family home, borrowing her father's car. He was a bit apprehensive about considering what happened last time her husband had gone into one of his cars.
They both had thought that Albus, recovering from his injuries would be more fired than usual, but they discovered that it was the complete opposite. Apparently, werewolves even when not transformed had a bit of a nocturnal streak. When he would get tired around six thirty before his parents discovered that now he couldn’t fall asleep till ten at night. They vaguely remembered Charie experiencing similar symptoms after getting attacked by Fenrir Grayback but everything had been so hectic at that time that they hardly remembered anything.
When Albus did sleep he slept in his parent's bed rather than his own and had been having consistent nightmares since getting out of the hospital. He was also much hungrier than usual and had started developing a preference for meat.
Harry was correct in his assumption that his son didn't fully understand what was happening. Albus himself was very confused about what was happening to his body in particular. Loud noises which didn't use to bother him were now downright painful, and he could now pick up even the smallest of noises, focusing on whatever he wanted to be doing when he could hear Teddy scribbling in his journal, his brother watching the new wizarding tv, his mother and father cooking while talking along with all of the noises that came from outside the house was impossible. The healers had told his parents that he might experience some sort of wolf-like symptoms outside of the full moon but they hadn't been clear on exactly what they would be, saying that it varied from person to person.
Harry was currently teaching his youngest how to read, he had gone looking for some books that would hopefully help explain it to Albus, but they didn't exactly make werewolf-themed children's books. He had considered picking up
'Hairy Snout, Human Heart'
before realizing that there were some things in that book that were definitely not appropriate for a five-year-old. He was reading through his old DADA and care of magical creatures textbooks hoping to find something useful when Albus entered his room.
“Could you help me read this?” He was holding his copy of
‘The Adventures of Beetle the Bard’.
Although Albus couldn't read very well yet he could already read simple picture books and was on level for his age. Beetle the bard’s books were structured like chapter books, with no to few pictures and each chapter being a different fairy tale, so it was a book that was a bit too advanced for the young child.
“Sure, bud. Which story do you want to read?” He climbed onto his father's lap, wincing a bit as his wounds were still a bit sore, and pointed to a chapter entitled
'The Waverly Werewolf'
Harry had read his sons pretty much every story in
‘The Tales Of Beetle The Beard’
except a few and
‘the Waverly werewolf’
Since the book of fairy tales was written nearly five-hundred years ago some of the stories were a bit outdated or inappropriate.
Harry had read through the story before, it took place in a fictional village named Waverly, and the story was that cows in the village keep going missing, a young boy finds out his neighbor is a werewolf and has been killing the cows he confronts the man. The werewolf promises to never do it again and begs for his life but he still gets decapitated and the boy is celebrated as a hero. Children's stories in the wizarding world could be gory at times.
“How about we read a different one?” His son looked disappointed and tilted his head down. He obviously didn't know the full contents of the chapter, he likely just saw the word "Werewolf" and got excited.
“Is being a werewolf bad?”
“No Bud, of course not.
“Then why is everyone being weird?”
“What do you mean?”
“Jamie doesn't wanna play with me anymore, and you Teddy seems sad all the time.” He leaned back into his father's chest and let out a defeated sigh. Harry couldn't help but note how sad he looked.
“Oh, baby. It's not your fault. Jamie does want to play with you, he might be avoiding you because he blames himself.”
“Why?”
“Well,” This was a hard thing to explain to a five-year-old. “When you got bit, it was Jamie’s idea to go into the woods, right?” His son nodded. “But it wasn't his fault you got hurt,” his son nodded again. “But he still feels bad because he feels like it's his fault even though it isn't, and that makes him feel guilty. Do you understand?”
“Kinda, but why is Teddy sad?”
“He was supposed to be watching you, but he didn't notice when you and James went into the woods. So I’m guessing he also feels really guilty. Teddy is also a bit sensitive when it comes to the topic of werewolves.”
“Why?”
“Do you remember when I explained to you how Teddy is my godson? He had a Mom and Dad who took care of him before I did. His parents passed away and they left Teddy with me because they trusted me and your mom with raising him.” The young boy looked at his dad more intently, there were not a whole lot of young children who had the attention span that Albus did, although he had grown a bit more impatient in his adolescence. “Teddy's Dad was a werewolf.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, his name was Remus Lupin, he was one of my professors when I went to school, he was my favorite professor, a brilliant, kind, and brave man. It's a shame that Teddy never got to know him,” Harry didn't talk about the lost with his children often, mainly because they were so young but also because he often got weepy. “Even though Teddy was really little when his parents passed, he still misses them, even without knowing them. Sometimes things can remind him of his parents, and he can get a little sensitive about those things. So with you being bit, I think that he is thinking about his dad a lot.”
“That's sad.” Harry couldn't bring himself to give a response other than a nod and a sigh. “But I still don't understand why they’re avoiding me.”
“They are both having really strong feelings, and sometimes when people have really strong feelings they don't know how to handle them, especially with people who aren't grown up. So they end up accidentally doing things that hurt the people that they care about.”
“Are they gonna be like this forever?”
“No of course not. They just need some time to process everything that has happened. I think you might need some time too. If you want me to I could talk to them.”
“Ok.”
“You know, bud you can always ask me anything. I know you probably have a lot of questions and you've been keeping to yourself a lot.”
“Ok,” the young boy was still leaning against his dad, his head still resting on his father's chest.
“Do you still wanna read?”
“Can we read ‘The Warlocks Hairy Heart’ instead?” Harry was glad he didn't insist on reading ‘The Waverly Werewolf’ even if the story he did choose was equally gory.
“Uh, sure.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“ Hey, James, could you come inside? I need to talk to you,” James was currently busying himself with attempting a popular broom trick, which involved standing on a broom and jumping over an object, in this case, a bush in his backyard, while the broom flies under it. It sounds dangerous but James only had access to a kiddy broom, a broom designed for children that could only fly at most four feet off the ground. The worst that could happen was a broken bone, and that could be fixed with magic in an instant.“In a minute!” He was currently trying to climb back onto his broom after falling off for the hundredth time.“It's important!” Harry called. His son groaned and made his way up to the backyard door where his father was standing. “Did you tell Albus he couldn't play with you?”“I don't have to play with him all the time.”“You're right, you can do things by yourself, but I've noticed that you've been by yourself a lot recently, and you haven't really been playing with your brother at all.” When Harry had become Teddy’s guardian he had thought about all the difficult conversations he would have to have with him as he got older. He thought about how he will explain to the then baby boy how the people that made him, his parents, had died and left him in his care, conversations that come with growing up like about sex and puberty or dealing with bullies, (that conversation he had with Teddy several times). He had thought about all these things too when Ginny was pregnant with their other three kids. Recently he had been having conversations with his children that he never thought he would have to have. This was one of them.When Albus was a newborn James had asked constantly if he could play with him. Harry and Ginny had explained that Albus was too little to play with and he would have to wait awhile. He still asked every day, sometimes multiple times a day if he was big enough to play with yet. When Albus was around one and a half they had tried to teach James to play gently with him because he was still very small. Harry never thought there would be a time when the older was actively avoiding the younger.As the two boys got older they became almost inseparable. They still fought and bickered like hell, getting into fights as much as siblings do. Like most little siblings Albus wanted to be exactly like James, and looked up to him. Although the boys were very different and always would be, Albus still often wanted to at least try all the things James did.“I just wanted to know why that is?” Harry put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his son. James wanted to say a lot of things to his dad. He wanted to tell his dad that every time he had seen his brother since he got bit all he could think about was that it was his fault he went into the woods and his fault he got bit. The last time they played together he almost died and his life was permanently changed. How now he kept thinking about everything he had ever heard about werewolves before, how people called them horrible monsters, and even though his parents had explained to him that that wasn't the case, he also saw his brother get mauled by one and it sure looked like a monster. Now his brother was one of those things? But he didn't say any of that, so instead, he said.“Just leave me alone.”…Like a lot of big families, any sort of celebration in the Weasely clan was an event. Any birthday or anniversary was a cause for a big celebration. The adult members of the family didn't usually host big parties for their birthdays but for their children that were another story. Parties for little kids are parties for little kids, usually, when a kid had a birthday party some of their friends from wizarding daycare or whatever other activity they do when their parents are at work, and all the cousins were invited, Rose’s sixth birthday party was no exception.Rose and Albus were, at this time, self-proclaimed best friends. Albus was shyer while Rose was more bubbly and outgoing. Rose was excited about her party and invited a few neighborhood kids and all her cousins. She hadn't seen Albus for a few weeks, not since visiting him in the hospital. “Is Albus going to get here soon?” She asked her dad, who was currently busy using his wand to magic up some streamers. Rose had asked if Albus and the Potters could come early since she wanted to hang out with him a bit before her party.“Dad, when is Albus gonna get here?” Her dad was currently busying himself with using his wand to magic up some streamers.“Half an hour, sweetheart.” “But that's not till forever!”“It’s actually really soon. Now go get dressed, you're still in your PJs.”
…During family events, Harry and Ginny tried to make their children look presentable. They were parents to two very messy little boys, one more than the other, and they were fine with them wearing muddy clothes and having juice-stained lips at home, but not in front of other people. Albus was usually content with the nice clothes he had to wear to family events, but James was not.“It’s itchy!” He complained while pulling the collar of his sweater away from his neck. “suck it up,” Ginny said tartly while wrangling Lily into a onesie. Albus was standing beside his brother looking up at him. They were wearing the same sweater in different colors, blue for Albus and red for his brother. “It’s June, why are we even in sweaters?”“We had a short summer this year, it’s starting to get chilly and the leaves are falling even though it’s not even mid august yet,” Harry explained, walking out of his room while fixing his tie. “Speaking of Albus, what do you want for your birthday? it’s coming up.” “Uh, could I have a baby broom like Jamie’s? and some new books and plushies?”“It’s not a baby broom! And stop calling me ‘Jamie’.” “James! Be nice!” Scolded Harry. Albus had been calling James ‘Jamie’ since he could speak. When they were little. James had loved the nickname and had insisted everyone call him Jamie. And to his youngest son's defense, most people did call beginner brooms ‘baby brooms'. “what has gotten into you lately?” …“They're here!!!” Rose was bouncing up and down on her heels. She was wearing a baby blue dress That her grandma had gotten her last year that she insisted on wearing, despite the fact that her parents knew it would get dirty today, and her hair was up in two afro-buns. Through the window she could see the Potter family, she noted that Albus looked sad.“Be careful with Albus when you play with him, his dad told me injuries are still a bit sore,” warned Hermione, currently setting up some snacks and juice for the kids and setting out something else to drink for the adults. Rose went to open the door from the family before they even knocked. “Albus!” She went to hug him and the boy winced at his sore skin being touched.“Happy birthday,” Rose noted how soft his voice was. “Let's go play upstairs! My mom got me a historically accurate Merlin figurine as an early birthday present!”…The party was loud now. Everyone had arrived now. There were a total of sixteen children ranging in ages from fourteen years to six months old, made up of the Weasley children and a few neighborhood kids Rose had befriended. The teenagers were standing off to the side talking amongst one another and to the adults. All the younger children save for Albus were running around screaming. Lily and Hugo, the babes of the Weasely cousins had both been startled by the commotion of the party and had started crying loudly, their parents trying in vain to calm them. It had been fine when it was just Rose and his siblings but as more and more people started coming the louder it became. Once everyone had arrived it was so loud that Albus’s ears hurt like never before. “Hey, James?” He turned to face the birthday girl “Have you seen Albus? I can't find him.” James hadn't noticed his brother run off but looking around the room he now realized he didn't see him anywhere. “I dunno, he's probably moping somewhere.”“Well can you help me look? It is MY birthday.” “Fine.”Rose went off somewhere and James went upstairs, figuring he would probably be hiding somewhere up there. He walked around for a little while before hearing small cries and whimpering coming from his aunt and uncle's hall closet. He opened it to find his little brother sitting below the shelves of folded towels and linen in a small storage space at the bottom of the closet, just big enough to house his five-year-old body semi-comfortably, holding his hands over his ears.“What are you doing?” His little brother flinched when he talked.“My ears hurt, everything is too loud.” Albus, even locked in a hall closet upstairs from the party with his hands over his ears, bet that if he focused enough he could hear every word everyone downstairs was saying.“Well, what do you want me to do about it?”“Just leave me alone.” His brother glared at him and James knew why. He walked over to the upstairs bathroom across from the hall closet and started wetting toilet paper in the sink. “What are you doing?”“Shut up,” James said as he started rolling up the wet tissue paper into little balls. “Here.” He handed his brother the two wet little balls, he looked up at him confused. “You put them in your ears to muffle the noise, do they work?” Albus patted his ears, the cold wet paper felt a bit weird but it did help with the noise.“Yeah, thank you, Jamie-James.”“You can call me James if you want.” There was an awkward silence. “Sorry I've been a dick to you.”“It's ok.” Albus half-whispered as he crawled out of the closet.“Do you wanna go back downstairs?”“Ok.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The apothecary Harry had ordered Albus’s wolfsbane from was apparently just as unreliable as St.Mungos because when he went to pick up said potion, only four days away from the full moon, he was informed that because of ‘supply chain issues’ the necessary ingredients had not come on time ad he would be unable to pick up the potion that he had ordered a month ago, and that they had not even thought to inform him of this before he was expected to pick up the damn thing.He had spent the better part of the last two days going to every single apothecary in Britain that sold wolfsbane potion only to be met with ‘we only make wolfsbane to order, so if we started brewing now it would not be ready by this full moon’. He wondered if he would be able to find any apothecaries that could help him that were not on the list. Three probably were, but he wasn't exactly sure where he would be able to access that kind of information. The last potions shop on the list was one he was avoiding considering it was located on Knockturn Alley, but it was his last hope.Knockturn alley was as shady as dodgy as it was when he was a boy, if not more so. He was wearing a large cloak (not his invisibility cloak) so as not to be recognized, and it seemed like most of the people here had the same idea, but Harry doubted their motives for coming here were as pure as his. The name of the shop read “Heidi’s Herbs: Potions, Powders, Tinctures, And Tonics' in bright bold green lettering. The store's logo was a fang with a sprig of a few different herbs around it. The logo hung on the protruding sidewalk sign and was painted on the store's windows. The shop was incredibly small with bottles filled with colorful and occasionally glowing liquid behind the front counter, dried flowers and herbs hanging overhead, various smaller bottles of tinctures and bags of powders lining the wall-to-ceiling shelves, along with several stands full of ingredients you could buy if you needed to brew something yourself. It was very poorly lit, the only source of light coming from the windows with most of the light being blocked by the paintings that covered them. The back wall was behind a counter and there was an ornately carved door leading to the back. The sign on the front said it was open but no one seemed to be there. There was a small brass bell on the counter Harry put out his hand to ring it when a young witch popped out from the door behind the counter.“Hello! What can I help you with?” Her smile was big and bright, Harry noticed that a few of her teeth were oddly sharp. Harry looked at her more. She was a head shorter than him, but she looked to be more muscular, with strong arms and sharp shoulders. Her hair was gray, but not in the way old people's hair was gray because she could not have been older than twenty-two. Looking at her hair more he noticed she had an abnormal amount of body hair. Harry also noticed her slightly protruding stomach and vaguely wondered if she was pregnant, but it was subtle enough that he thought it would be rude to ask. Her store's logo was also featured on the tank top she was wearing. “Hi, I'm assuming you're Heidi?”
“Yep!” She was about to say more when she stopped for a movement and looked at him “Merlin’s beard your Harry Potter.” Harry was very used to that response when meeting new people. Most of the time they stare in half-shock for a moment before going back to normal and don't mention it. Sometimes people look nervous when they talk to him which always makes him feel kinda bad like they’re scared of him or something. “It's really fine, I get that a lot. I was actually wondering if I could get a particular potion on kinda short notice?”“Sure! what do you need?” Her smile was so big it was starting to freak him out a bit. “Wolfsbane?” Harry nervously lowered his voice into a whisper despite no one else being in the shop.“Oh!” She then reached under the counter and pulled out a large bottle of blue liquid, the neck of which looked to be filled with the same ultramarine blue smoke. He recognized it as the same potion he had seen with his old professor all those years ago. “That will be fifteen galleons!”“That’s it?” Harry was honestly expecting another rejection, having to look at more apothecaries and face the fact that he couldn’t get his son his medicine. He was also surprised at the price. The apothecary he had first ordered at had charged him a hundred galleons. “Yep! I brew in big batches and I always have extras of all the regular potions I sell! The price is a bit on the hefty side because wolfsbane has a short shelf life and there is usually some product spoilage so I have to factor that into the price.” Harry just stared at her in half shock and half relief. She got a look of realization on her face. “Oh let me guess, you got bit and then ordered from the first place on the list that St.Mungos gave you. Then they canceled at the last minute and then you went to every other apothecary on the list but they all turned you away, until eventually in a last-ditch effort to get the wolfsbane you needed you came to the sketchy-looking place on Knockturn alley?”“Yeah, exactly what happened. Oh! except I’m not the werewolf I'm just picking it up for a friend-“ He was cut off.“Yeah happens all the time. A lot of those places say they say they sell wolfsbane but actually don’t. So they just say they do so they can get the tax breaks that come with selling medicinal potions. Even though St.Mungos isn’t allowed to give it to people for free, which is stupid, you still have to sell it to get the tax breaks that come with being a medicinal apothecary, which is extra stupid.”“Oh- I didn’t know that.”“They charged you something insane like a hundred galleons and then when they canceled they didn’t give you your money back?”“yes.”“yeah, new werewolves usually don’t know where to go, and no one wants to raise a fuss if they think people would find out they are buying wolfsbane, the way people act around it you would think it's illegal.” She commented as Harry got the galleons out of his coin sack and placed them on the counter.
“‘Oh yeah, well I'm not a werewolf.” “It's not actually that uncommon for aurors to get bit on the job. They usually just keep it to themselves so not a lot of people actually know about it.”“That's not me.”“You're fine, I'm a werewolf too. I won't spill your guts, you don't need to worry about it. And also, wolfsbane is pretty disgusting but if you hold some crushed mint leaves up to your nose while you drink it doesn't taste as bad.” She was wrapping the wolfsbane in tissue paper and placing it in a logoless blag bag.“Thank you for the advice but I'm serious, I am not a werewolf.”“Whatever you say, Mr.Potter.” She handed him his order. “Have a nice day! Thank you for shopping at Harriettes Herbs!”“You too!” He went to walk out the door and then turned back around. “Do you think I could maybe get in contact with you and ask you some werewolf-related questions?” “You know where I work! Owl me any time!”…Albus’s muscles hurt, whenever he moved his tendons felt tight and he was so tired his body felt heavy. It was approximately five hours till moon rise, the first full moon since he was bit. The nearly six-year-old was reading a picture book when he smelled something coming from downstairs.“Is that mint?” He was watching his dad stand over a chopping board from the other side of the kitchen, finely chopping a handful of herbs. “You can smell it from all the way over there?”“I could smell it from upstairs.” Since the full moon was tonight Harry guessed his senses were more prominent.
“So the full moon is tonight, I have the potion for you.” They had spoken about this before. Harry explained to him before that, no he would not lose his mind (as long as he drank the wolfsbane), yes it would probably hurt a bit (but less if he drank the wolfsbane, yes it was only once a month, no he would not stay wolfy forever, and yes he would turn into a fully-fledged werewolf. “Can I see it?” He held the bottle of blue liquid up to his face. “It's pretty,” he said, peering at the blue liquid, then his dad corked the lid and let the blue smoke out of the bottle. Albus started coughing violently. “It's stinky.”“Yes, it is.”“I have to drink that?”“Yes.”“When?”“Right now, moonrise is in a few hours.” He heard his youngest start to protest. “You need to, it's medicine, here.” He gave him a small cup of mint leaves to his son. “Hold this under your nose when you drink it. It’ll make it taste better.” He sniffed the cup and pulled his head away from the small, but not unpleasant smell. He handed his son the bottle, and his son looked up at him “go on.” Albus held the mint under his son and took a sip before coughing it up violently.“It's gross!”“Drink it fast, just down it quickly.” His son proceeded to finish it with impressive speed, stopping occasionally to gag. His father handed him some water.“I think I'm gonna throw up.”“Don't you dare.”…“Hey, bud,” He opened the door to his youngest son's room, it was nearly moonrise. Harry saw his son's feet stick out from underneath his bed. “Why are you under there?”“Am I a wolf yet?” “No bud not yet.” He leaned down and looked at his son under the bed. He had wrapped himself in a blanket and when he turned to face his dad only his little face was visible. “Are you scared?” His son nodded. His dad got up and pulled a sheet off of his son's bed and covered the little mirror that hung from his son's door. Heidi had told him that the first time she turned she had looked at herself in the mirror and scared herself, so Harry thought it best to cover it for now. “Don't leave.”“I'm not going anywhere, bud.” His son crawled out from under his bed, still wrapped in his blanket. He had promised he would stay with him because Albus was scared, and even if he wasn't Harry probably still would, it was his son after all. “C’mere.” His son went and walked up to his dad, Harry bent down and picked him up. “You wanna sit on your bed?” The babe nodded. He could see that it was nearly dark outside, it should be under an hour until moonrise.“Im tired,” Albus muttered into his father's shoulder as Harry sat down on his son's bed, he laid back a bit with his son laying on his chest, his head now nuzzled into his sternum. “You should go to sleep, then you can just sleep through it, okay?” He heard his son mutter in agreement. …It had been half an hour, Albus was soundly asleep on top of him and Harry had started dozing off when he felt his son shift under him, the moon had risen fully. The babe had started stirring in his sleep when he let out a painful whimper as he started transforming. Albus had always been an exact copy of his father, at least physically. Looking at him now he looked nothing like him. He was a few inches taller in his wolf-form and notably hairier than he remembered Lupin being when he saw him shift, Harry idly wondered if that was because Lupin was balding at the time. He saw his son wake, then let out a pained howl, he tried to speak but his mouth had transformed into a muzzle.“It's okay but it's okay you're alright,” His son looked up at him, while everything else had changed. The green eyes he had inherited from his father were exactly the same. “It's alright, little will be over soon,” His son let out a whimper again. “Just let go back to sleep, everything is gonna be okay.” He told as he tucked his son's head back into his chest.…Albus went back to sleep but Harry didn't, instead opting to hold his son until morning. He felt his son shift back to normal when sunlight shone back into the room. His boy shifted in his arms, not seeming to notice him shifting back. Harry finally let himself nod off. An hour later he heard his son groan and wake.“Hey, buddy. Are you feeling alright?”“I'm sore.”“I know bud, you might be feeling that for a while.” His son laid back down in his arms defeatedly. “You want breakfast? You can have whatever you want.”“Steak and eggs!”“Steak and eggs? I thought pancakes were your favorite.”“Steak and eggs!”“Okay, okay, steak and eggs it is.”