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Chapter 13 of FG (Revelo Lupinus) is up at the Quill. Mostly little tweaks.

Greyback chased Victoire and Teddy to the Shrieking Shack. He injured Teddy's leg. Victoire thanked him for this by stabbing him in the face with several knives. Teddy got her through the Floo network and sent her to Shell Cottage, leaving him alone with Greyback in his disintegrating house.

Table of Contents and Summary So Far

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Greyback dragged himself into the parlor, smiling grotesquely, his bleeding face shedding gore with each step. "Your little girlfriend leave you all by yourself?" he asked. His words were perfectly understandable, but sounded like they were surrounded by protective packing spells, crackling and popping through bubbles of blood.

"Not for long," Teddy said. "My godfather's on the way."

"Oh, this place is protected enough. Mathilde was a clever girl, but she said she couldn't get in here. Or the tunnel, once they got it magicked up. Reckon it'll take a good five minutes, maybe ten, for your dear old dad--or, well, closest you got, anyway, as your real father's not even much of a meal for the worms these days--"

Teddy morphed. It was a subtle one, a thickening of his cheekbones, a flattening of his sharp, Black nose. He raised the widow's peak on his forehead. Small changes... but Greyback stumbled backward like he'd seen a ghost. Teddy glared at him. "Didn't warn you about everything, did they, Greyback? Did you skip your lessons?"

"You're not him. He's dead. Dead as your mum. I saw 'em both there at the battle, you know. Some old bat brained me, then something must've took me down. Woke up on the hill. Bellatrix woke me up as she went by, laughing. And who should be there but Lupin and his little twist of tail? Her bleeding out right there on top of him, him wailing like a babe in the woods." He raised his voice, mocking: "Oh, poor little wife, gone away from him forever! It's a right tragedy! Leaving a poor little orphan, too! 'Course, that was her own fault, wasting time in a battle trying to heal up the breathing dead. Especially with her dear Auntie on the prowl."

Teddy felt a knife twisting deep inside of himself. The thought that the only person who knew, who had been there, was this monster... But the knife was far away. Something cold seemed to fall over him, a cloak made of ice. "You watched them die."

"Oh, she was dead by the time I got there, barely started healing him before Bella took her out. But your dad was alive. You might say I was holdin' his hand when he finally karked it." He gave another horrible smile, and Teddy understood what he meant.

"You took his ring," he said.

"Threw it halfway back to the castle. I think a giant stepped on it. A bloke shouldn't die pretending to be something he's not," Greyback said with deep, jocular piety. "Shoved her off him, too, so he'd have room to breathe his last few breaths, which I hear he didn't have the last year or so." He seemed to have got over his surprise at Teddy's morph, but Teddy didn't let it go. It felt comforting somehow, and right, to wear Dad's face for this. Greyback took a few more lurching steps into the room. "But I reckon I'll take you with me, and when the moon comes up in a few days, I'll give you everything she tried to take from your dad."

"Right, because before he fell in love with Mum, he was in a real rush to go with you."

"His parents filled his head with strange ideas, but he came back to me in the end, 'til his Little Red yanked him back."

"He was spying on you," Teddy said, backing toward the fireplace, fumbling in his pocket for the cubes of Floo powder, willing them not to fall out as he wobbled around on his sprung knee. "He was spying for Dumbledore, you idiot."

"That's what he told himself. Might even have told other people. But I know better. He found out what it meant to be in a pack. His only mistake was trying to take mine. He wasn't any different from the rest of us. Sweet finally figured that out. Oh, sorry. Vivian. She's not going for that high-sounding nonsense anymore, though."

Teddy cast about for something to throw at him.

Let him talk, Teddy. Think.

It was Dad's voice, but Teddy didn't think it was really Dad. It seemed more like his own brain throwing out a rescue flare. He backed a few more steps toward the fireplace. He could feel the good heat of the fire relaxing his sore muscles.

"Think you're going somewhere, do you?" Greyback said. "I can follow. Oh, I know, they say only one through the Floo at a time, but we both know that's just about being careful. If I grab on with you, you'll pull me along wherever you're going. Maybe to see your godfather's little boys. Is that what you've got in mind? Or maybe your Granny. She's a bit old for me, but she always looks delicious anyway."

"You'll die from losing blood before you can do anything," Teddy said. Something was trying to catch in his mind, some idea. A way to hold Greyback here until Uncle Harry could get to him.

"Oh, I think I can hang on until this little scratch heals up. Won't be quite so pretty, but then, neither will your little girlfriend once I find her to pay her back. No one'll ever think she looks like her mum again. So what do you say? Shall we go straight to her place?"

This time, the voice didn't come from one of his parents, or from his own head. It came from Kirley Duke, and Teddy could hear it as clearly as he had at Weird World: We're in a place between places, which isn't a place at all... And for God's sake, don't try to go back through this one without more powder, you'll be cooked.

He pulled one of the Floo cubes from his pocket, stowing the other safely. Would Greyback buy it if he didn't hear a destination? How much would Mathilde have taught him?

"I see you thinking, Lupin," Greyback said, coming closer. "You think you have a safe place, somewhere it won't be any trouble for anyone. We're made for trouble, though. We're meant to cause as much of it as we can."

"I'm not a werewolf," Teddy said.

"Well, I'll fix that right enough. But it's not just werewolves made for trouble. We're just more honest about it."

Teddy said, "Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place," but didn't throw his Floo cube into the fire. It was just for show. And he wanted to make sure he waited long enough for it not to go through. He narrowed his eyes. "If this is the whole bit where everyone's out to take everything from anyone who can't hold onto it, get over it. I outgrew that. Most people do."

"Most people learn to pretend. Doesn't make 'em any different." Greyback came closer, almost within arm's reach. "Your dad was a great one for pretending," he said. "Why, the way he walked around, you'd think he didn't have a desire in the world. Just to float across the bloody tulips being saintly Professor Lupin. But he knew better. We all knew better. Bet your mum got a good lesson in how delicate and saintly he was. Sure didn't take him long to sprog her up, did it? And as soon as he'd got enough of what he wanted, he scarpered."

The icy cloak blew away, and Teddy made a mad grasp at it. "Stop talking about that!" he hissed.

Greyback laughed, his blood making a gurgling sound in the back of his throat as he did. "Oh, right. I'm sure it was all for her own good. 'Course, maybe she liked it that way. Most women do, once they get a taste of it. Don't reckon Sweet's going to have much use for polite little schoolboys anymore."

Teddy's mind filled with red rage, and he fought to keep from ending everything by jumping on Greyback and tearing at him with his bare hands. That would be the worst thing he could do, and he could almost feel other hands on him, staying him. He clenched his teeth and said, "You're sick."

Greyback lunged forward, and Teddy backed up almost to the fireplace. "Better run now, lad," Greyback said, "or you're going to burn yourself up. Or maybe you think you'll fight for the lady's honor."

Teddy threw the cube of Floo powder into the fire, and the light in the room went green. He tried to look wary, like he was trying to avoid Greyback's grasping hand, but he was really waiting, waiting for the old, gnarled arm to reach out and grab his arm.

It did.

With a teetering step on his injured leg, Teddy fell back into the fire, his free arm outstretched, dragging Greyback with him into the place between places, into the void.