Of course the werewolves were trying to take over the Forbidden Forest. Of course the centaurs were going to take that as an assault and fight back - or preemptively strike, as it sounded. Of course it started when magic was gone.
"So the question is - " Not that it was a question. As soon as Harry started explaining, Ron knew where this was going. Of course this was officially their problem. A magical creature - if that's even what werewolves were classed as these days; Ron couldn't keep up - war was exactly what literally everyone needed to deal with. Especially given that is was happening adjacent to Hogwarts where everyone's children were housed for the next few months. This was a forgone conclusion if Ron had ever seen one.
If Harry was looking for confirmation that they were all going to be on the same page, Ron was pretty sure he was about to get it.
He cut his eyes to Hermione, wondering where she'd weigh in on this, knowing she'd have opinions that would be ridiculously on-point. Ron was pretty sure he knew what she'd say, though. "What are we going to do about it?"
Hermione's head was spinning with a number of concerns, one of which being whether or not if Firenze could be believed. Her eyes jumped back and forth between Harry and Ron, who also seemed rather unnerved.
"Well, those that are enchanting the castle should perhaps take some extra precautions considering the threat of attack," she said putting her list down on the table and crossing her arms against her body. "Perimeter alarms and shield charms around the forest for a start... though the forrest residents should be informed so there aren't false alarms."
She pursed her lips and moved them to the side of her face, "Do we know how dangerous this pack really is? Could it just be a misunderstanding of some kind?"
Ron rubbed at the bridge of his nose, staving off a headache that hadn't started but was expected before too long.
Werewolves. Daleys - who Ron had basically forgotten about until they started turning up literally everywhere. Forbidden Forest. Centaurs. Hogwarts.
This was a proper nightmare.
"Why are the werewolves moving in? And why would the entirety of the Forbidden Forest be so worried about it. There can't be that many in that pack." Ron knew a pack of weres could mean trouble and devastation, but they weren't too dangerous when they were human. And against everything lurking around in the Forbidden Forest?
"There's something else to this if every being in there is in a panic."
Hermione nodded, taking in all the information and processing it with what she already knew.
She had been playing with the idea of talking to Remus for the past few weeks, but hadn't quite found the time or the nerve to ask him those kinds of questions. Of course he was a kind man with nothing to hide from them, his werewolfism wasn't exactly something she felt he loved to talk about. And it certainly wasn't something she wanted to discuss in a letter.
Her mind tried to piece together the connection between the back-from-the-grave Sabrina Daley, her betrayed werewolf pack, and the Forbidden Forest had to do with each other. She hummed, the Forest was probably an ideal hiding place, if they didn't want to be found out. At least, theoretically. If they didn't happen to know of a particular centaur's relationship with the Hogwarts staff.
A shiver went down her spin as memories from their first war came to mind... the howling of the werewolves, the bloody path they left in their quake.
"Hm, yes," she said, agreeing with Ron. "What else do you know, Harry?"
Ron would have pointed out that no one knew how this pack worked, with the exception of Sabrina Daley. She was the person they really needed to be talking to, and she seemed like she might be agreeable enough to talking about it. The only reason he didn't mention it was that they were probably getting to that point.
Besides, that wasn't the distressing part.
"That would make sense. Loyalties with that side don't change much. And it's not like we're talking about randomly turned people here." They were talking about a reclusive pack that no one knew much about.
"What's this born werewolf capable of? Do we know that much?"
"Strong. Very strong," Hermione said, trying to recall anything she knew about this topic, but it was considered lore by many scholars, rather than a reality. Certainly werewolves had reasons to hold grudges against the rest of the wizarding world. They were social pariahs. No one trusted them. And now, now they had a legendary figure in their midsts.... that didn't bode well for the rest of them.
While Hermione had a soft spot in her heart for any outcasted, downtrodden creature, she had her limits. Times were changing- Lupin had been reinstated as a Hogwarts professor, a great testimony to the change of heart since the last war. But, it seemed that wasn't enough for this pack.
She made a mental note to check out some books in the library as soon as it was reopened. Honestly. This was such an inconvenient time for something like this to happen.
"What she said-" he told Ron, pointing toward Hermione. "Even Sebastian Daley seemed a little spooked by the idea and I didn't even know he had more than one facial expression-"
He picked at the sandwich sitting in front of him, completely untouched now that they'd gotten into the conversation.
"I don't want us just jumping into this," he said. "I want Hogwarts safe but we've got to figure out if this is really our fight- can the castle even take another battle?"
Though, even as he asked the question he knew the answer.
"It's Hogwarts, mate." Ron said it like that said everything. In a way, it did. The castle had nearly fallen more than once - even if Ron couldn't give dates beyond the battle they'd never be able to forget - but it always stayed up. If nothing else, it probably always would.
"I think that automatically makes it our fight." Ron intentionally said it in a way that implied there were more than just the three of them included.
"Not in it's current state," Hermione said touching her cheek lightly and pulled some stray hairs behind her ear. She was surprised that the castle was standing at all. It was uncertain how long it would take to fully reinstate all the castle's defenses. Let alone figure out what they all were in the first place.
She felt the weight of Ron's statement and nodded. Hermione couldn't help the faintest of smiles though. Ron was sometimes hard to convince to take action in something that didn't necessarily directly concern him. And there he was, throwing himself into the mix for the sake of others.
"Funny how it would be easier if we were back in school," she mused. "We could just assemble our army..."
"I don't see why we still can't-" Harry said suddenly. "It's not as if we've lost contact with anyone or something-"
They were all still as close as they became during the War. And this was Hogwarts. A place that had been their home for nearly eight years. If it was in trouble, Harry had a hard time believing no one would come to its aid.
"It does tend to come up in times of war." Ron was careful to keep his voice especially low, even though there didn't seem to be anyone listening to them.
That was the whole point of the Order, wasn't it? To deal with these kinds of things.
"I doubt anyone would shut down the idea. We should at least see if everyone will still pull together. See if there's anyone new and useful we could ask in to fill any gaps."They mostly tended to keep trusting the same people. It generally hadn't failed them, and Ron couldn't think of anyone who would say no to this, but people had a way of surprising them in the worst ways.
"So the question is - " Not that it was a question. As soon as Harry started explaining, Ron knew where this was going. Of course this was officially their problem. A magical creature - if that's even what werewolves were classed as these days; Ron couldn't keep up - war was exactly what literally everyone needed to deal with. Especially given that is was happening adjacent to Hogwarts where everyone's children were housed for the next few months. This was a forgone conclusion if Ron had ever seen one.
If Harry was looking for confirmation that they were all going to be on the same page, Ron was pretty sure he was about to get it.
He cut his eyes to Hermione, wondering where she'd weigh in on this, knowing she'd have opinions that would be ridiculously on-point. Ron was pretty sure he knew what she'd say, though. "What are we going to do about it?"
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"Well, those that are enchanting the castle should perhaps take some extra precautions considering the threat of attack," she said putting her list down on the table and crossing her arms against her body. "Perimeter alarms and shield charms around the forest for a start... though the forrest residents should be informed so there aren't false alarms."
She pursed her lips and moved them to the side of her face, "Do we know how dangerous this pack really is? Could it just be a misunderstanding of some kind?"
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He sighed, raking his fingers through his hair.
"Firenze explained that every being in the forest is against the werewolves coming in - but that they're turning to the centaurs for leadership-"
He frowned.
"Who in turn seem to be coming to us-"
He looked back and forth between his two friends.
"There's no misunderstanding. This is the same pack where that werewolf was from- the one trying to attack Daley Manor."
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Werewolves. Daleys - who Ron had basically forgotten about until they started turning up literally everywhere. Forbidden Forest. Centaurs. Hogwarts.
This was a proper nightmare.
"Why are the werewolves moving in? And why would the entirety of the Forbidden Forest be so worried about it. There can't be that many in that pack." Ron knew a pack of weres could mean trouble and devastation, but they weren't too dangerous when they were human. And against everything lurking around in the Forbidden Forest?
"There's something else to this if every being in there is in a panic."
Reply
She had been playing with the idea of talking to Remus for the past few weeks, but hadn't quite found the time or the nerve to ask him those kinds of questions. Of course he was a kind man with nothing to hide from them, his werewolfism wasn't exactly something she felt he loved to talk about. And it certainly wasn't something she wanted to discuss in a letter.
Her mind tried to piece together the connection between the back-from-the-grave Sabrina Daley, her betrayed werewolf pack, and the Forbidden Forest had to do with each other. She hummed, the Forest was probably an ideal hiding place, if they didn't want to be found out. At least, theoretically. If they didn't happen to know of a particular centaur's relationship with the Hogwarts staff.
A shiver went down her spin as memories from their first war came to mind... the howling of the werewolves, the bloody path they left in their quake.
"Hm, yes," she said, agreeing with Ron. "What else do you know, Harry?"
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He huffed a breath, nearly rolling his eyes as he shifted his glasses against his nose.
"He was born a werewolf-" he continued. "Which is apparently really bloody rare- Lupin confirmed it, though, that it was possible-"
He didn't want to know what that meant if the entire forest was trying to get them out.
"I think the fear is that the creatures who sided with Voldemort might still have some bad blood against us- and those like Firenze-"
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Besides, that wasn't the distressing part.
"That would make sense. Loyalties with that side don't change much. And it's not like we're talking about randomly turned people here." They were talking about a reclusive pack that no one knew much about.
"What's this born werewolf capable of? Do we know that much?"
Reply
"Strong. Very strong," Hermione said, trying to recall anything she knew about this topic, but it was considered lore by many scholars, rather than a reality. Certainly werewolves had reasons to hold grudges against the rest of the wizarding world. They were social pariahs. No one trusted them. And now, now they had a legendary figure in their midsts.... that didn't bode well for the rest of them.
While Hermione had a soft spot in her heart for any outcasted, downtrodden creature, she had her limits. Times were changing- Lupin had been reinstated as a Hogwarts professor, a great testimony to the change of heart since the last war. But, it seemed that wasn't enough for this pack.
She made a mental note to check out some books in the library as soon as it was reopened. Honestly. This was such an inconvenient time for something like this to happen.
Reply
"What she said-" he told Ron, pointing toward Hermione. "Even Sebastian Daley seemed a little spooked by the idea and I didn't even know he had more than one facial expression-"
He picked at the sandwich sitting in front of him, completely untouched now that they'd gotten into the conversation.
"I don't want us just jumping into this," he said. "I want Hogwarts safe but we've got to figure out if this is really our fight- can the castle even take another battle?"
Though, even as he asked the question he knew the answer.
Hogwarts had survived more than he ever would.
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"I think that automatically makes it our fight." Ron intentionally said it in a way that implied there were more than just the three of them included.
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She felt the weight of Ron's statement and nodded. Hermione couldn't help the faintest of smiles though. Ron was sometimes hard to convince to take action in something that didn't necessarily directly concern him. And there he was, throwing himself into the mix for the sake of others.
"Funny how it would be easier if we were back in school," she mused. "We could just assemble our army..."
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They were all still as close as they became during the War. And this was Hogwarts. A place that had been their home for nearly eight years. If it was in trouble, Harry had a hard time believing no one would come to its aid.
"We have the Order for a reason, don't we?"
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That was the whole point of the Order, wasn't it? To deal with these kinds of things.
"I doubt anyone would shut down the idea. We should at least see if everyone will still pull together. See if there's anyone new and useful we could ask in to fill any gaps."They mostly tended to keep trusting the same people. It generally hadn't failed them, and Ron couldn't think of anyone who would say no to this, but people had a way of surprising them in the worst ways.
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