Lupin Reborn Under the Waning Moon

"Voldemort's Moon Magic is in my hands."

To be precise, Harry could imitate and evolve [Moon Magic].

This was the value of [Grooming]—it could even "make up" magic.

But he hated explaining; it made him feel like the one being controlled.

Under the light of the waning moon...

Lupin had lost the ability to speak. His pupils dilated, his breathing quickened, the tip of his nose bulged, his mouth began to protrude, his head and body started lengthening, his back arched, fur sprouted on his face and hands, and his fingers curled into claws...

"It's not even a full moon."

After a brief moment of shock, Sirius let out a "woof" and transformed into a bear-sized dog.

Then he shifted back immediately.

Because he realized that Lupin, now a werewolf, was docile—just like in the old days when he faced animals as one of them.

"He's completing himself," Harry said. "No werewolf has ever been this close to the moon."

The cold light of the waning moon fell upon the werewolf.

The sparse white fur on his torso began to thicken, and his legs started to bend backward.

He dropped to all fours instead of standing hunched over.

"A tail... a tail!" Sirius pointed at Lupin's rear. "He's turning into a wolf!"

In his memory, no werewolf had ever grown a tail.

"Stop barking."

Human speech actually came from the wolf's maw.

Lupin's body was further beastializing, yet rationality surfaced in his animal eyes, and he could even speak human language.

"You can still talk!"

Sirius, an Animagus, was even more astonished.

"When I'm a dog, I can only bark."

"Other than that one Animagus whose form was a parrot, no one in magical history can speak while transformed into an animal."

[Ding ding ding! The Savior has successfully converted a Half-Wolf. First-time reward—100 experience points, Silver Talent Fragment·1 credited to account.]

"Alright," Harry said.

The waning moon shattered into specks of starlight, scattering over the White Wolf.

"Hurry."

The White Wolf Lupin glanced at the torn clothes and shoes.

"Hurry what?"

"I'm not an Animagus."

"Reparo."

Only when Lupin said this did Sirius snap out of it and pull out his wand.

He finally realized that werewolf transformation was different from Animagus transformation—it didn't include clothes, shoes, or accessories; reverting to human form left one naked.

"Can you step out for a moment, Harry?"

After the clothes and shoes were repaired, the White Wolf Lupin said quietly.

"And you too, Sirius."

He looked at his friend, who clearly had no intention of leaving.

"I've already seen it plenty of times."

Sirius grumbled as he walked out of the office and closed the door.

He looked enviously at Harry, who emerged from the wall again. "How did you do it?"

"Instinct," Harry said. "One day, I just suddenly knew how. Dumbledore said it might be related to the deepest essence of magic."

"You can come in now." Lupin opened the door.

"Your hair!" Sirius rubbed his eyes.

Lupin's hair had turned silver-white, and his body seemed to have undergone a second growth spurt, much taller now.

The ill-fitting trousers exposing his ankles were proof.

"Looks like my graying hair wasn't just from malnutrition," Lupin joked. "Hmm... I'll need to change into another set of clothes."

"Just one set?" A flicker of pain passed through Sirius's eyes. "You need to replace all your clothes. I'm paying!"

He remembered the first time he'd seen Lupin after years apart.

Gray-haired, sickly, exhausted, his worn wizard robes patched in several places.

For a wizard who knew [Reparo], that clearly meant countless repairs—repaired to the breaking point.

Hogwarts Prefect, Head Boy.

All because he was a Werewolf, all because he held fast to his own principles, he ended up living in such poverty and destitution.

"Don't refuse, think of it as atonement."

"Choosing that traitor as the Secret Keeper instead of you wasn't because you were too outstanding and would be the Death Eaters' anticipated Secret Keeper, but because I suspected you."

"I suspected you, or Mungston, were the traitor in the Order of the Phoenix back then."

"You're a Black." Under Sirius's puzzled gaze, Lupin continued with a gentle smile, "Blacks are all a bunch of lunatics, stubborn, set in their ways, you said so yourself."

"You risked everything to complete your Animagus transformation, and after two years of night roaming with a Werewolf, you still discriminated against him. There's only one reason for that—you had an episode, you made the kind of mistake any Black would make."

"Well, I do have episodes often." Sirius made a face. "Letting myself rot in Azkaban without a word of defense—that was an episode too."

"Foolishly assuming Peter was already dead, thinking rotting in prison was atonement."

"Shirking my duties as a godfather, letting Harry grow up in that kind of environment, even developing obsessive-compulsive personality disorder."

"But... I'm having another episode now."

"The kind where I want to spend money buying you clothes."

"Can you help me, Dr. Lupin?"

He sauntered up to Lupin with a flippant air, grabbed Lupin's collar, and tilted his head up to meet Lupin's gaze.

"Has anyone ever told you two that your relationship is seriously twisted?" Harry wanted to scrub his eyes clean.

He was sure Lupin's orientation was normal, and the posters of bikini-clad Muggle women in Sirius's room confirmed his orientation too.

But he wasn't sure Sirius only liked women.

"Lily said that about me and James." Sirius said. "That's one of the reasons James had to boldly confess his love to Lily. It gave him courage, and it also pushed his conflict with Snivellus to a boiling point."

"Back in our day, calling someone 'like Dumbledore' could be used as an insult."

"Don't tell Professor Dumbledore."

"I think he already knows." Harry said with a smile. "Not much gets past him at school."

"That's true."

Dumbledore's voice rang out from outside the door.

He dabbed at his eyes. "I've witnessed a precious friendship as well."

"Dumbledore!"

Sirius opened the door. He finally understood what it felt like to get caught badmouthing someone behind their back.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," Dumbledore strode into the room, "I sensed a familiar power, and I thought it was Tom."

He glanced at Lupin. "You've grown much stronger. I imagine it's related to that power..."

"Could it be—" A flicker of joy passed through his blue eyes.

Lupin nodded. "Involuntary Werewolf attacks will be a thing of the past. All thanks to Harry."

Dumbledore was not surprised. "I suppose the Order of the Phoenix will have to prepare another First-Class Medal for Harry. Cornelius will be thrilled—he's been worrying about how to get everyone to move past the attack ten days ago, now that he can't use Nickbo's attention as a distraction."

This time, Fudge hadn't broken with Dumbledore over Voldemort.

The reason was the same as in the original timeline, when Fudge had led a team to corner Dumbledore only to witness Voldemort vanish in the Ministry of Magic.

Now it was even better.

Voldemort hadn't resurrected.

And Dumbledore had confirmed that Voldemort lacked the strength to launch another attack for a long time to come.