Sirius soon caught up to Harry and the pair made their way out of the main courtyard and down towards the fields.
"So things going that well with the three of you?" Sirius asked jokingly. "Maybe I will need to give you the talk soon."
"Shut up you," Harry huffed, turning his head away as he felt a blush creep into his cheeks. "Like you can talk anyway, I can see the marks Greyback left on you from here."
"That's beside the point," Sirius huffed, "and I was only joking anyway."
"No need to be so touchy," Harry chuckled, "although you should have realised that you would get some stick, especially turning up so late in the morning and wearing that."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"It's a robe Sirius!" Harry gaped. "and you hate all those wizarding traditions."
"Yeah well," Sirius shrugged, "didn't want to make it obvious, or more obvious anyway."
"I was going to say," Harry chuckled. "So does this mean that Greyback will be hanging round the castle more."
"Probably not," Sirius muttered.
"How come?"
"It's complicated," Sirius sighed. "Greyback is bringing Remus who has always hated Greyback since he was the werewolf who turned him."
"And you don't think your friend would accept a relationship with him."
"Remus is more than a friend, he's my mate," Sirius explained, "not that that seemed to make any difference. People have this misconception that being someone's mate means that you're somehow naturally perfect for them and that everythings going to be fine but it doesn't always work out like that. Relationships still take effort and even then there can be serious issues that are difficult to get around."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I've learned that. Tom and Severus are mates but they're both very dominant personalities so it was difficult for them which is why they say they're happy I came along."
"With me and Remus it was the opposite since neither of us are particularly dominant. We tried to make it work and it did for a bit but we realised after a while that neither of us was completely satisfied. We were trying to work things out but then the war heated up and you know. I don't know what things are going to be like now."
"Well I suppose there's always Greyback," Harry suggested. "I know you're not mates but I don't think that means you can't be together."
Sirius sighed. "I don't know if I could do that to Remus though. Being a werewolf has been hell for him."
"What's wrong with being a werewolf?" a stern voice asked as a woman made herself known. She looked to be middle aged, with long grey hair tied back in a plait and crows feet around her eyes, more noticeable thanks to the frown on her face.
"Nothing really," Sirius said, holding his hands up in defence, "it's just that I know that my mate has suffered terribly with it and has struggled to even find employment let alone acceptance for what he is."
"Then I can only assume that he has been looking in the wrong places," the woman replied. "Your mate is Remus Lupin?"
"Yes," said Sirius, "how did you know that?"
The woman smiled. "There are not many werewolves with as obscure a name as Remus and he is quite famous among our kind for being the only one favoured enough by Albus Dumbledore to attend his hallowed school."
"What do you mean by an obscure name?" Harry queried. "I thought all werewolves had, you know, wolf-like names?"
"Why would we?" the woman countered. "Many of us have been turned, not born, so why would our parents give us wolf-like names? I sometimes think Lyall Lupin was asking for his son to be attacked, naming him like that."
"What's your name then, if you don't mind me asking?" Harry questioned.
"Deliah," the woman replied, "and yours?"
"Harry Potter, and this is my father, Sirius Black."
The woman, Deliah, gaped. "Well that's certainly not the story we all know."
"Trust me when I say I'm still getting used to the idea myself," Sirius joked. "Suffice it to say that what people know isn't actually the real story."
"I see," Deliah murmured, "then I won't pry, although I assume since you're here and Greyback is not that you are rescinding our right to stay here Lord Black?"
"I'm actually Lord Black," Harry corrected her, since Deliah had been talking to Sirius, "what with Sirius technically being a wanted criminal, but no, we actually came to inform you that you are welcome to stay as long as you want."
"Greyback probably would have told you himself but he was asked to go get Remus Lupin," Sirius added.
"Someone commanded the great Fenrir Greyback and not only lived but he even followed the orders?" Deliah asked in disbelief.
"Yes, the Dark Lord, he's back," Harry explained.
"And since you, Harry Potter, are here talking to me then I would assume that the Dark Lord has had a change of opinion regarding you and your risk to his cause?"
"Oh he definitely has," Sirius winced.
Harry giggled at his father's response. "It's part of the story behind Sirius actually being my dad," he explained.
"And I imagine it's quite a long one," Deliah murmured, "in which case you had probably best come with me, it will probably be easier if you can talk to as many of our pack as possible, it will certainly help people understand if they have the story straight from you."
Deliah led them down a cobblestone path towards what looked like a small village with several different sized stone houses along with a water mill and what looked like several barns. There was a large bell in the centre of the village that Deliah rang four times before continuing along to one of the larger buildings which turned out to be a hall although there looked to be a number of camp beds around the edges of it. Deliah pushed them to the back of the hall while Harry and Sirius waited at the front, watching as people steadily made their way into the room.
Harry was a little surprised at the sheer number of werewolves. Tom and Severus had told him that Greyback commanded the largest pack in Europe but Harry had never met any other werewolves so he had no idea what size it would be, although the actual size still surprised him. There were men and women of a wide variety of ages although Deliah seemed to be one of the oldest. There were also several young children, some that definitely appeared to be Hogwarts age, although some were younger. There also seemed to be two women who were pregnant and it made Harry happy to think that this community was prospering so much. There was a murmur of excited chatter around the room as Deliah moved to stand next to him and Sirius and Harry wondered what they could be waiting for. Then a door opened next to them and out came an older looking man wearing a cardigan and glasses and looking a lot like what Harry had always thought a professor would look like, until he had started attending Hogwarts that is. Two older teens, about 6th or 7th year by Harry's estimate, accompanied the man who came to stand next to Deliah as the teens joined the rest of the crowd.
As these last individuals took their places, Deliah raised her hand and the chatter instantly stopped.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice. As you know our alpha was called to a meeting with the recently returned Lord Black, or who we thought was returned. It turns out we have a new Lord Black instead."
"And where is our great alpha?" a dark haired woman in the crowd asked.
"It seems he has gone after his wayward pup, Ruby," Deliah explained.
"It would be good to see him settle down again," the man next to Deliah muttered and Harry thought he heard Sirius quietly growl at that.
"From what I've heard I don't know if that will happen," Deliah sighed, "it turns out that Mr Black here is Lupin's mate but I still hope you will all welcome Lupin as you would any new wolf."
"So you're the new Lord Black?" asked a blonde woman, who was standing next to Ruby.
"No," Sirius grinned, "what with me being a wanted criminal and all."
"We're all technically wanted criminals here," the blonde woman chuckled.
"Then I'm obviously in good company," Sirius smiled, "but the title of Lord Black goes to my son, Harry Potter." Several gasps erupted from the room at that announcement causing Harry to sigh.
"It's a long story that I'd rather not go into in detail but basically James Potter was actually my bearer and Sirius was my sire."
"I didn't realise wizards had male bearers as well," the man next to Deliah murmured.
"It turns out he had some creature blood," Harry explained, "although what do you mean as well?"
The man smiled. "Werewolves have male bearers as well, it's thought to have been an evolutionary development after hunters started targeting female wolves in an effort to eradicate our population. Don't get me wrong, they are still quite rare but, because of that, they are always cherished by our community."
"Forgive my husband," Deliah smiled, "but he's always been a great academic and, since being here, has taken to trying to learn all that we can about the history of werewolves."
"As well as trying to understand the laws pertaining to us and teaching the younger generation," he chuckled.
"Yes Eric, you're busy, I get it," Deliah smiled.
"But will he be able to continue doing that?" one of the pregnant women asked, "or are you going to be kicking us off your land?"
"Oh Merlin no!" Harry exclaimed, "Sirius and I came here to tell you you're welcome to stay as long as you like."
"That's good to know," the pregnant woman asked, "although is there any chance we can make improvements to the properties here only there isn't enough space in my room to add a cot since it's mostly been set up for house elves."
"Apparently when the castle was filled with family members the house elves lived and worked out here in the fields," Deliah said. "When we arrived the former Lord Black suggested the elves move into the castle so that it was easier to keep us separate for the full moon. At the time the current structures were more than enough for our pack but unfortunately our numbers and needs have changed quite significantly in the year and a half since he passed, as you can see." She pointed to the camp beds that had been moved at the start. "It has its drawbacks in making us a bigger for hunters but it also has its benefits."
"Oui, I would not have even thought of coming to England if not for news of your pack," said a man with long blonde hair and elfin-like features.
"And we are eminently grateful for that, Link," Eric smiled. "I don't know how we would have coped without your skills."
"I am a healer," Link explained, noticing Harry and Sirius's somewhat confused faces. "I trained in Paris and was fascinated by the changes Lycanthropy enacted on the body so enacted the change and trained under an eminent healer in a pack that exists in the Pyrenees."
"You willingly became infected!" Sirius gaped.
"Yes," Link replied. "France is a lot more accepting of all creatures and offers an education to anyone, although we are not allowed to board in the school with non-creatures. The result, however, is that they have a much better understanding of conditions including variations in healing and potions."
"Really!" Harry exclaimed, "I'm sure Severus would be happy to pick your brains over that."
"That wouldn't be Severus Snape would it?" Link queried and Harry nodded. "In that case I would definitely like to talk to him. My healing and diagnostic charms are fantastic, even if I do say so myself, but unfortunately potions were never my speciality and I would hate to pass my failings on to my trainees."
"I don't know how he'll feel about that," Harry admitted, scratching his head. "He's just got out of teaching and I'm not sure how much he enjoyed it."
"Isn't he going to be teaching you?" Sirius asked. "I'm sure he and, er, Tom were saying that they were going to make sure you have a good education even outside of Hogwarts."
"Oh I'd definitely be interested in talking to them about that," Eric piped up. "I've taken on the mantle of teacher for the school aged children but my speciality subjects are pretty much limited to history and ancient runes. It would be highly beneficial to our community if we could get some people in who can help with other subjects."
"I don't mind helping with transfigurations," Sirius beamed but Harry gave him a baleful look. "What's wrong with that idea?"
"I don't know although I don't really see you as a teacher," Harry replied, frowning. "You don't seem very sensible."
"Well maybe a bit of responsibility it what I need to calm down," Sirius protested, "plus I am good at transfigurations, there was a reason I was able to become an animagus before I finished school, and I was the first one as well, I even helped the others figure it out."
"That is impressive," Eric nodded, "and I can certainly see that helping, especially if you're going to be staying in the castle. Perhaps we can sit down and work out a schedule."
"You should probably chat to Tom first though," Harry said. "He might have picked out a schedule for me already although I admit it would be nicer to have other students and not just me. I can see Tom and Severus being quite intense if its one on one."
"I also don't know how much I can trust that," Sirius admitted, "the thought of you alone with either of them makes me anxious."
"I don't think either of them would do anything," Harry sighed.
"Everyone has their limits," Sirius pointed out, "and I'd rather not test their's, especially if you start testing them."
"So they are your mates?" Deliah enquired.
Harry frowned. "Severus and Tom are mates and Tom is bound to me thanks to my creature inheritance so I don't know what that means exactly other than that I can bond with both of them."
"May I ask what creature?" Link asked.
"Phoenix," Harry admitted and winced a bit as people gasped, "although obviously not fully."
"That is interesting," Link murmured. "I hope you don't mind my asking but are you capable of all the things a full phoenix is?"Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure, I only realised a couple of months ago myself although my eyes did heal after I cried the other day."
"That explains the lack of tell-tale glasses," the blonde woman smirked.
Harry grinned. "I never really liked them anyway."
"Healing tears could be useful," Link admitted, "especially if they were pure."
"I think Severus wants to look into it anyway," Harry said, "and he did say to let him know if there were any potions you want him to make for you."
"I'll have to talk to him about different brewing processes for the Lycanthrope physiognomy," Link mused.
"Like I said, I'm sure he'd be interested," Harry admitted.
"Perhaps a few of us should arrange another meeting," Eric suggested.
"That's all well and good for you guys but if there's nothing else to really say Emma and I need to get back to the woods," Ruby announced. "There's a young upstart buck vying for dominance that we want to keep an eye on because we don't think he'd be a good fit for the herd."
"Is that the sort of thing you guys do?" Harry asked.
Ruby nodded. "Yes. There's a contingent of us that manage the woodlands and the animals that inhabit it to make sure that everything is maintaining a good balance."
"We also have farmers for crops and potions ingredients," Deliah informed them, "as well as millers to produce our own flour although the house elves insist on producing all the fabric. We even produce our own paper. The idea was always to be as self-sufficient as possible."
"That's brilliant," Harry smiled, "and if there's anything that I can help you with just ask."
"Thank you," Deliah bowed, "you are most generous Lord Black."
"Yeah, now we only have to worry about the dark lord finding out," the pregnant woman said.
"Um, the Tom that I said I'm bound to is the dark lord," Harry admitted hesitantly, "so he's not a threat to me or you."
Deliah's eyebrows lifted up to her hairline. "That is a turn up for the books."
"Yeah but it means you can all relax, you're not going to have to fight in any war or anything."
"Is the dark lord going to try the political route?" Eric asked.
Harry cocked his head in thought. "I'm not sure at the moment. We did think that it would be harder to find a secure base to work from but now we have the castle I'm sure he'll be moving forwards with whatever plans he's cooking up."
"Do you not want to know what he's planning?" Deliah queried.
"At the moment I'd rather concentrate on my education," Harry admitted. "I can't expect either Tom or Severus to take me seriously if I don't know what I'm talking about."
"In that case please discuss the option of joint lessons with him," Eric smiled, "it would certainly do our pack a world of good to learn from such as the Dark Lord and Severus Snape and I agree it would likely help you to study with peers as opposed to on your own."
The werewolves dispersed shortly after that, feeling a lot more secure in their position within the castle as well as looking forward to a possibly even brighter future. Harry had given permission for the pack to expand as much as they wanted and Deliah promised to keep track of their resources to make sure that they wouldn't risk outgrowing what the castle could support since they wanted to keep this place as a haven which meant remaining as separate from the magical world as possible.
Given how late in the day it was getting, Deliah had invited them both to stay for lunch so they could get a look at how things were managed and Harry could meet some of the werewolves around his age. Harry jumped on the idea and Sirius was impressed at how quickly Harry took to the other teens. He had been worried that, between the Dursleys and learning of Dumbledore's manipulations, that Harry would become too insular but it seemed that wasn't the case as his son was quickly on a first name basis with all his peers and even managed to organise an impromptu gobstones tournament. Sirius had been surprised to learn that Harry had never actually played the game since Ron had always been more interested in quidditch and Hermione in books and neither of his former friends had ever encouraged Harry to pursue anything outside of their interests, a fact that annoyed Sirius to no end although he held his tongue out of respect. The idea that his first friends weren't actually his friends was something that clearly still hurt Harry so Sirius didn't want to bring it up but at least they could both be sure that any friendship formed now would be true. The number of younger wolves had surprised Sirius at first and Deliah had explained that it was actually by design.
"In the same way that muggle diseases don't affect wizards, wizarding diseases don't affect wolves. We also have an ability to heal much faster so people sometimes contact us as a way of saving their children," Deliah explained. "It isn't an easy decision, especially as we couldn't risk bringing those who haven't been turned in and, while a few families have accepted the change over the years, not all have wanted or been able to. Many of the parents said a hard goodbye, preferring that their child lived, and in those cases the children keep in touch with their birth families. Unfortunately there are those who would rather see their child suffer in which case we have been known to forcibly take them which is where Greyback earned his reputation as a child snatcher. We always help those we take recover, however, and you can see yourself that they are all happy and healthy."
"That surprises me that people would purposely choose to become werewolves," Sirius admitted, "since Remus always considered it a curse."
"Some do," Deliah nodded, "and its thought that the change occurred due to someone experimenting with immortality in the past, as with vampirism. As you can see, though, the people of this pack are thriving, partly due to the lack of fear other have, but also because we accept out nature instead of fighting it which allows the change to happen more naturally, although there is always some pain, no worse than child birth however."
"Have you had children?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," Deliah smiled, "twin girls born shortly after we arrived here so I was one of the lucky ones. Ruby who has taken command of the forestry detachment and Jennifer who married Link and is expecting her first in a few months."
"Congratulations."
Deliah nodded. "Thank you, but I'm sure you can understand now why it is so important to us that we keep our sanctuary. With Jennifer's children we will be the first werewolf pack to have three generations of werewolves together in centuries due to the lifetime of persecution we have faced from wizards."
"Is it really just wizards who are a threat?" Sirius asked. "I know there used to be tensions with the vampires."
"That was thankfully resolved years ago," Deliah explained. "Our longer life spans we both tend not to procreate very frequently, and when we do we are often targeted, which is why turning wizards the main way both werewolves and vampires built up their numbers. There are not many who are willing to be turned, however, which is what caused tensions to build. We have come to an agreement now though. Since werewolves age, albeit slowly, we take any children who wish to turn and the vampires take the adults. Only born vampires age, you see, and ut was deemed cruel to force a person to spend an eternity as a child. So far it has worked out well and we hope to keep it that way."
"I can imagine that wont be a problem," Sirius agreed, "at least not here anyway. Both Tom and Snape are vampires and seem to have no issue with the idea of werewolves."
"It is part of why we followed the Dark Lord in the first place," Deliah admitted. "He was actively trying to bring a better understanding of all creatures to the magical world and wanted them to have a say in how the world operated. Wizards are very quick to judge, painting a whole tace as the same based of the actions of a few individuals. Werewolves, vampires, giants, goblins, even the ones deemed as light or neutral. Trust me when I say that unicorns may be deemed light but you can still get the odd aggressive one and people have been caught out before, although, unsurprisingly, those accounts are never recorded in the history books."
"I will admit I have a hard time seeing and aggressive unicorn," Sirius mused.
"There is a herd that found refuge in the forest around here, especially since our werewolf forms are a lot tamer than most thanks to being safe and well fed," Deliah explained. "We had to kill one of the stallions because it was attacking other creatures with little provocation and was generally making a pest of itself so we didn't want to risk it breeding and passing on those traits. The herd actually seemed to be quite grateful to us and are now frequently seen at the boarders. It ended up being very beneficial to us as well, especially since we were able to harvest the parts and Edith, one of our number, was able to learn the art of wandmaking. She is not yet an expert but her ability is at least good enough that any new children that arrive are able to acquire a wand without us leaving the castle."
"I'm surprised you didn't sell the parts," Sirius admitted, "since even I'm aware that unicorn hair is worth quite a bit."
"What need have we of money?" Deliah countered. "The seess we sow come from the previous years crops; the animals we farm and breed; the wood and stone for buildings from the forest and the mountains. Wands used to be our biggest expense so it made more sense to us in the long run to learn the skill so that we could pass it on to future generations."
"It's quite a tidy set up you have here then," Sirius said, somewhat in awe of how well things were run.
"For now at least," Deliah agreed. "At the moment most of us still remember how hard it is out in the big wide world so we are grateful for the safety that we're offered here. That's not to say that there are those that will complain or try to change things in the future, but hopefully the magical world will be a more accepting place by then."
"That is certainly something I want to fight for," Sirius admitted and, as he watched Harry, his son, acting so carefree with others his age he realised that a war really shouldn't be necessary. As far as he was aware there hadn't been any tslk of negatiations when the Dark Lord had first risen to power, he and his friends had simply been pulled straight into the middle of things out of school, told that they had to fight for their lives, although what the were fighting against was never fully explained. Looking at the werewolf pack now, Sirius could fully understand them jumping to the Dark Lord if this was the sort of thing he was offering and he had to admit that if he'd been aware that this was what Dumbledore was trying to stop, he might not have been so quick to join the man's order himself.