Chapter Text
Growing up hated by the majority of society is hard. It is even harder to decide at 11 to make a move almost unheard of by those like you. When he took steps that all but abandoned his world for that of the wizards when James and Sirius felt more like pack than his primum pack (original pack), Remus knew that life would never be the same, never be easy to define. In many ways, his life was easier because of the aid of his pseudo-pack; having instincts that demanded he take care of them was what made it difficult. The birth of Harry, James’ son and the first cub of his pack, proved to him that it was all worth it and that he would do whatever he could to protect this small babe from the trials he had had to face.
Remus had certainly been surprised when Albus Dumbledore sent him a missive asking to meet on May 15, 1992. He guessed that it had something to do with whichever cub had been accepted to come to Hogwarts this coming year. The last two times he had helped the headmaster communicate with the cubs and their packs, however, his role was explained to him by owl. When Headmaster Dumbledore told him of his latest crazy scheme, he was nearly certain that Harry had done something to send the headmaster around the bend. Albus wanted to invite not one Lycan to Hogwarts this year, no he wanted to invite all of the 11-year-olds! It was hard enough to keep the secret when only one wolf was running about having to make excuses. How did he think it would work out if once a month a couple dozen students all had to leave claiming their great-aunt died? How would their wolf forms deal with being trapped in that Merlin-forsaken shack with each other? Never mind how their supplies would be paid for or how their alphas would be made to follow along with this stunt; it was destined for failure! To Remus’ surprise and embarrassment (it was the Albus Dumbledore after all) most of his concerns were already taken care of. The alphas had already been contacted and hesitantly convinced. A fund had recently been started to cover the majority of costs. A deal had apparently been struck with the centaurs so that the cubs could transform in the forest (with permission!), and suitable club activities would be ‘planned’ so that any disappearances would go unnoticed. The only thing Remus was actually needed for was taking the soon-to-be students to Diagon Alley to get their supplies. Even with all of the planning put into place though, Remus could not help but worry that all of this would go U-shaped with the cubs paying for it.
This certainly seemed to be the case when Remus was contacted by Romulus, one of his primum pack mates a measly three moons into the school year. He was told that the various alphas who had cubs at Hogwarts (including Romulus) wished to meet with him that evening. Rarely was Remus in contact with his Lycan brethren outside of his assistance to Hogwarts. His insistence at seeing certain non-Lycans as pack left a definitive divide between himself and the others. Yes, some had biological family that did not leave them after the bite, but the pack dynamic was not something easily found outside of the Lycan community. All packs were families. Not all families were packs.
What Remus discovered at the meeting was rather unexpected. He should have known something very funny was going on when literally everyone there treated him like a close pack-friend. Normally, he could only rely on Romulus to acknowledge that Remus was still one of the Lycan community. Then people started inquiring after the health of his pack. He was so taken aback by alphas legitimately acknowledging his pack (not declaring it a pseudo-pack as was the closest to acknowledgment gained in the past), that Remus stumbled. Finally, they got to the heart of the matter. Apparently, the cubs had written home multiple times to tell their primum packs all about the steps taken to achieve a pack dynamic at Hogwarts. Remus listened as Alpha after Alpha told of all of the changes that were made. Some he had known about; some he had not. He learned of just what safety measures had been put in place (Hogwarts removed all silver from its boundaries?). He was told about how subjects like Lycanthropy were openly discussed in a new debate club, and acceptance seemed to be the new buzzword. All of this shocked him. When he was told the name of who was behind all of this, he became catatonic. Dumbledore was not the person behind all of these changes. No, of course not. It was Harry. His Harry. Apparently, Harry and some of his friends were even behind Dumbledore deciding to accept large numbers of Lycans at once in the first place! To hear some of the letters read aloud, Harry found himself largely accepted by the Lycan community of Hogwarts as their alpha. Reading between the lines, older students and faculty were dancing to this tune as well. Apparently, this entire meeting was to declare Remus an official Alpha of his own mixed-up pack so that the Lycan community could swallow Harry, (he’s 12 for Merlin’s sake!) a non-Lycan, in an alpha position at Hogwarts.
Then Amou entered the scene. He had graduated last year from the school and did not seem very surprised at all by these proceedings. According to him, Harry knew he was a Lycan almost from first sight, and his only request of the wolf was lessons on Lycan etiquette (no wonder Harry doesn’t call me Moony anymore!). Harry then proceeded to create a debate club to end all debate clubs and manipulated Dumbledore into making quite a few changes to the school. Remus honestly did not know what to think about it all….
Hours later the meeting had finally ended, and Remus left to see his (now official) pack. His head was still spinning after learning that the new organization to help Lycans (WolfHands) could be linked back to Harry. Everything could be linked back to his 12-year-old cub! “Remus! What’s wrong?” Lily exclaimed moments after he had entered the door. This caused James and Sirius to rush in and help lead him to a seat. Remus chuckled half-heartedly. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Nothing much. Up is down. Down is up. I heard a rumor that pigs have decided to play Quidditch, wanna go see a game, Prongs?” At this, a nearly hysterical Remus left his seat to start pacing. “No, here is what is wrong. I just found out that more has been done in the last year to help my kind than in the last hundred combined! Apparently, Harry decided to become the defacto leader of Hogwarts, and with it has created huge changes everywhere! James-” here Remus grabbed James by his robes “didn’t you ever give Harry the Talk? What about you, Sirius? You’re his godfather, goddammit! Why did no one in this house explain to that boy that it wasn’t a crime to be a child? Why didn’t we think to explain that no one would be angry if he left sleeping dragons alone? He’s only 12 but to hear what I’ve heard, you would think he was Dumbledore or Merlin! What are you laughing about?!?!?!” As Remus got near the end of his rant, completely overwhelmed at the weight on his poor Harry’s shoulders, James, Sirius, and Lily all burst into laughter. Lily was the first to calm down. “Oh Remus, how does any of this come as a surprise to you? Harry has been destroying norms since he could crawl. My son cooked better than me at six simply because he somehow became a member of the house elves. He was offered training in I don’t even know what because he calls a goblin prince friend and has been accepted into that community. The boy was raised to not have prejudice. Why shouldn’t he stand up for Lycan rights? Do I like that my son has this burden? No. I gave up a long time ago pretending that he’s just an ordinary boy though. My son is doing what he does willingly, and I know that when he has kids, he will never have to wonder about the world he gave them...like I have. Stop looking like Harry being a leader of his peers at Hogwarts is bad. It is just Harry being Harry!” As James and Sirius clapped along after Lily’s passionate speech, Remus realized that she was right. Harry was always going to go down this path. Instead of complaining like Harry was in the wrong, Remus needed to do what he could to help his cub. It looked like he would need to give his pack lessons on Lycan etiquette. It wouldn’t do for Harry to be embarrassed of his primum pack after all.