Though he thought this way, Ian didn't let it show.
"This is deep water, Lupin. I don't think you can handle it... But since we've known each other a few days now, I'm willing to dive in with you, even if there's danger."
Ian revealed his ability to lie without missing a beat.
A rare moment where he didn't tell the truth.
But Lupin wasn't having it.
"You're right. No matter who that person is, their power is undeniable. There's no need for you to risk yourself just to satisfy my curiosity. Besides, you're not a werewolf like me."
"I can take you back first, then go look into things myself..." Lupin wasn't just curious about the identity of the impersonator; he was also quite interested in the effects of the so-called Lucid Awakening Potion.
"..."
Ian hadn't expected Lupin to be so earnest. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond. So instead, he pretended not to hear and began dragging the Stupefied werewolf back under the rubble.
"You owe me one," Ian stated bluntly to Lupin before stepping ahead toward the fork in the road. As soon as Ian began to move, Lupin stood stunned for a moment, then hurried to catch up.
"How do you know it's this way?" Lupin suspected Ian had used Legilimency on him.
"It was in the werewolf's memory," Ian replied without a flicker of guilt or hesitation.
"Was it?" Lupin frowned doubtfully. He hadn't finished reading through the Stupefied werewolf's memories, so he had no way of proving whether Ian was lying or not.
"You're so suspicious, have you ever considered becoming a spy?" Ian rolled his eyes again. Honestly, he wasn't the type who liked using Legilimency on others casually; it was boring reading other people's memories, and a total waste of time. Nowhere near as convenient as the Veritaserum he "borrowed" from Aurora.
If that werewolf hadn't been so difficult to communicate with earlier, Ian wouldn't have needed to knock him out in the first place.
"Do werewolves gather here to… compete over whose life is worse?" Ian stopped in a block that appeared in the Stupefied werewolf's memory. Compared to the previously desolate area, this one wasn't much better.
Run-down, abandoned buildings stood everywhere, their exteriors so crumbling they looked ready to collapse at any moment. Wild grass grew rampant. The fact that magic hadn't been used to repair the place likely had to do with residency rights.
Most werewolves were essentially "undocumented" residents, even here in Knockturn Alley. If they made their homes too comfortable, some lowlife wizard would report them and have them thrown out.
"They're just trying to find warmth in numbers. The werewolves you see living like this, most of them still have some conscience left, even if it's just a sliver."
Lupin offered a quiet defense for the werewolves.
While he and Ian were whispering outside the street—
"Remus Lupin. You brought a normal person here, worse, a child. That's not a wise decision." An elderly man in tattered wizard's robes, trying his best to appear dignified, stepped out from one of the buildings. Behind him followed several younger wizards with wary, guarded eyes.
"You'd best leave with the kid before someone among us loses control." The elder's robes were faded white from too much washing, and his low voice carried a tone that was somewhere between a warning and a plea.
"I just want to ask you a few questions." Lupin quickly explained, clearly a little tense, nobody understood the mental instability of werewolves better than he did. It was entirely possible for a werewolf to seem fine one moment and suddenly snap the next. These were people who had already lost everything, who knew when one might lose hope and lash out?
"What kind of questions?" The elder frowned slightly.
He clearly held the "alpha" position. The other werewolves simply stood beside him without speaking to Lupin, maybe Lupin didn't have the best reputation among their kind.
"The Lucid Awakening Potion," Lupin stated his purpose simply and clearly.
"We agreed not to speak of that to anyone. Where did you hear about it?" The elder looked confused, brows furrowed, staring at Lupin with suspicion.
"I have my sources," Lupin replied vaguely. He was well aware of how unreasonable werewolves could be, and there was no way he'd admit that he and Ian had knocked out one of their own who had tried to ambush them.
"Here. You're qualified to have it." The elder didn't press further. Instead, he pulled out a bottle of potion and tossed it to Lupin; perhaps they had a decent stockpile of it on hand.
"Keep it secret." After Lupin caught the potion, the elder reminded him solemnly. Who knew what those werewolves were planning behind the scenes?
As for that—
Lupin didn't plan to dig too deep either.
He stared fixedly at the elder standing a short distance away.
"The person who gave you that potion, I want to know more about him. Do you think he could be Godric Gryffindor himself?"
Clearly—
Compared to whatever the werewolves might be plotting, Lupin was far more concerned about the identity of his House's Founder.
"I can't give you any real information. We're just as skeptical as you are. But if you ask me, whether he's that legendary figure from a thousand years ago or not, has nothing to do with us." The elder shook his head and spoke in a low voice. Most of the werewolves standing beside him nodded in agreement.
"The potion is useful to us. That's the most important part... Whether or not that man is your Founder, the person who invented this potion is certainly not a qualified businessman."
The elder's words made Ian nod in agreement as well.
And indeed—
A true businessman would never create a permanent Wolfsbane Potion.
"Aren't you afraid of the price you might have to pay? And I'm not just talking about the gold Galleons that were taken from you." Lupin held the potion in his hand. Its deep crimson hue looked disturbingly like blood.
He didn't intend to drink it right away. Instead, he handed the potion over to Ian beside him, when it came to potions, trusting someone from the House of Prince was never wrong.
Even one-fifth Prince was still a Prince.
Ian took the potion and immediately unscrewed the cap to sniff it. His expression changed slightly; he was clearly surprised, and he couldn't detect even the faintest trace of potion ingredients.
"There's some kind of masking agent mixed in, maybe an anti-theft measure?"
Ian guessed as he tried again to sniff it deeply, but still came up empty.
And just as Ian was analyzing the Lucid Awakening Potion—
"You mean to say there might be a hidden, heavier price in this potion?" The elder suddenly let out a dry laugh, his gaze toward Lupin filled with a complicated emotion that was hard to describe.
"Remus Lupin... Maybe you think you've had it rough. But there are many among us who've suffered far worse than you. At least you have never experienced the kind of agony that tears your soul apart."
"Look at my brethren here, how many of them have killed their own children? Their wives? Their parents? That kind of despair is something you will never understand."
"We who have already fallen to the bottom... what price is there left that we would be afraid to pay?" The old man's voice was steeped in tragedy, and for a moment, Lupin was left speechless.
Around them, the other werewolves wore expressions of sorrow, some grief-stricken, others hiding their faces. The air was thick with pain, and Ian, with his gift of mind perception, could clearly sense every ounce of it.
"Take your potion and leave!" A werewolf, triggered by the painful memories, finally shouted at Lupin in a harsh tone. The others agreed with him, it was clear that many were not too fond of Lupin to begin with.
Maybe because Lupin simply hadn't suffered enough?
"Of course! I truly appreciate your help!" Sensing the rising tension in the air, Lupin quickly tried to grab Ian and leave.
However—
"Wait."
The elder suddenly called out and stopped Lupin in his tracks.
"Is something wrong? Oh, right! I forgot to pay you." Lupin turned back, as if only just realizing it, and reached into his robes.
One second.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
He rummaged through his robes for quite a while before finally pulling out just a handful of copper Knuts. The down-and-out werewolf looked visibly embarrassed, his face turning red as he opened his palm.
"I'll gather enough money to pay you back." He was clearly trying to buy on credit.
However—
The elder didn't even glance at the coins in his hand.
"I said the matter of the potion... must remain a secret."
He. And all the werewolves beside him.
At that moment, all of their eyes turned toward Ian.
(End of Chapter)
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