Marauders - Always - Part One

You Are Safe Here

"Forty-four sleeps til Freddie!" Sirius Black's voice echoed into the kitchen as his head ducked in and then back out, disappearing down the hallway.

Remus didn't even look up from the frying pan he was working with on the stove.

Spencer looked from the doorway, where Sirius had popped in like a spring loaded jack in the box, back to Remus. "He really likes Freddie Mercury."

"Yes he does," Remus nodded.

Spencer turned back to the copy of the Daily Prophet he was looking at. He'd been trying at learning more about magical culture by reading the paper, and finding it very strange indeed. The moving pictures had creeped him out at first, but he was getting more used to them now. Now he was intrigued by the advertisements, some of which actively tried to sell you stuff when your eyes looked at them.

LOOKING FOR A BROOM? Look no further than Quality Qudditch Supply! Check this one out! No? Not your fancy? What about this one? Top of the line! Only 400 Galleons! Now this is what the professionals use, mind! Official broom of the Yorkshire Yetis, this is! No? No wait, maybe a bit more affordable? What about this beaut - on sale, refurbished, only 100 galleon! Retwigged it myself!

Spencer shook his head and looked up at Remus. "Wizard stuff is very strange," he said.

Remus shrugged, "To us, muggle stuff is strange." He slid the egg onto a plate, which had hovered over from the sink and sat at the table with a fork, shaking a bit of salt over his scramble. "Are you sure you don't want one?" He asked for the hundredth time.

Spencer turned his nose and shook his head. "Ugh, food."

Remus understood too well. But for once he was famished and the egg smelled delicious, so he bent to it and started eating, reaching for one of the sections Spencer had already finished. Mostly it was more coverage of the interim Minister's appointment, emergency security measures being implemented at the Ministry headquarters, and the ongoing hunt for the wanted Fenrir Greyback.

"We won't rest until he is captured," Millicent Bagnold said, a photo of her on the Embankment, coming up from the Auror Department accompanied that portion of the article. She looked very official, dressed in a smart magenta skirt suit with a lime green vest. "He is a menace to society, a dangerous threat to health and well being, and an eyesorous blight on the tapestry of Magical History. He shall be removed."

Remus would be glad to hear that Greyback was captured, it would mean one less fear loose on the ground for him to worry about. The list of people with vendettas against him would be down, at least, but as his eyes travelled down the article, he started to get a sick feeling in his stomach.

In order to track Greyback, a trace will be placed upon all known (registered) werewolves, allowing Ministry officials to locate them at all times. Werewolves law-abiding and without connection to Greyback will have nothing to fear with the trace upon them.

Nothing to fear until the Ministry used the trace for some other purpose, he thought darkly.

The majority population of werewolves in England at this time are subject to Greyback in that members of the Magical Research And Statistics Committee  have concluded that 68% of werewolves bitten since 1963, the year of the signing of the Restriction Act, have been either directly from Fenrir Greyback or have been from direct "descendants" within the pack, including inter-familial "nippings" (the turning of a child to accommodate the parents lycanthropic symptoms). The remaining 32% were from other packs or unknown origin. To neutralize Fenrir Greyback, then, would be to decline to less than half of the current infection rate - a very good thing indeed.