Promise Me

The Best Birthdays Ever

Sirius's birthday came and went. Valerie got him some things from Zonko's and some candy from Honeydukes. She also gave him an old leather jacket that he now wore all the time. He loved that thing so much, and Valerie was so glad he liked it. Now, November was drawing to a close, and Remus's birthday was in a few hours. Valerie had spent countless hours trying to figure out how to give him his gift. She had finally figured out how to give it to him and was now pacing back and forth in front of the common room fireplace. Finally, it was 7:30 in the morning. She had told the boys to be down in the common room by 7:35 at the latest. Soon enough, she heard the boys coming down the stairs.
"Okay, what's the big surprise that I had to be out of bed before 8:30 on a Sunday?" Sirius asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Just... follow me okay?" The boys exchanged worried looks at her tone. Valerie led them to the entrance of the Headmaster's office. When they arrived in the office, there were a lot of people inside. Some were familiar, and others they had never seen before. Remus's parents were there, Jason the healer joined by five unfamiliar witches and wizards, Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, and finally, the Potters. The boys wore matching uneasy expressions. Dumbledore waved his wand and 15 chairs appeared. The office was larger than it normally was, no doubt to accommodate the extra people. Dumbledore smiled kindly at Valerie and motioned for her to stand behind his desk.

Once Valerie had assumed her position behind the desk, she cleared her throat. "Would everyone please find their seats?" she asked and they all hurried to do so. No one knew what this was about except Valerie, Jason, and the group he had brought with him. "I'm sure you are all wondering what is so important that you have to be here at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. Today is the birthday of one of my best friends. About a year or so ago, I had an idea for a perfect present for Remus. A present that would also be able to help some members of the wizarding world." Here she paused and took something out of her pocket. She gripped it tightly in her shaking hand as she continued. "I am standing before you all today with the best gift that I could come up with." She set what she was holding down on the desk. "I present to you, the cure for Lycanthropy."
There was a sharp intake of breath from all sides of the room. "Impossible. This is some cruel joke. You are sixteen years old. The Ministry of Magic hasn't been able to cure it, so there is no way some sixteen-year-old could." Hope Lupin was almost in tears. At this, Jason the healer stood up and motioned for the witches and wizards with him to stand as well.
"My name is Jason and I am a healer at St. Mungo's. I also study some muggle medicine in my spare time. I have run every single test in any book. My fellow healers at St. Mungo's and other wizarding hospitals across the country have done trials and ran more tests. What she says is absolutely true. Each person I have with me today is a witch or wizard who was previously affected by Lycanthropy. Each one that is standing here before you has not gone through one single changing since they took the potion. There are no side effects and no wearing off as time goes on. Of course, this treatment is still in trial stages, however, we have many other trial patients at different stages and everything is holding steady across the board. Should anything arise, we have patients who would have been on the treatment longer than your son, and we would have ample time to correct things."
"Wait," Remus said slowly. He was clearly trying to process everything that was happening. "You're saying that if I take this, I will never be a werewolf again?" He looked at Valerie with shining eyes. She just nodded.
"Hold on. Before anyone takes anything I need to know how this works," Lyall Lupin cut in.
"Absolutely," Valerie said, "The potion uses a combination of muggle science and magic to target the werewolf pathogens in the blood. The antibodies in the potion then bind to and attack the werewolf pathogen. However, the werewolf pathogens, being from a magical creature, would not die when only attacked by regular muggle antibodies. That is where some of the magic came in. By adding certain ingredients, I was able to get the antibodies to attack stronger and much faster than regular antibodies. I also added some ingredients to help the body systems to destroy the remaining toxins from the pathogens as well as speed up the microphage digestion. I put a charm on it that causes it to completely eradicate all werewolf pathogen, as well as integrate into the system so that if any pathogens reappear, they will be killed instantly by the antibodies. All in all, with all of the modifications, the werewolf pathogens are destroyed in a matter of hours versus weeks or months." Everyone's mouths hung agape.
"How... did you do it before the Ministry?" Euphemia Potter finally found her voice.
"The Ministry isn't looking for a cure. Plus, they are unwilling to accept help from muggle medicine, which is necessary for this cure. They may have searched a long time ago, but they aren't actively trying to find a cure. That is how I did it first."
"So.. can I...?" Remus asked, looking longingly at the vial on the desk. Hope looked at Lyall before speaking.
"Absolutely."