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Weakest Points


Lily gasped when Professor Veigler walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, nearly ten minutes late. She covered her mouth with her palm, eyes wide. Professor Veigler’s arm was bound up with bandages and a sling that held his right shoulder up into the socket. He limped on the right side and the underside of his chin and throat was bruised so badly it was the color of an over-ripe eggplant. She looked ‘round at Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus with wide eyes.

“What happened, mate?” Sirius asked boldly.

Professor Veigler’s voice was raw and raspy. “Just a bit of an accident over the holiday… nothing to worry your minds about…” He went to the front of the room and gingerly put down his briefcase. He took a deep breath, winded by the walk to the front. “I have some slides for today’s topic,” he announced. He glanced around at them. “Peter,” he called, “Would you help me with the projector?”

Peter looked surprised. He glanced around, as though he wasn’t sure if he was the only Peter to which Veigler could have been referring. Finally, he got up and went up front to the teacher’s desk and Professor Veigler motioned for Peter to pull out the projector and showed him how to set it up. Peter’s hands shook a bit from nervousness, afraid he’d break the pieces as he put them together.

Lily watched Peter’s progression, then scooted closer to Sirius, James, and Remus, leaning over. “Do you lot know what happened to him?”

The three of them shook their heads.

Lily sat back up as Peter finished and Veigler reached into the briefcase with his good hand, withdrawing a film canister filled with slides. “Do you mind, Mr. Pettigrew? Loading the slides?”

“Yes sir,” Peter squeaked, looking up at Veigler nervously. He took out the box of slides and stuck them into the rack carefully, then scrambled to his seat between Sirius and Lily.

“Good job, Peter,” Lily whispered.

Peter turned red.

Professor Veigler turned on the projector, the first slide dropped into the display, and there on the wall shone Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Sirius glanced at James, smirking at the anatomically correct drawing on the wall. Remus bit his lips. “Da Vinci on the anatomy of a man. Famous drawing. Well known to Muggles.” He clicked the next slide in. The Vitruvian Man was now that same man… turning into a wolf.

Remus’s muscles tensed. He looked at the other three in a panic, heart in his throat.

Veigler stood, staring up at the wall. His jaw was set tight, eyes glistening. “The Vitruvian Werewolf,” he said slowly. “Lesser known to Muggles.”

They all were very, very careful not to look at one another, each struggling to keep a stoic face. Sirius couldn’t help but wonder why the bloody hell a werewolf would teach a class on werewolves. One would think the guy would skip the chapter! To give himself something to look at and keep his face as straight as could be, he flipped through the textbook. To Sirius’s surprise, though, it wasn’t the next chapter they were supposed to cover. In fact, the page on werewolves wasn’t due until late in the year - over a hundred pages ahead of where they were, on 394. So not only was Professor Veigler teaching the class but he was purposefully choosing to do so at this time. Why?

Sirius chanced a look at James, his eyebrows folded in concern. He nudged James and pointed out what he’d noticed, handing James the textbook, jabbing at the page number on the top corner of the page.

James’s face flickered with confusion as well when he saw it.

Veigler changed to the next slide… and moved through the next three rather quickly. Charts pointing out details that differentiated a werewolf from a natural wolf flashed past rapidly. Click, click, click, click. “I’m under the impression that you are all aware how to identify a werewolf,” Veigler said, “So we will skip over that information.”

Remus looked over at the other boys. This was unprecedented - he didn’t know how to react. Was Veigler actually just acknowledging that they all knew there were two werewolves in the room at that very moment? Sweat broke out in his palms.

“Instead… we’re going to talk about how to --” he paused. “How to destroy a werewolf.”

A chill went through all five of the students.

Lily’s hand shot into the air.

“Miss. Evans?”

“When would we ever need to use this?” she asked, her voice carrying a challenging tone.

Remus’s eyes were trained on his desk.

“Well, as you know from -- your… prior knowledge… a werewolf turns once a month, or every twenty-eight days, rather, on the full moon,” Veigler said, “And so I expect you’d need the knowledge on how to destroy one sometime on the night of a full moon.”

Lily looked very offended. “A werewolf is a victim of a horrible life situation - not something to be arbitrarily destroyed.” Her voice was sharp.

“I agree,” said Professor Veigler, nodding, “Absolutely. Positively. But not all werewolves are the same. It wouldn’t always be an arbitrary destruction… destruction during an attack is far from arbitrary.” He turned away from her, even though it was clear Lily wasn’t finished arguing her point, and changed the slide. On the wall shone a photo of a wolf. “Weakest point on a werewolf?” Professor Veigler asked.

None of them moved.

Professor Veigler laughed, “Oh come on you lot. I know you know the answer to this. At least one of you does.” He looked directly at Remus.

Remus looked directly back at him… his eyes lingering on the bruised skin beneath Veigler’s chin. “The neck,” he whispered.

Veigler nodded, “Yes… Yes, the neck is indeed a weak point.” He rapped his wand against the illustration of the wolf on the wall, right at the throat. “The jugular, specifically.” He stared at the diagram, then turned back to them. “Another try for the absolute weakest point?”

“Snout?” Sirius guessed, thinking of how much it would hurt to have Snuffle’s snout hit full on - like that feeling when you jab the end of your finger on a desk, he imagined.

“No.” Veigler shook his head, “No. You avoid the snout. It’s actually one of the strongest points. The snout is made up of the nose and what else? -- The jaw. The jaw - and therefore the teeth - are the two most powerful parts of a werewolf. Just think of the anatomy… Fun fact, your human jaw can crush 300 pounds per square inch in a pinch. A strong domesticated dog is around 750. A standard wolf is nearly 1,500.” Veigler paused. “A werewolf - a strong werewolf - has a strength of over 1,800 pounds per square inch.” He shook his head, “You want to stay away from that as far as you can.”

“Bloody hell,” whispered James. The numbers were mind-blowing.

“Impressive, Boy?” Veigler asked, looking at James. He chuckled, “Another guess for the weakest points?”

“The legs,” said Peter.

“Yes!” Veigler turned, pointing to Peter. “Why?”

“Dunno, just … seems right.”

Professor Veigler nodded, “Well, it’s an excellent guess,” he said. “A wolf tends to be top heavy naturally. There’s a lot of muscle and body fat happening up top -- especially in the chest and shoulders region -- and a good strike to the legs will certainly destabilize him.” Professor Veigler’s eyes were very solemn. “None of these were the wolve’s weakest point. The weakest point of a werewolf is his mind.”

“Werewolves aren’t stupid,” argued Lily, putting her hand up, but not waiting to be called on. “Werewolves can be very smart.”

“I didn’t say they’re stupid,” said Professor Veigler, “I said their minds are a weak point.” He glanced at Remus. “Any guesses why I say so?”

Remus’s mouth was dry. All pretenses were cast aside. Obviously. “It’s not human. It… it has a sole purpose. To kill. It… can be controlled by another. An alpha.”

Veigler nodded, “Yes,” he whispered, “Yes. Exactly. Control. Control of a wolf can be won by domination. By using the other points we’ve discussed, a wolf - werewolf or standard - can be overthrown from his own mind and control can be taken from him.” Professor Veigler turned the slide. “The Imperius curse. Who’s heard of it?”

All five hands went up.

“Very good,” Veigler said, “Then you understand the alpha-omega mindset.”

Sirius looked over at Remus, a sick feeling in his stomach at the memory of how he’d sort of enjoyed having control over his friend, making him roll over and jump up on tables. He remembered Professor Tutman from first year and thought of Lucius Malfoy’s horribly evil eyes and he felt even worse. Was he a bad person for trying to be Remus’s alpha? Was it morally the same as casting an imperius curse on his friend? He hated the thought.

“The alpha controls the omega completely. Unless the omega is strong enough to overthrow the alpha - and kill him - the alpha maintains complete control over the omega for life.” Professor Veigler stared up at the slide on the wall - a picture of a large wolf sneering over a cowering, smaller wolf. “The alpha could command the omega to do their bidding… and there’d be no stopping it. The omega would lay down and allow the alpha to rip out his throat if that was the command…” Veigler’s hand vaguely ran along his collarbone, his eyes closed a moment.

Remus hesitated. “What… what about a beta?”

Professor Veigler turned around, looking at Remus with a questioning expression. “A beta?”

“Yeah.”

“In a standard wolf pack situation, a beta is considered the second in command. Think of a pack as a kingdom. There’s the King - the alpha. He’s the ruler. Then there’s the queen, or the king’s hand, depending on the political schema - this is the beta. Usually the beta is a mating partner. It’s usually a stronger wolf who has submitted to the alpha out of respect or love. The omega is the knight or the squire, and he doubles as the wine tester and the court jester… He is often abused by the alpha and the pack, forced to eat last, used to release pent up frustration, like a whipping boy… The rest of the pack would be just… peasants, I suppose, living under the king’s rule.” Professor Veigler hesitated. “But I’ve never heard of a werewolf assuming the position of beta. Most were-packs are made from one werewolf biting others and therefore the omega is created to be as such… Werewolves don’t typically get along enough in any situation to create a beta wolf. There are many colonies in which multiple packs reside where there are many alphas that coexist in close proximity, but even these are technically completely separate packs.”

Veigler was still looking at Remus funnily.

“And there are lone wolves - wolves who have no pack, usually overthrown alphas or omegas who seek escape or have been mercifully separated from the pack their alpha runs. But even those… if in contact with their old pack… they assume the position of omega. Or else they fight to the death, keen to resume their place as alpha.”

Remus cast his eyes downward to stop himself from looking at Sirius for any reason.

He could only hope Sirius was smart enough not to look at him.

“Can a wolf have an alpha that isn’t the one who created them?” Sirius asked. “Like say a wolf is created - you said that makes them automatically that alpha’s omega, yeah?” Veigler nodded. “Alright, well say they become a lone wolf, separated from their original alpha basically their whole lives, and then they meet a new alpha and that new alpha dominates them and they become that alpha’s omega. Well - say that the first alpha came back. Who is the omega ...omega to? His old alpha or his new alpha?”

Professor Veigler thought for a moment. Sirius could feel Lily’s eyes, confused and looking over at him with a question in them, but he refused to acknowledge it. She could wonder all she wanted. The same question was in Veigler’s eyes, too, he noticed, but he, too, could wonder. “I am not sure,” replied Veigler honestly. “There’s no telling until the omega is exposed to both influences. It would depend which is stronger, I’d imagine, the original alpha or the new. And not just in the sense of physical strength - being alpha doesn’t always mean the wolf is stronger than their omegas - it’s about the emotional connection the omega has toward his alpha. Is fear stronger than love?”

“It can be,” James supplied. “Fear can drive you to do mad things.”

“Love is the strongest thing there is,” Lily said, shaking her head, “It can defeat anything else.”

“But fear can blind a man,” Peter said.

“Love will always win,” Lily argued.

The class went on - Professor Veigler going on and on about ways to catch a werewolf off his guard, or how to distract him in a pinch… He got to the end of the slides and he turned the projector off. He stood before them, his one good hand balled tight against his chest, face folded into a wincing, thinking expression, which seemed to hold quite a lot of pain. After a long moment, he said, “Just to return to what you said, Miss. Evans… about the werewolf being a victim of circumstance and not something to arbitrarily destroy… as I said before, I completely agree. However… and I have heard this sentiment from many wolves… a true victim of lycanthropy will state clearly that they would rather be killed than play the role of the biter. They’d rather die than inflict the curse that they have borne on another person.”

Sirius thought of Remus making him swear to use the killing curse if it came to it.

Remus was nodding slowly, understanding the words Professor Veigler was saying so deeply.

“There are werewolves who would say otherwise,” Professor Veigler admitted, “But those are not victims. Those are active wolves who seek to hunt and to destroy. They are Hunters and they seek their prey and they aim to inflict others or else to kill them. They don’t give a damn how much suffering they cause. These, Miss. Evans, are the wolves which must be destroyed. And it is not arbitrary.”

Professor Veigler’s eyes met Remus’s.

“Do you agree with this, Mr. Lupin?”

Remus nodded slowly.

“There you have it,” said Professor Veigler to Lily.

Lily stared, helpless, unsure what to say or do.

“Come with questions next class. We’ll continue this discussion for the rest of the month. For now, class is dismissed.” Professor Veigler left the projector and the slides and everything exactly where they were, and he hurried out of the room, clutching his sling as he moved, his hands shaking, and leaving the five of them alone there together.

Lily hesitantly looked about at the boys.

“Well that was bloody awkward,” James said, saying what they were all thinking.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked, looking up at Remus in concern.

“Yeah,” said Remus, numbly. He was a bit pale. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Did you see the book?” Sirius asked, “Page 394, you lot. That’s where werewolves start. He skipped like three sections of the book to cover this today. He did it on purpose. It doesn’t make sense why he’d teach us this right now. Why’d he skip ahead for?”

“He knows I’m a werewolf,” Remus said, “I knew he knew there was a student wolf at Hogwarts but I didn’t think he knew who I was. He was looking right at me through like half that class. It was horrible.”

“Can’t your kind like - like smell each other?” Sirius asked.

“We’ve already had this discussion - I’ve only been ‘round one other wolf in all my life,” Remus answered. “I reckon he’s Greyback’s, too.”

“Do you reckon Veigler thinks Remus is going to be his omega?” Peter asked, looking ‘round at the others. “Like he thinks he’s going to fight until he’s got control of him?”

Sirius’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Well the bloody bastard’s got another thing coming to him if he thinks he can just walk in and take my --”

Remus shook his head and quickly interrupted Sirius before he could go on and say too much in front of Lily, “No. No - wait.” Remus said, “His state he was in. That bruise on his neck and that cast for his shoulder… Someone’s attacked him. And made a good show of it.”

“Who do you reckon attacked him?!” Peter asked, then, in a hush, “Do you lot think maybe the spiders in the forbidden forest could’ve --”

“I’m betting it was his alpha,” Remus interrupted Peter’s wildly errant shot at guessing. “I’m betting that it was Greyback.” He looked at the projector, remembering the slide of the Vitruvian Werewolf and his heart caught in his throat and he said thickly, “And I’m betting there’s a reason he’s chosen to show us this.”