Chapter Text
A Life Worth Living
Chapter 22
“How you feeling, kiddo?” Harry asked, as he pressed down on the accelerator as soon as Stiles closed the car door. He would need to get Stiles back home in a few hours, so that was the allotted time to get some training done. Considering the magic he could feel within Stiles, he was amazed he wasn’t having trouble. He reckoned Sparks required anchors, so Stiles had to be well adjusted at least where it came to an anchor. Perhaps not enough to keep him feeling overwhelmed. The fact he was keeping the supernatural from his father probably wasn’t helping anything either.
“It could have been me,” Stiles said quietly staring out of the window, anxiety thrumming through him, causing him to tap his feet against the footrest and his fingers to tap against his knees.
Harry blinked, “What could have?” he asked, his tone low and quiet.
“If Teddy hadn’t been here…I would have gone to Scott’s,” Stiles stated firmly, there was no doubt he would have gone. He’d planned on it as a matter of fact, but the prospect of actually getting to see Teddy – his other best friend – who wasn’t ignoring him, abandoning him for a girl and genuinely wanted to see and spend time with him had made him agree right away. He hadn’t second guessed himself all night, not until Scott called him with that horrifying news. It didn’t matter that he had been grounded, his dad had been working, so he could have gone without him any the wiser.
“Ah,” Harry sighed, grimacing, “Look kid, there’s no point to dwelling on something you can’t change. Believe me I know that better than most. It won’t change a single damn thing, what Scott has done…it’s on him not you. Until you learn to harness your spark…well, against a werewolf you won’t come out a victor. You’ve been so lucky so far, but that luck will eventually run out. The same thing happened to me when I was a young boy, eleven years old, I ended up face to face with my parents killer, but I managed to get out there with my life intact, if not for my magic and my mother’s sacrifice I would have died. I didn’t know magic, I was quite useless,”
“How did you deal with it?” Stiles asked, just talking about it was calming him down, as the relentless tapping ceased. Although his mind had burst with the new information, he knew next to nothing about Harry’s family, he guessed he knew why now.
“I didn’t,” Harry revealed, slowing down to a stop at the traffic lights. “I didn’t deal with it, Stiles, I didn’t have anyone to talk to, confide in, I was alone and I bottled a lot of shit up. It turns you into someone you don’t want to be, we all have different ways of dealing with things…or not dealing with them.” Stiles own father had lost himself in every bottle of alcohol he could until Harry had put a stop to it.
“Like Derek,” Stiles said quietly, feeling guilty yet again, he wasn’t blind to the similarities between Derek and Harry. Just small ones, not that he noticed as a kid, Harry had always been strict but fair, always willing to listen and give his opinion. When he was alone though, he got a little broody, just like Derek was all the time. Derek had been alone, just like Harry said he was. it made him feel even more guilty just thinking on it.
“Derek…wasn’t just hurt, Stiles, he was utterly destroyed by what happened. The belief he was to blame didn’t help his psyche any. For the past six years he closed himself off completely, it was a wonder he wasn’t suicidal.” Harry said grimly, “The pack bonds are physical to an extent, you can feel them, the people on the other end, it’s something you’ll feel yourself if you chose to become part of a pack. Derek desires to feel all that again, to be part of a pack, so much so that he’s willing to help a boy who has been nothing but ungrateful to him in turn. It’s a bit like how Lydia treated you a few years ago.” As if he didn’t exist.
Stiles flushed bright red, the talk he’d had with Harry had been completely horrifyingly embarrassing. Yet he had come to appreciate that honesty some time later. He still admired her, he just didn’t ogle her, if anything he felt constantly frustrated with her tendency to play dumb given how smart she actually was. The only good thing about having his eyes opened was the fact when he stopped paying attention to Lydia, Jackson didn’t torment him quite so much. That’s not to say the douchebag didn’t drive him mad, he did, he just didn’t do it every day.
“But I’m human, how will I be able to feel pack bonds?” Stiles asked, as always his rapid-fire mind made him unable to concentrate on any one thing for long.
“You aren’t human, Stiles, not fully, you are a Spark, you belong in the supernatural world, just like the rest of us,” Harry corrected him, “You will just be a little more vulnerable than the rest of a pack, due to your inability to heal like the werewolves do.” With potions though, Stiles would never remain hurt for long, even a broken bone could be repaired within twenty-four hours.
“Even if you were only human, it still means you’d be part of a pack, in fact humans are important to werewolf packs, it enables them to be reminded of their humanity. Have you forgotten that some of the people in the Hale pack were humans?” Harry paused in his conversation at the drive thru, as he ordered food for all of them, enough that the wolves won’t end up going hungry. Parking after paying, he waited patiently for the food as he continued his conversation, “Nearly half of the people Kate Argent killed were human, Stiles, in her book…if you ran with wolves you were no better than them and deserve ‘to be put down like the dogs’ as she said,” his tone filled with revulsion as he spoke the words. “They were all a pack, although they were all related, so it might be unusual for a human to be part of a pack without romantic ties or familial ties. It’s something you’d need to ask Peter, no doubt if you both sat down you’d get on like a house on fire. He’d love answering your questions, only if you could put up with his smug attitude,” he added wryly.
Stiles bit is tongue to stop himself asking Harry if he was attracted to Peter. That was definitely not a question he wanted an answer to. Harry was like a father to him, and that was definitely not a question you asked a parent. He knew Peter liked Harry though, judging by the glances he’d seen the werewolf give him. Shivering a little at the thought, only to have Harry turn the heating on, thinking he was cold.
“What’s going to happen to Scott?” Stiles asked him, still subdued. He had avoided Scott as much as he was able to at school. Not that it had been difficult, Scott had been trailing after Allison all day, trying to get her attention and affection back after the whole debacle at the school. It was as if the conversation between them hadn’t happened at all. He was so far into denial that Stiles was concerned what would happen next full moon.
Harry remained silent, as he pressed the button to open his window, “Thanks,” he said as the guy passed through the massive bag of food he’d ordered and tray of drinks. Giving him a nod he pressed the window back up, and opened the bag, withdrawing a bag of curly fries and handed them over with a wry smile. Nothing made Stiles feel better than a big bag of curly fries. He was addicted to them. Starting the car back up, he glanced behind him to ensure it was safe to reverse, it was.
Before long they were back on the road again.
“My boss knows about it,” Harry said eventually, “I made sure that they understood it wasn’t completely Scott’s fault, but he has an obligation to get control of himself, he is a werewolf now. Derek, me and you have all continued to tell him the dangers but he refused to listen. Now he will have no choice or he will end up imprisoned.”
“What will happen during the full moon if he’s put in prison?” Stiles protested, mouth full of curly fries.
“There are dozens of supernatural prisons all around the world, Stiles, run by wizards and witches,” Harry explained, deciding against trying to explain Azkaban and the dementors. Now that would just horrify the kid, no need to give him nightmares. “They’re specifically built to contain supernatural criminals, and believe you me, Scott wouldn’t do well there.”
“Oh,” Stiles said, swallowing the fries mouth opening in shock.
“Yes, Scott’s reaction was similar.” Harry said wryly, as he parked the car now home. “That’s not to say he’s gotten away with it.” He added, undoing his seat belt, and getting out of the car, grabbing the food and drinks then closing the door with his backside. Successfully managing to get the car locked as well, seen that Stiles was out.
“What do you mean ‘not getting away with it?’ what’s going to happen to him?” Stiles asked taking the drinks tray from Harry as they wandered into the house, but his attention was definitely solely focused on Harry right now – well other than trying not to trip himself up – which was always inevitable.
Harry nodded in greeting to both werewolves who were sitting in the living room, giving gestures for them to follow and holding up the food in explanation. He didn’t say anything due to the fact that Peter was on the phone, it would be rude to interrupt after all. He hated when people did it to him, Teddy and Stiles being his obvious exception. With his job he had to be extremely accurate and careful, so listening was vital.
Once they were in the kitchen, Harry put the food down and grabbed plates, musing on the best way to tell Stiles everything and how to begin his training in the arts of magic. “I have given Scott an ultimatum, he does what I’ve stipulated that he do, or he will go to prison and serve time.”
“What did you say he had to do?” Stiles asked, grabbing glasses and sitting down as the plates and glasses were divvied up. Harry didn’t normally buy takeaway, he preferred cooking on his own, but when he did he only bought from one place.
Harry gazed straight at Stiles thoughtfully, truthfully he shouldn’t tell Stiles anything. This was officially a case now, this wasn’t him just pretending. Yet he knew once the shock wore off that Scott would whine about everything to Stiles. He couldn’t say anything to his little girlfriend who didn’t know he was a werewolf, yet. He might as well give him a true account of what was going on.
So Harry explained as he plated the food out for everyone, giving all the details about his punishment and why.
“Why stop him working at Deaton’s?” Stiles asked perplexed, everything else was self-explanatory. Lacrosse was dangerous if his control was shaky. Following Harry would guarantee that he’d understand why he has to gain control and the Sunday thing, that was probably the only real punishment he was getting. Although an unconscious part of his mind realized Harry hadn’t said exactly what was in the reserve. Going to an Alpha he didn’t know for a fresh start was also good. Scott would just act up if it was either Derek or Peter. Peter for obvious reasons, but Stiles didn’t understand why Scott hated Derek so much after all he had just tried to help him. Maybe it was because of the reminder that he was a werewolf? And he’d never be normal again? Although Stiles reckoned that Scott didn’t want to be normal, not really, he was just a spastic teen, bench warmer with asthma before, now he was a popular jock with a smoking hot girlfriend and was before he spoiled it, on first line and can run more than a few meters before needing an inhaler.
“Because he won’t have the time to work there, plus I don’t trust Deaton, he knew your friend was a werewolf from the get go and did not say anything. He was an Emissary who failed his pack. The worst sort of coward you can come across.” Harry admitted darkly, the only worse thing is actually betraying your pack, and for all he knew Deaton had done just that. “Never trust that man, Stiles, ever.”
“What did he do?” Stiles asked inquisitively, nabbing more curly fries and eating them, he was hungry.
“Deaton isn’t just an Emissary, he’s also a Druid, a ‘magic user’, when one swears to be an Emissary, the pack should come first. Yet Deaton always put his Druidic indoctrination before all else, believing that interfering with anything was wrong, and it went against nature.” Harry explained tersely, why the hell the Hale pack wanted anything to do with him was baffling. “Druid’s aren’t capable of real magic, just rituals, with the right tools and setting they can do some. When Deaton attached himself to the Hale pack, he gained a bit more magic through the pack bonds and his connection to the land than he had before. It seems to me he did enough to avoid suspicion and being kicked out than anything else.” This was only his belief though, he couldn’t say for sure if it was the case. He hadn’t met Deaton yet, but he knew one day he would. He also knew he wouldn’t like the fucker.
“You gain more magic if you join a pack?” Stiles perked up, looking curious.
“So to speak,” Harry said grudgingly, wandering through the living room where he could feel the wards being penetrated. Opening the window to allow the owl entrance to his home. “With you, it would be different, you’d bring a lot more to any pack than a mere Druid. You’d make them more powerful just like they would give you more power.” Taking the missive he allowed the owl to do as he pleased.
Opening the letter, he read through the missive unsurprised by its contents he’d known it was coming.
“Peter, you’ll be coming to MACUSA tomorrow, it’s time,” Harry said, before the letter was thrown into the fire where it was quickly reduced to ash. He knew better than to leave missives like that lying around, even with magic at the helm.
“May I borrow your car? The book you wanted has been found, my contact is at the other side of town.” Peter asked, for once giving an explanation as to what he was doing. Derek glanced at him with a cock of his eyebrow knowing how out of character it was for Peter to explain anything and not just mysteriously disappear.
“How much do they want for it?” Harry asked, peering at Peter with expressive green eyes.
“Fifteen hundred dollars,” Peter replied dryly, thankfully his contacts knew he was good for it – when he could gain access to his bank accounts and the rest of the Hale fortune – he’d already made moves for such a thing, so with a little luck it wouldn’t take too long.
“Hold on a minute,” Harry said absently, making his way through to his office and picking up a huge wad of cash that was in his locked drawer. “Here,” he said once he returned, handing over the two bundles, each contained a thousand dollars each. “Dinner’s ready but it will be warm whenever you want it.” Before Peter could get a word in edgewise Harry left the living room, heading for the kitchen. Stiles followed him wanting to continue their conversation.
“Key’s are in the garage, each are numbered, parking spot to key,” Harry absently called back through.
“Will I be strong enough to shift into an animal like you if I join a pack?” Stiles asked as he sat down after Harry gesticulated towards him to do so.
Derek padded into the room looking less awkward than he had in the past, which could only be a good thing.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that, but Peter may just have a book that might, or we will investigate together.” Harry promised him, suspecting quite heavily that tentative ties were already growing with the Hale pack. That Stiles was already growing into his place as an Emissary. It had to be something he wanted otherwise it wouldn’t be happening. It wasn’t really surprising, Stiles dearly wished for a big family, for acceptance, for friends, for loyalty, for something much greater, a partner to share it with.
“I want to come tomorrow,” Derek stated, his tone demanding, just like Stiles was used to when it came from the sourwolf.
Harry gave Derek a narrowed eyes gaze, silently warning him that he was pushing it.
“Please,” Derek gritted his teeth as he said the words, he wasn’t used to being censored, it would take a while, plus he was wound up just thinking of Kate Argent and clearly not thinking properly.
“I would never stop you from getting absolution, Derek,” Harry said, the narrowed eye look disappearing leaving behind tiredness. “You deserve this closure, eat up, tomorrow is going to be very long, and tiresome. You’ll need to make an appearance at both MACUSA and the police station. No arguments, you deserve that apology, and you deserve better than being treated like a suspect in your own damn town!” although his brooding demeanour and leather jacket probably didn’t help much, but welcome to a world that judged you based on appearances.
Appearances were deceptive, and how anyone could blame Derek for being the way he is was beyond him. He guessed that you truly did have to walk a mile in someone’s shoes to understand. Then again, it wasn’t always the case, Stiles knew about the tragedy, had suffered his own, yet still reacted to the front Derek put on. Then again he was still a teenager, he had a lot of growing up to do still. Not everyone could be like him at sixteen years of age.
Derek’s shoulders relaxed from their tensed up state and gave a nod, he wasn’t sure why but he’d expected his Alpha to put up a fight about him going. Perhaps it was because Harry always said what he meant, and hadn’t told him specifically that he was going. The fact he was continuing to help him despite his attitude made him feel bad. Yet his thoughts just continued to circle around his family, the fire, Argent.
“The newspaper will be revealing everything tomorrow,” Harry added once they began to eat. “Every important newspaper and online reading material will have the information, the Argent name is going to be dragged through the mud. It will probably anger the rest of them, I don’t need to tell you to be careful when and if you leave the property do I?”
“I need to leave to find Cora,” Derek said quietly, his brow furrowed, he’d been meaning to leave for days but had been side-tracked, both by being kidnapped and confronted with Kate then seeing her arrested. The food was actually good for a takeaway, there was no chemical taste like their usually was in food.
“It’s been too long since I did the runes, I’ll need to do it again to find out where she is exactly, it will be ready for you the day after tomorrow.” Harry said, he understood Derek’s desire to have the rest of his family close by. Especially one he thought he had lost, how he was dealing with that internally with Laura being to blame, Harry didn’t know. “If you want, I can take you there, all you need to do is ask.” Derek would learn to ask for things and not expect to be let down, it would just take time.
“Once you’re finished come the library,” Harry informed Stiles, banishing his now finished plate to the sink before giving both their shoulders a squeeze before departing.
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Harry gathered everything he thought he might need for this impromptu lesson which wasn’t much. He was no teacher, well, not really, did the D.A actually count? It was more of a after school club borne out of necessity. Yet he’d felt very proud of himself when he learned of the results of each DADA grade – from those he taught – being higher than any other year in over two decades or more. Not that it was something to crow at really, with teachers like Quirrell and Lockhart.
He grabbed a feather – a quill really – from his office before making his way to the library, not listening in to the conversation Derek and Stiles were having. It sounded like Stiles was apologising actually. Twirling the quill, a sheepish grin adorned his face so vividly reminded of a good time. The first week at Hogwarts, his first Charms class. Chuckling softly, surprising even himself, as he made his way back to the library.
Perhaps he could do the same for Stiles, have him remember his first proper lesson with happiness. Teaching him how to use Rowan – mountain ash – wasn’t exactly a real lesson.
Sitting on the table, he closed his eyes as he began to meditate. Checking out the bonds he went straight for the green one, it was still pulsing slightly. That wasn’t what he was aiming for, instead he reached out to it, feeling exactly what Stiles was at the moment. He was excited, happy, relieved, and contemplative. This was good, a huge turn from how he’d been just an hour earlier. He was pleased he was able to help him, and saddened that Stiles didn’t know to come to him if he ever needed it.
Slowly extracting himself from his meditative trance, he did a doubletake seeing Stiles standing there, whiskey eyes gleaming with concern. “You ready?” he asked the teen.
“What are we going to do?” Stiles asked, he was excited, but he wasn’t sure what he could do, or if he could do anything. Teddy had told him about his hilarious instances of accidental magic since he could now. Stiles had found the entire thing entertaining to say the least, but he had never done anything like that before.
“To begin with we start easy, since we don’t know what you’re capable of, but judging by the magic I can sense in you now, you’ll do brilliantly.” Harry said, giving him praise would only help him grow in confidence, and confidence was exactly what Stiles needed with his brand of magic.
“You can sense the magic in me?” Stiles asked disbelief coating his voice, “Why now?”
“As I told you before, the longer you’re in the presence of those in the supernatural world, your kind of supernatural world, I don’t think Teddy and I are in that category,” Harry explained, or weren’t until now, since he was pretty sure Jimmy and Teddy were Peter’s betas’. “Meeting Derek and spending time with Scott caused your spark to awaken after laying dormant so to speak. You’ve read what little I could get about those who are magical, Druids harness magic from the land, from nature, or packs, Darachs do the same but with darker intentions while mages are capable of magic it isn’t like yours, you will be able to continue using magic whereas they would exhaust easily once your trained up of course your magic is innate, never ending, you don’t need anything in order to help you cast magic, Stiles.” he knew he wasn’t doing a good job at explaining it. It wasn’t as simple as explaining his own magic, in a way he was explaining a different kind of magic that he just didn’t have any expertise on.
Stiles nodded, conceding to Harry’s expertise, he rather hoped the book Peter found would explain everything. He had exhausted Google trying to find information, which was just nowhere to be found. All that usually came up was information about spark plugs and where they were sold and places online. He’d tried putting ‘magical sparks’ that just resulted in fireworks or sparklers it was annoying. Even trying to put ‘different kinds of magic users’ in resulted in absolutely nothing. It was nonsense about witches, like the old fashioned ones from the Salem Witch trials, how they were killed and the like. He’d wasted an entire night, taken a dozen Adderall and passed out from sheer exhaustion to only get two hours sleep.
“Alright, now with your ADHD you might find concentrating a little difficult, but all magic requires concentration.” Harry explained, “A work-out might help, let out some excessive energy, then focus on magic. If we can’t today, then that’s exactly what we will do tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Stiles perked up, two days in a row? That was unexpected, with everything Harry had going on, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he couldn’t do anything for days. Plus, he had his job, and now he was dealing with Scott and well everything else.
“Yes, it will usually be around this time, for a few hours, I’ll drive you back to home or Apparate you, in time for your curfew, alright?” Harry said, “And yes, as often as you can manage, your magic is important, and we might as well do it now since there are no threats that require dealing with.”
“Wait, threats? You think we’re going to face threats?” Stiles asked, hopping on his left leg for a few seconds, not sure whether he was horrified or excited…maybe both.
“Mmm, there will be retaliation from the Argent’s to deal with, Omega’s passing through, which I’m hoping to keep you out of it, but if it comes to it, I want to know you’ll be safe.” The best way he knew how, was to ensure Stiles learned everything he needed to keep himself safe. “It isn’t going to be quick and easy, it took me eight years in total to learn everything I could about magic, and there are still information I don’t know. You’ll end up frustrated, annoyed and close to just giving up, but I won’t let you. I don’t know how to start, I’ve never taught a Spark before…so we’re going to try something today until I get the information we need, alright?”
Stiles agreed, “Sure,”
“Good, okay, here, I want you to focus on levitating this,” Harry said picking up the feather, “Will it, don’t ask it, it will conform to your wishes.” He just hoped he didn’t do a Seamus and blow the damn thing up.
Harry shuffled his backside onto the table, observing Stiles, remaining still, letting him concentrate and focus. Until he figured it out, he believed it would take a while before he did any magic. He had to remind himself that he had a focus his wand, he knew the feel of his own magic now, while Stiles didn’t, he had to find his own focus, own anchor maybe, perhaps a focus stone would help to begin with? Perhaps some meditative exercise, with a calming draught down his neck. Yoga might help as well.
Twenty minutes later, “Alright I give up!” Stiles flailed about, the damn feather hadn’t moved once, no matter what he did.
“Hmm, try saying the words ‘Wingardium Leviosa,’ while focused on the feather, point at it,” Harry asked in morbid curiosity. “Wingardium Leviosa,” he said again slower so that Stiles could get his tongue around the word and say it properly. “You can do it, it’s one of the simplest of spells in the magical world.”
Stiles gave Harry a look that questioned his sanity, with sarcasm he stated “Wingardium Leviosa!” his finger pointed at the feather.
The feather began to float.
“STOP!” Harry called out, his hands grasping a hold of the table, as he felt immediately woozy, feeling his magic transferring down the pack bonds and into Stiles before enabling him to levitate the damn feather. Sheer panic and fear coursed through Harry, so much so that Peter and Derek barrelled into the room concerned.
Harry crashed to the floor, his hands and knees jerking with the pain of keeping himself from planting face first on the ground.
The feather floated back down while Stiles watched horrified yet elated that he’d actually done it.
“Fuck!” Harry cursed, his body shaken to the core as Derek eased him into sitting position.
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There we go! the next chapter for you all to enjoy, so what just happened? and sorry I know I promised Argent getting her comeuppance in this chapter but well blame Stiles and the muse :D it went on a different route :D next chapter will focus on Kate's POV from her cell to her being taken out to be 'executed' I'm going to have fun writing her...but I'm not sure she'd even be scared *pouts* I mean she's one crazy woman...I'd love to write her last moments being utter terrified and in pain haha if you want Peter and Derek's POV as well I can have them thinking of it later...how about it? Read and Review please.