Werewolves at Hogwarts

Chapter 29

"Look, you idiots, you can't leave him here! What if they find him? They're going to think I did it and I'll get the blame entirely!"

There was the crack of flesh on flesh followed by a startled yelp. "Oh stop your whining, you fool. When you asked to join our group in its campaign against the werewolves we didn't ask how far are you willing to go to support us? We said, if you join us, you will do as you are asked and what is required. It is required that you donate your dungeon to hold our prisoner incommunicado for the next few days, and that is all you need to know or ask, do you understand!"

"You hit me! But.... But.... Very well, he can stay here but only for a short time. I am having guests next weekend and they will get a little suspicious if the dungeons are locked up."

"Now why would they even know that the dungeons are locked, unless.... My dear, Mr Yellow, are you setting up as a summer boarding house for Muggles again?"

"It adds up to cash flow, after all, your brilliant murder cum blackmail scheme went as flat as last year's snake skins, did it not? Nothing to blackmail the mother with eventuated, and there was no reason to force a marriage with the daughter, not even a single nibble from the 'wild beasts'," Mr Yellow said defensively as the voices faded away.

Kingsley eased himself up into a sitting position to take the strain off his arms. Heavy chains led to ringbolts on the wall, the cuffs on his wrists magically fitted without lock or seam. He had been in the dungeon for what seemed like an eternity but his inner clock insisted was just two days. He wondered if anyone was looking for him, or if he was going to have to be his own rescue party, 'or read his own eulogy,' a grim part of him muttered. He knew Willani would be going spare at this point and didn't envy Ron Weasley the task of facing up to her. That thought made him laugh just a little, a dry rusty sound, as no water or food had been offered since he arrived. It was part of the technique to wear down prisoners; he'd used it himself during the war, very successfully.

Sighing deeply he began to meditate again, trying to cast his mind out and contact someone, anyone.

~~*~~

"Honey, I've called Ginny and she will be along in twenty minutes to help you pack and get you out of there," Ron said carefully as soon as his wife answered her phone.

"Why?" Desiree asked flatly, giving her youngest daughter a biscuit as she finished pouring juice.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt is missing, presumed kidnapped in the line of duty. He went missing yesterday afternoon after speaking to me. His wife is going insane and driving me batty so I want you safe while I'm looking for him. I guess this is Plan Werewolf."

Desiree nodded even though Ron couldn't see her. "Okay, we'll be ready. You take care and be very sure to keep your phone charged, promise."

Ron blew her a kiss and ended the call as there was a sharp knock on his door. "Sir," Hardy Lane, Ron's personal assistant said carefully. "There is a delegation here to see you," he announced with a strange note in his voice.

"Let them in. After Willani Shacklebolt, how bad can it be?"

Hardy chuckled evilly and withdrew, only to open the door again a few seconds later. Trainee Luanna Jones came in first with a half defiant, half apologetic look on her face. She was followed by three characters that could easily be mistaken for 'Large, Medium and Small' illustrations for kids. Large and medium were blonds; Viking gold with yellow highlights. Small was as dark as Snape, wiry and fast looking. All three spread out around his office, effectively covering every inch and corner. Jones drew to attention and ventured a small smile.

"Detective Inspector Weasley, these three men came to see Detective Inspector Shacklebolt with some information on the werewolf murders. Since he is not available at the moment I brought them to you," she said softly. "This is Detective Inspector Franz Murovski from Romania." Large nodded curtly. "Detective Constable Drajan Murovski." Medium smiled and nodded with a vague salute. "And George Roebottom...."

"Wasn't Kingsley investigating...?"

"Aye, I think he saved me Mam's life too," George put in with a nod of agreement. "That's why we come over, do you see. Look, Mam gave her statement from the hospital yesterday which is why Sunwold and Keen Nose came over."

"Who?" Ron asked puzzled.

"Detective Inspector Weasley, I am Sunwold, er, Detective Inspector Franz Murovski of the Romanian Werewolf Aurory. My partner, Keen Nose, is a tracker. He's also my littermate but that's nothing much to brag of. Our littermate, Jet, is Shady's wife, George here. We took Petal and Lunar's statements and had the hospital analyse the potion Petal was poisoned with. It's a terrifying mix for a werewolf." The huge man laid the two documents on the desk for Ron to read.

"Translocation is an old Death Eater trick. Nasty, sneaky and deadly unless you learn the subtle signs to look for or have the protection charms worked over you. They're out of fashion at the moment but.... Hardy!"

"Yes Sir?" The man stuck his head in the door with a pained look.

"Do me a favour and send down to the charms department, have them send up someone who knows the protections against translocation charms, if you would? Thank, Hardy. Best not take chances, especially with the younger ones."

Keen Nose, Drajan, smothered a laugh which made Ron's eyebrows rise. "And you are not one of the young ones?" he asked merrily.

Ron smiled wryly. "Nope, I'm a veteran of the SVW, the Second Voldemort War. Our unit pioneered the defence against the translocation charm, since it was one of our spies who helped invent the method in the first place. So, let's see what we have here."

"Er, Sir," Luanna murmured apologetically. "Detective Inspector Shacklebolt said you were to read this report first, before you did anything about anything, if you see what I mean?" She handed him a slip of paper with a list of names and check marks against each.

Ron read them then frowned. "This one here, Augustus Murphy, what does this note mean?"

Luanna peered over. "Oh, he left the department within the last eight months. He had a medical condition or was injured in the line of duty."

"Interesting, very well, we'll use our people and you, Luanna. Gentlemen, I have to tell you that Detective Inspector Shacklebolt did not return from the Roebottom farm yesterday and we have reason to believe he was kidnapped by the same people who tried to kill your family."

The two blonds exchanged a few short sentences then Drajan turned to Weasley. "I have certain skills that humans do not. If you have something of your Shacklebolt belongings I can take a scent off, I can use it the way you people use photographs or fingerprints. Every person's scent is unique and I can recognise them as easily as you recognise a face."

"That seems fair enough. Organise that please, Luanna. So, do you gentlemen apparate? Or would you prefer a portkey."

"We apparate," Franz said flatly. "However we'll need the coordinates."

"Good, let's go."

~~*~~

Mary Shacklebolt huddled in the corner of a sofa in the Gryffindor common room, a wad of tissue in her hand. Her usually smooth coffee complexion was grey-green and tear tracks marked her cheeks. She looked very old, not a thirteen year old at all. Her mother had called the school this morning and told her that her father had gone missing and she was to sit tight for the time being. No matter how she protested, her mother was adamant that she was not to come home.

The sofa sagged and her best friend Lucinda Harris plunked down beside her, pulling up her knees and wrapping her arms around them. "What are you going to do?" she asked softly.

"Nothing much to do at the moment," Mary muttered back sadly. "If anything happens to my dad then I don't know what I'll do."

"I overheard that James Frazer laughing, saying his dad was looking for his boss, but there was no trace of him anywhere." Lucinda worried a skin tag on her fingernail. "'S funny, you know, but he was really weird, not like the other Aurors' kids. I mean, Jones' sister is an Auror and Liam was really upset. Jonas Fletcher is also a Slytherin but he wasn't acting glad that your dad was missing, he even said to me that if he could do anything, just ask."

"That's because he fancies you," Mary managed to say, but more by rote than a desire to tease. "Thanks Luce but there's not much we can do, stuck here at school. Maybe if we could find a way to actually track him, even though he doesn't have a spell on him...."

"Send a post owl after him, then track the post owl," a little voice piped up and Paul Streatham blushed bright scarlet as they stared. "I... sorry, it was just a thought."

"Have to be a really slow post owl, or a very fast broomstick," Robin Hartshorn crowed, pushing Paul aside with his shoulder as he passed. "Merlin, werewolf, you are so stupid! Fancy not realising something as basic and as simple as that! Where were you brought up, in a cage?"

"Oi! Lay off the kid!" Lisa Murtow snapped as Paul seemed to shrink into a small huddle. "Go play with your balls, Hartshorn, it's all you're good for. Ignore him, Paul; he's just a Quidditch beater after all. He's taken one too many bludgers to the head, if you know what I mean."

Hartshorn roared inarticulately, his fist rising to threaten the girl but then the prefects were there, taking points and quelling the incipient brawl. Lisa winked at Paul and the two little girls as she followed the prefect out to lay her complaint.

Mary and Lucinda turned to speak to Paul but he had disappeared, a pair of chocolate frogs all that was left of his company. "Isn't he sweet," Lucinda murmured, handing one to Mary as she opened the other.

~~*~~

Every inch of ground had been scoured for clues to Kingsley's disappearance. Aurors had tramped the grass to mud and the cobbles to shiny in their efforts. Ron sighed deeply as he surveyed the scene then turned apologetic eyes onto their visitors. George shook his head and immediately went to check the cows, make sure there was enough water in the troughs and turn the hens out to scratch in the yard. Franz stared at the biggest red bird with an unwavering gaze, slowly edging up on it. George watched him mischievously for a few seconds then clapped his hands, making the werewolf jump and the hen squawk.

"Come on, City Boy, forget the distractions," he teased, making the big man blush a little.

"Hens fascinate me that is all," he muttered while his brother and brother-in-law laughed heartily.

"Come on, I'll toss a ball for you later," George teased before growing more serious. "You know Mam and Da scents, also Shacklebolt's; see which others you can pick out, Keen Nose."

Ron stood back and watched the two Romanians course over the area, Franz acting like the grid anchor while Drajan sniffed his way outward in ever widening circles. Twice he stopped to take in a deep noseful of something no one else could see before moving on. After about one hundred metres he turned and nodded to his brother who turned and smiled at Ron.

"We have two new scents to add to the catalogue," he told the Auror cheerfully. "Now all we have to do is compare it to your scent bank."

"We don't actually have a scent bank," Ron said, feeling he had done nothing but apologise to these two visitors since they arrived.

Drajan swore quite flatly in Romanian before shaking his head and sighing. "If I run across him, I'll know him. So what shall we do now, Sunwold?"

"Now we go sniff people and see who we can identify," Sunwold said with a shrug.

Keen Nose grinned evilly as he slung an arm around Luanna's shoulders. "So, pretty lady, what does a werewolf have to do around here to get a steak?"

Luanna looked him up and down, taking in the tight leather pants and white cotton shirt under the leather jacket, before shaking her head. "Who are you supposed to be, the big bad wolf?" she asked in disgust.

"Depends on whether I get to eat you or not, Little Red Ridinghood," he teased back, making Ron wince and his brother-in-law groan.

"He thinks he is so smooth," Franz commented shaking his head. "Sometimes I wonder if he is really my brother or if someone mixed us up in the hospital. Hey, Bloodhound!"

Drajan stiffened and snarled while his brother laughed at his antics. "Don't you call me that!"

"Then grow up and behave! Leave the little girl alone."

"Who are you calling a little girl?" Luanna asked indignantly, and her admirer laughed, giving her a squeeze again. "Keep your hands to yourself, boyo, and I'll take you out walkies after work," she told him firmly.

The blond smirked at his brothers before they all apparated out to Auror Headquarters again. There, Luanna guided her admirer through the hallways and offices, introducing him as a visitor from Romania to as many people as she could. A couple of people looked askance as Drajan sniffed, but he simply blamed an allergy to smog and was given a few remedy charms to clear his head if he needed them.

Auror Sergeant Asquith wondered why the visitor stared so keenly at him until Luanna explained that Auror Sergeant Asquith had been showing her how to process a murder site out at a farm in Yorkshire a few days ago. Acting charmed and interested, Murovski drew the older man out, asking intelligent questions and taking in the answers with every semblance of keen eagerness. Luanna winced when she was referred to as a raw recruit but was somewhat mollified when he said she had promise. Taking their leave, Luanna allowed Drajan to put an arm around her shoulders and lean close but he simply whispered in her ear softly.

"There was something not right about that man, I don't know what. He will bear watching, and watching closely." He straightened a little and spoke in a more normal tone. "So who else should I meet?"

"Down here. This is Auror Sergeant William Frazer who has been showing me how to interview people, especially when they are in conjunction with robbery or larceny." Luanna smiled charmingly at the older man who shook his head but offered his hand anyway.

"It's a great pleasure to meet you, Sir. Tell me how does the questioning of robbery suspects differ from questioning murder suspects?

Frazer smiled grimly. "With robbery suspects, you don't expect too much violence but murderers tend to be unpredictable. You get your cool, clear headed, clear eyed murderers and you wild eyed, fanatical ones, but plain robbery is usually a simple matter of economics rather than passions."

"An interesting philosophy; we usually just put the suspects into a yard and wait until full moon approaches. Usually they confess one way or the other and a truth niffler confirms their statement before they are taken off or charged."

"Why would being put into a yard cause someone to confess?" Frazer asked puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I am from the Romanian Werewolf Aurory and I am here investigating the attempted murder of one Petal, Mrs Lisa Roebottom." Frazer reared back in shock but the wall stopped him retreating any further as Drajan approached closer. "Tell me Auror Sergeant Frazer, why were you at the Roebottom farm yesterday afternoon at about two pm while Auror Shacklebolt was standing behind the kitchen door? Why did you let out fear sweat, then cause your scent to overlap Shacklebolt's so significantly? Finally, where did you apparate out to with Shacklebolt? Tell me, Auror Sergeant Frazer, would you prefer English questioning methods or Romanian, now you are a murder suspect?"

For a second no one moved, then Frazer bellowed and tried to charge the blond man with the intention of barging him out of the way. It was like hitting a brick wall. Frazer reeled back stunned while Luanna pulled her wand and cast a binding charm over him. People came running from various parts of the large room when they realised what she had done.

"Auror Sergeant William Frazer, I hereby charge you with the attempted murder of Lisa Roebottom at their farm on the twenty third of this month. I will hold you for questioning in relation to the series of murders involving werewolves over the last year, to be read individually at a later date." Luanna turned scared eyes on Drajan Murovski who smiled encouragingly, his own wand held between negligent fingers.

D I Weasley pushed his way through the crowd and demanded to know what, in Merlin's Name, Luanna thought she was doing. Luanna floundered but Murovski stepped in smoothly, and drew both his ire and his attention.

"Miss Jones is arresting the person whose scent was involved in the kidnap and subsequent moving of Auror Shacklebolt from the Roebottom farm to a place unknown. As I have no jurisdiction here, she will be credited with the arrest, yes?"

"You can't arrest someone because of their smell!" the voice from the crowd was anonymous but very indignant.

"Actually, because of the nature of the case, we can," Ron contradicted flatly. "Auror Sergeant Frazer, you have the right to be questioned, either with or without the use of veritaserum. If you choose the serum then you will be released or charged this afternoon. If you choose to refuse then we will hold you for questioning at the convenience of the Wizengamot."

"This is an outrage! No, I will not be drugged and questioned like a common criminal, on the word of a bloody animal! How dare you even suggest such a thing, you trumped up cripple? Our boss is missing and you are grasping at straws, like the hopeless incompetent you are. Oh, I'll go before the Wizengamot alright and then we'll see who is made to look the fool!"

Ron shook his head in disgust, forcing himself not to react to the blatant insults tossed at him. It took a lot of willpower, but he even controlled the angry flush of colour that usually preceded his temper. "William, please, you are not helping your case. I would love to prove your innocence as quickly as possible, but if you insist on a hearing before the Wizengamot then I will certainly make sure you get your wish. Take him off and stash him in the visitor's suite. No, not the cells, for Merlin's sake man, he is one of us, after all is said and done. Luanna, Drajan, please come with me. No hard feelings, William?" Ron offered his hand and for a moment it looked like Frazer would refuse, but he relented and took the younger man's hand in a grip that threatened to break bones. "When this is over, I'll buy you a pint," Ron promised with a slap on his shoulder as the man was escorted away. Wrapping his hands around the girl's and the werewolf's biceps, he dragged them off to his office and shut the door.

"Sir, I'm sorry...."

"He was guilty, I tell you...."

Ron held up his hands to forestall both of them. "Enough. I believe you both, and I have put a tracking charm on his, old war handshake trick. My brothers invented it, but they usually passed a bogie hex instead of a simple tracker." Ron strode over to his desk and called Hardy to send in some tea. "I want both of you to monitor this charm day and night, sort the shifts out between you. When he leaves, I want to know where he goes - and when - and I want to be alerted instantly."

"You think he will escape?" Luanna asked incredulously.

"He'd better! Girl, you know how werewolves are regarded in this country? No offence DC Murovski but your word is not worth a busted wand in this country, so Frazer is going to have to escape and incriminate himself, which is why I want you and Luanna to stick like glue. You look after her and she will look after you, understand? Good. Your brother and brother-in-law have already gone home and left you to do what is necessary here. So, go find that steak dinner, on the expense account. Try Fortana's on Baker Street, they do a decent steak. Murovski, you are booked into the Merrylands hotel, room 242 for the next week, also on expenses."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, there is a problem. It's Moon on Monday night and I cannot be in a hotel on a Moon, especially not in a two Moon Month. That would be disaster. And I have no Wolfsbane potion, to make it worse," Drajan protested flatly.

"If you are still here, we will provide everything necessary, including Wolfsbane and a place to spend Moon that is comfortable to wolves."

"Or I could just apparate home," Drajan added without heat, once he had overcome his initial surge of fear.

"As you wish, but in the mean time, go find some dinner. I'll see you both back here in the morning."