Werewolves at Hogwarts

Chapter 31

Armidale was a neat town boasting of five major parks and many smaller suburban parklets. After consulting the map and listening to the various arguments, Chris broke her people up into twelve teams, one team per big park and one team per suburb. She managed to persuade Snape to stay with her on Cardoul while the initial survey was taking place, which proved to be wise. Hardly had the teams gone out when the McGonagall Park team were back with good news, they had found the site.

Apparating in, Snape stood very still at Ms Edmund's command, as the five werewolves of the search party seemed to be quartering the grounds like a pack of hounds looking for scent. The leader, a thin, wiry redhead with more beard than hair hurried over and half bowed to Christiana before waving his hand to their left.

"He apparated in there and came up onto the path here." A skinny arm pointed the way, the wiry man moving forward and they followed. "He began to walk in that direction then he skipped and turned. It smells like a lot of magic was discharged right here." A round wave encompassed the area comprehensively followed by a finger stabbing down at a patch of something on the ground. "And there's this stuff, don't know what it is." He dropped to his haunches and darted a hand out to pick up one of the pale pink pellets only to be caught at the wrist. Snarling, he turned to snap at the black clad man, who held his arm, but his Alpha Prime snapped in his face and he backed off.

"Never touch something you aren't sure about," Snape sneered as he brought a small vial from his robes and levitated some of the pellets into it. Adding the contents of another vial he whistled silently, then smirked again. "Someone was definitely werewolf hunting. There's werewolf bone, doxy blood and enough silver nitrate and silver arsenate to kill within seconds. Still want to pick it up? Although why the Silver Arsenate? What an odd choice for a potion ingredient, if its only purpose was to destroy werewolves."

"Perhaps the rest of the stain did something else. After all, it's been lying here for nearly a full day and we're lucky there was no rain to wash it all away," Chris said thoughtfully.

"A good point, Madame," Snape conceded as he rose carefully. "Do you want to cast priori incantatem on the area and see if we can define the spells?"

"Humm, stand back then and let's see what we can see," she replied, pulling her wand.

The spells were attenuated but it was still possible to plot the course of the exchange, see were the two duellists were standing and how they moved. Snape nodded when he catalogued the spells, the lack of order and yet the range of spells telling him it was definitely Remus who was casting. His opponent was a stranger to all until the pop of another Apparating wizard made them all jump and turn defensively.

"All clear Alpha Prime," the woman reported then sniffed inquiringly. "Aura! I'd know that scent anywhere. What has the bad tempered beast been up to now?"

"You know this person?" Christiana demanded a second ahead of Snape.

"Should do, he was sniffing around our pack members not long before Wind Biter was killed. He was always trying to muscle in on the hierarchy but was never strong enough or cunning enough to make it. I think he was a recent Turning, and he was something reasonably important in the human world before he was Turned."

"Thank you, Ghost, er, Matilda, have you any idea of who he is and where he hangs out?"

"Aura is called Augustus Murphy in human and he usually hangs out near our pack, I think. We are on the Devon and Cornwall border, and some of us roam up into the Welsh hills."

"Brave lassie," one of the listeners commented and Matilda Beaumont blushed unbecomingly.

Snape raised an inquiring eyebrow and Chris twitched a smile. "The Welsh packs tend to stick to their own, where as the Irish and Scots tend to club up against the English every now and again. It's all very political and in many ways mirrors the human situation, but I think I'll be changing that as soon as I can. So, we have a suspect and a location. Go tell the others and we'll follow the scents down to the end, see if Moony and Aura clash again. Ghost, if you will join us, please. Carry on, Tracker."

~~*~~

"Fucking werewolves! I hate fucking werewolves!" The low snarl heralded another blow in the side but Remus was too groggy to even feel it any more. His newly healed ribs were broken again and he knew one had punctured a lung as he felt the bubbling, choking sensations creeping up his chest. He knew he had lost a couple of teeth as he's swallowed one and spit the other. His face and mouth were a mass of cuts and bruises and both eyes were swollen shut.

"Will you lay off him already? You've been at him for two bleeding days and you're going to kill him if you aren't careful!" the second voice said in exasperation. "So he got you with a couple of hexes, so what? It's not like you were just innocently strolling by, is it? Look, Mr White wants him in one piece and I didn't go to all the trouble of luring him out of Cardoul for you to kill him with your petty spite."

"He tricked my idiot cousin out of one hundred thousand galleons of my money! And he left him sitting on a kitchen chair wrapped in binding spells with a knife charmed to cut his throat if he tried to escape. So now I want my hundred thousand back and if I have to take it out in blood, then so be it!" The boot caught Remus in the thigh and he grunted as his attacker yelped. A thud that had nothing to do with being hurt sounded, and the second man swore almost ritualistically.

"I warned you Sam Parkinson, leave the werewolf alone! Mr White wants him in one piece so he can be Turned and skinned, and for that he needs to be healthy. He is worth three thousand galleons as potion ingredients and I plan to get my share, as much as the traffic will bear. If that means I have to protect the beast, then so be it!"

"Your share? Your measly share is insignificant! Whose money is fronting this scheme? Mine! Who has lost the most in the captured shipment debacle? Me. And if Rodney Talbot or his skinny blood-sucking wife thinks I am going to miss out on this one then they can bloody well find themselves a new backer! Mr White indeed, and who's idea was it to use these stupid code names? How bloody childish can you get!"

Remus now had two names, and he was clinging to them in his memory for dear life. At least the beating had stopped for the moment and he could feel his ribs beginning to pull away from his lungs, healing already. He was so hungry and thirsty, healing always took energy, but at least he wasn't in danger of drowning in his own blood anymore. Slumped forward against the ropes that held him to the chair, he allowed himself to slide into a state half way between sleeping and unconsciousness, so that his very resilient body could heal again.

~~*~~

Shacklebolt had managed to eat the chunk of prison bread his captors had given him while still chained to the wall. The magical bonds stretched but only so far, and only if he moved very slowly. Any fast moves, or movement beyond the circle of three feet, made them snap back to the wall. Which meant his body was slammed into the stone on more than one occasion, until he found the bounds of the stretch. He had water too, a jug of cold fresh water that seemed to renew itself whenever it was needed. Prison bread and water was all he had eaten for what he thought was about four days, but he couldn't be sure.

Last night he had managed to get some sleep, only to be jerked awake when his bonds slammed him into the wall. As he knew he was a restless sleeper, it didn't take long to realise why he had been snapped. He wondered how his family were coping and thought Willani would be just about ready to conduct her own search, if her usual practice was to be relied on. Sometimes his wife was harder to control than the most recalcitrant prisoner could ever be. The chuckle was rusty but honest, the first noise he had made in days.

Suddenly his bonds went tight and flattened him against the wall in a spread-eagle position. A Petrificus Totalus hit him before he was straightened up and he froze in an uncomfortable attitude, unable to even blink. A man apparated in and removed his food and water, twitched the shredded remains of his robe around him more modestly and then apparated out again. A few seconds later there was the sound of many feet on the stairs and a few giggles and laughter, conversation getting louder as people approached. Into the dungeon came a party of Muggles, peering up at the ceiling, ohh-ing and ahh-ing over the dungeon fittings. A couple of teenagers dragged their feet obviously part of some family party, the older members of the group pointing out stonework features and even managing to name some of the torture instruments. When one of the children saw Kingsley she let out a scream but her mother assured her it was only a dummy and her older brother teased her about being a 'fraidy cat'.

It was surreal; the uniformed guide, the tourist party, the bored and the excited, parading through a dungeon while a kidnapped man sprawled on the floor, unable to even move an eyelash to draw attention to his plight. They were long gone, their noise and their ignorance barely even a memory when the wizard apparated in again and replaced the food and water before finishing the spell.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, keeping his face well in shadow. "I warned him I was having tourists, but he insisted you be left here. There are no more parties for the next couple of days and hopefully by then you will have been moved, or something. I have to go, got to supervise afternoon tea in the dining room, sorry." He dissapparated with a pop.

"Un-fucking-believable!" Kingsley said aloud with a shake of his head.

~~*~~

"So this is how you spent your Sunday afternoons, is it? Sitting in a Cafe and drinking coffee while monitoring the tracking charms on prisoners," Drajan teased Luanna, who tossed her head and grinned.

"Sure is, provided I'm not practicing my hexes or training in unarmed combat," she told him in mock seriousness then sighed. "Usually I visit my mother who is confined to her bed. She was an Auror too but she caught a curse during the war and it tore out her spine. My dad's fantastic with her, looking after her every want or need but still, it wears on her sometimes. What about your family, what would you be doing on a Sunday afternoon in Bucharest?"

Drajan laughed. "I would be up to my waist in nieces and nephews, being bullied by my mother into splitting wood for the winter, or my sisters would be ordering me around. I have two brothers and three sisters from my litter and four younger siblings from another litter. All my family are werewolves, Luanna, from a long line of werewolves. There are a few humans in the family tree, but not that many. Hey, where I come from even the vampires complain that they can't see the humans for the werewolves. That's a joke by the way."

"I know but it's just hard to imagine a whole community of werewolves and vampires getting along." Luanna blinked at the very handsome young man across the tale from her and tried to imagine him in wolf form.

"I am a red wolf or, as my brothers like to tease, bloodhound coloured, which is worse. Ah, it's like calling humans 'monkeys' or 'apes', not very polite."

"Oh, I see. I thought you would be yellow or golden like your hair."

"No, that doesn't always count. If I'm stuck here during Moon - and your Inspector Weasley had better turn up with the Wolfsbane soon - you'll probably get to meet me then too."

"That sounds good to me. Look out, incoming owl!" Luanna warned and they both ducked as the barn owl landed on the table, a shrunken vial attached to his leg. "Looks like Inspector Weasley came through with the potion." She grinned as she handed the automatically engorging bottle over.

Popping the seal and sniffing the contents, Drajan pulled a face before downing the whole potion in three large swallows. He shuddered from head to toe as he recapped the bottle and stood it carefully on the table. "Well, I can honestly say the English version of Wolfsbane is no better than the Romanian version; not worse neither, just as vile and sickening."

Luanna giggled then stiffened as the tracking charm, linked to the small compass and mile counter the inspector had given her, made a soft chiming tone, the compass needle swinging wildly after it had been set squarely toward headquarters. Drajan gave a yip of excitement and tossed a couple of galleons on the table before both surged to their feet. The compass settled east, northeast then oscillated again before swinging to the south. The counter at the bottom of the compass swung around to thirty miles then it jumped to fifty as the pointer swung again.

"Damn! He's jumping around like a frog on a griddle!" Luanna snapped in disgust.

Drajan laughed. "I like your saying, very descriptive and apt. A good thing apparation takes energy; he won't keep that up for too long. Once he settles, we'll give him a half an hour to get settled and rest his guard then apparate in somewhere close and see what he's up to."

"Okay, let's go get the inspector; he's staying at HQ during the crisis. He sent his wife and family to an Unplottable site for safekeeping."

~~*~~

Ron glanced at the compass and grinned tigerishly when he read the figures, checking the clock he nodded once again. "Three thirty, Sunday afternoon, my pool."

"What do we do now, Sir?" Luanna asked as the other three Aurors in the room passed over a couple of galleons each.

"Now we wait until our bird goes to roost, and then we pick him up. How do you feel about acting the mad and savage werewolf, who is slavering to tear his throat out, Detective Constable Murovski?" Ron shot the young Romanian a mischievous look.

Drajan pulled his lips back to show an impressive array of teeth even though he was in human form. "Much as I hate to cater to the common myth, they just don't feed us right at home, so some nice fat juicy human would be just perfect!" He smiled and licked his lips with an equally impressive length of tongue.

"Don't be showing that thing to my partner," Judy Duncan muttered, making Ron laugh, Luanna blush and a couple of the men wince.

Drajan cocked his head in inquiry until Luanna elbowed him in the ribs. "Tell you later," she muttered as the older Aurors began to plot their strategy.

"Once he is away from headquarters we can play hardball, as far as he is concerned. Using veritaserum on him will be as much a waste of time as using it on any of us, and he will know most of the tricks we will be legally allowed to use. That's why we are going to ask Drajan to play his part. After all, this whole conspiracy involves the destruction of werewolves. What we need to know is, where Kingsley is, or if he doesn't know, then where did he take him and who are his associates. Once we get information, we'll decide how to proceed from there. All agreed? Our quarry is settled, let's go."

~~*~~

"It's Moon tomorrow and we didn't get our potion," Paul said softly, his eyes dark with apprehension.

"Snape wouldn't have forgotten. Our Alpha wouldn't let him."

"Unless something has happened to Alpha and they just haven't told us," Malcolm snarled, pacing the common room with a long, swinging stride.

Andrea watched him prowl for a few moments then stood up decisively. "So let's go find out. You know where Professor Snape's quarters are, don't you? Charlie, leave the ball here, you might lose it, as we are going to be invading Slytherin territory. Let's go!"

They were almost at the Slytherin dungeons when they were intercepted by Henry Lyde the Slytherin prefect and Chandler McDermott the Gryffindor prefect.

"We thought you would be heading down this way," Chandler said knowingly. "Come on, the Headmaster wants you four. Thanks Henry, I'll take them from here. If you hear anything more, don't forget to tell me, won't you?"

"No problem," the Slytherin replied with a vague salute.

"Ah, come in children and do have a seat. Thank you Chandler, I'll call you again later." Dumbledore dismissed him kindly but firmly as the four took their seats on the sofa uneasily. "I'm afraid I have some rather bad news for you. Usually we would not involve students in this sort of problem but it does involve you, so we can't ignore it."

"Something has happened to Alpha and the Potions Blender," Andrea stated flatly.

"You are astute, Miss Path. Professor Lupin has been kidnapped and Professor Snape is with the tracking party which is why he has failed to produce your Wolfsbane potion. I tried to import an order as soon as I realised we were going to have a problem, but it was impossible."

"There aren't many who can brew it and we would be a little wary if it wasn't from Professor Snape's cauldron," Malcolm assured the Headmaster before rising to pace again. "It's the werewolf killers that got Alpha, isn't it? Any idea of where and how they took him?"

"I'm sorry, the details were very poor. Professor Snape merely gave me the bare bones. So, tomorrow night I'm afraid you will have to face transformation without the aid of the potion. Will you all be able to cope with that?"

"I've always changed unaided." Charlie shrugged casually. "It's no big deal."

"As long as the others are there, it will be alright," Paul chimed in, but gnawed his lip fearfully until Charlie grinned and nudged his shoulder then he smiled ruefully. "We'll be fine."

Albus Dumbledore smiled at the two small boys, wondering at their courage. "And will you two also be fine?"

"What? Oh, yes, of course we will," Andrea muttered in distraction. "Do you have no clue as to where our Alpha has been taken? And don't you find it odd that two people who are important to the werewolf killings case have both been taken?"

"Ah now, Miss Path, let us leave that sort of speculation to the experts, shall we?" Dumbledore discouraged in his gentle way.

"Humm ...? Oh, of course. We'll just go back to our dorm now, shall we?" Andrea smiled sweetly at the old man and rose gracefully, ignoring Malcolm's puzzled looks. "Thank you for telling us, Headmaster. We'll go down to the Pack Hall a little earlier tomorrow night, just in case."

"That is very good of you my dear and don't worry, we'll find him."

"Yes, Headmaster," she agreed demurely as they left.