Werewolves at Hogwarts

Chapter 32

The rain was coming down in sheets outside the windows of the high-rise apartment. Snape studied the darkened night and wondered if Remus was out in it, or incarcerated somewhere at least dry. He had gone to bed earlier in the guest room Christiana provided, but he could not sleep, not an uncommon thing for him. He knew that the rain would destroy any remaining traces of scent and that the werewolves, led by Tracker would be unable to get any closer to finding Remus.

They had spent the majority of the previous day combing through Devon and Cornwall looking for some indication of either Remus, or Aura the black wolf, but it was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. Matilda and Terry had both tried so hard he almost felt ungrateful that he was mentally holding them responsible for failing to produce his missing lover. When the rain became so heavy that even the relentless Tracker had to admit defeat, they had all apparated back to Miss Edmunds' flat in London. She had graciously given them all a very fine dinner, produced by her house elves and offered Snape a bed for the night. Still, despite the comfort, it was not home and the bed was empty, no one to curl around or hold onto.

"Can't sleep?"

The voice made him jump and spin on his toes, his wand out and ready, until he saw his hostess padding through to the kitchen. "I'm sorry; your spare room is very nice but ...."

"But it's not home and your partner isn't there," Chris finished for him. "Would you like some hot chocolate, it's good to make you sleep."

Snape stiffened for a moment then shook his head ruefully. "A werewolf's panacea for all ills," he commented wryly then sighed. "Remus lives on the stuff at certain times of the month. And that didn't come out right either." He winced when she laughed.

"That's okay. It's after midnight so nothing will be held against you. Unfortunately this rain cuts our chances of finding him to the bone. If we don't find him by Moon Rise then I'm afraid he is lost to you. I know that sounds brutal, but you must face the possibility. If the Mistress catches him in the open without Wolfsbane, then he may attack someone, and if he doesn't destroy himself then the Ministry will do it for him."

Severus wanted to rage and curse at her frank statement, but he couldn't. He knew it was nothing but the unvarnished truth. Leaning his forehead on the window pane, he nodded slightly. "I know. It's ironic really, for the full measure of my life I have shunned human contact and when I finally do allow some small tendril to touch me, then it comes to this, a painful unknowing and a possible bitter end."

"Or a last minute rescue with a 'happily ever after' outcome," Chris muttered softly but Snape only snorted.

~~*~~

Andrea jerked awake with a yelp, her eyes wild and luminescent as she leaped to her feet in the middle of her mattress. The sun was barely up and its early morning rays struck her fair head, making it look like her hair was on fire. She leaped lightly from the bed and flung her clothes on with no regard for the fact it was a school day. Rose glared at her but Lisa rose on one elbow and asked her where she was going.

"It's Moon and we still haven't found Alpha, none of the silly adults have! So, it's up to the junior squad as per usual to save the day!" Andrea giggled and whirled on the spot.

"I think you've been at the cat nip," Rose said shaking her head. Andrea was frenetic, a wildness and excitement rolling off her in waves.

"No Wolfsbane, see, makes me crazy being so close to Moon without its control. Bet Malcolm is going nuts too, it's like being drunk and excited and agitated and mad all at the same time. I can't go to class like this, so I'm going to talk to Professor Flitwick."

"But Professor McGonagall is Head of our House," Lisa protested.

"Yeah but he is the expert on charms; and I had a brilliant idea. It's a really left field one but I don't know the charms to pull it off. So I have to pick his brain or eat it or something. I have to go!" She whisked out of the door and her feet barely made a sound as she bolted down the stairs.

Rose and Lisa exchanged wide eyed looks.

Ghosting through the corridors, Andrea pounced on a fluff ball and stalked around a suit of armour, giggling when she scared a mouse half to death. She had a fair idea where Professor Flitwick's quarters were, having caught his scent on a number of occasions. It only took a few moments for her to scent the door and hammer on it very loudly. When there was no instant response, she used both fists, rolling out a quite complicated rhythm and doing a little dance shuffle until the door was abruptly thrown open and she staggered a step before catching her balance superbly.

"Oh good, you're up," she said cheerily as she pushed past the tiny professor and whirled into his sitting room without leave. "I have an idea but I don't have the skills or knowledge that you do. So I need your input. Is it possible to charm a piece of parchment in such a way that if you cut it in half and write a letter on the first half and send it by owl, the location of the receiver would show up as apparation coordinates on the piece of parchment you retain? If this was possible, could you address it to a specific person and then have the owl deliver it? Can you do that or would you have to make a portkey of the first piece of parchment to take the second piece to it, which you - as the sender - are hanging onto and you would be transported to the vicinity of the receiver, do you understand?"

"Young lady do you know what time it is?"

"Dawn of course, here, but I imagine it is not yet dawn in Europe and it is most certainly night in Australia or Africa. Do you know what time it is in America? Are they before us or behind us?"

Professor Flitwick stared at the girl and opened his mouth then closed it again as the sense of her hurried and tumbling speech began to penetrate his mind. "Parchment doesn't always hold charms very well unless it is rolled up tightly and using one sheet as a portkey might be a little bit tricky, it being flexible. However by using two halves of a sheet of parchment to give the location of each other to locate someone sounds like an idea worth pursuing. What sorts of distance were you thinking of having the spell work over? Some tens of miles, hundreds of miles or thousands of miles?"

"Probably hundreds, I should say, make it one thousand just to be sure. Can you do it, make a sheet of paper to locate a person by owl? Just as an intellectual exercise I mean? I thought a location charm on one half and an acclaro on the other should do the trick, but I bet I'm wrong."

"Acclaro wouldn't do it, it would have to be a counting spell or a compass spell or even both. Wait, wait, no, if you only want to display the coordinates then it would have to be a simple map reader spell. Simple, simple, simple. Look, look here...." Enthusiasm overcoming reservation, he grabbed a couple of pieces of paper. After a moment's thought, he said a few words and tapped the first with his wand, the second twice with his wand. He then gave Andrea the first and told her to hold it while he moved about with the second. Amazingly the small numbers on the sheet changed and spun as he moved about.

"That's amazing Professor! Do another pair just to be sure. Here, you hold the counter, I'll run about. Amazing! Simply amazing!" Andrea rushed over to the small professor, grabbed both his hands and swung him in a circle while jumping up and down. Grabbing all four bits of paper, she kissed both his cheeks, whirled him around again and ran off with many thanks streaming over her shoulder, the precious bits of parchment in her hands.

Dashing back to the Gryffindor tower, she pounded on the door of the second year girls' dorm until a sleepy child answered it. "Where's Mary Shacklebolt? I want her now."

Mary glared at the sixth former who was hopping from foot to foot in the corridor. She barely had time to open her mouth before Andy grabbed her arm and dragged her down to the common room. "What are you doing? Do you know what time it is?" Mary complained, shaking her off and putting her hands on her hips.

"What is this fixation with time this morning? Listen, I have had an idea! It's really dumb to chase post owls on a broomstick, windy for one and they're too fast for another. So why chase them at all? Why not just get them to deliver a letter and make a note of the apparition coordinates." Andy was grinning like a maniac.

Rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms, Mary ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head sadly. "You're nuts! Like the owl is going to give you apparition coordinates?"

"No, the owl won't, but if you write the letter on one of these pieces of parchment, especially charmed by Professor Flitwick, then watch the other sheet with the counter charm on it you should be able to read the coordinates as soon as the owl finishes delivering to the right person. And you know owls won't deliver unless they have the right person."

There were a few moments of stunned silence then Mary let rip with a yell loud enough to take the tower roof off. "Andy, you're bloody brilliant! Oh Merlin, if I write a letter to Dad then we'll know where he is. And they can go free him." She stopped and sank into a chair. "But will they believe us? After all, we're only kids."

"Good point, good point. I can apparate, have been able to for years. Mother taught me when I was ten, said it was a skill a lady should be very well practiced at; saved my life when the wolf got me, too. Bet you there are other kids who can apparate and would be more than happy to help us get your dad and our alpha out of durance vile."

"Porter and I can apparate," Malcolm said sleepily as he stumbled into a chair and Porter flopped down on the sofa.

"Lisa, Theowyn, Theowyn's brother Liam, and I can apparate," Rose said as she headed her delegation into the common room.

"What is going on?" Chandler McDermott stumbled into the room and glared at the gathering with a shake of his head.

"Can you apparate Chandler?" Andy turned to smile at him with glowing eyes.

"Of course I can apparate, I have my license."

"Oh good, so are you in on the rescues, or do I obliviate you?"

The prefect found himself looking down the length of a wand into wild, feral eyes that promised to carry out any mad scheme she thought of. "Going after Lupin, are you?"

"And Shacklebolt; the adults won't."

For a second he thought he might refuse then he wondered why he should. Rescuing someone was a fantastic idea, and rescuing Professor Lupin would be a great thing. "Count me in!" He grinned, offering his hand. "When and how?"

~~*~~

"Frazer has holed up in that shack under the cliff there," Michael Luskow murmured as the other Aurors gathered. "Ben has the other side of the shack covered and is ready to move whenever we get the word."

Ron gnawed his moustaches for a few seconds then turned slightly and indicated DC Murovski and AT Jones. "You two will be the front. Judy and I will take the left and Mike and Ben will take the right. Left and right will cast an anti-apparation ward over the whole place, while you two knock at the door. Jones, Murovski has the most experience so follow his lead and learn something." Ron grinned at her quick inhalation but did not relent.

"Yes, Sir," Luanna muttered as Drajan sniggered behind her.

Before the wards could be set there was a distinct pop within the building and everyone froze. Someone had just joined their quarry in the small house under the ledge. The bellow of anger literally shook them all as the newcomer roared angrily.

"What have you done? Merlin's balls, Will, he's an old man! You didn't need to cut him about like this."

"He's a bloody werewolf, or have you forgotten that little fact, Murphy. Besides, they don't really feel pain, not like real people. Animals don't, you know?" The sneer in Frazer's voice was unmistakable.

"Oh come on, you don't believe that shite, do you? The Talbots and that elitist Parkinson might sprout it to justify their little black market game, but you know it's just so much bunkum. Werewolves feel pain, believe me. I know exactly where that bastard Seaun Molloy kicked me yesterday, and the big Mick hurt me." There was a forced invitation to laughter in the man's voice but obviously Frazer was not buying it. "Damn it, look at all this perfectly good werewolf blood going to waste on the ground! Does it turn when he turns?"

"Let's find out."

There were a scuffle and a yell, someone swore heartily then a scream began to change into an inarticulate roar.

"Be careful! He's healthier than I thought! Look out; he's going to get free!"

Wild, manic laughter roared through the shack. "I don't care, I'm already a werewolf! If he bites me, it doesn't matter, and you are the only one who is going to get hurt, you bastard! Hayborn, careful, he's armed."

The scream was high pitched, the laughter wild, and Drajan tossed himself into the door as a huge grey wolf savaged the man on the ground. At the far side of the room another man cradled his hand to his chest and laughed like a maniac, until he realised there was another stranger.

"Go back, you fool, go back, you'll get bitten!" he screamed a warning as the huge animal raised dripping jaws, red blood streaming from a myriad of cuts and slashes in his fur.

"I am already of the Clans," the Romanian yelled over the noise of the angry werewolf. Cool as a cucumber, Drajan raised his wand and muttered an expelliarmus at the werewolf, making it jerk and yelp, then snarl. A small pile of stomach contents, including quite a number of pink pellets landed on the floor at the downed man's side then the wolf hit Drajan with all his weight, bowling the Romanian out the door. Luanna flew backwards but managed a cushioning charm before she hit the ground while Drajan wrapped his arms and legs around the wolf, holding him tight. The second man from the shack threw himself on top of the writhing heap and passed an arm around the ravening wolf's neck.

"Gotta get him back inside, it wears off after an hour," Gus Murphy gasped over the roars and howls.

"Right, Weasley, get Frazer out so we can get this one in."

"Be careful though, it may be a forced transition but the bite still works, Frazer is now a werewolf. Ask him if it hurts? Ask him if animals really do feel pain, the sadistic bastard. Come on Old Man, back in your box," he added almost fondly as the two men wrestled the struggling and fortunately weakened werewolf back into the shack.

"Well, that didn't go exactly to plan, now did it?" Ron said thoughtfully as they reassembled in the shack's small front yard.

Frazer was still alive but his throat and arm were mangled. Ben Sanderson was working as many healing charms over him as he dared, to some good success too. The gaping wounds were already beginning to knit and heal, the blood flow slowing to a slight trickle then a drip, and then it stopped. The man sat up and looked around, ran a hand over the newly healed scarring on his chest, then stared down in horror. "Oh Merlin forefend, he bit me!"

"I'm afraid so, Frazer. You are now officially lycanthropic, as well as suspected of kidnapping Kingsley Shacklebolt. Be aware that anything you say can and will be used against you in your trial and you will be judged on the evidence presented against you." Ron gave the statement with relish, and then grinned evilly. "Of course, as an animal with no rights under law, we can now do what the hell we like with you; including fill you up with Veritaserum with no consequence to us what so ever. Bad luck Frazer, you're mine, you traitor!"

The man whimpered slightly as he looked around the circle of hostile faces hovering over him, a deep realisation of his true position slowly sinking in.

~~*~~

Mr White stood squarely before Remus who was still tied to the chair in the secluded house in the middle of nowhere. If not for the ropes that held him, the unconscious man would have been twisted and broken. Joshua had apparated in only two hours before, agitated and furious as he paced and swore.

"They Turned Will, just stood there and let him be turned into a fucking werewolf, without lifting a finger. What's worse, that turncoat Murphy has changed sides, he's gone completely werewolf to the point of stealing Hayborn away from Will before he could be processed. He even allowed the old wolf to bite Will, just stood there and laughed while the animal savaged his friend and comrade. I tell you he did it on purpose! You can't trust fucking werewolves." Spinning on his toe, the furious Auror lashed out a foot and laughed wildly as his toe broke the helpless prisoner's cheekbone.

"Stop! No more! I have just had the most delicious idea." Talbot stared narrow-eyed at the unconscious prisoner. "In less than six hours he is going to make his own transformation into a savage beast, and we both know that the transformation can be very painful, especially when the animal is hurt badly enough. Now suppose he was locked in a cell with a normal human. Even though he was badly hurt, would he still try to attack the human like the animal he is? Even better, what if we broke both his legs so that he couldn't do anything but crawl slowly and painfully toward his quarry, unable to stop himself from trying or hurting or...?"

"And how would the quarry feel, being stalked by an injured werewolf, slowly and inevitably, knowing that they were going to be Turned that night with no course for escape or rescue, by someone they knew as a friend and colleague?" Joshua turned; his eyes alight with unholy glee.

"Shacklebolt!" they chorused with relish.