Werewolves at Hogwarts

Chapter 33

Remus ached in every muscle and sinew. His blood pounded in his skull and echoed in every pulse point, his breath caused agonies at every intake and every breath out gurgled in his chest. There was no strength or resources left in him to heal his wounds. Not even the legendary regeneration powers of a werewolf were enough to save him this time. He was dying. The stone was cold under his back and buttocks, a lively breeze raising goose bumps on his belly and thighs. He couldn't decide if he was indoors or outdoors in his fuddled state. Something or someone rustled to his left and behind, and he began to turn toward the noise but a shaft of exquisite agony ran through his legs making him cry out.

"Stay still, Lupin," a voice said almost calmly, rusty as if rough from disuse, or screaming.

"Who's there?" Remus managed to say, after spitting out blood and another splinter of tooth.

"Shacklebolt, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Did you see who caught you?"

"No, they were careful to keep out of my sight but they can't disguise their scents. Even better, they got careless and dropped a few names. Do you know where we are?"

"We are in a guest house, and I think it's near the sea, but it could be anywhere," Kingsley allowed grimly. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Pretty bad at the moment, they broke both my legs and more than a few ribs and teeth, but my arms seem to be intact," Remus murmured, pressing a finger to his cheekbone and wincing as it grated inside his head.

"Yes, and it's about five hours to the full moon. Oh, they were very sure to tell me what they were going to do to me; either have me Turned into a werewolf or werewolf shit, one of the two. I think they broke your legs so that it will take a bit longer for you to finish me off." Kingsley spoke calmly enough but a shudder set the chains attaching him to the wall trembling.

"Oh Merlin, Kingsley, I am so, so sorry," Remus murmured, too ill to make an effort to hide his misery. "I swear I have never Turned anyone in all my life."

"It's not your fault, Remus. Besides, we have five hours, anything could happen in that time," Kingsley said in a sing-song voice that almost made Remus chuckle at the irony.

~~*~~

"I found him! I caught scent of him and I know where he's going," the excited yelping made everyone in the meeting room straighten abruptly.

The ragged, filthy man pushed through the circle and crouched at Christiana's feet, making little noises and fawning on her shoes. She blinked then stroked his head as she would a large dog and he grinned up at her, nodding happily. "What's your name, dear?"

"Gorum, I's Gorum, Ilkley Moor pack. You looking for Aura and Moony, and I found Aura at Hayborn's house. There's others there too, a stranger, a strong stranger and humans, lots of red humans and my friend's red friend human." He nodded eagerly, clutching at her hand. "Come on, you come on. They made Hayborn change, even when the Mistress is not in the sky but the stranger and Aura caught him, and put him into the human pen. And the very bad red one got Turned so he's one of us now, and I want his throat. He hurt my Hayborn and I will kill him!" The last was said at a low, menacing growl which made the listeners' hair stand up on their necks. "Come on, we have to go!"

"Can you project the destination?" Chris asked of the frenetically moving man.

"Allow me." A patch of darkness detached itself from the wall and Snape glided forward to stand at Christiana's shoulder.

Gorum looked up and grinned. "'Lo Potions Blender, you look for the Beta Prime too? You gonna look in my head again? Okay, see where we go to."

"Ah, young Mr Weasley has been busy, has he not? Thank you Gorum for your usual, impeccable information." Snape nodded and the man grinned widely. "It seems Aura turned out to protect the old man wolf, Hayborn, when the Aurors had his shack surrounded. One Auror was bitten and turned, the one Weasley's bunch were following. So, let us go and see what Aura has to say for himself. Take your apparation coordinates from me."

All twenty winked out, including Gorum.

~~*~~

"It's at times like these that I wish Alastor was still alive," Ron sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "I never was very good at threats."

"Ah the good old days when torture and intimidation were the tools of trade, and the word 'Auror' struck as much terror as the words 'Death Eater' in the hearts of Wizard-Kind. Would you really want to go back to that sort of life?"

"No! Definitely not, but I would really like to know how to get information out of a person who is immune to veritaserum by conditioning and training and is also a werewolf, with their built in resistance to magic."

Potions Honorarium Laura DiBilliot smiled her commiseration at her colleague and patted his shoulder. "I've given you everything I have and that includes the new variant that Professor Snape was playing with. If that doesn't work then I'm sorry but the Potions division is out of ideas."

"So far all he has told us is that Murphy was in on the murder and black marketing of the werewolf parts, also the other non-humans. He said it was all Murphy's idea and that he had only gone along because he needed the money. When I asked who Mr White was, he started to say something and then his damned training kicked in and he shook his head. If I had the luxury of time, I would just keep hammering at him until he gave in through sheer lack of sleep but that moon is going to rise in about four hours and then he will change and so will our other top suspect and then we will have to start again. That is so down-heartening."

"Oh, bear up Ronald, at least the cells are werewolf proof, courtesy of the Ministry. And that reminds me, what has the Ministry to say about the situation?"

"Lots, I should imagine, if they had any idea of what is happening, but they don't at this point, and I - for one - am not about to tell them. How would we look if they knew that gangs of wild werewolves are roaming about the countryside looking for missing people, while we are here in HQ trying to get one of our own - who has been Turned - to confess he has kidnapped his own boss."

"Humm, that would be kind of hard to explain or justify, now wouldn't it? Good luck Ron, I'll talk to you later."

~~*~~

"Well, young ladies, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Professor Grubbly-Plank demanded of the two girls whom she had cornered in the owlery, instead of being in class.

Mary opened her mouth to reply but Andy beat her to it with a deep sigh. "Professor, how close are the Aurors to finding Mary's dad? And - please be perfectly honest with yourself here - if they haven't found Auror Shacklebolt, how much effort are they going to put into finding a lost animal like Professor Lupin?" The bitterness in her tone was not feigned and cut all rote replies out of Wilhemina Grubbly-Plank.

"I take your point, but that still doesn't tell me why you two are skulking in the owlery when it is class time."

"Professor Flitwick made me some charmed parchment this morning. Half is a locator and the other half is a finder. We have each written a letter to our respective kidnap victims. The owls will always deliver a letter if the recipient is alive, no matter where he is. That's part of the charm on post owls. Once they deliver then the location appears on this paper and we will know where the men are, do you see? The problem is we have to send the letters now, or we will not get to the Alpha before moonrise. We've been trying to get away all day but the professors all seem to be keeping an eye on us, so we need your help. Please help us find our Alpha!" The girl almost sank to her knees, but thought that might take overacting to a new height.

"Ah, that explains that, then. Well, I wouldn't use that owl; she's a lazy flyer and will take her own sweet time to get anywhere. Here use Hera and Diana, they're good fliers, determined and reliable, and most of all fast."

"Oh thank you, Professor Grubbly-Plank, thank you." Mary almost did cry as she flung her arms around the portly professor and kissed her cheek.

"Away with you, you silly girls; and if you have to go out of the castle, use the tunnel under the Shrieking Shack. But I didn't tell you that, alright."

Andy bowed to her as they both hurried away, clutching their parchment tightly.

"Oh, and girls, put the parchment somewhere away from you, or it just might get confiscated," Wilhemina called quietly as they ran down the stairs.

The warning was good. As soon as Transfigurations was over, Professor McGonagall confiscated all of Andy and Malcolm's, Lisa, Rose and Porter's sheets of parchment, without reason or exception. Grumbling and angry, they passed over the sheets as ordered and stormed off to their next class, where they had to borrow sheets from classmates. Even worse, they were relieved of all their parchment again. When they met Mary Shacklebolt in the common room she was equally indignant at being stripped of her parchment too, including her friends. Paul and Charlie were equally puzzled as they too had been denuded of parchment, but they were quite pleased as they couldn't do their homework.

Andy shook her head and muttered about the lack of trust the professors showed in them and how dare they treat them in such a fashion. The grumbling continued right through dinner where a very conspicuous head count was taken of all the Gryffindors and all were found present and accounted for. Before dinner finished, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and tinkled his knife against his goblet for attention.

"It has come to our attention that a number of you have made some very dangerous plans to mount a gallant rescue of Professor Lupin and Auror Inspector Shacklebolt. While I can only applaud your wish to assist the unfortunates, I cannot condone any student of this school being involved in such a dangerous enterprise. Therefore I must ask the prefects to escort everyone to their dormitories and make sure no-one leaves their common room for any reason at all. There will be no detentions served tonight. Teachers will be patrolling the corridors to make sure you are all safe and, as it is a Moon Night, the Hogwarts pack will be escorted to the Pack Hall by Professor McGonagall, who will make sure they are well locked in before she leaves. That is all. Prefects, take your Houses back to their common rooms."

"You know Albus, I can't help feeling we are being played for fools again, can you?" Minerva McGonagall said flatly as the school filed out amid cries of 'no fair' and 'no detention, yeah!' Only the Gryffindors looked slightly downcast, the pack shaking their head and muttering amongst themselves.

"I can't think of any further precautions we can take. I have allowed you to confiscate all the parchment. I have conceded to a forced lock-down of the Houses, all Houses, just in case. What more do you want me to do?" Albus asked kindly.

"I would suggest confiscating their wands, Albus, but I know you would never agree to that!"

"I should think not!" Albus was truly shocked by the suggestion. "They are not criminals, they are children, and if it ever comes to the taking of wands, it will be over my dead body."

Minerva bowed her head and sighed. "I know, I know, but I remember the Gryffindor Trio's antics all too well. Now we have the Hogwarts Pack which is led by Miss Path, who is just as headstrong and wild as Harry ever was, if not worse! Filius said she was almost manic this morning, and the rest of the teachers say the same about the other three."

"No Wolfsbane potion, that's all."

"I can't remember Remus being so manic," Minerva sniffed indignantly.

"I don't think Remus has had a manic day in his life." Albus chuckled, the twinkle restored to his eyes. "Come, my dear, we have done all we can, we must now trust in our students to do the right thing."

~~*~~

The old house on the hill was grim and dark as the werewolf contingent surrounded it. Snape stayed in the background as the ghost-like figures slid between patches of shadow, advancing on the building. He was amazed at how silent they were and how coordinated they seemed to be. Chris made a small gesture with her hand and someone leaped from the ground to the balcony on the first floor, twelve feet in the air. There was the muffled tinkle of glass, a small gesture and the rest of the contingent swarmed over the house. Gorum came loping back and tugged on Chris' hand to hurry her forward, Snape bringing up the rear. He didn't like the look on the simple werewolf's face as he entered the doorway and smelled the coppery scent of blood.

"Oh Merlin, that's bad so close to Moon," Chris groaned but licked her lips at the same time, making Snape hiss a chuckle.

"Or very, very good," he tormented as he followed the werewolf leader into the kitchen. "It's very bad, isn't it?"

Chris nodded. She didn't need Tracker to tell her it was Remus' blood on the floor and the walls, even the ceiling. The splatter patterns told their own story of blows and lashes, a bloodied iron bar discarded in the corner. Even Matilda, the optimist, shook her head and squeezed Snape's shoulder as she pushed out of the room.

"It's an evil place," Tracker managed to say, holding his nose pinched between finger and thumb. "The stench of blood and excitement, urine and terror is vile. I think he's dead Alpha Prime, I think the Beta Prime is dead."

"Thank you Tracker, you had better go now. Have you somewhere to spend Moon? Take the others and go to Cardoul. Take Gorum with you, I'll join you soon."

As they left, they paid their respects to Snape who stood unmoving in the centre of the blood puddle. "You had better go too, Ms Edmunds," he said flatly as the last of the contingent left. "The moon will be up in another couple of hours and I have to get back to Hogwarts. I am absent without leave after all."

"After Moon we'll continue the search for his body, if you like," she offered as she tried to draw him away from the bloodied rags of clothing that littered the floor.

"I will leave soon," he assured her and waited until she apparated out before he began a meticulous search of the room and the ragged remains of Remus' clothes. He found a torn manuscript of music and wrapper from a chocolate frog which nearly brought him undone. When he came upon a very familiar wand, broken in half and splintered beyond repair, he was undone, the ball of misery in his gut threatening to drown him.

Sadly, reluctantly, he pulled his emotions back together and managed to clear his head enough to apparate back to the gates of Hogwarts. The trudge up the path was the longest and hardest journey he had ever made. Fortunately he saw no one until he was almost at his own door in the dungeons.

Henry Lyde the head Slytherin prefect seemed shocked to see Snape as he turned a corner and almost mowed the young man down. The three students following him were equally shocked when they saw the blood on their professor's hands and boots. "Sir, are you hurt?" Lucille Coramandies asked in horrified surprise.

"What? No, of course not, there was just an ... unfortunate accident. It's almost curfew, don't be out too late, will you?" Snape murmured distractedly as he pushed open his door and disappeared inside.

"Now that was strange!" Henry said thoughtfully then grinned mischievously. "He didn't know about the ban, did he? Let's go, quickly now or we'll be late!"