The wizard village of Tenvy was neither large nor busy. The shops and offices that made up the "village"were contained mostly to three or four streets. The surrounding area was predominately farmland, as the people of Tenvy were predominately farmers. The small houses and barns that dotted the landscape were old, having been passed down from one generation to the next, and the winding paths that connected them seemed just as old and worn. The families who owned the houses were much the same in that they had been there for as long as anyone could remember. People just didn't seem to leave Tenvy, and as Carmen Cabott walked up to the town square, she had a hard time understanding why. Tenvy was peaceful, but unbearably dull. As she took the same route she did every morning, up gravel roads that gradually turned to faded cobblestone and through open fields that gradually turned to cramped streets, Carmen saw no one remotely her own age. Heck, Carmen wasn't sure she saw anyone under 30. It wasn't that she minded, she got along with the older crowd just fine; but it would be nice to gaze upon a fresh face every once and a while. Carmen supposed It wouldn't matter soon anyways, in a few short weeks' school would begin again and her time in Tenvy would be over.

Spending the summer with her ageing aunt and working under the local Ministry Advisor was admittedly not her first choice on how to spend her summer holiday, but she had eventually relented to her parent's wishes. Her father, an Advisor himself, carried on about how she "really should take up Mr. Conce's offer," and "what a wonderful opportunity to get incorporated into the Ministry!" ever since his coworker, Mr. Conce, suggested during Christmas that Carmen come intern for him. Her father's zeal for her to work in the Ministry, coupled with the fact that Carmen's mother had family in the county Conce was head of, led to Carmen's eventual acceptance of the internship. Carmen supposed it was actually a good experience for her. With her next year at Hogwarts being her last, Carmen needed to start looking to her future, and an internship with a Ministry official would look good on any resume.

Carmen worked her way up Main Street, stopping at an aged door looking out into the town square. She pulled a key from her robe and, once unlocking the door, stepped inside. Carmen was met with a cramped, yet organized, room. Filing cabinets lined the walls, and a few desks were scattered about the space. Mr. Conce's office was where most of the paperwork of Tenvy ended up. Birth certificates, marriage licenses, broom-receipts; they all eventually found their way to 502 Main Street to be labeled, copied, and filed away. As Ministry Advisor, Mr. Conce was sometimes out attending town meetings or running to the Ministry with various reports. As was usually the case however, Mr. Conce could be found at the local pub drinking the day away. Not that Carmen could blame the man, she may not promote alcoholism; but Tenvy didn't really need true "Ministry Advising" because nothing ever seemed to happen. Mr. Conce's frequent absences however, left Carmen to deal with the paperwork day-in and day-out. Thankfully, Carmen's recent 17th birthday made the process a lot easier, as she could now legally use magic to help. Pulling out her wand, Carmen lit the lamps on the ceiling, and set to work. Label, code, stack, file, label, code, stack, file…

Carmen was munching on a sandwich in one hand and reading Witch Weekly in the other when the bell over the front door jingled. Looking up from behind her desk Carmen saw Mr. Conce waddling towards her, a thick stack of parchment in his hand.

"'Afternoon Carmen," he greeted, his normally friendly face slightly pinched.

"Hello Mr. Conce," Carmen set down her lunch "what is that you've got there?" she nodded to the papers. Mr. Conce sighed.

"Well, I was just owled by Randolph up in the wand-regulation department. He has found a little coding issue,"

Carmen's brow furrowed

"What does that mean for us?" she asked

"It means that every wand purchase within the last year has been filed wrong, I'm afraid,"

Carmen allowed herself a groan.

"Are you serious?"

"I know, I know, but would you be a dear and go through them?"

Carmen most certainly did not want to "be a dear and go through them," but she was the intern, after all. Besides, she liked Mr. Conce.

Carmen rolled her eyes, a small grin on her lips

"I will, but you don't pay me enough for this," she took the papers from him.

"Thank you," Mr. Conce said, looking relieved "and if I recall I don't pay you at all,"

"My point exactly,"

Mr. Conce chuckled, and turning to leave, waved a hand behind him. With another jingle jingle of the doorbell, he was gone. Carmen didn't bother to wonder where, she had a feeling she already knew. Carmen, unlike some of her classmates, was not a fan of strong drink; but as she looked down at the new codes for the boxes upon boxes of wand-receipts behind her, a firewhiskey down at the pub with Mr. Conce didn't sound too bad. With a sigh, Carmen turned in her seat and stood to go grab the first of the files, "No, not paid enough for this at all," she thought.

For the remainder of her life Carmen Cabot would replay the events of August 2, 1987; imagining what could have gone differently. She could have put off the extra work until the next day, or she could have fallen asleep in her chair. Perhaps Mr. Conce could have decided to stop by the pub before his office, and gotten too drunk to pass along the message. Or maybe Randolph up in wand reg. could have done the coding correctly the first time, and Carmen would have been asleep at her aunt's by night fall.

But that didn't happen, and by the time Carmen finished her work it was well past 1:00 in the morning. Carmen was dead on her feet. The re-filing, along with an unexpected run to the quill shop halfway through for more ink, had taken much longer than she had anticipated. She was eager to finally get some rest, maybe even call in sick to Mr. Conce the next day. It was unlikely he would even notice her absence anyhow.

Carmen closed the office, locking the door behind her, and turned to walk back to her aunt's. Once out of the small village, Carmen headed down a slightly worn path that cut through fields and winded down to the road where her aunt lived. The path was occasionally used by pedestrians like herself who wanted a short cut from town to their homes further down the valley. The walk way was ill-defined in the grass, but the moon provided Carmen with just enough light for her to distinguish it. Other than the thudding of her footsteps on the ground the summer night was silent, an occasional breeze making the trees around her sway. While exhaustion made her eyes heavy, she couldn't help but appreciate the view. The path sloped downward into the valley, snaking over open farmland and past old stone walls dividing one pasture from another. From her vantage point at the top of the path she could look out across the fields and clusters of trees, down to where small dots of light flickered in the distance. The lights, Carmen knew, were in fact the lamps of the cottages and barns in the distance.

Carmen wasn't quite halfway down the valley when she felt sharp pricks of pain in her shoulders, and she was suddenly yanked backwards. She hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of her. In the few moments it took for her to regain control of her breathing, the stars she was staring up at were blocked out by a dark mass, two yellow orbs in its center. A deep rumbling sound filled the air, and the darkness darted to her left. Pain blossomed from her arm causing Carmen to try to jump to her feet to get away, but the mass on her chest was too heavy, and she could only kick her legs. This seemed to upset the creature, and it latched itself more securely onto Carmen's arm, making her cry out. The creature began dragging her off the path and into the grass, but with one well-placed kick her leg collided with its side. Carmen's arm was released and the rumbling turned into a snarl.

The few feet the creature had dragged her had brought her out from under a row of trees and into the open, and by the time the creature moved onto her leg the moonlight illuminated its dark features. Looking down Carmen could clearly see the form of what could only be a werewolf sinking its teeth into her calf. Any sense of sobriety or bravery Carmen previously had disappeared, and she was sent into a blind panic as realization set in. Her heart roaring in her ears, she threw back her arms to try to find purchase in the grass, only stopping when she looked over her left shoulder to find her arm shredded. The sight made her stomach lurch; the lack of pain could only have been attributed to shock. The same could not be said for her leg, however, which felt as if it were on fire. Spinning her head around, Carmen was met with the wolf dropping her gnawed leg and pouncing on her chest, its claws digging into her sides. One moment she was staring straight into the wolf's face, the next she was looking down the beast's neck and chest. Sharp teeth made quick work of her left cheek, nose and ear. She opened her mouth in a scream, but it quickly turned into a gargle as blood flowed from her face and down her throat. The wolf's maw seemed huge, and it easily took the side of Carmen's face into its mouth and bit down, a loud snap sounding out when her jawbone gave way. Carmen's thoughts became sluggish soon after, her limbs felt heavy and weak. She was only vaguely aware of unbelievable pain and her body being jerked this way and that, not unlike she was being ripped apart. As her consciousness quickly slipped the last thing Carmen noticed was her arm being picked up again, and then all sensation disappearing below the elbow. She welcomed the darkness as it took her.