AN: I realize that while both second gen, a daughter of Luna and Neville and Teddy would have an age gap. I worked out the math so that she's twenty one and he's twenty eight, which isn't unrealistic or creepy.
Please, read, enjoy, and review 3
Teddy Lupin paced the low ceiling-ed office as he waited for his team. After seven years of hard work and training, he was finally chief auror of the Darkest Magic unit. His first assignment with his new team began today. Thankfully he'd been able to pick mostly his mates for his team, since among those he didn't know well, and those he did, he had a bit of reputation for being arrogant and overly stubborn. Harry, his god father who'd helped raise him following the death of his dad in the war, liked to joke all he needed was a smart and equally stubborn girl to come along and kick his arse into shape. And, also thankfully, his mates were some of the best aurors in the Ministry, because this case looked to be tough. There'd been a rash of bizarre killings in Leeds, England. Werewolf killings. But the problem was they'd happened before the full moon. Werewolves weren't supposed to be transformed not on a night of a full moon. So he'd been recommended a specialist, some witch who was an expert authority on magical plants and animals. She, Ricky Thomas (Ginny and Dean's son), Greta Miltix, George O'hanna and himself were going to try and figure out just what in the bloody hell was going on. He ruffled his reddish blonde hair with one hand and it darkened as he became impatient. His door swung open.
"Wotcher, Ted!" George sauntered through the door followed by the familiar faces of his co-workers and mates, now his team. And, at the very back, a seemingly unfamiliar face. But something about the witch's features ate at his mind, like he used to know her. And then, she spoke.
"Matilda Alice, at your service." Her dreamy voice was unmistakable, as was her odd double name.
"Matilda Alice…Lovegood?" Teddy raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed, Mr. Lupin. Say! Your hair isn't turquoise." She smirked.
Of course, he thought. The daughter of Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood would be a world famous naturalist. He hadn't seen her since…Merlin. He hadn't seen her since she was twelve, at King's Cross station. It had been the end of her first year, and he'd been picking up Victoire. They were dating then. Man his life had changed since he was nineteen. Her voice broke through his thoughts.
"So, what precisely do we know about these werewolves?"
"Well, we know they're transforming not on a full moon. They seem to be out to kill, not convert. There's at least twenty. They're only attacking people in Leeds, as of now. Based on investigations we've done, they seem to be camping out in the caves in the northern most part of the Chesterfeld forest, about fifty miles south of Leeds. And we suspect the escape of Fenrir Greyback from Azkaban a week before the attacks started is the catalyst."
"Alright. Any ideas as to how they're transforming?"
"I was thinking they could be reverse engineering wolfsbane potion."
"Teddy, that's bollocks and you know it. Give me a real idea. You know lycanthropy backwards and forwards, I remember you looking it up when we were kids."
Everyone in the room stared at her. Nobody ever talked to Teddy like that, nor did they mention his fascination with lycanthropy because of his deceased father. But here was this girl, who apparently knew him, storming in, raising her barely visible eye brows and calling bollocks on Teddy Lupin.
"It's perfectly possible to reverse engineer wolfsbane. It is in no way "Bollocks.""
"It is and you know it, you smarmy, arrogant bastard! Of course you can reverse engineer it, you can do that to anything! But it won't allow a werewolf to transform at any given time, it will simply speed his transformation on a night of a full moon!"
"Did you just call me a smarmy arrogant bastard?" Teddy was aghast.
"Yes. You deserved it too. We don't need a reverse engineering. We need a biological altercation…. Wait. Did anyone here grow up near the forest?"
"Yeah" George piped up, "Used to play there every night."
"Did you play there with Muggle friends as a child?"
"Of course."
"Did you ever play in a plant and get a rash, and have a friend get one too, from the same plant, but yours was different?"
"I don't think tha…Wait! Yeah, actually. His mum said it was poison oak, but his welts were little and red. Mine were bigger, and purple. Like, eggplant purple."
"Scarsburg leaf! That's it! It biologically alters the make up of any magical plant to do the opposite of what if biologically is intended to. In other words, if you brew wolfsbane potion with wolfsbane, and add scarsburg leaf, instead of preventing transformation, it causes it, regardless of the time of month."
"And wolfsbane does grow in the forest. Makes perfect sense. But the question is, who's making all the wolves?"
"Do you have any photographs? At all?"
"Yes. One photo of two of the newer wolves, shot by a man who saw his wife killed by them." Teddy handed Matilda the photograph. She examined it closely.
"Engorgio" she murmured and waved her wand at it. The picture enlarged.
"It's Fenrir." She declared.
"How do you know?"
"All werewolves have markings, from their original transformation. When they transform someone else, they get the same mark. Fenrir Greyback has a large circular mark on his left forearm. So do both of these wolves. He's working with someone, Merlin knows who, who is making these potions, feeding some to Fenrir so he can bite and make more wolves, and then feeding more potions to the victims to force them to transform." Matilda nodded and put the photo down and looked at Teddy, who sort of gaped at her.
"You're bloody brilliant."