There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.
— Andre Gide
Remus looked at his calendar above the clean, if worn counter. The night before, he had crossed out another day, which left him on the bright red number 30. Full moon.
He sighed and lifted a Muggle style pen to cross this one off as well. His arm tingled uncomfortably and he remembered it was bathed in silver, a graduation gift from his father; he couldn't afford something like that himself. Five hours from now, just touching it would be painful. He clipped the pen back onto the nail holding up the calendar and started to clean up around his small kitchen. Anticipating the pain he would feel tonight and the exhaustion he would feel in the morning, he began his preparations.
Outside, unseen, black cloaked figures made their own preparations.
"Silver staff?"
"Check."
"Silver muzzle?"
"Check."
"Silver cuffs?"
"Check."
"Silver knife?"
"Check."
"Silver?
The pile of tools set up against the shadowy corner of the alley gave an obvious response, but the cloaked woman answered.
"Check," she held out a bar of silver and her partner nodded. With a sharp tap of the wand, she split it in two, and keeping half for herself, she pressed her wand into it. With a soothing sound, it melted then re-hardened in a thin layer as they applied it around their throats and exposed skin.
Only minutes before the moon rose, the two Death Eaters stood at the door of Remus's flat. Assuming correctly that Alohomora would be the first spell to trigger an alarm, the woman twirled her wand while noiselessly mouthing charms. With a final smooth wave, she said "Moony, I honestly swear I am up to no good". The lock clicked open welcomingly.
Once past the threshold the house turned menacing. From below them came a howl and a thud-crack loud enough to shake the pictures on the walls. A young Sirius grasped at his cracked picture frame to keep his balance while Peter tumbled into the next one. The man lifted his wand with a soft "Lumos!" but the woman extinguished the light just as fast. She pulled a Hand of Glory from her robes and led the way to the cellar door.
With another crack the door began to splinter as the werewolf on the other side hurled himself into it repeatedly. The couple backed away, but the door mended itself, wood growing over the wounds as though it were alive.
Silver staff in one hand, wand in the other, the man nodded to the woman, who jimmied the door open with the knife (werewolves cannot handle doorknobs). She wrenched the door open, threw her arm in the air and screamed "Lumos!" as the man threw a net down the stairs. The werewolf, already beginning his next charge, blinded, disoriented, and facing at least a kilo's worth of silver, didn't stand a chance.
Careful to avoid the snapping jaws, they tightened his muzzle and barely avoided his claws when cuffing his legs together. It would have been infinitely easier to use Petrificus Totalus and be done with it, but the magical defenses around the house were finely tuned to even the mild dueling hexes.
Once out of the house undetected, the dragged the werewolf into the alley, mad with pain as the silver burned off his fur and began leaving welts around his jaws and ankles. Behind the garbage bins, they stowed away their weapons and rearranged their dark scarves about their faces. One of the disadvantages of wearing silver on a full moon night is that it glows brightly enough to attract attention. More than one kidnapping had been foiled by thieves attacking the Death Eaters and making off with their defenses. One ambitious fellow had actually removed the silver coated skin by scalping. Another, equally ambitious but not as bright, had tried to take the werewolf's muzzle. He was eaten.
As Remus alternately growled and whimpered, the woman asked "Are we ready to go?"
The man nodded, "I'll just send them the signal..." snapping his wand upward, a green spark swirled into the sky "...and wait for the go sign," green sparks shot down and rearranged themselves into a grinning skull before shooting back up over Remus's flat and hanging there ominously.
"Quickly, they'll know we were here soon," he slipped a silver bracelet from her wrist, clasped her hand and twined chain around them both, and pressed it against the wolf, who whimpered. A blue flash and a Portkey pull later, all that was left in the alley was the echo of a muffled howl.
The couple stumbled and fell away from the wolf and into a circle of similarly cloaked people with wands at the ready. One reached out a hand to steady them and murmur "All right? No one hurt?" and seeing the wolf properly bound, "Well done."
The circle dissembled and moved to the next Portkey site. The three, the couple and the other Death Easter, stayed. "Were you scratched, Narcissa? Or bitten?" whispered the Death Eater.
"Malfoy" mouthed the other man, "no names"; he gestured to the woods around them, where anyone so much as 5 feet from them could be listening undetected.
"We're fine," she reassured him, then "Petrificus Totalus" to the werewolf. Between the three, they tied the paralyzed wolf to a sturdy pine with a frayed rope. Lucius tightened the knot and a few strands split. He nodded to the others "He'll break through fine. Set up the fireworks behind him, and we'll set up the shields five minutes before, once every one's out".
The Death Eaters gathered in a clearing. On a signal (more green sparks) each raised their wands to their werewolf and released them with a shower of fireworks that ended abruptly at the inner edge of the shield. The group, safely outside, listened for a few moments before disappearing quietly... quiet in contrast to the howls and screams inside.
Inside, pandemonium.
The unfortunate Muggles at the outer edges had only seconds between the sudden noise and their sudden demise. Suddenly released, the wolves fled the explosions, and maddened by the moon and their mistreatment struck out against the closest target.
At the same moment, Aurors were apparating. Tipped off by an informer, the Ministry only had about 8 minutes, the time between one Death Eater secretly disapparating to Order headquarters and the wolves being released, to summon all able duelists to the camping ground. Even so, the first to appear set up another shield inside the first, containing all the werewolves between them, but allowing humans free passage.
Ears back, nose quivering, moon calling for blood, Remus leaped to a tent, snapping the rope effortlessly, but was thrown off by another wolf. A black one, and for a moment he only felt the need to harm him, who came between himself and his prey. Striking out, he caught the black one under the jaw, righted himself, and pounced again. This time, his momentum caught them both as they tumbled into the Muggles, who were making an ill-advised escape attempt. Between the two wolves and the human under them, it was impossible to tell who was being attacked. Remus's burnt muzzle and hate made it hard to distinguish between the two bodies, human and wolf... dog he realized. The scent was suddenly familiar and broke through his single minded desire to hurt. This was a friend.
He pulled away and whimpered, then leaned forward to lick a wound on the dog's neck. The Muggle girl made use of this for a getaway, running inward through the next shield. She threw a last look back before clutching her bleeding arm and sprinting out of sight. The dog barked and wagged its tail, nipping at the wolf's heels then bounding away. Seeing Remus trot after him, he threw back his head, let out a series of sharp barks and howled. The wolf joined in, but the sound was cut off by a ray of red light as he toppled over motionless. Back lit by the moon, a canine silhouette shifted into a human form and the Auror who had cast the spell ran toward the fallen wolf.
"Sorry, Moony ol' mate" whispered the taller one, adjusting his limbs to a more comfortable position. The other looked around warily, wand hand shaking, watery eyes wide.
"Ready? We can go?" he whispered hoarsely.
The tall one nodded, added "Yeah" out loud and hugged the werewolf to his chest. "Go ahead, tell them we're coming."
"Alright," he disappeared with a snap.
Man and wolf waited in the woods for a minute... two... until a sleek silver doe appeared, "Bring him, hurry", in a woman's voice.
"Thanks, Evans", and they, too, disappeared.
The Potter's living room seemed a lot more cramped with an unconscious werewolf on the floor. Lily hovered around him healing what she could and soothing what she couldn't, Peter and James were in the cellar setting up a space that would neither allow their friend to escape nor hurt himself trying. Sirius sat on the edge of the couch with his head resting on his hands watching Lily and wishing she would hurry. He had tried to heal his own scratches, but only manages to grow some fur before she had taken his wand and made him wait.
"We'll give him some Restoring Potion in the morning, but that's all I can do. The silver burns have to heal on their own".
"Let's take him down then"
Sirius made to stand, but Lily set him back on the couch with a wave and a stern "You rest, James can take him", muttering about reckless boys and healing him over his tired protests.
Author's Note: Review. Criticism welcome. There's an epilogue on it's way.