In the dream, she was wrestling with a wolf. It wasn't an ordinary wolf, however. This one was enormous, larger than a bear.

What a strange dream. Why wasn't she using magic?

Suddenly, the wolf bit her, sinking its sharp teeth in her shoulder. She cried out in pain and woke up with a start when she realised the pain was real.

As her eyes flew open, she almost expected to find the huge beast on top of her. Silly girl, it was just a dream. Well, it had been more of a nightmare. The pain, however… It had felt real, but the sensation was already fading away.

With a shock, she realised that she was not in her room. She was in… was it the infirmary, at Hogwarts? What the hell was she doing here? She had just graduated!

"Ah, Miss Kane. It's good to see you awake." A deep, calm voice called from her right.

She turned to identify the owner of the voice. "Professor Dumbledore? What happened? Why am I here?" she asked warily. She had a feeling that something was very wrong.

"You have been here for two days, Miss Kane. We were rather worried about you. Do you remember anything?"

"No, I don't," she began to say. She frowned in sudden concentration. Something had happened, something to do with her wand. No, with her brother. She huffed in frustration. "I'm sorry, it's a bit murky."

"You Apparated in Hogsmeade on Tuesday, at dawn, and demanded loudly that the owner of the Hog's Head open the door. You passed out soon afterward, however. The bartender alerted me right away and you were taken here. I went to your house at once myself, but there was nothing to be done. I'm very sorry," he said softly.

"Sorry about what?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Your family was murdered. We believe Fenrir Greyback is behind the attack."

She didn't question him. She knew he was telling the truth, because now it was coming back to her – parts of it, anyway. She remembered her brother flying across the room, his head hitting the wall and… No. Please, let her forget that. She didn't want to remember. She felt the tears stream down her cheeks and turned her head; she hated crying in front of people. She vaguely heard the Headmaster leave but by then she was sobbing too hard to care.


"Have the Aurors arrested him?" she asked a few hours later, when she had finally calmed down a little. "Greyback, I mean?" She was actually hoping they hadn't. She wanted to find the werewolf herself and make him pay for what he'd done. Her brother had been only fourteen.

"Fenrir Greyback has not been apprehended, I'm afraid. Miss Kane, we believe he was after you, personally."

"Of course he was," she cut in. "I'm Muggle-born, and Greyback's one of Voldemort's partisans, isn't he?" Voldemort had returned, and Muggle-borns were one of his favourite people to target, everyone knew that. "But why me, specifically? Or does the wolf attack at random?" She wouldn't wish this on her worst enemy, but… couldn't Greyback have attacked another Muggle-born family?

"We don't know that, yet. Nor much anything else, as a matter of fact. Are you quite sure you don't remember Apparating in Hogsmeade, or what Greyback said or did?"

"I told you, Professor, I remember very little. I know he told my brother he wasn't after him, and that he could have made it out alive." That had been just before Greyback killed Matt. After that, her recollections were hazy. She couldn't understand how she'd Apparated; she'd never learned how.

What surprised her the most, however, was that she was even alive. Being attacked by a werewolf usually meant death, and in a woman's case, it always meant that. A werewolf's bite was fatal to women. But apparently, she hadn't been bitten – or hurt in any way, it seemed, although her clothes were torn and caked with blood. Madam Pomfrey said she was as healthy as a horse. Evey couldn't make sense of it and, clearly, neither could Professor Dumbledore. As he had explained earlier, his theory was that Greyback had left her for dead. Indeed, the impressive quantity of blood found in her bedroom belonged to her. The Headmaster couldn't figure out how that was possible, nor could Madam Pomfrey – and if they couldn't, who could?

"It will probably come back to you when the shock has faded somewhat. In the meantime, you will be transferred to another secure location. You will be perfectly safe there, I assure you." He had also told her that the Daily Prophet claimed that she had perished with the rest of her family. The whole world assumed she was dead. Dumbledore thought it best that way. No one would come looking for her if they believed her dead.

"What's going to happen to me? I can't stay hidden forever, Professor." To think that a few days ago she was going to begin her life, her adult life. The world was open to her, a place full of opportunities. She already knew exactly what she wanted to do, but it wasn't the sort of job you could do while hiding in a top-secret location.

"No, of course not. It will simply be until it is safe for you out there, Miss Kane. A few weeks, maybe months. You do understand that this is for your own safety, don't you?" he asked, his blue eyes piercing hers.

"I understand," she muttered. That didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Hell, she wasn't likely to ever be happy again in any case.