So here I am, back again. At least this story's prewritten. I know where I'm going with Hufflepuff's Heir, I'm just trying to connect the current point 'd' with, say, the end point of 'm'. It will have a few DH spoilers as of now, but it should stay along my own path.
Also, special thanks to my one and only reviewer thus far: Sasia93!
Okay, enough of my blathering. Enjoy Parts III and IV.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, now would I?
An English Werewolf in America
Part III
In the Miami-Dade Coroner's Autopsy Room, Alexx was looking over the newest body to grace her cold, hard metal dissection table.
"Somebody did a number on you, didn't they?" she murmured to the boy.
"Actually, we're thinking more along the lines of a wild animal," said a voice from above. Alexx titled her head upward to see Horatio standing next to the computers, which were showing him a close-up running video of her work.
Alexx shrugged. "If this really was just a wild animal, he would have random claw and bite marks on him." She pointed to the various points of the body as she spoke. "Deep lateral lacerations to the chest, face, and upper back; tooth marks puncturing the carotid artery, resulting in arterial spray. More claw marks to the bone on the upper arms, like the man was protecting himself. Horatio, this…animal knew where best to attack this man. Almost like a human plotting a murder. This was too precise. This animal, or whatever it is, shows intelligence. Left alone, any three of these could've killed him. Two out of three, he might have survived. All three, he was dead within minutes. And it knew it."
She leaned forward and, using her tweezers, picked up a long, black hair from the underside of the man's collar. "Looks like your people missed a stray hair." She put it in a collection envelope and set it aside. "Looks like saliva got into the bite wounds; it's already disintegrated quite a bit of the tissue."
"I've got an almost brand-new team working with me. Not to mention I'm trying to get used to this job. Speed's running a DNA comparison on a sample right now." As if on cue, his phone rang. "Horatio."
"Hey, H, we've got a partial match on that hair sample Delko bagged. You won't believe what it is."
"On my way," Horatio said, flipping the phone shut.
"Don't forget the hair!" shouted Alexx.
"Wolf DNA?" said Delko skeptically. He, Calleigh and Horatio were in the conference room of the lab, currently staring in disbelief at Speedle. Only Speedle and Delko were 'originals,' the others having just been transferred in within the last three months.
"I know," said Speedle, "but I had Kayle double-check, and he confirms that the DNA is part wolf."
"What's the composition of the rest?" asked Horatio.
Speedle shook his head. "You won't believe me. I didn't believe me."
"C'mon, try us," said Calleigh.
"Human."
There was a stunned silence in the room. Horatio broke it first.
"Human?" he repeated.
Speedle seemed relieved that he was being taken seriously by his boss, at least. "Yes, but that's not even the weirdest part."
"We're CSIs, Speed, weird is what we do," said Delko.
Speedle snorted. "Yeah, but this is a fifteen on the weirdness scale, nothing like we've ever seen before. Look at this." He turned off the light and fired up the projector. It showed a normal DNA chain, its double-helix structure laid flat. "Now, that's normal human DNA, but this one…" A second DNA chain appeared flat against the first, this one from the crime scene. It was oddly-shaped-and-colored and…
"Do I see a triple-helix structure?" asked Horatio, moving closer to the projection.
"Yes," said Speedle. "Two of the helixes are human DNA, and the third we haven't identified yet. All three are coated with another residue, this one the Wolf DNA, as if it has been bound to the human DNA. It isn't passable though, at least not in genetics. It, um" – Speedle coughed – "doesn't affect the reproductive system. Whoever this is, he's both wolf and human."
"Are you suggesting," said Delko, "that we have a modern day werewolf running around Miami?"
Affronted, Speedle said, "I'm not suggesting anything, Delko. Evidence is evidence; and this evidence is telling us that there a Wolf-man in Miami. The human test came back XY, by the way," he added, seeing Calleigh about to ask him how he knew the culprit was male.
"Well, then," said Horatio. "That throws a new kink in."
Speedle nodded. "Yeah, but we can count on one thing."
"Oh, what?" asked Calleigh.
"That we have–" he checked the calendar, "–thirteen days until the next full moon. The last body like this case was recovered on a full moon, so I'm betting that if we play our cards right, we can catch the culprit in the act."
Calleigh sighed. "I'll see about finding and/or making some silver bullets then." And she left. Horatio left as well, probably to file a report.
"Why silver?" Delko asked Speedle.
"Don't you know anything about the supernatural?" he answered.
Delko shook his head. "Mom never let us have any books that weren't grounded in reality."
Speedle humped, shutting down the projector. "Man, you might wanna consider reading up on werewolves. The only thing that can kill a werewolf is silver, because it's poisonous to them." He turned on his heel and left, leaving Delko to ponder.
Part IV
"C'mon, Remus," said Tonks, dragging him in a Miami night club shortly before sunset. "It's been two weeks since we got here and we still haven't had your birthday drink. Matter of fact, you haven't had a drink since Teddy was born!"
Remus sighed, and firmly reminded her that "alcohol makes me feel even worse than I already am half of the time."
"Well, then, this can be the other half, huh?" she grinned, flipping her now long, curly red hair, still with blue highlights in it. "Please, Remus." She used her Metamorphmagus powers to make her eyes widen, giving Remus the impression of a dog giving its owner puppy-dog eyes.
He sighed. "I'm gonna regret this," he muttered.
Tonks squealed in delight and dragged him up to the bar, "One Bloody Mary for me, and my friend here will have a–"
"–Shirley Temple with a twist of lime, please," he interrupted her firmly. "I've told you, I'm not drinking anything alcoholic, Tonks."
She huffed. "Fine." A few minutes later, their drinks arrived. "To you, Remus," she said, lifting up her blood-red glass. "May you have many more memorable birthdays."
"Mm-hm," he said, sipping his drink.
Ten minutes later, Tonks was completely drunk.
"To my – hic – husband," she said, sloppily raising her drink. "The best – hic – man on this – hic – earth." She threw the drink back, half of it spilling on her clothes.
"All right, dear, you've had your fun, let's go," he urged.
"Aw, come on – hic – Remus, I'm just trying – hic – to blend in." She giggled, trying to stand up.
"Yeah, you're blended, all right," muttered Remus, doing his best to help her up.
But at that moment, Tonks's clumsiness reinforced itself. As she finally managed to stand, she slipped out of Remus's arms and knocked down a drunken man, making them both fall on the floor. He got up quickly, whereas Remus had to pick Tonks up off the floor. The man's blood-shot eyes, evidence of already too much to drink, found Remus first, with Tonks leaning on his shoulder, giggling all the while.
"You!" he slurred.
"Now, now," said Remus, backing off. It was hard to do with Tonks clinging to several key parts of his body for movement in an effort to keep herself upright. "Let's not rush into things, shall we?" he chuckled weakly.
"You will buy me another drink!" The man boomed, pointing a thin, trembling finger at Remus.
"I will not!" said Remus indignantly. "Now, if you'll excuse us–"
But the drunken man roared and charged forward. With reflexes born out of being a werewolf (perhaps the only thing Remus was grateful for), he jumped out of the way with Tonks, and the man barreled forward into another man, who had already been swaying with the effects of a full bottle of wine. This set off a chain reaction with people knocking into each other, pushing and shoving and finally beating each other up. Remus took advantage of the bar-room brawl to escape. However, halfway to the exit, he was knocked out cold by a mis-thrown beer bottle; and he slumped to the floor, Tonks passed out right next to him.
Remus woke a few hours later, with a horrific lump in the back of his head. Gingerly, he sniffed the air. Antiseptic. Bedpans. I'm in a Muggle hospital.A woman in a white outfit bustled in at that moment, confirming his theory.
"Ah, good, you're awake," the nurse said, checking his vitals. Remus ignored her, though.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You're in the Police Hospital. Don't worry, it was only temporary," she added hastily at his suddenly white expression. "Your…wife?" He nodded. "She's in her own temporary cell. You can go get her now."
"Thanks," he said, swinging his legs over. The nurse left and he got dressed. He found Tonks in a solitary cell. Her bright red hair was now a dull auburn, limply hanging on her shoulders; and the blue highlights were faded. The prison guard with him opened her door and let him in.
"Remind me never to go to another Miami Bar," she said softly. "And I thought firewhiskey packed a punch." She groaned as she stood and grabbed Remus's arm. Together, they walked out of the cell.
"I guess you've learned your lesson, then?" he asked as they passed through the main hall of the police station, their footsteps echoing. Only about six or seven officers were around, and the sky outside was dark with no moon to light it.
"Keep your voice down, it's so noisy in here!" she hissed. "And yes, I did."
Remus rolled his eyes and guided her outside. As they went through the glass doors, they bumped into a red-haired man.
"Sorry about that," said Remus.
"It's okay," said the man. His twinkling blue gaze made Remus feel like he was being x-rayed. For a fleeting second, Remus wondered if this man was related to Dumbledore.
"Lieutenant Horatio Caine," he said, sticking out his right hand.
"Remus Lupin," said Remus, grasping Lt. Caine's hand firmly. "And this is my wife, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin–"
"I hate that name and you know it, fuzzball."
"–who prefers to be called Tonks, or, if you dare, Dora."
"Glad to meet you, Tonks," said Lt. Caine, obviously amused at Tonks's drunken reaction.
"Um, Lieutenant–"
"Horatio."
Remus nodded. "Horatio. If we're on a first name basis, then call me Remus. Anyway, can you help me get her to the car?"
"Sure."
Horatio moved to Tonks's left side and between the two of them, got her buckled into the passenger seat of Remus's rented blue Honda Accord©, where she promptly passed out again.
"Thanks a lot, Horatio," said Remus, wiping his brow. "She may not look it, but she can be a dead weight when she wants to be."
"Yeah, she does appear to be one now. Where are you two from?"
"England. We're here on vacation."
"England, huh? I've heard it's a nice place, except when it rains."
Remus chuckled. "Better not go to England, then. Especially London. We get rain 300 days out of 365."
Horatio smiled. "Take care, Remus."
"You too," said Remus, getting in the driver's side, and left, remembering to buckle his seatbelt as well.
Horatio watched the odd couple leave and shook his head. "Poor man. Only in Miami, I guess." He walked into and up to the crime lab. "Any news?"
"Nothing yet," said Calleigh. She opened her mouth, then shut it again. Horatio noticed.
"Something bothering you?"
Calleigh sighed. "If this really is a werewolf, then do other creatures exist, like vampires and witches and wizards?"
Horatio shrugged. "Beats me. It would make sense though." He smiled. "Tell you what, when we capture him, you can be the one to question him."
Calleigh grinned. "Deal!"
So now the two worlds meet, albeit briefly. Tonks has a run-in at a Miami bar, Remus thinks Horatio is related to Dumbledore, and Horatio meets two Brits, one drunk. What will happen next? Well, review and you'll find out! College starts tomorrow, so no guarantee on updates, but it won't kill you to stop and review for a minute. See ya!
