A/N: This chapter was also written for the HPFC Inspiration Strikes challenge, round 5. (The non-Dir-en-Grey quote before the chapter title was the ISC prompt.)

~ Dum Spiro Spero ~

If I were to foolishly raise the voice of fear, then somewhere...
Dreams will be ablaze and living will be out of reach.
Prey.
Adore.
-Dir en Grey, "Amon"

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret." - Ambrose Bierce

- Track 4: Amon -

"What happened to your face?" Alecto asked in a taunting tone.

Greyback, choosing to ignore the fact that she meant to provoke him, idly rubbed the back of his hand against the slash marks on his cheek as he replied, "It's been a long time since we had a feral female in the pack."

Alecto scowled disapprovingly.

"You say that like it's a good thing."

"Oh, I'm having fun trying to tame her," Greyback said, licking blood from his hand. The lacerations on his face had yet to completely scab over, continually cracking open whenever he talked.

"You're not planning to mate with her, are you?" Alecto asked, distaste dripping from every syllable.

"So what if I am?" he returned. While he was utterly unconcerned with matters of blood purity, he was curious as to why the dark witch would inquire about his sexual intentions toward the newest member of his pack.

"She used to be a muggle!" Alecto spat.

"Again, so what?" Greyback replied, quirking an eyebrow. "She's a werewolf now. And I'm the alpha of my pack."

"But... you..." the witch sputtered, seemingly having lost the ability to form a coherent sentence in her rage.

"I can do magic, which means I used to be a wizard," Greyback recited in a bored tone. "So you don't know why I would mate with a creature that used to be a muggle." He threw the term Alecto had used back at her as if he resented that she'd used a word usually reserved for animals rather than one she would use when speaking of interactions between humans. When she failed to reply, he went on, "Do you even know what my blood status was before I was turned? No, of course you don't... and I don't need any damn mind-magic to know that you're thinking I was maybe, maybe, a half-blood - but probably a mudblood." He paused to note her expression but did not give her time to speak. "I was a pureblood, Alecto, one of your precious purebloods! Greyback isn't my real name, not the one I was born with anyway, and fuck if I even remember what my first name used to be. I didn't care then and I don't care now, I did - and will - fuck whoever I want and, yes, that's how I got myself bitten in the first place. So just fuck off out of my personal life, alright?!"

He was out of breath after his tirade, chest heaving, blood flowing freely down the side of his face where Petunia had raked him with her claws.

Alecto stared at him for a few long moments, and when it seemed that he was not going to start up again, she swallowed and put forth tentatively, "Which family...?"

"Fuck, is that bullshit really all you care about?" he snarled, turning away from her to slam his fist against the wall.

Plaster rained down on them from the ceiling and Alecto flinched.

"You know the cause is important to me. I wouldn't have joined the Death Eaters if it weren't," she said softly, struggling to keep her tone even. She knew the werewolf was volatile, but she had never truly been afraid of him before. This conversation had taken a dangerous turn but she was determined to see it through. And after his revelation, she couldn't just walk away from this without knowing. "Which family?" she repeated.

"Not yours," he said with a bark of humorless laughter. He paused, long enough to let her wonder whether he was going to actually give a real answer or not, enjoying watching her squirm, before he finally told her: "Greengrass."

Greyback shook the plaster dust from his hair and took a half-hearted swipe at the mess of blood and dust on his cheek, before turning his back on Alecto and stalking off down the hall.

And she was tempted, oh-so-tempted, to shoot a curse at his retreating back. Because, really, how dare he turn his back on her, as if she were no threat? But, if he truly didn't care about the things he said he did not care about... then, if she provoked him further, what was to stop him from biting her?

~ end of track 4 ~

A/N: I know, I know... Petunia wasn't really the focus of this chapter. But now you know what happened to her after track 1!

Reviews are always appreciated.