A Solemn Hunting is in Hand

Draco and Lucius set trap in Forest. Snape and Cobbleshot in danger. Can't find anyone. Gone after.

Hurry.

~Harry

Remus wasn't aware of dropping the note and didn't immediately understand why he was being helped to a chair. Trap. Danger. Gone after. Though he no longer held the parchment, he still saw the words. They seemed to be tattooed on his retinas.

When they had arrived, the first thing Remus spied was his own cardigan laid out on Albus' desk. It was shredded and barely recognizable. He hadn't understood what it meant, but the dread it inspired crescendoed when, with only a solemn expression, the Headmaster handed him Harry's letter.

"...which is why we must go immediately to Malfoy Manor and...Remus? I understand it is a shock, but I need you to be present now," Dumbledore told him, kind but firm. "For Harry's sake."

For Harry's sake.

He was alive, as far as they knew. Hagrid was lost to them, but they had only found Harry's sweater...Remus' sweater which Harry had been wearing. That mental image broke the werewolf. He was surprised the young man hadn't burned the thing after Remus' betrayal. But he hadn't. He'd kept it and had worn it, and now it was the only piece of him they had.

"I'm sorry, Albus," Remus stammered faintly as the room around him rematerialized. Was that his heart? It was so hard to hear over its pounding. "I'm listening. Go on."

Albus cast a worried glance to Poppy but quickly moved on. "Lucius is being interrogated by Kingsley as we speak, but I'm told not to expect much from that quarter," Albus muttered ruefully. "Narcissa is at St. Mungo's at Draco's bedside and cannot assist. She is not uncooperative, exactly, but she is not especially sympathetic, either, as Lucius tells us that their son's condition is Harry's doing. She has given me the keys to the Manor with permission to search but little else."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Remus asked, rising too quickly. His head was still swimming. But he had to move. The need to find his ward was overwhelming. The last words they spoke to one another could not be the last words they ever spoke. Remus could not even conceive of it. He would bring Harry home if it was the last thing he ever did.

Remus turned toward the door but Albus caught him by the arm. Remus started to object, but suddenly they were apparating, and Remus found himself standing on the manicured gravel path before the main gates of Malfoy Manor. All around them, other Order members were materializing, anxiety and determination showing in their expressions in equal measure.

"The locator spell I devised succeeded in leading us to the clearing where we found your cardigan, but Lucius had gone before we arrived, and the wards on the estate prevent the spell's usage on the grounds, unfortunately," Albus said.

Remus was unfamiliar with the spell Albus was referring to. "So how do we know he's even here?"

"The spell also lead us to a secret entrance at the property's boundary, where you and I are going now. He was here recently, else the spell would not have picked up his passage. Where Lucius took them from there, we do not know. The grounds are ancient and extensive. There's no knowing what secrets they hold. Severus would have been able to provide much insight into the matter, but he is not available for consultation. Though, let us hope he is at Harry's side. The young man could hardly hope for a more formidable champion. In his absence, well, we have to start somewhere and brace ourselves for whatever we may find on the way. The secret entrance is the only lead we have at the moment."

It seemed to Remus that Severus was the one who lead the young man into danger in the first place, however inadvertently. But Remus was too worried for Harry's safety to bristle at Albus' talk of vampiric bodyguards. He nodded his understanding. He was ready. He was willing to tear the estate apart stone by stone if he had to, though he had a feeling a more efficient method would be imperative.

"Nymphadora," Albus called. The Auror was close at hand and was at his side immediately. "I'm going to let you and the others through the gates. Arrange search parties. Communicate any discoveries by flare. Remus and I will concentrate on the West side of the estate. Make plans to cover the rest. I'd like you and a couple of the others to search the Manor house. All of you, be on your guard. The estate will undoubtedly be hostile to interlopers."

Tonks nodded, looking as eager and as terrified as Remus, and did as she was bid, immediately ordering the others into action. As soon as they were through the wrought iron barrier, Albus reached again for Remus' arm and apparated them to a hole in the deep perimeter hedge. The gates they'd just left were nowhere in sight. "The spell lead us here," Dumbledore said, considering the yawning darkness before them. The early morning light was obscured by murky clouds, and the meager illumination extended only a few inches into the opening. "I've already disarmed the perimeter wards here. Regrettably, the spells permeating the grounds are less easily placated," the Headmaster explained, not waiting for Remus to answer before plunging into the passage. The werewolf followed close at his heels, his pains from the night before all but forgotten.

It was not a straight tunnel through the shrub, which was only about ten feet wide but dense enough to be impenetrable. The way turned and wound its way under branches and around trunks along the length of the hedge. The air was close. As was the Full. Remus' faculties were still sharper than usual. He didn't believe he was just being wishful in thinking he smelled Harry here. Remus opened his senses, taking in the heavy scents around him. Woven around and between the pungency of bark and the musk of dark, waxy leaves was a multitude of human smells: Blood and panicked sweat, the funk of unwashed hair and the acrid bite of spilled Mut. The spicy spike of a potions cupboard and the musty notes of robes marinated in dungeon air accompanied the cold notes of vampiric infection. And there, below it all, were remnants of a cologne reminiscent of suede and Harry's even more alluring personal perfume. Dumbledore pulled away slightly as Remus followed it to a piece of torn fabric clinging to a low, grasping branch. With both hope and sorrow, Remus plucked it off and brought it to his nose. It was undoubtedly Harry's. Remus jogged forward to show it to the Headmaster, who simply nodded solemnly and fought on through the foliage.

"Albus. What spell did you use to find this passage? How does it work?"

"One of my own devising," Albus answered distractedly, "and one that, perhaps, was not quite ready for employment. It is woefully limited. It balks at the flimsiest of wards. With more time, perhaps I could have developed something stronger, but I'd never imagined I'd be needing it so soon."

"But how did it lead you here?" Remus asked, sniffing the fabric he held, an idea forming in his mind. Albus answered, though a bit impatiently.

"It creates a visible trail, like luminous smoke, leading the caster to the sought after person. I'd written a similar spell for objects, but found it consistently unsuccessful. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is actually easier to locate a person than it is an inanimate thing. A wizard's living magical signature is far stronger than the residual essence of an object. Still, it might have taken far longer to locate Harry's possible whereabouts if not for the note he'd left. After finding nothing in the forest, I came to the gates of Malfoy Manor and cast again, quickly finding this passage. Ah. Here we are," Albus concluded, emerging from the labyrinth and into the open air of the estate's grounds.

Remus was slightly disheartened to realize Harry's scent was much harder to discern with the stirring of the breeze. It wouldn't matter for long, however.

"So the spell sniffed them out?" Remus summarized, attempting to get his bearings. The Manor house lay discouragingly far to their right. He had no idea how large the estate actually was, but he guessed it to be dauntingly so. To a man used to such limited property, it really seemed gratuitous.

"Essentially," Albus answered, surveying the grounds. "But it is of no use here, as I've said. We must work out some other way to search. Though, there seems woefully little here to indicate a possible destination." There were no paths and no nearby structures, only the Manor house on the right and, equally far away on the left, what Remus supposed was a cemetery. He thought he could discern winged statues guarding boxy structures. Directly before them were acres of woods, and there was no telling what was hidden in their depths. Remus was not nearly so disappointed as his companion, however.

"What if we didn't need the spell?" he said, his resolve cementing itself. There was too much ground to cover and too few of them to search it systematically. "What if we could sniff them out another way?" he asked, worrying the fabric in his fingers and bringing it to his nose.

Albus' eyes abruptly ceased scanning their surroundings and cut sharply to Remus. He regarded him for a long moment before answering, his voice harder than usual. "You think that wise?" It had the same disapproving tone Remus had heard when he'd confessed to the man several days before in his office, and it shook Remus' confidence. He dearly hoped the damage to their relationship wasn't permanent.

"I've done it before," Remus argued gently, though the doubt the Headmaster had inspired was evident in his voice.

"The moon has barely set, it's influence is still strong," Albus contended brusquely.

"I wouldn't go all the way," Remus promised, prepared to beg if necessary. "Besides, what choice do we have, Albus?" he added in a frantic whisper.

He understood the Headmaster's concern. The moon was a mistress who dealt only in extremes, and partial transformations were difficult to maintain. If he took it too far, he'd be unable to hold it in check. But he'd be doing it with the Headmaster's blessing or no. His only anxiety was that Albus knew spells to revert him. Nothing could overpower the influence of direct moonlight, but now that she'd set, a wizard with sufficient power and knowledge could pluck the man from the beast like a mother taking a tot by the ear.

The Headmaster considered the question for so long, Remus was tempted to take his chances and bolt, transforming as he went. It would make the process more difficult to control. He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but…

"You're certain you can contain it?" Albus asked, softening. Perhaps he'd taken in the sheer magnitude of the grounds and calculated their odds. Perhaps he'd taken in the determination in Remus' expression and accepted he'd not sway him. Mostly likely, it was a bit of both.

"Of course I am," Remus answered immediately, relieved. "And you're my safeguard besides."

"I doubt I can keep up," Albus fretted. "Alright. But if you find something, you must stop and wait for me, is that understood?" he added, clearly disliking their plan.

Remus nodded, already reaching for the beast. He hadn't done such a thing since he'd challenged Blodman Ironpelt for Alpha, what seemed like a lifetime ago, though he'd practiced the skill a handful of times before then. As always, it felt simultaneously unnatural and innate. Though excruciating, the pain was familiar. It seemed to cajole him to loosen his grip, to let it have its head and carry them at a gallop toward total transformation. But Remus' will was strong enough to ignore its wiles.

He felt his fingers lengthen and curl. His claws itched to break the skin, but he refused to let them. He felt his neck thicken and his jaw lengthen, but he stopped his maw's advance before he changed so far as to cost him the power of speech.

It was enough. It was all he needed.

His vision was suddenly sharp. But more importantly, the world exploded with scents, and he now had the biological equipment necessary to untangle them. His head turned sharply to the left before his mind had the opportunity to tell it to. Albus was all but forgotten. With the cloth bearing Harry's fragrance still grasped in his now monstrous hand, Remus gave himself over to the instinct to hunt.

Following the trail Lucius had left was almost effortless. It did not require conscious thought, and so Remus turned his mind to other things in order to tether him to his humanity.

He turned his mind to Harry.

If he found him alive, Remus would let nothing come between them ever again. His qualms remained persistent, but to hell with them. If Harry still wanted a relationship, Remus resolved to give it. He would allow nothing that would endanger the protections surrounding the young man until after Voldemort had been dispatched. But if Harry wanted companionship, it was his. If he wanted affection, physical or otherwise, Remus would oblige. He would have kisses and embraces. And love. Endless and unconditional. So what if the others did not understand? Albus' respect, though cherished, paled in importance to Harry's happiness, and his well-being would never be in jeopardy. Remus would do absolutely whatever was necessary to support the young man, even if it meant alienating all the rest of the world. It was a condition Remus was accustomed to, after all. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

"Just let him be alive," Remus whispered in tearful prayer as he pelted toward the cemetery. "I'll give him everything I am. Just let him be okay."