CHAPTER 13: The hunt for Greyback

Bill Weasley asked, "Kingsley, what are we going to do now? And what about these two low-lifes?"

The former Master Auror turned to look at Bill, then Ron, then turning to the two badly injured snatchers, he held up their two wands.

"Breaks every vow I ever took as an Auror, but I don't give a Merlin's toss about you two scumbags, injured or otherwise. I cannot take you in and I am certainly not going to tend to your injuries more than I have."

Regaining some bravado, Scabior sneared,

"Didn't fink you'd 'ave the bottle to try that. Go'nna have to let us go then, aintcha! Well, give us our fuckin' wands back then, you old scroat!"

Kingsley took both wands in his hands and bringing them down over his knee snapped them in clean in two. Then he threw them into the shocked face of the snatcher.

"Here you go, two wands! Now walk."

"You can't leave us like this, we're fucking knackered. We can't go anywhere in this fucking weather without wands, we're 'urting?"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

And the two snatchers dropped to the ground, stiff as boards but wide awake.

"Not hurting now, though."

Kingsley Shacklebolt and Bill Weasley looked at the younger Weasley in surprise, then Bill said,

"Nice one Ron. You beat me to it. How long you set the spell for?"

"Ah, last about four hours, I reckon. Then again, I'm shit at that that spell; could last for days! Shouldn't bother any passers-by though, they are well off the beaten track lying here. Must be 100yds or so to the nearest path."

The look of shock could be seen in the eyes of the two paralysed snatchers, the only bit of them that could show anything. Kingsley nodded at them both, then turned to the Weasleys.

"Let's be off, down the way that this pair come from. See what we can find. With a bit of luck two dead snatchers and one dead werewolf. If Greyback is dead that is well a result. Evil nasty fucker, he is. No one will mourn his passing. Let's go."

The three men were able to see the trail left by the two poleaxed snatchers through the snow. Staying with it was more of a problem though. The undergrowth was thick and although flattened somewhat by the passing of the previous two, they had come the opposite way so the trodden path was not always helpful. Progress was slow, but as the three searchers were keeping their wits about them and scanning the area with magic for any danger, particularly Greyback, and also for tracks of whoever else may have been walking through here, the slow pace they set was not such a problem. Little was said between them the best part of a mile until Ron got a hit from his wand.

"Bill, Shackles, over there, to my right. Plenty of magic used not that long ago. The area is jumping with it."

Both the others sent out their detection spells a lot further than Ron and over a wider area. Sure enough, both of them got strong detections, Kingsley's in particular.

"Well done, Ron. From here as far as I have been able to cast there is a strong magic trace. Some of the magical power used around here is huge. It all seems to be within a fairly narrow track, can't be more than 40 or 50 feet across, but I have gone out about a half mile and the track is out further than that, I reckon. You got any more, lads?"

Both the Weasleys nodded. Ron replied first.

"Yeah, on my original direction, about …. Maybe fifty/sixty feet or so. I am getting something but, pretty low signals, and they are fading. Over by that tree that looks like it's been hit by lightning. I think this is the hit I got first off, but they are really dropping away by the second."

"Bill, you got something as well?" asked the Auror.

"Yeah, maybe a couple of hundred yards out, weak but steady. A good signal. Further left than yours, Shackles. It's not moving much, but there is something out there."

Shacklebolt nodded. "Good, lads, well done both of you. Bill, you stay here, keep your wand and your eyes peeled on that detection you've got. Ron, with me. Let's go see what you've found. Keep your wand on the trace."

Sure enough, less than 25yds away, hidden by the undergrowth, within a few yards of each other, were two bodies. One crushed by a tree with an arm missing, the other sliced to pieces with his guts hanging out of what was a huge belly, right arm partly off hanging on by a bit of skin and sinew. The side of his face had been slashed wide open so deep that one eye was actually hanging out of a hole in the side of the head and face. Kingsley said,

"These two will be Guts and Stinker, I presume, although by the stink from both of them they could be twins. No surprise that Guts there got hit. By the size of him it would have been hard to miss the barrel of lard. Looks young though. Him I don't recognise but the crushed tree gent is Stinker Bagley. He's a long-term heavy that works for a couple of low-life gambling and drinking clubs down Knockturn Alley. Big knuckles with no brains. Never known him to work away from the Diagon Alley / Knockturn area before. He was used to train up other up and coming hardmen with no brains that would just follow orders, so I presume that's who Guts was. Neither one of them are major players on the criminal scene and they certainly won't be now! Merlin, whoever did this to them did a job. Torn to bits the pair of them."

Ron's face was white as a sheet, turning slightly on the green side. He has seen some serious injuries in his time travelling with Harry and Hermione, himself included when he was splinched, but nothing that was as messy or as close up as these two. Kingsley's 'torn to bits' statement was spot on. Kingsley laughed.

"Never you mind, young Ron. You will be …."

A shout came from behind them.

"Shackles, I've got movement and the magical trace has got stronger. Moving away from us at an angle to the left. Slow though, definitely not running. Slow walk at best."

Shacklebolt and Ron made their way back to him. Shackles asked'

"How far, Bill, and what line from here?

"No more than a couple of hundred yards and going off from …. See the large silver birch against the dark pine tree? Just there. Moving left and away from us."

"OK. Bill, Ron, you go straight there, keep your wands trained on the movement and follow. Don't get too close but see if you get a sighting then hold onto it. Be ready to switch to shields and attack if need be. If this is Greyback he will still be dangerous. Twice in the past I thought I had taken that bastard out, but he keeps coming back. He will not die. He is bull strong and tiger quick. Even severely injured he heals bloody fast. I will apparate ahead, see if I can get him coming towards me. I will be giving him no warnings. If I cast at him, it will be a strong disabling spell or an unforgiveable. That is the only thing that will stop him. You two make sure you get ready to move. I do not want you hit by accident, OK?"

"I have experience of Greyback, Shackles, close experience. I do not want to be that close to the git again. He turns at us, it's the killing curse, no messing about. He goes down."

"Fair enough, Bill. I am of the same mind myself. Just watch out for each other, don't get separated. Everything going well, we take this fucking werewolf down."

"POP!"

"OK, brother Ronnikins. You get ready to cast everything you have at whatever is out there. No low-powered stuff. Greyback is unaccounted for. You aim good and cast hard. I have the track so you have the defence. Let's go."

The brothers started their trek through the woods. Shacklebolt, meanwhile, had apparated some 500-odd yards roughly to the south. He immediately cast close to himself, but nothing was detected. Spreading out his "homenum magicae revelio", he got his first hit off to his right at about a 150yd range. A definite magical signature, and it was strong although moving slowly and not that steadily. He quickly spread his spell around but nothing else was picked up. Going back to his original direction, he again cast a spell but this time a much darker, sinister revealing spell, little used due to rarity and origins.

"In lupinotum pectinem revelare!" (( reveal the werewolf )) The hit was immediate, less than 120yds now. "Now I gotcha, you dog! You're mine! But let's get the back-up here." With a cast and an "expecto patronum", Shacklebolts panther patronus appeared before him, circled him, then set off to find the Weasleys.

Greyback knew he was badly injured, very badly, even for him. He only had the sight of one eye, the other completely destroyed by the stag. His nose was partly sliced off, his sense of smell all but gone. His chest was ripped open from his right nipple across to his left armpit and underneath, the skin hanging loose and muscles torn from their supporting sinews. His left arm was useless, smashed at the shoulder and dislocated. Between his legs and down his right thigh was an utter mess, bleeding heavily. The pain was excruciating. Little did he know that one testicle was completely gone and his scrotum was hanging open. His blood loss should have killed him let alone the injuries he had received. Any other animal or person would have been dead. Even other werewolves would likely have not survived, but Fenrir Greyback was not the leader of his pack for nothing. He was the most powerful and vicious werewolf alive. He had natural healing beyond the understanding of even the best Healers at St Mungo's or any other medical establishment. His blood thickened to a treacle like consistency in times of dire stress. He had been badly injured before in fights with other pack leaders or other dog werewolves who wanted to be the pack alpha male. He had never lost a fight; he had over 100 kills to his name and had turned many more humans and magicals to being werewolves. Only one person had been attacked by him and not been turned and that had always angered Greyback whenever that name was brought up: Bill Weasley! He swore that if he ever had the chance again, he would complete the job on him.

As he struggled to move through the undergrowth, he suddenly saw a bright silvery/white light ahead of him. With his limited vison he could not make out what it was, but he did at least realise that the light was nowhere near as big as the huge stag that had all but blinded, castrated and crippled him. He watched as best he could, judging the light to be a hundred or so yards away off to his right. He watched it move past him and go off north somewhere behind him. His body may have been battered and badly mauled but his werewolf instincts still were intact. He was being hunted! He stopped walking, dropping low to the ground. He would wait.

Bill and Ron Weasley saw the approaching patronus, Bill immediately recognising it as Shacklebolts. Not many witches or wizards could cast a patronus at all, let alone one as clearly defined as Shacklebolt's panther, but the fact that the Auror's patronus could pass on a message from its creator was even rarer. Maybe six living wizards had the ability to do so, one of them being a certain, black haired, spectacled 17yr old! When the silver patronus was close enough, the message from Shacklebolt was:

'Be careful. Ahead of you. Beware werewolf, 200yds. Follow. I will wait for you.'

The brothers looked at each other, then Bill nodded and said,

"Keep together, Ron, and let's do what the man said." Then to the panther, "Lead on."

Shacklebolt had not advanced any further forward but he had moved to his right, placing the signal of the hidden Greyback directly between him and the Weasleys. This also had the advantage of closing his position to no more than 70yrds or so. He knew exactly where his patronus was, so knew that the brothers were closing in from behind the werewolf.

'Right, you bastard. Let's get you cornered. That big old oak tree over there is where I want you.'

Shacklebolt fired a stunner in the direction of the hidden werewolf. Shackles knew he was to far away for the spell to have any effect, but at least it would start to flush out his prey and alert the Weasleys to the intended target. He closed on the position, firing once more. There was no movement. He was closer to 40yds now, so a third spell, this time a 'bombardia', was cast. This did the trick. A much broader aimed spell, it did not need the fine precision that the stunner did. A low growl was heard first, then the breaking of branches and someone or something dragging on the ground. Then movement as a figure surged upwards, a figure so hulkingly large it was unmistakable, but it turned around and made off in a shuffling run away from him.

"Greyback! … Bollocks! The Weasleys! … BILL, RON, COMING TOWARDS YOU …TAKE GUARD! IT'S GREYBACK!"

Both Weasley's were close enough to have heard spell-castings and then the growls and staggered running. Upon hearing the following warning shout off to their left a bit, they looked and there was Greyback lurching through the shrubbery.

Greyback too, had heard the shouts from the former Master Auror, hearing the 'Weasleys' and 'BILL' as part of it. Badly Injured as he was, his bloodlust and thirst for revenge took over, the wolf change even in daylight with no moon visible, kicking in. The werewolf change would normally happen within a few seconds, but this time was a lot slower as a result of the daytime and his injuries, but still, it was taking effect. A roar could be heard, much louder than any shout, his figure becoming bulkier and the limbs lengthening, his face distorting into a long-muzzled jaw and longer, razor sharp fangs and teeth. His hair became coarse, thicker and all over his body. His back could be seen arching over and the spine and muscles thickening. The change also had the effect of relocating his dislocated left shoulder back into position and with the muscles strengthening, supporting the shoulder. He was still hampered badly by his injuries, but the thickened blood had all but stopped any more blood loss and his high anger and lust for battle cancelled out the pain. He was not done for yet!

The Weasleys could see Greyback change into the loathed, feared, vicious werewolf. Bill knew from experience that simple, straightforward spells, even at a decent power level, were never going to be enough to stop the creature. Power was required with strong disabling spells or unforgiveables and only one unforgiveable would work on Greyback.

"Ron. Pour it on, everything you have got. Don't let him get to us."

The two brothers did indeed pour it on. Between them, an uninterrupted flow of powerful spells were sent at the charging werewolf.

"Stupify!" "Reducto!" "Impedimenta!" "Diffindo!" "Confringo!". Some of the spells connected, but the less than usually agile werewolf still managed to dodge and weave enough that many passed him buy or were blocked by trees and bushes. Still the werewolf came on, charging through spells, but it was obvious he was weakening. He was only some 20ft away when Ron cast a powerful spell, one he remembered Harry using, with all the magical power he could muster.

"BOMBARDIA MAXIMA!"

The blue/green spell hit the ground immediately in front of Greyback and exploded with a mighty roar. The ground, shrubs, bushes and Greyback flew high into the air, 20/30 feet.

"REDUCTO MAXIMA!" suddenly came from the other direction, Kingsley sending a highly powerful breaking and disintegrating curse into the werewolf's body.

"BOOM"! and the evil werewolf that was Fenrir Greyback was no more, blowing apart into countless pieces.

The sudden silence in the woodland was strange to their ringing ears, then, as their hearing returned, gradually they heard the squawking and chirping of disturbed birds.

Looking around them, they saw the bloody pieces of detritus that had been the werewolf. A grimace came across the face of Ron Weasley as he said,

"Merlin! That bloody werewolf couldn't half take some punishment. We must have hit him with at least half a dozen strong spells but he just kept coming on."

Shacklebolt replied, "Using the bombardia spell in front of him was good thinking Ron. Disrupted his charge and gave me time to line him up. Well done."

"Thank Harry and Hermione for that. I didn't realise I knew most of this stuff. Some of Hermione's nagging, her genius and Harry's on the hoof use of defensive and attacking spells must have rubbed off on me. I'm as surprised as you are!"

Bill added, "Well done yourself, Shackles. Hitting him as you did with him in the air was a great piece of spell casting. He won't be bothering anyone anymore."

Shacklebolt's dry wit finished the conversation about Greyback.

"Well, at least Greyback will finish doing some good in his life. He'll be feeding the birds for weeks!"

There was a pause in their conversation, each thinking about what had happened. Then Ron asked: "What now?"

Shacklebolt answered. "Let's get this place cleaned up as best we can. Vanish the bodies that are left and try and reduce the magical overspill. The last thing we need is a grotesque tourist attraction left behind…then, we keep searching for our missing twosome."

"Shackles, can you do that that now? It will be difficult."

"Got no choice, have we. Well, the awkward way it is. Best we get on with it."

HJP & GW