Past the dragon reservation, the woods really are as deep and dark as they appear. But of course, no mass is with complete uniformity...or, so wizardry has come to learn.

Out here, wolves howl at night. And there's a reason why there are more wolves out here than elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Deep in the Carpathians, a cave falls into the earth, like a gaping hole. Bones are strewn around it. At certain times of day, there are vultures and/or crows here. But even they dare not linger too close to the entrance...

Above the cave entrance, there's a shack. Half the time, a wizard lives here. Her harbors a deep dark secret. And it's got to do with what goes on down in that pit, over there.

In the cave, there are six cauldrons. They bubble with premature potion. Even so, it doesn't seem to harm its victims. Its victims have already been harmed...once, and it didn't even take their attackers that much effort.

In each cauldron, a nude body rests...as if they were in a bathtub. Even so, they're not here for a bath. And if they are, it's not filth that's going to get cleansed from them. Or rather, it IS filth, to their host...in that as powered as they already are, they still lack one very important detail, that their host seems to think every wizard, and human, in the world needs.

All six of these people are humans. Or rather, they all know what it's LIKE to be human...with one possible exception...as humane as she's been, up to this point. In these cauldrons, three white men, two black girls, and a she-synthezoid, who shape-shifts, and often poses as a Chinese girl, sleep helplessly, and await forced transformation. Their host knows very well who they really are; in the Muggle world, they're known as the Avenging superheroes Captain America, Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, and Vision, respectively.

Someone enters the cave. None of them react. They can't.

Against the cave wall, a dark shadow approaches. It looks like a wolf. He heaves, and makes scary noises. His glowing green eyes cast a hue on some spots, on the wall.

In a flash, the shadow transforms...from that of a wolf, to that of a wizard with a dorsal fin of wolf fur, sharp black nails, and scars all over his body. Some of them are permanent...but only the ones where he gets hit the most often...by the dark spells of aurors who he's tangled with. A few aurors, he's even impregnated to his cause...with lycanthropy.

Meet Fenrir Greyback. He's one of the darkest werewolves of all time...if not one of the darkest wizards. He IS dark...just not as a non-bitten wizard.

In a smaller cauldron, another potion bubbles. Wolfsbane cuttings surround it.

Sore, Greyback handles the cauldron. Its hot to the touch. It scalds both his hands. He flinches...but soon gets over it. He almost throws the cauldron across the cave. But he wouldn't do that. This ritual is VERY important to him...

Hanging above the six cauldrons, a huge funnel sprouts six different spouts, on its contents' way down. Each spout hangs directly over a victimized Avenger...

Trembling, Greyback climbs a tall stepladder. He almost trips, several times, on his way up. He curses, each time. He nearly spills the anti-wolfsbane potion, each time.

At last, he's standing on the scaffolding that the stepladder leads up to. Still trembling, he makes his way to the mouth of the funnel, just beneath the scaffolding. He's a wolf, and hence a dog. And as you might expect, dogs are VERY acrophobic.

(Not to be confused with ARACHNOPHOBIA, which is an entirely different matter. And for what it's worth, Greyback has slaughtered entire armies of acromantulas...and still has sting marks on his hide, to prove it.)

Seems strange, that spiders would assemble armies. Most Muggle spiders are solitary...

At last, Greyback stands in place. He's over the funnel's mouth. At last, after many years of hunting, and getting scarred, and nearly getting killed...he's got all six Avengers right where he wants him. Only a simple movement of his arms is now required...

"Welcome to your new lives," he sneers, "Avengers of the Muggle world. Prepare to be baptized, and transfigured into better versions of you that your impotent Muggle clients would foolishly beg you not to get done to yourselves...if only they were here to protest. Don't mind if they're not." With that, Greyback hurls the potion into the funnel.

From each spout, it leaks. It makes contact with the potion in the bigger cauldrons, and sets it ablaze. One limb at a time, each Avenger is sucked into the cauldron. Vision's cauldrons make sparks, as she's sucked into hers. That makes sense; she's a synthezoid. She's got more electronics than her coworkers. All THEY'VE got is a heart and a mind that generate human levels of electricity...although Black Widow does carry stun weapons with her on the job...and Falcon and War Machine both fly with powered devices; a winged harness and an exosuit, respectively.

In the mouth of the cave, a woman's shadow appears. Greyback sees this, and struggles to get down, off the scaffolding. His mate's been known to get paranoid, whenever she sees him up here like this.

He's just barely gotten down before she arrives. She's sleepy, and clad in a lavender bra, and matching pajama bottoms.

"Sorry to bother you, Lord Alpha," Ms. Brown apologizes to her mate.

"Fear not, my love," Greyback assures her. "I was just wrapping up. How do you feel about sex?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could crawl under the shack. I think there might be a polecat under there."

Greyback bares his fang-like teeth. "Polecats! I HATE those vermin! And solitary, too..."

Ms. Brown crosses her bare arms, and stares at her man.

"But of course, it's mainly the one where they stink that's the concern, of course. Very well. Stand back, and let me show the Muggle world of Romania how a polecat SHOULD be purged from the crawl spaces of shacks!"

With that, Greyback takes off on all fours, as if unaware of his current human shape. Ms. Brown yawns, and follows her out.

"There ARE no Muggles out here," she shouts after him. "And seriously, when are you going to bring home some more squirrels? I love those things! Why do we have to have wisent so many nights?! I feel like if I had one more bite of it, I'd transfigure into a jar of pemmican!"

In her absence, steam rises from the six cauldrons. Soon, the steam has faded...and the cauldrons are quite cool.

Inside each one, a brand new wolf lies. The males have light-colored coats. The two half-human females have darker-colored coats; Scarlet Witch's is scarleter, and Black Widow's is blacker.

In Vision's cauldron, it's strange. She's become a wolf...and she constantly changes back and forth, from a synthezoidic one, to a normal-colored one. Her coat color is dark brown, with yellow trim, here and there.

Like dripping water pipes, some of the wolves barely bark in their sleep. Their noises are amplified by the empty cauldron's they're in. Soon, they'll wake. And soon, they'll be on their first hunt...with or without their bastardizer's supervision.