Shadow hunt

A shrill scream woke Tonks the next day. It echoed through the still empty streets of Harbwr Hudol, pulling its inhabitants from their sleep.

It was five o'clock in the morning and Tonks had only slept four hours. Hastily Slowly she groped for her magic wand and lit up the small room. No sooner had she sat up than her room door flew open and Remus swept in with dishevelled hair and a wild look on his face.

"Tonks! You all right?" When he saw that she was unharmed, he calmed down visibly, but remained tense and went to the window to peer out into the courtyard.

Meanwhile, Tonks got up, she was still wearing the previous day's clothes, and reached for her boots. "What happened? Who was that screaming?" she asked Remus, who turned his back on her.

He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I do not know. Hurry up, maybe we can help."

Not a minute later, they forced their way through the crowded barroom, where confused guests in dressing gowns and pyjamas had gathered.

The square in the centre of the village was still deserted, but was filling up with wizards and witches who flocked around the source of the general confusion: A woman was kneeling on the ground, sobbing, holding a bloody bundle in her lap. Horrified, Tonks realised that it was a toddler girl lying motionless and pale in her mother's arms.

A few of the surrounding women also burst into tears and panic-strickenly pulled their children close. Many others got out their wands and looked for the cause of the danger.

"It was the wolves...she was taken by the damned wolves," sobbed the desperate mother as she huddled over her child.

Some nodded grimly and shocked at the same time, while others objected. The tumult swelled until Tonks could not hear her own words anymore.

"But it's not full moon!"

"She has no proof..."

"It's a violation of the treaty!

"That's just like them!"

"Did anyone see anything?"

"SILENCE! I said, be quiet, damn it!" A small chubby wizard, with the badge of the Ministry of Magic clearly visible displayed on his chest, stepped out of the crowd and waved his arms wildly. The noise gradually died down and the faces turned to him. Only the hoarse sobbing of the mother could still be heard.

The little wizard got himself into posture and began a little speech: "Citizens of Harbwr Hudol, a terrible injustice has been done to us. I, as the lawfully appointed chairman of the leading supervisory board of this community, will immediately inform the ministry and ask for a unit of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to take care of the case. Until then, the danger is not over! I would ask you to retire to your homes and lock the doors until further notice. Neither rash actions nor false accusations are appropriate at this time. Follow these instructions in your own interest to avoid further damage. I declare a state of emergency on Harbwr Hudol!

If his words had been intended to bring the situation under control, he had missed the mark. No sooner had the little man ended than people panicked again, helped the mother to carry her child away and loudly discussed what protective measures should be taken.

In the midst of the chaos, Remus Tonks moved to one side and whispered urgently, "It was Greyback, I know it!"

Tonks looked at him in dismay as the little wizard, in an attempt to regain control, fired a series of red sparks from his wand. Gradually, the crowd actually disintegrated and followed his orders, which he repeated in a high-pitched voice with a turkey red face.

Remus and Tonks hid between two house walls instead of returning to Y Ddraig Goch. They waited until the place emptied and then came out again with their wands drawn. A few streets away, the voice of the little man, accompanied by other wizards in ministry capes, echoed away, hurrying to order reinforcements.

"How do you know for certain it was Greyback?" whispered Tonks.

"I know him."

Tonks gasped. "So, you really were in Azkaban with him!"

"Of course not!" protested Remus furiously. "I've had the misfortune of making his acquaintance before... He's probably still around somewhere, enjoying watching the suffering he caused."

Remus walked purposefully across the marketplace. He crouched down on the spot where the mother had found her child. With his eyes narrowed, he examined the traces left behind by the gruesome murder.

Tonks was scared. The sun didn't give much light through the thick, misty cloud cover and the night fog hadn't completely disappeared from the streets yet. "Wouldn't it be better to wait for the Squad?"

"By the time they get here, he'll be gone," muttered Remus, who apparently had found a trail that led him to a narrow passage between two houses.

He was probably right. Tonks tensed her shoulders and followed him fearlessly into the dark alley.

Over several backyards they followed some barely visible bloody paw prints, which looked almost human from time to time. Apparently Greyback had turned into a werewolf and back during his escape, a thought that sent a cold shiver down Tonk's spine.

After a while their path was blocked by a high rusty fence, separating the alleys of Harbwr Hudol from a deserted Muggle shopping mall. Remus turned pale when he saw that the tracks continued beyond the fence.

Tonks stopped as if rooted to the ground. "We can't capture him out there. Too dangerous. The Statute of Wizarding Secrecy ..."

"We can't have him on the loose in a Muggle town. Imagine if someone sees him. It'd make the headlines! Not to mention he's an uncontrollable killing machine that could slaughter an entire neighborhood in half an hour. Tonks, we have to follow him!"

She understood what he was saying and nodded reluctantly. "All right, you go ahead. I'll catch you up."

She watched uneasily as Remus swung surprisingly nimble over the two metre high fence and landed on the other side. He turned to her, a bold grin on his face, when suddenly something big and hairy came out of a dark corner and pounced on him. He went down immediately, while Greyback, half man half wolf lying on top of him, grabbed at his throat.

Tonks shouted Remus' name and tried to shock Greyback through the bars. But the magical blockade that lay on the bars to protect Muggles from stray spells was so powerful that Tonks' curses fizzled out into the air without effect.

By now, Remus had overcome his surprise. He managed to crawl out from under the heavy werewolf and pulled himself up. He also fired shock spells at the beast, but the power of the curses was not enough to stop Greyback. The cornered werewolf, whose face still had something human about it, took a giant leap over Remus and raced off towards the Muggle street. Remus pursued him with his raised magic wand.

Tonks was left with her heart pounding wildly. After she failed to climb over the gate, even with a running start and artificially extended legs, she blew it up with a wave of her wand and an impatient scream. Who cared about the Statute of Secrecy!

As she looked down the street, she saw Remus and Greyback engaged in a bitter struggle. Greyback had changed back to the point where he could hold a magic wand and send curses against Remus, which he masterfully parried.

To Tonk's horror, during the duel, whole rows of dark shop windows were shattered loudly, the asphalt was blown away in places and it was only a matter of time before the first Muggles would appear to see what was going on. But before Tonks, could do anything, she saw a bright green beam of light smash into a glass front just inches away from Remus' and cause it to burst.

Greyback used unforgivable curses! The anger over this and an indomitable fear for Remus turned Tonnks into a Fury. With the help of a spell she tore a heavy park bench from its anchorage and hurled it at Greyback. He was torn backwards and landed on its back. Tonks approached him slowly, her wand at the ready.

With tremendous force, Greyback fought his way out from under the bench. Tonks began to bombard him with curses to keep him down. At first, they seemed to work, but Greyback's weakness did not last long. He staggered to his feet and erected a strong magical shield that Tonks could not penetrate. When Greyback's face twisted into a horrible wolf's grimace before her eyes, she became frightened. All her efforts seemed to be ineffective. She needed a weapon powerful enough to defeat a werewolf like Greyback...

Suddenly, Tonks had a flash of inspiration. Praying that she hadn't lost it, she reached into her jacket pocket and actually found the small, shiny blue bottle of potion that Alastor had once given her.

She had to find a way to give Greyback the Draught of Living Death.

Standing tall, she faced the werewolf. She tried several restraining curses, but Greyback broke ropes and chains as if they were porous rubber bands. Tonks made herself as big as she could to be on the same level with him and maybe confuse him with her transformation. But Greyback was already so much wolf that the animal part of his brain outweighed the wolf, so he probably didn't wonder about anything anymore.

Once Tonks got so close to him that she was about to throw the vial down Greyback's throat, he hit her hard with his claw-proven paw. Her head was thrown to the side and warm blood ran down Tonks face, but she managed to remain on her feet.

Remus shouted her name, but she didn't pay attention to him and threw herself back on the werewolf. Since spells could do nothing, in her desperation she tried to hold Greyback down by force. But also, physically she was hopelessly inferior to him. Immediately he wrestled her down and put his knees on her clenched hands so that she could not defend herself. The vial with the Draught of Living Death burst between Tonk's fingers and shards of glass pierced her skin.

Greyback was very close to her, his poisonous fangs only inches from her throat. Tonks felt his warm, foul-smelling breath brush across her face.

Then a white flash of lightning appeared out of nowhere and hit Greyback in the back. He didn't seem seriously hurt, but at least he was in pain. Howling, he left Tonks behind and turned to the new attacker. This one, to Tonks surprise, was not Remus. A tall, broad shouldered wizard with a waving cloak stood in the middle of the road and hurled one volley of powerful curses at the werewolf after another.

Tonks couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Greyback actually put on his ears and backed off. Moments later, he jumped away, yapping angrily.

Silence fell over the destroyed row of shops. Tonks sat up groaning and rubbed her booming skull. Immediately Remus was with her and helped her get up. "Did he get you? Where?" He examined her neck frantically and only relaxed when he realised Tonks hadn't been bitten.

Remus looked pretty banged up, too. There was a bleeding laceration above his cheekbone and his left eye was almost completely swollen.

Together they limped towards the strange wizard.

A familiar musky smell wafted towards Tonks and told her who her savior was before she could even look at him properly. "Kingsley!" Tonks could not express her amazement and gratitude with words.

The giant Auror walked up to her with a stern expression and looked her in the face. Tonks could see how disappointed he was in her. How had he found her? Why was he in Cardiff? Was he checking up on her and if so, why? No matter how she turned it around, the answer always included that her mentor had got to her in one way or another. His grim look suggested just that.

Wordlessly, he grabbed Tonks by the arm and pulled her with him.