Taking the stairs one at a time left the cranky old elf moving at a snail's pace. He should have apparated to his master, it's what a good elf would do. However Kreacher wasn't a good ef. He was old and tired and had lived twelve years by himself with jus the demented portrait of Walburga Black for company. Hermione shook her head biting her lip to hold back a smile at what Tully would say if she was here to see how he acted. She had pleaded with Sirius to allow her to find him a new elf, but even though he despised the little beast he couldn't just kill him.

Finally reaching the top of the stairs she overheard Kreacher announce there were guests in the floo room, then disappearing from the room with a pop. Hermione shook her head. Maybe Tully was on to something.

It wasn't a minute later that the flurry of footsteps stomping down the steps echoed throughout Grimmauld place.

"Vixen!" Sirius greeted with a large smile coming right into the room and pulling her into his arms. She returned the hug holding the older man close and taking in his comforting scent.

Remus was next to approach, giving her a smaller hug but pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Hearing Sirius call her nickname Harry had sped up and slid across the floor in his socks into the room, calling out an excited "MIONE!" His smile fell when he saw she wasn't alone and he let out a pitiful groan that had Hermione rolling her eyes and the adults snickering.

"Hello to you too Potter!" Theo said from her side cheerfully, a smirk firmly on his face. He turned to the older wizards and extended his hand. "Professor Lupin, Mr. Black, a pleasure as always."

They shook his hand with no issues before turning to the other boy who was now extending his hand.

"Professor, Cousin." He greeted with a nod before turning his head towards harry. "Potter."

Harry didn't return the greeting to either. Instead he sighed and threw himself dramatically onto the chaise. His arm covering his face as he voiced his complaints.

"Hermione…" he stretched her name out. "The rules! This is a current slytherin free zone! We adjusted the rules so your to former slytherin whatever they ares could come over. But now you bring Nott and Malfoy over? Is nothing sacred to you?" He groaned.

Sirius and Remus looked a cross between amused and embarrassed at Harry's behaviour, meanwhile the two Slytherins in question just watched Hermione to take their cues from her. She didn't seem angry at his display, more like she expected it. She crossed the room and sat down on Harry's stomach making him let out a oof as the air was ejected from his lungs.

"Don't be rude Harry, it's beneath you. I needed help and knew I could turn to you, and Theo wanted to see Sirius and Remus again, he finds them funny for some reason."

The two wizards grinned and shot Theo thumbs up while Hermione just chuckled at their childishness.

"Well if that's the case why is Malfoy here?" Harry wheezed out trying to maneuver Hermione off his chest.

Malfoy shrugged while picking at his nails, the picture of boredom. "My other option was traipsing through the woods and freezing my bollocks off and ruining my boots. A few minutes spent in your company is well worth the opportunity to avoid that frozen wasteland outside." He thumbed over his shoulder at the eve falling snow seen from the window.

No one quite knew how to respond to the snarky blonde so they just waved him off and moved the group to have a seat, asking if they wanted tea.

"No, we're alright. We don't have long and honestly I'm not sure Kreacher would get it finished in time." She giggled and Sirius laughed agreeing.

"So what can we do for you lot?" Remus asked remembering this wasn't just a social call.

Hermione did her best to explain to them what she had heard from Fenrir. Both Theo and Draco had accompanied her to be able to each watch a face to see if either man seemed like they knew more than they were letting on. She didn't want to think either would hide the truth from her, but this was too important to not take the extra precautions.

She noticed Remus stiffen when she explained the relationship between Scabior and Fenrir. How he had asked to be changed so he and his son could get through the transformations together. She could tell he was bothered at the thought of a child being turned but also touched that the boy's father embraced his son and his infliction so much so that he became a wol himself. He was probably thinking of how his own father shunned him and then proceeded to encourage others to be prejudiced against what his own son was.

"What can we do to help?" This was Harry that asked and she figured it was more because the two slytherins with her had been helping her than that he was actually interested in the case.

Hermione hummed thinking of how to put her thoughts into words without offending anyone or accusing them.

"Well, I have heard that something similar to this happened in the late 70s. Werewolves going missing and turning up dead. I didn't know if you all had any information on what had happened then, and if you knew if it could be happening now too."

Sirius and Remus had a silent conversation before turning to her, a grim look on both of their faces. They didn't need to say the words aloud for her to know they knew exactly what she was talking about. A wave of nger flashed over her and she felt her eyes flash crimson as she struggled to control the animagus within. Moony must have felt her ire because Remus looked up at her quickly holding his hands up in the universal sign of hold on a minute.

"We know Hermione." He said softly to calm her. "You remember there was a period of time then that I spent with the packs. Dumbledore had sent me in to see if I could sway them to our side of the fight. That's why I wasn't there when everything happened. I had no clue until it was all too late. But there was something going on, numerous wolves just vanished. At first it was blamed on nerves, they ran off when the war started closing in on both fronts. However one of the Betas of the pack, Benny, went missing and that's when I knew it was something more sinister. After the war they found them all, it barely made the paper but I am assuming Fenrir was one of the ones to find them. It was mutilated corpses. We never got answers, it was war ya know. Both sides blamed the other. Benny slept in a tent next to mine, I always thought it could have easily been me." His somber voice finished and no longer angry and unable to handle a sad Remus, Hermione crossed the room and pulled him into her arms. He let out a content rumble that later Sirius would compare to a pur.

"What can we do to help Hermione?" Harry asked again.

She explained what the others in their group were up to. Dolohov had gone with Nott Sr. to Gringotts to his office to try to find a tracking spell they could use. Rodolphus and Lucius were looking for leads in the higher end of town as well as the alley. Seeing if anyone had seen Scabior since his disappearance. Fenrir was prowling Knockturn alley on his own, trying to pick up his scent. They knew that once they had a tracking spell it would still give them nearly a square mile to search for the missing man and they only had two days until the full moon.

"I know you all have history with Fen, and it's a rough one. But Scabior is an innocent in all of this. I have come to cae for him and his family. He hasn't gone through a change alone and I am afraid what will happen to him if he is being held captive somewhere." She spoke mainly to Sirius and Remus.

"When we have the location narrowed down I was hoping to borrow your noses." She smirked. "I figured we could split up. Cover more ground."

Sirius shared a look with the three and they all three nodded. "Let us know when and where vixen and we will be there."

Tom was sitting in his office waiting for the others' return. If there was one downfall of operating in the shadows it was that he couldn't be out with the others helping. He was growing tired of not being able to step up and be there for those who are important to him. He had been doing what he could from home, pulling out old records to try to make heads or tails of who was still around that was unfailingly loyal to Dumbledore. The list was short, and even shorter when he added in the fact they would have to be spry enough to incapacitate a werewolf, even if it was away from the full moon. He was looking over the parchment when the wards shifted letting him know the others were returning.

They filed one by one into the office. His daughter accompanied by her two friends were first. Hermione coming to kiss his cheek before she found herself a seat. Lucius and Rodolphus were next and closely behind them was Fenrir who simply crossed the room and pulled Hermione up from her seat before taking it and setting her in his lap. Tom sighed knowing normally he would have reprimanded the man for handling his daughter as such, but the gold tint of Fenrir's eyes let him know he was struggling to maintain control of the wolf. It would be logical that having Hermione around him helped to calm him, due to the fact he considered her part of his pact.

The last to arrive were Thomas Nott and Dolohov. They had a smoking map in their possession. He watched as Dolohov slowed his steps when he saw Hermione perched on Greyback's lap, but after a second he seemed to decide not to react to it as there were bigger concerns.

"We've cast the spell, we are waiting on it to finish. The map should be burned down to the general area soon." Dolohov said as he placed the map down on the coffee table and the others adjusted themselves to see where it was leading them.

There was a echoed hmm when the map burned down past the British land mass, taking Scotland with it. Most of them, having put the blame onto Dumbledore, were expecting to have the location be somewhere in the scottish wilds. This however was going to be further south. Toms brows furrowed thinking Ireland was a strange location to choose, having next to no wizarding populace as the severely religious country ran off witches centuries ago. He was shaken from his thought when Hermione let out a surprised sound and he saw Ireland had burned away from the other side, leaving a circle of ocean behind.

Fen let out a deep moan thinking this was a sign that his friend was gone. No matter the strengths of a werewolf, surviving in the frigid ocean was not one of them. Hermione reached down and grabbed his hand telling him to calm down and look. The group's eyes followed her finger and saw the small island left behind. It was very small, but there none the less.

"It is the Isle of Mann." Hermione informed them. "It's not as small as this map makes it seem. The island itself is around 220 square miles. So we will have to wait for this to narrow down further. There are over 75 thousand people living on it, and while most of them reside in the city, there is still a high chance we will run into someone." She said before pausing and tapping a finger against her lips lost in a thought.

Seeing this expression they waited for her to continue.

"Honestly there are a few interesting places on the island. It has a rich history leading back to the stone age. Nearly every civilization nearby has known about and visited the island. The ancient Romans, then the vikings, followed by both the scottish and the irish. There is a lot of history there and it wouldn't be extreme to consider some of it was probably magical. That being said there may be locations we could focus on to search."

They agreed and she summoned an encyclopedia to her as well as paper and a pen, taking notes on the area as the spell ran its course. It was fifteen minutes later when the burning stopped, leaving just the mile wide circle. Hermione swivelled on Fenrir's lap laying her paper down next to the map, cross referencing her research with what they had left.

"This could be it!" She said excitedly, tapping her finger on the paper.

Tom moved over scanning what she had written. He agreed she was on a good start, telling the others to go get ready. Hermione sent off a patronus to Remus and Sirius, letting them know when and where they could meet. Fenrir was going to retrieve Scabior's father, who asked not to be left behind. He was going to Theo and Draco with him so they could stay with Tristan while they were searching. Not that the two couldn't help, but in the group they had the least amount of experience and no extra animagus senses to help. Not to mention Draco would probably complain about dirtying his shoes and with tensions high, it was safer to send him away. Hermione asked Tully to go with them to assist, since neither boy had any experience with children either.

The snow gave with a crunch under her paws as she ran through the forest. A small scent on the air had her and Sirius barreling through the trees in this direction. The island was colder than they had been at home, it seemed the wind whipped through the glades here harder than anywhere else. Even with her thick fur she could feel the cold burrowing into her bones making them ache. She felt pity for the others who unlike Sirius and herself had to resort to warming charms to ease the cold.

Turning sharply to her left as the scent shifted she almost tripped when the ground changed and they left the heavy concentration of trees. They now were crossing over old stones in a large field. The snow around them disrupted proving someone had been through here before.

Stopping the run and letting Sirius fall to her side they each nodded at each other before slowly sniffing the area out. They had scented a worn shirt before coming tonight and the scent was the strongest where they were standing. But something still felt off. It wasn't wards, she would have felt that. No, this felt like there was something large between them and the smell but there wasn't anything she could see. Closing her eyes to try to pick up more of the scent she found herself bowing down and sniffing the ground not a second before Sirius did the same thing. Looking up quickly to make eye contact she jumped back and shifted on the spot. Frantically dropping to his knees while pulling her wand.

"WE FOUND SOMETHING!" She was yelling to her conjured patronus as Sirius shifted and joined her, sending his off as well. "LOOK UP FOR OUR LOCATION!" And with that she cast a spell that created a glowing spot light type projection above them, signalling where they were.

She looked over to Sirius to see he too was trying to see any indication of what could be causing the smell to be coming from under the ground.

"He's under here, I know it." He muttered, running his hands around the ground moving away from all the snow.

Hermione started helping him only to realize they hadn't found anything and both had near frozen fingers. She could hear their friends moving through the woods in their direction and raised up using her wand to start digging away at the earth. Sirius cast beside her and together they started chipping away deeper and deeper into the ground.

One by one wands joined their quest until the dirt shifted to reveal a large box at the bottom of the ten foot hole they had dug. Fenrir jumped down and went to reach down to open the box when he pulled his hand back with a yelp. The fingers red and blistered.

"FUCK!" He growled. "It's got some kind of anti werewolf charm on it." He scrambled up the side of the ditch to return to their sides.

"We need to cast together to levitate it then." Lucius suggested. "If there are charms on the top we can assume they didn't want him banging on it for help. If we try to lift it too quickly or if this Godric's forsaken win catches it and jostles him around inside he could get even more injured than I assume he already is."

Agreeing with him they all cast to lift the box slowly and steadily out of the ground. Once it was clear of the hole they placed it easily on the ground and Remus and Dolohov started casting to see what spells it had on it.

"Bloody hell.." Remus hissed under his breath seeing the extent of spells used. Not only was there the anti werewolf but also a silencing spell, a magic suppression spell, a notice me not and one they hadn't seen before but Dolohov said had a shrinking quality to it where after a matter of time the box would get smaller. Pushing the man inside against the top and exposing him to those charms.

"Remove the simple ones Remus while Dolly you work on the more complex. Start with the anti werewolf one first just to be safe. But no one let their guards down, there could very well be some time delayed ones." Hermione instructed and if Harry found it odd that a group of grown men listened to her commands he didn't say anything.

They worked silently as quickly as they could when Fenrir and Remus both turned their heads to the side, picking up on a sound seconds before Hermione and Sirius did as well.

"Someone is coming." Fenrir growled.

They moved wordlessly like a trained team. Hermione had taken a place in front of Harry, her wand aimed at the treeline as she backed them behind one of the rock piles. She looked around to see the others had made themselves scarce as well, some moving around the woods to come in behind whomever was approaching.

They must not have suspected their spot to be found because they weren't being quiet at all as they approached. It was two males, older but not old. She would guess somewhere between Bill Weasley's age and Siriuses. They had their wands out protecting a light and scrambled to a stop when they saw the unearthed grave.

"Oi, What the fuck is this? They didn't say nothing about moving him tonight." One called in a thick Londoner accent. They wore thick woolen coats that they pulled closer to their bodies in the harsh wind.

Hermione held a finger up to her lips to remind Harry to be quiet. Where she was quick to use her wand and rather liked putting herself in the middle of chaos, she knew this was a situation better left to the adults in their group. The men walked closer to th hole and the box and one kicked a foot at it, cursing in pain at the action.

"Something ain't right I tell ya." The one not clutching his foot said looking down into the hole. "I think we best be calling uncle. This seems fishy to me."

There was no noise to warn the men they were not alone, a feat only made possible by the wise use of silencing charms. In fact they had no idea anything was happening before a pair of wands were placed on their backs.

"Now now gentlemen, I believe it's time we had a word." Rodolphus cooed as he pushed his wand harder into his mans back leading him closer to the other man who had gone sheet white when Lucius' wand pressed into him.

"I believe it's time to tell us what exactly is going on here." Lucius said in his standard bored tone.

The men looked up and saw the others leaving their spots and approaching. They visibly shook with a mixture of cold and fear as they saw the large number of them. Hermione and Harry left their spot but stayed close to the rock, away from the group.

"We don't know nothing!" One of the men cried. "We're just doing a job. Our uncle said we'd get paid 100 galleons a night that we came out here. This is only our third night." His voice was shaking.

"Who is your uncle?" Sirius asked, looking the men over trying to place their faces.

"Dedalus Diggle." They spoke together.

"Fuck." Sirius groaned, tipping his head back to the sky. He heard the growl tear from Remus' throat and could hear the hearts beating erratic in fear of the two men in front of them.

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Harry whispered behind Hermione.

Hermione gripped his hand squeezing it in warning before she spoke.

"He is a member of the Order. A close friend of Dumbledores." She explained and she watched as his eyes widened in shock and outrage before hardening in anger. Before he could get upset and start yelling she squeezed his hand again.

"We will get to the bottom of it Harry. I promise."

Lucius had called Dobby and requested he bring them an owl to use. He asked for one that was unidentifiable as belonging to them. Then he had the men send a letter to Diggle asking for him to come, informing the man that something was amiss. They were told to make it sound frantic and needed immediate response. After they were finished they stunned and bound them both, tossing them into the bottom of the hole.

Harry refused the offer for Dobby to return him home. He was adamant that he wanted to see this through and after a heated discussion between Sirius and Remus he was allowed to. Hermione had sat on the side lines as they argued, not wanting to put her opinion in but was secretly glad they allowed him to stay, it was completely different to see something with your own eyes versus hear stories about it. And if this would be an opportunity for him to see Dumbledore in a bad light, well all the better.

They waited for what felt like hours but took only forty minutes for Diggle to show. They heard his large crack of apparition in the woods and the stomping of snow and cracking of branches as he made his way towards them. She thought that for such an elderly man he still managed to get around just fine. They had retained their former spots out of eye site while they watched him approach.

His eyes widened in panic when he saw the hole and the box removed. Stumbling in the snow he pulled his wand and started to conjure a patronus when he was hit from the back with an incarcerous. Falling to the ground in a heap, his wand was summoned from him as the others approached.

"WHO'S THERE?" He yelled trying to remove his head around and see who had cast at him. His eyes found Lucius and Rodolphus first and he sneered nastily at them.

"Should have figured it would be you death eater scum." He growled.

"Is that so?" The silky voice to his other side had him whipping his head around eyes wide as he saw Sirius twirling his wand next to an irate Remus.

"Oh Sirius, Remus, thank Merlin. Get me up, we can take them together." He jerked his head in the other tws direction.

Remus sneered while Sirius snorted before frowning deeply. His grey eyes flashing the inner madness associated with the Blacks and Diggle gasped.

"I don't think so Dig. In fact I think you have a lot of explaining to do." He said cooly. "But first you are going to tell us exactly what wards you have on this box and how to remove them. Then you are going to tell me why." Sirius held up his hand to stop the man on the ground from speaking. "And you will do so willingly. Because if you don't. I will have Rodolphus go in and rip every single memory from your head before we leave you out here to freeze with your brain scrambled."

Seeing the threat as a promise Diggle started nodding and shaking. The snow had seeped into his clothes and he was freezing but no one around cared. Fenrir came up behind him and pulled him to his knees closer to the box. He confirmed their suspicions on the spells attached, and was told to remove them. Scabior's father had rushed up with Fenrir to help the younger man out of the box. Dobby had been called back to take them both to the manor so he could be healed.

"Why?" Remus asked, the words gritted out between clenched teeth. This close to the moon he was struggling to control the wolf.

Diggle looked up sharply and flinched at the expression on the normally friendly man's face.

"Werewolves cannot be imperioused. We ran experiments to find out why and to our knowledge it is because the wolf and the wizard are two different entities. If you imperious the wizard the wolf takes control. Kind of like how you can perform legilimency or force truth serum on them. Anytime wizards mental health is compromised the wolf takes over." He explained purposely not making eye contact with anyone there.

"And?" Sirius asked confused at where he was going.

"We wanted to know a way around it. So over the years, we did experiments." Diggle swallowed hard. "We found a way around it. You have to destroy the wolf, not kill it because that kills the wizard, but break it until it is so close to death. Then when you cast the imperius you can gain control over both man and beast. You can request them to heal themselves after that."

Hermione felt sick to her stomach and judging by their expressions the others did as well. This was worse than she had imagined. In the back of her mind she assumed the missing werewolves were being used for harvesting potion ingredients as well as just removed considering it had never been a secret they had sided more with her father than Dumbledore. But this, this was sick. He was trying to create an army of brainwashed wolves. And even worse, he had to kill so many to find a way to.

"Why Scabior? Why would you want to control him? He isn't anyone important." Fenrir asked, feeling guilty that the younger wolf was targeted.

It happened so quickly that a less observant group would have missed it. Yet they all saw the way his eyes jumped to Hermione and back again. Dolohov took a fraction of a step in front of her, as if he could shield her from whatever he was going to say. A deep rumble filled the air but at the time she wasn't able to piece who it came from.

"We needed the girl out of the picture. Her acceptance and friendship with all the half breeds and creatures is no secret. The plan was to use the wolf to appeal to her nature and then lure her out. Then we found out he was a member of Greybacks pack and decided to have him just kill her himself. We were going to place the body in the alley afterwards and blame it on Greyback."

His confession had them all steaming.

"Who is we? And why Hermione and Fenrir? What have they done to you?" Harry asked angrily pushing past Hermione to confront the kneeling man.

Diggle looked up turning his frozen face to Harry and looking up at him with icy blue eyes. A sneer on his face.

"Oh dear boy you are uninformed. We are the order. Not of the phoenix. The original order, we had the number ages ago but we didn't have the clout. We lacked the Longbottom name, the Potter money and the Prewitt enthusiasm. We went from a well respected equal minded group to what you know about now, but we are rising from the proverbial ashes to accomplish goals long ago abandoned. We know he will return and when he does your pet wolves will flock to him again, and your little girlfriend there will stand at his side. It's been prophesied. If you can't kill the snake you remove its venom. The girl will infect you all." He growled struggling slightly in his bonds.

The ropes moved enough for him to free his hand and with his bare hand he cast a bombarda at the ground throwing back the group in a sea of mud and snow. Hermione had cast a shield but it only helped to keep her on her feet, the debris still soaked her and Dolly as they had turned towards each other. She ran to Harry's side as he was closer to be sure he wasn't injured and was pleased to see that despite being thrown in the air five feet he was unharmed.

The problem was in the chaos Diggle had grabbed one of the boys' wands that were in the whole and had disapperated. Leaving the two there but taking with them the best source of information they had had in years. She looked over and made contact with an exasperated Lucius who gave her a nod.

"I think we need to all get together and talk about what this means." She said, pulling Harry to his feet.

"I think we have a lot to talk about vixen." Sirius added giving her a knowing look and she knew then that he had made it through the journal and was starting to put together the truth.

She nodded. "After new years. Until then. No one goes anywhere alone, and check in with each other daily."

She turned to Dolly and he took her hand, disapparating them away from the scene and to her house. She had a lot to talk to her father about tonight.