This potion master had respect for his craft which had the unfortunate side effect of taking a lot longer than the Ministry's consultant. After Teddy smuggled him the file and samples, the potion master announced that it would take at least a week. Then he was rather explicit that Teddy shouldn't harass him any sooner than that.

So Teddy focused on other things. He talked to the Alpha about a go between. Of course Teddy was out since he didn't want anyone else to realize he had connections with the werewolves. The Alpha wanted himself or his son to do it. It wouldn't work if they became suspects but so far their alibis were better than anyone else could give. The Alpha didn't spend the full moon in the forest and neither did his son. If they had been there that morning it would have been commented upon.

Besides, they had to start somewhere. Otherwise Teddy would go insane trying to check and double check possibilities. After a little dithering, Teddy agreed to the Alpha becoming the werewolf liaison. So the next few days Hasan and Teddy worked with the Alpha to check out the pack's alibis. Since a lot of the pack spent the full moon running with someone else, it was mostly a matter cross checking their stories.

By the end of it, they had narrowed the list down to a small handful of names. The Alpha agreed to giving their information over to Teddy and Hasan as long as the information did not go beyond them. All of them were acting like Jones and Collins weren't involved which suited Teddy just fine. If they couldn't get information out of the pack, why did it have anything to do with Teddy?

However, even with much smaller list of names, Teddy and Hasan were left floundering. Was this a separate incident from the serial killings twenty years ago? What exactly was the motive if it was? What was the motive if it was the serial killer? There seemed little benefit in reemerging to kill again.

Teddy wanted some idea of what was happening before they tried truly interrogating their suspects. So, although it was two days early, Teddy decided to see how far the potion master had gotten on the mystery potion connection.

As was common these days, Teddy found his Uncle in the potion laboratory behind the Manor gardens. Technically, Draco was actually his first cousin, once removed. Uncle was a lot easier to say. Especially when he was smaller and had spent a lot of time in these very gardens.

There weren't any shade trees on the walk he had taken. So the blazing morning sun made Teddy nearly blind as he walked into the darkness of the laboratory.

"I'm in the middle of something," Draco said grumpily from across the room. "Just sit over there and don't mess with anything."

Used to this sort of treatment, Teddy found a stool along the edge of the room. He browsed through the books squeezed between potion ingredients on the shelves. Once he found a good textbook, Teddy flipped through it, occasionally glancing back up at his Uncle.

Normally clean-shaven, Draco's beard had grown past just a five o'clock shadow. His hair had also grown shaggy, exposing the grays usually lost in his blonde hair. Maybe Draco really was as busy as he had claimed. It had taken a lot more convincing than Teddy had expected. He had to reassure Draco that information that the Ministry's current Potion Master had given them was useless. On top of this, Teddy had heavily implied how bad Draco could make Harry look if he found the next lead on a decades-old cold case. Even then, Draco was reluctant to spend more time away from his wife. He had only relented when Teddy nearly broke down trying to explain how important the case was to him. Not one of Teddy's proudest moments.

"You haven't given me much to go on, Teddy," his Uncle said, putting away bottles of spell ingredients. "You should be amazed that I could get anything from it."

Teddy let Draco boast, knowing he would be more willing to share his information this way.

His work place tidied, Draco turned to a different shelf. He pulled out three potions: a milky white one with shots of silver throughout, a muddy brown one, and a violently neon-green one.

He set these on the table as he explained, "I was able to construct the 'antidote' that the Potions Master used on Granger's wounds." He motioned towards the white potion. Then he gestured towards the muddy-brown potion. "And I formulated this to mimic the potion found in her wounds. I based it off of the notes of the Potion Master" -Draco gave him a put-upon look- "a nearly impossible task."

"So, what's the green one?" Teddy asked.

Draco glared at him. "Did I mention how incredibly brilliant I am for being able to recreate these potions?"

"You are extremely brilliant, Uncle. Why do you think I brought it to you? Nobody else could have figured it out."

Draco gave him a considering look and Teddy wondered if he had laid it on too thick, but Draco continued. "The green vial is what the half-wit Potions Master should have used on Granger's wounds as it was the true antidote to the original potion."

"So, did you find out what the brown potion does?"

Again, he was met by an annoyed look from his Uncle. "In fact, that would be nearly impossible without a true sample of the potion but I have determined the most probable classification. The powdered zincite indicates an enhancing or trans-formative effect. Given another ingredient is wolves' teeth, it is most likely to take on powers associated with a wolf. Or possibly enhance those powers already owned by a werewolf."

Teddy was trying to process that as Draco pulled out a knife and pressed it against his own forearm.

"Uncle?" Teddy asked hesitantly, watching the blade on Draco's pale arm. "What are you doing?"

"Tissue sample," Draco muttered absently before nicking off a piece of skin. The blood immediately welled in the small divot. The blood started dripping down his arm and Draco staunched it with a handkerchief.

"Bloody hell!" Teddy pulled his wand out to heal the cut.

Draco waved it impatiently away. "Magic this near the samples might interfere with the results." He scraped the knife against the inside of a test tube and pointed to the empty tube sitting next to it. "Your turn."

Teddy took a careful step back. "What?"