Scabior

The hunt is on and, boy, does she give him a run for his money. Scabior catches his girl!

"Scabior! Boys! Come on, we got work to do!" Fen yelled.

"Greyback, wait up, I have something here!" yelled Yaxley, the new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He came over and tied a red bandanna around the bicep of each wolf in the group. "This identifies you as Snatchers. Best of luck to you and your boys. Now go out and Snatch the girl."

They walked out of the Manor, down the drive and out the gate. There, they stopped for a conference. Fenrir thought about it. 'If he were a member of the 'Golden Trio', wanted by Voldemort and the Ministry alike, protected by the Order of the Flaming Chicken, where would he hide out at?'

"Hmm, I know where we can start, not to say we'll find anything but it's a start." Fen said. One by one they apparated back to London. It was a quiet park they ended up in. They walked around the hedge and stopped in a Muggle neighborhood. Scabior was wondering why they were here.

Fen was the one who pointed out the street numbers. They went from ten, even to thirteen. Scabior's eyes widened. 'Where was number twelve?' Fen smiled as he watched the boy catch on. He then stared intently across the street. He actually walked across and rubbed his hands over the houses and came back. "There's definitely something here, Fen. Not sure it's a whole house but there's been magic here lately."

"It's a house, boy. Bella told me about it. Plus, I can smell that another wolf has been here. Bella's cousin lives in this house and he's best friends with a wolf I was responsible for biting. We just gotta hang out for a while until someone shows themselves. They can't stay holed up forever. Sooner or later, they'll have to come out and resupply."

The wolves took turns, watching the house the next few weeks. Finally, it was time for the school year to start back at Hogwarts. According to Lucius, it was the sixth year for the Trio and his son, Draco. Also, one other good thing had come from the wolves watching the house. There had been far less attacks from the Order than from the Ministry. So they had managed to hem the Order in, anyway. Dumbledore and the Ministry both continued insisting that any day now, Voldemort was going to start an offensive against them in order to get to the Boy Who Lived. Fen rolled his eyes at that. They'd already had the past two and a half years to 'make an offensive move'. 'Had they?' NO!

This was the year Draco asked his father to make a request that he and a few of his friends be allowed to join the Death Eaters. Draco had expressed an interest in politics. He wished to join the group and make them an official political party. He had made a sample banner using the skull and snake brand. His friends, Marcus Flint, Blaise Zabini, Aidan Pucey, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode were all coming up with different platforms which they thought would both interest the people and the government officials who were against the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. They were thrilled when Tom actually took the time to look over their work. There were several platforms concerning Magical Creatures and Muggleborns that he thought his daughter might take an interest in, considering that Draco had told them about her S.P.E.W. campaign in their fourth year. And, as far as she knew, she was still Muggleborn. He approved those campaigns to be further thought out and added to. The banner was approved also, with a request that the background be red (in honor of his daughter's sorted house), though he didn't tell Draco that.

Once the new-year started, Draco soon wrote home that Pothead was stalking him everywhere he went. The bad side of this was that Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were constantly clashing with the Trio. The good side was that Draco had overheard, accidentally, that the wolves were on the trail of the Trio and he knew how they could get the scent for the wolves. That was how one evening, halfway through the first semester, an owl came to the window of the Manor, carrying a familiar pink scarf. His mother gasped when she saw it. The scarf was given to Scabior, who took a deep whiff of the scent and immediately claimed the scarf for himself. Narcissa saw Tom smiling and nodding at Fen, so she put in an order and had an identical scarf sent back to Draco to drop somewhere Granger would be sure to find it.

Now that he had the scent he needed, Scabior knew it would only be a matter of time before he tracked down this girl who seemed so important to his father and Mr. Tom. As he and his brothers fell into one big dog pile to go to sleep, he still kept a protective grip on his new possession.

The school year ended with a huge shock. Dumbledore had, at the start of the year, stumbled onto what he thought was a Horcrux made by Tom. Unaware that Tom had destroyed most of his Horcruxes, he slipped a highly dangerous cursed object onto his finger and almost killed himself. Were it not for the quick thinking and quicker reactions of Severus Snape, he would most certainly have been dead before school had ever started.

As it was, Severus was unable to convince him that there was no war to be fought. He accused Severus of turning his back on HIM, as he had turned against Voldemort so many years ago. Nothing Severus said could make him see any different. Even though he was in such poor condition, he insisted on battling Snape, there on top of the Astronomy Tower. He had been somewhere and something had happened. He was so weak, he was leaning against the wall and sliding down it. Snape tried to avoid shooting anything lethal at him, until Dumbledore looked him in the eye and called him a coward for not stepping in and saving James and Lily Potter himself. At that, Severus lost his temper and sent the killing curse at him.

That's when the whole bloody Order of the Flaming Chicken seemed to come out of the woodwork and haul ass after him! Draco had accompanied him. They found themselves chased by a crazed Harry Potter, who had come from the devil only knows where! Harry had the nerve, after using the same spell on Draco, unaware of its effects, to attempt to use his own spell against him. Tried to anyway as Severus turned around and shocked the boy, telling him whose book he'd been using so successfully in Potions. Harry was gobsmacked on hearing that SNAPE was the halfblooded prince whose teachings he'd been following so faithfully all year long.

After the school year ended, the Trio went their separate was briefly. Fen had stationed several of his men at King's Cross and told them to watch and see who the Trio left with and, if possible, follow them to their current location. Scabior had wanted to be one of the ones standing guard but Fen kept him with him. He soon regretted that decision as the Trio split up into three groups.

The girl went with her parents. The ginger went with his parents and the black haired boy went with strange looking Muggles who didn't look a thing like him. The men were told to specifically trail the girl but their noses weren't half as sharp at catching scents as Scabior's nose. They managed to follow her outside of the station but once they got into one of those Muggle contraptions, the wolves lost the scent.

Now it was a matter of waiting to see where they were the next time they came out of hiding. The Death Eaters had heard there was to be a wedding the Trio would be attending. It was the wedding of Bill Weasley to the Veela girl he had met during the year he and the rest of the family attended the Triwiazrd Tournament as representatives of Harry's family. Naturally they concluded that it would be held at the Burrow.

Now, all they needed was a location so Scabior and Fen could snatch the girl and bring her to Tom. Nothing ever goes smoothly, though. When it was discovered that Yaxley and several other high ranking officials were sympathetic to Tom, all hell broke loose and their side had no choice but to take the Ministry before they were ready to. They did, however, get the location of the wedding but by the time it was all said and done, the Trio had vanished into hiding, once again. It was Lucius who came up with the method of possibly catching the trio with the simple idea to curse the name of Voldemort. Anyone who said it would automatically draw both Death Eaters and/or Snatchers to their location. Unfortunately, he had reckoned on most people still being too afraid to say the name. They hadn't realized that hearing Harry and Dumbledore say the name so boldly would prompt other people into saying it more. So after every 'capture,' the Snatchers would allow themselves to be pictured bringing in 'prisoners.' In reality, they were simply being questioned as to whether they had been in contact with the Trio or not (most hadn't).

Fen could feel Scabior's frustration growing. He WANTED the owner of that scarf! He KNEW she was out there! How the devil was she eluding him?!

One day, there came surprising news from the Ministry. Apparently, the Trio had broken into the courtroom and stolen a necklace right off the neck of one Dolores Umbridge and she was completely outraged about it. She insisted that it was a priceless family heirloom they had taken.

When shown a picture of the necklace, Tom began laughing. It was an heirloom, all right, of HIS family. It had formerly been a Horcrux, which was why they wanted it, Tom suspected. Apparently the old dingbat, Dumbledore, had put the notion into Harry's head. Severus agreed with that theory, especially considering how weak Dumbledore had been when he blasted him off the Tower.

Yaxley had a hand on the ginger as they escaped from the Ministry but was shaken off as his daughter apparated herself and her friends away from him after taking him inside the ward that guarded the old Black house, the former home of Sirius Black. Tom was proud when he heard what she had managed to do, even though it kept them separated that much longer.

Yaxley took Fen and Scabior back and they finally were able to see what they had been standing guard on. They went inside and found the rooms the Trio had been using. Fen memorized the boys' scents, knowing the only scent Scabior was interested in was that of the girl whose scarf resided around his neck. He and Yaxley smiled, watching the boy lay down on her bed and bury his nose in her pillow. As he raised his head from the pillow, he sniffed the scarf as if comparing the two smells, then he grinned widely. He had her now! He hopped up and swaggered out the door.

That night, they apprehended some people, a couple. While taking them back to camp, Scabior had his head down, deep in thought about the scent that was driving him bonkers. Fen was in the lead, carrying the girl. Behind him was a wizard Yaxley had stuck them with. Scabior didn't like him and neither did Fen. Suddenly, Scabior stopped and lifted his head. "What's that?" he asked abruptly. Fen recognized the look on his face. The boy had caught a whiff of something. He lifted a hand and backtracked. "What's that,,, smell?" he stood there, sniffing. He could almost swear it was the same smell from that afternoon! But how could it be? They were in the middle of the woods and there was nobody there except them! But, by the moon, that scent was there! Right in front of him! How?! He was distracted by the wizard, dropping his burden to the ground. "What you doing?" he asked sharply. "Oh, do you want me to carry it?" he crooned, mockingly. "Don't be ridiculous, pick it up!" he snapped. He laughed then. "Daft numpty!" Unaware that, had he taken one more step, he would have been inside the wards of and face to face with the very girl he was seeking.

She was trembling with terror at the extremely close call. After that, he had checked out every sighting that even remotely sounded like them. One day, as they were relaxing by the river's edge, about to give up and admit defeat, they were startled by a whoosh and a snap, right in their midst.

Scabior was leaning against a tree. Seeing her, his eyes widened. She was even more beautiful than her picture showed. She walked right at him with her head lowered. Right as she saw the toes of his boots, she looked up. Her eyes widened and she gasped.

"Hello, beautiful." He murmured softly. She stumbled back and whipped around, the boy's had frozen as well. Then suddenly they dashed away. He watched her run for a moment, smiling, then yelled. "Well, don't hang about! Snatch 'em!"

He shot away from the tree and made a beeline to get behind her. They brought the ginger down, then to their surprise, she herself took down the black haired boy. She had almost run straight into the second wave of his boys and knew there was no fighting their way out or nor outrunning the whole lot of them. She had snatched something from the black haired boy before they reached them. He knew she didn't know they were already aware of who they were. He decided to play ignorant a while longer. He heard her before he saw her.

"Get off her!" yelled the ginger, getting a boot to the rib for his trouble.

"Leave him! Get off me!" she yelled, shrilly.

"Your boyfriend will get much worse than that," Scabior said as he jumped off the bank, "If he doesn't learn the behave himself!" he walked past Harry, then jumped back in surprise at the sight of his swollen face. "What happened to you, ugly?" both Harry and Fen looked at him. He looked at Fen, teasingly. "No, not you." Fen almost laughed and cuffed the boy's ear. He hadn't had a chance to shave or have a haircut in a while. After telling them to 'check the boy's name' (as if they didn't already know him!), he walked over to the struggling girl. "And you, my lovely, what do they call you?" as she spoke, he lifted a lock of hair, smelled it, then swayed towards her. He just stopped himself from kissing her, remembering Fen's VERY STRICT instructions about her needing to be unharmed, untouched and pure, all of which he could smell and everyone could see.