O
HEPHAESTUS
Fire
Tonks hated leaving Remus the morning after the full moon, and usually requested evening or night shifts on those days, if she couldn't take the day off all together. But when the Red Alert summons came in late morning, she knew this was a duty she could not ignore. Red Alerts needed as many senior Aurors on the case as possible, and Remus would never let her shirk such an important task on his account.
"Are you sure you'll be ok?" she said anxiously, as she whirled round the room pulling on her robes.
Remus was sitting up in bed, his face pale. "I'll be fine Dora, stop worrying."
"Teddy said he has to go into work quickly this afternoon, but to send for him if you need anything. He'll be back to make dinner. Victoire's busy with family tonight."
"Yes, everyone will be back for the Easter holidays."
Tonks was not fooled by his casual tone or bland expression.
"I doubt she is really holding a grudge," she said. "By the summer everything will be forgotten, you'll see. She's a stubborn one."
He snorted.
"I wonder where she gets that from."
Tonks leaned over to give him a kiss.
"You can be quite as stubborn as me when you want to be, Remus Lupin. I don't think I'm entirely to blame."
He smiled, if a little sadly, and pulled her close.
"Stay safe."
Tonks nodded. Staying safe on a Red Alert mission - or any mission for that matter - wasn't always a guarantee, but she would do her best.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
She could hear the tiredness in his voice, and he seemed on the verge of falling asleep again even as she left the room. Which was probably a good thing. The longer he slept, the less he would worry.
O
"What's going on?" Tonks entered the Auror department a few minutes later. The place was a hive of activity, Aurors bustling in every direction. Even Savage was dressed in his fighting robes. Tonks had directed her question to Harry. Her hatred of Savage, elevated since the days of The Surge, had only grown in recent years, with his constant passing of the buck, his shirking of responsibilities whenever he could get away with it, his habit of doing the bare minimum of work required. So it had been since the days of the second war, when Tonks had first worked with him, and even now, she treated him with as little respect as she could get away with.
She could tell that Savage was not impressed at her addressing Harry over himself, but he did not say anything. He would be leaving next month. Harry might as well be head of the department already.
"It's Greyback," Harry said. There was sympathy in his green eyes as he said the words. "He attacked a young boy last night and fled."
Tonks felt a plummeting sensation in her stomach.
"What?"
"Two months of being a model citizen. Apparently, a third was too much to ask for." Harry's face was twisted with disgust. "Broke into a house in the next village. The boy's only five years old."
"But how did he transform in the first place?" Tonks asked. "I thought Greyback was being monitored taking his Wolfsbane!"
Harry nodded grimly.
"He was. We're not sure exactly how it happened - there'll be an investigation. It is not for lack of him taking the Wolfsbane, that's for sure. He's been witnessed taking the potion every night this week. But," he sighed, "there are things which can tamper with its efficacy, remember. Sugar, sometimes, or alcohol. Alcohol in particular would stop it working, in large enough quantities. The MoMS official found an empty bottle in his residence when they went searching today. Somehow he'd got it past all security checks."
Tonks let out a hiss of fury. "Then why wasn't he picked up straight away when he left his house last night?"
Harry grimaced. "That's the other bad news, I'm afraid. It seems the full-on transformation blew out all the monitoring spells that were placed on him when he first started his parole. The MoMS didn't realise anything was wrong until the boy's mother reported the attack this morning. They're trying their best to locate him now, with tracking spells that use DNA from his house. But charms like that are complex and a little unreliable, as you know. They'll be able to work out the general area, not specific coordinates."
"Do they have any idea where he's gone?"
"They think somewhere up north."
Tonks was ashamed of the instant stab of relief that pierced her gut, but she couldn't help it. Her husband and son were about as far south as could be, and Hope would be safe at Hogwarts. Horrified and sickened though she was that Greyback had robbed yet another poor, innocent child of a normal life, the thought of him maiming her own family - yet again - would have been too much to bear.
Her attention was caught by the curl of paper which had appeared in a puff of smoke above Savage's desk. Savage caught the distinctive grey parchment, used only by the MoMS, as it fell.
"The Great Knott Wood," he read out. "They can't narrow it down more than that."
"The Great Knott Wood?" Tonks repeated, staring at him in shock. "Up near Windermere?"
Savage had already started making plans. "Right, we'll take everyone we can, give each pair an area of the wood to search, hunt him down like that. If we-"
Tonks was no longer listening. She was looking at Harry and knew from his expression that they were both thinking the same thing. The Great Knott Wood was an all too familiar name to both of them. The dark, tangled forest, steeped in ancient magic and mystery, where Remus had spent his long, lonely months as a spy during the second war, living among the werewolf community that had a base somewhere within its depths. Who was to say that some of them weren't still there, living in the relative peace that Greyback's imprisonment would have brought them? And what would Greyback be prepared to do to them to ensure that they kept him secret?
"Could I have a word please Sir?" Harry said, his voice respectful but firm as he cut Savage off mid flow. "It's important. It may affect our planning of this."
Savage's expression soured, but he allowed Harry to lead him over to the corner, and Tonks paced nervously in a tight circle, hoping that Harry would be able to impress upon their superior how delicate this situation could be. Prior to his imprisonment, Greyback had controlled nearly every werewolf in the country, through fear, blackmail and manipulation. If he were to show up at his old hideout, any that remained would likely do as he bade them, even if it meant hiding a criminal. Tonks knew that they almost certainly wouldn't turn him in, even when questioned by officials. Wild werewolves wanted as little to do with the Ministry as possible, and had resisted all offers of help and support over the last two decades.
Harry, face strained, reappeared by her side ten minutes later.
"Well?"
"He was difficult - shocking, I know - but I told him about the werewolf colony that used to live there. He doesn't think it's a cause for concern- says that was twenty years ago and they'll have moved on by now-" Tonks rolled her eyes "-but he did agree to proceed more cautiously, just in case. If we find evidence of the werewolf community, two of us will go and try and talk to someone, the others will hang back."
Tonks brightened a little.
"Who gets to do that?"
"I managed to convince him that you and I would be the best people for the job, in disguise, unless you have objections?"
Tonks had none at all.
"How are we going to find it though?" she asked. "The settlement itself. It'll be well concealed – they wouldn't want people stumbling across it randomly, especially not muggles. We'd have to comb every square metre of the area to find them, and even then, those woods are full of old magic and secret paths." Her mind ran quickly through their options. "I suppose I could ask Remus exactly where-" she trailed off and swallowed. She didn't want to ask Remus. She did not want him to know anything of this assignment until it was over with. The prospect of Greyback being on the loose combined with the memory of his old werewolf colony would overwhelm him with worry, and he was already unwell. But if there was no other way...
Harry put a hand on her shoulder.
"No need," he said. "You're forgetting our most meticulous comrade in the Department of Magical Law. Who spent weeks compiling every detail of Remus's actions during the war to aid her campaign for werewolf rights."
"Hermione." Tonks managed a grin. "Of course."
O
It took Hermione a while to find exactly what they were looking for, and Savage continued to lose patience as she combed through her files of immaculate notes. But Harry's authority and insistence prevailed in the end, and an hour and a half later, they set off for Windermere with the required information.
As discussed between Harry and Savage, the rest of the group hung back, stationed at different points throughout the wood, while Harry and Tonks approached the area that Hermione had specified for them.
"This must be it," Tonks said, as they came to an apparent dead end in the path. As instructed, they stepped right through the trees. The branches melted away at their touch and immediately rewove themselves into a tangle behind them. Tonks stared ahead. A tiny hamlet, if you could even call it that, stretched out before them. A stream ran through the centre of the land, tiny houses on either side, all made of stone with mismatched roofs. Large patches of leafy gardens surrounded them. A handful of chickens and pigs roamed free.
Tonks knew that it had not always looked like this. The land had once been dead and swamp-like, with no sources of fresh food. The stone houses had been dilapidated wooden shacks, reserved for the highest ranking of the pack. Remus, a lowly and mistrusted member of the group, had refused to tell Tonks exactly where he himself had slept during that time.
"Do you remember how many used to live here?" Harry muttered.
"About sixty or seventy, I think," she said. "The conditions were miserable back then. It doesn't look like there are nearly as many here now. Maybe it's a bit more bearable."
Her eyes were large and sad as they took in the scene, and she wondered if she truly believed what she was saying. She thought of the harsh winter that had just passed. How cold must it have been inside the tiny houses? And yet, there was a beauty in the simplicity of the scene that lay before them, a wild sort of tranquillity that was almost comforting, even to the view of an outsider.
"It's still a home, isn't it?" she whispered. "The conditions are unimaginable for us, but it - it is a home, for those who do live here. They might even be happy now. And if Greyback gets his claws in it again-"
"We won't let him," Harry said fiercely. "We'll get him, Tonks. We have to!"
"I think - Harry, look," she breathed suddenly, losing her train of thought and pointing over to the stream. A small girl, five or six years of age, was wandering over by the water's edge, picking flowers, her long matted hair falling over her pale face.
"Come on!"
They approached with caution. The girl looked at up at them curiously as they came nearer, but her eyes did not betray the slightest hint of fear.
"Hello," Tonks said. "What's your name?"
"Maisie," she said at once. "Who are you?"
Tonks glanced at Harry. "We - err, we're -"
"Friends," Harry supplied. "We need to talk to someone who lives here. Do you live here?"
Her forehead wrinkled. "Of course I live here! I live in that house." She pointed at the tiny stone cottage nearest to the water. "Me and Dad and Jasper."
She turned her small, dirt-streaked face back to him and smiled placidly.
"And - and would it be possible for us to speak with your dad?" Harry asked.
She pondered this. "I don't know," she said at last. "He's feeling poorly, and he has a bad leg. Aren't you feeling poorly?" she added, looking between them, suspicion in her gaze for the first time.
"Us?" Harry repeated. "No, we're fine!"
Maisie glared at him, her eyes narrowed now. "But- but all adults are ill after the full moon! It's just me and Jasper who are fine. And Ava who lives over there." She pointed at a house further up the path. "Our friend Henry was fine when he lived here but then he became an adult and he left us."
Tonks felt another terrible wave of sadness in her chest. It was easy to forget, when Remus's life was going so much better for him, that werewolves all over the country still lived in these isolated packs, unable to afford Wolfsbane and regularly suffering injury and worse because of it. Home this might be for those who lived here, but the conditions were still pitiful within the tiny community. Those born into it, though clearly free of lycanthropy itself, were restrained by the curse nonetheless, bound to the lives that their parents were forced to lead, at least until they grew old enough to venture out into the world alone. And it was no use telling herself that this was the life they had chosen, that they had been offered other options in recent years. For most older werewolves, those of Remus's generation and before, the introduction of the werewolf rights had been too little too late. Most had been let down too many times in the past to be willing to put trust in the authorities now.
"We're lucky," she said quietly, in response to Maisie. "Very lucky."
"Oi!"
A grizzled man had come out of the house and was limping towards them.
"That's my dad," Maisie said cheerfully. "Maybe he will be able to speak to you after all."
"Who are you? What do you want?" the man demanded, as he came nearer. "Maisie, come here. Now."
Maisie did as she was told, and Harry spoke, his voice calm.
"I'm so sorry to intrude, sir, but we are looking for someone, someone we believe you may have seen today."
"Oh yeah?" the man said. "Who might that be?"
"Fenrir Greyback," Harry said, watching him closely.
The man merely grunted. "Name from the past, that is," he said. "Not here, I can tell you. Rotting in prison last I heard!"
Tonks, however, had been watching the little girl, and at the mention of the name Greyback, her face had flashed with recognition, her eyes widening as she looked up at her father. Then, catching Tonks's eye, she immediately became solemn.
Tonks knew a sudden a pang of nostalgia for the days in which her own children had been full of that innocence, that complete inability to mask their true emotions. She exchanged a meaningful look with Harry, but the man had already turned away with a sharp command to his daughter. "Get inside, Maisie. Now!"
"Wait!"
The note of pleading made him hesitate and Tonks approached him and lowered her voice as Maisie scampered back towards the house.
"He attacked a child last night," she whispered. "A child. A young boy barely any older than your little girl."
"Shouldn't have let him out of prison then, should you," the man snapped. "As if someone like him could ever turn over a new leaf. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him and always will be."
"If he's here we can protect you," Tonks persisted. "But not if we don't know where he is."
The man shook his head. "I've already told you he's not here. Want me to write it down for you? Because I can't."
He didn't look either of them in the eye.
She tried again. "I understand why you don't want to tell us. Please. I do-"
"You don't understand a damn thing."
The man looked over his shoulder to check that Maisie was still safely in the house before turning back to them.
"It's all very well for you to stand there and ask these questions," he said, in low, ragged tones. "I know who you are. You can't fool me with that attire. You're interfering people from the Ministry, aren't you? You have no idea the damage he did. The damage he could still do. You have no clue. He's an ordinary criminal to you. Someone to tick off your list as you go about your duty, and forget about tomorrow."
"No, he's not-"
"We were rid of him," the man cut over. "After all those terrible years of war, we were finally rid of him. And people like you have let him back into our lives."
"It wasn't our decision for him to be released from prison," Harry broke in. "We wanted nothing less, I assure you."
"You have no idea," the man repeated.
"But we do," Tonks pleaded. "Really we do. Please believe me. I- I-" she hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then blurted out. "My husband is Remus Lupin."
It had been a stab in the dark, an off-chance remark, in the wild hope that the name might mean something to him. And as the dark eyes flashed with understanding, she knew it had paid off.
"Remus Lupin?" the man repeated, his tone of voice suddenly different. Still wary, but softer. Tonks pressed her advantage.
"Do you know him?"
He nodded stiffly.
"I did. A long time ago. Remus was... friend would be too strong a word, but he was an ally, I suppose. During the war. And to Della, the kids' mother. Always against Greyback. Always trying to convince us that You-Know-Who wasn't the way forward. Some listened, some even believed him, but no one dared act on it, not with Greyback breathing down all our necks, always on the lookout for traitors. Then Remus disappeared for a week or so. And when he came back to us, he was different. Harsh. Harder. He'd changed his mind. It wasn't worth trying to lead a normal life. You-Know-Who was the way forward. Went back on everything he'd been saying before. Began to get closer to Greyback's inner circle. Most people believed him, too, believed that he'd been pushed out and wanted revenge on those who had hurt him. But it always seemed suspicious to me. To us."
"Well, you were right," Harry said. "It was a ploy, a way to get more information. He was a spy for our side. Working against Vol- against You-Know-Who. And against Greyback."
The man shrugged.
"We guessed as much in the end, because one night he refused to do Greyback's bidding and had to flee. We thought Greyback must have killed him."
Tonks remembered that night only too well. Remus had reappeared at The Burrow, half-starved and drenched in blood, barely conscious, his side mangled from Greyback's own claws.
"Well he didn't," she murmured. "He's alive. He helped us win the war, and we have children now too." She did not say anything more. It did not feel right to talk about her own life in the presence of this man, who had clearly known so much suffering. He must know, too, that her children did not lead the same life as his own.
But the man did not seem to be thinking along those lines at all. His gaze was distant.
"He helped Della once," he said abruptly. "She was injured one full moon but he helped her. Knew healing magic that I didn't. Probably saved her life. We had twenty years together that we wouldn't have had if she had died that night. And now I have our children."
Tonks did not ask what had happened to Della. Something told her it was a tragic story. But after another long pause, the man volunteered the information himself.
"She died from complications, the night Jasper was born," he said, and not pausing to let Harry and Tonks reply with murmurs of apology, continued, "Her dying request was that I keep our children safe."
"Dad!" On cue, Maisie called out from the doorway of the house. "Dad, can I have some bread?"
"One piece," he called. There was desolation flickering in his dark eyes, but the angry expression gone as he stared back at Harry and Tonks.
Tonks did not say anything else. Different to Remus this man may be, but twenty years of mariage to a very stubborn werewolf had taught her to recognise when it was time to drop the arguments and let someone reach their own conclusions.
After several long moments of silence, the man took a deep breath.
"Alright. Greyback. He came here this morning. He's lying low for the next few days. There's a place. A - a secret place. A big clearing in the middle of the woods. We discovered it not too long ago but it has some kind of old, protective magic on it, from way before our own time here. It's where we go now to transform, to keep the kids safe on the full moon." He ran a hand through his hair, looking quite wild, and the words seemed to stick in his throat, but he forced them out. "Half a mile up the woods to the left, behind the huge, gnarled tree. Biggest in the area, you can't miss it. There's a tiny gap in the lowest branches. You won't want to go anywhere near it, it's what the magic does. Fight that feeling and look properly and you'll find it."
He exhaled sharply, still avoiding their gaze. Tonks knew what the words had cost him.
"Thank you," Harry said. "Honestly. Thank you so much."
The man merely looked sullen.
"He was expecting people like you to come calling, but he said you'd never find him. We were all under orders to say nothing to anyone and I don't think he believed for a second that we would defy him. If he finds out-"
"He won't," Tonks said at once. "We guarantee your safety."
The man made a derisive noise in the back of his throat. "You can't guarantee our safety against Greyback, and if everything else you've just told me is true, then you know that," he said. "And if you don't find him, he'll return here, set up base in the barn right at the end. As he used to. Our leader reinstated," he finished bitterly.
"He won't," Tonks said. "He won't be coming back here."
The man clearly did not believe her. "I need to get back inside," he said shortly.
"What's your name?" Tonks asked.
The man looked round again.
"Lawrence," he said, after a pause. Then, with a twist of his mouth that could have been an attempt at a smile, "give my best to Remus."
Tonks stared sadly after him as he limped towards his doorway, knowing what had to be done now.
"Do you want me to do it?" Harry murmured.
She shook her head, and pointed the wand at his back, her hand quite steady.
"Obliviate."
O
"Harry," Tonks tugged at his arm as they started to make their way back towards the trees. "Harry, do we have to tell Savage about this? Can't we go and find the place now? Corner Greyback ourselves and then send for the others to come and help?"
Harry blinked at her, clearly thinking she was off her head.
"He'll do it wrong," Tonks burst out. "You know he will. He doesn't handle these situations right and he never has. He'll order us all to go crashing in, Greyback will probably have about ten minutes warning and he'll be out of there before we know it."
Harry ran a hand through his black hair, but said nothing.
"We'd do it right, if it was the two of us," she added.
"We can't." She could hear the reluctance in his voice, but Harry had come a long way from the reckless teenager who believed he could do everything on his own. "I can't allow us to go chasing a dangerous criminal on our own. You know I can't. Firstly, we're under strict orders from Savage to report back as soon as we have information. I'm supposed to be taking over this department in a month, and Savage has already made it as difficult for me as he can. One wrong move now could set the handover back by months, and the whole department will be better off once Savage has gone. Secondly, and more importantly, who's to say we can overpower Greyback without back up? Magically we outrank him, but he's horrendously strong and has no morals whatsoever. And finally," his mouth twitched. "Remus would skin me alive if he knew I'd put you in danger like that."
"Remus wouldn't have to know!"
Harry snorted. "Yeah right. You can't lie to Remus any more than I can lie to Ginny."
Tonks rolled her eyes but didn't argue further. Harry spoke the truth. Everything he was saying was true, and completely logical, but Tonks was afraid. More afraid than she had ever been on an assignment before. And not one modicum of that fear was for herself.
"Tonks?"
Harry was looking at her in concern.
"What is it?"
For a second, the fear built to such a pitch that she nearly blurted everything out. The overwhelming panic that they would fail. That Greyback would escape and go free. Wreak havoc on the poor community they had just left. And she would have failed them all. Failed that poor, long suffering man and his sweet little girl and baby son. Failed the young boy who's life had been damaged by Greyback hours before. Worst of all, failed her family. Failed her children. Failed Remus.
Tonks hated admitting her fears. She was very much like her daughter in that regard.
"Nothing," she said. "I know you're right. Savage had better not mess this up, that's all."
Harry sighed.
"I'll do everything I can to stop that from happening, Tonks. I really will."
O
"I'm just saying, the area might have another exit. This might not be the only way in and out, and we have no way of knowing where the others might be."
Savage ignored her and Tonks felt a great swell of frustration. Their superior had, as least, taken a lot of what Harry had said on board. They had not, as Tonks had initially feared, gone barrelling in all wands blazing, but proceeded slowly through the wood, spreading out, taking all the necessary precautions. Several Aurors had been left stationed around the werewolf settlement as a guard should Greyback manage to return. They had cast anti-apparition charms in as wide an area as they could, to limit his chances of escape.
On finding the entrance to the clearing that Lawrence had described, the group had hung back while Thomas Bentley, senior Auror and one of the best for stealth and tracking, had assessed what they were dealing with. Bentley had confirmed that Greyback was indeed within the clearing, and, encouragingly, Bentley's own presence had gone unnoticed, which told them that Greyback was not using warning spells to alert him to intruders. It appeared that he was, as Lawrence had implied, arrogantly assuming that his powers of manipulation over his old peers would be enough to keep him hidden.
So far so good.
But the rest of Savage's orders didn't make sense to Tonks. Surely they should all be going in to surround Greyback, have as many wands turned on him as they could. Flushing him out to where the rest of the group lay in wait was all well and good, if they could be certain that this was the only exit.
Which they couldn't. They were in a goddamn forest. A forest full of ancient magic at that.
"Sir, she does have a point," Bentley said, and Savage turned to him. Tonks was torn between gratitude for Bentley's input and fury at Savage's attitude, that he should ignore her but acknowledge someone else saying the exact same thing, when she had worked in this department ten years longer than Bentley had. Probably because he was a man. Harry's ascension to official head of the department could not come fast enough.
"Potter said this is where they come to transform at the full moon, to keep their children safe," Savage said to Bentley. "It must be a secure space. There wouldn't be a lot of ways out, would there?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that none exist," Tonks protested. "More of us should go in. Surround him completely and get him right where he is. If enough of us are there in the first place-"
Savage shook his head. "We stick to the plan," he said. "You four will get close enough to corner him. We'll be lying in wait in case he makes a break for it, which he may well do. He'll be easy to catch off guard if he thinks there are only four of you. If more of us go in, there is a greater chance of giving ourselves away before we're in the prime position, and you and Potter said yourselves that this needed the quiet approach."
"But that's not the same-"
"Auror Lupin, you will do as you are told or someone else will take your place," Savage said coolly. "It's only because of Potter's input that you're going in at all. Your stealth and tracking record is hardly exemplary."
Harry's hand gripped her arm, warning her against retorting further. She choked down her anger. There was only one enemy in the woods with them right now, and it wasn't Savage. She said nothing more and Savage resumed.
"Right you four, silencing shrouds, disillusionment charms. Checked? Off you go."
"Hang on." Tonks had just thought of something else.
Savage wheeled round impatiently.
"What now?"
Tonks hesitated, the words on the tip of her tongue, and then swallowed them back. Lawrence's recent words echoed in her ears.
You can't guarantee our safety against Greyback.
She could. There was one way to guarantee everyone's safety against him. And arguing with Savage wasn't the way to do it. She couldn't afford to annoy him further and risk being taken off the frontline. She needed to get in that clearing.
"Nothing," she said. Savage made an impatient rasping noise in his throat, then stepped back and motioned them through the branches.
The four of them, soundless and invisible, entered the clearing, a large patch of grass surrounded by tall silvery trees. It would have been a beautiful sight, if it weren't for the figure at the far end of the area and the knowledge of who he was and all that he stood for. Greyback sat under a large tree, lazing against the trunk, filthy and matted as he ever had been. Even from the other side of the clearing, Tonks could see him filing one of his long, claw-like nails. The sight brought bile to her throat.
As planned, they approached step by step. Even though Tonks could not see her colleagues, she knew where they were. Bentley to the left, Hughes on the right. Harry also slightly to her right and two steps ahead of her.
They'd only need to be a little closer and they'd have him cornered.
Then, as they stepped within fifteen metres of the large tree, Greyback's head jerked and he looked up sharply.
Tonks came to a dead halt, and knew, purely by Auror's instinct, that the other three had stopped too. They had been caught out. Just as she had thought they might be in those few moments before Savage had sent them in. If Savage had treated her with any respect at all he would have known it too, that a werewolf's sense of smell was heightened following the full moon, particularly after a fully fledged transformation. Greyback might not be able to see or hear them, but the wind was at their backs, and they were now close enough for him to smell them.
Harry had evidently realised too, because as Greyback stood up and grabbed his wand, he threw off his own disillusionment charm. Tonks imitated this gesture. She wasn't prepared to attack even Greyback from an invisible vantage point. Their enemies should always see who faced them.
Hughes had let her disillusion fall away as well. Bentley was nowhere to be seen.
A wall of light exploded from Greyback's wand. Hughes received the full blast of it and was sent flying several metres back, landing in a crumpled heap on the earthy floor. Tonks was also thrown to the ground, but with less force. Harry, in a better position and quicker with the shield charm, blocked the spell completely, and in his next move had disarmed Greyback. His wand was flying out of his hand even as Tonks struggled to her feet.
"The game's over, Fenrir," Harry called, as he caught the wand deftly in his own hand. He and Tonks took several steps closer. "We have back up. Give yourself up now."
Fenrir let out a cackle of laughter. Tonks stared back at him, the filthy, vile, savage creature who stood before them. The werewolf who merited the title of bloodthirsty beast.
"Had you fooled, didn't I?" he said. "As if I could ever want a life playing by your pathetic little rules."
He spat the words at them.
"Returning to your life sentence in Azkaban suits you better, does it?" Harry said coolly. "Fine by us."
"Smug as always, I see, Potter," Greyback sneered. "We'll see about that... oh but who's this you've brought with you?"
Greyback's eyes fell on Tonks, and she knew that he recognised her from the gleam of triumph in them.
"Lupin, isn't it, nowadays?" he breathed. "How's your mate? Back home protecting the cubs, I hope. How I would so love to pay them all a visit."
Tonks was shaking. She had only known hatred like this once before, when staring Bellatrix Lestrange down in the Battle of Hogwarts all those years ago.
She had failed to kill Bellatrix that day. And how she had paid for that failure.
She couldn't afford to make that mistake a second time. The thought gripped her again, that there was only one way to guarantee anyone's safety against Greyback, only one way to ensure that he never again maimed an innocent human life.
The thought entered her mind with far more force than before, and in that instant, she knew she would not settle for doing anything less. Yet it was terrifying. Tonks had never before planned to take another life. It had always happened. The quickest of curses in the heat of battle. An unavoidable consequence of her defensive reflexes. This was different. Different, because it wasn't the only option. Different, because it wasn't the Auror way anymore.
He deserves it.
It went against every principle she worked by, lived her life by.
And what about Greyback? He has no principles at all.
He would stop at nothing to get back at them. All of them. Lawrence. Maisie. Jasper. Harry. Remus. Teddy. Hope. Even if he was sent back to Azkaban, they might not be safe forever.
You don't have a choice.
She didn't.
But even as the deadly words were building in her mind, forming in the back of her throat, Greyback made a lunging movement towards Hughes, who was back on her feet and striding towards him as well. Harry, diving to his colleague's aid, shot a stunning spell, but it missed as Greyback changed direction at lightening speed, and, breaking through the now widened gap between Harry and Tonks, sprinted towards the other end of the clearing.
He was going in the opposite direction to where their colleague stood waiting beyond the trees. Which meant that, as Tonks had suspected and tried to tell Savage, there must be another way to get out of this clearing.
"Stun him!" Harry roared, firing curses from both the wands in his hand.
Greyback was agile and both Harry and Hughes' curses missed him by millimetres. Tonks sprinted after him as he reached the edge of the trees, her wand raised, jets of red light streaming from the tip.
"Stupefy!" Bentley, finally letting the disillusionment charm fall away, appeared two metres away and hit their pursuit square in the back. The curse, combined with Tonks's own spells, brought Greyback down in an instant, and he fell hard against the roots of a thickset tree.
Tonks's legs continued to carry her forwards, even as Bentley retreated.
"Guard him," he barked at her. "Stun him again if he shows any signs of revival. I'll get Savage and everyone up here."
She had seconds. Seconds before someone else took charge. Seconds to do what no one else would be willing to do.
"You can't guarantee our safety against Greyback."
She could.
If she acted now.
"Tonks!"
Harry's yell came from right behind her, and she heard the note of warning in his voice.
Her mind was made up. With a jab of her wand, the tree above Greyback's limp form ignited.
"Tonks, wait!"
Harry reached her and grabbed her arm, understanding blazing in his green eyes as fiercely as the branches that burned on the tree ahead of them. He met her gaze and Tonks waited for him to tell her not to do it, to reason with her, to stop her from dealing the fatal blow.
He said nothing. His grip on her wrist slackened moments later. She knew that he could find no justification for the words, no reason why they shouldn't kill the man who lay before them, the man who had played such a destructive part in their lives and the lives of those they loved most.
Everything else happened in a matter of seconds.
Harry let go of her wand arm completely and Tonks slashed it through the air. The burning tree crashed down on Greyback with the force of a small bomb, and for the second time in minutes, Tonks was blasted off her feet. Sparks and smoke went up in a great billowing cloud, just as Savage and their colleagues reached them.
"GET BACK!" Savage bellowed.
Tonks allowed Harry to drag her back several more metres. The heat of the flames scorched her skin and she winced as another spark exploded from the fire and grazed her cheek. But she did not take her eyes of the blaze before them.
"FINITE! EXTINGUIO! AGUAMENTI!"
Savage, along with several other colleagues, was trying to undo the damage, but Tonks knew that it wouldn't make a difference. Fenrir Greyback was already dead.
"What happened?" Savage rounded on Tonks and Harry as the flames died away. Tonks could make out a charred pair of legs poking out from under the trunk. Some of the other Aurors were moving in to assess the damage, but Harry stayed resolutely beside her, and she could feel his silent sympathy, his support, his solidarity, and she was grateful for it, relieved that Harry understood what none of their other colleagues would have done.
Neither of them answered Savage.
"What. Were. You. Doing?" Savage snarled at Tonks. "You know our orders. We bring them in alive, unless there is no other way."
"I didn't see any other way," she said at once. As the smoke cleared, so did her mind, and into it crept the overwhelming certitude that she had done the right thing, whatever Savage might think.
"Capture, not kill," Savage spat at her. "How many times have you yourself said those words? You know full well we could have captured him. He was down - Bentley had already stunned him. And instead, you thought you'd have a bit of fun?"
"Fun?" Tonks spat right back at him. It was taking every ounce of resolve not to point her wand in his face. Aurors did not turn on each other. But still. What she wouldn't give to smash the lazy, self-satisfied bastard right on the nose. "You think I did this for fun?"
She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked him straight in the eye. "Is there no one you would kill for, Savage? Is there no one in this world who has caused so much pain and suffering to those you love that only ending their life can be enough?"
"You are not paid to be sentimental," Savage retorted. "You are paid to do your job of catching Dark Wizards. Catching them. When the Minister hears-"
"Enough."
The single word broke their argument and Tonks subsided. Harry's voice brought a rush of respect and calm that Savage had never been able to inspire in her.
"What's done is done," Harry continued. Tonks smiled to herself in spite of everything. This was her favourite way of bringing an end to an argument as well. "And none of us can pretend he is any great loss, Sir. We will speak to the Minister ourselves when we're back and tell him what happened. He can decide how to proceed."
Savage's scowl deepened. It had never pleased him that Harry and Tonks held so much favour with Kingsley. But a criminal killed in the chase was and always had been a matter for the Minister of Magic, and Savage, whatever else he might be, was a stickler for rules and procedure. He said nothing more, merely swept over towards his colleagues to begin the clear up.
Harry turned to Tonks and gripped her shoulder tightly.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah."
He raised his eyebrows, knowing the memories that would have been stirred up by the turn of events. Memories of a far bigger explosion... many years ago...
"I'm fine, honestly."
Was she fine? She wasn't sure. The ringing in her ears was already lessening. The physical damage from being thrown to the ground was minimal. But she had not killed anyone for years. She had never killed like this.
Greyback was dead.
Gone.
Slowly the shock of what she had just done was giving way to relief. Never again would he threaten her family. Never again would he threaten anyone's family.
"Are you angry?" she said abruptly. "At what I did?" The words left her mouth before she could stop them, stupidly childish for her forty-six years, but she couldn't help it. Savage's approval meant nothing to her. Harry's meant a great deal more. Certain though she was that she had done the right thing, Harry would not have acted as she had done. She was sure of it.
Harry was staring over at the charred tree and Tonks noted the haunted look in his eyes. Greyback had affected his life too, albeit indirectly. Where would they all be now in this world if Remus had never been bitten, if his school friends had never made the decisions they had made because of his condition? What would have come to pass without the wolf, the stag, the dog and the rat?
For better or for worse, they would never know. Tonks knew that Harry would always wonder.
"No," he replied at last. "Of course I'm not angry."
He finally tore his gaze away from the tree and looked at her.
"It's sixty years too late, though, isn't it?"
o
"So – so are you in trouble?" Teddy asked anxiously, as her mother finished the story.
She shook her head wearily.
"No," she said. "There will be an enquiry, there always is in cases like this. But Aurors have the authorisation to kill if necessary. Savage, for all he made a fuss today, won't want to be bothered with this in his last month in office. Harry will back me up all the way, and Kingsley won't press the matter further than he needs to."
Remus was very quiet.
"Did you speak to Lawrence again?" he said at last.
"Yes, we had to let them know Greyback was dead, to spare them the worry, but as we'd wiped his memory and dropped our disguises he obviously didn't remember us from earlier. We were official. Told him we'd discovered the body of Fenrir Greyback in the woods, asked if he knew about it. He said he didn't, and that was that."
"I remember him," Remus said softly. "And Della. They were always good to me. Some of the few who were."
He lapsed into silence again.
"What about the little boy Greyback attacked?" Teddy asked.
Tonks looked stricken.
"He's in St Mungo's. His parents are distraught, naturally. But with the right treatment, constant Wolfsbane and a more accepting society than before, we can hope that he won't suffer too much when the wound itself has healed. And who knows where we'll be with lycanthropy treatment in a few years."
Hope had listened intently to her mother's story but did not say a word. When the talking had subsided all together, she put her empty mug in the sink, and went upstairs.
"Is Hope alright?" Tonks asked, finally distracted from her own thoughts and looking worriedly between her husband and son. "She's very quiet."
Teddy hesitated. "Sort of," he said. "She doesn't want to talk about it, but I know she doesn't mind me telling you."
He recounted what Hope had told him about the boggart. By the end of the tale, Remus was even paler than before and Tonks looked livid.
"This Edgecombe woman made a thirteen-year-old tackle a boggart in front of the whole class, when she'd specifically asked to be excused?"
"Dora-" Remus began. She rounded on him, even more menacing than usual with her scratched face and wild hair.
"Don't Dora me. Would you have done that?"
"Of course not!" Remus said sharply. "But teachers make mistakes like the rest of us, remember. It sounds like she had no idea what would happen and if she had she wouldn't have done it."
"It's still unacceptable," Tonks raged. "I'm going to complain."
"Mum, don't say anything," Teddy said, his forehead knotted in consternation. "Please don't. Hope would hate it, and it sounds like Neville's going to have a word with Professor Edgecombe anyway. She – she just wants things to be right. I can't remember when I last saw her that upset, but it was you and Dad she was upset about, not herself."
"OK," Tonks sighed, calming down and rubbing a hand over her eyes. She did not have the energy for more anger that night. "OK. Thanks Teddy. But we will sit down with her in the morning and speak to her properly. I had no idea that she was so worried about Greyback. I wish we'd insisted on talking to her before term. Everything was such a shock and we thought she was fine. She always said she wasn't bothered about him."
"I know," Teddy said. "But she's not great at showing how she's really feeling, is she?"
Tonks looked sideways at Remus.
"Bit like someone else I know."
He smiled wanly.
"I'm going to bed," Teddy added, after another silence. "Night."
He patted his father on the shoulder and kissed his mother on the cheek. As he mounted the stairs, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, his mother collapse into his father's arms, shaking, and knew that they had been holding everything together purely for the benefit of their children.
He put his head into his sister's room before going to his own. The nightlight that Hope still slept with, despite not needing it at school, glowed brightly in the corner.
"Night, Dopey."
"Did you tell Mum and Dad what I told you on the bus?"
"Yes," he said, looking worried suddenly. "You wanted me to really, didn't you?"
She nodded, fiddling intently with one of her fingernails.
"So - so are things OK now? Or are they mad at me?"
Teddy laughed softly and came right into the room. He reached out a hand to ruffle her hair, and she did not bat him away like she usually did.
"We're family, you idiot," he said. "Things were always OK."
O
Hope was not asleep, merely curled up in a ball under her duvet, when her mother checked in on her on her way to bed. She heard the soft whisper of "Good night, my love," but didn't reply.
Half an hour later, she heard the heavier tread of her father's footsteps. He came right into the room, and she felt the bed covers move a little as he planted a kiss somewhere above her head.
"Dad?"
She emerged from the duvet in time to see him pause in the doorway and turn back around.
"I thought you were asleep," he said, coming back to sit down on the edge of the bed next to her.
She shook her head.
"Are you alright?" she said in a small voice.
He let out a soft laugh. "I'm fine, Hope. And that's not for you to worry about, anyway. It's my job to make sure that you're alright."
That was all very well for him to say, Hope thought. But she did worry about him. All the time. And she had spent a whole term acting like she didn't.
She struggled with the words. She knew she should say sorry, but she had always found that little word so hard to say, even when it was burning a hole in her chest, her lungs screaming it silently behind her rib cage. In the end, she went for a different approach, which she hoped would convey the same thing.
"Dad, I'll write to you loads next term. I will. Honestly."
"Well, that would be lovely," he said gently. "But as long as you're having fun at school, and as long as we're OK, it really doesn't matter to me. I just want you to be happy."
"School is fun, and we are OK, and I am happy. But I'm still going to write to you lots."
He laughed again at her stubborn tone.
"Then that's fine with me."
She collapsed against him and hugged him tightly, wanting to cry again, such was her relief that she was home, and that Greyback was dead and her family safe and no one was angry with her. But one bout of hysterics was quite enough for one day, and she so hated to appear weak. He returned the embrace and kissed the top of her head.
"Dad?"
"Mmm?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, sweetheart. Very much."
Hope barely even heard the last two words. Sleep was crashing over her in waves, and Remus had to prise her off him and lay her back down a few minutes later. But he was smiling as he shut the bedroom door behind him, two of his greatest worries having been lifted from his chest in the space of a couple of hours.
Hope slept on that night, dreams devoid of bloodthirsty monsters.
OOO