"I will kill you now, my brother," Larry whispered loudly, a venom clinging to the edges of his deep voice. The look on his face was of pure hatred.

Ginger gasped loudly. Wolf, without thinking, slapped a hand over her mouth and made a quieting noise in the back of his throat. Ginger nodded to let Wolf know to let her go and leaned forward, a shocked expression on her face. "They're brothers?" she mouthed to Wolf. Wolf shrugged tightly.

"Wolf, I'm thinking we should get out of here before Voldemort kills Larry. I think he knows we're here," Harry whispered, grabbing Wolf's arm to get his attention. Ron nodded to let them know that he knew and Hermione started to crawl towards the door. Suddenly, she stopped and gasped.

"Wel, well, well," came a hideous voice from the door. Everybody whirled, but Voldemort or Larry didn't seem to notice. Larry began taunting Voldemort again. "A Potter, a Granger, a Weasely, a Prince, and a Bates … Hrm …. What should I do with you all now?"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry hissed. He lunged at Malfoy, but missed slightly. Both boys went tumbling to the floor with loud clattering noises following them. Harry crawled quickly to the door, toting Malfoy behind him. "Voldemort's in there!"

"Ah, ah, ah, don't go anywhere, children!" a voice snapped. Ron cursed loudly as they discovered Voldemort facing them, cruel face twisted with a strange, sadistic glee. Wolf nearly puked and Ginger paled considerably. "Stand up. Get against the wall. I'll deal with you in a few minutes."

"I've defeated you before, Vold--" Harry began.

"Not at full power, you haven't. Get against the wall and I'll spare your life for a few moments while I deal with my brother," Voldemort snapped.

Wolf stood up slowly, his knees shaking and hands quivering. "No," he said, the word meek. Voldemort heard, however.

Voldemort's face twisted suddenly. "What did you say?" he demanded, his voice quiet.

"I said NO!" Wolf shouted, suddenly furious. "I said no! I'm not gonna listen to you! I'm not gonna get against that wall! NO!" He whipped out his wand and aimed it directly at Voldemort. Years of frustration welled up inside of him and he shouted some words that Lupin had

taught him. Voldemort laughed, his laughter loud and shrill. Wolf's hair stood on end.

"Foolish boy," he taunted. "Foolish, foolish boy."

"Forget the boy, Tom," Larry growled. "It's ME whose trying to kill you!"

"I'll deal with you in a moment, dear brother." Voldemort said simply, pointing his wand at the helpless Wolf. He shouted three words and the world around Wolf spun. Suddenly, he found himself flying back, slamming painfully into the wall, manacles tightening around his ankles and wrists and midsection. For the second time in an hour, he was chained to something. At least he could breathe.

"Wolf! Talk to me!" Ginger demanded when Wolf's head stopped swimming.

"I'm fine. Seriously. Ugh. Why am I always chained to something?" Wolf complained, looking at Ginger down by his feet. "A spell to get me out of this would be nice."

"Too advanced," Ron muttered sorrowfully.

Wolf's attention was drawn away from his situation to the heated conversation being exchanged by Larry and Voldemort.

"Thomas Riddle was NOBODY'S father!" Voldemort hissed.

"He was MY father!" Larry snapped. "Just because your mother was a --"

"What my mother was is nothing to you, Muggle!" Voldemort snapped. "She's dead! And that's that! Just because your father conceived me doesn't make me his son."

"Actually, it does," Hermione muttered from where she and Ginger were frantically working at a manacle on Wolf's left ankle.

Malfoy looked terrified, something Wolf had never seen him look before. The pale skin was flushed with terror and he had trouble standing. He was leaning against the wall, struggling to breathe. "I've never been in a situation like this before," he whispered to himself.

"Malfoy! Shut up and help!" Ron snapped from where he was working on one of the manacles with his rusty knife. "If you know any cutting spells, it would certainly help get us out of here faster!"

"No way, man," Malfoy said, backing up against the wall as Larry's and Voldemort's conversation grew to a peak.

"I've had enough of you, older brother," Larry hissed. "I'm going to kill you now."

Voldemort yawned. "I doubt you could and it would be very inconvenient for both of us. They don't give estates to murderers, after all…"

"I don't a care about some estate!" Larry screamed, his eyes bugging out with disbelief. (AN: there were several curses in that sentence, but I'll let you be creative and think up your own)

Suddenly, Wolf's left leg was free. He kicked out experimentally and Ginger ducked. "Sorry!" he whispered. Voldemort and Larry glared at each other for a full minute, while everybody else in the room shivered from fear. Draco wasn't much help. His blond hair was sweaty and he was still leaning against the wall, He kept rubbing at his face with his hands, shivering and panting in fear. He had not encountered anybody that evil before, even though his father had been one of Voldemort's henchmen. Neither had Wolf or Ginger, but they were both holding up amazingly.

Suddenly, Larry shot a flurry of electric purply bolts at Voldemort, who was knocked full in the stomach. Voldemort's charm on Wolf's chains was broken and the tall thirteen-year-old tumbled to the floor, knocking Ron and Malfoy over. There was a scrambling to get onto feet and the group headed towards the door. Malfoy let out an expletive. "It's locked!" he cursed.

Wolf turned back to look at Voldemort while the group huddled around the door. Ginger was watching the heated exchange as well. Suddenly, Voldemort raised his wand. Wolf saw what was coming and knew about the Dark Lord's power. Instinctively, he pulled Ginger into a hug, hiding the sight from her eyes. He buried his eyes in the top of her head and tried to shut his ears as the initial train-blast-volume blast came. Then the sickening gurgle that was Larry dying.

"Is it over?" Ginger asked softly.

Wolf, well aware at how close they were, opened one eye and saw that Larry was no more. He let Ginger go and backed up almost awkwardly. "It's over."

Ginger opened her mouth to say something, but an evil cackle behind her startled the group. Harry yelled loudly and Hermione screamed. Voldemort appeared behind Wolf, wand pointed at Hermione's shoulder and his hand gripping her neck. Harry and Ron were fighting to restrain themselves. Draco stood in the background, white as a sheet.

Wolf looked futilely around for something to help them out. He was briefly nauseated by the sight of a pile of ashes, what had been Larry, lying in a pile next to a wand. His futile search ended back a Voldemort, still threatening Hermione's life. Harry looked about ready to commit murder and Ron wasn't far behind.

"Drop your wands or the girl dies. All of you, including the Malfoy boy," Voldemort's grip on Hermione's neck tightened. Hermione grew paler.

Ginger put her hand Wolf's shoulder to stop him from leaping at Voldemort and killing himself in the process. Wolf growled, frustrated. Voldemort spat in his face, laughing cruelly. Wolf wanted to scream with anger, frustration, rage, etc. Instead, he shuddered from the twisted, cruel face that had been shoved into his and shrugged Ginger's hand off of his shoulder.

"Voldemort, that might not be the wisest idea. I have a charm halfway said and I'm pointing my wand straight at your neck," a voice behind Voldemort said. Wolf recognized the voice, and Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked relieved. "Let the girl go. Now."

Voldemort glared at Wolf, to Harry, to Ron, to Ginger, and finally at Hermione before letting the lithe fifth-year go. He shoved her into Harry and the two hugged for a minute. Then Hermione gave Ron a quick hug before turning to glare angrily at Voldemort, her shoulders even with Harry's. "Now drop your wand," the voice continued. Voldemort set his wand down. "I've been wanting to kill you ever since you killed James and Lily, Voldemort. But, heh heh, that would just drop me down to your level. Against that wall right there, hear me?"

Remus Lupin, one of Wolf's bosses, appeared as Voldemort slowly walked to the wall. "Peter," he called to the stack of crates. "Come out and get against the wall with your master. Harry, make sure he doesn't get away as a rat."

Harry shifted to his bear form. Hermione slowly grew into a tiger. Ron finished it off with a blue phoenix. Between the three animals, there was no escaping for poor Peter Pettigrew, hidden in the crates. Wolf, Malfoy, and Ginger stood awkwardly the background whilst the four people dealt with the two men. Voldemort and Pettigrew were tied up and gagged. "Too easy," Wolf muttered.

Ginger screamed.

Every head glanced up as they saw Ginger, blood welling out of her arm, faint right into a surprised Wolf's arms. Wolf glanced up sharply and saw a glow-in-the-dark magical snake slithering away. "Snake bite!" he cried.

That instant of distraction was enough. Voldemort and Pettigrew Apparated out. Harry leapt futilely, falling onto his haunches in defeat. Lupin sighed wearily. "Sirius could have been free, too," Wolf heard him mutter. Wolf hefted Ginger's unconscious body and, running through the now-unlocked door and to the fireplace. There was a frantic scrambling for floo powder and then they were back at Hogwarts, coughing.

Ginger, like all inanimate objects, grew heavier with each running step to the infirmary. The infirmary was on the third floor and he was on the fifth. After plunging head-first down two flights of stairs, trick stairs and all, he arrived on the third floor and raced on, panting and sweating. Worry clouded his mind. He didn't care how loud he was being -- if she didn't get that bite looked at in time, it could mean death. And Wolf didn't want the only girl that he truly liked injured, much less dead.

Madam Pomfrey opened the door after a moment of frantic knocking, a robe thrown over her nightgown and her hair in curlers. "What is it?" she asked crankily, gesturing for Wolf to enter.

"Snake bite."

"I don't even want to know how she got it right now," Madam Pomfrey said, gesturing for Wolf to set Ginger down on the first bed. She prodded the snakebite, which had turned a nasty shade of green. "A terribly lethal one. Hrmm…" She paused a moment, prodding here and there. "You're lucky you got her here in time."

Wolf just nodded as Madam Pomfrey disappeared into the herb/medicine room and emerged with a large black bottle. "I'm going to need your help. Hold her mouth open." With shaking hands, he forced her mouth open and watched as Madam Pomfrey poured some of the liquid into her mouth. "Okay, let's sit her partially up, so she swallows it and doesn't choke on it."

Madam Pomfrey instructed him on what to do and set a timer beside Ginger's bed. "If she doesn't wake up by the time that timer goes off, come get me. You can stay on that bed over there. I'm sorry to leave you to do this, but I've gotta get some rest. There were some problems earlier and I need to sleep."

Wolf eventually fell asleep, but it was an uneasy night. He kept tossing and turning, worried. He woke up to somebody shaking him.

"Hey, Wolf. Who set this timer? It's about to set off."

"Ginger?" Wolf asked, shooting up and out of the hospital cot. He swept her into a powerful bear hug.

"What's the big deal? It's just a timer," Ginger said, surprised.

"No! That's not it! You nearly died!"

Ginger paled and she staggered. "I did what?" she asked in a soft voice. "I nearly died?"

"Snake bite."

"Yuck. I hate snakes," Ginger said, rubbing her arm where she'd been bitten. Wolf could see a scar there, but that was no big deal.

"Ginger?"

"Hm?"

Wolf glanced around and then looked back at her, seriousness reflecting in his eyes. "Don't ever leave me. Promise?"

"I promise."

~~~~

"So THAT'S the story Dad never told me, Aunt Herm?" Cubbie asked, his eyes wide. He was thin, like his father, with the same green eyes, but his hair was a very distinct ginger color.

"Yes. The full story. Your mother should be here to get you any minute now."

"Boy, why don't they tell me any of these things?" Cubbie asked in a surprised tone as he scrambled to get his jacket. Robbie, James, Carrie, and Lizzie, the Potter Quadruplets hadn't stayed up for the whole story that their mother was telling Cubbie. They were all sleeping peacefully around the room atop their sleeping bags. Their father was out on a trip with Cubbie's father, Wolf. Cubbie's mother was coming to get him.

Hermione smiled. "There were many adventures after that, but that was the first. Look, there's your mum, Cubbie. Better hurry." The small eight-year-old scrambled to put his shoes on and ran out to the car, eager to tell his ginger-haired mother what he'd learned for the day. Mrs. Prince and Mrs. Potter exchanged grins for old time's sake and then The Princemobile, an old 2000 mustang, drove off into the cold English night.