A/N: Chapter 3 of my sensational series :) Enjoy.

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.


The men spun around as the bolts zipped past them and thudded into something in the trees. There was a terrible growl.
"What the hell was that?" demanded the shorter man. Draco recognised them now. Well, the reunion would have to wait.
"A Melding," he replied, moving out towards them. "It was either tracking you two, or me. Or all of us. Damn near had you." He paused on the edge of the tree line, waiting, listening. He could hear the monster's grunts of pain, and started towards the sound.
"You don't want to go in there!" Wolfshead paused and threw him his crossbow.
"If it comes out of the woods, shoot it. It will only die if the bolts pierce the back of the neck or the skull."
"What about you? You're mental, it will kill you!" Wolfshead paused and drew his sword. The blade had an eerie, ethereal glow to it, and the visitors drew back from it.
"I am very hard to kill, old friend," replied Wolfshead grimly, and set off to face the brute in the forest.

He found it almost immediately. A colossal, bear-like creature, part beast, part human, part demon. As Wolfshead approached, it stood, and pulled the second crossbow bolt out of its leg. The first one lay where it had thrown it seconds earlier, a few feet away. The wounds healed instantly. Wolfshead swore. It turned to face him, evil eyes glowing red.

"Come on then, you ugly whoreson, come and get me," taunted Wolfshead. The creature snarled and charged, swiping at him with its huge talons. He ducked under the enormous arm, then lunged with the sword. The creature swung around so the blade missed and Wolfshead cannoned into it's side. The beast rose up on its hind legs, knocking Wolfshead to the ground, and then struck. Wolfshead rolled away at the last moment and leapt to his feet. He lunged again with the sword, sinking it into the creature's shoulder. It screamed with pain and fury, and the other arm swung up across its chest and struck Wolfshead, who was flung off and hit the ground awkwardly. There was a sickening snap as his right arm broke, and he could feel blood trickling down his side. The Melding lunged again, and Wolfshead rolled away from the attack, wincing as his weight fell on his injured arm. He got to his feet unsteadily, and noticed that his sword was laying a few feet away. What made the situation even worse was that the beast was in between him and his sword, on all fours, and his crossbow was on the other side of the trees. He feinted one way. The creature darted the same way. He tried the other way, the creature again following his every movement.

"Difficult bastard, aren't you?" he chuckled, shaking his head, then ran straight towards the Melding. The Melding dived towards him. As the animal struck, Wolfshead jumped. He leaped over it, swearing as he hit the ground heavily next to his sword, and picked it up awkwardly in his left hand. They faced each other again.

"Come on then, you bastard!" Wolfshead hissed. Both man and beast charged at the same time. As they were about to collide he jumped onto the beast's back, sinking the sword into its neck and giving it a savage twist, then jumping off as the creature fell. It rolled, and lay twitching for a moment, then all was still.

Wolfshead pulled his sword free with difficulty, then gave himself a quick examination. His right leg was tender and would need strapping. He gently ran a hand across his chest, feeling for any snapped ribs. There appeared to be none. The scratches in his side, however, were quite deep and would require stitching. He was starting to feel a bit woozy. He staggered out of the forest, back to where his old friends were waiting.

He saw them waiting for him at the edge of the tree line. They noticed him and he saw relief wash over their faces.
"Close one, eh, Potter, Weasley?" he said, greeting them
"I thought it was you, Malfoy," Harry said.
"Not any longer, Potter" replied Wolfshead sadly. "I'm Wolfshead. Dreaded hunter and hunted, that's me."
"We heard what you'd been doing," said Ron frostily. "We've been trying to find you for five years. Always managed to be in a place a couple of days behind you."
"Well, I've made sure I'm pretty difficult to track down, for obvious reasons, like the bastard in the woods. Oh, and thanks for all your help," Wolfshead smiled sarcastically.

"I told them not to," said a third person. Wolfshead spun around, then saw a man dressed in the pale blue robes of the Source priests sat on a boulder. He grinned.
"Ah, Kai, my friend, good to see you." Wolfshead staggered over to the man and pulled him into a hug. "I'd like you to meet two old friends from my schooldays. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley." Harry and Ron nodded at him.

"I know. I've been helping them find you for the last six months."
"Blimey, I must be hard to find if even the great Kai can't locate me! Six months? You only took two to track down all the Death Eaters before the Battle!" The priest smiled.
"Like you said, you make sure you're difficult to find."

Wolfshead turned towards the house and walked towards it, stumbling. The priest viewed him in concern. "Draco, I think you'd better lie down. and let me look at you."
"I'll be fine, my friend. Just let me get inside." He stumbled again and
paused, catching his breath. His eyes kept unfocusing.
"You're a bad liar, you know, Malfoy. Always have been," said Harry, walking forwards with Ron to help him into the house.
"Didn't you hear me? I'll be fine!" Wolfshead snapped.
"No, you won't," replied Kai. "You've lost quite a lot of blood. Just let them help you and I'll see to you. Years of being indestructible have made him arrogant," he added in a whisper to Harry and Ron, who grinned.

"Nah, he was always like that, even at school," said Harry. "Come on, Hero, lie down." They dumped him on the sofa.
"Ouch! You could have been more gentle!"
"You fight a Melding with no complaint and you moan about us being a little bit rough?" Harry shook his head. "You're impossible, you know that?"
"I pride myself on it," smirked Wolfshead. He frowned as he regarded Ron, who was still eyeing him warily. "Thank you for helping me." Ron nodded.

"You killed my brother." Wolfshead groaned. He'd known this was bound to come up. Damn!
"I'm sorry, Ron. But he was a Dark wizard and slaughtered my family. What would you do?"
"The same, I guess."
"Well, what do you want then? Weregild?" Weregild was a method of paying money to end a blood feud.
"Nothing. I want you to know that I forgive you." Wolfshead sighed, partly with relied, partly with pain.
"No matter how much forgiveness I get, Ron, I will never be able to forgive myself." The priest moved over him, asking Harry and Ron to step back, and laid his hands on Draco. Ron started to speak, and Kai silenced him with a wave of his hand.

Five minutes later, Wolfshead was asleep, and Kai stepped back.
"What did you do?" asked Ron.
"Source priests have a certain amount of healing powers," replied Kai. "I merely sealed up his wounds and mended the break in his arm. It's not hard when you know how. Besides, he'll need everything working for the task you two have for him." They nodded. "Do you think he will undertake it?"
"Who knows," replied Harry. "After the last fifteen years, he may not want to. But we can still try. If not, we'll have to send Macmillan."
"Macmillan? He's useless!" exclaimed Ron. "He'll get himself killed!"
"But if Draco won't do it, then we have no choice, Ron. It's our last chance to eradicate the Dark Brotherhood."
"I'm really not relishing another war, Harry."
"None of us are, Ron. But it's better than being ruled over by them." Ron nodded grimly, then turned towards the fire. They sat mostly in silence for the next hour, then Wolfshead woke.

"By all the gods, you're a wonder, Kai," he exclaimed, examining himself. He picked up his sword in his right hand, and went through a couple of moves with it. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, my friend. I shall leave you now, I believe Harry and Ron have a matter which they would like to discuss with you." Wolfshead watched the priest out, then turned to his old friends.

"So, why have you been searching for me?" he asked. Ron hesitated.
"We need you to come with us," he replied. "There's someone who wants to speak to you. Said they had a job for you, if you're willing to take it on. Willing to pay you a hundred thousand Galleons." Wolfshead
whistled.
"Must be some job, if they're willing to pay that much." He regarded them again. They seemed uncomfortable. "What exactly is it?" They didn't meet his eyes.

"He wouldn't say," replied Harry, shifting uncomfortably.
"Who do I have to kill?"
"Look, man, Harry said he wouldn't say what the job was. We don't even know if it involves killing or not," Ron tried to reason with him. Wolfshead turned on him, eyes blazing.
"No, you look! This person has ordered you to come and find me. He's willing to pay a hundred thousand Galleons to hire the most feared, deadly man in the country! And you're telling me it doesn't involve killing?" He shook his head. "Look, I..." he faltered slightly. "In order to get some money to find the men who butchered my family, I hired myself out to a man who paid me to...dispose of someone. He offered me a high price. The higher the price the more important the person. And I did it. Shot him in the back while he was in his garden. I'm not proud of it. And I will never, ever do it again. Understand?" They nodded, then Harry and Ron rose as if to leave. "However," they stopped. "It doesn't mean that I won't come with you, see this person, find out the task. Then I can refuse him personally."
"Thank you," Harry said, shaking his hand.
"It's nothing. Really. Besides, I have to be moving from here. The locals are getting nervous. Come, I'll show you to your beds."

Draco lay in bed awake that night long after Ron and Harry had drifted off to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the man he'd shot for money, his body writhing in pain as he slowly died. It was a source of deep regret to him. He hadn't wanted to do it, but the need for vengeance was too great and overpowered his moral judgement. And it would haunt him until the day he died, he knew. And he wondered, as he tried in vain to sleep, whether he had done the right thing in agreeing to the meeting.

****

He approached a stream. Beside it, Ella and Gellan were playing, the babes asleep in carry-cots nearby. He sneaked up beside Ella and threw his arms around her. She spun around, a knife gleaming in her hand, and stabbed him in the belly.
"What was that for?" he whispered, staring at her in disbelief. "It's me, Draco! Your husband!"
"You're no better than them," she replied, indicating the riders fast approaching. As they drew near, the scene dissolved, and he watched as the raiders ransacked his home and butchered his family, while he knelt, unable to stop them, screaming in pain and fury. As they left, he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.
"Draco, get up."
"Leave me! I want to die!"
"Draco, you have to get up!"
"I deserve to die! I'm just like them! Leave me!"
"Draco!" The hands on his shoulders hauled him up...

And he found himself lying in his own bed, Harry's green eyes watching him with concern.
"Bad dream?" Harry asked. Wolfshead nodded.
"I really am no better than they, am I?" he whispered to himself.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Wolfshead rose and opened the curtains. Dawn was just breaking. "I'll prepare some breakfast, and we leave when we've eaten."