Wolf waved his hand in front of his face, vanishing the bloodstains on his face and in his hair. Refastening his hair into his ponytail, he thought over what had happened this evening.

His fight had apparently caused a bit of a ruckus, and teachers had appeared; finding him bloodstained, standing over four unconscious bodies. Without even trying to listen to him, the others had been led down to the hospital wing, and Wolf had been escorted at wand-point to the headmasters office by his Potions Professor.

Wolf was not a happy man.

His thoughts snapped back to reality as the door behind him opened, revealing the tall form of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts.

Seating himself behind his desk, the old man put his hands on his table, fingers intermeshed.

"Would you please care to explain what happened tonight, Mr. Wolf", the headmaster said, his face lacking the smile it usually wore.

Wolf told him his story; how he had been heading back to the common room; how he had caught the scent of blood on the air; how he had found the girl, held and beaten; how he had intervened. Dumbledore sat quietly throughout this, taking in every word; his face showing no emotion.

When he finished, Dumbledore sat quietly for a minute, before speaking up himself.

"It appears that your story... conflicts with the one we got from Mr. Schwartz. He claims that he was himself returning to his common room along with his friends, Mr. Smith and Mr. Graham, when he came upon you assaulting Ms. Weasley."

Wolf snarled at this.

"I swear, on the honor of my forefathers, that I did not touch the girl. They are lying cowards, who would rather shift the blame unto others than face the consequences of their actions." Dumbledore said nothing to this; instead, he looked deeply into his eyes.

Wolf felt the memories of the evening flash back into his mind. He raised an eyebrow at this, and even though he knew what Dumbledore was doing, he let him continue. When his memories fell back down, he spoke up.

"As you saw for yourself" - Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at this - "my story is true".

"Indeed, Mr. Wolf, it appears that it is so", Dumbledore replied.

Wolf had expected the common room to be empty – after all, it was after midnight – but, to his surprise, there seemed to be a few people awake. Most of them, he noticed, had red hair.

"You!". Wolf turned around at this, finding Ron advancing on him, wand in his hand. "How dare you come here after what you did to my sister!". Ron's face was red with anger, and two people – older brothers? Twins, by the look of them – was standing behind him, neither looking too happy.

"I didn't touch your sister. In fact, had I been any later, she might have been seriously injured. Now put that wand away, boy, before you get hurt", Wolf said, canines bared in a snarl.

"Do you really expect me to believe you? You were at the scene of the crime! And who are you to call me boy? You're no older than I am!"

"I was at the scene, yes – but I did not touch her! I came across a couple of brutes assaulting her, and I stopped them. If you don't believe me, ask Dumbledore. He believes me." Wolf said, walking away from Ron, towards one of the windows in the great tower room, opening it.

"Oi! Don't you walk away from me, you-" his cries were cut short as Wolf swung himself out of the window.

Wolf sighed, trying to shake the image of the girl, lying in a pool of her own blood.

The night had been a bad one.

Sighing once again, he slid into the Illusion of Elsewhere, and was relaxed.

By morning, the news of the fight had reached the students. People were now avoiding Wolf, casting frightened looks at him whenever he was nearby.

Wolf wasn't really concerned; he was used to his solitude.

However, when word got out that the three boys from Slytherin had been expelled, and Ginny had vouched for Wolf, saying that he actually had helped her out, people lightened up around him.

As they had earlier thought of him as a blood-crazed lunatic, people were now regarding him as something of a hero.

Wolf was concerned; he was not used to this.

August passed quickly; the last summer sunshine faded away, bringing colder nights and the first of the autumn storms.

Ginny was climbing the steps to the Owlery, shivering a bit in the cold of the early morning. Dawn had barely broken; Ginny had awakened early, and finding herself unable to sleep, she had decided to go and send the letter to her mother she had written last night.

She sighed a bit at this; her mother had been very protective since her attack. Pushing the memory from her mind, she opened the door to the owlery. Walking over the straw-strewn floor, she tied the letter to the claw of one of the great brown barn-owls that belonged to the school.

She went over to the window, and let the owl out, before looking out over the school. No matter how many times she had seen the great castle, she always found it beautiful. However, one thing was different this morning.

A tall boy with long, flowing, dark hair, was going through a series of fluid motions atop the Astronomy Tower; kicks, twirls, jumps, lunges. pirouettes. Fascinated, she continued watching him.

Wolf stopped his routine, one leg still raised for a kick. He had the nagging sensation that someone was watching him. Turning around, he tried to identify the source of it. As his eyes went over the Owlery, he saw a patch of red hair. But before his eyes found the window again, it was gone.
September passed remarkably quickly, and before anyone really knew it, Dumbledore announced at dinner that the delegations from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would be arriving the next day.

Wolf grinned at this. No student here could possibly offer him any real competition in battle. Perhaps one from one of the other schools could?

Wolf hadn't worn the clothes since he came to Hogwarts; he grinned towards his reflection in the mirror.

Oh yes, they will notice me.

Hermione sat in the common room, waiting for Harry and Ron to come down, so they could walk down to breakfast. By the gods, how can boys sleep so long? How can anyone sleep so long?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps coming down the staircase from the boys dormitories. Turning around, she expected to see Harry or Ron. She did not, however, expect to see what came down.

Wolf was confidently walking down the stairs from the boys dormitories, however, his outfit was definitely not the standard Hogwarts uniform. He was wearing long, black pants, with thin, blood red lines going down the outside; a long-sleeved black shirt, a turtleneck going all the way up to his chin; over all that, he was wearing a dark brown, almost black as well, tunic of some sorts, made out of leather with a rune – Yána, isn't it? - above the heart. A dark cloak, lined with gray fur, billowed out behind him.

"Good morning, and a good day to you, Hermione" he said with a small smile.