Albus, Remus and Hermione made their way through the apparently deserted complex looking for someone to guide them. Unsure of how safe their luggage was, Hermione transfigured their bags into poisonous plants and they left them alongside one of the buildings before wandering inside.
They considered splitting up as they explored a second building. They had so far come across many locked or warded rooms and no people.
The De-Were Project ran on skeleton staff at weekends, most had apparated home and would not return till Monday morning. There were two lookouts by the forest that had noticed the visitors but needed to maintain their positions and there were two field researchers too busy with notes to look out the window and spot them.
They were relieved to hear noises coming from ahead. It sounded much like a school common room. Hermione was in the lead at this point, so she took the full force of the dungbomb attack in the face. The five young men whose slingshots hung limp in their hands could barely stand for laughing. Hermione glared reproachfully at them as she flicked her wand to clear the mess.
"Do you work here?" she asked when they seemed suitably cowed.
"No Ma'am, we LIVE here. We are the scary bogeymen you came to goggle at."
Remus met the young man's stare and held it till he looked away. He stepped to the front and took charge. He could smell that they were werewolves, so they must be able to smell it of him.
"We were expected but nobody met us. Is there anyone around who does work here?"
One young man pointed to the stairwell behind them,
"She's down there. She's working though, so it's on your own head if you go down there."
Remus swept past them, followed by the others.
"Considering the Potions Masters I have known, I am sure she will appear as charming as snowdrops."
Amusement touched Albus' eyes, the first time he had been able to feel amused about a memory of a lost friend. It amused him further to think that it was Severus' memory that had amused him before any others. The amusement was quickly dampened by the derisive laughter that came in response to Remus' dismissal of their concern.
They descended into an impressively large cellar, larger than the actual building but in keeping with the muggle military manner of the rest of the place.
A Rachmaninov recording blasted its baroque mood through the cellar. It didn't remotely suit the surroundings but it definitely suited the impressively unusual woman who swept through the room, throwing something into the cauldron bubbling in the centre and muttering to herself. Something about a bloody imposition Albus thought, he chuckled to himself. Was it something to do with the fumes from the potions that made potion makers tetchy?
Remus took the lead again.
"Good Morning Ma'am. My name is Remus Lupin and these people..."
The music stopped abruptly and the woman's head snapped up and Remus suddenly wondered if this was how Perseus felt when facing the Gorgons. She was terrifying, entrancing but with a noticeable fright factor.
"I was under the impression that I was to expect Ministry officials. You are clearly not from the Ministry. What are you doing here?"
Remus couldn't respond and just babbled a bit before Albus came forward.
"I believe that Mr. Weasley informed you of "interested parties". That would be us, we are interested..."
Ms. Rubor had no compunction about interrupting,
"And I am not a tour guide. Nor am I here to train schoolteachers."
Schoolteachers eh? And she was expecting the Ministry. Albus stored that one away for later. He reached out with his mind and met a highly developed barrier. An Occlumens. He stored that one away too. He pushed aside his internal wonderings and got on with the necessary interplay – this woman was going to prove difficult.
"Professor Lupin here is a werewolf, he also instructs Defence Against The Dark Arts. We are interested in the progresses that you are making here and would like to learn more about your project. Perhaps there could be some way in which we could help?"
The woman snorted, it was a highly infeminine action that didn't suit her but it certainly expressed her feelings.
"We are not in need of any assistance." After a few moments she added, "You can observe anything that occurs here, but if I tell you to leave then you will leave immediately. I shall take no responsibility for your safety."
The three friends nodded their understanding and watched as Ms. Rubor worked, hoping that she would eventually explain what she was doing. They went to bed puzzled. They all realised that she was going to be hard work.
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The visitors had been here for four weeks. They had gradually worn away at Serenity's resolve until she had no choice but to give in, if she ever wanted to get a moment's peace. She conducted an extensive tour of the facility, led them through her induction for new staff members and gave them the commentary that they desired when she was working. Albus filed a lot of things away for future thought, she was a rather odd woman and required study.
Professor Lupin had been shocked that a "false moon" charm had been developed in conjunction with this research. He felt that it could be used as a means of identifying werewolves. The werewolves involved in the project took great offence at what they believed was an insult to Serenity. This worried Lupin; they were altogether too attached to her. As the weeks went by, Lupin began to understand their viewpoint. The woman never stopped, her waking life was consumed with her work and she did genuinely care for the poor men under her charge.
They learnt that she had indeed developed a potion based on Wolfsbane which stopped the change from occurring under "false moon" conditions. They were there to witness whether or not it would work against the power of the real moon, and it did. Remus went to ask permission to join the group for the night and test the potion himself, but Ms. Rubor beat him to it and offered the opportunity to him without being asked to. She was quite a charming woman once you managed to get her to accept your presence. Remus felt more grateful than he could comprehend, and that month he didn't change. His pallor improved and he seemed healthier than any of them had seen him in a long time.
Serenity's calculations suggested that the potion could be taken for five months in a row, after which one would have to take a month off. Luckily it would be possible to take the Wolfsbane potion for that month. Remus thought that was a miraculous trade; five moons as a normal person and one moon to suffer the change but still retain his mind. He was almost giddy with the possibility that this opened up to him. He swooped in and kissed Serenity when she told him, he had never seen anyone look quite so shocked before.
Remus held the embrace and when Serenity didn't move, he took it as a positive signal and bent his head to kiss her again. This time she responded to him, parting her lips and moaning slightly as his tongue explored her mouth.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs and then stopped. Serenity quickly pulled away from Remus.
"I am most sorry if this is an inconvenient moment." Albus looked as though the inconvenient moments that he had burst in on over the years were the source of all his twinkling. Remus wondered briefly if he did it deliberately, but was distracted by how scared and horrified Serenity looked. It was only a kiss for goodness sake. Albus moved towards them and seemed to be appraising the woman. He was actually in the process of storing away another titbit of information when he realised that that bit made sense of all the others. He gasped.
Remus was by the old man in a second.
"Albus? Are you alright?"
"I am fine dear boy; I just felt a little queasy from the potion fumes." Albus sat down on a nearby chair to collect his thoughts.
With concern, Serenity checked the potion and eyed the Headmaster quizzically. What was the old coot on about, this wasn't particularly noxious.
Hesitantly he started again, "Um, a young lady whose name tag read T.Op. Newbury asked me to tell you that something called an FM Alarm had been tripped by young Mr. Wolpin and ..."
Serenity was out the door. She dimly noticed the sound of feet behind her, they must be following. Wolpin had activated the False Moon alarm; the Tracking Operatives had been alerted. She swung into the prep room at high speed. She was surprised to note that Albus had kept up and followed Remus in. They stood panting just inside the door, looking at her for enlightenment. She began unlacing her corsetry.
"Mr. Wolpin had trouble after the missed change. He craved the change instead of being relieved about the no-show. The False Moon Alarm is tripped if a False Moon charm is cast without permission. Wolpin has deliberately sought the change; he is in werewolf form and will be out of the compound by now. As you can't take Wolfsbane and Moonbar potions together, it is certain that the wolf has control. We have to capture him immediately."
Serenity's bodice was now fully unlaced. Remus felt his breathing hitch as she pulled the sides of the bodice apart. He could have howled as she turned at the same moment and swept into an adjoining room.
"She is a handsome woman."
Remus head whipped round. Could Albus still get affected by sights like that? The older man's eyes twinkled, but Remus thought that there was a sadness to them.
"I would like to request that you not pursue Ms. Rubor Remus. I think it would be for the best."
"Albus, if you think that you can just ask me to let you..."
Albus waved a placating hand.
"No no dear boy. I have no intentions on the lady, although I am quite flattered that you might think that I would. I merely think that it would be a bad idea. The lady is the only person who can provide the potions to help you. It would be foolish to jeopardise that with an unfortunate love affair."
Remus groaned. He knew that the old man was right but this would not be easy. It had been a long time since he had been drawn to a woman like this. Not since Tonks... but he wasn't going to think about that. He grumbled his assent as the lady in question strode out of the other room clad in her combat gear. That did not make it any easier, now Remus could see the full slender splendour that Serenity kept corseted up all the time.
"May we accompany you Ms. Rubor?" Albus asked mildly, as though asking to borrow some parchment.
Ms. Rubor was strapping something to her arm; it was a rather odd construction. She glanced up at the Professor as she continued buckling the straps to keep the potion ejector on her arm.
"Professor Dumbledore. I am about to track and capture a rogue werewolf that has deliberately run amok in a forest that is notoriously difficult to navigate. I will not even have time to keep track of my own team. In there we look after ourselves and keep to our objective; it is the only way to stay alive. I cannot, in good conscience, take two untrained observers on a recovery mission." She began loading potion capsules into her projectile weapon (a muggle artefact that she could not thank Minister Weasley enough for) as her boots laced themselves.
Remus nodded in response to his friend's silent question and the old man continued.
"We will assume responsibility for ourselves. We will not expect you to look out for us."
Serenity was ready. Four other people stormed into the room, all similarly dressed and armed.
"You ready Ren?" asked a young blonde woman who positively bristled with efficiency.
Serenity passed the woman a string of potions capsules and sprayed herself with the anti-scent potion the blonde offered her.
"Yes Ginta, I am ready. Let's go," she turned her head to the old man and threw him the anti-scent spray, "you're on your own in there. If you want a chance, try to keep up or try to keep out of the way. Interfere and you will face my wrath; a course you would be ill advised to pursue." She was slightly disconcerted by the old man's chuckle but dismissed it and headed out for the forest. The two observers followed close behind.
Remus couldn't believe how quickly the woman moved. She was like liquid night. It was embarrassing that he was actually relying on Albus to be the one who kept track of where she was going. Eventually though they lost her in the darkness.
It seemed like hours before they heard wolf howls. There was no other sound in the forest. Signalling Albus silently, they both headed in the direction of the howling; Remus hoped that the De-Were operatives would beat them to it.
They reached the clearing to find Serenity and three tacking ops hemming in the frantic werewolf with containment charms. Serenity stepped out of the charm crossfire and crouched in low to roll under the effect of the triangulated spells. She came within swiping distance of the wolf and shot three capsules straight into the belly of the beast. Remus could see the potion levels dropping in the capsules and the beast began to stagger. It was breathtaking in a horrific way; he had never seen a werewolf whilst he was in human form. It was not something that he had ever thought that he would see. The werewolf lay unconscious.
"How tight d'ya wanna strap him up Ren?" one of the ops was shouting.
"Tight as you can," replied Serenity, "Full range of restrictive curses and Levicorpus him back to the facility immediately." The ops fell about levitating and cursing the unconscious werewolf as Serenity strode towards the pair of Professors. She stood silently in front of them unstrapping her weapon and unmasking her slender hands from the tight leather gloves.
"I hope the show was to your satisfaction Professors," she snapped. Adrenaline was pumping through her veins and despite the disturbing attraction to Lupin, she was running on fury. Albus seemed to sense that now would not be a time to risk enraging the woman.
"Most satisfactory. Thank-you for allowing us to witness the defence elements of your project."
She didn't miss the veiled barb. Defence! She was just about to launch forth about needing to protect them from themselves when the old man turned and guided his companion away with him. Of all the infuriating ...