Remus pulled his jacket around him tightly and looked across the field. A thin layer of snow remained at the edges, but elsewhere numerous feet had reduced it to slushy mud. The footprints marked out a trail, towards a clump of trees at the other end. There, the mud and snow was tinged red. He shivered, and not only because of the cold wind sweeping eastwards.

The site was being watched over by one Auror. Remus squinted at her, but could not make out many details. Most importantly, she did not look familiar. She was dressed in the plain, black robes of an on-duty Auror, and her dark hair was pulled back into a neat bun. She was constantly turning, scanning the surrounding area quite carefully, exuding an aura of competence.

Remus shrugged, crossed his fingers and started across the field. After all, it was better to try the direct approach first. If that did not work, then he could try sneaking. At that thought, he smiled wryly. He had become altogether too good at sneaking in the last few years. He noticed that, behind the Auror, a force field surrounded the crime scene. It shifted slowly from a faint, transparent red, to a similar white at a slow pace. Remus was unsure what happened if you touched it, but was sure that it would bring nothing good. Constant vigilance was clearly the orderof the day.

The Auror was watching him openly now. Remus summoned up a professional smile and held out his hand. "Good afternoon. My name is ..."

"Remus Lupin." The answering voice was sober, with a hint of amusement running underneath. Remus felt a frisson of fear run up his spine as the woman shook his hand, a touch unenthusiastically. He said nothing.

"Don't you recognize me, Remus?" The Auror placed her hand over her heart and dropped her head. "I'm heartbroken." Remus looked at her carefully. The face did seem familiar somehow; round, and chirpy. He breathed in, trying to gain some extra information from his heightened sense of smell. Suddenly, everything clicked into place.

"Tonks. Nymphadora Tonks." He smiled properly, this time. "It's good to see you again. You look - you look completely different."

Tonks smiled back. "Really? I mean, I know my hair isn't quite as wacky as it used to be, but still. How are you, Remus? It's been, what, four years? I see some of the old crowd occasionally, but none of them have mentioned seeing you in ages."

Remus' smile straightened, and then disappeared. "Well, you know how it is. I've been doing a bit of this, a bit of that."

Tonks nodded, and her smile faded too. "I would say what a marvellous coincidence it was, meeting you here, but I somehow doubt that you just accidentally happened to be in the neighbourhood." Her mouth quirked sarcastically and she waved vaguely towards the force field.

Remus looked at her carefully, weighing his answer. He pulled that morning's Daily Prophet out of his jacket's inner pocket and straightened out the front page. The headline was bold and uncompromising. "WEREWOLVES ATTACK. ONE CHILD FOUND DEAD. TWO DISAPPEARED - FEARED BITTEN." Remus slowly folded the paper back up. "I saw this, and I thought that I might be able to help track down those responsible, and then encourage them to give themselves up, to bring the children back. We ... the other ... werewolves in Britain, we can't let this kind of behaviour lie. We have to do our bit."

Tonks nodded seriously. "Remus," she said gently. "A crack team of Aurors is currently scouring this area for clues. We'll find the perpetrators."

Remus looked at her despairingly. It needed to be a werewolf who found them, to try and repair the damage done. The situation had been bad enough before. "I was thinking that I might be able to smell something at the scene of the crime, that might help with identifying or tracking down the criminals. I know quite a few of the werewolves in Britain, at any rate."

She tapped her nose thoughtfully. "That's a fair point. It's true enough that we haven't been having any luck so far, though you shouldn't tell anyone that." She smiled broadly, and Remus was strongly reminded of the Tonks he had known before. "However, I'm not in charge of this case, so technically I don't have the authority."

Remus did not say anything. Tonks looked around, and then back at him. This time, her smile was rather bitter. "Still, least said, soonest mended. Come on then, Mr. Lupin." She turned, and flicked her wrist. Her wand slipped into her hand. She flourished it, and mumbled something, obviously trying to stop Remus from overhearing. The force field flickered and then disappeared.

Remus stepped forward eagerly, noting all the while that Tonks had her wand out and at the ready; specifically, in his direction. He looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows in question. She shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry Remus. It's not that I don't trust you. But, well ..." Her voice trailed off. Remus could have finished the sentence. He turned back and started to study the scene before him.

There were clear signs of a struggle, and plenty of dried blood. The dead child's body had obviously been removed earlier, but the area where it had been was marked. Remus leaned forward, trying to avoid giving even the impression of disturbing anything. There were signs of struggle all around. Remus inhaled deeply, but there were too many odours for him to pick out any one clearly. Too many Aurors had trampled over the site. And on top, there was the acrid smell of fear. That particular scent could take a long time to dissipate. Remus sighed, and hoped that the child's death had been quick. As for the two missing children, there could be little hope that they had escaped being bitten. It was strange that their bodies had not been found though. Usually, werewolves would eat their prey, and if the children had escaped, surely they would have returned home by now. Remus straightened and wiped his eyes. Last night's transformation hadn't been too painful, thanks to the Wolfsbane potion, but he was still awfully tired.

A wider trail led towards the trees, indicating that something heavy had been dragged that way. Remus followed it slowly, making sure not to mark the trail, and keeping his nostrils flared. He was starting to pick out a distinctive scent. He said quietly to Tonks, "I think I've got something."

As he passed the second tree, his head whipped round. Caught on a branch was a small tuft of short grey hair. He did not touch it; doubtless Tonks would not appreciate that at all. Gingerly, he leaned forward, and sniffed. He stopped and sniffed again. The blood drained from his already pale features, leaving him looking positively corpse-like. Tonks, two steps behind him, gasped, and said hurriedly, "What is it, Remus? What's wrong?"

He turned to look at her, straightening up. He opened his mouth, but found no words. He was too busy trying to work everything out in his mind. Finally, he stuttered, "I know that ..." He stopped again, and glanced back at the tuft of hair.

Suddenly, Tonks spun round, looking to the other end of field. "Remus," she hissed. "The chief investigator is headed this way. You don't want him to find you here. He's not a werewolf fan. Quickly, run into the forest. I'll keep them occupied"

Remus glanced up and saw two figures just starting to cross the field. "Thanks, Tonks. I really appreciate this."

"Good. Be in the pub in this godforsaken town - there's only one. I imagine I'll be free in about an hour. You're going to tell me why you're as white as a sheet." She paused. "Be there, Remus. I don't want to send the Aurors after you."

Remus bared his teeth in a rictus laugh, and then spun on his heel and started away, trying not to make too much noise. He glanced back and saw that Tonks had replaced the Auror boundary. As soon as he was a reasonable distance away, he started to run.