Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in anyway shape or form; I just own the computer I type with and my own little ideas for twisting everything around.
A/N: Once again I have to say thanks to all of my reviews and those who put this story in alert as well as my beta for cheeking this over, thanks man.
Anyway I'm surprised I didn't get a few comments on Tonks chooses of outfit for the last chapter but then again all of my reviews have been great so that's ok. Now then some of you keep on asking when Harry is going to be changing back well it's going to be in his fourth year and no he isn't going to be going to Hogwarts he'll stay with Tonks and the other Auror's he'll come to know later on so don't worry those of you who said you didn't want him to go to Hogwarts he isn't.
Also as to Harry's age when he changes back I won't be aging him in dog years otherwise he'll be in his thirties when he gets his human form back but don't worry he'll be older then he should so that should help calm down some of you who had been worrying about that.
Chapter 5: Shadow Fang vs. Basilisk
Not long after the student body came back from the Christmas break, Tonks could be found walking many of the schools ancient hallways, whilst keeping a look out for anything odd. The only discovery that day was that all of the spiders in the school were leaving the castle at a very fast rate, and heading straight for the Forbidden Forest.
SF meanwhile had taken up watching the bathroom with 'that annoying ghost' in it, as he had written about her in his first report. When he was asked why he was watching that one bathroom, he explained that the scent he had smelt over Christmas on Ginny Weasley, was the strongest there and that the two previous attacks had happened within a few minutes run from the bathroom.
Another thing that changed, was that Tonks could be found sitting with Hermione at the Gryffindor table talking to her about her problem of making friends, making suggestions and giving little tips on topics she could breech with her dorm mates to get the ball rolling.
The weeks went by and Valentine's Day was total chaos, with cards and a lot of very bad poems mixed in with a few good ones, being taking left right and centre by the army of Dwarves in Cupid outfits which Lockhart had somehow gotten together for this year.
Tonks found herself taking up a post with SF, in order to get away from them all. None of the Dwarves were willing to go near the snarling Shadow Wolf which was being very protective of his partner and also in a dark corner of his mind his Mate.
Lockhart had even tried to charm her, when he found out she was in the castle, word had spread quickly through the Ministry that Tonks was a Metamorph and a lot of the male employees had tried to charm her. SF had quickly let it be known not to approach her in that manner; as a result Lockhart, like the men for the ministry, was quickly running the other way from Tonks resting spot, which today was in front of the bathroom.
"You know you're a very good guard dog boy, so don't stop." Tonks had said after SF had come back with a few feathers in his mouth, from chasing off another Dwarf with a bad poem for her. SF spat out the feathers before lying down in front of her again, giving a small sigh when she started rubbing his belly with her foot.
It was a week later that Tonks got a break in the case. She was walking a few floors up from the bathroom that SF would be watching after his lessen with Minerva that morning. Tonks was running a little late as she was to watch the bathroom while he was in his lesson, when a startled shout from up ahead had her running to find out what was going on. Coming around the corner with her wand up and ready Tonks eyes widened at the sight before her, it was only the fact that the thing had its back to her, had saved her from dropping dead right that minute.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING DOING IN HERE?!" Tonks exclaimed, diving back around the corner before it could turn and kill her with a single look, "Now we know what has been attacking the students, but how on earth did it go unnoticed for so long."
"So the little girl playing Auror stumbled on us, did she pet? Now we can't have the old man learning about you now, can we… kill her." A deep voice sounded from the far side of the Basilisk. Tonks cursed a little, the voice sounded magically altered, almost like a second voice was overlapping another lighter sounding one.
Tonks cursed once again, she heard a slight hissing sound meaning that whoever was controlling the Basilisk was a Parselmouth. A few moments later the sound of scales on stone sounded as the Basilisk turned in Tonks direction and started back towards her.
'Ok think this through, if the over grown snake looks at you your dead! If you try and fight it you'll die! If you try and run it'll run you down and kill you anyway… what do I do then?' She thought, knowing she only had seconds to decide on what to do, her tongue running long her teeth pausing when she felt the plastic of a fake tooth that she had lost early in her Auror training; the tooth however was hollow and filled with a potion that she thought she might need one day.
'Is is strong enough to stop it from killing me or believing it has killed me?' She thought her tongue paused on that single tooth, knowing she had no other choose Tonks brought her wand up quickly cast a blinding spell on herself her world going into blackness just as she saw the Basilisk came around the corner.
Feeling the weight of those eyes looking at her, she bit down hard on the tooth as she felt the few drops of Draught of Living Death slide onto her tongue. Her world went totally silent a moment later as she fell to the ground unmoving, so still that a red hair girl walked up to her body, took one look and dismissed her as dead before moving on to plan who to attack next.
000000000000000000000000
Down in the Transformation classroom SF was lay down calmly in front of Minerva's desk deep in thought, as he tried to separate his animal side from his human side; the two halves having become so closely locked together since he had first changed, that it was impossible to tell the defiance between the wolf and the human
"Okay Shadow Fang, if you can see it I want you to look within your own mind and try and separate the two halves, not all of them through, not all at once we'll take this slowly," Minerva said softly reaching out with her own magic to see if she could feel how SF was doing in his tasks. She quickly fought back the image of when she had first transformed, she herself had been stuck for a few days, as she got distracted at the last minute, the fact that Albus had been her teacher at the time had helped her to get back to normal in little to no time all.
While watching the relaxed wolf, Minerva shook her head at the fact that it had taken them a number of weeks just to work out, that the whole reason why SF was stuck like this was because he had somehow skipped a step and failed to keep his animal and human side separated, as a result he was locked in his animal form until he could make the separation.
Getting ready to call today's lesson over, Minerva laid down her quill and set aside her marking, before getting to her feet, SF still in a deep trance looking for his human side. She hadn't even taken a step, when an out of breath Lavender Brown came running into her office, in the process nearly falling over herself to reach Minerva's side gasping loudly, "There's been another attack, Hermione's been petrified and from what we can gather Auror Tonks is dead."
SF's head shot up with a look of worry on his face; before Minerva could say anything he was out the door and melting into the shadows using them to speed his travel to his partner's side. Minerva gave a horrified sigh and looked towards Lavender who was still catching her breath, "Find the Headmaster right away, dear and I'll take care of everything there, let him know that I'm taking the latest victims to the hospital wing. Which floor and location are they at, Miss Brown?"
Meanwhile SF had found Tonks' slumped form and came diving out of her shadow, not paying the few students gathered around any mind as he turned sharply and starting to nudge her with his nose. Giving a slight whimper at how still she was, his whine was however stopped when he brought his head down to nudge her again felt the faintest of breaths against his neck.
Raising his head he directed a sharp bark at her and brought a paw up pushing her shoulder a little, before bringing his head down resting his ear against her back and listened closely; a moment later he gave a small howl of joy as he heard the faint thump-thump of her heart beating.
Minerva came around the corner just as he howled in joy, Madam Pompfry only just behind her, both witches looking at him a little worriedly; to them his howl seemed to be one of great grief. It was only when he looked at them with bright emerald eyes that they realised that he knew something they didn't about, his partner and friend, Tonks. Both moved to Tonks prone form after shooing away the students, telling them all to report to their common room and leave the investigation to them.
They carefully rolled Tonks onto her back, both pausing as they looked at her unconscious form; they had never seen her in her natural form before. Quickly working out that whatever had happened had been enough for Tonks to revert back to her natural form, her long black hair and pale skin a clear sign that she was related to the Black family, which was even more obvious when Madam Pompfry opened her eyes to take a look and was startled by their pale lavender colour.
"That's odd; according to all my scans she should be dead with a heartbeat this low and nearly no brain activity, what is even odder is my scans also show that she cast a blinding spell on herself, as the this diagnosis shows it's her magical signature." Madam Pompfry said, looking up in time to see Minerva come back around the corner, transporting Hermione's still form; a little powder mirror in hand and her eyes wide open in surprise and shock.
SF gave a bark and nudged Tonks' head whilst looking at Minerva. After a moment Madam Pompfry gave him a questioning look and Minerva quickly pulled out her wand and conjured a little blackboard and chalk; which SF took and swiftly started writing out a message.
Looking closely, Madam Pompfry carefully opened Tonks' mouth and looked inside to see that one of her teeth was cracked opened and that it was hollow on the inside, a clear sign that she had taken some kind of potion, "Thank you Shadow Fang, I wouldn't have checked for a potion being taken from that location." She said, whilst making a stretcher appear under Tonks' body.
"Any idea what happened to her then Poppy?" Minerva asked, moving to stand at her friends' side whilst looking down at SF, who was now in the process of sniffing around, trying to work out who attacked his partner.
"She for some unknown reason had a few drops of the Draught of the Living Death in a tooth, that she appears to have replaced with a hollow one instead of having a new one grown, she bit down on it hard for some reason and has dosed herself with the potion." Poppy said, looking down at SF as she gave an angry growl as he looked back towards the hallway that Minerva had picked up Hermione's body from.
"Can you track whatever did this, Shadow Fang?" Minerva asked, getting down on one knee and patted him on the head softly; SF gave her a small nod, "Then do so. We'll let your partner know what is happening when we give her the antidote for the draught."
SF nodded and took off down the hallway nose moving close to the ground, making sure not to lose the scent. Poppy leaned in close to Minerva's side and with a little worry in her voice she softly said, "I don't stock that antidote and its going to take me a few days to either make it, or get Severus to do it for me."
"Work fast then, I'll get in touch with Amelia as I'm sure she knows of Tonks' tooth plan, whatever it is and might have the antidote handy." Minerva said starting to move towards the Hospitals wing, not looking at Hermione's still form, as she tried to work out what to tell the girls' parents; she had to admit that she had a soft spot for the girl and thought she owed it to the Grangers to let them know what had happened.
Poppy nodded and quickly followed, keeping an ear and eye open in case who or whatever attacked Tonks and Hermione, tried making a second attempt; all the time hoping that SF found the monster and would be alright taking it on by himself.
SF came sliding around the corner having followed the fresh scent all the way to the bathroom that he and Tonks had been watching, his legs did not even pause as he ran right at the bathroom door. He slammed into it at top speed arriving just in time to see the tail of a large snake slip through a hole in the wall that had been the area where the breeze had come from.
Before he could react however a foot connected with his side and sent him flying off to one side, as a deep male voice with feminine overtones sounded over his winded form, "You…you mutt, have put me back weeks thanks to you watching this place all the time and now I'm going to make you pay for it." SF looked up in time to see Ginny Weasley's face, just before her shoe came down at his head; he let out a yelp as the shoe connected with his head.
The possessed Ginny smiled at the yelp of pain and was getting ready to deliver another kick when suddenly SF vanished into the shadow which she had kicked him into, Tom cursed loudly for a moment before the shock wore off. Knowing that he now had a problem as the chances where that that the mutt had seen who he was controlling, which meant he either had to find a new host or go to ground for a while and take the girl with him down to the chamber to finish absorbing her soul and renewing his body.
SF meanwhile lay there in the void of the shadow plain, after he had punched the hole into it using his Shadow Walking skills; he had done to get away from Ginny. Not willing to move for now, he thought how that couldn't possibly be the real Ginny, as the strength in that she put into her first kick was too much for a girl of that age. He knew he had a broken rib, going by how much trouble he was having breathing, but somehow he found the strength and managed to open up the shadow he had fallen into, to see Ginny heading to the opening that the giant snake had passed through, only when she had disappeared did the sink slide back into place.
Taking a deep breath, SF slowly got to his feet and started travelling through the shadows to get to the hospital wing to get his rib looked at and also get some backup; the chances were whatever possessed the girl wasn't going to be coming out now for fear that he had seen who it was controlling.
A few minutes later SF saw the point that he had marked out earlier, whilst travelling the Shadow Plain, he knew this would lead him to the hospital wing; and it wasn't before time, his legs started to give out through the pain in his side and head. Giving one final effort, he staggered and stepped out of the shadow, coming out close to Poppy's office inside the hospital wing and fell onto his side as he gave a whine of pain.
Poppy stuck her head out from behind the curtain she had pulled around Tonks' bed, her eyes widening at the wolf laying on the floor, in front of her office. Calling out to Minerva, who was at the time using her floo connection to call Amelia and let her know what had happened, "Minerva, let her know we need someone who knows SF's physiology; he's just shown up with severe injuries."
Minerva gave a shout to let her know she had heard what her friend had said. A few moments later she came out of the office and with a quick swish and flick of her wand had SF floating before her, moving him onto the bed next to the one that held Tonks' still form.
SF whimpered in pain as he was put on the bed. Minerva pulled up a chair and sat down next to him rubbing his head gently to try and keep his mind off the pain, looking over her shoulder she saw that Poppy had finished making Tonks conformable. "Anything you can do for his pain Poppy?"
"Anything I give would be for humans and in his current form he isn't human, it could make him worse, better or even kill him from too much or not enough, I'm sorry but he has to hang on until the specialists gets here." Poppy said, running a scan over SF, nodding her head a little as she made a note that he had a broken rib and a mild concussion.
A few minutes later both witches looked up startled by a noise, they had been talking softly about how they were unable to do anything for SF whilst he was in his animal form, the door opened up and a voice called out, "This is why I brought Sarah with me. She is the vet that Tonks has been taking Shadow Fang to in the town they are staying in." Amelia finished saying from the doorway, a wide eyed Sarah standing right behind her.
The girl how ever got over her shock of the school that she had only ever heard about in stories from her grandmother, quickly went to SF's side and started to run a list of tests looking over the notes Poppy had made just moments ago.
"Hmm your right about all his injuries and I can treat them but if I could know the medical strength in the potions you normally use, I can tell you how much to give him to help speed healing up." Sarah said, after spending a few minutes looking over SF, only pausing for a moment to look at Minerva who smiled at her said softly that they would talk later about their family.
Poppy looked a little confused at the question asked by Sarah about the medical strength of potions, but quickly got what she meant and went into her office coming back a moment later with a book that she quickly flicked through.
Amelia meanwhile had moved to Tonks side and gave a sad sigh bringing a hand up to rub the young woman's face gently. "So your plan worked? Now you can't feel a thing dear… guess that means I owe you a week's free rent." Amelia said softly taking a potion from her pocket and opened Tonks mouth slowly and let a few drops land on her tongue, Tonks' face started to quickly take on colour now that the antidote had been given to her.
Minerva looked up and asked softly whilst she watched Tonks' breathing even out and her eyes start to move and life returning to her body, "You know why she had that draught in a tooth? We were trying to work out why she would have that sort of thing in such a location."
"Tonks like the few other female Auror's has one big fear and that is being captured and then either tortured or raped or both. One day whilst watching one of those Muggle shows on the TV she had the idea of being able to live through that sort of thing without having to remember it or live through it, so to speak. The next day she lost a tooth in a training accident as she called it and had that one made up hoping that she would never have to use it." Amelia said softly as she sat down on the edge of Tonks bed, who then gave a slight grunt and opened her eyes.
"Morning Madam Bones, I'm glad I told you about that tooth." Tonks said softly, before sitting up slowly, whilst taking a moment to look around the room, before she stretched her arms above her head; stopping suddenly at the sight of Sarah slowly feeding a potion to SF.
"I'm just sorry you had to use that potion dear, but did you learn anything before you had to put yourself under?" Amelia asked, looking over at SF who was shaking his head after being given the potions to fix his rib and deal with his concussion.
Tonks nodded at this and laying back down, knowing that no one was going to be happy with what she was about to say. "It's a Basilisk and before you ask why it hasn't killed anyone yet, it's because of sheer luck. It seems that everyone or thing that it has attacked has either looked at in a mirror or another reflective surface."
Amelia nodded at this, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer no matter what, a Basilisk was something you really didn't want to fight if you could help it; but with it losses in the school she would need all the information she could get. "How big and did you see who was controlling it?"
"There is someone controlling it and whoever it was, was a Parselmouth and the thing is fifty feet long, I can't tell you anything beyond that Madam as I had blinded myself not long afterwards and then took the draught a few seconds after that."
"Damn it all, it's an old Basilisk if it has grown to that size… still at lists it's not an ancient one." Amelia said softly turning away from Tonks and looking over at SF, who was now lying calmly on the bed scratching at the sheets, clearly he was asking for something but as everyone had been listening to Tonks, they hadn't noticed him until now.
"Sorry Shadow Fang, do you have something to add?" Amelia asked, moving to his bedside before patting him gently on the head. With the slightest nod being her only answer, so she waved her wand and had his normal chalkboard and chalk ready.
There was a few moments of silence as he started to write out what he wanted to say, Sarah looked on a little surprised at how SF was now behaving; Minerva leaned in and whispered in her ear the truth about SF and what really was under that fur coat.
Tonks slowly got up and moved to SF side taking Amelia's offered arm, when the after effects of the draught kicked in nearly sending her crashing into a chair. She took the board once she sat down on the edge of his bed, she read out loud for everyone to hear; her eyes widening in shock at SF had written. "Its Ginny Weasley and she is being controlled by some unknown force which has made her stronger and faster than a normal person for now, also chances are it has sealed her and the Basilisk in the chamber, now that he has seen her."
Amelia nodded at the news and contemplated about what she needed to do next; giving a sigh she looked at Minerva first and said with all the authority she could muster. "Minerva under Ministry law four, sections twelve for the Ministry Hogwarts contracts, I'm ordering that Hogwarts be evacuated for the next twenty four hours. Poppy I'll make sure that the Auror medical wing is available for you to take the victims away to a safe place. Trainee Tonks, Shadow Fang when you have been cleared by both Madam Pompfry and Lady Sarah you are to head to that bathroom and make sure no one approaches there until I come back with a full team to deal with the situation."
Minerva gave a nod at Amelia's order and quickly left the room to let Albus know what was happening and what had to be done; in this situation Amelia had seniority over Albus no matter how much respect and power he had. Poppy quickly went to the three victims and started to get them ready to be port-keyed out of the school, as Sarah did a once over of SF before giving a nod and saying that he was as good as new.
Tonks got back to her feet and took the potion to clear her head Madam Pompfry handed her as she went by and left the room; after Amelia went into Poppy's office and started calling in backup and a few animal tamers.
It took Tonks a few minutes to get to the corridor outside of the girls bathroom; she looked around for a moment before waving her wand and creating some barriers to stop people from walking down this hallway, just as Albus' voice sounding out over the school, ordering all students to leave the school and head down to the village and that all staff was to help in this evacuation.
SF appeared out of a shadow in front of the bathroom door, just as Tonks got back to him, before taking up watch on the barrier that most of the student would be passing as they were evacuated.
Looking at her partner and friend, she gave a small smile and knelt down in front of him hugging him close whispering softly in his ear while he nuzzled her neck, "Don't worry boy, I know you panicked for a moment there when you thought I was dead, but I promise that I'm not going to die that easily."
SF nodded and sat there with Tonks by his side, both of them watching the bathroom door closely knowing that within the next few hours they would be part of a team that would hunt down and either kill or capture the Basilisk and the Possessed Ginny Weasley.
000000000000000000000000000
Bonus files
Auror Profile; as taken from the files of Madam Amelia Bones; Head of Law Enforcement and Auror Core.
Name: Amelia Bones
Gender: female
Age: 54 years
D.O.B: June 12 1938
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Hair Colour: Dirty blond, long to the bottom of shoulders.
Height: 5' 4"
Weight: 80kg 160lbs.
Physical Fitness: Average
Spell Knowledge: Outstanding (9/10 on last test before promotion to head of department.)
Spell Power: Average (5/10 on last test before promotion to head of department)
Special Abilities: Low level Empathic powers (Only able to sense really strong emotions.)
Weakness: Headaches when in a full room from her Empathic Powers
Rank: Department Head
Next of Kin: Susan Bones, (Niece)
Information
Amelia Bones is considered one of the best duellers in the Auror Core ever since Mad-Eye Moody retired a few years before her promotion to Department Head, she is a skilled dueller and is a very learned person whose spends her spare time either reading or with her only surviving family, her niece one Susan Bones.
She has dedicated her life to fighting against Dark Wizards ever sense the death of her younger brother in the war against Voldemort, losing her sister-in-law a few weeks after the defeat of Voldemort; which left her to care for her Niece. Because of these deaths she has the second highest arrest record second only to Mad-Eye Moody in the total of Death Eaters brought in.
After the war finally settled down and the time of peace started to set in, she dedicated herself to studying and learning all of the law and spells she could to help improve the system; so that her Niece would grow up without the threat of war and also help stop the male domination of the Ministry in anyway she could.
000000000000000000000000
Once again feel free to state whose profile you want next and who ever gives the first review requesting the information is going to be the one I do so best of luck to whoever gets in first, also don't pay the weights much mind on any of them I've just been putting random numbers in most of the time but thanks to my beta for pointing out that I'm way off most of the time.
Thanks to the following Reviews:
AmandaBurke76, hemotem, Dirt Rider 712, ChaosKnightTHK, Ranger Dragen, bongwater, Okiro Zangetsu, chicagosean, michaelc100, mosherguy18, GinnyLover14, musicisinmysoul, Shaggy37.