In the dream, Evey was wrestling a wolf. It wasn't an ordinary wolf, nor even a werewolf, if anything she'd read about them was accurate. This beast was enormous, larger than a bear.

She hated that sort of dreams, the ones in which she couldn't control her actions. Why the hell wasn't she using magic? She was no match for the fearsome wolf, not in a physical fight.

Suddenly, the wolf bit her, sinking its sharp fangs in her shoulder. Evey cried out in pain and woke up with a start when she realised that the pain was real.

As her eyes flew open, she almost expected to find the huge beast on top of her. Silly girl, it was just a dream. Well, it had been more of a nightmare. The pain, though… It had felt real, but the sensation was already fading away.

With a shock, she noted that she was not in her bedroom at home. She was in… Was it the infirmary, at Hogwarts? What was she doing here? She had just graduated!

"Ah, Miss Kane. It's good to see you awake." A deep, calm voice called from her right.

Evey shifted her gaze to identify the owner of the voice. "Professor Dumbledore? What happened? Why am I here?" she asked warily. She had a feeling that something was very wrong.

"You have been here for two days, Miss Kane. We were quite worried about you. Do you remember anything?"

"No, I don't," she began to say, then frowned in sudden concentration. Something had happened, something to do with her wand. No, with her brother. Erratic images from her dream flashed in her mind. Was the wolf important, somehow? She huffed in frustration. "I'm sorry, Professor, but it's a bit murky. I think I was home… Didn't I return home after graduation?" She had. She was almost certain of it. She remembered visiting the Ministry about her apprenticeship, just a few days ago, and joking with Matt about being an adult now, and having to find work and pay rent and becoming increasingly boring as the years flew by. It couldn't have all been a dream. Those were real memories.

"You Apparated in Hogsmeade on Tuesday, at dawn, and hammered on the front door of the Hog's Head, pleading for help, until the owner answered. According to him, you passed out soon afterwards. He alerted me right away, and you were brought here. I went to your house at once myself, but there was nothing to be done. I'm very sorry," he said softly. The look in the Headmaster's eyes was frightfully sad. It sent cold shivers down Evey's spine.

"Sorry about what?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Your family is gone, Miss Kane. They were murdered. We believe that Fenrir Greyback is behind the attack."

Evey didn't question him. She knew that he was telling the truth, because now it was coming back to her – parts of it, anyway. She remembered her brother flying across the room, his head hitting the wall and… No. Please, let her forget that. She didn't want to remember. She felt the tears stream down her cheeks and turned her head; she hated crying in front of other people. She vaguely heard the Headmaster leave, but by then she was sobbing too hard to care.

"Have the Aurors arrested him already?" Evey asked a few hours later, when she had finally calmed down a little – mainly thanks to a draught Madam Pomfrey had kindly provided. "Greyback, I mean?" She was actually hoping that they hadn't. She wanted to find the werewolf herself and make him pay for what he'd done. Her brother had been only fourteen, for fuck's sake. Her baby brother, who was always wide-eyed with wonder every time Evey mentioned anything even remotely magical.

"Fenrir Greyback has not been apprehended, I'm afraid. Miss Kane, we believe that he may have been sent after you, personally."

"Of course he was," she cut in. "I'm Muggle-born, and Greyback's one of Voldemort's partisans, isn't he?" Voldemort had returned, and Muggle-borns were one of his favourite people to target, everyone knew that. "But why me, specifically? I'm no one. Or does the wolf murder defenceless Muggles at random?" Evey wouldn't wish this on her worst enemy, but…couldn't Greyback have attacked another Muggle-born's family? Merlin, grief was turning her into a monster. No one deserved this.

"We don't know that, yet. Nor much anything else, as a matter of fact. Are you quite sure that you don't remember Apparating in Hogsmeade, or what Greyback said or did while he was at your house?"

"I told you, Professor, I remember very little. I know that he told my brother he wasn't after him, and that Matt could have made it out alive." That had been just before Greyback killed Matt. Threw him against the wall with such force that his head nearly exploded on impact.

Evey let out a dry sob but did her best to keep her composure. The image was seared into her brain and would forever haunt her dreams, but she would not break down again, not twice in front of the same person.

The rest of her recollection was hazy. She couldn't understand how she'd Apparated; she'd never learned how. She knew the basics, of course, but she'd never dared to attempt it. The possibility of splinching scared her to death.

What surprised her the most, however, was that she was even alive. Being attacked by a werewolf usually meant death, and in a woman's case, it always meant death. A werewolf's bite was fatal to women – even first-years knew that. But, apparently, she hadn't been bitten – or hurt in any way, it seemed, although her clothes had been torn and caked with blood when she'd been brought to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey said that she was as healthy as a horse. Evey couldn't make sense of it and, clearly, neither could Professor Dumbledore. His theory was that Greyback had left her for dead. Indeed, the impressive quantity of blood found in her bedroom belonged to her. The Headmaster couldn't figure out how that was possible, nor could Madam Pomfrey – and if they couldn't, who could?

"It will probably come back to you when the shock has faded somewhat. In the meantime, you will be transferred to another secure location. You will be perfectly safe there, and in good company." He had also told her that the Daily Prophet claimed that she had perished with the rest of her family, and that local Muggle newspapers had published a likely story about a breaking-and-entering gone wrong. The entire world thought her dead. Professor Dumbledore assured Evey that it was for the best; no one would come looking for her if they believed her dead.

"What's going to happen to me? I can't stay hidden forever, Professor." To think that a few days ago she was going to begin her life, her adult life. The world was open to her, a place full of opportunities. She already knew exactly what she wanted to do, but it wasn't the sort of job you could do while hiding in a top-secret location.

"No, indeed not. It will simply be until it is safe for you out there, Miss Kane. Weeks, perhaps a few months. You do understand that this is for your own protection, don't you?" he asked, his blue eyes piercing hers.

"I understand," Evey muttered. That didn't mean she had to be happy about it. Hell, she wasn't likely to ever be happy again in any case.