Werewolf Hunting
Disclaimer: I do not own it.
Chapter Thirty: This is it...
Boewyn stretched out luxuriously on the bed. He opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. After their scout of the mansion on the hill they had a very good idea about the layout of the place and had spent an hour after they had returned planning what they were going to do, how they were going to get in, what they were going to do if they encountered trouble and just how they were planning on getting the kid out of there.
Boewyn sighed and reluctantly got out of bed, dressed himself and then sat down to check his gun. He heard a knock.
"Yo?" he called
Moody walked in a calculating expression on his face.
"You ready to go?" He questioned. His voice was slightly harsh.
Boewyn made a thoughtful noise. "I'm going to the secret lair of an evil dark overlord to kidnap BACK a werewolf kid, and then no doubt I am going to have to fight my way out of there kicking and screaming." Boewyn was silent for a moment then...
"Hell yeah, I'm ready!" he jumped to his feet. "Let's get this party started!" Boewyn bounded out the door and down the stairs. Moody rolled his good eye whilst following the hunter with his magical one.
"He's a fruitcake" he muttered before following him out.
They made their way much more carefully up the hill today, sticking deep within the shelter of the trees, eyes and ears alert for the sign of any other being around them. Both men were silent as they thought over their plan again and again in their heads. Finally they reached the top, and stopped, watching the mansion from the edge of the trees.
"This is it" Moody muttered softly, and quickly began to cast a few protection and concealment charms on them both.
Boewyn had surprisingly stayed silent and serious since they had left the village, just as alert as Moody was. There was a thoughtful look on his face as he stared at the mansion. The silence between them stretched as they mentally prepared themselves for what they had to do next.
It was finally Boewyn who broke the silence.
He began to hum to Jaws theme.
Moody froze, twitched and then smacked Boewyn upside the head.
"OW!" Boewyn shouted, Moody clamped a hand over Boewyn's mouth.
"Shut up!" he hissed
"Ow" Boewyn repeated softly. "What was that for anyway? I was just trying to lighten the mood. Geez, Al..."
"Just shut it alright." Moody ordered.
"Ok, I'm shutting it."
"Good" Moody hissed, "Now let's get moving. I want to get this over with."
They moved swiftly across the open ground to the edge of the building. Moody raised his wand to the lock, then hesitated. He glanced sideways at Boewyn,
"I hate to say this but, you do your unlock-y thing on this. If there's one thing HE expects it's someone to open a door with magic."
"Right you are, Sah!" Boewyn announced with a sharp salute and then pulled a few lengths of wire out of his pocket. It only took him a few moments to pick the lock on the door and slowly opened it, Moody pointing his wand into the open door, just in case.
"The door is unlock-y-ed, Sah!" Boewyn barked softly, throwing off another salute.
Moody rolled his eyes and cautiously made his way inside, Boewyn, gun at the ready, just behind him.
Boewyn frowned slightly as he listened carefully.
"Very quiet lot aren't they" he muttered thoughtfully.
Moody walked forwards some more, making his way down a long hall until he reached a door which he opened with his left hand.
It was a large room of sorts, with a single throne like chair at the far wall.
It was empty.
Moody walked into the centre of the room and spun, Boewyn could see his magical eye whirling all around the room. A deep frown creased Moody's face, and then Boewyn found himself being the recipient of a vicious glare.
"There's no one here" Boewyn stated flatly, it should been a question, but it wasn't.
"No." Suddenly Moody grinned, "HA!"
"Quiet you." Boewyn replied shortly.
This isn't right... He should be...
"HA HA HA!" Moody continued, after waving his wand a few times, to make sure there were no other life forms in the building.
"HA!"
Boewyn pouted, he had been so close...
Boewyn looked down at the floor, then walked out the door, searching the place himself. He came back to see Moody sitting in the chair and smirking.
"Wipe that smirk off your face, Al. Just cause there's no one here now, doesn't mean there hasn't been someone here recently."
The smirk slid from Moody's face to jump onto Boewyn's.
"What do you mean?"
Boewyn walked over to the Auror and held out his hand.
"That's not my blood" He said matter-of-factly.
"Where'd you find it?" Moody questioned.
"Basement of sorts. There's another room on this floor with the looks like someone's been kept in there – and not willingly, same as the basement."
"They've been here"
"I'd say they'd only been gone an hour or so."
"Portkey?"
"Probably"
"Damn" Moody barked, getting to his feet angrily and pacing.
"Cursing them for leaving, or me for being right?" Boewyn questioned cheerfully.
"Both!" Snapped Moody.
"Well, here's something else. They didn't leave in a hurry I'd say."
"Why not?"
"They must have had something to actually live here. There's some rooms filled with dust, but others are fairly clean, or at least... lived in clean. Someone's been here for a while..."
"How long?"
"A few weeks, at least" Boewyn replied.
Moody cursed and swore violently.
"My point exactly, but I'm decent enough not vocalise it, at least like that."
"Shove it, Boewyn" There was a long silence
"Now what?"
"I'm thinking" Moody snapped.
"Oh, ok" there was another silence after that, then...
"You wanna know what I think."
"Not really" Moody muttered
"I think we should search this place before we do anything else. There might be a hint as to where they've gone."
"Damn"
"I'm right again!!" Boewyn cheered.
They spent the day searching the old mansion from top to bottom, finding more traces of people being in there, but no trace of where they had gone.
Moody sighed as he checked the readings he had taken from the building.
"There was a magical build-up in this very room, barely a trace left though. It was definitely a portkey, which does us no good because you can't track them like you can an apparition trace." Moody announced bitterly.
"So... we're back at square one then?" Boewyn asked.
"Yes" Moody muttered and sat down hard on the chair, burying his head in his hands. After a moment Boewyn came and patted him on the shoulder.
"they could be anywhere damnit!" Moody growled
Boewyn looked out one of the room's dirty windows.
"It's after sunset" He noted "Let's head back to the pub and get some sleep. We can think about this some more in the morning"
"How can you be so calm?" Moody demanded. "we almost had them! And now they're gone again! They could be anywhere!"
"But we know the kid's alive" Boewyn pointed out.
"A little bit of blood proves nothing. It could be anyone's blood!" Moody snapped.
"Werewolf blood's a little thicker than normal human blood, Al." Boewyn had wiped the blood from his hands earlier that day.
"Come with me" Boewyn ordered and Moody reluctantly followed him into a basement.
Boewyn pointed to some blood on the floor.
It's dry now, but if you look carefully, it's not the reddish brown of human blood. More black. Full moon's soon, Werewolf blood gets a little thicker and darker the closer it gets to full moon. They bleed sluggishly. It's the reason they can survive being harshly cut and shot. They don't bleed to death because it bleeds slowly, more oozes. By the time a wound has clogged and stopped bleeding they've only lost about half the amount of blood or less a human would if it had the same wound. It starts getting thicker about a week before full moon then goes back to normal within two days or so after. This blood's only just beginning to thicken, he's got a week or so before full moon." Boewyn looked into Moody's eyes.
"This kid's alive, Al, and something tells me this Dark Lord doesn't want him for something... he want's the werewolf. What for I have no idea though..."
Moody stared at Boewyn.
"What do we do?" Moody found himself asking. He was out of ideas and for some reason found himself willing putting himself under Boewyn's command now. He had a feeling he would never live it down.
"As I said before, let's head back into town. It's getting late and I'm starved. We should have something to drink, and eat and get some sleep. We'll concentrate on what to do next tomorrow."
Moody nodded dumbly.
Boewyn grinned.
"I'm not a total nutter, Al. and I don't give in easily, not during a hunt."
Moody stared at Boewyn who had a fire burning deep in his eyes.
"This hunt is coming to an end, Al. It may look like we've gotten nowhere, but it's something like this that means we're getting everywhere." Boewyn's grin was predatory.
"I'm going to finish this I swear it." Moody found himself glad he was on Boewyn's side. Something about that smile was making him very uneasy.
They made their way back to the town, locking the door of the old mansion after them.
Author's Note: Bet you thought this was going to be the last chapter, hey?
HA, HA FOOLED YOU! Points and laughs
What do you think? When this is all over should Boewyn be made an honorary Auror for his investigating skills and his knowledge of that sort of thing? Or should he just go back to boozing his brains out in the Underground with a Vampire and playing weekly games of strip poker with that same vampire, a she-werewolf, a banshee, a half-satyr and me?
Oh! And should Boewyn make a guest appearance in my next story I am planning 'The World's Gone Mad!'? This story is going to be about Remus, Sirius and Harry on the run from the law and semi-set after Goblet of Fire. (Planning on uploading the first chapter/epilogue soon). So let me know if you want a special guest appearance by our favourite boozer.
Boewyn: Boozer? Now that's an idea!
X'andirth: SighI never should have opened my mouth...