Chapter 22: Werewolf Hunting
The Yule Ball was rapidly approaching; and school went with a swing, the youngsters excited by the approach of the holidays and – first years in particular – eager to tell their parents all about what they had been up to. David was pleased to help out when Hagrid turned up asking for help because a muggle fell walker had collapsed into his cottage and asked for a telephone to call for help for his friend, out on the moor with a broken leg. David 'went dog' as he called it to use geomancy to track the injured man, so Hagrid might carry him back to warmth and safety at least, then asked Sirius to accompany him to the nearest village to inform someone in authority. Sirius was capable of dealing with muggles; Hagrid was a little too much for most muggles to take. Fortunately the Village policeman, a man named Trumball, was a sensible fellow and cautiously drove his police Land Rover cross country to fetch the climbers to a place more convenient for an ambulance to reach. If the assorted Quidditch teams were unhappy to have their pitch driven across by a muggle car, it was not, as David pointed out, as vital to have it undamaged as the muggle game cricket. The MSHG immediately clamoured for a cricket team, and David told them severely that it was a summer game. The Trumballs had lived in the village for generations; and it was no surprise to David that the Sergeant's daughter was on the Hogwarts' list for the next academic year. Camburnath Village was in easy broom ride of a randy young wizard who did not fancy Hogsmead, and Alice had white blonde hair and big violet-blue eyes, and her father's colouring much the same though he was more weatherbeaten than the average Malfoy. David planned to meet with Alice before she started school – assuming her father permitted her to come – and explain a few things! As he explained to Ellie – inclined to be jealous and trying to hide it –
"Alice is about the age my little sister would have been, who was killed in the car crash with my parents. I can be a big brother to her."
"And I'll help you show her about too" said Ellie, loyally.
With no more excitement than this, the ball duly took place; Hermione and Ron going together, Harry and Ginny, Draco with his plain Hufflepuff friend and Krait went with Neville, out of sheer friendship. She wore a new gown, having bought herself a hand sewing machine from an antique shop to use where electricity would be disrupted by magic. This gown was deep violet silk, the colour of her eyes, trimmed with velvet and silver embroidery, done beautifully by Adalheid Von Strang, who liked to do what she could to say thank you for the rescue of herself and her children. Pansy Parkinson was, once again, overdressed, and fuming that Draco had not even asked her to the ball.
"You needn't think he'll marry you" she hissed venomously to Claire.
"I'm not stupid enough to expect him to" said Clair calmly "Why, did you have ambitions there yourself? Forget it, I'm only plain, you go out of your way to uglify yourself."
Pansy spluttered.
"Ladies, time out, end of round one" said Draco as if they were in a wand duel. "That was Claire's round on points; and I'm not marrying anybody."
It was scenes like that which made Krait disapprove of the whole concept of the ball; but she could see the point of holding it. It meant training in social graces to fit young people to deal with society when they left school; and hopefully got them through the worst acts of gaucheness before being in the eyes of society. It drove home once again that Hogwarts really was a school for what were essentially the cream of society; even the poverty-stricken Weasleys were only poverty stricken by comparison to their fellows, for Arthur had a good steady white-collar job. Krait was willing to bet Stan Shunpike had never been to Hogwarts; and wondered what poorer still wizards and witches did. It was something to be investigated.
And then it was the holidays; and the serious work of looking for the last horcruces could begin.
-/-
David was excited and not a little nervous. This was the first truly dangerous mission he had been on; and as one of the two talented geomancers he was to take something of a lead with Sirius Black. The older wizard grinned at him reassuringly.
"If there's fighting, us older ones will take a lead" he said.
"Not if there's werewolves" said David "I'm the best shot."
They had apparated across Europe to Albania and were following up the itinerary of Bertha Jorkins. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupin were with them; and they were acting under such information as Krait had seen peripherally when she spoke to Wormtail in Azkaban, how he had hidden his Dark Master in an old concrete bunker left over from the Second World War. David had used the internet to find the locations of as many as he could, on history sites; and that too had narrowed the area to search. Wormtail had let slip too that they had had some support from a local werewolf who had loaned his house elf to Voldemort.
Sirius gave a sudden growl that was as doglike as if he had been in his alternate form.
"This place has his stench!" he said.
"And I smell werewolves too" said Remus Lupin. "This whole area is dead….we're on the right track."
"This should be on the line of defences" said David "There's a house over there, a bit tumbledown; we need to avoid notice in case there's anyone living there."
"Too late"
The harsh grating voice spoke behind him; and David spun round to see the sneering face of a man dressed after the distinctive fashion of the wizarding world, with three companions. They were already starting to transform.
"Lunch!" laughed one.
Sirius and the other adult wizards started to go for their wands.
"Expelliarmus!" said the lead werewolf, and Sirius' wand flew from his hand.
David acted instinctively; and depressed the trigger of the AK47 he was carrying.
The automatic weapon spat silver-filled death with a gutteral chatter.
Lupin stared as the werewolves screamed and writhed as wounds normally able to heal burned from the touch of silver in the bullets; and licked his lips nervously. David emptied the magazine, set faced and grim; and quickly reversed it to insert the second magazine taped upside-down to the first for speed of changing.
It was not necessary.
The time bought by his firing allowed the other wizards to put their wands to the werewolves and finish them off.
"You really are a very frightening young man, Mr Fraser" said Lupin.
David was hurt.
"I'm only doing my best to win this war" he said. "we use such talents as we have at our disposal, don't we?"
"We do indeed… I meant no offence" said Lupin.
"He's a good boy, Moonie; we've learned a lot from him" said Sirius.
"But not how to use physical means first and wands after" said David tartly.
"It worked. They seemed to appear out of thin air….but I heard no sound of apparating."
"Air shaft I expect" said David, sounding calmer than he felt. "Look around for a hole in the ground on or just beyond that ridge they appeared from, Padfoot; I reckon it's disguised but it'll be there."
The shaft was left open for the werewolves to come out of; and the four descended quietly.
"Let me go ahead" said Kinglsey "I think I'm the most quiet."
Sirius shrugged.
Kinglsey was a good sort; and he was the Auror amongst them. David's calm killing of the werewolves by muggle means had plainly shaken the Auror and he wanted to feel more in control. Sirius would live with that.
-/-
The room occupied once by the travesty homunculus that had been the form of Voldemort was apparent.
"If it didn't stink of Wormtail I think I'd recognise his lack of housekeeping abilities" said Sirius grimly. "If the cup is in Albania I should think it would be here."
"Suppose the werewolf took it for his own, or took it into safekeeping for Fishface?" suggested David.
"Then we look further…there's a trail that leads towards the house in this underground passage, do you smell it?" asked Sirius.
David changed form and nodded.
"Let us search here first" said Remus "It won't take long. If we don't find it, that will be time enough to go on to search the house."
Sirius nodded; and they duly ransacked the few meagre possessions – mostly of Peter Pettigrew – that remained in this depressing underground holdout.
There was nothing that resembled a chalice; only a tin mug which David reckoned had been left behind by the occupying Italian army in the 1930's when they used them to man the Greek border. He felt Sirius was wasting his time in trying spells to remove illusion. Sometimes a battered old cup was just a battered old cup.
Sirius gave up.
"It's no more than what it seems" he growled.
"Yes" said David "Neither Riddle nor Pettigrew would know enough to put a symbol of the ROYAL Italian Army on it; it was before the rise of Il Duce. And as you haven't got a clue what I'm talking about, I somehow doubt he would have either."
"Why didn't you say?" snapped Sirius.
"You were having such fun swearing at it I didn't like to interrupt" said David. Sirius glared at him.
"It's easy to see YOU'RE Krait and Scales' protégé" he grunted. "all right, let's follow this passage."
-/-
The passageway led to a more amateurish delving that led up to the tumbledown house. The only occupant was a terrified female house elf who was suspiciously heavily pregnant. David stayed to talk to her as the adults searched the house for other werewolves.
"Which of those creeps forced himself on you?" asked David, bluntly, having heard something of Sirri's story.
The elf started to bang her head on the floor.
"Stop! You don't belong to them any more, they're dead!" said David
"Dead? Lissi hasn't got a master?" she whispered.
"You're free – if you want to be" said David "Or you could work for Kingsley; he could probably do with the aid of an elf." It struck him that an Auror would be likely to need the services of a house elf and their peculiar talents. "Who got you pregnant?"
"It was the Dark One" she whispered "He sent for Lissi in his new home and transfigured me to look human; he wanted entertaining. Lissi does her best to entertain but he sent Lissi away, Lissi didn't please him. Lissi is scared this thing in her will kill her!"
"We'll take you to St Mungo's for a medical apparation" said David firmly. "And your baby can grow up free, you know, if you like."
"Oh please little master, just take it away; I don't want nothing of it!" Lissi sobbed.
David nodded.
"I know someone who'll care for it" he said soothingly.
Krait would readily take on another half brother or sister.
It seemed that being oversexed was not confined to power hungry muggles; and the creep had not cared if his – entertainment – had lived or died.
-/-
There did not seem to be a cup here either; the werewolves were plainly living from hand to mouth – or paw to mouth, as Lupin said dryly – and were unlikely to be considering this their little residence in the country.
"No second home then?" quipped Sirius.
"Not unless you count the shallow grave we dug for them" said Remus.
"So we've wasted our time" said Kingsley.
"Not really" said David "We've rescued Lissi and killed four of Fishface's supporters. That's got to be worth something. Next stop St Mungo's?"
Kingsley was more than willing to accept the services of Lissi – too scared to be free – once she had had her baby medically apparated. He was equally glad that there was likely to be someone who would take responsibility for a halfbreed baby.
"It's not legal, I'm sure" he said, disapprovingly.
"And when has THAT ever stopped Fishface?" demanded David. "By comparison to murder and terror spreading I'd have said it was the least of his illegalities."
"It's not illegal" said Remus "I looked up the statutes on who may marry or have a child with whom. House elves aren't even mentioned. No one even considered it; presumably if some git screws his elf, the probability is that she and her brat will both die so there's no embarrassing aftermath. After all, who cares about elves?
"Hermione and Krait so are going to have hissy fits about that" said David.
"So are werewolves banned from marrying scions of the family Black?" asked Sirius.
Remus jumped.
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was waiting for you to make an honest woman of my cousin Tonks actually" drawled Sirius "She's head over heels in love with you and I don't like her having her affections trifled with…."
"But it's not really right…me being what I am…"
"What you are, Moonie, is a good friend and a brave Gryffindor and the man my cousin has chosen" said Sirius, giving his friend a rough embrace "So just get on and propose, huh?"
"If you think…"
"I do."
I invented Camburnath which is Gaelic for 'settlement of the crooked stream'. It was one of those whimsical ideas that I got a lot of mileage out of later on. And if anyone wants to know, the Landrover is a Defender 110
The Italian Army moved into occupation of Albania in 1927 when it was a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy then ruled by Victor Immanuel III before the rise of Benito Mussolini aka Il Duce. Why do I do this when Google is your friend?