Thank you to my reviewers once again but also to Connwaer Heap for commenting on every chapter in one huge go, wonderful to wake up to~
Enjoy this longer than usual chapter that conclude this little bit of plot driven drama.

After the breakdown, Tonks went straight into the ministry and demanded to know of her department if they were going to do anything about Remus' disappearance. She was a little surprised to see that they were already clustered around a map of Hogwarts grounds, including the expanse of the forest.

Kingsley came forward as Tonks' hair went yellow in embarrassment, "we're already on it Tonks, go back to Hogwarts and work with the team I've already sent out there. You'll go spare stuck here."

She merely nodded, turned on her heel and walked straight back out, feeling very ashamed that she had not trusted her co-workers very much. She'd forgotten they had gotten to know Remus just as much as Kingsley had. When Remus would visit her during the summer, with an excitable Teddy clambering over his shoulders to get to her. How he would always be sure to bring her lunch from home, and an assortment of chocolate confectionaries for the whole office. They had soon warmed up to him after that. Aurors loved free food.

One memorable occasion came to her as she pressed the button for the lift to take her back up to the atrium. Remus had come in, with her lunch and Teddy, at the same time as Arthur had popped in to see Tonks. Or rather, to see if Remus had come by yet and left any cake. They had just been dishing out the home-baked goods when Molly arrived as a surprise for Arthur... also with food. The department had eaten well that day, even luring Kingsley out of his office to join the impromptu picnic that had developed. The day was later dubbed the 'Bring your House Spouse to Work Day' by one of her colleagues, which had gotten a laugh from Remus and an extra pork pie from Molly.

Tonks smiled sadly as she remembered the office lamenting the fact that Hogwarts term had started again, thus marking the end of Remus visits.

She wanted her husband back. Now.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Remus wasn't quite too sure where he was. It was a similar feeling to waking up after he was dead. Or a hangover.

Tonks had successfully managed to get him absolutely sloshed one day, by throwing cation to the winds and mixing the most toxic drinks in existence. His wolf metabolism was simply no match for it. Apparently, the drunk version of him just got giggly, cuddly, and magically gave himself a wolf tail that wagged a mile-a-minute constantly. Remus couldn't say he remembered much of it, but there was a nice picture of him trying to curl up on Tonks lap, half asleep, tail lazily thumping against the sofa arm rest.

He took a deep breath and moved his head to the side. His view of the plain ceiling changed to that of rocky walls, moss, and a few determined weeds growing in the dark. A crevice in the side of a cliff perhaps? Or a cave in the Forest? He turned back to view the ceiling, now noticing the few pin pricks of light above him. Bioluminescent moss most likely. Fairly common in the Forest, so chances were he wasn't taken too far. Although, the Forest stretched on for miles, so he could be at the very farthest edge away from Hogwarts as far as he knew. If he even was still in the Forest.

At least he couldn't see Greyback anywhere. He wasn't awake enough to deal with him just yet. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the scents around him; Damp, earth, ionised air, and cold. When he had trekked into the Forest he could smell the first snowfall on the way, now it seemed as if the snow had already started to fall. He wondered how long he had been here, Greyback had obviously intended to take him alive. He would have been ripped to shreds instead of being incapacitated. Maybe he had been hit too hard.

He reached a hand up groggily to feel his head, feeling the tender scabbing over a large gash on his forehead. No wonder his head was killing him; concussion and knocked out for several days at the least. He briefly worried about severe brain trauma before he remembered, he was a werewolf, and that he should be more concerned with his current predicament.

Tonks must be getting frantic.

With that in mind, he gradually pulled himself into an upright sitting position. He looked around the floor, noticing the lack of his wand, and the shackles imbedded into the floor. The extra weight he was feeling on his limbs wasn't due to lethargy, but the chains connecting him to the ground. So much for escape, even though he felt an attempt was futile anyway considering he felt very close to road-kill at the moment.

"You brought this upon yourself, Lupin," said a gruff voice behind him, "did you really think I'd let your interfering slide? Interesting how none of you thought to search for me. Did you think me dead little dog?"

Remus turned his upper body slowly to face the newcomer. Greyback was silhouetted against a source of light further down the cave. The source of light, Remus now recognised, was the dusk sunlight. He simply blinked at the man, before turning back to look around the ground before him. Noticing the pressure from an inner pocket of his robes, as he moved, that signalled where his wand had been stashed. How odd.

"You came into my pack, started discontent and unrest in my followers. Spread your handlers 'truth' about living free," Greyback scoffed, "you ruined our only chance at true freedom!"

Remus felt his shoulder grabbed roughly as he was shoved around and back into the hard wall. A rock dug uncomfortably into his spine, but with Greybacks snarling teeth so close to his face, the more slight werewolf had other concerns.

"Did you really think Voldemort would give you freedom?" Remus scoffed. "You were nothing more that his foot soldiers. Pure muscle and brutality on the battle field. He fully intended for all of you to die for him, and if any of you survived you would have been culled." He shook his head, "you may be mad, but you're not that stupid to believe you would be 'free'."

Greyback simply grinned.

"Not if we planned to wipe them out first. The war would have done most of the work for us." Greyback pressed off Remus shoulder, walking away but continuing to talk over his shoulder. "We would have been our own rulers, no more ministry, no more register, no more laws. Just roaming wolves, as it should be. No more wizards to belittle our nature and condemn us to death. Your father learnt his lesson, I'm sure others would too."

Remus gritted his teeth in anger. His father had done everything in his power to show that he was still loved. His mother and father took care of him, made him feel safe, and comforted him after full moon nights. Read to him, tucked him in, and cuddled him just like any other child with loving parents. Then his father had begged his forgiveness when he told him the reason behind the bite. Remus had forgiven him immediately. Lyall Lupin was changed, and he shouldn't have to continue carrying the guilt of his past self.

Greyback intended to change everyone through violence and trauma. Remus just wanted people to like him, to treat him as a human being. Kindness lasted longer and bred loyalty, savagery only brought resentment and fear, in his opinion.

"You would have been slaughtered, Greyback," he whispered. "All those wolves that followed you because they had nowhere else to go, they would have been butchered."

"No! We had superior strength, numbers, and instinct, we would have won! They feared us!"

"Voldemort's magic would have obliterated you all from existence on a pure whim. He despised you."

Greyback roared with rage, turning sharply and making a dash for Remus still pressed up against the cave wall. But just as suddenly he stopped, the fury fell from his face as he considered his prey before him.

"No, I've planned this for too long for you to make me angry now."

Now, Remus was worried. Greyback never held back, he must be proud of what he had in store. The large Werewolf turned back again and bent down to wrench the shackles from the ground with a grunt.

"Come."

He tugged Remus to his feet, pulling him along before he could unbalance and fall. They came to the mouth of the cave and out into the open as the last vestiges of light fell behind the horizon.

"You were out for so long I worried you wouldn't awake before today. The Aurors caught up to us just hours ago. They should be here soon. Followed my trail here so easily." Greyback gave a mocking snort, pulling Remus the final distance into the middle of the clearing. "Clearly, I overestimated your resilience to damage."

"You threw a tree at me. At my head. What did you expect?" Remus snarked back.

He felt a quick jab between his shoulder blades at that, winding him, and forcing a coughing fit.

"It's that smart mouth of yours that got you in trouble before, Lupin," Greyback tugged him suddenly, causing Remus to go stumbling towards him, "or have you forgotten how you acquired these?"

He dragged a yellowing clawed nail down Remus face, along the scar that stretched from his left eyebrow and down across the bridge of his nose. There was another facial scar gifted to him by Greyback; two parallel scratches up the left side of his neck and jaw.

All of the damage he dealt to himself for countless full moons never lingered for long. He healed injuries in a matter of days that would take a human weeks. But the damage done by another werewolf would last a lifetime. An evolutionary tactic to single out those that had become battle worthy, or disciplined. With every full moon, his body was broken and reformed, his human body made anew with the rising sun. Only the cursed scars of another wolf would mark him. He had no intention of gaining any more, so he kept his mouth shut.

They waited until the first stars started to appear before the initial few Aurors made an appearance. Tonks not far behind them, all of them were out of breath, clearly having run here. Still inside the Hogwarts limits then, Remus thought. He smiled slightly at his wife who was searching him with her eyes.

"Greyback, release him," Kingsleys voice thundered, "and no-one need be hurt."

Remus now noted that Greyback stood behind him, with claws frightfully close to his jugular at this point. A huff of breath brushed past his face as his captor laughed humourlessly.

"After all the trouble I took to lead you here? I don't think so." He gripped Remus about the neck tighter, jingling the chains tauntingly at the Aurors.

Tonks hair was a furious red at this point as she made to walk forward, but Kingsley, now at the head of the group placed an arm out.

"Oh so that's her is it? She the one that got you curbed? I hear you even have a little cub somewhere," Greyback leered at her.

"Don't you dare," Remus growled back at him.

"She got your balls in a box too?" He spat, tugging Remus backwards towards the edge of the clearing, away from the congregation of Aurors.

"You don't know what day it is do you?"

Remus turned to look at Greybacks manic grin and a clawed hand grabbed him by the chin, turning his face up to the night sky.

The moon breached the horizon of a cloudless sky. The full moon.

"Let's see which one of us can destroy her first."

"Run! All of you go, now!" Remus screamed to the amassed Aurors, while Greyback fastened the chains in his grasp to the nearest tree trunk. He caught sight of Tonks still staring at him as her fellow Aurors turned and fled, unable to disapparate.

"Please, Dora."

He watched as she turned and ran as fast as she could into the forest, knowing that she would never be able to run fast enough.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Running through the forest, she caught the occasional flicker of red through the trees. Her teams red robes billowing behind them as they all fled for their lives. Logically she knew they should have run further out into the forest, to escape the anti apparition fields. In panic, however, they had dashed back the way they came.

The mixture of screaming and howling followed them as two wolves woke for a night of hunting.

She could see some of the Aurors slowing down, no doubt exhausted. Having made a mad dash to the clearing as the sun went down, in an effort to knock them both out and restrain them before the change. But with Greyback holding Remus in such a precarious situation, they hadn't the chance.

The man in front of her stumbled and fell with his momentum. Cobbins. She skidded to a halt, grabbing him by the back of his robes and shoving him forward to run once again. They made to pick up their pace but the sound of something heavy running for them made them still.

They could hear the growling now too as they turned to see a massive grey wolf barrelling towards them. Eyes wide, pupils tiny pinpricks as it hurtled straight for them, manic with it's urge to take down it's prey.

A shout and a spell came from their side, striking the werewolf's haunches. It didn't seem to affect the beast at all, but it did snarl and come to a stop. Leaves and grit plumed up around it's front paws in the wolves effort to slow down and turn. Baring it's fangs at it's assailant, who turned out to be a witch that worked a couple of cubicles down from Tonk's. Blake. A deep rumbling growl became a snarl as it's maddened eyes zeroed in on her, as she stood petrified to the spot.

The massive beast took a step towards her but was immediately thrown off it's feet as a second, slightly smaller grey wolf charged into it's side. The large wolf went sprawling into the ground, skidding on it's side for several feet before coming to a stop slightly dazed.

Tonks placed herself in front of the wizard that had fallen and gestured for the other witch to continue fleeing, but she did not. Instead, all three of them watched as the smaller wolf shook himself and the broken chains still attached to his limbs clinked along the floor. He raised his head to growl a warning at the larger wolf, and Tonks instantly recognised him.

"Remus."

Instead of the ear flicker of recognition Tonks was used to receiving the past couple of moons, all she got was a predatory stare. Remus wasn't in there at all.

They were distracted by the wolf, Tonks now knew was Greyback, as it got back to his feet and let out a vicious snarl. Moony's hackles raised, his fur puffed up, and his tail raised. A few more lunging growls were traded before they both collided with each other. Jaws grabbing onto fur, teeth tearing into folds of skin and clawed paws digging out lines in the ground and each others bodies.

The fight raged on, neither giving out to the other. Physically, the Aurors expected Moony to be at a distinct disadvantage, being smaller and with significantly less muscle mass than Greyback. What they hadn't accounted for, was Moony's pure hatred of Greyback. Clearly, not all werewolves got along. But his slight build seemed to be giving him in edge in agility and speed, to counter the larger wolf's pure brute strength.

Tonks had managed to guide Cobbins over to Blake, who was still hiding in the tree line, when they heard a terrible whimpering noise. Moony had been thrown onto the ground, lying exhausted on his side. Tonks raised her wand to fire off a jinx, a curse, anything to distract Greyback. She was too late. Greyback surged down upon Moony, jaws open wide for the kill. The ground was then sprayed with Greyback's blood.

Feigning exhaustion, Moony had lay in wait at the perfect vantage point to go for the larger wolf's throat. Propelling himself up he met Greyback halfway to sink his teeth into the wolf's venerable neck. The wolf's momentum and extra weight caused his neck to shred past razor sharp teeth. Arterial blood spattered along the ground, and Greyback crumpled. His life and desire to fight draining out faster than his blood, and in no time at all, the gigantic beast lay dead on the forest floor. He was unable to heal such extensive injuries dealt by another wolf.

The Aurors stayed frozen, unsure of what Moony would do now. Howl in victory? Take his trophy away? But he did neither. He simply got to his feet slowly, panting hard, and stared directly at the three of them.

"Oh shit," Cobbins breathed.

"Go," Tonks whispered, bending down slowly to pick up a twig, "Go now!"

"You must be jok-" Blake started, but Moony had already started his run for Tonks. They were all so surprised by his speed they barely had time to stumble back as their fight or flight instinct kicked in.

Tonks slipped and fell backwards, Moony now slowing his approach. Completely forgetting about the wand in her hand, Tonks just scrambled backwards as fast as she could. Dread filled her knowing she couldn't out run him, and no spell she could throw would slow him down without permanently damaging, or outright killing, Remus.

Moony was a foot away stalking closer and all Tonks could think was how much Remus was going to hate himself when he woke up tomorrow. Her vision was taken up by an opening maw as she did the last thing she could think of.

She morphed.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Moony was frazzled, stressed, and rather confused.

First, there was prey, but he was tied to a tree. The chains were old and eventually gave under the force of his tugging. Next, there was a bulky wolf that screamed self imposed Alpha. He didn't like beefy, arrogant wolves. He also had the distinct impression that this particular wolf had insulted him at some point. So, of course, he had to try and take him down a notch. Massive thing could barely turn fast enough to get at him, and all the while his prey just stood there and watched.

Victory was his, eventually, and he went to claim his prize. His main target was brightly coloured and panicked, but he could also smell sadness. This was not an emotion he expected to smell upon a victim. He also couldn't shake her scent, one that seemed so familiar and yet completely foreign to him. Human.

He was just about to finally take a bite when her scent changed. Wolf. She smelt like wolf.

Jaws snapped shut but she didn't flinch. He turned to look down at her and saw golden wolf eyes looking back at him from a human face.

He sat down suddenly, completely flummoxed by this development. The wolf-human just continued to look at him, not staring directly into his eyes, but looking at his ears or his muzzle. She clearly didn't wish to challenge him. He leant forward to scent her neck, then moved to nuzzle her head with his snout. Her hair had taken on the course texture of a winter coat, with soft under fur around her temples.

Dimly registering the other two humans somewhere behind him in the trees, he found himself far more enchanted by the half wolf in front of him. A Mate.

Immediately choosing to adopt a non-threatening position he lay to one side, tail wagging tentatively, as he waited to see how she would receive him. He was immediately befuddled once more when his potential mate leaned over and gave his tummy a rub.

This night, was not working out how he thought it would. At all.

- - - oOoOoOo - - -

Once again, Remus regained consciousness, rather wishing he hadn't for at least another couple of hours. He felt achy all over, and his brain had been replaced by cotton balls. Lying down on something soft, a bed from the Hospital Wing no doubt, he could feel the comforting weight of thick blankets keeping out the winter chill. He noticed the lack of acute pain he had come to associate with transformations, however, and registered the dull, abstract feeling of a total body pain reliever.

It had been bad then.

The strangeness of this statement struck him as he remembered that he was a regular user of Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane made him tame, kept his sanity, made him 'safe'. Wolfsbane he hadn't gotten the chance to take this month.

His eyes snapped open and he was greeted with the sight of his gently smiling wife.

"Morning, sleepy head," she whispered.

"Dora!" He made to sit up but immediately thought better of it, "You're not- You're ok?"

To say he was incredulous was an understatement. He remembered now; being kidnapped, Greyback taunting, the Aurors, Dora.

"I'm fine," she leaned over and stroked his hair, patting his hand that was not hidden under the covers. "I won't lie you had us worried last night. I think it was a wake up call for the whole department on how little we know about werewolves."

Remus swallowed and closed his eyes. He had tried, so hard, to get her fellow work mates to like him, to show them he wasn't anything to be feared. Now, because of Greyback it was ruined. They could see him for what he truly was.

He felt Tonks fingers brush through his hair as she brought her hand down to rest against the side of his face, tilting his head to face her. He opened his eyes again.

"Look," and she directed his gaze to his bedside table, which was filled with wrapped gifts and opened cards waiting for him.

He stared at all the various Get-Well cards, the boxes of Honeydukes sweets, and the amassed tower of chocolate. One of the cards was open and he could see signatures from students, and other professors alike. But what really caught his eye, were the signatures in a card from the Auror department. They were accompanied by comments wishing him a speedy recovery, lamenting stories on how their children missed his teaching already, and one that said he was a very fine wolf with a winking face next to it.

"They don't think of you any differently," Tonks assured him, taking his dumbfounded face in her hands and kissing him soundly. "They know the difference between the wolf and the man. You are not you're wolf, Remus." She allowed him to settle back against his pillow, his expression still incredulous, but a small smile was working it's way in. He knew now that she was just fine, and she knew exactly what would be bothering him right this moment. He loved her so much he felt like he might burst.

"Although," she started again, "I have now been dubbed the Werewolf Tamer by my colleagues."

That got his attention. Eyes snapping to her again, he asked, "what do you mean?"

"Your wolf was rather forward with me," grinning, she sat on the side of his bed, careful not to disturb him. "I may have confused him at the last second. I didn't want to use magic in case I seriously hurt you. Whatever you might say, being a werewolf I could live with, dead husband not so much." Remus opened his mouth to counter the point, but Tonks just shoved a chunk of chocolate in there. "I did the only thing I could think of by morphing. I figured I smelled human, like prey, but if I smelled like a wolf he might stop."

Remus chewed the chocolate in his mouth and swallowed, "and did he?"

"Oh yes," her grin became extremely wolfish, "in fact, I think he started to proposition me. In wolf terms of course."

"He what?"

"You heard," Tonks said, smugly, pointing a finger at him. "You're wolf had the hots for the wolf-like version of me, I think I'm flattered."

Remus decided to forgo his initial reaction of sheer embarrassment and horror, and went straight onto hysterics.

"Wolf-Me needs to keep his paws to himself!"

Prompts are welcome as per usual!~