So Teddy spent the afternoon reaching out to his Potion Master contact. However, his contact informed him that since he actually had respect for his craft, it would take longer than the incompetent people the Ministry consulted with. After a brief look over the files and samples that Teddy had smuggled him, the Potion Master announced that it would take at least a week and that Teddy shouldn't harass him any sooner than that.

So Teddy focused on other things. He followed up with his promise of a lead in their smuggling case by mentioning the possibility of cultivating a criminal informant. Hasan responded to this with reserved curiosity, but was willing to let Teddy keep the informant's identity a secret per their request. At least the precursor to Teddy's hangover that day had some results. Sure, Teddy's agreement with Kamya wasn't strictly that of a criminal informant, but it was close enough for their purposes. Teddy briefly considered if he should be worried about many rules he was breaking, and then remembered that he was an unregistered werewolf working in the Ministry. In for a knut, in for a galleon, or however the saying went.

Then he followed up on his promise to contact the Alpha about a go between. The Alpha said the liaison to the Ministry would have to be either his son or himself. Which made sense to Teddy, given both what he knew of the Alpha and what Kamya had recently said. The Alpha liked to keep things close to his chest, sharing information about the pack on a need to know basis. Hell, Teddy still didn't know where the Alpha and some of the other wolves went during the full moon.

On the one hand, the Alpha and his son hadn't been in the forest during the full moon or during the morning after. That would have been something that people commented upon enough that even Teddy would have heard about it. On the other hand, Teddy wasn't sure if the Alpha was trustworthy, what with Kamya's vague warnings about him. Though her vague implications about the Alpha keeping secrets also meant he would be the best source to try to milk for information, or even blatant misinformation. In any case, it didn't matter either way because the Alpha was really their only viable option for a liaison without trying to topple the power structure.

So the next few days Hasan and Teddy worked with the Alpha to check out the pack's alibis. Since a lot of the pack spent the full moon running with someone else, it was mostly a matter of cross checking their stories.

By the end of it, they had narrowed the list down to a small handful of names. After spending so much time in Hasan's company, the Alpha agreed to giving their information over to Teddy and Hasan. As long as the information did not go beyond them, the Alpha stipulated. All of them were acting like Jones and Collins weren't involved, which suited Teddy just fine. If those two couldn't get information out of the pack, why did it have anything to do with Teddy?

However, even with much smaller list of names, Teddy and Hasan were left floundering. With no idea what the motive was, it was hard to decide who they needed to focus on. Was this a separate incident from the serial killings twenty years ago? What was the motive if it was the serial killer? There seemed little benefit in reemerging to kill again unless Lilith had somehow uncovered their identity?

Teddy wanted to have some leverage before they tried truly interrogating their suspects. He wasn't just sure where that leverage lay. He knew he would probably just get stonewalled if he tried to push anywhere with the Alpha. However, the only other lead they had was whatever connection Hermione had with Lilith's case. So, although it was two days early, Teddy decided to see how far the potion master had gotten on the mystery potion connection.

...

As was common these days, Teddy found his Uncle in the potion laboratory behind the Manor gardens. Technically, Draco was actually his first cousin, once removed. Uncle was a lot easier to say. Especially when he was smaller and had spent a lot of time in these very gardens.

There weren't any shade trees on the walk he had taken. So the blazing morning sun made Teddy nearly blind as he walked into the darkness of the laboratory.

"I'm in the middle of something," Draco said grumpily from across the room. " Just sit over there and don't mess with anything."

Used to this sort of treatment, Teddy found a stool along the edge of the room. He browsed through the books squeezed between potion ingredients on the shelves. Once he found a good textbook, Teddy flipped through it, occasionally glancing back up at his Uncle.

Normally clean-shaven, Draco's beard had grown far past a five o'clock shadow. His hair had also grown shaggy, exposing the gray and silver usually lost in his blond hair. Maybe Draco really was as busy as he had claimed.

It had taken a lot more convincing than Teddy had expected. He had to reassure Draco that information that the Ministry's current Potion Master had given them was useless . On top of this, Teddy had heavily implied how bad Draco could make Harry look if he found the next lead on a decades-old cold case. Even then, Draco was reluctant to spend more time away from his wife. He had only relented when Teddy nearly broke down trying to explain how important the case was to him. Not one of Teddy's proudest moments.

"You haven't given me much to go on, Teddy," his Uncle said, putting away bottles of spell ingredients. "You should be amazed that I could get anything from it."

Teddy let Draco boast, knowing he would be more willing to share his information this way.

His work place tidied, Draco turned to a different shelf. He pulled out three potions: a milky white one with shots of silver throughout, a muddy brown one, and a violently neon-green one.

He set these on the table as he explained, "I was able to construct the 'antidote' that the Potions Master used on Granger's wounds." He motioned towards the white potion. Then he gestured towards the muddy-brown potion. "And I formulated this to mimic the potion found in her wounds. I based it off of the notes of the Potion Master" -Draco gave him a put-upon look- "a nearly impossible task."

"So, what's the green one?" Teddy asked.

Draco glared at him. "Did I mention how incredibly brilliant I am for being able to recreate these potions?"

"You are extremely brilliant, Uncle. Why do you think I brought it to you? Nobody else could have figured it out."

Draco gave him a considering look and Teddy wondered if he had laid it on too thick, but Draco continued. "The green vial is what the half-wit Potions Master should have used on Granger's wounds as it was the true antidote to the original potion ."

"Oh, cool. So, did you find out what the brown potion does?"

Again, he was met by an annoyed look from his Uncle. "In fact, that would be nearly impossible without a true sample of the potion but I have determined the most probable classification. The powdered zincite indicates an enhancing or transformative effect. Given another ingredient is wolves' teeth, it is most likely to take on powers associated with a wolf. Or possibly enhance those powers already owned by a werewolf."

Teddy was trying to process that as Draco pulled out a knife and pressed it against his own forearm.

"Uncle?" Teddy asked hesitantly, watching the blade on Draco's pale arm. "What are you doing?"

"Tissue sample," Draco muttered absently before nicking off a piece of skin. The blood immediately welled in the small divot. The blood started dripping down his arm and Draco staunched it with a handkerchief.

"Bloody hell!" Teddy pulled his wand out to heal the cut.

Draco waved it impatiently away. "Magic this near the samples might interfere with the results." He scraped the knife against the inside of a test tube and pointed to the empty tube sitting next to it. "Your turn."

Teddy took a careful step back. "What?"