Chapter 1: Prologue

"I see a bad moon risin'."

Fear has always had a particular scent. Bitter… Tangy… Metallic…

The wolf stalked its prey from the dark tree line of the meadow. It could hear two wizards bickering as the group tried to decide on their next location, hoping that the safehouse would still be secure. One of the party members, a witch, was injured and had leaned against another for support while they waited at the rendezvous point. From the shadows the wolf watched with glowing eyes as the taller wizard shoved a shorter, stockier one while they shouted. Clearly their mission had gone badly.

None of this mattered to the wolf. The scent of fear always went hand in hand with a feeling… Hunger.

"I see trouble on the way."

The wolf stretched to its full height while letting out a deafening, distressed call. The howl was full of longing and sadness as it echoed through the trees of the forest. The group was immediately on guard, unsheathing their wands and assuming a defensive position. Illuminated by the waning slivers of moonlight that broke through the dense canopy of leaves, the wolf emerged from the darkness, bounding into the clearing. It could hear the blood of its prey pumping faster as the group of unfortunate wizards learned that these moments could be their last. At the great and terrifying noise, and an equally horrible sight, the wizards broke formation and scattered.

"I see earthquakes and lightnin'."

The closest and easiest target was the witch with the limp. The wolf could smell the blood dripping down her leg as she begged the tall wizard trying to drag her through the forest to leave her behind. She knew she was a lost cause and wanted to give her friend the chance to escape. The wolf caught up to them quickly and sunk its teeth into the back of her neck, ripping her out of the grasp of the wizard. The wizard screamed and scrambled to throw any curse he could at the wolf to no avail as it flung the girl like a rag doll into the nearest tree. She hit the trunk with a sickening thud and slid down to the forest floor, never to move again. The wolf bent down to satiate its hunger and gnawed on the girl's flesh until it registered the heat of magic ruffling the fur of its neck. The wizard's distraction had worked, albeit too late to save his friend, and served to agitate the creature and disrupt its meal. The wolf turned its attention to its next target and let out a menacing growl as it stalked forward.

"I see bad times today."

The wizard tried to flee as he fired the killing curse blindly behind him. Dodging each stream of green light easily, the wolf launched itself through the air and caught up to the tall wizard with three great leaps. The wizard fell to the unforgiving forest floor as a powerful jaw clamped around his thigh and razor-sharp teeth shredded the muscles down to his ankle as the wizard tried to pull his leg from the wolf's mouth. He cried out in agony, clawing desperately at the ground with his fingers as he tried to reach the wand that had rolled from his grasp during the fall. With his femoral artery punctured, the stretch of his arms grew weaker. It was not long before he had lost consciousness and bled out, turning the dirt around him into thick, viscous mud as the wolf chewed upon his remaining limbs.

"Don't go around tonight."

The wolf licked the blood dripping from its lips and listened carefully for its third and final victim. The stockier wizard was thrashing through the underbrush and creating enough noise to alert every animal in a mile radius of his location as he ran desperately to the end of the anti-apparition wards at the forest's edge. The wolf looked at the waning moon and knew it would have just enough time to catch up to the last wizard. Moving quickly and silently through the forest, the wolf flung himself into the direct path of the wizard and cut him off right before he reached the wards. The blood of its victims covered the wolf's muzzle and had drenched its chest. After hearing the screams of his comrades as they had fallen to the beast, the wizard realized that the only way out would be to fight or die. Either he could hold off the werewolf for long enough that dawn would force the wolf to transform back to a vulnerable human or he could try to make it past the ward-line to apparate.

"Well, it's bound to take your life."

Sending a silent prayer to Merlin, the stocky wizard made large sweeping motions with his wand to summon a wall of dirt and rocks between him and the wolf. It took the wizard immense concentration as he made the debris denser and sent it to cage in the wolf. He felt the drain on his magic as the wolf tore holes in the wall surrounding it and more dirt arose from the ground to patch them. Sweat rolled down his face as the wizard glanced to the sky. Bursts of pink and orange were starting to peek through the clouds with the first vestiges of dawn. 'Only a little longer,' he thought. His breathing was coming in heavy bursts as the wolf redoubled its efforts to break through the wall. It, too, seemed to know its time was limited.

Desperation overtook the wizard as he felt the last of his strength dwindling. He threw the rest of his magic into collapsing the wall of debris upon the wolf and sprinted towards the edge of the woods with the hopes that he would be able to apparate to the safe house. With the wolf behind him, and refuge ten meters away, he tripped over a tree root in his haste just as he felt the rocks and dirt hitting him when the wolf burst from its enclosure. His last thought, as claws sunk deep into his chest and punctured his heart, was that he hoped that his family would at least see the end of this horrible war.

As dawn painted the sky in beautiful shades of orange and yellow, a man lay naked and shivering upon the ground. Sore, sticky, and dirty, he came to consciousness. Smelling something metallic, and wondering why he was wet, he slowly sat up to take stock of his surroundings through bleary eyes. With horror, he registered that he was covered in blood.

Looking at the remains of the slaughter surrounding him, and the entrails spread at his feet, Remus Lupin turned to his side as his stomach heaved and vomited.

It never gets easier.

"There's a bad moon on the rise."

Lyrics from Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival