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Picking Up a Scent


The tiny wolf pup scampered across the control room floor, his little paws clicking on the floor as he went, his ickle bitty claws scraping along. He jumped at the waving tail of the pacing grown wolf, trying to catch onto it with his paws, growling playfully as he dove through the air repeatedly, his little teeth snapping as he let out little yapping barks. The grown wolf barely paid attention, pacing - pacing - pacing - pacing back and forth before the door, his teeth grinding, bared, as his eyes flickered from the door to Newt and Tina’s watching faces through the windows. Pacing - pacing - pacing.

Newt’s brow furrowed as he watched the wolf go by. “Odd,” he murmured.

“What’s that?” Tina asked. She was watching Bradley, her eyes never once leaving him, ready to run in and face the grown wolf at a moment’s notice if he turned upon her boy. Every muscle tensed - and had been since the transformation had occurred.

“It’s just that… he’s searching, as though picking up a scent, you see. See the - the hackles there, he’s uh, he’s ready to defend his Alpha.”

Tina spared a glance to the hackles, “Well that can’t be, his Alpha would be Greyback, wouldn’t it? Greyback’s no where near Hogwarts.”

Newt stammered, “I - I wouldn’t think he would be, but - but perhaps Hogsmeade? Their sense of smell is stronger than ours…” He frowned.

“We need to warn Dumbledore if there’s a chance of Greyback being near,” Tina said.

“Yes,” Newt nodded.

Tina stared as Bradley leaped for Remus’s tail and missed, tumbling into Remus’s back hocks. She looked to Newt. “What if he’s here, looking for Ned?”

“Greyback?”

“Yes,” Tina said.

Newt turned without answering and hurried to the ladder and out of the suitcase as Remus’s wolf tried at jumping against the door in angst. Tina jumped back from the window, her eyes flickering to Bradley, still scuttling about Remus’s ankles, and she pressed her palm to the window.




Sirius had been asleep when the smell entered his nose. It was a scent he’d only breathed a few times, yet it was indelibly burned into his brain. The smell of Fenrir Greyback. His hackles rose instantly and he woke growling, his eyes piercing the night, the flickering grey of the telly set, and Peter wrapped in his blanket burrito. He stood on the bed, Remus’s old jumper falling off the bed and onto the floor, coated with a thick shedding of dog fur. He padded over to the window, the scent getting stronger with every step, the fur on the back of his neck at attention, his muscles tight. He pressed his wet nose to the glass, leaving streaks in the dust as he peered through thick white snow as it fell in absolute sheets of white, big snow flakes tumbling down. The trees were a dark blur, far off across the yard of the Shack and he squinted, his dog sight keen, even through the snow and the dark and the fog his breath made upon the window pane.

And then he saw it.

The form of the wolf of the grounds.

He started barking frantically, his voice echoing off the glass, shaking the windows as he focused better on the yellow eyes that stared back across the thick snow. He leaped over the bed and found that James and Lily were gone and he bolted past Peter, waking him up as his feet hit his pudgy little friend, racing down the hall, his claws catching the carpet and tearing it up a bit as he rounded the corner and bounded down the stairs.

Lily and James were on their way up the stairs at exactly the time that Sirius went running down them, and he passed between them, not slowing even a second as he ran for the door and expertly stood on his hind legs, using his paws to twist the knob. He’d practiced this move many a time with Remus and it was a good thing for the smoothness of it allowed him to race out the front door and meet the werewolf in the middle of the yard, rather than too close to the door.

They clashed, a great spray of snow rising up between them as dog and wolf smashed into each other, chest to chest, mouths open, teeth bared - the werewolf’s teeth were so much longer than the dog’s as they snarled and snapped and sparred against one another. Sirius could barely comprehend that it was happening, not to mention stop to think of why Fenrir Greyback would be there. He simply fought him with all the might that he had.

In the Shack, Lily let out a cry when she saw the two canines battling and heard the dog yelp as the wolf smashed him toward the ground - luckily the dog was more nimble and he rolled before the wolf could snap at his neck. Lily’s eyes were wide - and she felt a thrill of panic, “What do we do!?” she asked, horrified, and turned to James -- but James wasn’t there. In his place was the stag, lowering his horns and tilting them to get out the door without getting hung up, and his hooves clattered across the porch and onto the lawn. “No!” Lily sobbed, watching him go.

“What’s happening?!” Peter cried, arriving at her side, still rubbing his eyes from sleep, his voice squeakier than usual as he struggled to get his wits entirely about him. “Bloody hell is that -- that’s not Remus is it?”

“I don’t think so,” Lily said, frightened.

Peter trembled. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said.

James was sparring with the wolf now, too, the dog beneath him, using the large, lowered antlers like a shield as the wolf growled and snapped, not quite daring to attack the large rack aimed at him, like a good deal of blunt swords. He waved his paw, trying to smack James off course, but the stag managed to keep his balance and he took several steps forward, knocking his head side to side, trying to fend off the wolf, but it was only making the werewolf angrier and Lily feared how unsteady on his legs the stag seemed in the snow, how top heavy he was. One good hit from the side and James would go down and struggle to get back up, just as she’d seen predators take over their woodland prey on muggle telly...

“We need to help them,” Lily said.

“We need Dumbledore,” Peter said.

Lily didn’t listen. Lily drew her wand from inside her many layers of jumpers and scarves and she threw her hair back and ran out the door.

“But - but --” Peter squeaked, “But it’s a werewolf!” His eyes were as wide as could be, but Lily wasn’t slowing and as her mary janes hit the snow, Peter drew his wand and cried, “Wait, wait for me! I’ll help you!” and he drew his wand, too, and ran after her, jumping down the steps of the porch in his hurry and nearly tumbling into the snow. Lily caught him by his elbow and helped him stand upright as they raced across the yard.

STUPEFY!” Lily cried and a jet of light shot across the yard, glowing red reflections on the ice crystals that made up the snow. She missed, but the werewolf looked up to see her and Peter coming at him and he reaimed himself, away from the stag and the dog, suddenly interested in his human prey.

Sirius leaped at him, running out from beneath his shield of the stag’s antlers, catching the werewolf’s neck in his thick teeth and shaking his grip on Greyback’s skin. Being older than Remus, Greyback’s wolf form was so much larger than what Sirius was used to dealing with and stronger, too. Greyback twisted, throwing Sirius over into the snow and he let out a great growling warning bark straight into Sirius’s face, making the dog press into the snow, cowering away from the thick yellowed teeth that came at his face as Lily aimed her wand again, “Flippendo!” she cried and this one caught the wolf, knocking his feet clear out from under him, sending him head over heels so that he flipped right over, as though thrown.

Incarcerous” Peter shouted, and long thick robes spouted from his wand as Sirius got up, shaking off the snow that had packed in his fur, and James brought his antlers down to hold the wolf to the ground, keeping him from jumping up to fight back again. Lily and Peter watched as the robes twined their way about the wolf, rendering him unable to move.

Petrificus totalus!” Lily said, just for good measure and the wolf went stock still.

Peter’s face was red from the cold and the rush of what they’d just done and he stared at the ropes still spouting from his wand, wrapping tight ‘round the werewolf and he felt quite dizzy as he realized what he had done and he lost his breath and gasped, “Oh gods!” and nearly dropped his wand.

Sirius popped back into himself and, beside him, James did the same, and the four of them stood there staring at the prone, thick set shape of the werewolf.

“Holy fucking flobberworms,” Sirius gasped.

James looked around at them, his breath coming out in great clouds before his mouth, “Everyone alright?”

They nodded one by one and Lily asked, “You?”

“Brilliant,” James replied. He looked at the wolf. “That’s not Remus,” he said - it was a statement.

“Ferfucksake, mate, of course it isn’t Remus!” Siris said, looking up at him, “Are you mad? We wouldn’t take Remus out like this!” He looked back down at the wolf. “No, that’s bloody Fenrir Greyback, that is.”

Peter trembled.

Lily gasped and stared down at the wolf’s form. “What’s he doing here?” she asked, dismayed.

“Dunno,” Sirius answered. “Looking for Remus, most like.”

Peter let out a trembly murmur of nervous sound.

James looked about at them and his eyes met Lily’s for a fleeting second.

And suddenly there were several loud CRACKing sounds in the blinding white of the snow around them, echoing about in the dark and Lily let out a shriek, and jumped toward James, whose arm went protectively around her, his body folding around her as though to shield her and he looked around frantically, trying to decide which way to cover her in, and Sirius raised his wand, spinning in the snow, his boots kicking the white dust as Peter turned back toward the Shack, his wand drawn, too, his back pressed to James’s back, covering him from behind.

“It’s Sirius Black!” came a familiar voice through the dark, “Hold your spells!” And through the dark came a familiar narrow form, freckled and newly spectacled, with bright red hair, came Bilius Weasley, closely followed by Fabian Prewett, who was wearing pyjamas under his robes… and from all about them came other members of the Resistance - Ted Tonks, Charlus Potter, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and finally there was Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore himself.