Despite the late July weather, it was pretty brisk inside the building. Britain was never warm, Wolfgang thought to himself as he looked about his surroundings. The shadowy building was mostly in darkness until he pushed open the squeaky door ahead of him. Above it, in mosaic tiles was 'Entrance' so it seemed a logical route.


Pools of light were thrown down from the ceiling which was littered with glass, like a great greenhouse. The sky above was both starry, but with a hue of orange street lamps from the city around them. Birmingham held no great appeal to Wolfgang, but it did boast a bathhouse, not long closed - falling into disrepair and neglect. Each footstep echoed against all the hard surfaces.

The gloomy tiled corridor opened out into a huge cavernous room with an expansive glass roof held up by iron. The walls either side were lined with changing rooms archways and balcony, offering great views for the spectacle below.

In the deeper end of the swimming pool, beneath the raised diving boards was a cage, tall enough for someone to stand in, and stretch their arms out, take a pace or two. It had to contain the main attraction tomorrow night. For now, it contained the warm-up act, the petite, but most vicious Hannah Bombay in human form.

Wolfgang's lips curled happily to himself as he saw her, and whistled, as if he were hailing a dog back to him. The grin remained glued to his features as he walked slowly and purposefully around the side of the pool. His footsteps echoed and there was the sound of water dribbling from somewhere nearby - just enough to be annoying if someone were trying to sleep on a hard, tiled swimming pool floor.

He settled on the edge of the pool above her, legs hanging down into the depths below, about twelve feet above the bottom. Still grinning, he reached into his jacket pocket, and brought out a brightly coloured dog toy - and gave it a squeeze. The high pitched, grating squeak seemed all the louder for the echo.

"There's a good dog." He greeted her, putting the ball back into his pocket. "How do you like your kennel?"

M for Language

However long she’d been in this cage wasn’t clear. It had been overnight though as the sun had been shining through the painted windows for an indeterminate amount of time. Now however it had faded and the figure in the cage sat back resting against the bars with her knees tucked into her chest and head down. She’d had hours upon hours to think and question why someone had attacked her in the alley she usually apparated from.

The whole event was a blur. The young healer had finished her night shift at the hospital. She’d been walking through London to the usual alleyway when the silver chains had been thrown over her head. She remembered the burning; the excruciating pain as she’d fallen to the ground and it had been tightly wrapped around her wrists.

Now sat alone in a confining metal cage Hannah didn’t have the energy or bravery to get angry. She was petrified. The silver was gone, in its place angry red welts around her wrists. Her wand was nowhere to be found and despite the fact it was mid-summer now, her thin robes were failing to keep her warm on the damp cold tiled floor.

It seemed like an eternity of dripping before another sound broke through and a man’s footsteps clicked above her along the edge of the former pool. Hannah’s empty stomach lurched and her head shot up to see who it was, why she was here.

His grin made her want to rip his head off. He took his sweet time in making his way around the edge of the pool and Bombay felt herself swell with an abhorrence that could consume her being. His whistling further spiked her nerves and she found herself pushing herself up onto her feet to get a better look at the monster that had brought her here.

"There's a good dog." He goaded, returning the dog toy to his pocket after giving it a good loud squeeze. Hannah craned her neck to see him, feeling further more vulnerable beneath him as his legs dangled down towards the top of the cage. "How do you like your kennel?"

“Essen die Scheiβe” The caged healer practically spat back at Storm. Stood up, now Hannah felt dazed. She’d eaten nothing since waking up in the cage and touched nothing from the dog’s bowl of stale water left in the corner with a few old leaves floating in it. Her clothes now barely resembled the smart attire she’d worn on her way back from the hospital, they were damp and filthy and she had no idea what had happened to her shoes.

“Essen die Scheiβe und sterben.[1]”

1.	German for 'Eat shit and die"

She looked wretched, which was exactly how she should look from every day on, Wolfgang decided. His backside was a little cold on the side of the swimming pool, but nowhere near as cold as Bombay was down there. They were off to a good start with his revenge. Excellent!

It appeared she wasn't a fan of her kennel, nor was she very enthused by the offer of a squeaky toy to brighten it up. He considered throwing it at her for a moment, but thought he might leave it beside her for when she woke after her transformation, wherever they dumped her. A souvenir of the night.

"But we both know the only one of us who'll be doing that is you, dog." Wolfgang laughed cruelly to himself and looked up about himself at the roof and pictured the full moon night when the balconies were full of the audience taking bets on whether Hannah would slaughter the Muggle within a minute. He'd contemplated catching another, see which one tore the other one to bits.

"Ask me nicely and you might get a blanket." He offered, leaning forward to leer at her. There was no blanket, of course there was no blanket - if she thought she was getting an ounce of comfort, she was a bigger fool than he believed.

"Nothing to eat though, otherwise you won't have room for your full moon feast." He rubbed his hands together in glee.

A further sickening feeling hit Hannah’s stomach as Wolfgang enjoyed himself with a cruel laugh. Her tired eyes refused to leave him as he eagerly looked above and around them. She’d known Wolfgang Storm was an unpleasant wizard. She’d known he hated her and his prejudices ruled him. She had never, however, anticipated this. She’d never believed he would orchestrate her kidnap and throw her in a cage for whatever he had planned. People like that went to Azkaban. People like that didn’t target healers with the misfortune of having been bitten by a werewolf.

"Ask me nicely and you might get a blanket." Storm’s words reminded Hannah of the cold and she subconsciously lifted her hands to her arms, pulling her robes tighter and hugging them to herself. She did not, however, wish to start asking the wizard for anything.

As if he was trying to remind her of all her current problems, next came the mention of food. In the lead up to the full moon Hannah usually felt her inner wolf. She had cravings for meat, for huge regular meals and needed a fully stocked fridge. She even found herself waking from her sleep to go to the fridge and snack. She took every break she could at work to eat more. And now she’d not eaten in hours and was to have another 24 hours of it. Her stomach had been groaning. It felt empty and as if she’d not eaten in weeks. Even the leaves scattered on the ground in the cage started to seem edible.

“Feast?” Her stomach lurched at the prospect of food while her head began to run over any sort of reason he’d dragged her head and what he had under his sleeve. Hannah’s anger was replaced by a fear for what exactly he had planned. Her breathing was shallow as she looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Have you lost your mind Storm? You can’t just kidnap a person and lock them in a cage!” The most terrifying thing was that no one would notice she was gone until tomorrow night when she didn’t show at the ministry. That was all he was doing wasn’t it? He wanted her arrested for being a no show again. But why the full moon feast? “You’ve had your fun. Just let me out and we’ll be even.”

"… you can't just kidnap a person and lock them in a cage!"
"Can't I?" Wolfgang countered smoothly, and gestured with both hands at the scene before him - Hannah, kidnapped, and in a cage. He couldn't take all the credit, but there were some rather wonderful career criminals in Britain who needed financial advice.
"You've had your fun. Just let me out and we'll be even." Hannah protested from below.

Up on the edge, Wolfgang seemed to give this serious thought for a moment. A hand to his chin, long bony fingers tapping his lips.
"Even…" He mused aloud, and his hand looked to go for his wand. The other slid down his face, and traced a line where the scar was from Hannah's attack months before.
"I don't want to get even, dog. I wouldn't go to this much trouble to get even. Silly bi-"

His terminology was punctuated by him accidentally setting the squeaky dog toy off in his jacket pocket which gave him a bit of a start. Irritated, he placed his arm back by his side with a little more care this time.
"No, you'll be staying here for my entertainment. You'll make me a lot of money." He smiled, and crossed one leg over the other. "It's not like you lose out entirely, you do get more than enough to eat, exercise. Honestly, this is a far more luxury abode than your Ministry prison cell." He gestured once more before him.
"You should be happy, dog, people will come to celebrate your werewolf status. Isn't that what you filthy creatures want?"

The steadily dripping water provided a previously irritating background noise to the harsh and scary words coming from the mouth of the menacing wizard. He didn’t want to get even with her. He enjoyed that fact as his gangly legs waggled about above her. She watched him through the bars at the top of the cage. The bars she’d already tried some wandless magic on. But her energy levels were too low, she’d not eaten in many hours and she’d never been decent at wandless magic in the first place.

“Honestly, this is a far more luxury abode than your Ministry prison cell.” Storm happily told the witch, a smile plastered on his wrinkled face. With every word she felt herself feeling sicker and sicker. Part of her didn’t want to know what he had planned. She wanted to force herself to wake from the nightmare. The other part of her wanted to know exactly what she was about to face so that she could do it with whatever dignity she still had while locked in a metal cage with a dog’s bowl full of stagnant water.

“This will be far more luxury than the cell you’ll get when they throw you in Azkaban.” Her voice was now shaky and revealed her fear but the venom was there. Her fingers now gripped the bars to her side, the metal cold against her skin.

“The silver really was a wonderful touch, Storm.” She muttered as her fingers slid up the metal. “It’s pathetic how much effort it takes for you to feel like you’re not losing your mind.” She looked back up at him. “This is because of losing your job, yes? You shouldn’t have stripped naked through the ministry like a St Mungo’s runaway should you?”

“This will be far more luxury than the cell you’ll get when they throw you in Azkaban.” He laughed at her protest, her threat that he would go to Azkaban. She had hopes of escape, rescue, of being able to prove he was involved. Sweet thing.

"... because of losing your job, yes? You shouldn’t have stripped naked through the ministry like a St Mungo’s runaway should you?” Wolfgang leaned back, placing his hands flat on the tiles behind him and bracing his arms to prop himself up so he could still see Hannah, but was a little more comfortable and appeared bigger.

"That? If anything, it did me a favour." He dismissed her claim and batted a hand for a moment to illustrate such. "I hope your arse didn't was cold getting home." He crossed his legs and grinned at her, "The bank let me go, Johann's told you that, but they let me walk out, and leave the country."

Wolfgang sat forward again and put his hands just above his knees so he could leer down at Hannah in her kennel.
"If they knew the reality, they'd never have let me go so easily. You just gave me a good reason to move over." He made a sad face to her, mocking her emotions, "Oh dear doggy, does it upset you that your plan backfired? Did you feel awfully powerful talking to my wife in my body? Poor pup. There's nothing to stop me keeping you here and living a short, destructive life as you out there in the same way. But with no friends to speak of, who would miss you?" He shrugged and leant back again, admiring their surroundings.
"No, I think you'll have a much better time here, in your kennel, where you're under control."

Despite her wish for it not to, the constant mentions of her being a dog stung. She’d been bitten when trying to restrain a transforming patient. She’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and would live with that until she died. Unfortunately, her immortality was suddenly thrust in her face in this situation. Wolfgang saw the younger witch as a dog. He’d said the same words upon their first meeting when he’d hurled abuse at her in the middle of Gringott’s. He’d owled her a dog’s head and he’d felt her nails drag across his bare cheek in a blind rage. Now he’d locked her in a cage and kept verbally reminding her of what he presumed her to be.

Therefore, despite herself, this didn’t make Hannah angrier. It made her feel low and gave her the sickening feeling of an animal locked in a cage. She was helpless locked here with a bowl of water at her feet, starving and he sat up there happily squeaking his merlin damned dog’s toy. She had found herself wanting to rip his head off. She’d wanted the wolf to come now and sink its teeth into his skin. Yet now after more of his jeers and the hopelessness of the situation being handed to her on a plate, Hannah had to resist the urge to sink back down to the cold damp floor and give up, beaten.

He wasn’t going to pose as her; he’d acknowledged there wasn’t exactly much more she could lose. As far as Hannah knew he’d not taken any of her hair either. But he had plans. He was waiting until the full moon tomorrow night and he was going to do something. Hannah’s brain whirred, trying to figure out where he was meaning to go with this, how she was going to make him so much money.

“You’ve kidnapped someone else. Another wolf…” Her eyes widened at the prospect and immediately her mind shot to Greyfriar. Spinning on the spot away from Wolfgang, Hannah stared around the huge room, looking for any sign of the hairy loud mouthed wizard that thought he was above everyone. That’s why Storm had mentioned friends. She had two. His son and her fellow werewolf.

Tears of fear and anxiety suddenly started to fill Hannah’s eyes and she gripped the bars of the cage. “You can’t do this Storm! Please just let me go.” Her breathing started to become unsteady as the reality started to hit her, the reality she thought was her own. “Please.”

Wolfgang laughed at her presumption there was another wolf. There wasn't, but he had considered whether two of them would tear each other to pieces for fun, finish both. Next time. He'd keep Hannah here and source another one.

As she started to get hysterical he hauled himself back to his feet on the side of the pool above her. Much as he liked to gloat, leaving her in this state was almost better than goading her some more. Plant that seed of anxiety of another wolf, then leave it to grow.

"Oh be a good dog." Wolfgang interrupted. He reached into his pocket for the toy. "You'll get your walkies soon enough." He tossed the toy towards her cage, and it landed behind her, which hadn't been his intention, but he'd never been a great shot. It was at least in the cage. There, wasn't that kind.

Slipping his hands into his pockets he made the walk around the poolside again, whistling How Much is that Doggy in the Window? as he went.

End