Night of the full moon - Birmingham - closed down swimming baths (pool). All criminals, no good people, those in disguises here for sport - the numbers have probably swelled since 2009.

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Lawrence held the Muggle man up with his wand. He was fast asleep, and had been since Lawrence had picked him up not far from here nursing a can of Special Brew on a sheet of cardboard. Nobody would miss him, almost certainly, the once-auror considered - a both sad and convenient fact. Muggles treated their homeless worse than the magical world did. He and this Muggle were not to unalike, but for this night, Lawrence felt like a king.

Stood at the end of the pool above the cage of a snarling werewolf, he was parading the Muggle while the audience above in the balconies out of harm's way took bets on how long the Muggle would last. They hadn't been entirely cruel - there were a multitude of materials scattered in the empty swimming pool that the muggle could consider using to defend himself, but by the look of it, this wolf hadn't eaten for days. It might be a short fight, which didn't matter as Lawrence had a few reserves in one of the offices.

"... Are you ready to feast?" Someone's voice rang out - magically amplified, and Lawrence gave the muggle a shove off the edge, flicking his wand to soften the landing. No good if the Muggle was a limp pulp after falling twelve feet. He awoke with a gasp, blinking and looking around his surroundings on all fours.

"Dinnertime!" Lawrence yelled with glee, directing a blast right at the door of the cage before turning on the spot to get out of the reach of those long arms, claws and teeth.

The hunger. It was intense. It was engulfing every fibre of the wolf’s being. The noise and loud voices further fuelled the hunger as the wolf jumped at the bars of the cage, teeth bared as she snarled, claws scratching against the metal holding her captive. Bright eyes, the same light brown as Hannah’s in her human form stared around the crowd, at the food out of reach.

And now before her a limp human was thrown to the ground and the wolf once more launched herself at the bars, growling and growing more frustrated with an all encompassing hunger. She would eat well tonight. She was going to rip that body to shreds and feed on the meat, the bone the…

The voice…it had seemed familiar.
A blast hit the door and the wolf growled, falling back. But the door was open. Was it a trick?

Very slowly, the wolf pushed itself onto all fours. She steadily padded out of the cage and towards the muggle who was now wakening. Teeth parted in what was very nearly a wolfly smile. Now having regained confidence outside of the cage, the wolf began to stretch up onto her hind legs. She was salivating, eyeing her new treat eagerly.

The muggle, upon seeing what he was faced with, jumped to his feet and started to look around for anything to use. He grabbed and axe and began swinging it.

Well this further excited the starving wolf and she leapt for him. The axe was once more swung, taking a chunk out of the wolf’s arm who howled in pain. The smell of her blood reached her nostrils and she launched her body once more at the muggle.

The first time he set eyes on Hannah as a wolf, she took his breath away. How could such a slight, tiny woman - however vicious - turn into such a strange creature. How on earth the body could cope with such a transformation was beyond him. He'd watched, in shadow earlier that day as it had happened. Her pain and anguish had fascinated him, and turned his stomach.

His apprehension, horror and voyeurism had been cut short by the wider group arriving with the Muggles. They were all under a bewitched sleep, and would all be dead in a matter of hours, unless they were extremely plucky, and managed to kill the wolf in return. Wolfgang had taken a moment out to lure in a guest.

"Dinnertime!" Musgrave's voice yelled out.

"Look at this!" Wolfgang huddled his guest to the rail of the balcony with a prime view of the scene below. An axe-wielding Muggle was facing the wolf who had sprung from the cage, hungry. Wolfgang's heart hammered in his chest as the roar of the crowd filled the air above the yelps of the Muggle and howls of the wolf.
"How long do you think he's going to last, place a bet, have a little fun - I'll even give you the money." He slapped cleanly between the shoulderblades. "Go on, you should be an expert on these dogs."

He should have known better - his father suggesting they went for a quiet drink together. Wolfgang was running late, and Johann had been halfway through a pint of beer on his own when his father had burst into the pub with a look of glee on his face.
"You've got to come and see this!" He'd abandoned a quality pint to oblige, only to step outside and have his stomach pulled inside out with the sidealong apparition.

The roar of noise as they appeared in Birmingham took his breath away as they stumbled. His father kept hold of his jacket, shoving him through people he recognised from Vedir's lot and Knockturn. It was the full moon, and Johann had thought these events had stopped. But clearly not.

He got his bearings as quickly as he could and immediately felt sick, staring down at a wolf and a muggle rushing at it with an axe. The fight had not long started, but there was already blood on the tiles. There were whoops as the axe made contact.

"… expert on these dogs." He pushed back against the balcony, shaking his head.
"No, no - I don't want to be anything to do with this - get - get off." But the others around them pressed forward.
"Gerron! Get it!"
"Why do you think I want to see this?" He twisted to stare at his father.
"Go on, put a bet on your doggy friend…" Wolfgang pressed coins into his hand and Johann looked back to the wolf in the pool below with horror.

It was bittersweet, his involvement with the werewolves and the muggles. Back in Voldemort's day, the likes of werewolves had been commandeered to the dark side with Greyback. There were few who were keen to volunteer to rip Muggles apart these days, to Lawrence's understanding. These events had begun while he had still been inside Azkaban.

Werewolves couldn't remember what happened to them during their transformation as far as he could remember from his school days and the time as an auror. He'd wanted to ask his niece about it when she'd let him stay for a while, but it hadn't seemed appropriate.

The thought of Hannah took the edge of his pleasure in watching the wolf and the Muggle below. The wolf was now dodging the axe, and the Muggle was less efficient at wielding it as the weight of it became apparent. The roar of the crowd were urging each side on.

"Take it down!"
"Idiot Muggle, get in there!"
"Oh c'mon."

Lawrence had a bet on the Muggle to last to the four minute mark, and the way it was throwing the axe around had given him early hope, especially wounding the werewolf, where a great roar had rung out from the crowd. Around him people had bet all kinds of money and odds on the outcome. They were unlikely to get their money either way if the bookkeepers had their odds right.

"Go on, put a bet on your doggy friend…"

Lawrence looked round to his left, where Wolfgang was pressed against the balcony rail leering over at the wolf. He had someone with him, with a squint Lawrence thought him vaguely familiar, and they both had the German accent. Family he supposed. Either way, the other didn't seem so keen as the rest of the bloodthirsty crowd.

"The bloke doesn't have to put a bet on the first round, Storm. He's got to get into the mood." Lawrence interrupted, broadening his shoulders in the old way. He might not be as muscular as he once was, but he could still carry himself like an auror to make him appear braver than he was. Besides, Wolfgang Storm was all talk and money. That's why he kept his hands clean.

"The bloke doesn't have to put a bet on the first round, Storm. He's got to get into the mood."

"Musgrave, bloody disgusting Muggle you've picked." Wolfgang retorted to the interruption by the greasy haired idiot. He didn't care if Lawrence had been an auror before his time in Azkaban, he just liked the fact the man had agreed to source filthy muggles. Between the capture of a werewolf, and the capture of the Muggles Wolfgang had everything covered by willing hands who didn't mind being dirty. He just pocketed profit from the bets, taking a cut before passing it on to those behind it all who really ran things and kept it safe from Magical Law Enforcement.

"I hope you've got a few more, she's a hungry one." He grinned and looked out over the wolf again, the Muggle was running to the shallow end, slipping on the tiled floor before throwing himself at the ladder. The wolf bounded after him, all claws and fur. "Go on! I've put a bet on that she'll bite the throat out before five minutes is up."

Johann felt physically sick. Blood was draining from his face, and he gripped the balcony rail to keep himself upright. The room seemed to be tilting and the noise was coming and going like a dream. The half pint he'd drunk before being pulled here was rapidly making a journey up his throat. He couldn't watch what was going on down below, and the yelps and screams of the crowd were deafening.

Musgrave's interruption was welcome, and Johann's eyes widened when he realised who it was. They'd met briefly months and months ago. Hannah's flat had looked considerably better for his time there. How on earth was he here at a werewolf fight? Did he not know that his niece was a werewolf, or did he really have no morals? He'd been in Azkaban a decade or more, with a fall from grace, but he'd seemed good enough what with the repairs and leaving. For Cynthia Bombay's brother he'd seemed pretty decent, but perhaps that was a hint....

"...He's got to get into the mood." Johann shook his head at that statement. He would never, ever get in the mood for werewolves tearing people apart.

"I hope you've got a few more, she's a hungry one. Go on! I've put a bet on that she'll bite the throat out before five minutes is up." Johann suddenly turned to the empty pool below, his eyes clapped to the werewolf in disbelief. He kept two close werewolf friends, but he had never seen them in their transformed state. Colin had been able to transform in his saferoom until he had been forced to attend the Ministry. It was one of those subjects he never dared discuss. They were off limits, too personal. It was painful, and he worried for his friends. Never did he think they would end up here.

"Hannah?!" He gasped, "That's Hannah?" His father certainly had motive. The fights, the shouting over the sham of the engagement, her threat of being pregnant... Hannah had given as good as she got, and tearing at his father's face had been the end of it all. But it had been too easy to forget this with his parents' plight to find somewhere to live, cast out by their former employers. His father was winding him up, surely, that couldn't be Hannah down there.

"Oh now he gets it." Wolfgang rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's the stupid dog who you proposed to. She's where she belongs. Look how happy she is, running after Muggles." The Muggle was almost at the top of the ladder, but struggling as there were swipes and bites at his legs.
"This is what you were going to marry - I thought you'd like to see." He gestured with both hands to the pool below.

The younger man shook his head at Musgrave's words. Wolfgang ignored him, preoccupied with the number of Muggles Lawrence had to throw in with the wolf. There was something vaguely familiar about the younger one.

"I hope you've got a few more, she's a hungry one..."
"A few." Musgrave replied, though he knew the German wasn't listening to a word. He was too busy proclaiming what he'd bet on this Muggle.
"...that she'll bite the throat out ..." Lawrence hadn't realised it was a female wolf below. For some reason he'd assumed they were only into seizing or coercing male werewolves to fight. It was a bit archaic in his social views, but there was something wrong about women and violence to Lawrence.

"Hannah?! That's Hannah?" The younger one suddenly gasped, horrified. It looked like the boy was about to vomit. For Lawrence, it was as if the world had suddenly gone quiet.

"Oh now he gets it. Yes, it's the stupid dog who you proposed to. She's where she belongs. Look how happy she is, running after Muggles..." Wolfgang explained it so flippantly, and the pieces fell into place.

With strength he hadn't realised he had, Lawrence seized Wolfgang by the back of his right shoulder, booted his ankle and turned him on the spot away from the scene below.
"Hannah who?" He demanded, Wolfgang's jacket lapels held tightly in his right hand, his left forearm pinning the banker to the balcony.
"Bombay." Johann replied, "You're -." The remark at how depraved Wolfgang was was smothered by a yell of rage from Lawrence. The lapels fell from his hand, and his wand found his fingers. The blast sent Wolfgang backwards through the balcony, his arms splayed out, churning the air like a windmill.

Below the Muggle almost lost his grip on the ladder, but managed to haul himself up in the distraction. He barrelled into one of the changing cubicles at the edge of the pool and flung the door back in protection.

Wolfgang hit the tiles with a thud and skidded on his back for a few feet. He twitched, dazed, but not entirely out for the count. Up on the balcony, there was a scuffle as some of the audience took offence to this interruption and new player in the fight. He had to get people out of the pool and the fight to stop. There was one way to cause a mass panic in criminals - an auror raid - luckily he knew what it sounded like to start one.

The pain barely registered when the hunger controlled her very being and her food wasn’t exactly easy to catch. The wolf growled ferociously as the axe was hurled back and forth to keep her back. The stench of sweat and fear reached her hypersensitive nostrils and spurred her on to leap at the muggle who turned and darted towards a nearby ladder. He dragged himself up panting, red faced and terrified and the wolf jumped towards the wall, frustrated and growing angrier as she was unable to reach her food now.

Screams from above grew louder in the pool and one yell came closer and closer to the werewolf growling at the muggle clambering up the ladder. A loud thud hit the floor and the wolf very slowly turned its head to eye up the new item served up before her.

Teeth bared and the beast dropped down onto all fours, as the wizard slowly gathered his bearings and rose to his knees. A scent reached her nose and she very clearly remembered it with a familiarity. But it evoked a further aggression. This wizard was responsible for her hunger in the first place.

So the great furry beast leapt forwards with an immense strength, pinning Wolfgang to the ground with huge paws. It was most certainly time to play with her food. She lowered her head, pressing the wet nose against his hair and having a quick sniff. Some saliva from her mouth dripped down onto his face. It was another moment before she rose onto her hind legs and howled loudly.

What happened next was quick. She reached down once more and grabbed the wizard’s leg between sharp teeth, biting down into his flesh before she flung her head, throwing him against the metal cage where she’d been kept only minutes ago. Blood now dripped from both her arm and her mouth as dark eyes narrowed and she once more leapt at her dinner.

For a man with one hand, Lawrence Musgrave was still very strong, Wolfgang discovered to his alarm. The kick in his ankle had drawn his foot off the floor instinctively and changed his balance, spinning on the spot to find Musgrave's face right in his.

He didn't have time to protest. The flash of light came a split second before the force. His back felt like it had been bent in the wrong direction and his stomach left where he'd stood as he flew backwards. His hands gripped at invisible ropes, unable to react quick enough to the fact he was flying backwards through the air without anything to break his fall.

Balcony twisted and shattered, his eyes stared in horror without really seeing Musgrave's outstretched right arm with wand in hand, or his son's scramble back to his feet after being bowled over. He hit the floor with enough force to wind him, his lungs empty of air, ears ringing, whole body momentarily disconnected by the impact on the hard ground.

His arms twitched, trying to make sense of what had happened. He'd not been knocked unconscious, but he felt close to slipping there as his head felt like it had been turned inside out. As his limbs began to talk to him, reporting they were all still attached, he rolled onto his side, and gasped for breath. Across the other side, in the shallow end was the wolf. He had to get to his senses to apparate out.

Wolfgang pulled himself to his knees, the world was spinning violently and he fumbled, searching for his wand. He wasn't ready for the streak of fur and claws that knocked him back again, and held him down with such a weight he thought he might be crushed. In fear he stared up at the face of the wolf as it stared down at him. He struggled to breathe, the weight pinning him down felt like it was crushing his shoulders.

This was it, he wasn't going to get out of there alive. Not with a werewolf pinning him to the floor, not if it was able to know why it was here. Then it rose onto its hind legs and howled. The sound was ungodly. It was primeval, and awoke the fear in Wolfgang that had kept generations of humans alive before it - the fight and flight instinct. He braced his arms against the floor, attempting to push himself away from the beast enough to seize his wand.

He was too late, the jaws wrapped around his leg and he howled, watching as the teeth sunk into flesh before his eyes. His body was contorted as he was flung like a ragdoll against the metal cage.
"Oh Merlin no - please merlin - no!" Wolfgang screamed as he rolled into a ball, not daring to look at his leg - wanting it to be over, either with swift death or with the wolf slain. 

As he curled into a ball his hand found the squeaky dog toy he'd thrown into the cage the previous day.

It was all happening too quickly. Johann was at a loss - he felt paralysed. Thrown backwards by Lawrence's spell which had blown his father clean into the fight, he scrambled back to his knees to see Lawrence turn on the spot and vanish - abandoning the scene.

Chaos broke out, between the wolf howl, his father's body smashing into the cage, and Musgrave executing a quick-thought plan to insinuate the aurors were raising the building there was more noise than could be comprehended. For a coward like Johann, he wanted to curl into a ball, cover his ears, screw up his eyes and pretend it all wasn't happening, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from his best friend ripping into his father.

Nobody was going to help, nobody was going to stop it happening. First rule of criminals, save your own skin. They were vanishing in droves, others were fighting. Before he had time to rationally think it through, Johann threw his legs off the side of the ledge the balcony rail had been attached to and dropped to the side of the swimming pool, above the deep end. His wand was in his hand and he shook with fear.

"Hannah!" He yelled, not like his own voice at first, vocal chords tight with fear. "Hannah!" If he could distract her away from his father, he could give her the run around, apparition at least, or try to bind her, though he didn't trust he'd be up to such a strong spell.

"Hannah, oh Merlin, please no - Hannah! HANNAH!" His voice was pleading as he approached the edge above it all, willing his mind not to think that the blood spreading across the floor was his father's. He didn't want this, not for Hannah, not for his father, not for his mother.

In sheer desperation, he threw one of the few stunning spells he was sure he might be able to execute,
"Stupefy!" He had to distract her away from his father, even if hexing her was the last thing he'd ever consider doing to his dear friend.

"Hannah, oh Merlin, please no - Hannah! HANNAH!" The voice of Hannah’s friend didn’t even register in the wolf’s conscious. Hannah wasn’t there. Hannah didn’t have control over the wolf now preparing to dine on the petrified wizard. Hannah had vanished with the full moon to bring about the furry beast that loomed over Wolfgang once more, sharp teeth bared and saliva matting the fur around its mouth.

If she’d have had wolfsbane the witch inside may have been able to better control the wolf. She may have been able to force some restraint upon the monster. Yet even if she had have been able to, the question may have arisen of if she wanted to protect her captor from the impending painful death that was now due to him.

"Stupefy!" The wizard’s spell hit the wolf squarely in her arm where the axe had hit. A howl of pain filled the great room and the wolf fell back, stunned and overcome with pain. But the hunger was still too strong to back down when food was so close. She pressed forward onto all fours to approach the wizard curled up on the floor, snarling once more.

Another spell made contact with fur and this time the wolf looked up to the caster. She launched herself at the pool wall scrambling to reach the top. Claws caught the top of the wall near Johann and she continued to try to push herself up, growling all the while.

Lawrence reappeared in the reception, not far from the office he was holding the other Muggles in their induced sleep. He blew open the doors to the main pool with a blast from his wand, as if he were raiding his own event.

The act sent a ripple of yelps and frantic disapparitions from the crowd, especially as he threw a few stunning spells into the crowd before he was seen clearly. Desperate, but thankfully somewhat effective. The air was filled with both the sound of desperate screaming but of fear and the pop of many disapparating at once. If they were really unlucky, the spike in magical activity would alert the aurors in London.

Appearing at the shallow end, he glanced to his right to see the Muggle was still holed up in the changing cubicle. At that moment he had bigger fish to fry - or rather wolves to tether, however much he felt like allowing his niece to tear Wolfgang Storm limb from limb. For good measure, he raised his wand,
"Colloportus!" It would bide him some time and keep him in there. He'd have to consider what to do with the Muggles some other time.

Looking up and around he saw the balcony emptying and a sudden quiet fall from above. Below his feet and ahead was Hannah in her wolf form, over the top of what must be Wolfgang who was screaming. Above them was the stringy son of tonight's dinner, throwing stupefy from beneath the blown out balcony.

The wolf was turning to go after the idiot. The spells weren't strong enough to work against a werewolf. Lawrence seized his wand and made a dash along the bottom of the pool towards the cage, Hannah and Wolfgang. This idiot was going to be dinner next.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Lawrence threw at Hannah, attempting to slow the wolf form down.

"Out of the way!" He yelled at Johann, no mercy at all, and tried casting again, putting himself between Hannah and Wolfgang's bloodied body. "Take your fucking chance. Get him out of here! Manicarcerous!" Chains sprung from his wand, reaching for the wolf's wrists and ankles - he didn't want to harm her if he could help it, restraining, impeding her approach was what he could do for the moment while this bumbling idiot got out of the pool with whatever was left of Wolfgang. He hadn't stopped to check - the screaming was enough evidence he was breathing still.

When the wolf began in his direction, Johann almost lost all his tiny amount of courage that had been slinging the stunning spells at the wolf. All sense that he could just disapparate left him and he backed against the wall in fear and stopped throwing spells. He hadn't banked on the wolf coming after him - it was desperation he'd thrown a curse at her at all.

Lawrence reappeared out of nowhere, down behind Hannah, between her and Wolfgang's body. He was throwing all sorts of spells, and was livid still. He scared Johann almost as much as Hannah in her wolf form did. Johann took a second or two longer than necessary to understand what he had to do. His heart was thumping in his chest as he turned on the spot, vanishing, reappearing behind Lawrence.

As the chains reached out towards Hannah, Johann was again stuck with fear staring at what was happening. Was that going to hold, were they all done for? Colin had said that when you transformed, you didn't recognise anyone, but he had hoped, vainly that Hannah might have. As Lawrence took a step backwards, wand still raised, Johann stooped to one knee, quickly assessing where was best to grip his father for side-along apparition. Wrestling his father's arms around his shoulders, he took one last glance at Lawrence backing towards them, the wolf not impeded despite his spells.

No, it was time to run. Closing his eyes tightly, Johann gripped his father's limp body and imagined St Mungo's Hospital clearly in his mind.

Exit Johann and Wolfgang