(Continued from this thread!)


Fauna hesitated at the door, as if she expected to open it and find her former Headmaster in some state of agony, in the middle of a transformation, perhaps. Or his bitten arm had taken on a life of its own and had strangled everyone in the room. She didn’t hear anything. Perhaps they were all…

She shook her head slightly, cheeks flushing at her ridiculous thoughts. If only Tamis knew what she was thinking! Fauna knocked on the door twice, then opened it and stuck her head in.

Fauna was relieved to see Knox Greyfriar sitting calmly with his bandaged arm (not foaming at the mouth or attacking St. Mungo’s residents), and a new arrival, a woman she recognized who had helped them during the attack.

She walked in and stood awkwardly for a moment, forgetting what she’d been sent off to do and why she was back. “Oh, um, I sent that note. To the Headmistress,” she told him, sticking her hands in her pockets.

Fauna gestured towards Raynor. “This is Auror Raynor,” she said, probably unnecessarily, though she didn’t know if or how well everyone in the room knew each other. “She, uh… she's here to get our accounts,” Fauna continued, then wondered if she should have just let the Auror introduce herself. It probably would have sounded better coming from her.

A mutual respect was always what seemed to bind people together and in this case, Gabrielle and Knox. She had always found him above a fantastic headmaster and though perhaps his methods at times could be questioned, Gabrielle knew when it came to herbal and other medical remedies, he was the one to go instead of Mungo's. Thankfully, she had not had to use his services just yet -- however, it seemed that a hospital bed was something Knox would keep himself in for long. Her eyes glimmered, realizing they were misting slightly with tears. Her hand instinctively wiped them away immediately as to avoid a further embarassment with someone coming in.

"I'll get the report from him as soon as I can, Knox. Rest assured, this incident is not going down without some severe questioning, not to mention an overhaul for my department. Sure, we've got Vlad, Dreogan, the Reids and then of course, Joseph Collins, then again, I don't think it's going to be enough. That's only three international liasons and they're diverse -- I may have to even bring in Elias Nanopoulos  from Greece to aid in this situation,” she commented, feeling a headache already forming from the frustrations forming. “Believe you me, I’ll make sure you find something out – after all, it couldn’t be that—”

Her words were cut as her hazel eyes looked over at the door to see Fauna walking in front of Tamis Raynor. Hm. Perhaps the girl had gone and told about the situation – no doubt, she was terrified to see Knox like this, not to mention emotionally scarred from the entire spectacle. A faint smile appeared on her face when Fauna introduced Tamis to Gabrielle. “Thank you kindly, dear, but we work together.” The smile disappeared as she continued to speak. “Good to see again, Tamis, aside the situation we’ve got on our hands. Vane Hendric and Cierra Belisario were taking care of the scene as I left them. I’ll make sure I’ve got a report on your desk in a few days – that is, after I get word off to the other International Cooperations about the situation and hopefully this situation may convince some others to finally join us.”

“There is no harm in the courteous of an introduction, Madam Harker,” the more petite woman replied as she entered behind Fauna Blake. Perhaps a little stricter than she had intended, feeling an innate need to come to the familiar student’s defense.

The Head Auror quickly scanned the room, gray eyes silently noting details. It was a rather crowded hospital ward with the two new additions. The healer her gaze traveled over without any real regard and then glanced back at her when her face finally registered; familiar but she could not place it. Dragulia looked relatively unharmed. Greyfriar on the other hand was pale and peckish – the former she hoped was a creation of her imagination considering the nature of jarring wound he was sporting.

Shifting, Raynor held his gaze for a moment and tried to let it fall back away again as natural and unassuming as possible. The last time she had seen Knox Greyfriar he had still been the Headmaster of Hogwarts and had been bellowing out her in all of his bearish might to vacate the premises. While she was not conceited enough to blame the burly man’s sudden retirement solely on that interaction, she felt the timeliness had at least contributed. The confrontation between them over Kyle Gibson had never been resolved. She was not expecting to resolve it in the next ten minutes.

That was not why she was here.

The Auror’s stoic composure did not alter when the Head of International Relations greeted her. The inclusive ‘we’ in the woman’s words was rather misplaced in Raynor’s opinion, but it was a trivial matter. While they were both Ministry employees, Raynor rarely had reason to cross paths with the other woman, more often working with a variety of Auror Consultants her office often supplied.

“As of yet, there is no reason that your department need get involved, Madam Harker,” she replied, “beyond informing Romania of the accident.” She put stress on that last word. The last thing that needed right now was jumping the wand and starting an international crisis. “There is no, current, evidence to suggest that this was an organized assault on Mr. Dragulia – or Mr. Greyfriar. I am sure the RCMC and the Capture Unit have control of the situation.”

For all they knew, this was just a coincidental accident, another in a long list of werewolf attacks. Until their werewolf resumed human form and they were able to conduct a more thorough investigation, they were not going to know. “You will be kept posted on developments.”

Resisting the urge to run a hand over face, Tamis could not help but feel as if this was the day that refused to end. Merlin, she hated full moons. She did not even want to consider the paperwork waiting on her desk, and she was adding to it as she produced a pad of parchment. She finally, and reluctantly, turned her attention back to Knox, knowing, with him, asking the Healer would be pointless. He would have his own opinion.

 “Are you able to answer some questions?”

And since it was the temperamental bear, she waited for just about any answer.

Knox inclined his head in gratitude to Fauna Blake when she returned and confirmed the letter had been sent off.  At least he could trust even the insane Analiza Snark to batten down the hatches at Hogwarts.  She was nearly evil, in his opinion, but he mostly trusted her to run the school.

But he was getting more tired by the moment and he felt put off at being fussed over.  Even if it was hard-line political fussing over or, just-the-facts interrogation-style fussing over.  So when Tamis Raynor entered, their eyes met and he suspected she had also brought to mind the last time they'd seen each other.  It had been last spring.  And they'd both just been doing their jobs.

He just watched wearily as the two Ministry mavens debated jurisdiction.  He picked at the fresh bandage more until a Healer non-chalantly guided his hand away, only for him to absent-mindedly return to picking a moment later again.  A small dark speckle had already appeared at the heart of the bandage.  The wound was seeping through already.  Merlin, what a long road there was ahead.

He looked up when he felt a question directly aimed to him.

"I was escorting a gaggle of wayward students from Hogsmeade back to the castle.  Dragulia went as well.  The werewolf came out of the treeline once we were well out of town.  We held him off until Vane Hendric and his protege arrived."

He ran a hand through his hair.  "There's nothing more to it, Madam," he said, very aware that his tone was getting testy.

“There is no harm in the courteous of an introduction, Madam Harker.”

“She is just worried about everyone,” Vlad said  soothingly, resting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “But Gabi...we are going to be all right. All of us.” Of course that was not necessarily true. Knox had definitely been bitten. And though the gashes on Vlad's hand were from the werewolf’s claws, not the fangs, that did not  mean Vlad was safe from future ill effects . If the creature had slobbered into those gashes...

‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,’ he told himself. He had already registered, just in case. But even if the worst happened, he might not become a full werewolf. Instead, he might experience similar symptoms to Bill Weasley’s. Irritability at the full moon, remarkable strength, extraordinary hearing. Voracious cravings for rare roast beef...

He was still waiting to hear if there was infected saliva in the blood sample the Mediwitch had taken. But he was too old a hand not to know that on a full moon, a few drops was all it took...

“As of yet, there is no reason that your department need get involved, Madam Harker, beyond informing Romania of the...accident.”

Vlad noticed Raynor’s stress on the term accident, and he nodded, in silent agreement. International incidents were best avoided, wherever possible.

“There is no, current, evidence to suggest that this was an organized assault on Mr. Dragulia – or Mr. Greyfriar.”

“That is true,” Vlad acknowledged. “It is too soon to draw any conclusions, one way or the other. For my part, my presence in Hogsmeade was spur of the moment, so no one had cause to expect I was going to be there...”

Vlad couldn't help grinning at his old friend's terse summary of what happened. What more did anyone need to know?

“You will be kept posted on developments.”

Vlad smiled wryly at Knox, thinking, ‘Such as if you or I develop a sudden urge to bark at the moon?'

The Head Auror cast the Romanian dignitary a quick, cynical glance as he put a comforting hand on Garbrielle Harker’s shoulder. ‘All right’ was not exactly what she would classify the inhabitants of the medical ward. They had a shaken teenager, an understandably emotionally distressed Department Head, and a mutating Wizengamot Elder. Merlin knew what would become of Dragulia himself suffering that gash. Tamis Raynor, however, would be the first to admit she lacked social grace. There was a reason she usual did not interview trauma victims.

Greyfriar’s explanation was concise and non-incriminating. A perfect political response from a man used to dealing with radical reporters and adjusting to sitting on a jury. He lacked in mentioning his purpose in Hogsmeade and the fact that those ‘wayward’ teenagers had been in violation of Hogwarts policy. And he was quite vehement about not expanding on the issue if his tone was anything to go by. That could also be the change. 

For a long moment, gray eyes held the bear’s darker ones in silent understood challenge. Yet, she was not here to hold a handful of students to the letter of the law, that was a Hogwarts issue and no doubt the experience in itself had been a lesson learned. As for his reason for his adventure to Scotland… she held his gaze for a moment longer as Dragulia confirmed that his presence had been happenstance.

She dropped her gaze back to the parchment as quickly, but remarkably neatly, jotted a few lines of text. Her next question was worded carefully, “Was anyone aware of your plans to be in Hogsmeade this evening? If any of you were going to be in Hogsmeade this evening,” she added, notably acknowledging Fauna and Harker as well. 

It was doubtful that Greyfriar had decided to coincidently come within more than one thousand kilometers of Analiza Snark. Or that three students would decide to play rebel on the very same night. Or that two other very notorious Ministry personnel would also be on location. It was all very... coincidental.

While they were not ruling this attack premeditated as of yet, they were also not eliminating it as a possibility.

Ah there it was.  The steely eyes of the Auror Raynor on him, her glance prying for more details than her words, reminding him that she could see the shadows of his unspoken things.  This had been the same staring match they'd endured when she came knocking for Kyle Gibson.

But this time, Knox had no responsiblitiy for the actions of the students.  They'd broken no laws, only school rules.  They'd been foolish, perhaps, but not lethally so.  So their reasons for being out of commomrooms was irrelevant.  After all, it wouldn't be Auror Raynor who'd mete out their rewards.  That would be Headmistress Snark and that time would come for them later.  He wondered again about where Sasha Schlagenwiet and Beatrix Dark had ended up and what level of alert Madam Snark occupied.

But there was Raynor again, asking questions he wasn't ready to answer.  He knew she wasn't asking them in order to nail him to the wall, or string him up for the press.  He knew her interest was as impassionate as the investigation of the attack, of the pursuit of order and justice for the Wizarding Community.  Her questions did no harm.  But the answers could do him plenty.

"Devlin Mattews," Knox said looking away and letting his eyes follow a Healer as he walked through.  "Devlin and I had arranged to meet at the Three Broomsticks by owl post.  Two letters mentioned it, I think, a week ago. He'd be the only one."

He hadn't mentioned his trip to anyone at work, or to his extended family who all mostly lived in Kent.  He hadn't mentioned to his friends either.  He was still adjusting to having a son.  Although the secret was out, essentially, if Devlin's earlier explosion right here in the hospital hadn't given anything away.

Then he added, suddenly, "You can't be thinking I was targeted."

Fauna sat in one of the visitor's chairs by the bed, remaining quiet as introductions were made and the questioning began. She felt for Knox, who looked exhausted. She wondered if it would be kinder to ask him questions in the morning, after he'd had time to rest, but then again, she also understood why Tamis would want to talk to all of them while the night was still fresh in their minds.

She began to fidget at the testy tone of his voice and the curt responses he gave. She was tired too, but it almost made her want to jump in and answer for him.

Oh, Merlin. Knox and Devlin. Father and son. That was one little detail that Fauna did not want to explain, and understandably, the former Headmaster seemed even more reluctant. When he answered Auror Raynor's question, she noticed that he didn't say why he'd met Devlin Matthews at the Three Broomsticks. Auror Raynor had to pick up on that. They were just stalling the inevitable, but Fauna quickly nodded in agreement and piped up quietly from her chair.

"Right. I didn't expect... Mr. Greyfriar to be there. I was just, uh..." she flushed scarlet. "Following Devlin," she finished in a mumble, glancing at Tamis and then away again.

"Sasha and Bea came with me." That was the simple answer. The long answer was that Beatrix would have come no matter what Fauna had said, and Sasha had been dragged and prodded into their little escapade.

Then Knox suddenly wondered if he'd been targeted on purpose, and Fauna's face paled. She looked at Raynor, as if hoping to find the answer in her stoic expression.

The weight of the silent exchange between former Headmaster and current Head Auror was immense. Raynor had always considered her exchanges with Knox Greyfriar as cordial. Certainly not friends but they had coexisted peacefully. For five years they had met annually to discuss the security arrangements at Hogwarts for the Remembering Day festivities. Yet, Tamis Raynor was foremost an agent of the Ministry of Magic. While she felt sadness for the rift Kyle Gibson, she did not regret her actions nor in hindsight would she change them. Personal relations were secondary to the Law and could, and would, be sacrificed for it.

Her quill darted across the page, noting the name and the amount of travel the owls would have endured. It was not common practice for an owl to be intercepted but it was possible. Though it would mean someone would have had to been watching Greyfriar’s mail to have done so. Fauna made an addition comment and Raynor turned her critical gaze to the Hufflepuff, surprise lingering there for a moment before fading back to cool professionalism.

“Devlin Matthews is a student,” she clarified. That would mean that Greyfriar had arranged for a student to come to Hogsmeade not on a Weekend venture. As a recent former Headmaster it was logical that the man had a number of bonds with the current student populace, but why not wait for a weekend? It was not a question relevant to her investigation, so she did not ask it. However much she wanted to know why Fauna was following this particular student off Hogwarts property. She glanced at the seventh year again. That she would ask later.

Before she could phrase her next question, Greyfriar interjected, turning Fauna’s eyes to wide, blue saucers as the girl paled and stared at her imploringly. Tamis in turn stared in disapproval at Knox. It was not an issue she had wanted to address in front of the girl.

“The Aurors Office explores all potential criminal motives before ruling an investigation as accidental,” she explained. Especially if there had been a mortality, which thankfully this case lacked. Suicides were similarly classified as murders until they had disproven all other explanations.  It was a very political response and she shifted once, unable to totally sodden her previous relations with the man.

She glanced at the student one last time and signed in resignation. “The Department of Magical Law Enforcement has suffered as the target to a number of strategic and premeditated attacks,” she sounded tired then. She had lost a couple of close associates, a boss, and was suffering the humility of a protective detail as a result of those attacks. “Given the Minister’s… controversial… measures with Werewolf Legislation and your position as a Wizengamot official known for tolerance of the… condition… we must entertain the possibility.”

Something about a 'series of pre-mediated attacks' made Greyfriar think of Theodora Kingstreet.  The thought of someone like her coming after him - and while he was with students no less - chilled his bones.  He accepted Tamis's disapproving tone, for the first time letting himself consider this hadn't been just an unhappy accident.  It was much easier for Knox to think of it as cruel happenstance.  It meant the chances of another violent incident were as slim as a lightning strike.  And the same went for his students and the ones he cared about.

But if someone was hunting him, trying to hurt him... what if they weren't yet satisfied?

In thinking about this, his countenance began to change.  He seemed to grow and his face darkened.  The placating, good-hospital-patient guise was wearing thin.  He suddenly got up from his seat on the bed and even though a Healer protested he moved out and away from the little huddle.

"I'm no valuable target.  There are a thousand and one ways to get to me that work a great deal better than chancing I'd be taking a stroll.  Anyone who knows anything about me would know that something as trivial as this," he brandished his bandaged arm, which had begun to seep through from his recent exertion, "would do nothing to change my position or influence."

He looked at Fauna Blake.  His voice was firm..  "I think you should find your way back to Hogwarts."

And then he looked at Tamis, and his voice was chilled. "And I think you should let an old man rest."

And then finally to the Healers in the room, he nearly bellowed, his decorum gone, "Let's have that potion and get on with it.

Fauna watched quietly, wide-eyed but not as pale when Knox stood and agitatedly stated that he wasn't a valuable target and that the wound he'd suffered was trivial. Her eyes focused on the blood seeping through the bandages and stayed there. His words only convinced her of the opposite. Knox was a valuable target - he used to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and now he was on the Wizengamot, and besides all that, a lot of people cared about him. And that bite was anything but trivial... that bite could affect his career, his body and mind, his whole life.

She looked up, startled, when he addressed her, then Tamis. He wanted to be left alone. It was understandable, but Fauna only half-rose from her chair, and looked at Raynor once again for guidance. The Auror had said, in her own way, that they must consider the possibility of a planned attack, and Fauna could almost accept that more than she could accept that Knox wasn't valuable. He was valuable to her.

"Should we... go?" Fauna murmured, sitting down again for the moment. "I don't mind answering questions tonight," she added with a glance at Knox. "I haven't been hurt at all." But Knox clearly had.

The dismissal was unambiguous and uncontestable. The man had declared himself done with his visitors and would not be swayed from the decision.  A more self-preservation individual would have graciously taken their leave, caving into the baritone and the pleading anxious gaze of the student. Selective hearing could be a grievous talent and the usually astute Auror’s tunnel vision was locked explicitly on Knox Greyfriar as he rose from the hospital bed, ordering around the healers by the only means he seemed to know how; with volume.

Once before she had denied an ordinance from the man to leave a premises. But this time it did not have to do with mercilessly prying the information from him. The irritation she felt was very much personal.

“You see yourself so unclearly,” she said after his command had finished echoing off the walls. She did not yell, did not so much as raise a syllable, but there was a heat there. A shattering of her usual stoicism. While Tamis Raynor may not ever see eye-to-eye with the Bear, it annoyed her deeply that he would bestow such little worth in himself. “Your unwavering disposition is what would make you an ideal target, Sir. It is not your opinion that is endanger of being swayed.” It was the rest of the Wizengamot’s. It was no secret that the general populace considered this man the most pro-werewolf idealisms on the jury. How many elder’s opinions would lean away from Greyfriar now that he had personal gain at stake?

What agitated her most was how swiftly and suddenly he had decided to be done with them once she had confirmed his suspicion. It was the same volatile way he had responded to accepting the reality that one of his students had become a fugitive for murder. The man was running. “Hiding will not change the facts, Greyfriar,” she announced, unsure if he was listening or if she was addressing the air as she laid a document on the stand beside the bed. A form for his official statement. “Unrest is brewing in England again, but this time it will not be on the backs of eccentric Death Eaters. Hiding will not do any of us any good before long.”

It was a fear that plagued the Aurors Office with tension on a daily basis, that impending feeling that something was about to happen. Something big. But no one knew quite right. They were not prepared to let it happen, not without a fight, but it was coming. And… she was far too sleep deprived for this.

“We need to get you back to school,” Tamis finally agreed with his previous statement, tearing her gaze from the man to look up at Fauna. She put a hand on the girl’s back, shepherding her back out the door.

Knox Greyfriar stared Tamis Raynor down as she lectured him so calmly.  She was a small witch and now that he was standing, his bulk towered over her.  But she spoke to him as sternly and with as much poise as if she were speaking to someone on her own level, at her own temper.   Knox chanced a glance at Fauna Blake who was physically in limbo between obeying him and obeying Tamis Raynor.  He furrowed his brow even more deeply.  It really was time the children went home.  He didn't want to have these kinds of discussions in front of them.  He frowned and crossed his arms.  (His nostrils flared at the tinge of pain of upsetting the wound on his forearm.) 

As Raynor prophesied about dark omens and bad tidings for England, and accused him of hiding from it he raised his chin silently daring her to press that line of discussion.  But she stopped then.  Left him some parchment, took Fauna with her and left.  The others found their way out as well.

The two Healers were both standing at arm's length, having been waiting at the edges until the Auror business was finished.  The new silence in the private werewolf ward was deafening.  His chest rose and fell deeply as he watched the two small witches go.  The door to the ward closed resolutely. 

Fury and a feeling of being direly intruded upon filled him.  The intrusion of the Aurors into his business for some reason seemed more defiling than invasive nature of the werewolf's assault.  He felt examined and picked apart.  He felt pitied.  But most of all he felt trapped. 

Suddenly with a deafening bellow he took up the cart of bandages and stringents and salves and hurled it at the closed door.  It crashed with such force that all the glass upon it shattered and the cart clattered to the floor drastically bent.  The Healers moved towards him wands out and ready to sedate him, but he held up his hands in retreat.  He was panting with exhaustion, so let the Healers finish their work.  They re-dressed the wound that had been disturbed.  They fed him a light meal and washed it down with some healing draughts. 

Later they'd tell him the outburst was the lycanthropy freshly affecting his brain.  That he shouldn't feel ashamed, that that kind of feral rage was normal and a good indicator that the curse had set in.  That the initial dose of Wolfsbane potion would quiet that savagery and finally let him sleep.