It was late- well after midnight- and Dugan was picking his way through the grounds of Harcroft Manor. He had been systematically working his way through the ministry people who annoyed him most, and given what he had heard about Harcroft in relation to the manhunt for himself- he decided to be a little brave and do some sneaking around to see what he could figure out.

Since he had killed Pratt's parents, all of the aurors had gotten paranoid. Dugan had expected the manor to have its own wards and fields to begin with, but had a feeling they were even more powerful harder to find than before. So Dugan was moving slowly- starting outside the property line and moving inward- cancelling the easier wards, and assuming he had taken care of some of the more difficult ones without a problem (because he had heard no alarms and as of yet the senior auror hadn't come to face him).

He paused as he came to another magical barrier. Dugan lifted his head in the air and sniffed the night wind. Something smelled off. He took a few steps from the most recent ward and cocked his head- casting a few spells in the attempts to identify the ward. But it was more difficult than the others- and he wasn't sure what it was, how to dispel it, or what would happen if he attempted to just walk through.

The wizard was far too concerned with the ward to realize that he was no longer alone- and that he was about to be in some huge trouble.

Sam was sleeping soundly next to his wife, when an alarm ward, that Dugan had missed, activated, setting off an alarm that was only audible inside the manor. Immediately, Sam and Laura both jerked awake. the wards told him it was only one attacker. "It's a loner, Laura, I'll deal with it."Sam said, quickly pulling on a random robe and grabbing his wand. hurrying outside, he noticed the attacker, Macduff, hadn't noticed him. Normally, he would shout a warning, but if Macduff wanted a suicide attack, he would get one. "EXPELLIARMUS" he shouted, pointing his wand at the attacker.

Dugan had heard the steps of the auror a moment too late. His head whipped around as the man was pointing his wand, attempting to disarm him. The spell struck Dugan on his wrist- and his wand flew away from him- landing a few yards away. He growled darkly, taking a step backward.

The wizard squared his shoulders. The odds were certainly in the aurors favor at the moment. He was wandless, facing a trained professional- a man whose job it was to catch people like Dugan. But Dugan had one thing that Sam did not- and that was the fact he had nothing to lose and was more than capable of taking care of himself without a wand. He was a hardened criminal. He wasn't afraid of being captured or hurt- he was used to it. That had been Dugan's life since he graduated from Hogwarts.

"You really think you can take me on by yourself?" Dugan asked, amber eyes glancing at where his wand lay. He knew better than to make a rush for it- turning his back to the auror and giving him a clear shot was a bad idea. He was going to have to be quick on his feet and hope that he could distract the auror long enough to snatch his wand- or, at the very least, hurt him enough to get to his own wand and apparate away (if he had no other option).

"You sure as hell haven't had any luck yet. You wouldn't be the first to die- and sure as hell won't be the last, either," he sneered. Goading the auror? All a part of the plan.

"Have you finished with your checklist yet?" Sam called derisively. Honestly, couldn't they get some originality? Sam watched as Dugan looked to his wand ."Not to mention, you've had the poor luck. No element of surprise, attacking a veteran Senior Auror on on ground that you can't Apparate away from[1] that is also said senior Auror's home turf. Yes, I can see how I've had all the poor luck" He said, though he hadn't been idle, bracketing Macduff with two stunners while he was saying this. he was also looking around for any items that would help, spotting a rake nearby that he could use any of a number of ways.

1.	actually, he could ( the wards prohibit apparating in, not disapparating out) but Sam's not going to mention that.

Dugan laughed when he got hit with one of Sam's stunning spells- expertly dodging the second one he fired off. "That tickled," he said simply. It seemed that Harcroft might have forgotten that wandwork was much less effective against  a werewolf. Dugan was even more impervious to magic than your standard, breed, too- being a dire.

He watched as the auror cast a few more glances around- inspecting their surroundings. Dugan looked toward his wand again. "As for my checklist- no where near done with it. I've got a few more people left to kill before I'm satisfied with my reign of terror. Who knows- maybe you'll be one of them. Or maybe one of your sons. School's out soon, isn't it?" Dugan asked.

Later, it would be said that the moment that Dugan threatened Josh was the point at which things took a turn for the worse. Sam's face took on an expression of utmost fury, with him suddenly grabbing a Beater's bat that he had accidentally dropped earlier that day, and lunged for Dugan, swinging the bat towards Dugan's wand arm, followed  up by casting another Disarming Spell right at Dugan. Sam was now beyond all reason, and, if he had the chance, would quite probably kill Dugan, especially since ti would technically be self-defense.

Dugan wondered what in the hell kind of training these aurors had about werewolves. The WCU seemed to grasp it- so why couldn't the wand toting police? Werewolves were practically immune to magic! And since he was a direwolf, it was even harder. But if the aurors were that lax in their training, and Harcroft was dumb enough to try another disarming spell- Dugan would take advantage of it.

The bat hitting his arm did hurt, he'd admit that, but when the spell "hit" Dugan used the opportunity to launch himself toward his wand. If he was lucky, Sam would just think his disarming spell had been effective and had launched Dugan away from him.

His fingers wrapped around his wand, and he jerked it from the ground- ignoring the wincing in his arm where Sam's beater's bat had landed a hit. Dugan jumped to his feet and squared his stance- pointing his wand at Sam again. He wasn't sure how good of a duelist Sam was. Dugan wasn't particularly accomplished, just more ruthless- he wouldn't think twice about using whatever was at his advantage or using spells that were deemed illegal by the ministry.

Even in his fury, Sam had yet to use anywhere near the most powerful spells he could cast, partially due to wanting to capture Macduff rather than kill him. Unfortunately, he was rapidly losing that patience. Seeing as stunners weren't working, he decided to use something a little more powerful. He sent a non-verbal blasting curse at Dugan, hoping that the direwolf would clear off soon.