FIC: Scars, Part 11

[geri_chan]

Title: Scars, Part 11

Rating: NC-17 overall

Pairings: Snape/Lupin, Ash/Tsubasa; also a little Theodore/Blaise, Dylan/Hermione, and Aric/Takeshi

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts; [] indicates song lyrics.

Disclaimer: Based on the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling; song lyrics are from "Scars" by Papa Roach. No money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.

Warning: AU. This story contains a character from Half-Blood Prince, but does not follow the HBP storyline.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, Phoenix Rising, Aftermaths, The Revenant, Ash's Story, and Summer Vacation III.

Summary: Ash is targeted as a murder suspect, and the Macnairs plot against Snape. (Much thanks to The Goblet for suggesting the subplot of another heir turning up to challenge Snape and Theo for the title!)

Part 10

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Imogen and Warren met again with Greyback at the safe house on the day of the full moon. The werewolf gulped down a mug of the Wolfsbane Potion under their watchful eyes, shuddering and grimacing as he swallowed.

"Gah!" he spat, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. His manners had not improved, Warren noticed, but at least he looked a great deal cleaner than he had at their last meeting. He was dressed in clean robes, and--thank Merlin--he had obviously bathed, since he was no longer grimy and smelly. He had also shaved off his whiskers and hacked off most of his hair, a bit unevenly, tying what was left back in a short ponytail. "I wonder if that bastard Snape made it so foul-tasting on purpose," Greyback grumbled, staring suspiciously at the empty mug.

"I don't think so," Imogen replied patiently, offering the werewolf a glass of water to wash the taste out of his mouth. "Snape created it for his lover, after all, not for you. And besides, other potion-brewers have attempted to alter the taste, without success. Any attempt to sweeten the potion with sugar, for example, renders it ineffective and useless."

"Thanks," Greyback growled, a bit grudgingly, accepting the glass from Imogen and gulping it down. "Though I would have preferred ale or Firewhiskey instead of water."

"No alcohol," Imogen said sternly. "I want your mind clear for tonight's mission. You can celebrate with a drink tomorrow after it's done."

"Yes, Milady," Greyback said with false meekness, bowing and flashing an insolent grin at Imogen.

Imogen laughed lightly, and Warren frowned at his sister and the werewolf. Even if Greyback was bound by the Vow, Warren didn't approve of the cavalier way he treated Imogen, and watching his sister flirt with the werewolf made him even more uneasy, no matter that it was only an act to make Greyback easier to control. Adding to his unease was the fact that Greyback, cleaned up and dressed in proper clothing, looked almost handsome in a crude, brutish sort of way. Then Warren shook his head in disgust, silently chiding himself for doubting his sister even for a moment. Of course Imogen would never let a beast, someone with impure blood, lay a hand on her even if he was as beautiful as Lucius Malfoy--which Greyback most certainly was not!

Still, that didn't mean that Warren had to like watching Greyback and Imogen banter with each other. "We have a small problem," he said sharply. "Alden Madley will not be at his residence tonight. He was called away on a sudden business trip, and won't return until tomorrow morning."

"Do you want to call off the assassination until next month?" Greyback asked, looking disappointed.

"No," Imogen replied, after thinking it over for a moment. "Go ahead and kill Rosalind Madley; in a way, this might work out even better. Her husband will undoubtedly accuse his stepson of the crime, probably quite publicly, as he did with his last confrontation, and that should make the headlines in the Daily Prophet. We'll let fear and suspicion build up against Ash Randolf, which will only make him look even more guilty when we kill Alden Madley. You won't even have to wait until the next full moon to do it, once we establish that a werewolf killed Rosalind Madley. If you kill Alden Madley with brute physical strength, it will look like Randolf lost control and killed him in a rage."

"But after his wife dies, Alden Madley will naturally become more fearful and cautious of his own safety," Warren pointed out. "Maybe it might be better to wait and kill them both at once."

"A bit of a challenge makes the hunt more fun," Greyback said with a confident grin, his eyes gleaming eagerly. "If he surrounds himself with guards, then I'll kill them, too. If he goes into hiding, then I'll track him down. It will only make the kill even sweeter when I finally do catch up to him."

"What if the Ministry sends Aurors to protect him?" Warren argued.

"I've killed my share of Aurors, pup," Greyback told him condescendingly. "I'm not afraid of the Ministry's guard dogs."

"You talk pretty big for someone who's spent the last twenty years locked up in an asylum!" Warren snapped, flushing with anger.

"It was the Dark Lord himself who put me there, not a mere Auror!" Greyback snarled, baring his teeth. "I'd like to see how well you would have done against the wizard that not even Dumbledore could defeat!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Imogen said crossly. "At this rate, you'll break the Vow and kill yourselves before you ever have a chance to take on the Aurors!" Her brother and the werewolf both subsided, managing to look both sullen and sheepish at the same time. "Now, it's true that Greyback is a formidable opponent who killed several Aurors during the first war," Imogen said, and Greyback smirked. "However," Imogen continued, giving Greyback a pointed look, "Warren has a point. It would be foolish to be overconfident and charge in blindly without assessing the situation first. If I am not mistaken, it was your recklessness that caused you to fall into disfavor with the Dark Lord, Greyback."

"It wasn't my fault," Greyback growled sullenly. "I didn't mean to kill that man, but it was too close to the full moon, and the smell of blood caused me to lose control of myself for a minute..."

"Well, you've been taking the Wolfsbane Potion, so you should be in full control of your faculties this time," Imogen retorted. "Now, getting back to the original point: leaving Madley alive for now is a calculated risk, but I think it's one worth taking. I don't think that the Ministry will immediately take the werewolf threat seriously, because Arthur Weasley won't want to believe that his pet werewolf could be a murderer--and that will work in our favor, too, because the public will be angry at his apparent negligence. It's possible that an Auror or two might be assigned to guard Madley, but you're confident that you could take them on, Greyback? Answer honestly; that's an order."

Greyback growled, but considered her question carefully. "If it's just one or two of them, yes, I think that I can take them by myself," he replied. "I won't charge in blindly; I'll try to take them by surprise and ambush them. If there are more than that, it would be more difficult, although not necessarily impossible. With multiple guards, sometimes it's possible to cause a distraction and lure them away from their posts to investigate, and pick them off one by one. Although, to be honest, the guards have to be a bit stupid for that to work."

Imogen nodded approvingly. "I don't think that the Ministry will waste more than two Aurors on bodyguard duty for a Mudblood. Even if Arthur Weasley is a blood traitor, most of the high-ranking Ministry officials are purebloods who don't care for upstarts like Madley. We'll just have to evaluate the situation and see what happens, but I think that there will eventually be a good opportunity to kill him, even if he does take precautions. He has a business to run, so he can't stay in hiding indefinitely. And if we wait another month to kill the Madleys, that increases the chance that Rosalind might identify the true father of her bastard son."

Warren slowly nodded. "Yes, that's right; we can't count on her keeping her silence for another month. But isn't there also a chance that Alden Madley might expose Father's identity before we can kill him?"

"What's with this 'we' bit?" Greyback muttered sarcastically. "I wasn't aware that you were planning on coming along with me when I kill Madley."

"I can't be one-hundred percent certain, but I don't think that Madley knows about Father," Imogen said, ignoring Greyback, although Warren glared at him. "I think he would have approached us about Randolf by now if he knew, to say something like, 'He's your problem; you deal with him.'"

"Hmm, you may be right," Warren agreed. "And either way, he won't be eager to publicly acknowledge a connection between his family and a known Death Eater."

"So can I kill the Madley woman tonight or not?" Greyback demanded impatiently.

Imogen smiled--a smug, predatory smile that almost made her look a little wolfish herself. "Yes, Greyback, you may hunt tonight."

The werewolf grinned widely, exposing his sharp teeth, and said with satisfaction, "Ah, I can hardly wait for the full moon." His eyes glittered with hunger and anticipation, and Warren shuddered a little at the sight.

"We'll have to do something about Snape," Warren said, hastily turning away from Greyback to address his sister. "Since a werewolf is involved, he's bound to stick his oversized nose where it doesn't belong. You remember how he and his mother backed Lukas Bleddri's lawsuit against Amos Diggory."

"I'd love to teach Snape a lesson for all those experimental potions he used on my pack," Greyback growled.

"Taking Snape on in direct combat is a bad idea," Imogen cautioned. "He's a sly bastard, and extremely well-versed in the Dark Arts; he used to research spells for the Dark Lord, after all. And besides, it's impossible for you to get to him in Hogwarts. But Warren is right, he probably will try to interfere with our plans, so we'll need to find some way to distract him."

"Such as?" Greyback asked.

"I'm not sure," Imogen confessed. "I'll visit Father tomorrow and ask his advice; I was planning on reporting to him about tonight's mission, anyway. He's known Snape for many years, so he'll have a better idea than we would of Snape's weaknesses."

"I'll leave him to you, then, Milady," Greyback said dismissively, his eyes growing far away and dreamy as his thoughts turned towards the full moon. "My first hunt in years," he murmured, more to himself than to the twins, and he grinned again and licked his lips.

Warren shuddered again and wondered uneasily if making a bargain with Greyback had really been such a wise idea, after all.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ash was going over the daily reports with Perkins in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, sipping a cup of cappuccino. He had calmed down since his encounter with his sister and then his stepfather, but he still felt uneasy. Tsubasa had told him that he was still welcome to visit the school as long as he had no contact with Laura, and although he didn't want to see his sister or his parents, Ash couldn't help but feel that there was unfinished business between them, somehow. It felt like a battle that had ended in a draw, with neither side winning.

There was unfinished business between himself and Tsubasa as well. Ash had continued his fencing lessons, but he felt tense and uncomfortable around Tsubasa, and he suspected that Tsubasa felt the same way, although he hid it better than Ash did. It didn't help that the rush of adrenaline and the smell of sweat always aroused the wolf, but he was afraid to surrender to the beast inside him. The thought of being with Tsubasa filled him with equal amounts of desire and terror, for reasons he didn't fully understand.

Ash sighed wearily and took another sip of his coffee; aside from his personal problems, which were distracting enough on their own, he was always tired the morning after the full moon. When he had been a smuggler, sleeping in late hadn't been a problem, but now that he was working at the Ministry, he had to keep normal office hours. Not that he'd get any sympathy from Lukas, who had to get up just as early for his job as a teacher at Hogwarts.

"I should've made the coffee stronger," Ash muttered, just as the office door slammed open and Alden Madley marched into the room.

"Oh, not again!" Perkins groaned. "Really, Mr. Madley, I must demand that you not interfere with our work! If you have a personal grievance with Mr. Randolf, then you should--"

Madley ignored Perkins and headed straight for Ash, grabbing him by the front of his robes and pulling him out of his chair. Too startled to resist, Ash dropped his cup, which spilled cappuccino all over the reports spread across the desk, which caused Perkins to groan again.

"You did this, you bastard!" Madley screamed, shaking Ash violently. "When you couldn't get to Laura, you decided to come after your mother instead!"

"What are you talking about?" Ash protested, but he felt more frightened than angry, because something was not quite right about his stepfather. This wasn't like the time he had come to confront Ash about Laura; then, he had been furious but in control of himself. This time, Madley looked wild-eyed and hysterical, as if he might snap and go insane at any second. His face was contorted not simply with rage, but also with grief...and then Ash noticed that his stepfather's face was streaked with tears, and his robes were stained with smears of blood. "Fa...Father?" he stammered, filled with a sudden sense of foreboding.

"DON'T CALL ME FATHER!" Madley screamed, shoving Ash up against the wall and wrapping his hands around Ash's neck. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you for what you did to her, you bastard!"

Ash fought for breath as he struggled with his stepfather. Normally, his lycanthropic strength would have enabled him to easily push away his attacker, but Madley's grief and rage seemed to have temporarily endowed him with superhuman strength, and his fingers were locked around Ash's throat with an iron grip.

In the background, Ash was dimly aware that Perkins was screaming for help, and then suddenly Shacklebolt, Tonks, and Harry were pulling Madley off of him, and Ash found that he could breathe again. He leaned against the wall, clutching at his bruised throat and gasping for breath.

The three Aurors attempted to reason with Madley, urging him to calm down, but when he continued to struggle and shout, a fourth Auror hit him with a stunning spell. "Take him to St. Mungo's and have them sedate him," Dawlish said curtly to a fifth Auror, who nodded and took Madley out of the office, using a levitation spell to transport him.

"Are you all right?" Tonks asked Ash in a concerned voice.

Ash coughed and replied, "I'll live. What happened?" But as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know the answer to his question.

"I'm very sorry, Ash, but I have some bad news for you," Tonks said gently, confirming his suspicions. "Your mother is dead."

"She was murdered, wasn't she?" Ash asked numbly, thinking of the bloodstains on Madley's robes. "That's why he was here. He thinks that I did it."

"Did you?" Dawlish asked coolly.

"Of course not!" Ash snapped.

"Well, we'll see about that," Dawlish said, gazing at Ash suspiciously. "Come with us."

"Where?" Ash asked, staring back at Dawlish just as suspiciously. "The last time I saw you, I ended up in a cell at Azkaban." Dawlish, along with Williamson, had arranged to have him arrested on a trumped-up charge of selling Muggle contraband during the period of hysteria caused by the fake werewolf attacks. Ash had been locked up for less than two days, but the wolf did not like being confined, and his imprisonment, brief as it was, had been fodder for more than a few nightmares. It hadn't helped that Ash was slightly claustrophobic due to his stepfather locking him in a closet or cellar as punishment during his childhood. For several days after his incarceration, he had dreamt that he was a wolf, locked in a small, windowless cell, clawing frantically at the stone walls until his talons broke and bled, not knowing if anyone would ever come and let him out. Eventually, he would wake up in a sweat, heart pounding, and it would take him a few moments to realize that he was human, not a wolf, and lying safe in his own bed, not a prison cell. Eventually, the nightmares had faded away, but his animosity for Dawlish had not.

Tonks glared at Dawlish, and Harry looked uncomfortable, while Shacklebolt said placatingly, "Please come with us, Ash, and we'll take you to see your mother."

Ash did not particularly want to view his mother's dead body, but he went along with the Aurors, because despite Shacklebolt's polite wording, he suspected that he wasn't being given a choice in the matter. Dawlish probably wanted to see his reaction; maybe he thought that Ash might break down and confess at the sight of Rosalind's body.

"I've sent a message to Lukas and Remus asking them to meet us here at the Ministry," Tonks said kindly. "I thought that you might like to have the support of your friends at a time like this. And Kingsley, Harry, and I are here for you, too, of course." Dawlish frowned disapprovingly at the purple-haired Auror for claiming friendship with a murder suspect, but Tonks pointedly ignored him.

Ash hadn't realized that there was a morgue in the Ministry building, but apparently there was, on one of the lower levels. The room was brightly lit, cold, and sterile, filled with the incongruent scents of disinfectant and blood. Rosalind's body lay on a stainless steel table; the bright, harsh lights overhead mercilessly exposed all of her wounds in stark detail: there were claw and bite marks all over her body, and her clothing--a dressing gown over a nightgown--clung to her body in tattered shreds where claws and teeth had torn right through the cloth and into the flesh beneath it. Her clothes were so soaked with blood that only a few small patches of green and white indicated that they had not been red to begin with. At first, Ash could not be sure that the body on the table was really his mother's, because her hair was dark and matted with blood, and the left side of her face was mutilated beyond recognition with a row of deep talon marks that gouged across her eye and down her cheek, but the right side of her face had been left intact, with one hazel eye frozen open in a look of fear and horror. Below her face, her neck was a bloody ruin; someone--or something--had torn open her throat.

"Oh sweet Merlin," Ash whispered, feeling the sour taste of bile rising in his throat. "I think I'm going to be sick." He had seen dead bodies before, and he had even seen one or two mutilated nearly as bad this one before in Knockturn Alley, but none of them had been his mother. Even though he hated her, he would never have wished this fate on her. In his mind, he had always pictured Rosalind as young and beautiful, and it seemed obscene for her to be killed in such a manner, with the beauty she had been so proud of now so horribly disfigured.

"Not on the body, please," a woman's voice said, briskly but not unkindly. Ash stumbled back away from the table, his legs wobbly with shock, and Shacklebolt caught him by the arm to keep him from falling. A metal basin appeared in front of him just in time as he doubled over and vomited the remains of his breakfast into it. As he straightened up, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief that Tonks proffered, he realized that the woman holding the basin was Erika Dietrich, his packmate Aric's sister. She also worked at the Ministry, in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but Ash had little contact with her, despite their shared connection with Aric. Unlike most of the other Ministry employees, Erika didn't seem to be afraid of him, and didn't sneer at him or look at him with disdain, but neither was she overly friendly. She treated him in a pleasant but distant manner, greeting him cordially when they happened to pass each other in the halls or the cafeteria, but she never stopped to carry on an extended conversation or join him at lunch. Ash didn't hold it against her; he knew that she was in a difficult position, having recently joined a department whose former head, Amos Diggory, had been sentenced to prison partly because of her brother's testimony. It would add even more tension to an already awkward situation for her to openly befriend one of the werewolves Amos had been plotting against. But to her credit, she had remained close to her brother after he had been disinherited by their grandfather, while none of the other members of the Dietrich family had even spoken to Aric since the day he had been turned.

Erika calmly set down the basin on another table and tapped it with her wand, saying, "Evanesco," and its contents vanished. Then she turned back to Ash and asked, "Are you all right, Mr. Randolf?" Her voice was grave, but not hostile, and there was a hint of concern in her eyes. Behind her was a big bearded wizard with a much less friendly expression on his face, standing with his arms crossed over his chest as he gazed at Ash suspiciously; Ash recognized him as Bob Porter, the new Department Head who had replaced Amos Diggory.

"Yes," Ash replied in a shaky voice. "It's just that...it was a big shock. I knew that Rosalind...my mother...had been killed, but I didn't know how..." His voice trailed off as he glanced at Rosalind's body again, then shuddered and quickly looked away. At least he knew now why Dawlish seemed to be regarding him as the number-one suspect. "You think that she was killed by a werewolf, don't you? That explains why Control of Magical Creatures is here, along with the Aurors."

"Your powers of observation are incredible, Randolf," Dawlish said sarcastically.

"We think that she was attacked by a werewolf," Erika replied, ignoring Dawlish. "But we can't yet rule out the possibility that she was killed by some other animal--or someone who wanted her death to look like a werewolf attack." Dawlish grunted irritably but said nothing, no doubt recalling how his former partner Williamson had faked werewolf attacks using transfigured dogs. "That's why we're calling in two specialists from St. Mungo's to examine the victims."

"Are you talking about that mediwizard Kimura?" Dawlish asked disgustedly. "Isn't he a bit biased, Dietrich? Not only is he your brother's roommate, he's a personal friend of the suspect--" He pointed to Ash. "--and his parents were sponsors of the Wolfsbane Potion Distribution Program."

"Ash isn't a suspect, Dawlish," Tonks said sternly. "He's merely the son of the victim, unless you can prove otherwise."

"Oh, come on, Tonks!" Dawlish said impatiently. "Don't let personal bias cloud your judgment. If he wasn't your friend, wouldn't you agree that he's the most likely suspect? He's estranged from his family, and recently had a very public argument with his stepfather, the victim's husband."

"Yes, but we shouldn't rush to judgment," Harry said firmly. "Shouldn't we examine all the facts before we decide who's guilty and who's not? I remember what it was like to be falsely accused, when everyone thought that I was the Heir of Slytherin when the Chamber of Secrets opened, or when everyone said I was lying about Voldemort coming back."

"Very good, Harry," Kingsley said approvingly, clapping him on the shoulder as Dawlish scowled at the boy. "I can see that you'll make a fine Auror!"

"Fine, let's see if the boy wonder can solve the case," Dawlish sneered sarcastically.

Bob Porter cleared his throat and said, "Getting back to your original question, Richard, I also was a bit concerned about Kimura's possible bias. However, the other expert is his supervisor, Hippocrates Smethwyck, a very well-respected Healer, and I trust Smethwyck's judgment. And the two of them have more experience treating werewolves and werewolf victims than anyone else in Britain."

"Oh, very well," Dawlish said, not very graciously, just as the mediwizard and Healer walked through the door, dressed in the lime-green robes that were the uniform of the St. Mungo's staff.

"I'm sorry, Ash," Takeshi said softly, while Smethwyck said nothing, but gave Ash a sympathetic nod.

"Just get on with it, will you?" Dawlish growled.

Takeshi and Smethwyck examined the body briefly, then the Healer looked up and said solemnly, "We'll need to do a more thorough examination, but at first glance, the wounds appear to be consistent with a werewolf attack." Dawlish smiled triumphantly. "However, as I said, we need to do a more thorough examination," Smethwyck added, frowning at the Auror, and then glancing at Ash. "Which can be a somewhat disturbing procedure to those without medical training, and that young man looks like he's about to faint."

"I'm all right," Ash protested, standing up a little straighter.

Smethwyck smiled at him sympathetically. "There's no need to be ashamed; it would be disturbing to see a stranger in such a condition, let alone a family member." To the Aurors, he said, "It's distracting to have this many people standing over my shoulder while I'm trying to work, anyway. Miss Dietrich and Mr. Porter can stay to supervise the examination. The rest of you can take your business elsewhere; I'll bring you the results when we're done."

"Come along, Randolf," Dawlish said curtly. "We'll question you while the Healer is doing his work."

"But not without his lawyer present," a female voice said sweetly, and Dawlish scowled as Morrigan De Lacy stepped in front of him, followed by Lukas, Snape, and Lupin. "The Minister of Magic has given us permission to be here and sit in on the questioning, of course. He understands that you need to interview Mr. Randolf, but he hopes that you'll get the matter cleared up and find the culprit quickly."

"We might not have to look too far," Dawlish muttered under his breath, but his expression turned glum at the reminder that Ash was one of the Minister's favorites--his "pet werewolf," as some people liked to call Ash behind his back.

Morrigan smiled at Ash. "The Minister tenders his sympathies to you, and will no doubt express them in person later."

"I'll remember to thank the Minister for his kindness," Ash murmured, somehow remembering to be politic although he kept seeing his mother's bloodied corpse in his mind. 

"Come on, then, you lot," Dawlish growled in a resigned voice, and led them to an interview room--or it might be more accurate to call it an "interrogation room," since it was obviously designed to intimidate suspects. It was a small, dimly lit room bare of any furnishings but a table and chairs. The walls were windowless, and made of bleak gray stone, only adding to the air of claustrophobia; it reminded Ash uncomfortably of the cells at Azkaban.

"Where were you last night?" Dawlish demanded.

"With us," Lukas growled before Ash could answer, glaring at Dawlish menacingly, which probably didn't do anything to allay the Auror's suspicions.

"It's all right, Lukas," Ash said soothingly, trying to calm his pack leader. "I spent last night at the Diggory mansion with the rest of the pack," he told the Auror in a level voice.

"Did you leave the mansion at any time during the evening?" Shacklebolt asked, but much more politely than Dawlish had.

"No," Ash replied. "I went there straight after work and left after breakfast this morning."

"Can anyone vouch for your presence?" Dawlish asked suspiciously.

"I just told you, the entire pack was there," Ash replied irritably.

"Someone human," Dawlish clarified in a snide tone of voice. "A wolf can't testify--"

"I don't see why not," Lupin said mildly. "I mean, obviously they'd have to testify in their human forms, but a werewolf's mind is sane during the transformation if they've taken the Wolfsbane Potion. There's no reason why they couldn't recognize and identify Ash in wolf form."

"--and besides, even if you weren't there, the other werewolves would cover for you," Dawlish finished, glaring at Lupin and earning a glare from Snape in return. "Their testimony can't be trusted."

Lukas growled softly, and Ash had to fight to keep his own temper under control. "Narcissa was there, and Draco, and--"

"Someone human who is not a former Death Eater or a spouse or child of a werewolf," Dawlish interrupted.

Lukas growled, a little more loudly, and Ash said coldly, "No."

"There are numerous witnesses who can attest to Mr. Randolf's whereabouts last night," Morrigan told the Auror, giving him a contemptuous look. "You can't arrest him without any proof just because you don't trust those witnesses."

"Calm down, De Lacy; no one's arresting your client...yet," Dawlish said, pausing ominously between the last two words. "You know, Randolf, aside from losing your breakfast back there, you don't seem too broken up about your mother's death."

"I hated my parents and everyone knows it," Ash retorted. "If I wept and carried on, you'd just be suspicious of me for faking my grief. Am I heartbroken about my mother's death? No, but neither did I kill her. I wouldn't wish that kind of death on anyone." Dawlish gave him a skeptical look, and Ash said in a voice filled with frustration, "I didn't kill her! I have my pack; I don't need my parents, or my half-sister, for that matter! I just wanted them to leave me alone!"

"But they wouldn't leave you alone, would they?" Dawlish said, jumping on his statement eagerly. "Your half-sister confronted you, stirring up painful memories, and your stepfather harassed you at work. So you decided to get back at them."

"By killing my mother, the one member of my family who hasn't contacted me?!" Ash exclaimed in an exasperated voice.

Dawlish shrugged. "Maybe you decided to kill her because you couldn't get to the others. Even though you have limited access to the school through your friend Professor Tsubasa, it would still be difficult for you to make your way into the Hufflepuff dormitory to attack your sister. And your stepfather wasn't home last night; maybe you didn't know that he'd be away on a business trip. Maybe you went there last night intending to kill him, but found your mother instead. Or maybe she was your target all along; after all, killing her would hurt your sister and your stepfather pretty badly."

"You have a great many 'maybes,' but no solid proof, Mr. Dawlish," Morrigan said coolly. "Unless you can produce some, this interview is at an end."

"It will end when I say it's over!" Dawlish snapped. There was a knock at the door, and Dawlish shouted irritably, "What?!" Then he turned pale and hastily apologized, "Oh, excuse me, Minister," when the door opened and Arthur Weasley walked into the room.

"My deepest condolences, Ash," Arthur said solemnly.

"Thank you, Arthur," Ash replied, taking a small amount of pleasure in watching Dawlish grind his teeth in frustration.

"Are you just about done here?" Arthur asked Dawlish pleasantly.

"For now," Dawlish replied grudgingly. "But don't leave town, Randolf. We may want to question you again later."

"I'll be in my office if you need me," Ash said with feigned indifference as he rose to his feet.

"Nonsense, Ash!" Arthur exclaimed. "Take the day off; Perkins can manage without you for one day. In fact, take all the time off you need." He patted Ash on the shoulder sympathetically. "Your dedication is admirable, but no one expects you to work at a time like this."

"But--" Ash started to protest. He didn't really feel like working, but neither did he just want to sit around and think about his mother's death.

"I'll take him home," Lukas said quickly, draping an arm across Ash's shoulders. "Tell Dumbledore I'm taking the day off, too," he said to Lupin and Snape, who both nodded. "Come on, Ash," Lukas said gently, and Ash was too tired to argue with him, and he let the other werewolf lead him away to take the Floo back home.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Aurors brought Arthur up-to-date on the murder, giving him what little information they had so far: Alden Madley had arrived home from a business trip this morning to find his wife slaughtered in an extremely brutal manner. It appeared that Rosalind Madley had been attacked in the middle of the night, judging by the fact that she was wearing a nightgown. They also believed that she had either been awake at the time, or some noise had awakened her before the attack, because she'd had time to throw on a robe over her nightgown, and it appeared that she had attempted to defend herself; her wand had been found lying in the middle of the bedroom floor. There were also signs of a struggle: overturned furniture, broken lamps and vases, and bloody footprints indicating that Rosalind had attempted to flee from her attacker after being wounded. There were also bloody paw prints resembling those of a large dog or wolf.

"With all due respect, Minister, I think you ought to consider the possibility that Randolf might be guilty," Dawlish said. "He certainly has motive."

"Nonsense!" Arthur said dismissively. "Ash may be a little rough around the edges, I'll admit, but he's no killer. We don't even know for sure that Mrs. Madley was killed by a werewolf."

"Actually, I'm afraid that she was," Smethwyck said reluctantly as he and Takeshi entered the interview room, along with Erika and Porter. "The wounds are all consistent with a werewolf attack. The claw marks indicate that the animal that attacked her had sharp talons like those of a werewolf, not the blunt claws of a normal wolf or dog. The size of the wounds are also larger than those left by a normal canine would be, again consistent with a werewolf attack, because werewolves are usually much larger than normal wolves."

"But maybe she could have been attacked by a transfigured animal?" Harry suggested hopefully. "Williamson transfigured those dogs to have sharp claws, when he was staging the fake werewolf attacks."

Dawlish scowled at the reminder of his former partner's treachery, and Smethwyck smiled sadly and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Potter," the Healer replied. "The victim had shallow, non-life-threatening wounds on her arms and legs that show signs that they had begun to heal before she died. That means she was infected by a real werewolf; she would have been turned herself if her other wounds had not been so severe. She had many deep bite and claw wounds that would probably have caused her to bleed to death eventually, but the killing blow appears to be a bite to the neck. It...well...to put it bluntly, the werewolf tore her throat out."

"I told you that Randolf killed her!" Dawlish said triumphantly.

"We know that she was killed by a werewolf," Takeshi said sharply. "We don't know which particular werewolf was the murderer."

"Please," Dawlish snorted incredulously, "you're not going to try to tell me that a woman whose estranged son is a werewolf happened to be attacked by a completely different werewolf just by pure coincidence!"

"A few tufts of gray fur were found on the body," Erika interjected, as the two wizards glared at each other hatefully. "Am I correct in understanding that a werewolf's fur is the same color as its hair in human form?" Smethwyck nodded. "Well then," Erika continued, "we can reasonably infer that the person who attacked Mrs. Madley has gray hair."

"Ash's hair is brown," Harry said, but a bit uncertainly. "Mostly."

"Brown streaked with gray!" Dawlish said vehemently. "So it could still be him!"

"I would expect to see a few brown hairs also, in that case, but I cannot rule out the possibility entirely," Smethwyck admitted reluctantly. "On the other hand, the strain of the transformation causes most adult werewolves to go prematurely gray..."

"Like me," Lupin said with a faint smile, although he still looked worried. "Did you want to ask me for an alibi, too, Richard? I was with Severus all night, but I suppose you'd consider him a biased witness since he's my mate."

Snape glared at Dawlish fiercely, practically daring him to accuse Lupin of murder, but the Auror just gave the pair a sour look and said, "Lupin is not a suspect at this time."

"So I don't think that you can identify a suspect solely by the color of his hair...er, I mean, fur," Smethwyck finished. "Over half of the werewolves in Master Diggory's pack have at least some gray in their hair."

"But only one of those werewolves is related to the victim!" Dawlish snapped. "Who else would have a motive to kill Rosalind Madley? She doesn't appear to have any enemies who would want to kill her, other than her son. She's a housewife, and from a family of no particular distinction, with no political power or stature."

"What about her husband?" Harry asked hesitantly. "In mystery novels, they say that the most likely suspect is someone close to the victim, like a family member or a lover. Ash fits that description, but so does Mr. Madley. And his robes were stained with blood."

"Is that how you're learning to be an Auror, Potter?" Dawlish asked scornfully. "From mystery novels?"

Harry flushed, and Kingsley smiled and said, "Well, the theory is a valid one, even if he did get it from a novel, and we do tend to look for suspects among the friends and family of the victim first, unless we have reason to believe otherwise."

"Madley went hysterical and embraced his wife's body when he found her--or at least, that's what he told us," Tonks said thoughtfully. "But I've heard a few rumors that the marriage wasn't a particularly happy one. We know that he was upset about the article in the Daily Prophet; perhaps he blamed the scandal on his wife, for bearing an illegitimate child. We would need to investigate the Madleys' background, to see whether their marriage was troubled enough for Alden Madley to want to kill his wife."

"Alden Madley couldn't have killed her unless he's secretly a werewolf!" Dawlish said impatiently. "The Healer just said that she was killed by a werewolf!"

"But he could have hired a werewolf to kill her," Harry pointed out. "Or put an Imperius Curse on one. He didn't have to do it directly. Or maybe it doesn't have anything to do with either Mr. Madley or Ash, and the attack was just caused by a rogue werewolf?"

"A rather unlikely coincidence, Mr. Potter," Dawlish said dismissively.

"He may have a point, Richard," Arthur objected. "After all, wasn't Ash himself turned by a rogue werewolf in the forest near the Madleys' residence?"

"He was attacked by a single rogue werewolf," Dawlish replied. "I did a little research after that article came out. The werewolf was apprehended and sentenced to Azkaban, and no other werewolf sightings or attacks have been reported in the area since then."

"Is that werewolf still in prison?" Harry asked. "If he escaped or was paroled, he might want revenge on the Madleys for causing him to be arrested."

"Once again, you are jumping to false conclusions, Mr. Potter," Dawlish said disdainfully. "The werewolf died in Azkaban a few years after his arrest and conviction, so he could not possibly have been the culprit in this murder." Harry sighed in disappointment.

"Alden Madley is a wealthy Muggle-born who has ruffled a few pureblood feathers," Tonks said thoughtfully. "Perhaps someone with a grudge or prejudice against him arranged the attack on his wife as revenge. Or maybe the attack was actually meant for him, but the killer didn't know that he'd be out of town, and his wife was killed in his place."

"That's possible," Dawlish conceded grudgingly, "but not very likely. Alden Madley is more disliked than hated by the pureblood community. I don't think that they take him seriously enough to commit murder over him."

"You are all overlooking a very obvious suspect," Snape said in the impatient, condescending tone of voice that he often used on his students, the one that seemed to imply that they were complete dunces.

"Enlighten us, then, Snape," Dawlish said sarcastically.

Snape smirked, but did not immediately answer, choosing to draw out the suspense to annoy Dawlish further. "Come now, use your common sense. Who else besides Randolf would want to see Rosalind Madley dead--and want to see Randolf implicated in her death?"

Takeshi looked startled, then exclaimed, "Why, his father, of course!"

Snape smiled with satisfaction. "Very good, Mr. Kimura; five points to Ravenclaw," he said, a hint of sardonic amusement coloring his deep voice.

"Isn't that what I just suggested?" Harry complained.

"I'm not talking about his stepfather, Potter!" Snape snapped. "But I suppose I can't expect anything better from a Gryffindor..."

"You know, we're not at Hogwarts anymore--" Harry started to retort, but Tonks interrupted him excitedly.

"Of course! Ash's real father would have motive to kill his former lover, especially after all the fuss caused by Rita Skeeter's article! It would be bad enough for news of an illegitimate child to become public, especially if our anonymous daddy has a wife and family of his own now, but..."

"Having an illegitimate werewolf son would be utterly scandalous, especially if the father is a pureblood of high rank," Snape finished. "It might well be worth killing over, to keep Rosalind Madley from revealing his identity."

"And if he could frame Ash for the murder, then he gets rid of two birds with one stone," Lupin chimed in.
 
"This is all mere speculation," Dawlish said, but he frowned thoughtfully. "We don't know for sure that Rosalind Madley's lover was a pureblood."

"No, but I think that it's a likely assumption," Snape said. "I checked the school records. Rosalind Madley, formerly Rosalind Parker, was a Slytherin at Hogwarts, which by definition means that she was ambitious. And an ambitious young Slytherin woman isn't likely to seek a Muggle-born or half-blood lover; she would set her sights as high as possible. I also think that her lover must've been a man of high rank, or at least, higher than hers, otherwise her family would have found a way to coerce him into marrying her."

"Well, but it could be the other way around," Kingsley said. "Maybe they wouldn't let her marry him because he was beneath her rank."

"Possibly, but I don't think that she would have wasted her time on a relationship that would be of no benefit to her," Snape argued.

"But even purebloods can fall in love with inappropriate partners," Tonks said with an impish smile. "My mother married a Muggle-born, after all, and was disowned for it, and Severus, you yourself took up with a werewolf."

Lupin grinned at her, and Tonks winked at him, while Snape glowered at them both. "I still think my theory is the most likely one," he said huffily. "But even if her lover isn't a pureblood, he still might not want people to know that he has a werewolf son."

"Even if Randolf's real father is the culprit, which I find rather unlikely, we have no idea who he is," Dawlish objected.

"Well then, as an Auror, isn't it your job to find that out?" Snape retorted scathingly, and Dawlish's face went red with anger.

Tonks snickered softly, but covered it up with a cough as Dawlish turned to glare at her. "We'll look into Rosalind Madley's background, to see if we can uncover the identity of her former lover," Tonks said brightly. "And we'll also investigate Alden Madley, to see if he might have a motive, or if he has an enemy who might want to harm his family."

"Speaking of which, doesn't he have a daughter?" Dawlish asked. "That's what started this whole mess in the first place, after all: Randolf's meeting with Madley's daughter."

"She should be safe at Hogwarts," Lupin said. "But I'll speak to the Headmaster and Professor Sprout, and advise that she stay close to the dorm and not go wandering alone outside of class."

"Especially not near any werewolves," Dawlish growled. "I'm going to ask Dumbledore to ban Randolf from the school until this case is resolved, although I doubt the old man will listen to me." He gave Lupin and Snape a hard look. "It will be on his head, and yours, if any harm comes to the girl."

"I trust Ash," Lupin said quietly. "I don't believe that he would harm anyone except in self-defense, and certainly not a child."

"Well, you didn't see Rosalind Madley's body, Lupin!" Dawlish retorted. "If Randolf did this, I won't just see him locked up in Azkaban, I'll ask for the death penalty! Whoever murdered Mrs. Madley didn't just kill her quickly. He could have killed her in her sleep, but he let her wake up and see him coming." He turned to Smethwyck and asked, "You said that there were several shallow, non-lethal wounds on her body, right?" The Healer nodded. "I think that he could have killed her instantly if he'd wanted," Dawlish continued, "but he toyed with her for his own amusement, like a cat with a mouse. That speaks to me of someone with a deep personal grudge, who wanted to make her suffer, not just shut her up and get rid of a potential threat. Someone like a son, who feels abandoned and betrayed by his mother..."

"Someone with a grudge, perhaps, but not Ash," Arthur insisted firmly. "What you've told me only strengthens my belief in him. He isn't a cruel person. I think that he's capable of killing to protect himself or someone that he cares about, but he isn't the type to torture or kill for pleasure."

"We'll have to agree to disagree, Minister," Dawlish said stiffly. "I intend to keep a close eye on that werewolf, even if he has the rest of you fooled! And I'm going to assign an Auror to watch over Alden Madley, in case Randolf decides to kill his stepfather, too. Oh, and by the way, Tonks, if I find out that the other werewolves are covering up for your friend, I'll have them arrested, too!" Then he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Oh dear," Arthur sighed. "I can understand his concerns, but Dawlish is being very single-minded about all this. It's as if he can't even consider the possibility that someone besides Ash might be guilty."

Snape shrugged. "I don't like the man, but he's correct in that Randolf appears to be the most likely suspect, at least on the surface. And he suffered a loss of face when it was proven that the alleged werewolf attacks had been staged by his partner Williamson. I don't think that he would deliberately concoct false evidence the way Williamson did, but he certainly wouldn't mind using the existing evidence to get a little revenge on the werewolves."

"If he wants to get revenge on anyone, it ought to be Williamson!" Harry said disgustedly. "He's the one who was at fault, not the werewolves."

"Yes, but Williamson isn't around, and the werewolves make a convenient target," Lupin sighed. "Human nature isn't always fair or logical, Harry."

"Well, let Dawlish chase down false leads if he wants; we'll find the real killer!" Tonks declared.

"Something bothers me, though," Takeshi said, frowning worriedly. "I can believe that either Alden Madley or Ash's father set up the murder, but who carried out the actual killing? It appears to be a genuine werewolf attack, but I can't picture any of Lukas's pack doing such a thing."

"An Imperius Curse, perhaps?" Kingsley suggested.

Takeshi shook his head. "I'll check with Lukas, but it doesn't seem like any of the pack were missing during the full moon. And much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Dawlish on one point: the killer seemed to enjoy what he was doing. An Imperius Curse could force someone to kill, but not to enjoy it."

"Unless they were commanded to torture as well as kill," Snape said thoughtfully. "Although the more conditions you put on such a curse, the harder it is to keep the victim under your control, particularly when you're forcing them to do something they consider abhorrent. You would have to be both powerful magically and be skilled in the Dark Arts to successfully pull off such a feat, and I don't think that Alden Madley is either."

"And we don't know who Ash's real father is, so we don't know whether he might be a Dark Wizard or not," Tonks mused out loud.

"If he was a Slytherin like Rosalind, he probably has at least some knowledge of the Dark Arts," Snape reluctantly admitted. "But even your average Slytherin doesn't go around casting the Imperius Curse on a regular basis. Also, I don't expect that a Dark Wizard would leave a living witness who might implicate him in the murder, so he would probably kill the assassin after the job was completed. So if none of Diggory's pack is permanently missing, then it's unlikely that any of them were used as an assassin against their will."

"There are a few werewolves who are not part of Master Diggory's pack, though," Smethwyck pointed out. "Perhaps even a few rogues who were never officially registered when the Werewolf Registry was still in effect. So perhaps the culprit somehow bribed or coerced one of those werewolves."

"So we'll look for independent or rogue werewolves," Tonks said.

"You should probably be looking for a dead body," Snape said dryly. "As I said..."

"Right, that the culprit would kill his pawn when he was done with him," Tonks agreed. "Okay, so we'll investigate the Madleys' backgrounds, and be on the lookout for any new murders or mysterious deaths. It would help if you could send us copies of those school records you mentioned earlier, Severus. Her lover might be an old classmate, someone she went to school with. Even if he wasn't, her classmates might at least have an idea of whom she was dating before she got pregnant with Ash."

"A reasonable assumption, Miss Tonks," Snape said, with grudging approval. "Very well, I'll send you Rosalind Parker's transcript, and a list of the students who attended Hogwarts at the same time as she did."

"Thank you, Severus," Tonks said warmly.

Snape just scowled at her and said, a bit sarcastically, "Well, if you think you can manage to solve the murder without any further help from me, Lupin and I will return to Hogwarts. We do have classes to teach, after all." He sounded rather doubtful, though, as if he didn't have much faith in their abilities.

Tonks just nodded pleasantly, although Kingsley and Harry glared at the Potions Master, and Lupin just cheerily waved and said, "Good luck," to the Aurors as he and Snape left. Takeshi and Smethwyck left along with the Professors.

"Can't he ever just say, 'You're welcome'?" Kingsley grumbled.

"That would go against his nature, I think," Arthur chuckled. "But Severus will help us, for Remus's sake, if nothing else. Anytime a werewolf is accused of a crime, it reflects badly on all werewolves, even the ones not directly involved."

"Then we'll have to solve the case quickly, to clear Ash and the rest of the pack from suspicion," Harry said determinedly.

"I have faith in you," Arthur told the three Aurors with a smile, and Harry and Tonks smiled back at him confidently, but Kingsley sighed quietly, because he wasn't so sure that this case would be so easily resolved.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that afternoon, Imogen and Warren visited their father at Azkaban. "The mission was successful, although we had to alter it slightly," Imogen told Walden, handing him a copy of the Daily Prophet. She explained about Alden Madley suddenly leaving on a business trip, and about their decision to go ahead and kill Rosalind alone. "But it seems to have worked out in our favor," Imogen continued. "Her husband gave an interview to Rita Skeeter, accusing his stepson of the crime."

"The Aurors are investigating the murder, in combination with Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Warren added. "I have a source at the Ministry who tells me that Richard Dawlish is heading up the investigation, and he's focusing on Randolf as the chief suspect."

"Very good," Walden said, looking pleased. "Everything is going smoothly, then. Your contact doesn't know your true identity, I assume?"

"Of course not, Father," Warren assured him, a little indignantly. "I would never be so careless. I use an assumed name and an illusion to disguise my appearance. I usually don't meet him face-to-face, anyway; we have a designated drop-box where we leave each other messages and where I deposit his payment."

"Forgive me, son," Walden apologized. "I should have known you would take precautions. Is our pet canine behaving himself?"

Imogen nodded. "He completed his task without being caught, which has put him in a good mood, which in turn has made him more biddable. He is eager to take on his next assignment."

"There is a slight problem, though," Warren said, frowning. "Tonks and Shacklebolt disagree with Dawlish and are looking for other suspects. And it seems that Snape and Lupin stopped by the Ministry this morning. My source wasn't sure if they were called in to assist with the investigation, or if they went in on their own to prevent Randolf from being arrested. But it could be a problem if they continue to interfere with the investigation. I'm not sure what they might do, but they managed to help Cyril Diggory win his lawsuit against Amos. Also, Snape was a Death Eater; he might eventually recognize Greyback's handiwork."

"Snape can do a great deal of damage," Walden agreed, scowling. "If he hadn't turned traitor and helped Dumbledore protect the Potter child, we might have won the war."

"We thought that you might help us come up with a plan to distract Snape," Imogen said.

"Hmm, let me think, a threat to his werewolf lover?" Walden mused, thinking out loud. "No, that would only make him more determined to hunt down the culprit. We need to find a distraction that seems completely unrelated to the murder...something that he won't connect with us..."

"His son is working on an archaeological dig in Ireland," Imogen said. "If there was some trouble at the site, Snape might leave to check on his son, and that would take him away from England for awhile."

"Not bad, but it would be a little risky to carry out an attack on a site where a large team of wizards is working," Walden replied, then shook his head. "I still find it hard to believe that Snape adopted Nott's son...wait, that's it!"

"What's it?" Warren asked. "Do you think we should attack Snape's son?"

"No, as with his lover, he wouldn't rest until he found out who was behind it," Walden said. "But Theodore isn't Snape's biological son. He has some Snape blood, but the connection is at least a few generations old."

"Well, yes," Imogen agreed, looking a little puzzled. "Snape has no children of his own, of course, and isn't likely to have any in the future. Which is why his parents agreed to accept Theodore Nott as his heir. Theodore probably has as much Snape blood as anyone else in the wizarding world. All the pureblood families are interbred, to some extent, and Snape has no siblings, or even first cousins."

"Exactly!" Walden said with an air of satisfaction.

"And how does this help us, Father?" Warren asked.

"Snape was able to become the Snape Lord and choose his own heir, despite his scandalous past as a Death Eater and his scandalous present as the lover of a werewolf, because there was no other heir who could take his place," Walden replied. "But if he'd had a brother, an uncle, or even a cousin, he would probably have been passed over as heir. Even an illegitimate child could have legally challenged him for the title and quite possibly have won, so long as his mother was a pureblood."

"Are you saying that Severin Snape had an illegitimate child?!" Warren exclaimed.

"No, Severin was practically a monk," Walden replied. "I'm almost surprised that he managed to spend enough time in his wife's bed to beget Severus on her. But Severin's father Stefan had a few regular mistresses, mainly high-priced courtesans."

"So you think that Stefan Snape might have had a bastard child?" Warren asked, a little doubtfully. "I've never heard any gossip of such a thing."

"It doesn't matter whether he actually sired a bastard or not!" Walden said impatiently. "All that matters is that the possibility exists. Track down an heir, or hire someone to pose as one; I don't care which."

"I see," Imogen said with a sly smile. "All we need to do is to provide a distraction, and a lawsuit challenging Snape for the title will definitely keep him distracted."

"That's my girl," Walden said fondly. "We don't really need our fake heir to win his lawsuit, although it would be nice to snatch the Snape estate right out from under Severus's oversized nose. All we need to do is keep Snape distracted long enough to carry out our plans."

"I see, Father," Warren said. "It shouldn't take long for public opinion to turn against Arthur Weasley once Greyback steps up his killing spree, and once Weasley is deposed, Snape will no longer have any clout within the Ministry."

"That is correct," Walden said approvingly. "Warren, you'll need to make the arrangements for the false heir. I'll give you what information I have on Stefan Snape's women; you need to at least make his background sound convincing, and if one of these woman actually had a child, that's all to the better. As for Alden Madley, you should have Greyback take care of him soon, but I'll leave the timing up to your discretion. He must be careful not to be caught, especially if the Aurors are guarding Madley."

"Yes, Father," Imogen and Warren chorused.

Part 12a, Part 12b