"Greyback's gone," Alderman said, then dropped down from a tree into the middle of the path, falling into pace beside Remus and grinning. "Left yesterday with a bunch of blokes and said he'd be back after moon."

An almost physical sense of relief pulsed through Remus. He'd been dreading what Greyback would have in mind for this month, and, though he'd managed to pull himself together a bit since Dora had soothed him, he wasn't at all sure he had the strength to play any of Greyback's games, and ever since he'd got back from London, Greyback had been making jocular references to his status as a "proper part of the pack." He'd envisioned another hunt, perhaps a forced kill of his own. He hadn't intended to slip away from Greyback when he'd gone hunting on his own this morning, but he couldn't deny the sense of soaring freedom it gave him... though the realization was followed quickly by the more sobering thought, "Where did they go?"

"Dunno." Alderman scooped a rock up off the ground and tossed it ahead, hitting a low-hanging branch and giving himself a cheer. "North, I think. I saw them headed out that way."

"Who did he take?"

"Jamison, a few of the others. He wanted to take you, but you were gone. Put him in a right temper, but the other bloke said he didn't trust you anyway."

Remus stopped walking. "Other bloke?"

"Big blond fellow. Never saw him before. Did you have a good hunt?"

Remus handed him two or three of the rabbits he'd caught, feeling numb, wishing Moody checked in before transformations instead of after them. He had to get word to the Order, but he couldn't very well do it with Alderman standing right beside him. "Why did he say he didn't trust me?"

"Said you were fighting with Bumbleton or something like that last year. Greyback cuffed him one and said"--Alderman dropped his voice into a low growl, imitating Greyback--"'That were last year, now. Lupin's back with us, now, right where he belongs.' They almost got into a fight over it, and Greyback said something about someone else they couldn't trust and then he said there wasn't any time and they had to leave." Alderman shrugged. "Greyback kicked in the door of your shed, though. Reckon it'll get wet tonight, if the rain comes. You should stay in the cave with us. Really."

"I'll be sure to put all my valuables somewhere safe," Remus said automatically, his mind going through lists of Greyback's allies and possible victims. "North?"

"North. You going to join them after all?"

"No."

"What do you reckon they're doing?"

"Nothing good." Remus started moving again. He felt ill at ease. "Why aren't you there?"

"Are you mad? I faded up into the trees as soon as he started grabbing people. After last month--" Alderman stopped talking and looked over his shoulder at Remus. "I mean, you know. I... well, you know, I'm not ready to run with them quite yet. Got a bit twisted up for awhile there. You did as well, and you only ate."

Remus felt his head snap around. The idea hadn't even occurred to him in the depth of his own nightmare, but of course. Of course. He suddenly felt very, very small. "He had you with the pack when they... when they killed her?"

Alderman nodded and went on ahead. After ten minutes of silence, he began to talk again. "I think they said something about Birmingham, so yeah, north. The blond man kept going on about a reporter for the Daily Prophet, some man who wrote something he shouldn't have or something." He glanced back carefully. "I... I sort of think that we might have someone new with us after this. The blond said something about a boy. Greyback perked right up at that." He kicked a rock and glanced cautiously over his shoulder at Remus. "Wonder if that's what he looked like when he found out someone in the capture unit had a boy. My... er... my mother... was in the capture unit. I think. I know it was something with werewolves."

Remus nodded. "My father offended him. I'm not completely sure how."

"I bet all of those idiots have the same story, and they're still rushing around saying, 'Choose me, choose me.' Reckon I would have been... you know, before."

"Before what?"

"Well, you know. Before... the school and such. Before there was something better to do." Alderman gave a disdainful sniff. "'Course, my mother wasn't in much of a hurry to capture me back, mind. I'm damaged."

"She's your mother. I'm sure she'd... have you ever tried talking to her?"

He shook his head, and they reached the edge of the clearing where Remus's shed stood. The door was in splinters. Several of the children were trying to prop bits of wood in and jam them back together, but they weren't having any luck without a Sticking Charm. Alderman went on ahead, calling, "Found him!" and a moment later he was pummeled by several small werewolves, all of them trying to tell him the story of how his door came to be shattered.

"--and the other fellow said--"

"--and Greyback just kicked--"

"--but they had to--"

"--and you weren't--"

"--so he--"

Remus held up his hand. "Alderman already told me what happened."

"Old Mag tried to stop him," Evelyn said, coming forward with a reproachful look on her face. "She said it wasn't fair, and he hit her. I think he broke her nose."

"What?" Remus looked around. "Alderman didn't mention that part. Where is she now?"

"Sweet took her back to the pond to help her clean up."

"Pond?"

"It's near where we are," Evelyn said. "The girls."

Remus thought quickly, wondering if he could use Mag's injury as an excuse to get away from the pack long enough to get word to Moody, and feeling guilty for the pragmatism. "Could you take me there?"

"You're not allowed."

"Oh, just take him there, Evvie," Blondin said. "Lupin's not interested in your little bits."

"The moon..."

"I don't know about girls," Hamilton said, "but we remember bugger-all transformed. He's not going to figure out how to get back there when he'd want to."

"I don't think I should. It's not proper. Only Greyback's allowed there. He didn't even let his friend go there." She frowned. "His friend told me Lupin would tell us lies."

"This is the same friend who was going on about how we could eat the whole town at the edge of the woods if we wanted to?" Alderman asked. "At least if we help him out?"

"Yeah," Evelyn said defiantly. "He said we were victors of dissemination!"

"Oh, grow a brain, will you?"

Evelyn kicked Alderman in the shin and sat down in the broken doorway, sniffling. "He said I was pretty and people shouldn't be nasty to me and I should have nice things. He waved his wand and made my dress clean again." She pointed at the ratty old piece of cloth she was wearing, then started to cry in earnest. "And now it's all dirty again! I've got it dirty. I hate being dirty."

Remus sighed and sat down on the ground beside her. "I know you hate being dirty, and you are pretty, and you should have nice things. We should all at least have a decent place to live. But think about what that man wants Greyback to do. Is it fair to make someone else live like this just so we might have nice things?"

"Yes," she whimpered, but leaned into his arm. "I want pretty things."

"I know, Evvie. Will you take me to Mag? Please? I just need to know what happened from a grown-up."

"He was very nice."

"I'll bet he was."

She sniffled for a few more minutes, but finally agreed to get Remus to the pond. "But no further! And don't you look and try to find out where we are, and don't tell any of the ladies I brought you if they ask. Mina's in charge."

Remus nodded. "I'll hang back until you're gone, and if they find me, I'll say I followed you without permission."

She looked at him dubiously, but seemed content enough to let him go along with her. After nearly half a mile, she stopped and turned around, pointing to a glint of water between two trees. "It's there," she said. "You're not lying? Really not? You're not doing anything improper?"

"I'm not doing anything improper."

She looked at her feet. "That other man was trying to fool me, wasn't he?"

"Yes."

"I'm so stupid."

"No you're not. Everyone wants nice things."

Evelyn slipped off into the forest and disappeared. Remus headed for the water. When he came out onto the shore, he saw Mag immediately, holding a wet cloth to her face and wincing into the sunlight. A part of him felt that he should actually go there--if nothing else, so that if she spoke to Evelyn, he wouldn't come off as a liar--but there was something he needed to first. He memorized the spot he was in, noting everything he could about it, visualizing the paths that had led him here... and Apparated out.

At first, he thought he'd made a mistake in his destination, but it would be a nearly impossible one--there were only so many houses into which he could Apparate directly. But surely, this sunny room with its threadbare but clean carpet, these freshly papered walls, this tall, neatly made bed... these things weren't in the Shrieking Shack.

He looked out the window and saw the familiar view of Hogsmeade bustling along beneath him, but the view was framed by pale blue curtains, which he realized with a start had always been there. They'd been a dingy bluish-brown the last time he'd been in this room.

For a moment, he forgot entirely why he'd come here.

But there was no time to wonder at this particular marvel. He pushed the door open and went to the spare room across the hall, his eyes taking in the repaired staircase in a quick and stunned way.

The spare room, where he'd stored his desk, was untouched since his last visit, and he was glad of it. He didn't want to have to look for his wand. He pulled open the top drawer, drew it (savoring the feel), and sent his Patronus to Moody. Dora was closer, of course--Dora was everywhere here--but he couldn't see her. Not in this quiet, quaint house.

He went downstairs and was taken by surprise again when he found the parlor straightened and dusted, though the furniture here was still broken. He did a quick and highly illegal charm on the fireplace to tap it into the floo network, and a moment later, green flames erupted, and Mad-Eye spun into the room, checking madly for any spying hexes in the system and giving Remus a dirty look for using it. Remus wasted no time telling him exactly what Alderman had said.

"You're sure the lad's not setting a trap?" Moody asked. "Could be Greyback's trying to trick you into passing on information so he can prove you're doing it."

"I was careful to leave when no one was looking. And I don't believe Alderman would participate knowingly. Is there anyone who fits the description? I don't recall the Prophet being particularly harmful to Voldemort last year."

"I think I know who it is. I'll keep my eye on him and his family. You keep your head down, though. If we do put a stop to anything, I doubt it'll take Greyback many steps to get it back to you, whether your little friend's a spy or not."

"According to Alderman, Greyback told his Death Eater friend that I'm loyal and he trusts me these days."

"Thinks he's got you under his thumb is more like it. He never was the brightest of dark creatures. Can I Apparate from the back garden? You're mad, using the floo network..."

Remus sent him outside, pointing out the edge of the anti-Apparition wards from the kitchen window, and watched him disappear. It was all he could do.

He looked around the kitchen, blinking. He'd never seen it clean in the entire time he'd transformed here, even when his family had come to inspect it before his first year. (Mum had instructed him rather tersely not to eat here.)

"Dora," he whispered, feeling both awed and exasperated.

He Apparated back to the forest.

And nearly spun into the figure in dark robes and a Death Eater's white mask.

Remus jumped back and started to scramble onto the bank, reaching for the wand he'd left on the mantel at the Shrieking Shack.

The Death Eater in front of him screamed and splashed backward, pale arms flailing upward, small hands reaching toward the sky.

Very small hands.

Remus grabbed one of them. "Are you all right?"

"Where did you come from? You just popped right up there!" She pulled her hand away and stood up, seeming to rise from the water of the shallow arm of the pond. The too-long robes swirled around her feet, and the mask was tipped to one side. "Remus? Why are you here? You'll be in ever so much trouble if they come back and--"

"Sweet, take that mask off."

She raised her hand to the mask, but instead of taking it off, she straightened it. "No. The man gave it to me. To cover my scars, so people wouldn't call me names."

"There are worse things than scars. That mask is one of them. Take it off."

She pulled it away and looked at him resentfully, her good eye sullen, her scarred and blind eye somehow accusing.

"I'm sorry, Sweet."

"Greyback said he has a mask just like it and it looked right good on me."

Remus sighed and took the mask. The smart thing to do would be to backpedal. Give her back the mask, make a fuss over it, ease back into his role. It certainly wouldn't be outside of Greyback's moral standards to use the pups to spy on him, and he'd certainly get information out of Sweet if he thought she had it. He'd make her life very unpleasant.

He threw the mask out across the pond. It splashed and sank into the deep water.

A cold spring of frustration seeped up inside of him, familiar and wretched. He thought of the carefully cleaned up house in Hogsmeade, and of the shattered door of his shed. Small, simple things.

Unscarred faces.

He sat down heavily on a log. "I'm sorry," he said again. "You... you just startled me. That's all."

"Why do you hate them?"

"Who?"

"Greyback's friends. The man called Greyback stupid and said, 'I'd wager he hates you as much as he hates us, or maybe more.'"

"What did Greyback say to that?"

Sweet shrugged and sat down beside him. "He said he'd thank the fellow to only talk about what he knew about, and he didn't know anything about werewolves. The man laughed and said that Greyback had forgotten everything he knew about humans."

Some absurd and maudlin part of Remus insisted on feeling shame that he was betraying Greyback even as Greyback defended him. He could feel himself turning brick red and hoped Sweet wouldn't notice in the shadows. Greyback had no right to expect loyalty, even if he fully believed it was being given.

Again, his mind returned to the neat, straightened rooms in the Shrieking Shack. Clean windows, made beds, doorways free of cobwebs, floors innocent of their long-standing carpets of dust. A home for a man.

Not for what Greyback had made him.

He slammed his fist into the sharp bark of a nearby tree to push the thought away.

Sweet patted his arm tentatively. "I'm sorry I startled you."

"It's not your fault," Remus said absently.

She nodded uncertainly. "You... er... startled me as well. How did you do that? Just show up from nothing?"

"I Apparated. None too carefully, either."

"What's Apparated?"

"It's magic. One of the few things I can do without my wand." He sighed. "I don't suppose you would be willing to not share that with Greyback? That I can do that, I mean?"

"Sure. It'll be a secret. Is it hard to do? Could I learn?"

"You're not old enough. It takes a lot of practice with magic before you could begin to do it. And a lot of training." He wondered if Sweet would get her Hogwarts letter in a year or two--he'd learned early that he'd severely overestimated her age on their first meeting--and what she would do if that happened. Would she even know that the letter addressed to Vivian Waters was for her? How would the other students react, seeing her come in with her poor mangled face and tattered charity clothes? If Greyback allowed her to come at all, of course. He wondered what had happened when Alderman's letter had come. He'd have been in Ginny Weasley's year, getting ready for his O.W.L.s instead of killing forest wardens. Remus imagined him prowling around during that troubled first year, daring the monster to attack him. And Hamilton ought to be starting this year, sitting in Minerva's class, trying to turn matchsticks into needles instead of puzzling his way through a paperback children's book. Had he got a letter?

Remus frowned, thinking of him sitting on the hillside... trying to puzzle out how to read.

He was suddenly quite certain that there was a letter hidden somewhere in the boys' cave, moldering away behind a rock, waiting to be read.

Anger seeped into this bones, and a part of him was suddenly aware of the closeness of the moon. A part of him craved it.

"Remus? What is it?"

He blinked, realizing that he hadn't spoken for quite a long time, and was staring at the ground between his feet. "Sorry."

"You never said why you hate them."

"I never said I did hate them."

"Why did you throw my mask away if you don't hate them?"

"I never said I didn't hate them, either." Remus gave her what smile he could muster. "And I wouldn't tell you if I did. You don't need the trouble you'd get if you were to start questioning Greyback's friends."

Sweet bit her lip. "I'll tell Greyback the mask was loose and it just fell off while I was swimming. Do you hate us?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You know--werewolves. Do you hate us?"

"That would be a bit self-defeating."

"He said you were fighting right on the side of people who hate us and want to lock us in cages and make laws saying we can't have jobs and such."

It was difficult to think, somehow. The moon. Too close to the moon. "Last year... I... well, I was fighting at the side of people who gave me a chance. They didn't like the Ministry's rules particularly well. And it was last year."

"Would they give me a chance?"

"I don't know, Sweet. I know they'd want to. I don't know if they'd be able to do it again."

She looked at her hands, and then spoke carefully. "Couldn't... well... couldn't Greyback's friends make them give us a chance?"

Remus tried to think of a way to answer her that wouldn't reveal his side and leave her in conflict with Greyback--some way other than simply lying to her. He couldn't think of one. "If Greyback's friends get what they want," he said, "there won't be anything to have a chance at. Everything that matters will be gone."

"That's not what he said..."

"I know it's not. And for heaven's sake, don't ask Greyback questions about it. Just nod a lot when he talks."

To his surprise, she giggled. "I've got that down quite nicely. I... shh."

Sweet leaned forward, listening, then slipped off the log. "I think that--"

The leaves rustled suddenly and Old Mag appeared. Both of her eyes were blackened and her nose was swollen and skewed. "Evelyn told me you wanted to see me," she said. "And I had a feeling you were here, even though she was going on about how you were just wandering around and looking for me. I've been checking the shore for twenty minutes. I saw something splashing over here. I told you that you mustn't come here. Sweet, you know better. You should have taken him away from here."

"I should have left when I realized where I was," Remus said. "It's not Sweet's fault. We just got talking."

"Talking or not talking, it's all the same to me. Sweet, you get back right now." She looked at Remus, her lips pursed, as Sweet scurried off along the pond shore. "You, come with me. I'll lead you right out of here. You've no business around the girls this close to the moon."

"We always meet until nearly sunset!"

"In case you haven't noticed, it is nearly sunset, and you're in our area."

Remus glanced at the sky and was surprised to see the reddish-gold fringe around the clouds. The frustration and resentment disappeared, replaced by disgust with himself. He knew better. And yet somehow, the afternoon had got away from him, and he'd lost track of time before moonrise. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I reckon I'm old enough to be mostly safe for you if we don't move fast enough," Mag muttered, and led him down the path at a very quick pace. "Not that Fenrir has much care what would happen to me, anyway."

She got him to the stream that fed the pond. "Run upstream, as far as you can. That will get you to the gathering place, and maybe you can be quick enough to go back to your place."

"Are there humans..."

"It's the end of October," Mag said curtly. "And it's going to rain tonight. I feel it in my bones. The sane ones are long gone, and the mad ones still outside deserve any nastiness they run into."

"I--"

"They're all gone," Mag said. "And I'm not going to coddle you every time you get paranoid about them. Now, go."

Remus ran up the stream, feeling the moon now, racing against it. It was cloudy, and that would postpone things, but the days were shorter now. He felt a stitch in his side, stabbing at him. He thought about Apparating to his shack, but he couldn't picture it. His mind was beginning to waver, his concentration to fail. Apparating now was asking for an accident.

At last, he heard the rush of a the waterfall and burst out into the clearing where Greyback held court when he was present. Three of the men were gathered there, but one look told Remus not to stay. One of them took a threatening step forward.

Remus skirted them widely and ran for his shed. He was barely out of the clearing when he ran full tilt into Alderman, crouched on the ground and gripping his stomach. "Not. Yet," the boy said, flicking his eyes up to the sky and forcing his head back down. "Cave. Lupin, cave."

Remus nodded.

Alderman lurched off through the darkening woods, following the path Remus had been dragged along twice. He doubled over beside a large rock and Remus could feel the moon above and he saw Alderman lace his fingers behind his neck, forcing himself not to look up, crawling on his elbows and knees.

Remus caught up, grabbing Alderman's arm, not allowing his eyes to wander upward for a moment.

Alderman dragged them forward, and soon there was the cave mouth, the boys gathered there, lying low with their faces to the ground. Two of them started to drag a rock across, even before Remus and Alderman got to them, and the two of them leapt inside as it closed off the fading light.

The pack ran together to banks of the underground lake, to the open area where the raging sky could be seen.

And waited.

And changed.

It is raining and the cave smells of moss and wet fur and rabbits' blood.

Then there is a yowl of pain, a new scent, still a scent of them, stronger and filling his skull. The new one nudges at the rock and it rolls back into its place.

was aware of himself as he changed, aware of his body collapsing inward, aware of the layer of sweat that covered him, aware--keenly--of his body's urges releasing themselves painfully as he transformed.

Remus lay quietly on the rocks, his eyes closed. He could feel the blood rising to his face and knew he was flushed. He felt distantly ashamed.

"You'll want to clean up," Alderman said from somewhere above him. "Before Greyback gets a good whiff and knows it was you she came after."

"She?" Remus muttered weakly. "What? What do you...?"

"Probably Mina," Alderman said casually. "Whichever one is Greyback's usually goes after someone else if he's gone, and she was making noises about you yesterday. That's why I brought you here. I saw her headed up to the shed. Figured you'd have a longer life expectancy if I got you clear of her."

Remus considered the implications of this, and nodded, getting to his feet. "Thank you," he said.

"Greyback aside, I don't figure anyone would want to wake up with Mina."

Remus smiled. "Good guess."

"I mean, she's pretty enough. But not really the brainy sort."

"Oddly enough, transformed, that didn't seem to be an issue of vast importance."

"Tell me about it. Do you believe me about them now? What I was telling you back in August?"

"Oh, yes."

"Bloody evil, they are." Alderman shook his head helplessly. "You... well, not transformed... your girl... is she smart?"

"I don't have a girlfriend anymore."

"Oh. I just..." He shrugged. "I wondered. I never had one."

"I didn't live in the forest when I was fifteen, and still hadn't had one."

"Right." Alderman nodded, then disappeared into the shadows.

Remus spent the next fifteen minutes sponging down the area around the mouth of the cave with a wet shirt Blondin brought for him, then had a quick, cold bath in the lake. He was nearly lulled into a pleasant if weary post-transformation euphoria when Hamilton ran back into the cave shouting, "Greyback's back! He wants everyone at the waterfall."

Remus groaned and swam to the shore, pulling on his clothes against his wet skin. The air outside was cold, and he shivered as he followed the boys down to the flat area by the river. He could hear voices before he saw the gathering.

"I didn't do anything!" Mina was protesting. "I didn't do a bloody damned thing, and you can smell it!"

"I found you at the boys' cave with a hole in your hand. Not even tore much from any dragging. Looks like someone trying to pull you around that rock and you not fighting much."

"It's not why I went! Don't you reckon if I meant to sneak on you that I'd have gone to one of the other blokes? One of the ones out running about?"

Remus came to the edge of the clearing. Mina had fallen to her knees in front of Greyback, but she looked sullen and argumentative. Her hand was bleeding, and he remembered biting her.

Greyback paced in front of her, apparently not entirely certain what to do with her protestations. "You went there," he spat. "You think I don't know what you meant by it?" He turned on Remus and the boys. "Oh, of course. Lupin." He sniffed at Remus. "And all clean and prettified, too. Someone think that would be a good idea?"

"I was in the cave all night," Remus said.

"And she were right outside it!" Greyback flailed an arm in Mina's direction.

"But not inside it."

Greyback sniffed. "That bath you took was stupid, Lupin. You can't lie to save your life."

"And I'm not lying when I tell you that there was no betrayal."

"Listen to him!" Mina said, moving forward on her knees. "I..." She looked at Alderman and bit her lip, and Remus guessed she was afraid that someone would talk about her "making noises" yesterday, but Alderman said nothing. "I only went because one of the little ones wandered away. I had to bring her back. You wouldn't want one of the little ones out in the woods with the blokes, now would you?"

Remus sat down heavily, thinking of the fight when Mina had appeared, the first he'd dug for, the first...

He took a shaky breath, but no one noticed.

"Which one was out of the cave?"

"I don't know," Mina said. "I'm not usually in there. I was already grown up when I came. I don't know who they are when they change."

Greyback spun on the group of huddled girls. "Come forward!"

The girls moved up in a group, bent forward.

"I was outside," Evelyn burst out. "We... we all... Well, there was a passage. We never saw it... we..." She looked around frantically. "I don't know where..."

"You don't lie any better than he does," Greyback said, cocking his thumb in Remus's direction.

"I was out," a tiny voice said, and Sweet pushed her way forward through the crowd of girls, and Remus felt his stomach twist into a painful rope. "Evelyn was just trying to cover for me. I swam under a rock before sunset."

"You see!" Mina said. "It was her!"

"Quite a scratch on your face," Greyback said, examining four parallel marks on her scarred cheek. "Mina did that?" Mina backed away, here eyes wide, and Greyback raised a hand at her. "Mina, you were in charge!" he said. "You were in charge and you've gone and bloodied Sweet up. You know I don't hold with that!"

Remus barely registered the oddity of Greyback, who had eaten half of Sweet's face, chastising Mina for scratching her. It was Sweet, he thought. It was Sweet on the other side of that rock. He felt dizzy.

Sweet ran forward and caught Greyback's arm as he raised his hand at Mina. "No!" she said. "Mina didn't hurt me. I... I went at that gate. After Mina... helped me back. The one by our cave? You know the one. It threw me back. I broke some branches and cut my face on them."

"I've told you to stay away from that thing," Mina said frantically.

"Now, why would you tell her that, when she's always inside?" Greyback asked.

He went among the three of them, sniffing and questioning, but finally couldn't prove to himself that Mina had done anything deliberate to be near the cave, that Remus had done anything to assist her, or that Sweet hadn't been hurt in the manner she described. In a high temper, he slapped Mina backhand and sent her sprawling into the water, but stormed away before he did any more damage. Remus sat through all of it without saying much, his mind gnawing at the idea that the first female he'd smelled, the first he'd tried to get through to, had been a child not old enough to have been Sorted into a House at Hogwarts.

"I didn't do anything," Mina muttered again.

"Oh, don't mind Greyback," the man Stanfield said. "He was going to bring us some comp'ny today, and the bloody Aurors got in his way. They guessed this fellow might have made someone angry, what with his rabble rousing and insulting the new order. Whole place was locked down tight and some one-eyed madman was standing around insultin' us 'til moonrise. Bloke's lucky we didn't bring him back."

Remus clamped his jaw and didn't speak, not wanting to send himself into another tailspin like last month--nothing had happened, after all.

But it was only because of well-placed rocks.

After a bit of desultory talk about the nastiness of Aurors and the Werewolf Capture Unit, the meeting broke apart, and Remus was left in the clearing with Mina, Sweet, and Alderman. Mina grabbed Sweet and started talking to her in an intense whisper that Remus couldn't hear.

Alderman sighed and shook his head. "Let it go, mate," he said. "I helped kill someone and I don't look as bad as you do."

Remus blinked. "I'm sorry," he said. "I... I'm being awfully selfish, aren't I? Do you need to talk about that?"

"No. It's over. And I'm getting away from Greyback. I don't care how. I'll stay as long as I have to, but I'm getting away from him. I don't like this. The Werewolf Capture people are right. We're monsters. I don't want to be. I want to..." He shrugged. "I want to register with the Ministry and be good."

"Greyback isn't asking you to spy on me, is he?"

"No. But I reckon that's smart thing to ask."

"I'll help you."

"I hoped you would." Alderman nodded sharply and left the clearing.

Remus took a deep breath and got to his feet, heading toward Sweet and Mina, who were still having a heated, whispered argument.

"...want to keep watching what comes from your mouth you little--" Mina was saying.

"You're lucky I was out," Sweet hissed. "Gave you an excuse."

"I didn't need any excuses."

"I knew what you meant to do. I went out to stop you. It's not nice and Greyback would have hurt Remus, the same as that other chap got hurt last year."

Mina started to say something, then apparently couldn't think of what she meant. "Fine," she said. "But don't you go talking about claw scratches. Though I don't see any difference, to tell the truth." She looked disdainfully at Sweet's scars, and stalked away.

Sweet looked at the ground, but turned to Remus. "I... er..."

"Never, ever leave the cave under the moon again," Remus said.

"All right," she agreed immediately, then looked up and smiled shyly. "You're fine, though?"

"I'm fine. And you?" He looked at the harsh cuts below her eye. "Those 'broken branches' scratched you pretty deeply."

She touched her face distastefully. "One of them really was. I did run at that gate. It was like it was calling. Only it threw me away. The bottom scratch really is from a branch."

"What do you mean, it 'threw you'?"

"I mean, I took a jump at it and it was like hitting wires or something. It threw me quite a long way, actually. Do you know what it is? You know about magic things, don't you?"

"It may repel dark creatures." He winced, wishing he hadn't used the term around Sweet, but she didn't seem to notice it. "I'll see if I can find anything out about it."

"Do you hate me?"

"What?"

"Do you hate me? About what I did? I must have followed your scent or something, and it must have been on purpose and--"

"I don't hate you, Sweet. I just want you to stay in the cave."

She nodded. "Right. It's embarrassing."

"There are things we know about a long time before we should."

"I was going to try and stop Mina. That's stupid. She's bigger than I am."

"You're a brave girl, and you tried to help a friend. But don't do it anymore."

She laughed. "I get the idea."

"Good."

"I should go back," she said. "I'll... I'll see you at lessons, all right? Can I still come to lessons?"

"Of course you can."

She nodded and walked away.

Remus started to watch her go, remembered clawing at the rocks, and dug his fingers into his hair, looking at the ground instead. He took a few deep breaths and listened to the less than soothing sound of the moist wind whistling through the bare branches.

Nothing happened. Even Greyback knows that nothing happened. Stop it.

He thought of the Shrieking Shack, its floors clean, its windows open (though still charmed to look covered from the outside), its furniture upright. He thought of Dora working there, the hours she must have put into it, and he thought of her running up to him when she was seven, smiling around her missing teeth and throwing her arms around him in an exuberant hug.

He turned and vomited into a pile of dead leaves.

Feeling tired and husked out, he trudged down the river toward Huntsford, keeping his mind blank except fo the mantra, Nothing happened this month.

When he was some distance from areas where Greyback's people made their dens, he looked around carefully and Apparated out. The garden at the Burrow was barren and wind tore across it, flapping his worn robes like pennants. The door flew open and Molly came out, waving her arms and shifting from foot to foot.

:"Oh, hurry, then!" she said. "It's freezing out here!"

He smiled wanly and followed her into the kitchen, where she already had warm soup set up. "Thank you," he said automatically.

"Nonsense. Warm up." She looked at him warily. "Are you... this month... did Greyback...?"

"He wasn't there," Remus said. "Moody knows. I saw Moody yesterday. In Hogsmeade."

"Did you see Tonks?"

He shook his head, and Molly made a tsk-tsk noise and handed him a loaf of bread.

"Dumbledore left a note for you," she said, Summoning it from a shelf and handing it to him. She frowned at him. "Why don't you change into some of Arthur's clothes and clean up after you read it? I'll see what I can do about patching those ro... well, patching those patches."

Remus barely heard her. The note was short and casual, not at all ominous, but it filled him with dread nonetheless:

Remus,
The Order requires your help in a matter unrelated to our friend Mr. Greyback. We'll be meeting this evening. I would say, 'please join us,' but as we will be meeting in your house, it would be somewhat presumptuous for me to invite you. I look forward to seeing you.
Albus Dumbledore

"Are you all right?" Molly asked again.

"I... Oh, I don't get much sleep under the full moon. That's all."

"Well, if you don't need to get to Dumbledore this instant, then go up to the twins' room and have yourself a good rest."

"Thank you. I think I will." He picked up the note without noticing and wandered up to the bedroom without finishing his soup. He was asleep before he could even pull the covers up.

He dreamed of Dora, in pigtails and patent leather, weeping as she scrubbed the walls of the Shrieking Shack, and standing beside him as a pale, ill-looking old woman, her eyes full of bitter accusation. "What have you done to me, you selfish man?" she spat. "You're killing me!"

Dora the crone and Dora the girl looked at one another and there was a flash of light, and they both crumbled into dust which settled back into the corridors of the Shrieking Shack, silent once more.