Chapter One Hundred Seven

Greyback

An Unlikely Alliance

Most people would be surprised to discover the amount of activity that took place in the forest during the end of fall and the beginning of winter. Without heightened instincts or senses, they might just assume that most of the wildlife traveled south for winter or were huddled up in some den somewhere warm. Fenrir Greyback preferred wandering through the almost silent woods when it was cold outside. It was peaceful, uncomplicated.

He did what he could to stay out of the line of sight of those who wouldn't appreciate his presence. Months he'd been sleeping inside the abandoned Shrieking Shack. The rumors still persisted that the structure was haunted. It worked to his advantage to have the simpleminded villagers continue their antiquated beliefs. A wide berth was given the crumbling building. He was able to sneak in and out of the boarded up cellar without much concern that he'd be discovered.

The residents of Hogsmeade would likely have been horrified to know how long he'd been living on the outskirts of their village. Injured in the final battle, he'd been able to miraculously limp away from the grounds unnoticed. There had been so much activity swirling around him that his escape wasn't important. He waited in the woods until the traitorous spy's body was removed. Once the Ministry was satisfied that no one else was hidden inside the Shrieking Shack, the werewolf pried a loose board off the cellar and made the shack his semi-permanent home.

It had taken time before his strength returned. The first Full Moon had almost killed him. Not even in his most natural state was he strong enough to break out of the shack. Small blessing really. He would've been an easy target for one of the villagers to pick off. Instead, his cries and growls from within simply furthered the long-held rumors of it being haunted.

He'd watched the Granger girl walk through the woods on her way to and from the castle from inside his hiding place several times. Her intoxicating scent always threatened to drive him mad and send him rushing out into the lane. He desired nothing more than to possess the little girl. He longed to drag her into the cellar, bury himself back inside the tight cunt he'd been dreaming of for years, rip the flesh between her neck and shoulder, and fill her belly with his seed. She belonged to him. She would be his.

If he tried to take her before his body was physically healed, he would've been foolish. They would have been discovered. He would've been killed, likely tortured, and she would have been ripped away from him… again. He'd been waiting to mark her for over twenty-five years. A few months were nothing. He could be patient.

When she vanished a second time, he feared that he'd lost his chance forever. Every chance he got, he snuck down into the village to dig through the rubbish bins for old copies of the Daily Prophet. The disappearance of the best friend of the wizarding world's 'savior' Harry Potter was big news. There was a new theory every single day of the week. Greyback suspected Dolohov's involvement. He'd been just as obsessed for almost as long. If that was the case, he had some hope. Dolohov was sloppy, too emotional. He would make mistakes.

The announcement that Hermione Granger was Hermione Dumbledore and that she'd been sent back in time presumably by the fugitive Death Eater excited Greyback. There was an expectation, a hope that she would be able to find her way back to the present. When she'd almost broken his skull with a brick and run away from him so many years earlier, she might have been using her time turner to come back to where he was. He'd seen the necklace she wore, the one that didn't cause him severe pain. Only then did it make sense what she'd had all along.

He paid close attention to all of the new stories about her he could find. If there was even a hint of a possibility that she would reemerge from the past into the current timeline, Greyback was going to be waiting for her. She disappeared right before Christmas. Assuming that she returned the same time that she vanished, he was only going to have to wait a few more weeks. He could be patient. He had to be patient.

Only a short distance from the Shrieking Shack, his supernatural instincts informed the werewolf that he was not alone. Whoever it was had enough skills to almost sneak up on him undetected. Greyback sniffed the air for any hint of his stalker. A scowl formed on his face.

"I wondered when I would be seeing you again."

Antonin Dolohov stepped out from behind a nearby tree. Few people alive were more reviled by the werewolf. They had a long history of issues with each other. Decades of hatred. Each of them had tried to kill the other more than a few times. Greyback resented how Dolohov treated him as if he were nothing but scum. But he was no better. Worse even. At least Greyback knew he was a monster. Dolohov had been denying it his entire life.

"The Minister knows about your hiding place."

Greyback shrugged his shoulders.

"Thought I smelled something foul when I came in this morning. You were with him. Are you mates now?"

Dolohov scowled.

"Hardly. He's convenient for the moment."

The werewolf scoffed. He knew that Dolohov only deigned to seek him out when he needed something. Just like Shacklebolt, he was convenient. In his opinion, and he felt certain that there were many others out there who shared it, Dolohov was one of the most two-faced wizards he'd ever known. He treated a person like filth but the second he needed something, he would come sniffing around. Bad habit of using people. Greyback never could understand what she had seen in the wizard. He must have lied to her most of all. Just the thought of it made him angry. He'd do a lot to her, but he'd never lie.

With a sarcastic bow, he asked the wizard how he could be of service. Greyback laughed, even though he desired nothing more than to kill him. Maybe one day he would get the chance. He could do it in that moment, but then he wouldn't get to know what he wanted. Curiosity could be a pain.

"You've seen the Daily Prophet. We found a stack of them in your… little nest."

"Yes, I have. Very interesting. I didn't realize when I had her within my grasp at Lucius' who she really was. Thought she was your daughter. Smelled so sweet and fresh."

Dolohov's disgust was clear, but Greyback didn't care. Once upon a time he was a mediocre wizard every bit as uptight as him. Being bitten freed him from constraints he hadn't even been aware he was oppressed under. He was free to live by his instincts alone.

"She's expected to return. Since you and Selwyn bollocksed up. You let her get away and Selwyn's incompetence got my best friend killed."

"He denies he had anything to do with that."

"Of course he denies it!"

Years earlier when Salazar Selwyn approached him in Diagon Alley with the plan to get his revenge on the Dumbledore girl, they'd needed a third man. Greyback hadn't been pleased to learn that Dolohov was the one that Selwyn chose, but if he was going to finally get the little girl within his grasp, he would've been willing to work with Albus Dumbledore himself. He remembered being surprised that the wizard actually wanted to punish the girl. He'd always been under the impression that Dolohov loved the girl. Humans were weak. He was glad he was no longer affected.

"Would you like another chance with her?"

Greyback was intrigued. Of course he wanted another chance with the girl. That was the only reason why he hadn't even attempted to flee the country or go further into hiding. He'd wanted the Granger girl when he realized how much she reminded him of the one he lost. Knowing that there was a real possibility that he could have her again excited him. Was Dolohov suggesting that they attempt what they failed so many years earlier? If so, he definitely wanted in, but he worried there was a catch.

"You don't want the girl for yourself?"

Dolohov laughed. It was cold and made the werewolf's fur stand up on end.

"She made her choices years ago. Even if I could change her mind, I don't want her anymore."

It struck Greyback that there were something seriously unhinged about the wizard. And he should know.

"I need your help. I made a promise a long time ago to myself and to her that one day I'd stand over Shacklebolt's grave. Help me and you get to keep the cunt."

"I admit to being surprised by your offer. There was a time you never left her alone."

Dolohov shrugged his shoulders again.

"We grow up. Discover what really matters to us. At least I did."

"Azkaban robbed you of the last of your senses."

"Azkaban showed me what I wanted. I want him dead and I want her to wish she was dead."

He felt his lips quirk into a smile. Couldn't deny that he was intrigued. Maybe they could both get what they desired this time.

"What do you have in mind?"

Greyback's reflexes easily caught the item Dolohov threw in his direction. A key with a piece of parchment tied to it with an address landed in his palm. Confused by the offering, he looked up at the wizard.

"Baby Shacklebolt's watching the Shrieking Shack. It's not safe anymore. I'm going to let the villagers see me there, so there's a reasonable excuse why you won't go back. The Ministry will be swarming the area if they think I'm nearby. That's a key to my father's house. It's empty. Stay there out of sight until I come find you."

Taking orders from the wizard wasn't high on the list of Greyback's preferences, but he couldn't deny the shack left a little to be desired. It was getting to be too cold to linger there much longer. If he came out of this at the end with the little girl, he'd willingly be in the madman's debt. Besides, he could always kill him when they were done.