Somewhere in some dense Scottish woods...
The moonstone strained so hard against his fingers that Remus decided it was more of a distraction than a help, so he deactivated it and stuck it in his pocket. Tracking the wolves with the stone had been a slower process than he’d thought it would be. Since they weren’t hunting in one large pack, he always had to decide which direction to follow when the stone wanted to pull him down more than one path at once.
He’d opted to follow the strongest pull at each turning point, so hopefully that meant he was now about to face the largest concentration of wolves that was out there. With luck, however many that was wouldn’t be more than he could handle at once, but regardless, it was better to face the strongest group when he was fresh and rested.
Drawing on his own inner wolf, he heightened his senses and focused on his prey. They were close. Too close. Just as he became certain that they’d sensed his presence stalking them, the foliage in front of him erupted violently and several angry grey blurs leaped towards him.
Automatically, he raised his wand, aimed at the center of the first furry chest, and fired on target. The result was as devastating as he expected, but he didn’t pause as the first wolf came apart in huge bloody chunks. Instead he simply moved on to target the second body and watched as it ripped itself to pieces just like the first.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a chance to aim properly at the third wolf, which launched itself through the bloody remnants of its companions and landed squarely on Remus’s chest, knocking him onto the leaf strewn forest floor. As he fell, he managed to curl his legs up under the large body that was pressing him down and plant his feet in the wolf’s belly. When his back hit the dirt, he forced himself to keep rolling backwards as he pushed upward with his feet, propelling the wolf off him before the creature could sink its teeth into his neck. Continuing his roll, he came up in a crouch and blasted the third werewolf to bloody bits as it collected itself and swiveled around to charge him again.
Breathing hard, Remus got to his feet to survey the carnage around him when a fourth wolf, hidden in the dense undergrowth, threw itself at him and sunk its teeth into his right calf. Tangled together, they both went down, rolling over and over through dirt and dead leaves as the wolf sought to tear Remus’s leg from his body while Remus fought to keep it.
In a last desperate move, Remus managed to slam the wolf into a tree, dazing the creature long enough to pry its mouth off his leg and twist away. Scrambling backward across the uneven ground, Remus fired a killing curse at the wolf as it gathered itself for another attack, knowing his hands were shaking too much for a precision hit.
As life faded from the fourth wolf in a burst of green, Remus collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes with a gasp of relief. If there was a fifth wolf lurking in the shadows, he knew it was all over. He had nothing left to continue the fight. But fortune had turned his way, and the blood spattered clearing remained still around him, the silence broken only by the sound of his own ragged breathing.
After an uncertain period of time where his surrounding seemed to fade in and out, Remus managed to push back the darkness long enough to force himself to sit up. Pain rushed in to accompany his movement, and he welcomed its sharp tang to clear his head and keep a better hold on consciousness. One look at his leg told him that he needed more advanced medical aid than he could provide himself.
So with a reluctant sigh, he reached inside his robe and pulled out one of the Portkeys they’d used during the battle to send patients directly to Poppy at Thorne. He’d hoped not to have to return before he’d finished what he’d set out to do, but clearly a brief stop in to see the mediwitch would be necessary after all. With luck perhaps she could patch him up quickly and no one else would even know he’d dropped by.
He’d opted to follow the strongest pull at each turning point, so hopefully that meant he was now about to face the largest concentration of wolves that was out there. With luck, however many that was wouldn’t be more than he could handle at once, but regardless, it was better to face the strongest group when he was fresh and rested.
Drawing on his own inner wolf, he heightened his senses and focused on his prey. They were close. Too close. Just as he became certain that they’d sensed his presence stalking them, the foliage in front of him erupted violently and several angry grey blurs leaped towards him.
Automatically, he raised his wand, aimed at the center of the first furry chest, and fired on target. The result was as devastating as he expected, but he didn’t pause as the first wolf came apart in huge bloody chunks. Instead he simply moved on to target the second body and watched as it ripped itself to pieces just like the first.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a chance to aim properly at the third wolf, which launched itself through the bloody remnants of its companions and landed squarely on Remus’s chest, knocking him onto the leaf strewn forest floor. As he fell, he managed to curl his legs up under the large body that was pressing him down and plant his feet in the wolf’s belly. When his back hit the dirt, he forced himself to keep rolling backwards as he pushed upward with his feet, propelling the wolf off him before the creature could sink its teeth into his neck. Continuing his roll, he came up in a crouch and blasted the third werewolf to bloody bits as it collected itself and swiveled around to charge him again.
Breathing hard, Remus got to his feet to survey the carnage around him when a fourth wolf, hidden in the dense undergrowth, threw itself at him and sunk its teeth into his right calf. Tangled together, they both went down, rolling over and over through dirt and dead leaves as the wolf sought to tear Remus’s leg from his body while Remus fought to keep it.
In a last desperate move, Remus managed to slam the wolf into a tree, dazing the creature long enough to pry its mouth off his leg and twist away. Scrambling backward across the uneven ground, Remus fired a killing curse at the wolf as it gathered itself for another attack, knowing his hands were shaking too much for a precision hit.
As life faded from the fourth wolf in a burst of green, Remus collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes with a gasp of relief. If there was a fifth wolf lurking in the shadows, he knew it was all over. He had nothing left to continue the fight. But fortune had turned his way, and the blood spattered clearing remained still around him, the silence broken only by the sound of his own ragged breathing.
After an uncertain period of time where his surrounding seemed to fade in and out, Remus managed to push back the darkness long enough to force himself to sit up. Pain rushed in to accompany his movement, and he welcomed its sharp tang to clear his head and keep a better hold on consciousness. One look at his leg told him that he needed more advanced medical aid than he could provide himself.
So with a reluctant sigh, he reached inside his robe and pulled out one of the Portkeys they’d used during the battle to send patients directly to Poppy at Thorne. He’d hoped not to have to return before he’d finished what he’d set out to do, but clearly a brief stop in to see the mediwitch would be necessary after all. With luck perhaps she could patch him up quickly and no one else would even know he’d dropped by.