A powerful figure suddenly burst from between the trees and landed heavily in the clearing ahead of Leo, sending a cloud of dirt and dust into the air.
Coarse hair like steel needles pushed through the remains of its torn clothing.
Its eyes glowed green in the darkness, and long claws curved from its hands like blades, leaving it looking far more beast than man.
“Awooo!” A chilling howl tore through the silence of the night.
“A werewolf?” Leo broke into a grin.
“Looks like I got lucky after all.” The werewolf had already lost all reason.
With a frenzied snarl, it launched itself straight at him.
“Come on!” Leo made no attempt to dodge.
His fists hammered into the werewolf’s arms again and again, each collision producing a dull impact that mixed with the creature’s furious snarls.
The werewolf suddenly sprang into the air, slashing its claws toward Leo’s head.
Leo answered with a lightning-fast kick to its chest.
The force of the blow sent the werewolf hurtling backward, and it crashed heavily into the trunk of an ancient tree.
“Is this really all werewolves are capable of?” Leo asked with obvious disappointment.
“I was expecting a lot more.” The werewolf immediately dragged itself back to its feet and charged again, its bloodshot eyes filled with nothing but animal fury.
“Forget it.
Fighting you isn’t even as much fun as playing with Fluffy.” The muscles in Leo’s arm tightened as he drove a heavy punch into the side of the werewolf’s head.
Bang!
The creature dropped unconscious on the spot.
“Tch…” Leo had been genuinely excited when he realized he had stumbled across a werewolf, expecting at least a satisfying fight.
Instead, the thing had barely managed to give him a proper challenge.
After grumbling to himself for a while, Leo wandered around the Forbidden Forest a little longer.
When he failed to find any other interesting magical creatures, he returned to the Hospital Wing, dragging the unconscious werewolf back with him for good measure.
..
“You’re back already…
What in Merlin’s name is that?” Hagrid visibly relaxed when Leo returned, but the moment he noticed the werewolf being dragged in behind him, he was left completely speechless.
“A werewolf I ran into in the Forbidden Forest,” Leo explained.
“It attacked me, so I knocked it out.” “Yeh weren’t hurt, were yeh?” Ignoring his own broken bones, Hagrid immediately hauled himself upright and began examining Leo for cuts or bite marks.
Lycanthropy was a magical disease transmitted through contact with a werewolf’s saliva and blood.
If someone was bitten by a transformed werewolf under a full moon and its saliva entered the wound, the victim would become a werewolf as well—and tonight happened to be a full moon.
Even scratches were dangerous.
They would not cause full lycanthropy, but wounds inflicted by a transformed werewolf could leave scars that never properly healed.
“No.
He was too weak,” Leo replied.
“Thank goodness…” Hagrid breathed, finally relaxing.
Then he turned his attention to the unconscious werewolf on the floor.
It did not take him long to notice something was wrong.
“What’s this…?” There was a mark on the werewolf’s arm: an enormous skull with a serpent emerging from its mouth like a tongue.
Hagrid’s expression changed instantly.
“The Dark Mark!
He’s a Death Eater!” Hagrid had initially assumed the creature was one of the werewolves living in or around the Forbidden Forest, the sort who kept largely to themselves rather than hunting people and spreading lycanthropy.
The presence of the Dark Mark changed everything.
“No, this is serious.
I’ve got ter tell Dumbledore.” Hagrid grew visibly anxious.
“Leo, you stay here and keep an eye on him.” “Er…
in his current condition, I’m not sure he’s waking up tonight.
Or possibly ever.” Leo stopped Hagrid before he could climb out of bed.
“I should go find Dumbledore instead.
You’re really not in any condition to be walking around.” “All right.
Dumbledore’s office is on the eighth floor.
There’s a stone gargoyle outside, and all yeh have ter do is tell it…” Hagrid suddenly froze.
“Blast it.
I don’t know today’s password.” “Don’t worry.
I’ll figure it out.” Leo was not particularly concerned.
He had always liked sweets, and he knew quite a bit about wizarding confectionery.
Considering Dumbledore’s tastes, surely it could not be that difficult.
..
The eighth-floor corridor was utterly quiet in the middle of the night.
Leo walked openly up to the stone gargoyle guarding the Headmaster’s office and began testing passwords.
“Chocolate Frog?” Nothing.
“Sherbet Lemon?” One of the gargoyle’s eyes shifted toward him, but it showed no intention of moving.
“Fizzing Whizzbees?
Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum?
Pepper Imps?
Ice Mice?
Sugar Quills?” The gargoyle remained perfectly still.
“Cockroach Clusters?” No reaction.
“Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans?” The gargoyle actually yawned.
“Fine.
Let’s make this simpler.” Leo punched the wall beside it.
Bricks shattered beneath his fist, fragments spraying across the corridor.
“If you don’t want to end up looking like that, move.” The stone gargoyle obediently hopped aside.
The wall behind it immediately split and rotated open, revealing a spiraling stone staircase beyond.
Leo stepped onto the moving staircase, rode it upward, and pushed open the oak door at the top.
The Headmaster’s office was a spacious circular room filled with delicate spindle-legged tables.
Strange silver instruments whirred and spun, giving off little puffs of smoke, while portraits of former Hogwarts headmasters slept in their frames along the walls.
Fawkes sat on his gilded perch, calmly preening his brilliant feathers.
Dumbledore himself was sitting behind his desk in his nightclothes.
He polished his half-moon spectacles, slipped them back onto his nose, and gave Leo a mild smile.
“Mr.
William, I believe you are supposed to be resting in the Hospital Wing while your injuries heal.
What brings you here at this hour?
Have you encountered some difficulty?” “I haven’t,” Leo replied.
“But you might have a problem, Headmaster.
The short version is that I caught a werewolf Death Eater.
He’s in the Hospital Wing right now.” Dumbledore’s smile froze.
He stood up immediately without even bothering to change out of his nightclothes.
“Could you tell me exactly what happened?” he asked as they hurried through the castle, his voice much more serious now.
“Well, it went like this…” Leo explained everything that had happened in the Forbidden Forest.
When he finished, Dumbledore’s expression had grown stern.
“Leo, I must emphasize that the Forbidden Forest is extremely dangerous.
I would very much prefer that you take greater care with your own safety.” “Oh.” That was the entirety of Leo’s response.
When they reached the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore first reassured the anxious Hagrid.
After telling both Hagrid and Leo to rest, he took the unconscious werewolf away himself.
..
The following afternoon, Ron came charging into the Hospital Wing.
“Leo!
What the hell did you do?” Harry and Hermione were right behind him, along with a crowd of excited Gryffindor students.
“Me?” Leo was sitting up in bed eating lunch.
He stared at the group flooding into the room, completely unsure what had caused all the commotion.
“What happened?” “Professor Dumbledore awarded Gryffindor fifty points because of your outstanding contribution!” Hermione said excitedly.
“And they’re giving you a Special Award for Services to the School!” Ron added, looking positively thrilled.
Leo silently studied him.
‘Hopefully he’ll still be this enthusiastic someday when he’s polishing my plaque in the Hogwarts trophy room.’