Missing Pup Part II PV Elaine Pendrast Finished

Two missing Gryffindor Third Year girls. On Samhain. A Samhain that was a full moon night. Elaine wasn't superstitious – she was a witch, not some muggle woman, she could tell magic from fraud at a glance. Omens, however, were an entirely different matter. She had no talent for divination, but that didn't make it any less real. This was a bad omen if she'd ever seen one.

The air was chilly when she left the castle. The moon hadn't risen yet, but the shadows over the castle grounds were dark already, too dark for any young girls to be out here after curfew. Still, Elena hadn't been able to shake the feeling that she'd have to take a fast walk around the Lake to make sure they weren't out here against all odds. Instincts were a funny thing, especially when magic was concerned. A muggle would have said that "there was something in the air". Elena didn't want to call it precognition, but there was something, something that made her steps quicken and had her pull her cloak tighter around her person.

She saw the Ravenclaw Head of House coming, a man on a broom, a dark shape against a darker sky, a man who would soon be a beast. His haste and the expression on his face unsettled her more than she would have liked. More omens.

The man didn't allow her more than a soft greeting before he was talking.

Another Gryffindor student missing on the Day of the Dead. A werewolf missing just before the full moon. Elena didn't believe in coincidences like that. She knew better.

Her dark eyes moved to where the moon would rise on the horizon soon.

There was an eerie calm to the Head of Gryffindor. The Hags in the dungeons. Constanta's duel. Three missing students. The second one might have been a fluke in the grand scheme of things, too far removed from Hogwarts to matter to anyone but herself. The other two... no. Something was at work here. If she could have conjured rage it would have been a roaring fire, but instead Elaine was calm, cold, expression blank, voice soft.

"When will the moon rise?" she asked Professor Iwasaki. Most werewolves knew. The instinctual fear of what would turn man into beast. Alexandru had always been able to tell.

She moved her gaze towards where the Campgrounds lay on the other side of the castle. Secure the children?

"They have their Headmasters with them." Dark eyes turned back to stare at Marcus Iwasaki. Then Elena shook her head, slowly. "Lazarus Plott is one of them." She almost shuddered. Another enemy in their midst, she would have wished to never see the man again. "Let them care for their own, tonight. They came to Hogwarts knowing that we harbor werewolves. They'll know better than to dare harm one of ours on our lands. It's my students I fear for."

And she did. When had Elaine last feared, truly, in the past decades? Once, when you conjured a Patronus to save Gabriela's life, her memory supplied. That had been... 15 years ago. Now, it felt as if there was so much more to fear, so many more people to fear for. When had that happened?

"There are two more Gryffindor students missing, Anastasia Beckett and Katrina Walker. They weren't in the Tower at curfew," she explained, her knuckles white where she had buried her fingers in the thick cloth of her cloak. "Also Third Years. I no longer believe in a coincidence, with Kyle also missing. I-"

I have a bad feeling about this. It would have been a useless thing to say. She cleared her throat.

"Is Aleksander Ostrowski still at the Pitch? Could either of you trace him from the smell of his blood alone?" The as wolves was implied. Elena didn't consider it worth to add, considering that the moon would be rising soon no matter what they did.

Alexandru had never offered to turn her. Elena hadn't asked. Lycanthropy, at its most basic, was and would always remain a curse. As much as she had respected her husband, had been fascinated by him, as much she had also recognized what his affliction meant for him, the burden that came with being a man for a month only to turn into a beast for a night after.

For once it was not the half-eagle that took its place at her throat, the bird oddly silent. Instead, a furred muzzle guarded her neck, a lone, inky black eye studying the werewolf Professor. Her guardians had traded places, if just for tonight.

"We have less than an hour - closer to half," Marcus replied, his eyes lowering from the sky and back to Professor Pendrast. She looked towards the campgrounds when he mentioned the foreign kids. Surely as the Gryffindor Head of House - supposedly the house of the brave and selfless and mighty - she would agree with this plan. Instead, he was left in shock at her response. She was saying to leave them to their own devices. That they knew the risks of coming here - a school that harbors werewolves - and that they wouldn't harm the wolves. But what about one of the Hogwarts wolves harming one of them? Even though DeRook had taken his wolfsbane, Marcus still had that nagging suspicion that he could still be turned feral. He had never heard of such a thing happening, but -

His hand rose to his neck, rubbing the darkness that spread out on his skin from the wound there. Those hags over the summer seemed to play mind-control games with the victims of darkness. What if that could happen while he was transformed? What if something similar could happen to DeRook? A night like tonight could ruin lives. And right now, they had a werewolf on the loose and no idea who had captured him or what their intentions were.

Professor Pendrast proceeded to mention Lazarus Plott. What was with that guy? Staff seemed so suspicious of him. When Marcus asked, the only response he got from Nora was that she didn't trust him, and Browne had explained that Plott somehow gained access to the Hufflepuff Common Room last year, and had been after one of Browne's students for unknown reasons. He was Headmaster of the Ilvermorny school, yet all Marcus had heard was bad things. What qualified him to be in that position then?

"They at least need to be made aware of the situation - they believe our wolves are secured. They need to take extra precautions," Marcus insisted. This was not a matter to take lightly - not that he thought she was taking it lightly. She was just more focused on the impact to the Hogwarts students, which was understandable. His thoughts were on all the potential victims. His disease is something he would not wish on anyone. "I can fly over there myself before moving on," he added, knowing that is exactly what he would do if Pendrast did not do it herself.

Professor Pendrast had moved on to informing him of two more students missing. The name @Anastasia Beckett did not ring any bells, but @Katrina Walker did. His mind vaguely recalled a girl with a teal stripe in her hair. She had been among the first detentions he had handed out - his very second day in the castle in June. So two more Gryffindors, two more third years. Yes, coincidence seemed to be ruled out at this point. There was something going on.

"Ostrowski went to the shack to check on the young ones. To make sure they are not being targeted and are all accounted for. He'll stay there for the night," Marcus answered, his amber eyes suddenly drawn to the woman's neck. There was an eye observing him. His head tilted ever-so-slightly at the sight of a wolf head tattooed there. He swore that hadn't been there before - and now that he thought about it, his past interactions with her had led to similar moments of confusion as ink seemed to dart across her skin. He quickly raised his eyes back to her real ones, knowing this was not the time to ask.

"Would that be the best place for me?" he asked, wanting her honest opinion. Ostrowski would spend the night defending the shack, but who would be here protecting the castle? He was not aware of the exact defenses the castle had, but almost immediately after speaking, he reasoned that there must be some great defenses in place. Lock the doors. Employ the suits of armor if really needed. Make the other professors aware, and they could all pitch in on keeping an eye out. Enchantments could be placed. There was a whole staff here that were dedicated to the protection of the students.

"There wasn't a lot to work with, but I believe I could track him. His broom. His blood. It just might take a while, depending on how far," he ended up saying. His mission had been to alert the castle. Now that they were alerted, he should let Professor Pendrast take over and maybe it was his duty to go search for the missing wolf. But- "I can call for Ostrowski once I find DeRook if I need backup," he reasoned, but he was still hesitant. There could be a whole group of people behind this, or maybe just a single person. He was not scared of a fight, but he did not want the kids to become collateral in what might come. "Do you have any theories? A lone perpetrator? Or a group?"

@Elaine Pendrast

Less than an hour.

Elaine nodded, not surprised by man's estimate. Soon, then. In an hour Marcus Iwasaki would be a werewolf – she absentmindedly wondered what he would look like as a wolf, if he'd be dark and broad like his human form or if there'd be any special markings on his wolf body. Kyle DeRook would be a werewolf in an hour, too, and for all she knew he had been kidnapped, kidnapped by a person who wasn't afraid to be around a werewolf during the full moon, Wolfsbane or not.

There was a special kind of bravery involved in staying with the beasts during full moon, madness in a way. Too seek out a predator in their natural habitat, when no matter how talented you were it didn't matter in the face of a being superior to you in all physical aspects, was nothing a sane witch or wizard did.

She watched as the Head of Ravenclaw rubbed his neck. Whether it was an emotion of insecurity or contemplation she couldn't tell, but the thought of the students from the other schools being in danger seemed to upset him. He insisted on informing them, by himself if necessary, as if their own guardians couldn't protect them – Elena hadn't seen Plott fight properly, ever, but for his own motives and public image alone she expected him to defend them if push came to shove. Marishka Shtriga she had worked under for years, and while she wasn't familiar with the Beauxbatons Headmaster she'd heard him descriped as competent.

Her children needed her.

Wasting time on other children, who had their own protectors, when her's were alone, kidnapped, scared, hurt, seemed like sacrilege. She had no idea what had happened to the girls. Kyle was wounded, would transform in half an hour, with his mind intact, and might be forced to do things to defend himself that would scar him for life. No, that was unacceptable.

At least the other werewolves were safe with Aleksander. He could keep watch over them, of that she was sure, but he was also the type to worry, and worry he would, alone without information and no means ot communicate once he had transformed.

For once in her life Elena wished that she had mastered the Patronus spell to be able to send a messenger. But she hadn't, her grip on it slippery at best. Now, in this moment, there was too much rage inside her, hidden behind her carefully errected walls of Occulmency, too much desire to destroy, to ruin those who had dared hurt hers, for her to manage a corporeal Patronus. The Dark Arts corrupt, her mind whispered. It was a lesson she had taught a thousand times, knowing that it applied more to her than it ever would to any of her students.

"Professor Ostrowski will take care of the children, they will be safe with him," she agreed with Professor Iwasaki, "But they will also be alone, cut off from all outside information... I told Caradoc Browne of the missing Gryffindor girls before I left the castle. He will make sure that nobody else will enter or leave until the morning."

Hinsight was 20/20, they said, and after everything that had happened since the year had started, Elaine hadn't picked any chances with going into a possible kidnapping all by herself. On that note...

"I believe you when you say that you could track him down." She nodded solemly at Marcus, her eyes black pearls in the shadows of the approaching full moon night, the wolfman's snout still covering her throat like a brand. "But you won't go alone. Whoever kidnapped Kyle I assume took the girls as well, maybe intentionally, maybe by happenstance, and they obviously aren't afraid of a werewolf during the full moon. This could be a trap. A trap set for you, perhaps Professor Ostrowski as well. If they knew Kyle would be on the pitch, they knew that you'd come to pick him up."

She halted in her words, just for a second, looked at the shade of the Head of Ravenclaw standing in front of her on the grass, his big frame, his dark skin, imagined him bursting from his skin to howl at the moon. The silver sword through Alexandru's heart. That's what she always came back to, how she'd watched her husband being killed.

"In half an hour, I will be slower than you, more fragile, weaker, a burden in your search certainly, but that doesn't mean that you can't be killed given the right circumstances." For once her expression was open, eyes wide, a vulernability in her ageless face that belied her 48 years of age. "I do not intend to let you walk to your death, Mr. Iwasaki."

The wolf on her skin growled, a sound that resounded through Elena's very bones, deep and threatening. The other tattoos reacted to it as if out of instinct, moving on her skin, ready for a hunt.

It wasn't easy to push her emotions down, to ignore the wrath, pain, guilt. This wasn't the time. Elaine didn't trust herself to make the correct decision, not with everything that made her dangerous, both to herself and to others, so close to the surface.

"We are wasting time there," she finally said with a glance at the cloudy night sky. "Your call. Lead the way, Professor."

@Marcus Iwasaki

Marcus could sense that Professor Pendrast was not keen on the idea of taking the time to warn the other schools. Yes, they were aware of the presence of wolves, but they had been assured of the precautions that Hogwarts took. Those precautions were currently failing in that one of their students was loose and would surely turn before long. In the Head of Ravenclaw's mind, that little detail could mean the difference between an infection or not. And perhaps it was because he'd had more time to process the situation and consider the options, or maybe it was because he knew exactly the life change that could go on a night like tonight.

Regardless, he was deadset on warning the other schools. Although unlikely, some of them might trust in Hogwarts' precautions a little too well. One small slip - a stroll outside of the cabin to get a peek at the moon - and a life could be forever altered.

Her next words caused one of Marcus' eyebrows to raise slightly at the idea. He had not considered that this could be a trap set for him or Ostrowski, but it made sense. Yes, it did seem like the kidnapper would not be scared of a werewolf on a full moon, otherwise they wouldn't have taken one. It also revealed why she was so distracted - these were her charges. Three Gryffindors missing. He wondered if he would be throwing aside sense to aid his own Ravenclaw students, but.. well, best not to think of that.

When Professor Pendrast spoke of accompanying him, he was brought right back to the present and his eyes met hers. It was very clear that she would not take no for an answer. He had not expected someone to voluntarily be by a werewolf's side during their transformation. He had only done so once before.. but he did not want to think of her or that experience at a time like this.

Another look at Pendrast - really looking at her now - he realized something he had not noticed before. She had not cringed away from him once during this whole conversation. It was usually the small things, a subtle step back or a shiver down the spine that his amber eyes could pick up on. But she had displayed none of these signs in his presence. She did seem to embody those Gryffindor traits, because from where he stood, she did not seem to fear what he was. Her words said as much, but her body language spoke more to him than that. Even when he was being pleasant, people tended to give off signs of their discomfort around him. It was something he had grown used to, so realizing he was in the presence of someone who did not seem to react like that - it was interesting.

"You might be weaker physically, but given your specialty, I believe your magic will more than make up for that," he said, a small grin tugging at the side of his lip. The situation was not amusing, but for some reason he found it a bit funny that they were entering a potentially lethal situation and they were not even on a first-name basis. His humor seemed to find itself at rather inopportune times sometimes. Perhaps after all this was over that would change, but the point was, he was agreeing to her accompanying him. "I appreciate that, Professor." A nod of respect accompanied these words.

She looked at the sky again, and he did the same. Right. They did not have much time. "A compromise, then. Just two minutes and we can go back to the pitch and start our hunt," he said. After learning she could not summon a patronus right now, Marcus was ready with an alternative. Professor Pendrast agreed and, since Marcus did not have his wand on him, cast the appropriate spells. Two pieces of paper, quill and ink. Notes were written, and a charm was placed on both. The papers folded themselves into birds and flew in opposite directions. One flew directly into the castle through the large double doors, straight for the Hufflepuff Head of House who would be headed this way given Pendrast's earlier warning. The other would travel a farther distance to the campgrounds where the lit cabins were visible from a distance. It would be found by one of the school headmaster's.

"Once I do turn, you can use this to keep up with me. For now, let's use it to get back to the pitch," Marcus said, referring to the school broom that he still held in his hand. They were soon sat on the broom and off into the sky, headed for the crime scene.

@Elaine Pendrast

"I do enjoy a good hunt," Elena replied when Marcus Iwasaki complimented her magical skill, returning his grin with one of her own, a vicious curl of her lips that left no room for interpretation about what exactly she intended to do once she found the person or persons responsible for the abduction of her protégés. "We have seen by now what happens if we split up. It's best to stick together."

She hadn't forgotten their failure in the dungeons, being split up too easily, their united front falling apart to make way for chaos and distress. Mistakes like that couldn't be permitted any longer. They had a castle full of students to protect, students that depend on them, as her three lion cubs did now. Elaine wasn't about to let them down.

His compromise was a brilliant idea, two quick letters to give a warning to those unaware of what had happened and to let their colleague know that they would be going after the kidnappers. Caradoc Browne would know to be on his guard, but their position was vulnerable with only the two of them going deeper into the Grounds. Elena didn't expect any backup, but should anything happen to them at least somebody would know where to start their search.

"Of course," she agreed to his proposal and conjured two sheets of paper and something to write on. Her grades in Transfiguration had never been excellent, but these spells were simple enough for an adult witch. She watched on as the Head of Ravenclaw penned two quick notes, and then mumbled an incantation, sending the two paper birds off to their respective targets.

Elaine stared at the school broom. Her distaste was not quite visible, but her eyes told enough of the story - flying, no matter in which capacity, had never been something the witch enjoyed - but still, she mounted behind the Head of Ravenclaw. For once her protectors remained quiet at her closeness to another human being, as if they didn't consider the man a thread. How peculiar.

"I should be able to manage to keep up with you." Now was not the time to start petty arguments about brooms of all things. For her students, a broom was far from the worst thing she would endure.

Then they were off, heading further into the night.