Lorelei met Sirius at a run in the hallway. She was leaving Dumbledore’s office with a worried expression. North was at her heels.

“I know,” he said before she could speak.

“You don’t!” she snapped back. “Brohm has taken a new form!! He’s free again!”

“So what?? Don’t you even care about Esme?”

“Of course I do! We’re going to get her aren’t we? But who know what he’s done to her or what he has in mind for me or-”

“He probably loves it that you’re still so frightened of him,” Sirius growled. She stopped in her tracks and stared at him. He didn’t have to see her eyes to feel the intensity of her glare.

“You don’t understand,” she said finally.

“I have 13 years of being locked in darkness to your one,” he told her flatly. “You won’t get much sympathy from me. Vampires can’t be worse than Dementors.” He turned away from her and started off again, not caring if she came or not. There was a pause and then the sound of her shoes on the floor behind him, followed by the softer padding of dog paws.

“Where are you going?” she asked, keeping her voice down as they passed some classrooms.

“I remember Nalicus,” he said. “When I was a boy, we went to his house one Christmas for a holiday ball. I know where his manor is.”

“And you think he’ll just let you in??” she scoffed.

“I think that with a houseful of vampires, Nalicus is already dead. Maybe undead.” He let that thought sink in. “I’ve never hunted vampires before, but I know who has...”

Lorelei didn’t understand until he turned into the infirmary and threw open the door. Tanner sat there, in one piece again, but dazed and distraught. He had fresh scratches on his arms and face and he had some mittens fastened on his hands. He was playing with a small doll someone (probably Hagrid) had left for him. He didn’t look up when Sirius and Lorelei burst in on him, but he did began to speak.

“Rosie-posie...” he sang, seemingly more to himself than them. “She’s gone now....gonegonegone...”

“She tried to kill you,” Sirius said, coming to the bedside. Tanner’s head tilted towards him slightly, but the werewolf’s odd eyes stayed on the doll.

“Oh no,” Tanner said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “She tried to kill YOU. I was just bait.”

Sirius didn’t know what to say to that. Behind him, Lorelei crossed her arms over her chest and waited. She made no effort to come closer. Sirius looked again at the toy in Tanner’s hands and realized it looked a little like Lorelei too. It had white yarn hair and pink buttons for eyes and was wearing a red smock. Tanner made it walk across the hills and valleys his bedsheets made with a tiny chuckle.

“Why would Rosie kill me, Tanner?” Sirius asked finally.

“As bait. For bigger things.” Tanner said. Lorelei shifted slightly and the small sound got Tanner’s attention the way Sirius hadn’t. Something lit up in his yellow eye. It was weird to see a different personality in each of the werewolf’s eyes. The blue eye just seemed sad and confused. The yellow one looked crazed.

“The One-Who-Must-Have-Order isn’t who we thought,” Tanner went on. His blue eye narrowed at Lorelei. “We thought it was Ficus, but he died and the trouble remains. Then it was Brohm, Esme said, and he died. Then maybe it was the Morthahg itself, but how can I kill what I can’t get my teeth into?” Sirius decided to try again.

“What happened to Rosie,” he asked. Tanner’s eyes lowered back to his mittened hands.

“She’s gone,” he said again.

“What made her leave?” Lorelei asked suddenly. Both men turned to look at her and this time, even Tanner’s blue eye looked hostile. An odd sound came from the mittens, as if they were being cut from the inside. It made North’s hackles bristle.

“They warned us,” Tanner said in a low, threatening voice. “So many rules for magical creatures. So many questions asked.” There was a long pause while he stared Lorelei down. She didn’t flinch and after a moment, he went on. “I don’t like to lie,” he said more softly. “When they ask, I like to be able to say no. No, I didn’t. It wasn’t me.”

“He keeps saying that,” Sirius glanced at Lorelei. “What’s he talking about?”

“American werewolves have to check in at the Cursed Being and Neutral Monster Board once a season,” she said. Her tone was very neutral as well, but he could feel the chill underneath. “One of the things they have to do is testify under oath and truth spell that they haven’t attacked any humans or consumed their flesh. There have been...incidents... If it is determined that the creature HAS harmed a human than they are required to undergo treatment to try to regain their humanity.”

“What happens if they can’t?”

“What do you think?”

“You didn’t eat Ficus did you?” Sirius asked Tanner. The werewolf flinched.

“Not me. Never me. Don’t eat the meat, they said. You’re not really a monster until you do the bad thing.” He blinked at them owlishly through the hair in his face. “And I haven’t. It wasn’t me.”

“Was it Rosie?” Sirius was beginning to lose patience with him. Lorelei glanced at Sirius, not sure what he was getting at. Tanner looked awkward.

“I didn’t see. I know she bit him...We BOTH bit him...” He looked around as if afraid of who might be listening. “But, but Rosie knows the rules. She...she only broke them once and that was a long time ago...” His voice trailed off as Lorelei pinned him with a glare. She had let her shades slide down her nose and was giving him a look that should’ve set him on fire.

“I haven’t forgotten that either,” she said. His yellow eye fixed on her.

“Rosie isn’t bad,” Tanner said, his voice becoming very calm and clear. “Never bad.” She glared at him a little longer and his composure began to crumble.

“He’s out of his mind,” Sirius said to break the stand-off between them. “The shock of having the pack turn on him has unhinged him. We won’t get anything out of him.”

“Let me try,” Lorelei finally stepped into arms reach of the bed. Tanner shrank back a little bit. Sirius almost did.

“What are you going to do?” he asked. Tanner nervously began to chew on the doll’s head. Lorelei took her shades off and sat down on the edge of the bed. Tanner looked at Sirius pleadingly, but then focused on Lorelei.

“Put your fingers in your ears, Mr. Black,” she said. Sirius was sure he should feel like arguing, but something in her tone wouldn’t allow it. Baffled, he obeyed. She nodded at him and turned back to Tanner.

“Tanner,” she said and even through his plugged ears, Sirius felt a ripple of power in her voice. There was a strange compulsion in it and when she called Tanner’s name again, it was stronger. The toy fell from Tanner’s mouth and his teeth snapped together with a click that only Lorelei could hear.

“Remember, and tell me,” she said. “What happened the night Ficus died?” Her voice could’ve changed the flow of tides in the ocean. When she chose to use it, Lorelei had the kind of voice that could lure sailors to their doom or birds from the trees or stars from the sky. What little of it Sirius could hear through his own fingers had him vaguely wishing that she would speak directly to him so he could unblock his ears and hear it at it’s full strength. Another part of him, though, was pretty sure that was a very bad idea. Tanner didn’t stand a chance against it. He shuddered, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“I...I chased the ichling..” he stammered. “And,and,and while I was gone...Rosie...and the others! They, they ate the old man... When I got back, she didn’t recognize me...” His voice broke. Tears began to brim in his eyes. “She isn’t Rosie anymore! She won’t shapechange! She’s just a wolf now...And she HATES me!!”

Tanner’s despair overwhelmed him in a high-pitched wail. Saying the words had broken the dam. He screamed out an animal cry and began weeping into his mittens. Lorelei was taken aback by the outburst and looked to Sirius for help. He pulled out his fingers and put a wary hand on Tanner’s arm. A sobbed chorus of ‘she hates me, she hates me’ could still be heard from inside his hands.

“Why would she hate you?” he asked, hoping to calm the creature down.

“I couldn’t fight her,” Tanner wailed. “It hurt too bad! Oh, Rosieeeeeeee...” Lorelei stood up to inch away from him again, but the movement made Tanner’s head snap up. His grieved expression turned nasty.

“This is YOUR fault!!” he screamed at her. “She always hated you! Always! ALWAYS!!” He lunged at her, claws ripping through the mittens. His incisors, already too sharp to be human, lengthened into fangs as his jawbone realigned. Lorelei stumbled back, even as North leaped to block Tanner from her. Sirius grabbed Lorelei and they fled the room. He ducked behind her as Madame Pomfrey appeared, holding a tray of bottles and bowls.

“Oh dear,” she said. “He’s upset.” She hurried inside and threw North out.

“She can handle him?” Sirius wondered aloud. There was a loud and heavy thud and then silence. While Sirius and Lorelei stared in horror, Madame Pomfrey can bustling out again. The tray was now empty and had a large dent in it. With an exasperated sigh, the infirmary witch tucked the tray under her arm and hurried off again.

“That’s one method, I suppose...” Sirius muttered. Lorelei was looking frozen. It was hard to be sure how she was feeling as pale as she looked. He was surprised that she would be so affected though.

“Do you think he mistook you for Esme?” he asked. Lorelei took a deep breath, then turned and hurried away down the hall. Sirius followed.