Tanner was sitting up and gnawing his way through a box of oversize pretzels. His expression was gloomy and his body posture was annoyed, but he brightened a bit when he saw them.

“How would you like to help us?” Hermione asked him cheerfully. She had seen Madam Pomfrey fuss over him and it seemed to work.

“You might persuade me,” Tanner offered her a pretzel and she took it and popped it into her mouth. “What do I have to do?”

“Raye’s back at Hogwarts,” Harry said, since Hermione was busy crunching. “We wanted to see if you could sense anything strange about her.”

“Strange as in uses duct tape instead of underwear, or strange as in Dark Magic?” Tanner asked next. That image made Hermione choke on the pretzel and Harry sputtered with laughter too. Ron, who wasn’t sure what duct tape was, smiled anyway. Tanner hopped to his feet in a sprinkling of salt and pretzel crumbs. “Well, if I have to read Watership Down one more time, I’m going to start speaking Lapine,” he said. “I may as well play bloodhound for you.”

“Thanks!” said Ron, anxious to be on the werewolf’s good side. Tanner nodded grandly and swept out. The three students hurried after him. He was back in his ragged blue jeans, but was still wearing the large white night shirt Pomfrey kept him in. It reached to his knees and looked odd, but if Tanner was anything, it wasn’t self-conscious.

“Is the girl handy for a direct sniff, or must I track her down first?” he looked around the empty hallway as if expecting to see Raye there.

“Um, there’s an easy way to be sure,” Harry set off at a jog. “I’ll be right back.” When he came back he had the Map. They found Raye’s name on it moving outside the grounds.

“She’s not supposed to be outside,” Hermione said.

“Well, let’s go tell her that,” Ron started for the nearest door. Tanner jogged after them.

“Don’t you… need a coat?” Hermione asked as Tanner went right out into the cold with bare feet and only the shirt.

“This?” Tanner kicked a clump of snow in the air. “This is nothing. You’re forgetting, my little friend, that I was five years old before I ever slept under a roof. That’s five winters without walls or floors or ceilings. A little cold is good for you. Sharpens the senses.”

“Well, there’s Raye,” Harry pointed at a figure walking calmly down one of the ground paths. “Let’s see if we get close to her.” They set off across the grounds to get to the path Raye was on.

“Don’t run,” Hermione said, when Tanner broke into a trot. He slowed without question, but looked at her sideways. “We don’t want her thinking she’s being pursued. She might run, and the adrenaline might change her scent so that you can’t tell anything.”

“What?” Ron looked at her like she was crazy.

“It’s like a lie detector,” she tried to explain. “They work by gauging your reactions to questions. Tanner’s nose is our detector this time. We won’t be able to tell if she’s reacting to our questions or just reacting to something else.” Tanner shrugged. He was happy just to be outdoors in friendly company. Ahead of them, Raye seemed to meander near the woods and Harry sped up unconsciously.

“Careful…” Hermione murmured. Raye walked close enough to brush the branches and knock snow from them, but made no move to step off the path.

“The map won’t be able to track her into the woods,” Harry whispered.

“I will,” said Tanner with a predator’s certainty. They looked at him. He smiled, thinking perhaps of other things pulled down and torn open and eaten. It was a strange, dreamy, yet hungry expression.

“Good,” said Ron. He looked a little unnerved. Tanner must’ve sensed it because his smile deepened and he reached out to ruffle Ron’s hair. Ron wasn’t reassured, but he didn’t flinch away. The nearer they got to the woods, the less Tanner seemed able to take his eyes off it. They were following the same path Raye had and she was still far ahead of them. She veered along the tree line and was making her way slowly back towards the castle.

“Looks like she’s behaving for now,” Harry muttered. “Smart, since we’re all on to her.”

“Unless she really is just addled and confused,” Hermione sighed. Ron scoffed and she nodded. “I know. It’s unlikely. But so far it’s always been the one we didn’t suspect, you know?”

“That’s why we dragged Tanner out here,” Harry reminded them. “To see if he can tell what she’s hiding.” All three of them suddenly realized that he was no longer with them.

“Tanner?” They looked around quickly and saw that the werewolf had stopped behind them, near the edge of the woods. “What are you doing?” Harry asked him. “She’s going back inside now.”

“I smell something,” Tanner said. He peered into the trees, then took a step into the woods.

“Wait!” Hermione hurried in after. “What if the pack that attacked you is still out there??”

“I’d smell them for sure,” Tanner said. “I think I smell Esme…” He dashed off to the side.

“Wait!” Hermione shouted again. She looked helplessly at Ron and Harry. Harry shrugged and went in after him. Ron and Hermione followed too.

“Just a whiff,” Tanner muttered. He took his wolf shape again to trot through the woods.

“This is dangerous,” Ron reminded them. “The Morthahg is out here, and a possessed pack of wolves, plus all the things that usually make the Forbidden Forest fun.”

“We can’t go far,” Hermione called up to Tanner. A soft ‘whuff’ sound came back. Whatever that meant, he didn’t turn around. Harry sped up to keep the red pelt in sight. It was amazing how something so bright still managed to blend in with the winter woods. Hermione caught hold of his arm and held her other hand back for Ron to take.

“We won’t go out of sight of that tower,” she said, nodding to one of the Hogwarts towers through the trees. “All we’ll have to do is walk towards it to get out. No more getting lost out here.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Ron agreed. Harry didn’t answer, still trying to keep up with Tanner.

The red wolf led them a merry run through the woods. All three humans were gasping for breath before he slowed his pace. They stopped for a rest. Hermione had kept the tower in sight the whole time and it was still visible through the tops of the trees. Tanner’s attention was focused on a patch of darkness among some rock and trees. The children crept close enough to see what it was. It was a cave, hidden down in a small valley. The rocks and trees blocked it from sight.

Tanner trotted in without hesitating vanished down the valley. He reappeared briefly and went into the cave. Ron let go of Hermione’s hand and peered closer. None of the three attempted to go into the valley. After a moment, the wolf’s shape in emerged from the darkness. They heard a brief scrabbling and then Tanner reappeared in his human form. He was shirtless now, but didn’t seem to mind. He held a scrap of paper in his hand.

“What did you find?” Harry asked.

“Feathers, footprints, bones, and this,” he held it out to him. Ron and Hermione read it over his shoulder.

“Who do you suppose R. is?” Tanner asked conversationally.

“Raye,” Harry muttered. “Who else? We have to find her and get to the bottom of this. They sped up to run back to open ground. Tanner loped along as a wolf again. They came out of the trees to see Raye had made a wide sweep of the grounds and was nearly at the door. Tanner burst into speed and shot across the snow, fast as the wind. He left the trio behind even as Hermione shouted after him. He put his ears back and ran.

Raye had her hand on the door and was loosening her scarf to pull it off completely when she sensed the movement of something bearing down on her. She had only a brief impression of a crunch in snow before she was tackled backward and landed heavily on her back with something even more heavy on her stomach.

“He’ll kill her!” gasped Hermione.

“And that’s bad??” snapped Ron. They were sprinting after as fast as they could, but Raye was already down and it was easy to imagine how fast Tanner would have her neck bones spread around the yard. If that had been his plan, Raye would have died in a heartbeat. Tanner didn’t have a plan, though. He had only decided to stop following and start catching. And caught she was. Raye flailed her arms at him to hold him back and one of his big paws caught her collar. It pulled her scarf free and also popped open a button on her blouse.

A very familiar smell hit Tanner and he forgot to paw at her as he focused on it. Tanner was no stranger to the smell of blood. He’d had a rough life and some very dangerous partners. More familiar than even the smell of life-juice, though, was this particular blood scent. It smelled like Esme again, the time when the tigers had clawed her. It smelled like Esme’s blood, her pain, and her fear.

Something red flashed before his eyes. It was a crystal bead on a black cord, hung around Raye’s neck. It was a tiny little bulb of crystal with something warm and red trapped inside it. He lunged to snatch it off her, but then arms were around his own neck and he was being pulled backwards. The urge to bite at those arms flared up, but he controlled it. Hermione and Harry pulled him off Raye and then Hermione went to help her up.

“I am so sorry!” she was saying. “We were waving and shouting at you, but you didn’t hear us and I guess the silly thing decided to get your attention for us.” Hermione wasn’t the best liar in the world. Her face was flushed and she had a hard time looking Raye in the eyes. Raye was too rattled to notice.

“It’s all right!” she gasped. “I’m all right. Stupid dog scared me though.” She was dusting the snow from her coat.

“We’d better get you inside,” Harry said, not relaxing the grip he had on Tanner. “You girls go on, and we’ll take this fellow back to Hagrid’s.”

“All right,” Hermione hesitated, looking at him. He arched an eyebrow at her meaningfully and she gave a slight nod. She held the door open for Raye and the two girls disappeared inside. Ron and Harry released their hold on Tanner and he became human to sit in the snow with a thump.

“Very subtle, that.” Ron told him. Tanner glared with his blue eye and Ron gulped.

“Did you smell something on her?” Harry asked.

“Blood,” Tanner growled. “Blood and death.”

“That’s bad,” Ron admitted.

“Yes,” Tanner stood up again quickly. “But it’s a bad I’ve dealt with before. You cubs run along. I know my way back to the infirmary from here.” He walked off towards the door they had come out of the first time. He looked skinny and frail against the snowy walls, but his stride was purposeful and he didn’t even flinch when an icy wind rattled the snow around him. Ron and Harry looked at each other and shrugged.