"Come on, we should go in," Hagrid said, stringing his giant crossbow and striding into the shadows at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
"Speaking of which, Hagrid," Snape's shoes crunched softly on the damp fallen leaves, "do you know why Professor Dumbledore lets werewolves stay in the Forbidden Forest?"
Previously, he had always thought the tales of werewolves in the Forbidden Forest were just tricks professors used to scare first-years, warning students not to enter the forest.
"Wish I had a dog right now," Hagrid mumbled out of nowhere, his brawny arm pushing aside obstructing branches. "Oh, you asked me a question."
"It's everyone's Forbidden Forest," he belatedly turned his head, blinking in confusion, his tone as if explaining an obvious truth. "Not just wizards'."
"I mean," Snape paused, took a deep breath, and said, "it can't be safe for students and staff with werewolves living next to the school, can it?"
"Not all werewolves are the same, Severus," Hagrid said, waving his giant crossbow. "Some of the werewolves in the Forbidden Forest aren't ordinary werewolves. Dumbledore doesn't mind them living here. We've lived in peace for a long time."
"But the night before last, when I was feeding—um, patrolling in the forest, I suddenly heard werewolves howling and fighting."
"After it quieted down, I wanted to see what happened," Hagrid continued, a rare worry in his voice. "But I was driven away from afar by some werewolves who were usually gentle." He sighed heavily. "I didn't even get to see Lyka's face—"
"Who's Lyka?" Snape asked, holding his wand aloft, scanning the surrounding darkness. The light from his wand tip illuminated moss-covered tree stumps and gnarled roots ahead. "And, it's been so long since the full moon; why are they acting strangely?"
"Their leader, a—very special werewolf," Hagrid said vaguely. "Anyway, Dumbledore thinks we need to investigate, lest they pose a threat to Hogwarts."
"I still don't understand," Snape pushed aside some thorny bushes in front of him. "And what do you mean by 'special werewolves'?"
Hagrid stopped, breaking a few low-hanging branches as he turned. In the moonlight, his expression was unusually serious.
"The werewolves in the Forbidden Forest aren't ordinary, Severus," Hagrid's voice was very low. "They are close to wizards. Some of them, well... have more werewolf characteristics on them."
"What do you mean?" Snape pressed.
"Well, it's literal," Hagrid scratched his beard with his free hand, seemingly searching for the right words. "Some of them—even when it's not the full moon, they have wolf features, ears, tails—"
"I remember Dumbledore saying," he gesticulated clumsily, thinking for a moment before continuing, "that this is caused by a blood curse. If you're bitten multiple times by a werewolf and are lucky enough—or perhaps unlucky enough—to survive, the blood curse might accumulate, and the power of the curse deepens. It's a state called 'partial lycanthropy'."
Hagrid's words reminded Snape of Nagini's predicament, still hidden in his robes. Both involved blood magic, and both involved animalistic features worsening as the curse deepened.
But another question surfaced. He asked, puzzled, "Wait, why would they be bitten multiple times? As far as I know, werewolves only attack humans."
Dobby suddenly perked his ears, letting out a faint "clink."
Hagrid motioned for them to continue, while lowering his voice to explain, a clear anger in his tone: "These werewolves are friendly to wizards... They chose to side with wizards and are seen as traitors by their own kind. Some extreme werewolves bite them as punishment."
"So, they're ostracized by werewolf communities," a flash of understanding crossed Snape's eyes, "and discriminated against by wizarding society because of their werewolf traits and identity."
"That should be it, right?" Hagrid tilted his head. "Anyway, Dumbledore allowing them to live deep in the Forbidden Forest is reasonable, as long as they don't cause trouble. Their leader, Lyka, is one such werewolf. Dumbledore saved her back then."
The trio fell silent, accompanied only by the sound of their footsteps and the rustling of leaves.
The ground gradually became damp, and the air was filled with the smell of moss and decaying wood.
They rounded a fallen giant oak tree, and the faint sound of flowing water in the distance indicated the presence of a stream nearby.
Just then, a piercing howl suddenly came from not far away. It wasn't an ordinary wolf's howl—it was interspersed with human-like screams of agony.
"Dobby heard it!" The house-elf's ears twitched violently, his voice high-pitched. "Over there!"
Hagrid immediately raised his crossbow, looking around alertly. Snape held his wand in front of him, and Dobby walked beside him, tightly guarding his flank.
The three cautiously moved in the direction of the sound.
"Here," Snape crouched down, his wand's light illuminating a pool of dark red blood, with several strands of chestnut-brown hair scattered nearby.
"The blood is still fresh," he noted the chaotic footprints and drag marks on the ground; clearly, a fierce struggle had taken place here. "It must be close by."
After walking for about two more minutes, Dobby suddenly stopped, his long ears twitching, and said in a barely audible voice, "Something's ahead!"
A faint moan came from ahead. This time it was closer, clearer.
The three exchanged a glance, then slowly moved over the small hill in front of them.
Moonlight filtered through the canopy, illuminating a clearing by the stream: a figure was curled up at the base of a large tree, trembling like a wounded animal.
It was a girl—or rather, it once was. Now she was covered in blood, with two pointed wolf ears protruding from her chestnut-brown hair, and a bushy tail dragging behind her. The edges of several of her fingernails were peeled back, and her fingers were painfully curled.
Nearby, another werewolf with obvious beastly features lay on the ground; and closer to her, a shirtless male body lay motionless in a pool of blood, with terrible lacerations on his chest.
"Lyka!" Hagrid exclaimed. "What happened to you!"
Before Snape could stop him, Hagrid had already rushed over.
Fortunately, there were no other enemies around. The injured werewolf girl didn't attack; she merely weakly raised her head, her amber pupils flashing with surprise when she saw Hagrid.
"Hagrid," her voice was hoarse and breathless, "Fenrir Greyback and his accomplices attacked us. Some of our own defected to them."
"Greyback?" Snape asked alertly. "He's here?"
If the most vicious werewolf in the world, whose mission was to bite and infect as many people as possible, was in the Forbidden Forest, then he must be here on Voldemort's orders.
"Yes," Lyka nodded, a pained expression on her face. "He found us, demanding we side with the Dark Lord—" Her voice suddenly choked, and a painful cough made her curl up even tighter.
"Let's treat her first," Snape noticed her injuries were worse than they appeared. He took three bottles of his self-made healing potions from his inner robe pocket, his gaze sweeping over the other two figures. "Are they all enemies?"
"The one without a shirt is an enemy," Lyka said, casting a worried glance at the werewolf with more beastly features. "The other is a companion."
Snape immediately went to check on the one with more werewolf traits and cast a nonverbal Severing Charm on the other figure lying in the pool of blood, but he showed no reaction, clearly beyond saving.
Under the effect of the healing charm, Lyka's companion slowly woke up, and Snape handed him a potion bottle.
"This is for you," he said, walking over to Lyka. "Powerful healing potion, try it."
Lyka looked at the bottle with some caution, her nostrils flaring.
With Hagrid's confirming nod, she took a bottle, and at the same time said to her companion, "Wait a moment, I'll drink first."
She tilted her head back and drank the potion. Almost immediately, her tense muscles relaxed slightly, and the wounds on her body began to heal at a visible rate.
"Drink," she told her companion, while turning to look at Snape kindly, stating directly, "Thank you, Lyka Lupa, werewolf."
The other werewolf also drank the potion. Their complexions improved significantly, but injuries of that severity would take longer to fully recover.
"Oh, by the way," Lyka struggled to stand up, but fell back down. "We also have—"
Her words were interrupted by Dobby's sudden shriek: "Someone's coming! Many of them! Southeast direction!"
Chaotic footsteps and low growls emanated from the distant trees. Hagrid immediately grabbed the two weak werewolves like they were chickens. "We need to get back to the castle! Now!"
"No!" Lyka desperately tried to break free from Hagrid's large hand, the fur on her tail bristling. "There are other companions... they're locked up in the camp..."
"It's too dangerous!" Hagrid's voice was unusually stern. "We need to find Dumbledore first!"
"No need," Snape said calmly, his wand already pointed in the direction of the sounds. "They're already here."
Hagrid quickly put Lyka and her companion down, raising his giant crossbow.
The bushes violently shook, and five or six figures emerged from the darkness.
First out was a half-human, half-wolf creature. Its yellow eyes glowed in the dark, and jagged, ape-like teeth protruded from its snarling mouth.
"Viktor," Lyka watched the newcomer with hatred, saying coldly, "you brought them here."
"Lyka, you can't blame me!" Viktor shrieked, a mad glint in his eyes. "After all this time, I finally understand that we'll be better off under the Dark Lord's rule! I don't want to stay in this wretched forest anymore!"
Lyka tried to retort, but then, several other shabbily dressed figures followed Viktor into the moonlight.
Snape's gaze immediately locked onto the man walking at the front—a huge, long-limbed man. His grey hair and bushy beard were matted, his face scarred, a cruel smile on his lips, and long, yellow fingernails on his grimy fingers.
From him, Snape also smelled a pungent, unpleasant odor, a mixture of dirt, sweat, and—blood.
"Greyback," Hagrid pointed his giant crossbow directly at Fenrir Greyback. "You shouldn't be here. This is Dumbledore's territory."
"Oh, Hagrid, is there no one else?" Greyback grinned, exposing his pointed teeth, slowly and sickeningly licking his lips. "Do you intend to fight me with that little toy?"
His voice was strange, unlike anything Snape had ever heard: a hoarse, grating growl.
"I see, Dumbledore isn't here," Greyback turned to Lyka, a cruel pleasure sparkling in his eyes. "As for you traitors—tonight will be your last night."
"Coming to Hogwarts was indeed a good assignment," his gaze greedily fell on Snape, his voice grating like sandpaper. "What an unexpected bonus. How I love children, they taste so good, so very good..."
Saying that, he picked at his front teeth with a yellow fingernail, grinning menacingly at Snape. "I can have you as dessert, lovely child—"
"But I only find you rather disgusting," Snape said coldly, a look of distaste on his face as he glared at Greyback.
"I only hope your bones will be harder than your mouth in a moment," Greyback spread his hands, revealing his dirty, pointed teeth.
"Dobby," Snape whispered, "get ready to take them away."
His lips barely moved, his voice so low that only the house-elf beside him could catch it.
The house-elf nervously clutched Snape's robes, his long ears trembling.
Greyback took a step forward, and the werewolves behind him fanned out.
Some of them looked unwilling, their eyes flickering—they might have been forced to join.
"Hand over the traitor," Greyback pointed at Lyka. "Perhaps I'll grant you a quick death."
"Is that so?" Snape calmly looked at Greyback. He knew werewolves had strong resistance to most spells, but the Killing Curse was equally lethal to any creature. The problem was, he had never used this spell on a person. "Avada Kedavra!"
A green light immediately illuminated Greyback's terrified face.
"No!" he roared, grabbing a werewolf beside him and shielding himself.
The werewolf, struck by the spell, immediately slumped.
At the same time, Snape shouted, "Now, Dobby!" Nagini also slithered out of his sleeve.
The house-elf grabbed the hands of the two injured werewolves and vanished with a pop.
Greyback let out an enraged roar, a sound that made the surrounding trees tremble.
Hagrid swiftly fired an arrow, striking a charging werewolf in the shoulder.
Greyback also pulled out his wand—and a blinding green light flew towards Snape.
At this point, two other werewolves were already mere feet away; Snape could even smell the blood and decay on them.
He quickly dodged, waving his wand, and an invisible solid barrier instantly formed, deflecting the werewolves' sharp claws, though the impact still sent him staggering back a few steps.
The green light grazed one of Greyback's werewolf companions' ears, and he instantly shivered, instinctively moving away from Snape.
"Attack!" Greyback roared. "Those who retreat die!"