The Beast of Knockturn Alley

Wolpertinger hunt

A/N: It seems to have become a tradition for this story to be inspired by unrelated prompts. This chapter was written for a prompt for my awesome discord writing group. The challenge was to incorporate a wolpertinger into a story. What's a wolpertinger? Find out here.

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Meeting a werewolf pack was going nothing like what Remus had expected. Instead of meeting a band of brutes, he found a normal family, chaotic — yes, but normal. Perhaps their relative normalcy was due to their mixed wolf status, or perhaps they would all have been exactly the same even if they were all infected with the wolf's curse.

Remus followed Marta outside to where her brothers were waiting. Her parents were chilling on a bench on a backdrop of a rose garden in full bloom. Johnny and Luca were shoving each other playfully while two family dogs ran around them, sensing the excitement of the coming game.

"The rules are simple," Oliver announced. "Johnny, you take Boss. Luca, take Sam." He pointed at Remus, Marta, and himself. "We use our wolf senses. Bring a wolpertinger back here first and win the surprise prize."

The boys immediately called over the dogs to them.

"Boss is the better sniffer," Johnny said, patting the large dog on his bushy mane.

"But Sam is faster," Luca said, rubbing his dog's back. He looked up at Remus and winked. "I bet I can beat you."

Remus leaned towards Marta. "What's a wolpertinger?"

She popped a stick of gum in her mouth and chewed with her mouth open. "They're these rabbits with wings, horns, and fangs. There are loads of them in the woods there." She pointed at the line of trees at the boundary of their property. "They smell unlike anything else. You'll recognize it immediately."

"A winged rabbit?"

"With horns and fangs. We call them wolps too."

She offered him gum, and he shook his head to decline. He wasn't convinced he wanted to play this game. It was true that his sense of smell was better than an ordinary human's, but he couldn't compete against dogs while in his human form.

The boys began lining up, Oliver was already sniffing the air.

"Maybe I'll sit this out," Remus murmured, thinking he would much better enjoy being a spectator like her parents.

"Come on," Marta said, pushing him to get in line. "It's time you had fun with your wolf senses."

He reluctantly let himself be led and stood next to Luca, who held his dog's collar. On the other side of the line, Oliver was giving him a stink-eye as if daring him to quit.

"Pssst," Luca whispered, "wolps like snacking on berries."

"Thanks," Remus answered, already making up his mind that he would only pretend to play along.

Oliver announced the start, and they took off.

Luca was about to outrun him, and Remus instinctually sped up, not wanting to suffer the embarrassment of being slower than a fourteen-year-old. He didn't even notice how fast he sprinted until he passed the tree line. The others soon joined him and slowed down. The boys urged their dogs to search while Oliver and Marta raised their noses to taste the air.

This was ridiculous. Was that strange creature even real? How was he supposed to find it? He picked a direction and scanned the foliage for evidence of animals.

Mosquitos buzzed around his ears while trees swayed overhead. The sounds of his competitors were dulling as they spread further apart. Only an occasional dog bark reminded him that they were nearby. For a moment, he thought he saw something move in the knee-high ferns, only to discover light streaming through the trees and dancing on the ground.

He was tempted to sit on a stump and wait it out but remembered the purpose of this visit. Marta was convinced that he would be happier if he wasn't trying to suppress his werewolf nature. What harm was there in humoring her?

He inhaled deeply and focused on individual scents. Damp foliage and earthy fungus jumped out at him, followed by tree sap and a hint of a distant pine. The woods creaked as a mild breeze carried a sweet scent of flowers while birds took turns singing their high-pitched songs.

It had been a while since he enjoyed a nature walk. He forgot how peaceful it was. He raised his face to the patches of sky peeking through the trees and got lost in the rhythmic swaying of the branches, the shimmering green crown of trees conversing with each other. Among the familiar scents hid another, animal musk, he realized.

He immediately snapped to attention and focused on the scent. He stepped carefully, mindful that a snap of a twig under his foot would spook the animal. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, ready to immobilize the creature, whatever it turned out to be. Heart hammering in his chest, he searched the foliage.

And there it was. He was so stunned, he forgot what he was supposed to do. Right in front of him, munching on blueberries, was a horned rabbit. It noticed him and started hopping away, and he instinctively yelled out, "Immobulus."

It froze in the running position with its legs stretched out. He poked the ridged horn with his wand, checking if it was real.

"Unbelievable," he murmured, wondering if this animal was in any way magical.

He lifted it by its hind legs, keeping it away from himself, and laughed out loud. Maybe he wasn't a completely useless werewolf after all.

He was grinning as he made his way out of the woods and walked back to Marta's house. Her parents were no longer there, so he waited alone, the immobilized horned rabbit next to his feet. He couldn't believe that he won this game. It was easier than he thought.

A few minutes later, Oliver and Marta emerged from the woods and each sprinted towards the house, carrying their own rabbits, which were squirming in their grips.

"What is that?" Oliver barked at Remus.

Remus looked at the animal steadily breathing by his feet. He forgot what it was supposed to be called.

Marta was panting heavily and struggling with her catch and finally resorted to releasing it. "Is it dead?"

"No, I immobilized it. It's painless and temporary."

He now started to notice why they looked so confused. The rabbits they had caught were winged and had long fangs. His did not. What indeed did he catch?

"You used magic!" Oliver accused. "I knew that you would cheat."

"Only so it wouldn't struggle and get hurt," Remus replied.

"No," Oliver dangled his winged rabbit in front of him. "You probably tried to transfigure a regular rabbit so it would resemble a wolpertinger, but your magic is not good enough."

"I did no such thing," Remus defended, looking to Marta for help. "I wouldn't cheat like that."

"Then how do you explain this... this unnatural thing?"

Remus looked at his rabbit and at what Oliver had caught. It was a different species. Aside from the wings and fangs, Oliver's rabbit's horns resembled deer antlers while Remus' rabbit's horns resembled antelope horns. Antelope! He remembered how he had heard of this mythical animal.

"It's a jackalope," he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

He took out his wand, released the spell, and the animal scurried away. "You win, Oliver. You brought a wolpertinger back here first."

Oliver opened and closed his mouth like he wanted to argue but finally released his animal as well. "I guess I have."

Marta raised her brother's arm to indicate his victory and linked her arms through both of their elbows.

"There's only one thing left to do before we celebrate," she said, looking from Oliver to Remus. "Let's find Luca and Johnny before mom starts panicking."