Harry grabbed Hermione by the upper arm and dragged her off down the street until they were a decent distance away from Grimmauld Place. He could tell that she was about to say something so he clamped his hand over her mouth. He bent his head towards her.

"There is someone or something following us." He whispered so quietly that even though his mouth was right beside her ear, she barely heard him. "Don't say anything and don't stop moving until I tell you to."

She noticed that his eyes were glowing softly white but not as much as they had before and there was no change in his voice. What shook her was the fact that he seemed scared. She followed silently as he led the way into a narrow alleyway between two houses. His head was constantly roving around to spot the follower. He would stop once every minute or so to close his eyes. It only lasted a few seconds at most before he would open his eyes, shake his head and continue moving. All the while, she could feel him getting more and more nervous and that, in turn, made her more and more nervous.

They were almost running now and he stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back and fell onto her behind with an 'oomph'. She frantically got up. She was about to talk again when she heard it. It was a cross between laboured breathing and deep growling. Drawing her wand from her pocket, her head whipped around, looking for the source of the noise. Whatever that thing was, it sure wasn't friendly. Unfortunately, she didn't see it even as it pounced on top of her, making her crash to the ground again. In a panic, she made her wand shoot sparks and hit whatever it was that was lying on top of her.

Her spell hit it and for a second, it was outlined in a faint red and she could see its general shape before it once again became invisible. It towered over her and the most noticeable thing about it was the great long horn that erupted from the top of its head. The creature itself was over nine feet in length and the horn must have been, at the very least, a good three feet. Also, it was pointed right at her face ready to impale her. Being as shocked as she was, she wasn't able to think properly, let alone come up with a way to get away. Luckily, for her, Harry, seeing her in trouble, knew exactly what to do. He extended his hand towards the creature and with a deep crackling and loud boom, a streak of blue-white lighting impacted against the creature. It was thrown off her quite violently and crashed against the wall where it flickered twice and became fully visible. It was human shaped but out of proportion. It had great long arms that dragged along the ground as it picked itself up off the ground. The mouth was wider and as it snarled at them, they both saw the 3-inch long fangs protruding from its mouth.

In a sudden movement that was too fast for Hermione to even see, the creature, whatever it was, pounced. It could move astonishingly fast for something that looked so ungainly. Once again, Harry came to her rescue. It was in mid air, headed straight for her when another bolt of lightning hit it. However the lightning did not stop. It kept flowing off Harry and striking the creature, which was now pinned to the wall of the alley by the force of it. Hermione could only watch in awe as Harry kept this up for a full thirty seconds before stopping. He was panting slightly but was otherwise fine. Amazingly, the creature, although it was looking char-grilled, landed on its feet once the assault stopped. It observed them for a second before bending its knees and leaping onto the roof of a 3 story building and escaping from their view. Making sure to have her wand at the ready, Hermione approached Harry to make sure he was okay.

"Harry, are you alright?" She asked worriedly. She had seen the kind of power that Harry had back at Grimmauld Place and if him hitting a creature with what looked like lightning for thirty seconds wasn't enough to bring it down, then she was sure that she never wanted to go up against said creature.

"Yeah I'm fine" He replied, still a little breathless. "Come on, let's get out of here before it decides to change its mind and come back again. I doubt it was travelling alone and even if it was, it won't be for much longer."

"What was that thing? I've never heard of anything like it." She asked Harry after they had apparated out. They had first apparated from the alley to Hogsmeade, then to a quiet corner of Diagon Alley, and finally, to Hermione's house. This, Harry said, was because the thing that had been following them was able to follow the magical signatures left by apparition and could possibly come after them if they didn't take a few detours first.

"I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of them. In fact, I would have been downright shocked if you had. Those are the Hunters. They were created because the angels were looking to create the perfect assassins. They are incredibly resistant to all forms of attack be it muggle or magical. I have seen them survive through the avada kedavra curse and from direct shots from a muggle rifle without batting an eye. One of the only things that can stand up against them are angels. They are almost completely impervious to magic in any form, which is why they are the perfect tools against wizards and other magic users. "

He was pacing around the living room, running his hands through his hair. Hermione didn't fail to notice that he now made no differentiation between himself and Diallo. It most likely meant that they were now fully integrated. Indeed, she saw that his eyes had a soft white glow around them even though she was sure it was Harry talking and not Diallo.

"They were given intelligence so that they would be able to improvise. For a time, they were perfect. Obedient, deadly and damn near invincible. Then, the troubles began. They started to go wild. They stopped obeying orders and became riotous, going on killing rampages. The project was immediately scrapped. All the research was destroyed and all of the remaining ones were hunted down and destroyed. At least that's what we were told. Either they have rebuilt them or they lied to us about destroying them. The one we faced was harder to destroy than it should have been. That would indicate that these are newly created versions. Even with all my new powers it was quite hard to fight against it. I doubt most angels would last very long against it."

He was mostly talking to himself at this point and looking altogether quite frustrated and she was worried that if this went on, it would result in a release of accidental magic. She got up and walked to him. With an arm around his waist, she dragged him back to the sofa and made him sit. She ran a hand lovingly through his hair.

"Harry, what's wrong? I know you're worried about this Hunter thing but there's more to it than that isn't there?" She said. It was more of a statement than a question really. Knowing him for so many years, she knew what his mannerisms were and that included when he tried to keep something from her. He sighed.

"Voldemort has captured Remus Lupin. It happened 4 days ago while he was on a mission. He has been taken to Voldemort's hideout and is most likely being tortured for information at this very moment if he isn't already dead." He said solemnly.

"What?" She said but it came out as a mere whisper. She didn't want to believe it. She was not overly fond of Remus as he had made the same mistake of sacrificing a close one to Azkaban not once but twice. However, no one deserved the torture that you-know-who was capable of. Now that he also had the dementors on his side, it was likely to be doubly worse. "How did you figure this out?" She asked.

"Used Legilimancy on Dumbledore to find out what else he has been hiding from me." He told her.

"Dumbledore knows? Why hasn't he gone to rescue him already?" She gasped, shocked.

"He feels that it's too much of a security risk." Harry spat. "I suppose we shouldn't really be all that surprised really. It's not like it's the first time he has refused to help someone when they really need it." He said bitterly, not looking at her.

"I don't know what to do." He said despondently. "Part of me wants to leave him there and let him get what I feel he deserves. I want each and every single one of them to feel the pain that I went through. The other part of me says that if I do that, I become no better than them, and that, is something that is not acceptable for me to do. When I was being dragged out of that courtroom, one of the first things I did was to promise myself that if I, by some chance, happened to find a way out of Azkaban, I would never become like them. I know what I should do, but what I should do and what I want to do are at the completely opposite end of the scale. How do I decide what to do?" The last was uttered in a state of complete desperation.

"Harry, I've said it many times before and I doubt that this will be the last time I say it. You are heroic to a fault. I know that you would never be able to live with yourself if you didn't at least try to save him. I also know that you are nothing like Dumbledore. You can never resist running off to help any poor soul you might happen to come across. It's one of the things I love about you but it's also one of the things that I hate because you usually get hurt whenever you do. You and I both know what you're going to do. You, being who you are, could never do anything else."

She was wearing a sad smile. She knew she was right but she wished to Merlin that she hadn't been. She wished they could just run off somewhere and never worry about anything ever again but knew that it was not going to happen. She worried constantly that he was going to be hurt or end up dead.

He nodded with his eyes closed and sighed. "Somehow, I knew you were going to say something along those lines. Well I guess I'd better get ready to go." He walked into her bedroom leaving a stunned Hermione behind.

"You're going now?" She yelled after him. "Without a plan or anything?"

"Well… yeah. I'm just going to apparate in, fetch him and apparate out. I'll be back in fifteen minutes." He replied matter-of-factly walking back into the room wearing white robes. They had gold runes all over them and in total; it made him look damn impressive.

"Well you're not going anywhere without me." She said standing. "Now, the faster you get me a pair of those nifty robes, the faster we can apparate to wherever he is and get him out." She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently.

"I uh… I don't think it's safe for you to come with me." He said timidly, guessing that she would blow up at him.

"I thought we were just going to apparate in and apparate out." She said crossly, daring him to defy her.

"Well there might be death eaters. I don't want to see you get hurt." He said and he cringed before he had even finished talking as he saw how steamed she was at that.

"Listen here Harry. If you think I'm going to hang back, wait for you while you go off, and risk your neck, you have another thing coming. I am just as involved in this as you are. I was there at the death eater attack at Diagon Alley and I can take care of myself."

She found herself suddenly dressed in robes that were identical to Harry's in style. Checking herself out in a mirror, she found that when the hood was over her head, it totally encompassed her head in shadows so deep that you couldn't see into it at all. Harry looked the same except his eyes were glowing an unearthly white from the shadows.

"I'm hoping that if we do run into death eaters, they'll piss themselves." He made his wings become visible and created two slits in the robes to allow them free movement. He turned to her.

"You ready?" He asked her and he sounded eager. 'The death eaters aren't going to know what hit them' she thought happily to herself.

She nodded and Harry grabbed her by the arm. The Riddle House in Little Hangleton loomed over them and even though it was not yet dark, it exuded a feeling of darkness.

Quietly making their way through large gardens of the house, they came to the large front doors. There were no lights or sounds coming from inside the house and Harry wondered if Dumbledore had been mistaken in his thinking that this would be where Remus was. Not bothering to be cautious anymore, he flung both of the doors wide open. They resisted at first but when he put his magic behind the effort, they didn't stand a chance and almost blew off their hinges.

He was greeted by the sight of more than ten death eaters who seemed to be shocked into silence at his abrupt appearance within their lair. Deciding not to waste any time, Harry put up a shield around himself and one around Hermione and then started firing off his own curses at an incredible rate. Unfortunately for the death eaters, these weren't normal curses. Mixing the angel and human allowed him to utilise a type of magic that was different and so the shields that the death eaters had put up didn't work. He shoved his way past their meagre defences and once again, using the same lightning that he had used on the Hunter, he char-grilled half of them. Hermione was still engaged in a duel with one of the death eaters but as soon as they all saw what Harry had done, they made quick to run towards the passage at the other end of the entrance hall. Harry and Hermione made to follow but as soon as the other death eaters passed by, reinforcements arrived. There were now over 50 death eaters arrayed before them, blocking their passage. Harry's more angelic instincts came into play and he suddenly didn't care about whether or not these people lived or died. He sent out a pulse of energy forwards into their midst. The air rippled and the death eaters were knocked off their feet in a very violent fashion. Hitting the walls, some of them broke their necks and their backs while others were lucky enough to be simply unconscious. Several made attempts to get up but they were halted by a now furious half angel, half human, super-being who swiped a hand in their general direction and all but knocked their heads off their necks.

Interrogating the one death eater he had left in a semi-aware state, he headed to the basement where he now knew Remus was being kept. Harry didn't like the look of the various implements sprawled around on the tables. They were caked in blood, as was the floor, and the whole room permeated a smell of rotting flesh, urine and faeces. One side of the nearly 50 foot wide room was lined with cages, the interiors of which contained the corpses of those who had already died and the others who were alive, none of whom seemed to be in a state to put up a struggle.

The worst however, was Remus Lupin who was lying prone on one of the tables, various painful looking devices next to him. There were slash marks across his chest with blood pouring freely out of them. Half of his wounds had been pounded with salt to make it all the more painful. These men didn't use the cruciatus. Not when the sight of such horror and disfigurement was enough to break anyone and everyone around them.

He ran over to Remus's side, Hermione close behind. She was covering her mouth and nose so as to not throw up right there and then. Harry quickly performed all the healing charms that he could without trying anything too difficult. Anything too difficult might cause more harm than good and angelic magic didn't seem to incorporate a lot of healing. It was mostly offensive.

Remus's eyes fluttered open groggily and he hissed in pain from what remained of his wounds as he tried to move.

"Harry?" He asked deliriously. "Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Harry. Dumbledore had me under a spell. I never meant to betray you. Why do you have wings?" Was all he managed before he was unconscious once more from the pain.

"We can't apparate him out in this condition. It's too likely that he'll get hurt even more and I don't think his body can handle it." Harry said to Hermione who was not able to look at Remus and was instead keeping a watch on the doors for more death eaters.

"Well splint him up and let's get out of here then. I don't wasn't to be here for any longer than we have to be."

With a few medical scans, Harry found that Remus's head, neck and spine were all quite battered. Harry placed a full body bind on him so that he would remain stable. With a quick "mobilicorpus" Harry went for the door.

"Harry, you can't just leave all these other people here." Hermione said, stopping him mid-stride. He turned to face her, his face sombre.

"We can't do anything right now Hermione. They are too injured to be moved and even if we healed them all, they would still have to be moved one by one. We have to get Remus out of here first. Then I'll come back and get them all out. So that no more death eaters can get in, we'll lock the place down, but right now, we have to get going."

Tearing her eyes away from the horrid scene, she left with Harry, knowing that he was right. Once they were out of the basement, Hermione placed a complex locking and sealing ward around the whole basement and together with Harry, they both left the house, happy to not have any more confrontations. The plan was that Hermione would apparate back and Harry would fly with Remus strapped to Harry's front. Harry took off with powerful strokes of his wings and flew into the sun, which was now beginning to set. It was only an hour's flight to get to Hermione's but it seemed that even that was too long as she was pacing around her living room when he got there. She had already called in a healer and they had gotten an area ready for Remus.

After setting him down, Harry nearly collapsed himself. He had spent quite a lot of energy fighting and he didn't seem to be able to reach into his wells of energy as easily as before. Not to mention that it was his first proper test of his wings and that he had had a 180 pound deadweight strapped to him. The muscles on his back that controlled his wings felt as if they were on fire.

"Well you got to him just in time." The healer said as she ran her wand over Remus body. The tip of her wand first blinked a green light and went slowly to murky yellow. "I don't know how long this has been going on but he wouldn't have lasted another day in this condition." She performed a long series of healing spells on him and reaching into a bag that must have been bigger on the inside than on the outside, she left them several batches of potions. "He has to take the blue ones once every 6 hours and the green ones once a day. Make sure that he doesn't leave that bed for at least a week. After that, get him to a healer for a progress check. He won't be doing anything too strenuous for a few months at the very least."

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, knowing that Remus's werewolf transformations were likely to fall under the category of strenuous. They thanked the healer and were informed that the bill would be owled to them. They drew up chairs and sat around the bed, watching Remus's chest rise and fall.