Chapter Text
After scoffing the remains of his breakfast and thanking Sirius again for his gifts Bigby headed to the downstairs bathroom. Like Hogwarts, the original Grimmauld had enchantments to simulate running water in the bathrooms and toilets. Unfortunately, the enchantments ran off ambient magic, and since no one had stepped foot in Grimmauld for hundreds of years the enchantments had fizzled out over time. So, as it stood Bigby was stuck washing in a basin with a cloth. “This is a pain in the ass, hope Sirius can get the water going again.” Bigby remarked to himself, his thoughts turning to Nevermore as he washed. Nevermore, his soon to be new School, his clean slate. A fresh start, a fresh start he was still unsure about, but he would try, Cedric would certainly have been disappointed in him if he did not, Luna certainly would she always had a big heart. With a huff Bigby threw the washcloth back into the basin and went to get dressed, shoving down the emotions that began to bubble up due to his thoughts.
Bigby headed to the room next door to the bathroom, the only thing of notice in the room apart from dusty furniture was a rectangle walnut brown crossbody bag, it was secured with two black buckles, a dial lock on the bag flap, and a removable strap for carrying. The bag was bewitched with an extension charm, and a cloaking charm to disguise the entrance. It was equipped with six rooms, a common room, three bedrooms, a bathroom, equipment/potion room and few other interesting addons. Luckly the bag was also equipped with a sticking charm to secure it in place.
Opening the lid Bigby climbed inside to get ready. He settled on practicality over fashion with what he wore, a byproduct of being on the run with Cedric and Sirius after fourth year. He had chosen a pair of black combat boots, the leather cracked, nicked, and scratched all over, they were the perfect footwear for all types of terrain. They served him well on the horcrux hunt. Dark heavy denim cargo trousers covered his legs. He settled on one of the t-shirts Sirius had recently bought for him, a grey Henley shirt. The only clothing that really stood out was his new leather jacket, left open to combat the heat outside.
Bigby strode down the dusty corridors of Grimmauld place his boots making a steady thud as he made his way to the entrance into the mansion, his helmet was held securely under his right arm, the keys to the motorcycle were stored in the breast pocket of his jacket. On his way he took note of the ancient artefacts that littered the passageways of the mansion, the cobwebs and dust that covered them the day before was stripped away, in fact most would look brand new, if not for the weathered look of time. ‘Dobby must've gotten to this part of the mansion already’ Bigby mused a slight smile tugging at his lips in his amusem*nt of the energetic elf.
“Be safe out there!” hollered Sirius, his head appearing around the kitchen door, with a slight look of concern on his brow.
“I’ll be fine Sirius; pretty sure some tourist trap town isn’t going to have anything that is a threat to us” Bigby said with a smirk; reaching the front door as he spoke, he swung the large slab of oak with ease. “Want me to pick anything up for you in town?” Bigby questioned.
“I’m good harry, thanks though son.” Sirius replied with a warm smile. Acknowledging his Godfathers words with a nod Bigby turned and ventured outside. The gravel crunched under Bigby’s feet as he headed down the drive to his new motorcycle. The late August weather was in full force, the gentle breeze ruffled the leaves of the tress, and bringing respite from the heat of summer sun. the sunlight reflected of his bike, striking him in the eyes as if the motorcycle itself was demanding his attention.
Reaching the motorcycle Bigby wasted no time straddling the mix of engineering and enchantments, his very own half-blood bike, he couldn’t help but crack a grin at the thought. Placing the key into the ignition and turning it, his smile grew even wider at the purr the engine let out in return. Bigby only got to ride the motorcycle around the house and the forest in Orlando, this would be his first time taking it out on the open road. Securing his helmet upon his head, Bigby knocked back the kickstand and revved the bike full throttle. Like a bat out of hell he headed down the drive, the wheels of the bike spitting gravel with ferocity as he did so. Taking a sharp turn at the gates of the property, Bigby gunned it down the open road his jacket flapping wildly in the wind. Keeping the speed at comfortable sixty miles an hour, Bigby noticed a sign stating Jericho was thirty miles away. A car was quickly approaching him head on in his lax of concentration. ‘sh*t, wrong side!’ Bigby realised, swerving out of the way of the car. The driver holding down the horn and hurling profanities at him. ‘Right side, Bigby, not left, right,’ he repeated to himself.
Parking his bike on the side of the road Bigby placed a handful of loose change in the meter on his right. The first thing that happened was the smell of the town assaulting his nose, as he removed his helmet. Bigby grimaced, reaching into the right inner pocket of his jacket, he brought out a paper packet of cigarettes. The packet was coloured with a faded red top the left corner of the packet was torn open, the remaining colour of the packet was white. The words Huff & Puff where written bold across the front of the packet. Bigby tapped the pack against the knuckles of his left-hand causing the top of a cigarette to be forced out, bringing the packet up to his lips he plucked the cig out the pack before returning the pack to his pocket. He did this little ritual before every smoke; the old bastard taught it to him in Surrey when he was eight not long after his first change, claimed it was good luck, and that smoking would help stop his sensory overload. Even in a small town like Jericho his nose struggled to manage all the smells assaulting him, from the extreme amount of perfume the girl across the road was wearing, to the smell of the trash truck three blocks away. It was too much for him, for anyone.
Raising the tip of his left thumb to the end of the coffin nail hanging from his lips, “Ignis” he muttered causing a sharp blue flame to ignite the digit tip of his thumb, the obsidian of his ring glowing softly the same hue in beat with the flame. Bigby eyed the ring, he hated the bloody thing and what it represented, but damn was the wandless magic useful. Shaking his head he pressed the flame covering his thumb against the cig. The flame brought the cig to life a permanent blue ring burning into existence at end of it. Taking a deep drag Bigby felt his sense of smell begin to dull, flooding his system with relief. Allowing his eyes to roam across the town centre looking for something to gain his interest, a neon sign on a corner street ca
“Weathervane huh? There is a damn wind pun about directions and me, that Sirius would make if he were here, I just f*cking know it.” Bigby cringed at the thought. With a sigh he grumbled “Screw it, I Could go for some coffee.” The cig still hanging loosely in his mouth Bigby strode towards the glass café door. A bell dinged above his head as he stepped inside, alerting the other customers to his arrival. The patrons seemed to scrutinize Bigby as he made his way to the counter, as he stalked through the shop. Reaching the counter, Bigby eyed the board above the baristas searching for his drink of choice; a black americano. With a nod of his head, he switched his gaze over to the teen stood at the counter. He had light brown hair and stood taller than Bigby, if he had to guess Bigby would put him at 5’11 compared to his 5’9, he had deep-seated green eyes, though they were more neutral in colour compared to Bigby’s forest green, his face was littered with freckles and moles that lead all the way down to a rounded chin. The apron on his chest had a red tag with the name ‘Tyler Galpin’ in black cursive on it.
Taking a drag from his cig, Bigby spoke “black Americano, two sugars” the smoke drifted from him mouth as he did so.
“Uh yeah sure no problem, man, but smoking isn’t allowed in here, do you mind putting it out?” he asked with a sheepish smile.
“Parvum ignem” Bigby muttered, the blue flame seemed to snuff itself out of existence in response to his words. Eyeing the remaining half of his cigarette, Bigby placed it behind his ear for later. “That better?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow. The barista: Tyler, seemed caught off guard for a moment before quickly recovering.
“T-thanks man! So, I’m guessing you’re Nevermore student?” Tyler speculated.
“No, not yet. Supposed to start in two days’ time. Thought I would explore the town, see the sights and all that sh*t. I recently moved outside of town itself” Bigby stated in response.
“Cool, that’s cool” Tyler replied, an uncomfortable smile on his face, a stretch of silence seemed to hang in the air for a minute.
Bigby let out a cough “so, my coffee?” This seemed to break the awkwardness between them, shaking Tyler out of the uneasy state he was in.
“Coffee! Right, black americano, two sugars! Pick a table and I’ll bring it over when it’s ready” A more comfortable smile seemed to slip onto Tyler’s face, though he still seemed tense. Bigby stared at Tyler, Tyler’s smile strained in response. With a grunt Bigby turned around to find a place to sit; there in the corner of the shop away from any windows, an unobstructed view of the entrance to the café and the café itself a perfect spot. Bigby watched the inhabitants of the café as he waited, an old couple sat chatting not far from in front of him, they seemed to be shotting him looks occasionally, a group of teenage girls where whispering and giggling to themselves, only he and one other person seemed to be sat alone in the café, a studious looking red head surrounded by books. Bigby turned his gaze back to the front of the shop, Tyler was smashing messages away on his phone before heading over to Bigby with his coffee.
“Here you go, one americano two sugars. Hope you enjoy” muttered Tyler before heading back to the front of the shop, raising his eyebrow Bigby shrugged and took a swing of his coffee, something felt off about the barista, Bigby couldn’t seem to be able to place a finger on it.
“Hello my champion.” A feminine voice spoke in front of him, the voice sounded both young and old, hateful, loving, and melancholic at the same time. It sounded as if a hundred voices were speaking at once with only one slightly ahead of all the others. Bigby’s head snapped in front of him observing the figure that sat unnaturally straight opposite him. She was dressed in a knee length black skirt, which showed her long curvy legs clad in black stockings. Her top half was covered in a modest dark shirt that hugged her body complimenting her figure. Her skin seemed inhumanly flawless; her mouth was set in a smile that showed off her perfect teeth with canines that were sharper than most. That’s where all normality ended in her appearance, her skin seemed to simply disappear when it reached the bottom of her cheek bones; instead of skin there was bleach white calcium, where there should have been a nose was just a dark hole that no light seemed to enter, if one looked close enough it seemed like the darkness itself was moving. Her eye sockets where empty beside the two specks of ruby light that hovered in the centre of the eye cavity like fireflies, they seemed to shine with mischief as she looked at him. Her midnight black hair floated above her shoulders seeming to move in any direction it liked, the hair itself was a mystery to him as there was no scalp for it to originate from. Her hands were interlocked on the table, her palms and knuckles had human flesh but her fingers where nothing but bone; the digits held together by the same darkness that filled her eyes. they were like a f*cked-up mockery of fingerless gloves.
“Death, I thought I told you and the old man to leave me the f*ck alone” Bigby responded without missing a beat, being careful to keep his voice down so people couldn’t hear him, he didn’t want them thinking he was talking to himself after all. Death simply smiled, that insufferable all-knowing smile that pissed Bigby off.
“You did” death spoke, her voices shifting between humour and annoyance at him. Bigby simply sent a withering glare at the entity before him, death simply continued to smile unfazed.
“What do you want death?” Bigby asked in exasperated, before taking a sip of his coffee.
“I came to warn you” her polyphonic spoke in response softly.
“Warn me?” Bigby asked with a furrowed brow, confusion evident on his face.
“This town, the darkness has made its move, the shadow has touched the souls of the weak and easily orchestrated.”
“Why does every powerful figure I meet feel the f*cking need to speak in riddles.” Bigby sighed in response, turning his head away from Death. “Look Death I appreciate the visit, and don’t think I don’t, cause I really do but please kindly f*ck-.” In a blink of an eye death was stood before him, her form looming over him. Death’s skeletal fingers became jagged and twisted, resembling claws more than human bones, they dug into the table leaving marks. Her stare pinned him to the seat, Bigby found himself unable to move a muscle, unable to look away from her eyes. The twin ruby sparks glowed with rage at him, they become hues of red that Bigby was sure no other human had seen before. The darkness of her sockets devoured the light around her, people in the café seemed to shiver as an uncomfortable pressure was forced over them and the air became frosty.
“The darkness has chosen this town to be the beginning of its revival! It has chosen its puppets to conduct its chaos and has already begun to pull their strings” Death’s voices had become sharp like glass and orotund in nature. “You are the chosen, wolf prince of wind; it is your Destiney to fight, you must accept this and prepare.” If Bigby could respond he would had denied her words, would have told her that destiny and herself could go f*ck itself, instead he was forced to sit in silence. “You must accept what you are! You are the wolf that shall do battle with the darkness, the harbinger of its defeat. This is why I choose you! This is why I gave you, my favour. You will fight for this is who you will be, who you were always meant to be.” Bigby’s sense of the world seemed to shake as Death spoke, sending waves of vertigo through him he squeezed his eyes shut waiting for the sensation to pass. When it finally did, he opened his eyes to find Death gone, the only proof she was there was the scratches left on the table.
“reparo” Bigby waved his hand, and watched the charm reverse the damage done to the table in thought. If death was involved then surely the old man was too, which meant he was going to be dealing with the type of pain in the ass that would require him putting his life on the line. Before he could dwell on it any longer the bell above the door of the shop jingled as group of teenage boys strode in making a ruckus as they did so. Bigby watched them for a second before deeming them unimportant and returned to his drink.
“Well, if it isn’t the species traitor! Got tired hanging with those f*cking freaks and mommy at that sh*tty school?” The group had formed themselves around the table the redhead he had spotted earlier, the lead boy a dark-skinned lad was the closest and seemed to be the one speaking.
The redhead sneered in response to the verbal assault. “Just leave me alone Walker, I’m just trying to study in peace.” Her response was crisp, showing her uninterest in the debacle forming around her.
“If you wanted to study in peace, you shouldn’t have come to town. If we hadn’t made it clear, you and your kind aren’t welcome here.” A cruel smile etched onto his lips as he spoke, his group of thugs made a buzz of agreement as he spoke.
“Which is it, am I species traitor or one of their kind? Make your mind up before you insult someone Lucas. After all you don’t want to seem more stupid than you already are right?” A triumph smirk made its way onto her face, Bigby couldn’t help but gain respect for the spine the girl showed. The smile on Lucas’ face was replaced with loathsome look as he stared down at the red head.
With swipe of his hand the dickhe*d knocked the books meticulously placed on the table onto the floor in one motion. “What the hell!?!” The red head shouted indignantly.
“You should keep your mouth shut if you knew what was good for you. Otherwise, you might lose a few teeth.” As he growled out his words, Tyler made his way towards the group, he towered over most of them in height but that didn’t seem to cause any alarm in the group of bullies.
“Guys leave her alone she’s just trying to study in peace, she hasn’t done anything to you.” Tyler spoke in defence of the girl, seeming to come to her rescue.
“Shut it Galpin, you used to hate these Nevermore freaks with us all the time. What happened to turn you into such a puss*?” One of the other boys questioned with an unkind chuckle.
“I grew up, just like the rest of you should. Look if you leave now and don’t cause any more problems, I won’t call the Sherriff to come kick you out. I’m sure your dad, you know the mayor, wouldn’t want to hear about his son getting picked up by the police.” This caused some apprehension in Walker for half a second as he looked around at his gang, he seemed to steel himself before turning back to Tyler.
“God you’re pathetic Galpin, gonna call your dad because you can’t fight the battles you pick.” Sneering at his once friend, his face morphed into a cruel smile, he motioned with his arms held wide around him. “Well why don’t we give the Sherriff a real reason for coming, by kicking your ass.” He finished his sentence by sucker punching Tyler sending him to the ground, before Galpin could even pull himself off the tilled floor a kick was launched into his gut by the biggest member of the wannabe thugs, forcing the wind out of his lungs.
“sh*t are you okay!” The red head asked scrambling of her seat to help him off the ground, leaning in close and whispering words of reassurance into the downed baristas’ ear, as she tried to help him up. The boys merely chuckled and cackled at the perceived humour of what their leader had done.
“Leave the poor boy alone! I’ll tell your father about this Walker! You don’t get to just do what you want!” The old man Bigby noticed earlier spoke up, his wife sending daggers at the group across from him.
“Shut the f*ck up old man! This has nothing to do with you!” Lucas roared in response; the old man chose to remain silence. “Now which one of you two should we f*ck up first; I know why don’t you pick?” Lucas motioned between the red head and Tyler as he spoke.
Bigby stared down at his coffee squeezing the mug till his knuckles were white, he looked at what was happening, then back to his coffee and seemed to come to a decision. “f*ck it.” With a growl he downed the remnants of his drink, slung his jacket over the chair he was sat on; he didn’t want to get blood on it, it was new after all, Bigby stomped over to his soon to be opponents. There were five of them, they were horribly outnumbered. Without saying a word, he tapped on one’s shoulder; he was tall, at least six foot and the one with the most muscle out of the group, the one who kicked Galpin, and the biggest threat out of the lot. Well as big as a threat they could be for a bunch of normals, he spun around in response.
“The hell do you-.” Before the lad could even get the rest of his sentence out Bigby grabbed him by the collar brought him down to his level and smashed his forehead viscously against the other boy’s nose. The force with what he was hit with sent him sprawling into his friends cradling his nose in his hands streams of blood flowing through his fingers.
“WHAT THE FU-”
“WHO THE HELL ARE-”
“JESUS MAN! Are you okay-”
The group held their friend up as they feel into disarray swearing and making exclamations of shock. “Now, I’m only going to say this once, you can take your friend and leave here, leave with just a broken nose. leave these people to enjoy the rest of their day in peace. Or you can try and stay, try, and fight, then I grind you into the ground. Now gents which will it be!” Bigby spoke with a predatory smirk, his hands co*ckily placed in his pockets. The teens sent each other unsure looks, Lucas sensing the apprehensive of his lackies stepped forward.
“There is five of us! Only one of you, we aren’t going anywhere! And you can’t make us do sh*t!” His words had the intended effect in rallying his friends, they formed a semi-circle around him staring at Bigby with barely contained violence. The one with the broken nose; stood the furthest away from Bigby, one of his hands held his tomato like nose while the other was clenched at his side blood dripped down his clenched fist, Bigby dubbed him Rudolf. Surprisingly it was the smallest of the group that charged forward first, he was slightly chubby in nature and only stood at 5’6 he seemed to plan to tackle Bigby, Bigby dubbed this one ‘doughboy’. Waiting till the last second Bigby sidestepped the attempt, grabbed his attacker by the back of the shirt with his left hand, pulled and lifted, causing the Doughboy to rise of the ground. Before Bigby brought him back down, smashing Doughboy’s back onto the tiles of the floor. Bigby’s right fist was already coming down like the hand of God before Doughboy could blink. The fist struck like hammer on a gavel between the lad’s eyes causing an instant knockout.
“Now there’s only four of you” Bigby said as he cracked his neck. “Which one of you is next?”
“f*ck! Look what he did to carter!”
“Just f*cking get him, get him!” Lucas yelled in fury and fear.
It’s worth mentioning that Bigby was never officially trained how to fight, after his first transformation all those years ago in the forest, violence came naturally to him. He would fight about anybody who tried to bully him or someone else in Little Whinging, or Hogwarts which meant while he didn’t have much in technique, he had experience, something these wannabe thugs lacked. Two charged him front on Rudolph, and another while Lucas stayed behind. Getting into what loosely represented a boxing-stance Bigby ducked under a wild haymaker thrown by Rudolf, still crouched he struck Rudolf’s right side under his ribcage aiming for his kidney. The punch hit like a cannon ball, making the taller boys knees go weak, before he could even plan a response Bigby grabbed the boys collar with his right hand and swung his left, the punch hit him on the nose, sending him to the floor like a marionette with it’s strings cut. ‘If his nose wasn’t broken before, it definitely is now’ Bigby mused to himself.
The second attacker was already upon Bigby, by the time the first had hit the ground. He had swung a hook, the punch struck Bigby on the cheek the ring the attacker wore causing a deep gouge, this didn’t seem to phase Bigby as he had already moved closer to his new opponent, back into his homemade boxing stance. Dodging the first punch, Bigby grabbed the other boy’s fist halfway through his punch with his right hand and grabbed the boy’s shirt with his left. Bringing him in close he head butted the boy once, twice, three times before letting go of his shirt. The teen stood there dazed and in pain as Bigby wound up his left arm, sending it like a rocket into the boy’s midsection, the punch sucked all the air out of his body sending spittle and blood flying out of his mouth as the boy fell to his knees. Bigby extended the arm he was still holding and struck the kneeling boy’s shoulder blade like thunder, surely dislocating it. Before the pain could even settle in, Bigby knocked him out with a light punch to the temple. Bigby turned to Lucas, he seemed frozen in place after watching the brutality that happened to his friends. Bigby paced towards him like starved animal presented with it’s first meal in weeks.
Dull pain blossomed across Biggby’s back and head, stopping him in his tracks. He felt snarl rise in his throat that threatened to escape through his lips before he could choke it down, the noise sounding more animal than man. He spun around, there stood the fourth boy the remains of a chair held in his hands, Bigby had forgotten about him, he chided himself for being so careless, so sloppy. “Did you just f*ckin hit me with a chair?” his upper lip curled as he spoke.
“…no?” He replied quickly, dropping what remained of the chair, and backing away slowly as spoke. “SSHHHIIITTT!!!” he shrieked as Bigby lifted him up in a tackle and slammed him onto a table, the force causing the table legs to buckle and give out under the weight. The wielder of the mighty chair had fallen, resigned to lay on the floor groaning in pain.
Bigby heard a scampering noise behind him, Lucas was making a break for the door, running away before Bigby’s attention could be on him. Without saying a word Bigby bent down and picked up a broken chair piece and with more strength then was really needed, lobbed it at Lucas’ head like javelin knocking him out before he could reach the door. With a self-satisfied smirk Bigby made his way over to his jacket, passing the gaggle of girls from earlier who were whispering with their phones out aimed at him as he walked past.
Grabbing his jacket and donning it again, he made his way over to Tyler and the red headed girl. On his way over he had removed the cigarette from behind his ear and placed it between his lips. “You alright man?” he questioned Tyler, he was leant against a table and talking to the girl who still was fussing over him.
“I’m all right, thanks for the safe man. I don’t think I would have been able to take them all.” He said bashfully, a grateful smile on his lips.
“Yeah thanks, I knew they were idiots. Just didn’t know they were violent idiots. My name is Ruby, the one who got punched is Tylor.” Now he was closer he got a better look at the red head; at Ruby she had short spikey hair, up closer it looked more auburn than the ginger he originally thought it was, knowing dark walnut eyes that were covered with the square wiry frame of glasses. Her nose was broad but not large on her face, it had silver hoop on the left nostril, giving her studious look an almost rebellious feeling to it.
“Don’t worry about it, they were bullies. I f*cking hate bullies” Bigby stated, muttering a quick Ignis to himself and raising his thumb to light the remaining half of his cigarette, taking note of the blood covering his knuckles, not that any of it was his.
“You still can’t smoke in here man company policy” Tyler spoke up looking sheepish.
“Really?” Bigby asked eyebrows raised as he shoot Tyler a look, Tyler merrily sent an apologetic smile in response. With a sigh Bigby shook his hand to dispel the flame. The bell of the shop jingled once again as a figure walked in, he had a what could only be described as a cowboy hat perched on his head which was glinting from the sun.
“What the hell happened here?!?” he exclaimed an expression a mix of annoyance and concern etched onto his face. His eyes zeroed in on Tyler, Bigby could see a resemblance between the two in their jaws and check bones. He looked like a more weathered grey version of the teen. “Son? What happened to your face?!” He demanded, the righteous fury only a father could have in his tone.
Tyler stepped away from the table and walked opposite the new arrival to the café, a look between relief and uneasiness on his face “Hey dad, I can explain.”
