Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in anyway shape or form; I just own the computer I type with and my own little ideas for twisting everything around.

A/N: (Damon Blade walked calmly out onto his stage taking only a moment to cheek all of his defences were in place and that no one was in hidden locations to attack him having learned that lesson when he announced the first chapter of Dragon Lords 2.)

Hello all and welcome to an un-beta story of mine that I started at the start of the New Year and I have to say it is looking pretty good so far, I also have to say I love my new word program as it picks up a lot of the little mistakes I make without a problem but I want to get your thoughts on that and see what everyone thinks, so without further adieu I give you all Wolf. Also I have sent the next chapter of Dragon Lords to my beta and she is going to be working on it when she gets the chances.

(Damon Blade starts to calmly walk off the stage only taking a moment to fire off a group of smoke bombs to get away without being hurt for posting this and not Dragon Lords Chapter 2)

Chapter 1: The Wolf.

'Why am I doing this again?' Eighteen-year-old Nymphadora Tonks thought to herself, as she entered the forest just outside of Surry. She had joined the Auror training program a few months ago now, and as a good little test run to see if she could handle a mission on her own, after the basics had been covered, she had been sent into Surry Forest to see about the weird magical flares that had gone off on the Ministry sensors every now and then over the last three years.

Taking a breath and figuring it was just some old wards around a house that had been forgotten by the Ministry finally starting to fail, Tonks slowly walked deeper into the forest, wand out and ready, just in case anything might take offence to her passing.

Walking slowly while keeping an eye out, Tonks came to a stop when she heard a rustle of leaves to one side. Her whole body spun around, without tripping over her own feet for a change, to face the rustling leaves, wand up and ready for anything that might come from the slightly twitching bushes.

After a few minutes of nothing, Tonks gave a small sigh and started moving again, figuring it was some wild animal she had startled. Moving forward slowly, Tonks stopped again when she heard the startled cry of some bird and then the flutter of wings, only to be greeted by silence a moment after that.

Tonks carried on after a few moments of waiting to see if anything else was going to happen. Suddenly, she came to a stop again when a large dog came out on the trail she had been following, a pheasant hanging from its jaws.

Tonks regarded the black animal for a moment, only to back up a step when she realised that it wasn't some stray dog, but a black wolf. The animal had stopped the moment it had seen her and was now crouched down protectively over its evening meal.

Deciding to just stun the animal and move on, Tonks flicked her wand and watched as the jet of red light went right at the snarling wolf, only to watch in shock as the wolf seemed to blink around the curse, almost like it had apparated around the spell while still staying in the same place.

"Ok, that's a neat trick. Got any others in you, pup?" Tonks said, a little surprised as she fired a few stunning spells, this time all of them aimed in such a way that the wolf wouldn't be able to dodge them as easily.

The wolf just snarled and jumped out of the way, doing the same blinking trick to finish the dodge. Before she could do anything else however, Tonks found herself on her back, the wolf standing over her, teeth inches away from her neck, a clear sign that if she moved he would take her neck.

"Ok…not a pup, and sorry if I seemed to threaten you, but I was only going to knock you out. Nothing more." Tonks said, quickly hoping that the fear she was feeling didn't carry over to her voice at how close those teeth were, the hot breath and smell of meat hitting her in the face with every breath of the average sized wolf, but large for a dog, standing over her.

The wolf paused at her words, almost as if he could understand her. At this close a range Tonks knew it was a male wolf, and going by his ragged appearance, he was more than likely rejected from his pack for being a little too close to the females by the Alpha.

"Hey boy, I promise not to hurt you. In fact, I'll be leaving soon and you'll never have to see me again. I just need to check something in this forest, that's it. I don't want your dinner or anything else, just to check something." Tonks couldn't believe she was talking to an animal, but so far it hadn't acted like one. In fact if she didn't know better, it was acting like a normal human being.

The wolf slowly stepped off of Tonks and, to her shock, nudged her shoulder with his nose, as if to say to 'sit up'. Slowly doing so, Tonks was silently glad that he had gotten off her. A slight nip at the hand that was supporting her weight had her looking at the wolf, which just tilted his head to the side when she looked at him.

"So I'm allowed to go now, I take it boy?" She asked, slowly getting up and dusting off her jeans and shirt. She gave a smile down at the wolf as it gave a bark, moving to stand at her side, "You want to go with me?"

Another bark being the answer, she watched the wolf move towards its dinner and then, to her shock, push the pheasant towards her and sat down, the look in its green eyes clearly said it wanted some company for dinner.

"Ah, can I cook the pheasant before eating it?" She asked with a smile, looking around for a moment and waving her wand to make a chair appear, sitting down as the wolf walked up to her and dropped the dead bird in her lap, his tail wagging back and forth behind him.

Giving a smile and hoping she got the spell right, Tonks quickly had the bird plucked and sorted out. Another spell had a nice little fire going as she used a cutting charm to cut some meat off the bird, only taking a little while offering the rest to her newfound friend. The wolf barked his thanks as he started to eat, lying down next to her.

"So, I take it you know this forest fairly well?" Tonks asked softly, being careful at the same time to wrap the meat in some quickly conjured tinfoil, and putting it just in the fire to cook. She cast a simple timer charm, hoping she got the time right, to let her know when the meat should be ready.

A slow nod of the head was her only answer, and Tonks couldn't help but smile. Talking with this wolf was almost like talking to any of her friends. He understood her and didn't want anything in return… well maybe a meal or two if they ever met up again.

"How intelligent are you? I mean, you can understand me and what not, but can you show me to any buildings in the area and watch my back while I look around?" Tonks asked a few minutes later as she checked again on the timer charm. 'I can get a better meal when I get back to the flat.'

Again the wolf nodded. Tonks decided then and there to name the wolf, as calling him 'wolf' all the time was going to get tiring, and besides the level of intelligence this guy was showing was higher than her last boyfriend, by her reckoning.

"Can I give you a name besides Wolf? I would say you can call me Tonks, but…" She asked as her timer spell goes off. A quick flick of the wand had the tinfoil out of the fire and hovering just above her lap, opening up to show lightly cooked pheasant meat. Tonks gave a small smile and picked a small piece out with her fingers, eating it slowly with a sigh. She loved pheasant but it was so expensive most of the time that she couldn't afford it.

Getting a nod to her question she thought over what to call the wolf, her hair cycling through about four colours before she smiled, looked at him, and, being careful, patted him on the head, "Shadow Fang, or SF for short sound good to you?"

The newly named Shadow Fang or SF gave a bark at this and nodded his head. Tonks looked away as he went to crunching on the few bones that were left after he had finished eating, her own meal finished a few minutes later. Getting to her feet and patting her new friend on the head, she could not help but admit that he was like a large dog, the pair started into the forest to look for this strange blip on the Ministry Sensors.

A good hour went by with the pair moving deeper in the forest, Tonks following along behind SF who showed all the skills one would expect from a wolf, his nose to the ground, tracking down something that only he could smell, Tonks trusting that he would lead her to what shouldn't be in this forest.

SF came to a stop at the edge of a clearing with a simple little cottage in the middle, parts of it hidden under what looked like reflective section of air, a clear sign that wards had been up to hide the cottage, but were now failing. Tonks regarded the few parts still hidden by the wards, silently glad that there weren't that many parts still affected, before looking down at SF.

"Anything else in the area save you and me SF?" she asked, kneeling down next to him bringing a hand up to ever so lightly run her finger through his soft but dirty fur.

A slight shake of the head in a clear no was all Tonks needed to see as she brought a compact out of her pocket, saying softly into the mirror while still running fingers through SF's fur, the action having an almost soothing effect on her, "Trainee Tonks reporting in."

There was a few moments of silence before, to Tonks surprise, Amelia Bones' face appeared in her mirror, as she thought it would be one of the other trainees who were going through the standard office training and not field training like she was.

"What's your report Ms. Tonks?" came Amelia's simple question, her no nonsense voice and stern look clearly stating that Tonks had better make her report quickly.

"Madam, I've found an abandoned cottage where the wards are in their final stage of collapse and would recommend that a ward breaker team is sent in to finish them off, and that the cottage be searched to see if there is anything belonging to the previous owners still within." Tonks said, looking slightly at SF who was sitting down next to her, eyes locked with the cottage, head tilted to one side as if listening for something that only he could hear.

"You haven't looked inside, Trainee Tonks?"

"No Madam Bones. My orders were to locate the reason for the Ministry sensor blip and then report in."

"Very good Trainee. You have followed your orders to the letter and have avoided any possible combat. Although picking up that wolf next to you was not part of your test, I have to say you have done very well", came Amelia's voice. This time however it came from right behind the two. Tonks spun around, wand up and ready, pointing right at her future boss while also landing on her backside at the sharp turn from her crouched position. SF also turned and snarled his protest at being snuck up on.

"This was a test?" Tonks said in shock and surprise, looking at Amelia who calmly put her mirror away and walked up to the pair.

"Indeed it was, Trainee Tonks, and you passed. Unlike most of your classmates, who all thought they would make a name for themselves by doing everything themselves. Needless to say Kingsley and a few other first class Aurors had some fun knocking them down a peg within those walls."

Tonks gave a sigh and fell back on her butt, looking at SF with a look that clearly said he was in trouble, even if they had only just met, he could still tell he was, "I thought you said that no one else was around, save you and me?"

Amelia looked on with a small smile as SF dropped to the ground and brought his paws over his head a clear sign that he was sorry, "Don't be to rough on your new partner Ms. Tonks. The Aurors inside are using a scent masking charm as a few of the local animals tried attacking them early when they were setting up this test. The charm stopped the attacks."

"My new partner?"

"Well maybe not a real partner, but he clearly likes you by sticking by your side so far, and as he is showing far more intelligence then a normal animal. I'm going to perform a little test to see if he is what I think he is." Amelia said pulling her wand out and waving it over the SF who was seating up now and looking at her with his head titled again.

The wolf glowed for a moment before returning to normal, his ears went flat and a slight growl escaped his lips at the spell being cast on him; Tonks noticed that his shadow seemed to be growing and standing while he himself was still sitting.

"Ah…much more than just a normal wolf. You, my dear, what was his name, Shadow Fang, are a wizard who is stuck in his animal form, and going by that shadow, you're a Shadow Wolf. Very rare type of magical wolf, indeed." Amelia said after the glow had finished fading away and the wolf's shadow had stopped moving towards her, the shadow's mouth open in a large snarl.

"So he was a wizard. I had a feeling that was the case when we first met up…any idea as to who he might be? Last time I checked, there wasn't a wolf Animagus on the register."

"There isn't. Or not anymore, which means he was doing the final transformation and was going to register after getting it right, but got stuck. And as we don't know who he was before transforming, we can't change him back with normal spells."

A bark broke up the talking as both women looked down at SF, who gave them both a look for talking like he wasn't there, tail laying still behind him and his shadow returning to mirror him again instated of standing and threatening Amelia.

"Sorry SF, but I guess that means we're partners until we get you back to normal… ahhh, question…how old are you? And how long ago did you get stuck in this form?" Tonks said, patting him on the head, only to stop when he bounced off into the nearby thicket of trees.

The two women looked at each other for a moment before SF came bounding back with a thick stick in his mouth, head titling to the side as he drove the stick into a soft bit of ground and, to their shock, wrote a twelve and also a four was written underneath the twelve with the word years next to it.

"Damn he could be going to Hogwarts for his second year by now, yet here he is. Completed Animagus transformation and since he was eight." Tonks said in surprise, looking at SF who looked like he had just been told he was in trouble, "Oh no, you're not in trouble SF. I'm just surprised is all."

"Hmm, Shadow Fang what's your real name?" Amelia asked softly kneeling down to be close to the same level as SF, who seemed to watch her closely for a moment.

Taking a moment to get the stick back in his mouth and at the right angle to write with, SF started to write his name in the dirt, Amelia stopping him after he wrote the first two letters of his last name. Looking right at Tonks, she raised a hand to stop the young woman from saying anything.

"Trainee Tonks, what you just read and learned is a maximum level secret from everyone. Under no circumstances are you to reveal what you have learned here, is that understood?"

"Yes Madam Bones, I understand… ummm...am I to look after him until we can turn him back? If so, I better get to looking for a place that will let me keep pets." Tonks said, rubbing SF behind the ears, the wolf giving a slight rumble of approval.

"I might be able to help you with that, and if you don't mind I was planning on making you his care taker until we can turn him back. That is if Shadow Fang likes the idea of staying with you from now on." Amelia said, patting SF on the head rubbing him gently just behind his ears.

SF just gave a bark of approval and moved to stand next to Tonks. He bumped his head into her leg, looking at her with trust and a little affection; Tonks just smiled down at him and, kneeling down to his level, hugged him tightly.

"Nice to see he approves of the plan. Trainee Tonks, you are to go and clean out your flat and meet me in my office as soon as you are able. I'll have everything sorted out for you to move into one of the Bones Family properties at minimum rent."

Amelia watched as Tonks gives a nod of thanks and apparated away, Shadow Fang looking at her with a questioning look. Amelia just smiled and reached down to take a hold of his neck gently, "Your coming with me for now Shadow Fang, but don't worry, you'll see Miss. Tonks soon enough."

SF looked at her for a moment before giving a nod and indicated that he wanted her to follow him. Amelia gave a nod and followed behind the black wolf, having a feeling that he had gathered some things over the years that he didn't want to leave behind, already working out in her head what to do next and what the future might hold for this boy who had been declared dead not three months ago.