A/N: I know some select people may be pissed at me for not finishing up that Xenosaga story I have up, but I don't really know what to do with it. I left so much out and its all a jumbled mess, but I don't feel up to rewriting the entire thing. At least, not yet. This thing I've had for a while now, hoping to get more chapters done then post it, but what can I say? Maybe you'll all give me inspiration to continue it, maybe not. So far, there are only five chapters anyway. We'll see how it goes, ne?

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any relations there of.

Chapter 1; Beginnings

All was quiet in a small house in a small neighborhood on the outskirts of London. As a clock struck midnight, the thick silence of the house was shattered.

CRACK

Suddenly, a man appeared halfway down a hallway. He staggered down towards one end while clutching a bleeding wound on his side. There was blood on him, but not all of it was his.

'Damn…I have to get just a bit further…' he thought just as there was a loud crash somewhere behind him.

"Damn!" this time, he didn't bother keeping it to his thoughts.

Reaching a display on the wall, he took down an antique Muggle shotgun. To any visitor to the house, it was a simple antique display. To the invader of his home, it meant death.

As he picked up the gun, he steadied his aim at the opposite end of the hall and waited. While the weapon was in perfect working condition, the only way to accurately hit and kill the beast was to fire at point-blank range. If he got that close to it he was as good as dead, especially with the gash in his side. Not a minute later, the beast rounded the corner and locked eyes with him.

"Come and get me, you bastard" he snarled at it.

He knew he would bleed to death before he could get help. If he could at least kill the thing that had slaughtered his wife and keep it from killing or worse, contaminating any more people, he would have done his part. Maybe the world would be safer for her as well.

As he knew it would, the beast began charging down the hallway with every intent of ripping him to shreds. He waited as it got closer and closer, waiting for it to make the mistake of getting too close.

'Come on, come on…There!'

With a loud bang, the gun fired and slammed into its shoulder, almost completely shattering it. The beast, still moving, ended up mauling him anyways, and they both tumbled to the ground. He didn't mind. The shot from the gun was still lodged in its shoulder; it would poison and kill it in mere moments. Tomorrow, someone from the Ministry would check up on him for missing work without calling in, and they would find and protect her. At the least, she would be safe.

Right before death took him, he heard a young child's cry…

--

Pain. Pain was consuming it. During this time, there was always pain, but this was more.

This was Death.

It failed its attack. Dying was not part of the attack. Dying left a body; dying left evidence. It didn't care about the mission failure; it cared about the failure to the pack. What would they think?

It was then the beast heard the cry. The male that shot it was dead, and so was his mate. He pain was getting worse, but he heard the cry through it and recognized it; the cry of a child.

With the last of its remaining strength, the beast followed the noise to a door where it finally caught the child's scent.

Nudging the door open, it entered the child's bedroom, and approached the crib against the far wall. Peering at the baby inside, it made a decision; it would give the pack another. It leaned in closer to the crying child…

The full moon illuminated them both from the outside.

--

Michael Cullavin was sitting in his office after a restless night. He woke up too often throughout the night, and was dead tired now. It didn't help that there was very little happening in the Auror's office today.

Just as he was about to nod off on his desk, a memo flew in and landed in front of him.

'Great,' he thought with disappointment. 'Just what I need right now, more bullshit.' He was not in a happy mood.

Picking up and unfolding the paper airplane he began to read the note…

Then he was wide awake and running for the Floo. A minute later, he fell out of his brother's fireplace across London and made his way to the front of the house. When he arrived, he found himself in the living room, other Aurors and wizards in uniforms he didn't recognize were wandering around. In the center was one of his brother's coworkers from Regulation of Dangerous Creatures. A white tarp covered a shapeless lump on the floor.

"…That John?" Mike finally asked the other man. They'd been introduced once, but he couldn't remember his name.

"No, this is Amy. John's in the back hall."

"Merlin…what happened?" the other man sighed.

"Can't be sure, but we think it was a werewolf," he said. "It almost seems too planned for one, but the wounds and damage fit. Plus, it was a full moon last night. I came to check up on them when John missed work and didn't fire call anyone in the Department."

'Dang. Even if this guy's right and it was a werewolf, it left a bloody mess.' Mike thought, looking around the room. There were splatters of blood on most of the walls and floor. All three windows were shattered, and the outside door was in pieces. Even as he noticed these things, the hardened Auror was glad to have skipped breakfast that morning.

"Anyone have any idea what happened here last night?" he finally asked out loud. One of the Aurors came over to answer.

"We're not quite sure how it got in, but the thing did, most likely surprising the homeowners in this room. It attacked the wife first, practically tearing her to shreds, and then attacked the husband. He seems to have put up a damn good fight if this is the result." As he continued talking, the pair moved away from the living room, leaving the other man to be questioned by a separate Auror.

"Sometime during the fight, one of them got away from the other, and made their way to the back of the house. We're thinking it was either our intruder, temporarily knocking the man out, and searching something else out while the homeowner woke up and followed, or possibly the reverse. We found him, John that is, by a display case clutching at an antique gun. He was also a bloody mess. The wolf, or werewolf we can assume for now, was in another room off to the side. Looks like a den of some sorts."

The mention of the room slightly surprised Michael. He couldn't really remember what the back room was for, but he knew they were doing something with it and he got the feeling it was important. By this time, the pair had arrived in the back hall, and found another tarp, this one obviously covering a dead body. Several other wizards were examining the hall, a door off to the side, and an antique shotgun very carefully. The thing looked quite old.

"We don't know exactly what happened, mainly because the bodies were in strange positions. The werewolf was found in that side room with its shoulder shattered. It died from silver poisoning; another thing that points to it being a werewolf. However, John was killed by it and was found with the gun in the hall."

Mike thought about this, trying to think rationally, to keep his personal feelings back, and attempted to piece together his brother's last moments of life. He already knew about the gun loaded with a silver cartridge, both of which were also found; with John and in the wolf respectively. Assuming that it was the wolf that arrived in the back first, John would have run down to get the gun and followed the wolf into the side room and shot it, but then how did he die and his body get in the hallway? They'd both be in the room. Assuming it was John who somehow arrived in the hall first and got the gun, he'd have to have enough strength left to accurately hit he wolf, before getting mauled over by it, but would a werewolf be able to do that to him with a shattered shoulder and silver inside its body? Then if somehow the wolf had enough strength to make it into the room…for what? Nothing was destroyed or out of place. Or was there anything?

"What about the room you found the wolf in; was there anything wrong there?" he eventually asked.

"Well, there's a strange bit of blood on the floor by the far window, but that's all."

"Can I see the room?" he asked. The Auror nodded, and they entered the room. Several other wizards were around the lupine body near the far side of the room, but his attention was instantly drawn to the surrounding room. The walls were colored a light yellow color, and gave off an air of just being finished. An empty bookcase stood against a wall, and an unused closet was opened as well. He remembered his brother talking about remodeling a room, but for what? For what…?

"Hmm…wait a minute; it's a child's room!" he exclaimed, suddenly remembering his little niece. "Their daughter; where's their daughter?"

This statement alone caught the attention of every man in the room and most of them in the hall. There was complete silence until;

"Daughter? John and Amy had a daughter?" the other Auror asked, trying to confirm, and Mike became afraid.

"Yes. She can't be older than two. Are you telling me she's gone?" he suddenly demanded.

"You hadn't said anything; we would've never known she existed until we checked the family records. None of the rooms are a bedroom…unless this is it. But if so, where's the crib and clothes and such? The room's practically empty."

"Clothes are with the parents' own," Mike said absentmindedly. This was starting to look bad, and a growing sense of fear and dread was places in him. "I think this is the bedroom, minus a crib. I remember John talking of remodeling something, I guess this room for Julia. She didn't have an actual bed yet, I know that. Maybe it was moved? Maybe that blood by the window…"

"But if so," the other Auror countered. "Where's the child and crib now? Wolf's dead, no way it could have hid both before dying. What happened in this hallway?"

Mike couldn't believe it. It wasn't even passed nine am, and he had just lost his last relatives. All in one night.

'Maybe not all,' a small voice countered.

'We don't know what happened to the girl, Julia,' but it seemed like a false hope. After all, where could she be? The Auror's had searched the house, and no small child was found.

(chapter 1: end)

A/N: Well, that's the intro. What do you think? Very special thanks goes out to ProtegoNox for betaing this for me. ttyl