A/N: Slow updates? I should change that to "irregular". Also thanks all for 100+ favs and now, enjoy!

Edited 9.09.2018: Updated with a beta read version.

When Albus Dumbledore returned to the Headmaster's apartments, he was deeply tired. The latest ICW session involved a lot of posturing from a newly appointed Greek representative. The brat, only some thirty odd years old, was trying to start a scrap with the Turks over Constantinople. Again.

Fawkes trilled a soothing note from his perch upon seeing his old friend return. What alarmed Albus, however, was that he firebird then give a more impatient and troubled one.

The aged headmaster narrowed his eyes at the phoenix's vocalizations. He had learned to understand his life long friend years ago. Something was not right and demanded his immediate attention. He began with the obvious school business, but there was nothing in his incoming letter box that couldn't be handled later. A quick fire-call to Minerva also assured him it was not an intra school issue.

Fawkes seeing his wizard stumbling around finally had enough and, with an impatient trill, stretched his neck, pointing with his beak in a specific direction.

Albus froze for a moment seeing his companion pointing in the direction of a cabinet holding his more morally questionable devices. When the old wizard opened the cabinet, fear raced through him.

Of the four blood based, spindly, silver instruments that monitored Harry Potter's state only one was still working. The ones monitoring his health, magic and the state of blood wards around Privet Drive were, for all intents and purposes, dead. Only the one showing his location was still working; if only barely. The device indicated his general location to be somewhere in the…Pacific Ocean?

"I'm too old for this… I swear Fleamont, he's worse than James." Dumbledore grumbled, there went his vision of a few slow, relaxing days. Merlin above and Morgana below, Harry had the most improbable luck of anyone, magical or mundane, Albus had ever met.

With a mighty crack of apparition Dumbledore arrived at the doorstep of the Dursley's home. Only to see no lights in the windows, despite it being almost 9 p.m. It was also strangely silent. His next stop was Mrs. Figg's home and after a round of questioning he was left with more questions than answers.

Apparently, Harry left with his relatives some days ago on a trip of some kind. Unexpected but, perhaps, a hopeful sign. All thing considered.

He had some knowledge of Petunia's character from Lily's rants. So there had been some inkling about Harry's home life; when he saw the acceptance letter's address he'd felt a pain in his heart. That night, three years ago, he'd sat by the fireplace in his private quarters nursing a glass of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey considering his choices up to that point.

When Lily and James died, he had chosen the lesser evil. Or that was what he liked to believe back then. The aged wizard truly thought that Harry being raised away from the spreading hero-worship of the Boy-Who-Lived was for the best. The possibility of erecting blood wards was an added bonus.

The boy, toddler really, had what amounted to cults formed in his name. Tom was...an Evil. Something that would have shattered the spirit of the Wizarding World, if left unchecked. And the fact that a one year old had stopped him, no matter the circumstances, was such a cause for celebration that even the most rational felt wonder at a miracle of magic.

That kind of fame was toxic. An acid against the soul.

Sighing deeply Albus glanced for the last time at the empty, and now unprotected, muggle house before apparating to Diagon Alley.

There was a very slim possibility of finding some kind of trail through Gringotts, despite young Harry's apparent disinterest in his financial affairs. Albus could have gone to the muggle bank he knew the Dursley's had their accounts in, but that would be his last resort. While he was more grounded in the mundane world, he didn't have the necessary know how, or even influence, to simply access protected records. Therefore it would involve a rather generous use of the confundus charm, a number of compulsions, and a finishing touch of obliviation. What's more, with these new 'security cameras' even that might not be enough to keep his actions secret.

And if he of all people was responsible for a breach of the Statue of Secrecy he would be ruined. But he made a promise once to keep the Potter's safe. He had failed twice now, he would not do so for a third time…Even if the fear of ultimate failure grew in his mind, fueled by his growing suspicions about a certain scar.

The lone goblin teller that was unlucky to get a night shift was less than happy to see a wizard walking into their bank. The little monster even ground his teeth seeing who exactly that wizard was.

"Albus Dumbledore, what need do you have of Gringotts at such hour?" Albus stifled a snort. At least the creature was trying to be civil towards him. Of course, it wasn't if the goblins ire was undeserved, per se. He had, had more than a hand in blocking a number of 'reforms' that would have probably given the Goblin Nation another cause to rebel and, subsequently, demand more concessions from the wizards

Honestly, why in the name of all that was good did the Wizengamot think they could win a war against the people who held some ninety odd percent of their societies wealth. Still, he shoved his annoyance down and spoke clearly and politely, if a touch more directly than he'd have been with a human.

"I would like to know when and where, if at all, my ward Harry Potter has made any withdrawals in the past two weeks." It was a fact known to all of the Wizengamot, that years ago he had politically strong armed his way into the position of Harry's guardian with the boy's godparents unavailable at the time. When that particular debate ended, Albus left the political cesspool feeling a few years older.

The middle aged goblin sneered but nonetheless jumped off his stool to begin searching for the appropriate ledger. In no time he came back to his… client.

"Here it is." The goblin, not even bothering to look up at Albus, muttered after a few minutes of flipping pages. "Five days ago Mr. Potter spent some of his gold in New York via Gringotts' All Purpose Credit Card."

Dumbledore couldn't believe his luck.

"Not a day later he spent well over a thousand galleons in some place called Jurassic World." The goblin snorted at the ridiculous name. With a loud bang he closed the ledger and glared at Dumbledore. "Is that all?"

The old wizard cursed inwardly. He knew that name, let it not be said that Dumbledore didn't keep an eye on the muggles own attempts at fooling with what should best be left alone. Albus respected them for their knowledge and ingenuity, but those same two traits often made him also question their sanity. Like the Park that John Hammond wanted to open in the nineties. The one that ended with multiple fatalities and a number of invasive, if prehistoric, species migrating to a number of different islands.

Still, where the man failed, his company succeeded. Even if it was with outside help.

"That is all, thank you for your time."

With a swish of his dark blue robes, Dumbledore left the bank in a hurry. He just prayed to his ancestors that the mess he was about to walk into would be salvageable.

Harry watched as the larger predator clawed something out from under her skin around her shoulder. It was obviously muggle, but he had no idea what it did. She hissed and growled in pain and a nearby tree suffered her wrath as she hit it with her claws, splintering the wood and cutting into the trunk deeply.

The long walk they just had allowed him to familiarize himself with his new legs and posture, he just had to mind his tail for balance.

"Itchy thing, two-legs put it in. They will probably come for it." The great huntress purred her pleasure at the thought.. It was the single most unsettling thing Harry had heard in a long time. "Come we will hide and we will hunt."

That statement made Harry's far shorter steps hesitant.

"Why hunt humans?"

"Humans?" The Indominus tried to mimic the unfamiliar sound.

"Two-legs." Harry supplied.

The large, pale muzzle that lowered itself to his level - after she stopped and turned to face him - would made any grown man wet himself.

"Two-legs held me and my sister, Little One, in small territory with high rocks around it. They watched as she died… they denied me food until I had to feed on Little One." While she spoke a low, aggressive growl build up in her throat. At the same time Harry finally came to the conclusion that she was neither a simple dinosaur nor just an intelligent animal.

"Two-legs are only good as prey."

She leaned closer and nuzzled him, her head almost as big as his whole body.

"But you are stronger, I will keep you safe, my hatchling and when you are as big as me, all we see will be our territory."

Her hissy mutterings and her powerful scent somehow managed to calm him despite her words and tension he was unaware of left him. A part of him that was decidedly new reassured him that all will be well as long as she was close by. It was… nice.

What followed was an impromptu lesson in camouflaging. Harry was stunned and excited when that ability was showed to him. It allowed him to forget what she was planning for a moment.

Soon enough though a new, faint scent reached them. It was a mix well known to Harry, sweat, leather, and metal… he snorted in surprise. He was intrigued by how his mind matched the scent to what he knew but could never truly smell before his forced change.

When they finally saw the ACU squad appear by the small stream his self-appointed dinosaur caretaker had chosen as the ambush site, Harry had to fight hard not to fidget. He was torn. He could choose to remain still and silent, as she wanted, or he could try to warn the park employees and maybe scare them off.

"It can camouflage!" The scream, followed by others filled with fear and pain, let Harry know that he was too slow in making his decision. The transformed wizard cringed when he saw the screaming man being crushed under her pale, clawed foot.

He was both grateful and appalled at the men using what looked like non lethal weapons.

Of course, they just angered her more…

The following slaughter, because it couldn't be called a fight, left a deep impression on him. Truly seeing for the first time what he had the potential to turn into; it was as terrifying as it was awe inspiring. The thing that terrified him the most in all of this, though, was how the scent of freshly spilled blood made him salivate.

The young wizard was literally knocked out of his thoughts by a panicked member of the ACU squad, that had seemingly exploded out of the bushes, and ran into him. Harry was forced to take a step back, while the man fell on the ground.

For a few heartbeats both went still, staring at each other in shock. The man then began to hastily reach for and began to pull out his sidearm.

Harry's new instincts - being stimulated by what was going on around him - decided they would have none of that. Before he realized what he was doing, he pounced with a screech, pinning the man's arm that held the gun to the ground, before raking his clawed foot along it mangling it beyond any usefulness. The agonized screams were silenced when his powerful jaws closed around the man's neck with enough force to break bones.

When the sweet, coppery taste of blood hit his tongue, it was like a slap to the face. He let go immediately and desperately tried not to swallow any of the blood.

"I can fight it." Harry growled, pacing and repeating the phrase to himself as the tempting taste that refused to leave forced more of his newly acquired instincts to the front. His growing hunger also added fuel to that particular fire.

He made a point of not looking at the fresh corpse.

Whatever anyone said it was him that killed Quirrel in his first year, burning the man to ash. In his second year he'd slain more than a few acromantula, who were at least sapient if not sentient, and the memory of a human. Whether that counted as 'murder' or not, he didn't know. But what he did know was that he'd also spent the last year desiring to kill the betrayer of his parents, which prompted a few secret trips to the restricted section of Hogwarts' library to gain the ability to do so. Harry was not unfamiliar with the concept of killing.

But this was far more visceral and far more personal form of killing than he was truly ready for. The young wizard was certain that he would be having nightmares of this moment for months… Years if he gave in into that primal, predatory urge to sate his hunger.

It never occurred to him to just leave the area.

"Your first kill, well done." The growl was filled with pride. He turned around in time to receive another nuzzle from her, he had to try hard to ignore the blood dripping from her maw. "Are you not hungry?"

"It's wrong to feed on them, when underneath my scales I'm one of them." His voice was strained, Harry wasn't quite certain if she would be able to understand his conflict.

She sighed? Or snorted; it was hard to tell. But the thought occurred to Harry that he needed to come up with a name other than 'big dinosaur'. She was far too… human for something as banal as that.

"Come then, let's find prey that's not humans." She started to walk away downstream. Which he supposed would lead them closer towards open space, closer to the herbivores. Harry could live with that choice of a meal. Probably…

In the command center all the staff watched in horror as the carnage unfolded.

For Simon Masrani the silver lining in all of this was that Claire and Mr. Grady called in, reporting that they were able to locate her nephews and were on their way here. He glanced around.

"Everyone stay calm, we have procedures for this kind of thing. We knew it could happen." His words were calm, but he had already taken several deep, calming breaths, unconsciously repeating Claire's words. He looked at the two security guards by the entrance. "You two, bring doctor Wu here. Even if you have to threaten him to do so."

Both burly men nodded and left in a hurry. Simon needed to know what they were dealing with and he would not indulge Wu's borderline arrogant behavior any longer. He knew about the military contracts InGen and Masrani Corporation held, but he made a point of never asking too many question about some of them. Plausible deniability and all that… Here he would make an exception. Too much was at stake.

Henry made something they were not prepared for, something they all underestimated.

"Eeee... Sir I think you must see this," it was one of the technicians, Lowery.

Masrani went over to his station and watched the bespectacled man rewind the recording of one of dead ACU member's personal camera. What Lowery showed him made him feel faint, he had to grab the man's chair for support.

"Another one?" he asked quietly. The situation just became so much worse, even he knew that there was nothing more terrifying in nature than a mother defending her young. And it looked like that's what he was now dealing with.

"Looks that way, but where did it come from?" Lowery asked looking at him. And wasn't that the proverbial million dollar question.

The doors pinged and all head turned to see an unsettled Henry Wu walk in flanked by two guards; Vic Hoskins trailing behind.

"Don't talk about the young one for now." Masrani had no intention of letting the fact the I-Rex had either been pregnant or that his facilities were so compromised that an asset could be created without his knowledge get out. So, putting on a face that had crushed a hundred careers, he moved to meet his wayward scientist. Lowery, wisely, kept his mouth shut and nodded his head at the order.

"I didn't know you were on the island Vic." He said in a way of greeting. Masrani didn't particularly dislike the man, the warhawk had his uses, but the consultant was owned by more than a few of In-Gen's military contractees.

"And Henry I believe we are overdue a conversation about the Indominus Rex."

The man fidgeted and sent a subtle glance in Hoskin's direction…at least the doctor thought he was subtle. Masrani frowned, it would seem that he'd need to clean house. Still, if his chief scientist was compromised, who else was on the take?

"Gentlemen, please escort Mr. Hoskins out to cafeteria and keep him there." Masrani glared at Wu while he spoke. The man's flinch almost brought a smile, one more fit one of Grady's raptors, to his face. With a sharp "Yes sir!" the two guards were out of command center; a clearly unhappy Vic between them.

"Now Henry, you are going to tell me exactly what you cooked up in that lab of yours. And if I don't like it, well…"

Claire Dearing was called many things behind her back by the Park's employees and she knew it. Strict, no nonsense, unfeeling, corporate shark was her favorite, if she was being perfectly honest. But, for the first time in her life, she was more than happy to prove them wrong. To some degree at least.

She took occasional glances in the rear mirror of the jeep at her silent nephews.

When the information came through, that two gyrospheres were still in the field when the alert was sent out, she reacted professionally. When the drivers of the spheres were identified, she left Simon to deal with the mess in command as she put her family before her work for the first time in years.

She glanced to her left, Owen Grady that had just barged in after the Indominus escape reeking of fuel was her best, and only, choice for her little rescue operation. It was the second best decision she'd made that day.

"Keep staring at me like that and I'll think you want another date." His words made her reconsider her previous thought.

Him suddenly hitting the breaks and making her almost hit her head also didn't help.

"Owen why did you…" She didn't got to finish the sentence as she looked forward. What she saw was so absurd Claire thought she really had hit her head.

When Albus Dumbledore arrived at Isla Nublar via almost silent apparition he didn't know what to expect. Jurassic World being on lockdown was certainly not it.

"What did you do Harry…" The aged wizard sighed. He was willing to bet his collection of woolen socks that his trouble magnet of a student was somehow involved in this. And Albus Wulfric Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was not a man to suffer threats to his socks lightly.

He pulled out a bright, tear shaped ruby from the pants pocket of his, cleary tailor made, dark brown suit. Albus had foregone his robes in favor of blending in…as much was as possible with his long grey hair and beard. Still, 'eccentric old man' was far more preferable than 'burn the witch'.

The gem was vibrating, it was a clear sign that he was very close and, with a muttered word, the tip pointed further inland. Dumbledore, knowing that he had magic and therefore had no need to spend hours upon hours hiking to wherever his destination may be, apparated once more.

It took him eight more jumps before he stumbled upon a carcass of a stocky dinosaur with armor plates on its back and a club for a tail. What made him certain it was dead were the two other, possibly albino, dinosaurs tearing strips of meat from the club-tailed one's underside.

The larger one, most likely an adult, noticed him first. In a most impressive display of predatory dominance it raised itself to its full height, dwarfing some of the dragon breeds that the old wizard knew off; truly a magnificent beast in his eyes. It roared aggressively before stomping around its kill.

Interestingly, the smaller one darted forward, standing between the wizard and the clearly agitated adult dinosaur. What followed was a lengthy and loud discussion, full of growls hisses and warbles. It was fascinating to watch in, Dumbledore's humble opinion, and it gave him time to formulate an educated guess as to what happened to his wayward pupil.

"Harry is that you?" His voice caused both dinosaurs to look at him, the smaller one slowly nodded its head. The headmaster sighed with relief before his sharp eyes fully took in the boy's new appearance. "I'll try to keep the question simple. Nod your head for yes, shake for no, make a circle for maybe, do you understand Harry?"

An instant, eager nod. That was good, sometimes animagi lost themselves deeply in their instincts during their first few transformations, and he suspected an animagus transformation… quite a unique one at that. Although, perhaps, Harry was a touch closer to his...primordial other half than Albus would be fully comfortable with. Hunting, killing, and eating the flesh of one's prey, raw at least, was considered to be somewhat in poor taste. Amongst both mundanes and magicals.

"Has it been more than a day since you transformed?"

A shake, some drops of blood flew into the air from his fanged maw.

"You transformed yourself without help?"

A shake. Now that got Dumbledore curious, he looked at the adult dinosaur eyeing him distrustfully. He saw a glint of frightening intelligence into those red, slitted eyes. An unpleasant memory of his former student turned enemy flashed through his mind.

"Did it help?" The aged wizard gestured to the adult. It was a wild guess but worth a shot; with magic everything was possible.

A circle. So it was a part of the mystery. Then he saw Harry trying to point something, on his muzzle… ah, blood.

"Blood magic was involved?" That made him frown. Blood magic could complicate things in the long run; it always had unexpected side effects. Well one was pretty obvious. Animagus transformations respected the age of the wizard. If this was a regular transformation, Harry should be a 'teen' version of the dinosaur he turned into, not what looked like a juvenile.

Of course, Albus knew next to nothing about this specific breed of creature. So extreme sexual dimorphism was a possibility. Even if it struck him as extraordinarily unlikely.

The unlikely trio spent a few moments in silence.

"Do you feel as if you can turn back Harry?" It was a bit much to hope for, but it was better to be disappointed and ask then not ask at all.

A shake. Dumbledore sighed.

"No matter then… You still have two months before the school year starts. I have faith you will be able to turn back long before that."

Because the were in small, shallow valley Dumbledore didn't hear the quickly approaching jeep until it was too late. He looked in the direction of the muggle vehicle and he had to fight the urge to massage the bridge of his nose. "Well that will probably complicate things…"

He watched as a muggle couple cautiously got out of the jeep and walked towards him, the man holding some kind of rifle. They stopped quite a few meters away from him and thus further from the dinosaurs.

"Hammond? The woman questioned with a shaky voice.

"Albus Dumbledore actually." He answered, positioning himself in a way that would be polite to the couple, but allow him to keep the dinosaurs in sight. He knew the adult wanted little more than to snap him up and, as much as it pained him to do so, he had to also be wary of Harry. If nothing else, the boy was, admirably, dedicated to his friends. No matter how odd the situation that brought them together may be. Besides, as Hagrid would say, it's unhealthy to not respect sharp teeth.

"I don't know who you are, how you got here, or how you are still alive old man and how you're keeping them from maiming you… us, but I would advise to slowly back away from them so that we can all leave in one piece." Owen's voice was calm, but his whole body was tensed and ready to move.

"Oh. I'm quite confident in saying that young Harry would not allow it I believe, so long as we behave reasonably and don't anger his… foster mother?" He glanced at the smaller dinosaur expecting an answer.

What he got was far better. A short exchange later between the two dinosaurs, the adult moved to stand over Harry's form protectively while glaring at the humans and daring them to make a mistake.

"How did you…what the fuck?!" The man's gobsmacked expression was priceless. Indeed, Albus fully intended to save that particular memory.

"Who are you, really?" The redhead asked, staring and not believing what she was seeing.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at your service." The old wizard decided to tell the truth only after a brief Legilimency scan of both Claire and Owen, seeing as they were in the perfect positions to help contain this unexpected mess. To add some validity to his words he conjured a comfortable arm chair to sit in. His little trick somewhat startled the adult dinosaur, but seeing no threat, and after a warble from Harry, she stopped considering him as a snack.

"Sparkly bullshit is real?" Owen asked, still with even more disbelief in his voice.

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore felt offended.

"I think I need a drink…" Claire muttered.

"You and me both."

"Wicked…" Gray's voice spoke up from behind Claire, making her jump, provoking a warning roar from the Indominus.

"Hey now, easy girl!" Owen said while aiming his rifle, at the same time as Dumbledore raised his wand. The Indominus looked at the puny humans with their strange weapons and scoffed at them.

"Idiot!" Zach cuffed him in the back of the head hard enough to make Gray yelp.

"Boys, back into the jeep now! We will talk later." Claire was both frightened and furious as she dragged the two protesting boys back to the car.

When she returned, the air was still rather tense. Of course, Albus was chatting with the smaller I-Rex. The fact it was answering with head shakes stopped her flat. After a short while, the old man finished his conversation and turned back to the two of them.

"Now then, let's discuss how you can help Harry and I. And how, perhaps, I can help you." Dumbledore said sitting in his conjured arm chair.

"I know Harry is supposedly the missing kid, if we're talking about the same person even, and you keep mentioning him, why?" Claire took the initiative of speaking for their group. Owen was too busy watching the Indominus for signs of so much as spitting in their direction. She seemingly took his glaring as a challenge and stared just as hard.

What followed was a brief overview of animagi, that at some point made Owen look at Albus with thinly veiled interest, and how it tied to their current conundrum.

"So let me get this straight. Harry comes here on vacation, gets attacked by Indominus Rex here, turns into one in an attempt to survive, and now she treats him like her own offspring? And the kid is stuck as a dinosaur until he figures the way to turn back on his own?"

It took a better part of an hour to get one wizard and two muggles up to speed on their parts of the story; by that time the adult Indominus had lain down, bored. Harry, on the other hand, was still avidly following the conversation.

Owen didn't know if he felt more insulted or relieved that the Indominus began ignoring them by that point. In the end, he decided to settle on relieved. Afterall, he had a shotgun. And not a particularly big one.

"You know all of this has a snowball's chance in hell of ending well for everyone involved, right?" Owen pointed out.

"In-Gen and Masrani will be all over this. They will force the Indominus back into her enclosure and him with her. And that's the best case scenario." Claire stated, feeling no need to elaborate on the worst case scenario

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you run the park partly by attracting sponsors for the dinosaurs?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"That is true, but why do you ask?"

"What if told you, Claire, that I can offer around twenty four millions pounds sterling for the sponsorship of those two, right this instant?" It was the majority of his family fortune but he was old and so was his brother. They had no children or family left and at least all that gold would be used for something meaningful.

"Ooh, that might work I'll admit it." Owen was impressed.

"I would have to contact Simon, but I think it's a workable idea. Verizon won't be happy to be outbid, but that's life." Claire had her corporate smile on.

"Well then, if that settled I thinks it's time we all went our separate ways." Dumbledore changed his suit back to robes and vanished the armchair. "I will go with you to meet this Mr. Simon."

"What about the Rexs? We can't just let them loose." Owen pointed out.

"Harry, can you try and explain to her that you should avoid humans for now?" Albus said and seeing Harry nod, clasped his hands behind him. "Excellent! I'll come looking for you when all is settled on the Park side of things and we've discussed our options. Off you go."

Snorting with clear amusement Harry turned to the adult Indominus still trying to process the bizarre conversation he was just a part of.

The older pale dinosaur, seeing her hatchling finally losing interest, stood up and called for him. They spent enough time exposed on the plains.

With one last glance behind him Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore walking with Claire and Owen towards the jeep.

"Humans are odd." she snorted when her Green-Eyes caught up. It was her first positive interaction with them and she was slightly confused by it.

"You have no idea." Harry agreed, pondering two things. One, how to persuade her to avoid contact with humans and two… how agreable that herbivore had been with his new tastes. Helping to take it down was also strangely satisfying and almost...therapeutic. "I can do this…" He muttered and smirked, which was absolutely terrifying with his rows of sharp teeth.

He had been doubtful if he could adjust to being the predator, if he could control it, right after he killed that armed man. Harry had never in his life found himself in the dominant, alpha predator position… so to speak. And he realized now that at some level it frightened him.

But now… Now that he had a proper taste, he was never letting that feeling go. Seeing how Dumbledore reacted to them, to him, also helped tremendously bolster his self confidence. He would control this, there was no place for doubt.

She observed her hatchling as they once more walked into the jungle. Right after he killed the human in self defense, he was depressed. But his mood improved throughout the day, his gait became more fluid, he became more aware of his surroundings. It was odd, seeing him grow into his body…

She growled happily seeing him move like a proper predator now, inexperienced yes, but eager!

In the distance, a jeep was speeding towards Jurassic World's command center. It's passengers pondering what this day's events meant for their futures. All of them coming to similar conclusion that, in the end, a lot of people were in for a rude wake-up call.