In 24 hours, Mark's concept of the world had shattered. He was a good Christian and believed till then that witches were the agent of evil. Only God almighty could do magic. Apparently, that was far from truth. More over, creatures like were wolves were for real!!

"The place that we visited yesterday, Mark, was the shopping centre of the wizarding world in UK," Harry had told him in the morning the next day.

"What do you mean by the wizarding world?!" Mark had sputtered.

Harry had sat him down and then told him about the wizarding world. Apparently, there was a group of people born with special powers, which was known as the ability to do magic(!). These people were called wizards and witches. They had their own hidden world from the rest of the mankind, and these hidden places were present in all the major cities of the world. And they had a school in all the countries which taught magic! The one in UK was somewhere in Scotland, and it was unplottable.

To top it all, there were other magical creatures, which in the present day world were thought to be fantasy; werewolves, centaurs, vampires, elves, fairies, dragons, griffins, et al were common things in the magical world! And they used owls to send mails. And they actually flew on broomsticks! The tale grew weirder every minute, but Harry assured him that what ever he was being told was the unvarnished truth, and after what he had seen the previous day, he could not help but believe him.

The fact that common man did not know about magic was because of a decree called 'Statute of Secrecy'. Wizards were not allowed to tell about their world to non magical humans (which were called muggles), unless the said people were their immediate relatives or guardians. If a muggle by chance came across any magical occurrence by accident, there were official people that altered the memories of these muggles to maintain the secrecy! And these official people worked under the Ministry Of Magic!!!

Harry told him all these details, because the next person they were going to hire was a werewolf. Mark was supposed to find a 'Remus Lupin' in the for-hire directory, and offer him a job. The job was to open a meat supply business geared towards meeting the needs of that bank run by the goblins, so that the pounds could be taken off their hands. Remus Lupin was to preferentially offer employment to his friends with a furry problem, before employing other people. After he had found the mailing address and written the letter to Remus, they had gone off to do shopping for Harry before their scheduled meeting with the old goldsmith.

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4 o' clock on the 21st of june found Remus outside a palatial three storied building in the suburbs of London. He was scheduled to meet one Mr. Rodriguez, he was told when he called up to confirm his meeting. Apprehensively, he rang the bell. This was the first time that he had been called for a job, usually, he was the one who went looking for it.

Remus could see a man dressed in a white starched uniform walk up to the gate.

"Hello, I am remus Lupin, I was supposed to meet Mr. Rodriguez."

"Yes sir, please come along," was the crisp reply.

So this was probably the butler or the assistant.

When he rounded the walkway, he saw a man in his mid sixties sitting in a comfortable reclining chair with a young boy about six years of age. The boy, however, looked nothing like the old man. He could not decide whether they were related or not.

The butler announced him to the man, who was engrossed in his magazine, while the boy was bent over a paper, scribbling away.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Lupin. Please, come and take a seat. I must say you are very prompt."

"Sir, I am looking for a job, I cannot afford to be tardy."

"True, true. I hope you did not have any difficulty finding the place?"

"No sir."

"I am sure you must be surprised to receive my letter, no?"

"To tell you the truth, yes sir, I was. I still am."

"Well then, let me explain. I am actually only an employee. I work for a wizard."

Remus was intrigued. He did not have much contact with wizards after the debacle of that Halloween night, and he could not, for heaven's sake, imagine a wizard looking specifically for him.

"For various reasons, the name of my employer will remain a secret. If you must know, he only is a well wisher, he probably knew you from school, and no, he is not Albus Dumbledore."

Remus just looked on expectantly.

"first of all, tell me about your friends from school. And by the way, I am just a muggle."

Remus was astonished. He was being hired by a wizard through a muggle!

"Please don't be surprised. Initially, my employer did not wish for you to know that I knew about the wizarding world, but some things changed and it was decided that it would be less complicated for all involved if you knew that you were being employed by a wizard."

Remus nodded his head in understanding. He then started telling about his friends, but was again interrupted.

"Ok, let us cut it short. You were close to three people in school, correct?"

"Yes sir"

"Out of them, two are dead, and one in prison, correct? And do forgive me for being blunt."

Remus nodded his head sadly.

"One of them had a son, Harry Potter, who was sent to live with his relatives, no?"

Remus's head shot up. "How do you…"

"Please Mr. Lupin, there is no reason to be alarmed. From your expression, it is clear that you did not expect me to know that. But the question is, do you know where he lives?"

Remus immediately went on his guard. "And how is that any of your concern, sir," he asked acidly.

"Because my employer finds it strange that inspite of being such close friends with one Mr. James Potter, you have not visited his son even once in the last six years," the man replied with an arched eyebrow.

Remus visibly deflated. "I can't. Only those magical beings, which have been personally sent by Albus Dumbledore, or have been invited by people living in the area, can visit Privet Drive. The rest are denied entry by the wards of the headmaster. Even owls can't reach him," he replied in a resigned voice.

"Then you will understand if my employer wishes that you not inform Albus that you have been invited to Privet drive. Of course, my employer won't stop you from meeting Harry."

"Yes, I can understand that, but how come my employer knows this? Very few people are privy to the information wher Harry lives, and I think I know all of them."

"I am sorry, Mr. Lupin, I can't comment on your question. Now, first would you like to hear the job offer, or would you like to go and meet Mr. Potter first."

"I think Harry can wait for a few more minutes when he has waited for six years, sir. Let us hear the job offer," Remus replied dryly.

"Let me begin by saying that my employer KNOWS about your condition, and does not care, in fact, that is one of the reasons you were chosen for the job."

Remus was startled. What kind of job requires a werewolf? He could not think of any!

"What I would like to know is, how many werewolves are there in England, and UK, and how many of them want a job?"

Remus sat up. "What do you mean?"

"Mr. Lupin, you will be given charge of a company which would like to hire werewolves, before extending jobs to other people. The catch is that they will have to settle in the muggle world, although you may be asked to interact with the wizarding world regularly"

"I don't understand," Remus said in a confused tone.

"My employer is fed up with the prejudices of the wizarding world, and he is going to be picking up a crusade. He has unlimited resources financially, but he needs people in right places to effect changes he wants. He believes that he can bring meaningful employment to the lycan community, and he thinks that only you have the ability to allow him to do so successfully. If you agree to work with him, he will arrange meetings between you and Harry Potter regularly, now that he knows what the problem is."

Remus was ecstatic. Fate was being merciful! He would be able to meet his cub and also help his brethren! It was too good to be true!

"Please tell me you are not joking", Remus pleaded.

And then he heard a name he had never expected to hear again.

"Hello, Moony."