It was a very battered young man that had fled the temporary lodgings, which he shared with the older werewolf and the other man for over four months. He had a less than stellar time with them, his tattered clothes and unkempt beard proof to that, and was decidedly not going to miss those times.

Sadly, it didn't look like he had brighter times ahead of him – after all, he had let Harry Potter get away with an unknown person. And now, he was about to return to the very person that gave him his dangerous mission. The mission that he had failed.

At least he did not return completely empty-handed, the werewolf thought, glancing down at the limp figure of a nine year old girl in his arms.

The one known as Romulus raised his hand and knocked on the old mahogany door in front of him, consoling himself with the pleasurable prospect of finally having a bath, as the door opened and a stern woman ushered him in.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXXOXOXOXOXO

The door swung open to reveal Petunia, thoroughly dishelved and ash-faced. Seeing who exactly was standing outside the door had her paling further and stammering incoherently. Sebastian turned his nose up at her and shouldered his way into the Dursley's house.

With unhurried strides he made Harry's room, Petunia dogging his heels like a scolded child, anxiously toying with a handkerchief in her hand. He passed the overweight child's room, and although the door was tightly shut, he knew by scent that the five year old was not in the room. In fact, he wasn't even in the house. A slight smirk crossed the demon's features; the woman was afraid. And rightly so.

Good, he purred inwardly.

Tucking Harry into his cot, Sebastian allowed his mind to wander. A bed was in order, he thought idly, eyeing the cot that gave the four year old any wriggle room. Well, he did certainly deserve one, decided he as the memory of fresh blood spilling onto the cement presented itself in his head.

He has been there when the child stabbed the ruffled werewolf with a rusty knife. That alone wasn't enough to kill the old man – no organs were punctured after all- but who was there to save the old man from bleeding to death? Sebastian had also been there for the child when he came to consciousness. It took Sebastian about an hour to calm the child down- reassuring him that by no means was he angry at what had transpired- proud, actually. And he really was- Harry had turned up to be suitably driven and intelligent for a four year old, and while he did seem a bit too emotionally reliant on Sebastian, the demon was inclined to allow it, as it made his interactions with the boy easier- as long as he was the only one the boy trusted and looked up to to such degree.

Shaking his head at the direction his thoughts had wondered to, Sebastian turned his attention to the woman silently standing in the doorway. There was a slight droop to her shoulders, as if she believed danger to have passed, but the dread in her scent told him that she knew it was far from it.

Deciding to play with the woman's psyche some more, he simply brushed by her and went down the stairs. The pitter-patter of the steps following him did not disappoint. Smirking to himself, he strode into the kitchen and purposefully opened the drawer that contained Petunia's silverware, his sensitive hearing picking up on the tiny hitch in her breath when his fingers brushed over the handles of some formidable looking knives.

"Relax," he chuckled" I wouldn't really need a knife now, would I?" The foolish woman still thought him to be a wizard. Certainly a dark one, if she has more than two brain cells. She would think he was hinting at him possessing a wand- which he didn't. Little did she know that he did not need any weapon to tear her limp from limp if he so chose. However, that was not his plan.

Sebastian selected a fine teaspoon and set the kettle to boil. Leading a trembling Petunia to a seat, he gave her a cup of tea and began in a falsely conversational voice.

"Here you go, drink this. Pale is not doing wonders for your face. Oh, you'll never guess what Harry did today!" He flashed a predatory smile in her direction. "Let swap stories about how our day went- I am most interested in hearing your side of the story."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The young man looked more like himself now that he had showered and changed clothes. He would have loved to shave, but time was of essence. Already there were people gathered in the living room, whispering to each-other with their head close together. His werewolf hearing picked up snippets of what was being said, but he did not have much interest in them. Soon he was spotted and every head turned to catch what would be the first sight of him in four years.

Fresh whispers were halted by the entrance of the founder of their organization. The old man came in, bearing an air of importance and of urgency not at all tarnished by his colorful clothing. The werewolf was given a grave nod from the old wizard.

"Good to see you my boy. I hear that you have news?" No further prompting was needed for everyone present arranging themselves in a circle around him. Feeling slightly self-cautions of all the interested gazes on him, the werewolf cleaned his throat and began his tale;

"As some of you may know, I was given a mission four years ago. It was a very difficult one, but an important one as well, so I accepted it willingly, fully knowing what I'm getting into. This has kept me busy during the previous four years, and the heightened senses of my 'companions' meant I could not sneak off to visit, but I have kept in touch with some of us to report my progress." He briefly met the eyes of the stern witch who led him in and the old wizard a subtle nod from the latter giving him permission to divulge more information to the interested crowd gathered around him.

"As you know in last war, our enemy had the help of a select werewolf pack on his side- I believe we all know which one I'm talking about. This was a source of many causalities from our side and we thought it time to rectify out past mistakes- the pack had disbanded now and was spread all over Britain, hiding, and there were also many newly-turned werewolves roaming Britain. We needed somebody to offer them guidance and help, hopefully converting a handful to our side. As someone who had to live with Lycanthropy from childhood, I was the most suited for this job." Taking a sip from the jug of water that was placed in front of him; the werewolf cleared his throat again and resumed his tale.

"Over the span of four years, I have managed to track 39 werewolves that were either travelling alone or in small groups. Roughly half of them were newly-turned werewolves and accepted help readily. The other half were mostly set in their old ways and reacted violently when I revealed my beliefs to them, forcing me to take drastic measures." None in the room doubted what 'drastic measures' meant, especially when it came to creatures such as werewolves.

"That brings me to our current situation. I had located an old werewolf, of unknown name, and had started to work on him and, as a side-project, a man named Pete Sweeny- who was a former Death Eater and had joined our group. Under the guise of a young disoriented werewolf Romulus, I tried to influence them into converting to our side. After some months I decided that they were not going to change their ways and was about to desert them, when I heard them scheming to kidnap Harry Potter – so I stayed. Eventually they did capture him." Gasps were heard from every corner of the room, hopeful eyes looking at him to elaborate.

"They whisked Harry away from a muggle park, and they had also brought a young girl who happened to be with Harry at the time of kidnapping. The children were separated and I was faced with the choice of whom to go after. I ,of course, wanted to head after Harry, but I rationalized that my housemates would not kill Harry, based on previous talks of using him to get ransom money. The girl had no such protection, so I was forced to go after her. As it would be, she turned out to be a muggleborn and resisted my attempt of stunning her by erecting a shield- her first instance of accidental magic I believe. I then easily overpowered and stunned her. Meanwhile, I sensed another person enter the house." He staled his story, by taking a rather large gulp of water. The impatient stares he was receiving made him continue talking.

"I have never felt anything like that before- the wolf inside of me kept insisting that it was a predator. I believe said predator killed Pete Sweeny and the werewolf I was pursuing. As the smell of the werewolve's blood hit my nose, the wolf overwhelmed me, forcing me to flee- all I could do was to take the young witch with me. That is all I know." The werewolf hang his head as outraged shrieks broke out all around him, chasing away the silence of a minute ago. It was only a deep bellow of "Silence!" that stopped the cacophony of screams and possibly bodily attacks on his person.

"Everybody please calm down- Potter is well and safe. The monitoring charms I have put on him show that he is currently asleep within his room in his aunt's house." Said the elderly wizard, his blue eyes serious as they ever were.

"Dumbledore, you cannot possibly defend the mutt after he ran back to us with his tail in-between his legs." Scoffed a surly man from the very corner of the room, as if just by being next to the werewolf would ruin his year.

"Severus, he has done his best. Let Remus rest." McGonagall shot a stern look towards the surly man, who curled his lip at her then aimed a frosty glare to the growling werewolf.

"Now, now boys, all is well. There is no need to fight and there certainly is no need for us to take the rest of the day with a matter that has turned out in our favor." The occupants of the room took the dismissal for what it was, and slowly started ambling out from Number 12, Grimauld Place, until eventually it was only the members of the Inner Order that remained.

It did not take long for the eccentric group to agree that that was a really close call and they needed to take more caution in the future. They also had to find out the identity of Harry's apparent savior, and determine his-or her- motifs. A quick vote was decided upon to determine future course of action.

"All in favor of warding the Dursley household and installing a spy nearby, raise your hands." All hands, as if one, went up. McGonagall was sent to fetch Arabella Figg and brief her on the situation. Now all that remained was the question of what to do with the muggleborn witch, and Albus could finally go home and indulge himself with a slice or two of cherry pie- he could hardly wait.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOX

Meanwhile, a satisfied demon exited Privet Drive, smirking to himself at the punishment he had instilled on the Dursley's for their lack of attention to Harry- the fools had not even called police, even though the child had been missing for most of the day. The scared expression on woman's face as she was told of what he had done bringing joy to his black heart.

His punishment was actually inspired by her love for plants- Sebastian merely had given her another one to take care of. He had led her upstairs, in front of her son's bedroom door and, deliberately in full view of her, had enchanted the scorch mark on the door (from when he first had a 'chat' with the delightful family' to look like a seed. Then he'd told her that the seed nurtured on negative emotions and as long as Harry suffered harm due to said intentions, directly or indirectly, the seed would grow. And when each scorch-mark rose opened, a member of the family would be killed.

He was not ashamed to say that every word was as truthful as can be.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXO

A/N I'm alive! And yes, Romulus was Remus in disguise- this was the mission I sent him on- bet none of ya saw that coming. This is also my longest chapter yet, to make up for slow updates and many requests to do 'longer chapters'. I'm sorry people, but I think I will stick to about 2000 words updates- it's what my schedule allows me to do. On to replies:

In5pirit: There will be a time skip, but not so soon, besides the plot is picking up for now- so enjoy the bumpy ride I present you with.

Riddle-Snape: Hmm, maybe. But remember Harry is still 4 year old, and no matter what other fanfics say, you can't became all-powerfull/independent/dark in just a day, especially at that age. Besides Harry trusting and looking up to Seb is an important component of the story

WRose & Paxloria: does this answer?

KioshiUshima: Nope not Greyback, but don't worry he'll get what's coming his way too…

The Yoshinator: Thank you very much! : )

LovelyCrazy: I did not know we could do that…! : 0