The Schultz collective stayed all night in the woods with him, waiting for their youngest to become human again. Haley had fallen asleep across from him on the ground and he cast a cushioning charm on the hard dirt under her.

Mr. and Mrs. Schultz did not sleep. They did a lot of watching Severus, which was a bit annoying. Then they tried asking the occasional question about werewolves or magic or the potion he was making, and he dodged most of them. Finally they settled on just watching him again, as well as the fire and randomly looking expectantly at the deathly quiet shack.

Severus finished the pain potion for the small girl and put each dose in its own container. He then pulled out his notes.

He was itching to start brewing his modified wolfsbane potion, but it certainly would not last a month sitting around.

The theory was: only one dose the eve of the full moon. It had more ingredients than the original, but it was still far less expensive and significantly less was needed to be taken for it to work. Severus wasn't even sure exactly what it would do to the transformation, there were quite a few possibilities. He only hoped it at least functioned as the other one did. If it prevented the transformation altogether as well (which is what he was trying for) all the better. The side effects of that were unknown though. A werewolf forced to not transform had never exactly happened…A test subject was needed to see how well it worked and what adjustments he might need to make.

He skimmed through the pages, making sure all of his calculations were as accurate as one could be without the actual physical brew.

He finally decided some essence of dittany wouldn't go amiss, for it never hurt to have some around. He had the ingredients, may as well use them.

When the sun finally peeked over the horizon, Severus stood and motioned for Mrs. Schultz to follow with the small pile of clothes she brought.

He deactivated the holding wards and let the woman inside the trashed shack.

While she dressed and coddled her youngest, Severus grabbed a dose of the pain potion he jarred and the vial of dittany.

The half dressed child looked frail, and had wounds on the back of her head and neck from where she clawed at herself during the night. Mrs. Schultz was sobbing quietly along with her daughter.

Severus knelt down to them and showed them the small vial first. "This is essence of dittany. I'm going to put some on your scratch to heal it, but it's going to hurt a bit.

Megan sniffled and turned to give him the best access to the back of her head.

He applied some to each claw mark and they immediately started to heal. The little girl winced for each drop, but made no sound. He stored the vial on his person once he was finished.

Next, he handed her the jar with a small dose of the pain potion he invented when he was regularly suffering from the cruciatus.

"This should help with the pain. It tastes awful."

She took a sip and made a face. "Ick."

"Indeed. But you have to drink it all for it to work."

She finished it in one big gulp.

"You know, you're very brave...If you were a witch, I'd believe you to be a Gryffindor." The words tasted like bile in his mouth. He hoped it sounded like the compliment he intended it to be.

Megan, already looking less pallid, frowned. "What's a Gryffin?"

"A...well, it's a faction at my school. Gryffindors are the bravest, their crest is a lion."

"But not all lions are brave. What about the cowardly lion?"

Severus frowned in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know, Dorothy's friend? From The Wizard of Oz on the telly?"

Mrs. Schultz spoke then. "I don't think Severus watches much telly. Remember he said it's our magic? And if you remember: the cowardly lion wasn't a coward in the end."

"Oh, right!" She smiled at him. "Would you like to watch it with me sometime? We have it on tape!"

He looked to Megan's smiling mother and then back to her.

The woman rescued him from answering. "I think Severus needs some rest before he makes such a commitment."

"That's okay, I can wait." Her little smile broadened. "Are you a Gryffin, Severus?"

He smirked. "I'm far too cunning to be a Gryffindor."

Severus returned outside to find Harvey sifting dirt into the dying fire and Haley awake and holding one of his books.

Anger flared inside him, but he held it (mostly) at bay. He came up behind her and discovered it was his potions textbook.

"Some might consider it rude,-"

She jolted as he spoke into her ear and dropped the book.

"-to have their things gone through in their absence."

"S-sorry."

He held out his hand and she picked up the text to return to him.

Severus pocketed the remaining dose of his pain potion as he efficiently packed his trunk back up and locked it with a charm. He tucked it away in the (now vacant) shack, activating all of the wards as he left.

"Nice to meet you, Severus!" He heard Megan shout from behind him.

He stalked towards home, trying to quell his lingering temper with a brisk pace.

XXXXXXXX

After the young man, Severus, helped their family through such an awful night, they felt humbled and more than a little disturbed.

There was a whole world out there that they knew nothing about...

Lenore joined her husband on the walk back home and spoke quietly so that the girls couldn't hear. "What a strange boy...though very kind to have helped us."

Harvey furrowed his brow. "He seemed upset when he left, did Megan do or say something invasive?"

"No, he was perfectly fine with Megan and I, but when I came out of the shack with her, he seemed angry and then stormed off without so much as a farewell."

"Huh...I wonder if Haley may have said something to him, you know how teeneagers are. I only hope he is not too upset from whatever it was. I have no idea what to do during the next full moon aside from maybe lock Megan up in the barn for the night."

"I worry if it would hold up... that shack was a mess this morning, and that young man said he thoroughly magicked it. If she were to hurt herself again...Without his assistance...I hope he is still willing to help us until we understand what we need to do for our little girl. I don't know who else we could even ask if he doesn't."

He nodded his agreement. "If we don't hear from him in a few days, I will find him and see where he stands on the matter. He appeared to have walked here, so he must be local...unless wizards can teleport."

Lenore laughed at the absurdity of the idea.

"We should have asked for his surname." He continued. "Oh, bloody hell…"

"What? What is it, Harv?"

"We'll have to get Haley a pet or she will sulk 'for eternity' that her little sister has one and she doesn't."

XXXXXXXX

Severus returned home in the early morning and, to his simultaneous relief and annoyance, found his father back home and asleep in his chair. His usual whiskey bottle was not visible, but that didn't mean there wasn't at least one laying around.

His fury had subsided, the adrenaline had officially drained from his system and all he really wanted to do was sleep.

The girl had watched him brew all night and when she saw the potion book, her curiosity must have gotten the better of her. He did not appreciate the disrespect, but he found himself feeling a bit forgiving towards the traumatized family.

Only a bit.

An actual apology from the brat would be appreciated, not the caught-in-the-act 'sorry' she tossed his way.

He forced his tired body up the stairs as light footed as he could muster, but when he reached his bed he landed on it with a fwump and groaned at the effort.

Amun hooted softly at him.

It was all he could do to turn his head enough to look at the bird. "Right...I should do that now."

Severus, feeling oh so generous today, pushed himself off of the bed and scrawled a quick letter. It didn't even look like he had written it, for the letters were lazy and spread out. Perhaps that was for the best, he wouldn't want his scrunched spiky script to be recognized. He also didn't sign his name, for that would raise suspicion, but he had to put something to have it received as he intended…

'A Friend' would do, though the term was nowhere near accurate.

After dropping the shrunken jar of pain potion inside he handed the letter to Amun. The little owl happily accepted his first delivery from one of his new masters.