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Authors note: As ever the characters and location do not belong to me.

Settling In

The first inkling that it was a full moon was when Lupin's eyes glowing and then falling to the floor screaming as he changed. They'd half expected it, he'd been grouchy all day, though they all had. Severus managed to contain Moony, though the rest of the castle didn't fare so well. No one died but half the pure wizards were bitten. There was nothing anyone could do about it, to have dosed them in precaution would have meant to kill them, and there was no way of predicting the moon cycle after the days asleep. In all they decided that they'd been fortunate for the result. Worst case would have been for the non Were to all have been killed and the Were to have then turned on each other.

There was a day of healing, for both the newly turned and the Were, the trauma to both groups was declared to be damaging and Severus spent the evening obliviating every one of the events. He left those who were to be Were with the knowledge that they would be Were, but none of the memories of being turned.

After that was dealt with they settled back into the new regime. For all of Snape's worrying, Molly had the whole operation sorted, she'd managed to ensure everyone had a job to do, she had her kitchen crew up and running, who provided simple but delicious meals.

Meal times varied depending on the craft, the name decided on by a small Hufflepuff who had regaled Molly with tales of working with horses when she'd gone to be assigned a job. Those of the 9 to 5 variety of craft such as sewing ate all together, using the newly furnished Great Hall, with Breakfast between 7 and 8:30, with lunch between the hours of 1 and 2 and the evening meal between 6:30 and 8.

Those who worked outside tended to rise with the dawn and eat around 6, with lunch being brought out at 12, normally a variety of both hot and cold, and then would eat again around 5. The Healers would eat in shifts, depending on night and day, and would often eat in their own small communal area. The Potions staff however followed in their masters footsteps and often had to be nagged into eating, with delegates from the kitchen checking up on them throughout the day and night leaving trays of food, and sending Molly up to shout when they were left untouched.

There were minor set backs, when a rather ignorant Lord Hepplethwaite declared he was the foreman for the sheep farm, and the Muggle farmer just carried on teaching the others what had to be done and assigned the Lord the duty of shovelling up sheep shit for manure for the arable Crafters being one. Another happened when Ron Weasley snuck into the Great Hall and woke up Hermione and Harry, who both had to be oblivated and sent back into a deep sleep. Ron was dragged by his ear by an irate Snape, who threw him at him mother, hissed out what the brat had done, and stormed out saying he couldn't trust himself not to kill the creature.

There were squabbles about who'd done what, and those who had been lumbered with jobs they hated had petitioned for a switch. There were arguments about who had the better jobs, and rifts that fell between crafts on rank, but they were stamped on as quickly as they formed. It was hard to argue when Snape had you against the wall by your throat.

One thing that everyone agreed on was that the general health amongst those who were awake had improved ten fold.

Though no-one had agreed with Ron's method of waking Harry up, it did raise the question, was Harry Potter to be left in a delusional world, or was he to be told the truth? Ron argued that he was used to hard work, that he'd lived with appalling muggles who treated worse than a house elf.

"You really believe Remus would let his friends son alone all these years without keeping an eye on him, especially with what we know about Dumbledore?" came the mocking question.

"You're really trying to tell me that Lupin, the most good natured man on the planet, would leave Harry to be starved to death!"

"Ron, he was treated like their own son, the Dursley's are actually very friendly muggles, and if you'd taken the time to see your father at work, you'd have met both Vernon and Dudley for yourself, and your mother and Petunia work closely keeping an eye on the overall running of the place. You'll also notice that neither Vernon nor Dudley are fat as Harry sees them in his mind, but attractive men, and Petunia is as lovely as his own mother.

"Harry has unfortunately been Dumbledored, he was given books to read about mistreated orphans, and Dumbledore encourages him to believe himself to be mistreated. He just stops eating the last week of summer. Talk to Dudley he can tell you how much fun they've had, and he'll be able to show you all the clothed pictures of Potter, Petunia has the baby photos though."

"So where did he get the Brutus school thing from then? The one he says they tell everyone he goes to and why did he get the freak thing from"

"The Incurably Criminal School bit is from one of those angsty fictional pieces that he reads on the muggle computer, the freak bit is I guess a mixture of his imagination and Dumbledore. Harry is a lovely boy, but really he often lives in an imaginary world rather than the real one. Let me ask you something, did you rescue him from his bedroom window with bars on?"

"Well no, but he was waiting on the doorstep, he kind of looked like he'd been kissed on the cheek, but he wiped it off pretty quickly so it might have been something else."

"It's not that he's trying to lie to you, it's just that for him that's the truth, when he's not there."

"So you'll just leave him to be manipulated by the old man and left in a fantasy world? Remus please, you know he wants nothing more than to be ordinary, all that Boy Who Lived rubbish just scares him, All he gets told is that he's going to die, and Dumbledore keeps filling his head with all sorts of nightmares. He thinks he sees Snape being tortured by a huge snakelike man, except for there is no such thing, and you said yourself you weren't tortured. Save him from himself before the Headmaster gets him killed. He's my best friend… "

"And Granger, Longbottom? How about the Patil's? How about the whole bloody school, you really want to leave Granger to be the only one of the infamous trio left out, could you reign in your sensibilities after we rescue Potter? And what if he fails to acknowledge what's true? You'll be happy for me to obliviate him? And what of everyone else, you wish for them to feel like we are treating the lad as a saviour, a hero when he's just a normal kid, they wont be happy if he's suddenly given privileges over those who work hard for them."

"He'll work hard, and Hermione will be fine,"

"Only because you fell out." It was the first time Draco had spoken during the rapidly developing argument, he'd been keeping his counsel, knowing anything he'd say would be taken with a pinch of salt.

"Shut up Malfoy, we didn't fall out, we just decided that we wanted different things out of life –"

"Yeah like you wanted sex, and she wanted a ring on her finger"

"Shut it before I shut it for you ferret!"

"Ronald, you will apologise to Draco, and Draco while I understand this is difficult for you, please can you hold your counsel for a few more minutes?" Draco nodded sullenly to his godfather, who in return acknowledged it with a small nod.

"We will wake Potter, we'll explain to him the situation and he will be returned to the Dursleys, he will reside with them if he reacts well to the news. He will be on probation as will you Ronald, if either of you act in ways you shouldn't you will be held accountable."

This was the last big decision made for a while, with the initial uproar from the others, it was decided no one else would be woken no matter who they were. However Harry did slip into life quickly, causing little stir, he worked hard, and he filled back out again, happier with life now he was back with his family.