Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

Now that that's out of the way, let's begin…

Last time,

"…Sev-"

"This isn't our fault, Re. It's not."

Remus looks at him uncertainly but takes a breath and nods. He gestures to a room which Severus walks into and immediately finds himself with an armful of Benni.

"It's okay, Little Benni. You're okay," He tells her, but even he knows it isn't true.

Nothing's okay.

Now,

27th December 2001

Draco's once more sitting in the observation room, glaring at the wizard they arrested in the interrogation room.

"Guessing you didn't get anything?" Ron asks as he and Branson get back.

Sim huffs, "This dude is a brick fucking wall or smirks and riddles and nothing else."

"Riddles?"

"We got them written down to look at in case he gave something away. What'd you get from Blood moon?"

"We were able to search their club house but as far as questioning goes, it's 9pm, we're going to have to wait until the morning."

Draco nods, sighing as his phone rings. He pulls it out, "I got to take this," He tells the others who nod. He steps out of the room as he answers. "Uncle Sev, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Draco. I know you're busy but we just wanted to check if it's okay for Delphini and Bella to go with Peter and Bridget? They've offered to have them over night if you need."

"Harry isn't there yet?"

"No, we still haven't heard from him. You spoke to him?"

Draco huffs, "Yes, two hours ago," He replies angrily before muttering, "Unbelievable," under his breath. He sighs, "If they could take the kids that would be fantastic. I don't think I'm getting out of here any time soon."

"Yes, we thought that might be the case."

"Would you thank Uncle Re for me, for today? And tell Pete and Bridget that Harry will either be over in the morning to pick up the kids or you'll all be receiving invitations to his funeral?"

"Of course," Severus responds, sounding equal parts amused, concerned, and just plain exhausted.

"I'm glad you're okay, Uncle."

"Many aren't."

Draco nods, "Too many."

Severus sits in his living-room, Benni, Remus, Sirius, Del, and Kayla all seated as well.

"Sorry about your birthday," Benni tells Kayla who scoffs.

"You just got blown up, babes. My birthday can wait, holy crap."

"Harry texted me," Del says, looking at her phone, "'Heard about father, you okay?'"

Kayla snorts, "Ah, Draco told him to attempt an emotion while he's busy, I see."

"At least he's actually reached out now," Remus points out while rubbing at his forehead, tapping the fingers on his other hand against his leg.

"Was he always like this?" Kayla asks.

"For as long as we've known him," Severus replies.

Benni shakes her head, "You know after you worked at Hogwarts for the first time, Harry and Jamie were writing to each other. Every single letter he asked how you were doing, took a genuine interest in me as well even though we had never met," Benni tells Remus who raises his eyebrows in surprise. "From what I understand, it wasn't until after the Triwizard Tournament that he started being totally emotionally inept."

"Two years later he set out to kill someone, quite the turn around." Everyone turns exasperated looks onto Kayla who shrugs, "Just sayin. I was in the potions lab when it blew up too."

"So was Dean, never heard him complain about it," Benni reminds her.

"Yeah, but I'm the one who got a broken leg, actually I never did complain to Harry about that, I keep meaning to and then getting distracted. I've literally never been in the room with him without someone complaining about whatever he's up to at that point and then I end up caught up in that discussion because it's hilarious." There's chuckles around the room that have Kayla smile a little to herself, glad that she could make them laugh, even just a bit. Then she decides to take the opportunity to ask something that's been on her mind a while. "Hey, Hermione's like a year younger than Harry, right?" Everybody nods. "So, I've been wondering why she was in the same year as him at Hogwarts."

"Mm, the ministry was detecting a strong concentration of magic coming from her house. When they investigated and discovered she was muggle-born, or so they thought, they thought it best she learn to control that magic as soon as possible. They wrote to McGonagall come time for letters to go out and she agreed they'd take her a year early given she had no wizards around to help mitigate any damage that may occur," Severus explains. Kayla nods to that, wondering how many others there have been in that situation.

Sirius sighs, knowing he has to ask something no one will want to talk about. "You know, no one ever actually told me what happened with Sevrin. And I wouldn't have pushed but…things have changed a bit."

Remus nods, "When Jamie was young she was traumatised by the effects of the war, no matter how much everyone tried to protect her from it. Severus and I wanted the twins to have an easier time of it. So we kept the whole werewolf and zombie thing to ourselves. We'd have told them when they were older, but at 7 we still just wanted them to feel safe and happy more than anything."

"He found our work for the book in the bottom of our wardrobe and worked out Remus' condition from that. He didn't take it well. That's when he…" Severus trails off, but Sirius gets the picture and nods.

"What was it like, suddenly being human again?" Kayla asks Remus who lets out a breath.

"I was 4 when I was first bitten, so I didn't actually remember what it was like to be human. It was like I was deaf, I could barely hear anything. I could barely see anything. With everything going on at the time I didn't even realise what had changed, and we weren't sure what the effect of what happened would be. That full after it happened is my first memory of seeing a full moon. That was when I suddenly felt how different everything was. I looked at it and it was just… a big light in the sky. Nothing more. That's when I realised my eyesight and hearing weren't damaged by what happened, it's just how humans perceive the world. Took some getting used to. Had to relearn how to read emotions in people, I didn't even realise how much I'd been unconsciously relying on scent."

Benni frowns, "I never realised."

Remus shrugs, "Of everything I lost that day, even when I thought it was damage and not just being human, my senses were not what I was mourning."

"Gee, I feel bad for my loud chewing around Dannie now."

Benni rolls her eyes, "Don't, at least half of the complaints are just to piss you off."

"Fucking knew it, what a bitch."

Benni snickers, as does Kayla. Those three are friends for a reason and they love each other.

Draco gets home after midnight, expecting a silent house, but is greeted with noises of talking and a light on in Harry's study. His exhaustion is suddenly gone and replaced with the earlier anger. He walks over and opens the door to find Harry and Anthony in front of Harry's pinboard and whiteboard, details of their story across both. Draco clears his throat and they both turn around.

"Anthony, not that it's not great to see you but I'm about to be very rude to you."

Anthony gives an anxious chuckle, "Yeah, fair, go ahead."

"Get out of my house."

"Good call." Anthony leaves, clearly mouthing something to Harry because he nods at him. But Draco doesn't look away from Harry as he hears the front door open and close.

"Look, we had a lead and it couldn't wait," Harry immediately defends.

Draco shakes his head. "Harry, do you know how many people died today? Do you know how many were hospitalised? How many members of our family were hospitalised?"

"Erm, no."

"Do you know where our children are right now?"

Harry narrows his eyes in thought, "By the tone of your voice, I'm thinking it's not Remus."

"No, it's not. See because he had a traumatised daughter to take care of and Severus was in the Sanctuary when it got blown up too. So was your father, not that you seem to care about that at all. So today, while trying to hunt down a whackjob, I also comforted family members, fielded calls about our kids who passed through three hands today for people to look after them because you dumped them on Uncle Re and never came back, and you couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone."

"Dr-"

"I'm not done!" Draco snaps. Harry shuts up. "So there's me, completely swamped. Trying to manage sudden anxiety I seem to have, had a panic attack for the first time today, and still managing to deal with the kids and do you know why and how I did that, Harry? Those kids are my top priority. Why aren't they yours?!" He demands, livid.

Harry looks down, "Draco, I left them with Remus, they were safe. I only intended to be gone for a couple of hours but…things happened and I lost track of time."

"I told you what happened. Did you ever even call your mother?"

"I texted her, she's at Uncle Sev's, she's fine."

"Her husband is in a coma and you think she's fine?"

"She said she was fine."

Draco shakes his head, dropping his head into his heads. "You're on paternity leave, Harry. Your only job right now is to look after our children. So I don't know what the hell story you think is so important but drop it, now. Anthony can work with someone else. I can't do this right now; our family can't do this right now."

Harry cringes, "Dray…this is important. Lives are at stake."

"Then turn whatever you've got over to Crown, she's the Auror on the attacks. If lives are at stake then it's her job not yours."

"I can't, that's the thing. I…look I know I fucked up today, and I know everything's gone to shit. But I need you to trust me, Draco, please. I have to do this."

Draco shakes his head, "No. You have to keep our children safe while a crazed lunatic is on the streets and has it out for our family. You think we need to bring G-" Draco stops short, believing Harry doesn't know about Greyback's return.

"It's not what you think."

"What are you talking about?"

Harry sighs, "The attacks, they aren't what you think. People thinking they are is causing more and more trouble for the werewolf community, but it's not like that. I can't explain more than that but your colleague has no idea and if I could turn it over at this point I would, but I can't. What's happening, it's not what anyone thinks. Give me a chance to prove it. Please."

"You don't know who you're tangling with, Harry. If you're wrong –"

"I'm not."

Draco frowns, then sighs. "Bella needs to be with us to bond with us, Harry."

"A week, Draco. One week, and if I haven't proved it by then, I'll let it go."

"And what do we do with our children in the meantime? We've run out of your parents, they're all dealing with crises or are in a coma. And the rest of our family are either ministry officials dealing with all this or they work for the Sanctuary that just exploded."

Harry thinks for a moment, then smiles warmly and shakes his head. "Not all of them."

28th December 2001

Harry heads to Bridge's Potion Supplies bright and early that morning, walking in and immediately hearing "HARRYYYYYYY" and then having a 6-year-old leap at him.

Harry chuckles as he catches her. "Hey, Baby Bird. How was your night?"

"It was great! Delphi and I played horsies and Bella was our rider and Mummy held her on our backs. We had to be very gentle if we wanted Bella to play with us and we were."

"Sounds like you three had fun," Harry says as he walks over to the front desk where Peter stands with Flubber.

"Morning, Uncle Wormy, Flubber. Thanks for last night," Harry greets, wincing as he thanks his Uncle.

Peter nods, "No trouble at all, Harry. Delphini was an angel."

"Any problems with Bella?" Harry asks, concerned by the specific nature of his statement.

"Seemed a bit restless, didn't sleep very well. Probably just missed her parents."

Harry smiles lightly at that, "They both upstairs?"

"Yeah, Bridge and Mary too."

"Mary?"

Peter winces, "Showed up in the wee hours of the morning. Had a rough night after everything that happened yesterday."

"She's not alone in that."

"Draco?" Peter asks, face furrowed in concern. Harry nods with a frown. "His job's tough, but so is he. He'll bounce back."

"It's not the job. Not this time. I guess I forgot. Draco knew him back then when they were kids." Harry rubs the back of his neck, unknowingly sparking quite a few memories of James for Peter. "I might touch base with Pansy too. Yesterday would've been rough on her as well." Peter smiles at him causing Harry to frown. "What?"

"We missed you yesterday, Harry. I'm just glad to know you're still here."

Harry's not sure what to do with that statement so he just walks up and collects his children.

"Harry!"

Harry smiles, "Mrs Weasley, it's good to see you."

"And you, dear," Molly replies, pulling him into a hug before taking Bella from him and lifting Delphini onto her hip to hug them both at once. "Would you like a coffee?" Molly asks Harry who shakes his head.

"Thank you, but, I'm about to head to St Mungos."

Molly nods in understanding, "Of course dear. You let me know if there's anything I can do, yes?"

"You already are, and Draco and I really appreciate this."

"Oh, these two are nothing after my seven, believe me. Although Ginny wasn't so bad. Though she could do to start thinking about the future," Molly replies.

"I heard that!" Ginny calls from within the house. She's the only Weasley child who still lives at home, and Molly's been dropping quite a few hints that Ginny should be looking at that more seriously. Not because she wants her to go, in truth Molly's dreading losing her last child to the real world. But she doesn't want Ginny to become stagnant, wants to encourage her to move forward. Unfortunately, the supportive aspect of this all is not quite coming through to Ginny who is basically still here out of spite now.

"All the same, thank you." Molly puts Delphini onto the ground and wraps Harry in a big hug.

"You and your children are always welcome here, Harry. And it's going to be lovely spending more time with my god-daughter and getting to know Bella. Now, you get going. I'm sure your Mother is already there."

Harry does, in fact, go to St Mungos, and finds Del sitting at his father's bedside.

He clears his throat from the doorway.

Del looks up and smiles when she sees him, even though her eyes are brimming with tears. "Harry." She moves over to hug him, a hug he stiffly returns.

"Del, I…I should've been here yesterday," Harry tells her.

She recognises this as Harry attempting an apology while simultaneously avoiding a topic he's uncomfortable with and shakes her head as she pulls away. "I know how you get caught up in your work, Harry. It doesn't mean you don't care. I know that."

Harry opens his mouth to respond when his phone goes off. He looks down at it to see a message from Anthony.

Got him, we're heading over.

He sighs, "Mum, I-"

"You need to go."

Harry cringes, nodding. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

Del sits down beside Tom again after Harry leaves the room and takes his hand. "I've spent most of my life waiting and hoping you'd come back to me, Tom. I don't want to do it again. So you wake up, you hear me? You have to wake up."

Harry heads to Potter Mansion and then to the floo in the living-room. He takes a deep breath before grabbing a handful of floo powder and preparing to see a place he never really imagined he would.

"Black Manor."

He ends up in what looks to be a study, turning to look at the floo he's instantly met with pictures that take his breath away. He picks up a photo frame, in it Remus is lifting Jamie, who seems to be pretending she's flying, through the air before placing her in Bellatrix's arms where she gets cuddled sweetly, and then it repeats as all wizarding photos do.

He looks at the next photo, Bellatrix holding Jamie, someone's behind the camera making the baby laugh as Bellatrix smiles brightly too.

He looks at the next, a whole group of people sitting under a tree on Hogwarts grounds. They seem happy.

He puts the photo in his hands back, making a mental note to see if Jamie will come here with him to see all this when Sevrin's dealt with.

He's got some time before Anthony and Greyback are set to arrive so he moves through the house carefully, intent on making sure there's no nasty surprises. While the last occupants of this house were great people, it was once owned by less great people, and he'd just really like to be sure.

He ends up in a room with a crib and finds himself caught looking at it. Moving closer, he finds a stuffed wolf in it and smiles, imagining his Dad or Uncle James probably had something to do with that. He bets Lyle would appreciate it.

The chime of someone at the door rings through the house so he heads down and lets them both in.

"I take it you both came to a decision?" Greyback immediately asks.

Harry frowns as he nods. "You help us, we let you go once it's done. Deal?"

Greyback grins, full of teeth, "Deal."

"So, question is, then, if you aren't the one eating people, who is?" Anthony begins.

Frowning at the floor, Harry thinks on this for a minute. "How do you feel about breaking into a crime scene?"

"Don't you think the Aurors would have found something if it was there?"

"For one, no, I don't. And for two, they think they know who did it–"

"Thanks to us," Anthony interjects.

"– so that last crime scene might have clues that they missed because they're looking for him now, not evidence that could point to who it truly is," Harry explains, glaring at his partner when he interrupts.

"You said the latest attack happened two days ago," Greyback says, "Won't the place still be looked at by Aurors?"

"I doubt it, not now they're looking for you."

The group agrees and so they head off.

Meanwhile, in the Auror department.

"Crown!" Draco calls as he walks over to the woman's desk, "You got a minute?"

Victoria Crown smiles slightly, nodding but looking a little harried. "For you, Malfoy, always. What can I do for you?"

Draco frowns, "Nothing, it's just…have you found anything in your case that…isn't adding up? Discrepancies of any kind?"

Crown narrows her eyes, "Why?"

He leans against the side of her desk, crossing his arms. "Not that I want to interfere with your case or anything, and I'm not doubting your abilities it's just, you know Harry's looking into this, right?"

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," She replies with an eyeroll.

Draco snickers a little, nodding before looking serious once more. "Right, well, he seems to think something's going on. Something you aren't seeing."

"Have you told him anything about the case?" She asks, leaning back in her chair and frowning in thought.

"No, of course not."

"Well maybe he found out about Greyback and thinks we don't know?"

Draco nods slowly, "Could do."

"I'll head back to the crime scene, look over it a little more just in case. Much as I hate to admit it, your husband's usually right about these things."

"We're not married."

Crown snorts, "Right, you two should get on that."

Draco rolls his eyes, "Good talk," He says, walking away.

"I'll wait for the invite then, yeah?" She calls after him.

He chuckles as he heads back to his desk, only to find his seat taken.

"Tonks?"

Tonks swivels in his chair and nods at him, "Hey." She frowns as she looks to Ron who nods sagely. "So, we know how Sevrin escaped, and…it didn't happen two days ago."

"What do you mean?"

Ron sighs, rubbing at his forehead. "Another trick, like making us think we arrested him. This is all…very well planned."

"Well how long has he been out then?" Draco asks incredulously.

"Months," Tonks replies tersely, "He's been free for months."

"What did you mean when you said that they think I did all this because of you two?" Greyback asks Anthony as the two of them and Harry search the latest crime scene.

Anthony looks over awkwardly before sighing, "We sent in the tip that it was you."

Greyback looks at him, baring his teeth a little. "Why?" He demands.

"Because your fur was found at one of the crime scenes. Which, now that I think about it, how did that happen exactly, since you claim to not be involved at all?" Anthony asks, now demanding answers of him.

Greyback puts a hand to the back of his shoulder, rubbing lightly. "Some months ago I was attacked. Stupid, I thought. It was a full moon, after all. Naturally, I tried to kill them. But they got away from me, just…disappeared. Not before they ripped a chunk out of me," He says, pulling his shirt over his shoulder and showing the almost healed wound.

Anthony frowns, looking at it in confusion, "Standard spells don't have much of an effect on werewolves."

"They didn't use a spell," Greyback explains, "They used this." He pulls a knife out.

"How'd they even get close enough to you to do that?"

Greyback looks around shiftily, clearly uncomfortable talking about being bested. "Cruciatus curse. Strangest thing, I never actually heard it being cast."

Harry comes rushing into the room, "Get away from the windows!" He says, the two instantly doing so. Harry frowns, "What's with the knife?" He asks, voice full of suspicion.

"Relax, he wasn't attacking me."

"Then we can talk about it later. Someone's here."

"Who?" Anthony and Greyback both ask at once.

"Auror Crown."

Note:

So, let me know if the changing perspectives is making things too choppy or breaking the story up too much. If it's bothering people I can edit the chapters and move things around to fit people's parts more consecutively for the most part. I've written it chronologically or kind of parallel to what's happening at the same time so changing it would mean doing more of a backpedal to show that these things are happening simultaneously even though they're written after, but I can probably make it happen if that's what you folks want.

Hope you're enjoying things so far!