Yep. I'm back! Please review the next chapter please!

Morning was an interesting affair. All mornings here were quiet and rather dull. And this morning was still quiet but rather interesting.

Harry gets up every morning at five but today he didn't even bother to go back to bed. Instead he used his shower and took his time getting ready. At five he was heading downstairs to make himself some coffee, then go up and check on his new resident. That wasn't needed though.

Draco, like Harry, had decided sleeping would be useless. The man had taken a (much-needed) shower and was wearing Harry's favorite t-shirt and old pajama pants that were a bit too big. Damian had apparently taken the liberty of rooting through his stuff. That shirt had been at the bottom of his dresser.

But Damian was smarter, and better with new tenants than most gave him credit for. Draco being a werewolf would have heightened senses like Damian's and would most likely be overwhelmed and uncomfortable. Giving him a shirt that smelled overwhelmingly of Harry would get him used to the sense and want to be subconsciously closer to his caregiver making Harry's job and Draco's recovery easier.

Chocolate chip pancakes for Damian it is then.

He called Dobby, who was ever enthusiastic, and Kreacher and they set to work. And Harry set to his. Draco was sitting on a stool on the island were breakfast was usually served. Harry sat across from him taking careful slow movements and smiled without showing his teeth.

"Draco" He said softly. "I need you to answer some questions and I need you to know some rules. There are other people here. Kids. They are important to me and I might not be able to help you the best that I can but I will try. It will take time to understand how we work here and you will make mistakes and you will probably be here for a long time. But I need you to know that no matter who or what gets in our way or hurts you, I will be there to do my best to help you recover. I can guide you there and I can show you the door but only you can open and walk through it. It will be hard and you have to want to get better and have a future or I can't help you. Do you understand? Nod if you do."

To Harry's relief Draco nodded. He looked different now. Even more vulnerable now in oversized clothes, with wide wild eyes. He has scars on his arms and small ones on his face. His ears were slightly pointed and his hair was thicker but looked incredibly soft. He had stubble giving his face a haggard rugged look. His hair was cleaner now and longer reaching his shoulders and the ends were uneven as if he cut his hair with a knife. But he still had the trademark startling blonde hair even if it was extremely dull now.

Harry wondered how long it will take him to adjust to living indoors again after living in the wild for so long and how long he was a werewolf for. Did he have a pack? Doubtful. He probably hasn't used his voice in so long it hurts to speak.

Harry had spent the time after they went upstairs to look at Draco's file and the info Kingsley collected: 5 feet 7 inches/ 1.702 meters; Harry's eyebrows had shot up at how malnourished the man was, 117 pounds or 53 kilograms—the equivalent of a pre-teenage girl. Harry was surprised the man was still standing. He was mostly muscle and bone and his reflexes were excellent. All senses at a healthy height for a werewolf and his magical aura was stable. No allergies besides the basics of werewolves. No silver, no wolfsbane, no strong smells or loud noises or spicy food. Kingsley has his wand and everything is ok and accounted for except for a few things.

Draco refuses whether physically or mentally to speak. He knows basic wandless magic and remembers how to do simple tasks as brushing his teeth or getting dressed; things of habit. This is fairly common for cases of post-traumatic stress but there are so many things to take into consideration here that there might be a breaking point.

There is the diagnosis of suicidal, muteness, post-traumatic stress, possible rejection or self-hatred; any number of things that Harry will need to plow through. He has his work cut out for him. Plus he can't just drop everything and help Draco. He has his other kids to really worry about. Like he said, he'll do his best but the kids come first.

And there's the fact that no one knows what his trigger is.

A trigger is that signal that tells the patient that there is just so much that he just snaps and loses control and does something rash. Here Harry doesn't know what will make him snap or what he will do when he does. That makes Draco dangerous. Mentally unstable doesn't even begin to cover it.

He summoned a piece of paper and a pen.

"You don't have to answer all my questions but I would like you to answer some. Most will be yes or no and yes, some will be therapy-based but I want to get to know you better too. So," he sipped his coffee "first off would you like anything for breakfast?"

Hesitantly Draco wrote in shaky but elegant script "The chocolate chip pancakes smell good"

Harry blinked, reread it and chuckled. "You know what Draco? I think that you're going to be okay." He smiled without showing his teeth and the silver eyes blinked back at him endearingly and Draco smiled back.

Half an hour later Harry learned that Draco's favorite color was green, he loved chocolate, he had been a werewolf for six years and didn't particularly mind being one but how he got there was a sensitive topic. He loved music and he hasn't spoken in 2 years. He can read and write in 4 languages (and used to speak 5) and he has a soft spot for kids and loved cats. (Even as a werewolf) Harry had made sure to steer far away from the war and the past. It was only his first day. This was going to take weeks, even months but Harry liked to focus on the here and now. He'd made progress. And that was that.

But now the smell of breakfast had lured the first kid out. Lexie was a morning person and as always, Dog her little black cat was at the ten year olds side. Yes, she had a cat named Dog. Yes Harry felt incredibly silly calling him that and yes Harry believed Lexie did that on purpose.

Lexie was incredibly entertaining and a tad overwhelming which is why her chair was on the way other side of the 'new resident' Chair which Draco was currently sitting in. Draco had decided to sit there because on the stool was a sign that literally said 'new resident' There were four others around the table. There was 'crazy old man', 'Damian the vampire slayer Slayer', 'Cat and Dog', and 'The little mermaid' Draco wasn't entirely sure what sort of house he'd stepped into.

"Lexie" Harry began. "Mind yourself. This is Draco. He's an old friend of mine that is going to be staying with us for a long time." The dark skinned girl nodded and sat down in her seat.

"Hi Draco. My name's Lexie and this is my cat Dog." Dog had jumped into her lap. "If you're going to be staying with us we need to change your sign. I'll ask everyone later- do I smell pancakes? Are we having pancakes Dad? What did Damian do and if I do it can we have muffins tomorrow?" her leg started to bounce up and down in barely contained energy. Dog moved from her lap to her shoulders purring loudly in her ear and her leg stopped bouncing. She took a deep breath. "Sorry dad"

Harry smiled at her. She was getting better. "It's okay Lex that was great. You have more control and you're minding yourself. I think that if you keep improving without your medicine then you can go to Hogwarts next year." Her smile lit up the room. "Really?"

"Yes. But your still taking your meds. You're not getting off that easy. I think though that maybe in a couple days we can give you a smaller dose."

Draco watched Harry. He had a unique way of talking to kids. He tells them the truth. No sugar coating but soft and firm and warm. He told them the truth and he knew they knew that he would do his best to make the truth hurt less. And Draco knew that whatever sort of house he'd stepped into, he'd stepped into the right one.

His ear twitched. Soft patter of small feet descended the stairs. A little girl with big green eyes and bright red hair came into view. She rubbing her eyes sleepily and a battered bright green Dragon was clutched in her other hand. She looked up at Harry and opened her mouth. After a few seconds she emitted a strangled sound. "Dagdify"

Harry correctly translated it as 'Daddy' and bent down to scope her into his arms. "Good morning princess. We're having pancakes for breakfast and we have someone new here. His name is Draco and he's old like me. He had his voice stolen like you but we're going to get it back like we're getting yours back. Can you wave hi?"

The little girl (who Draco remembered to be Niki) had caught sight of Draco and promptly buried her face in Harry's neck but at her daddy's words she peeked out and gave a small wave still clutching her stuffed toy.

It was almost six when Damian stumbled down the stairs and Draco winced. The boy was loud enough to wake the neighborhood but was still too sleepy to realize it. "G'orning" he mumbled. A little more awake he sniffed and let out a whoop "Pancakes!" He sat next to Draco on the other side of Lexie and he waved to Niki across from him. "I don't know why you're so happy" Harry said over his coffee mug. "You still have lessons with Hermione today." Lexie and Damian groaned. Niki smiled. She liked Auntie Mione.

Harry continued raising an eyebrow "But… maybe I can convince Mione to let you have the day off to go shopping while I get Draco settled in." Harry grinned at their cheer. Then he winked at Draco and his smile turned rather evil. "But only if Uncle Percy goes with you."

"Aw come on dad"

"Not Percy"

"Why can't Hermione-"

"Enough" Harry said sternly. "Hermione probably needs a day off too and Percy can watch you two while Niki, Draco and I stay here. Besides, he's not so bad now. Maybe Uncle Oliver will be there too. And…" the kids leaned forward when they saw his evil smile. "You can always drag him to the twin's shop. I'm sure they're dying for a new test subject."

Damian grinned back "You crazy old man." Harry sipped his coffee and got off his stool as Dobby began passing out the pancakes. "I'll go firecall Oliver." It did not escape his notice that Draco's eyes followed him out the room.

It didn't escape Damian either. How interesting…

Lexie narrowed her eyes at her brother's smile. It was the exact replica of their Dad's, or worse the Weasley twins. Damian had a plan. He always has some sort of plan. Their adopted brother Riley (who was at Hogwarts) always said that Damian would be in Slytherin because he always had a plan and a prank.

Her heart beat faster and she talked a mile a minute to the silent Draco to release her energy. But all the while she was thinking about what sort of plan her brother would have.

Niki smiled and ate her pancakes. Everyone was watching everyone else. It was kinda silly how Lex was watching Daman and Daman was watching Dray and how Dray was watching Daddy. She didn't mind that no one was watching her. She liked to watch everyone else. It was much more fun.