A/N: Hope you like it! Please review! :)

Two emotions, as opposite from each other as the shadow and the light that creates them, are battling out in his chest; ramming into another until Dubhán is not sure which is winning; the wolf or the boy.

"Remus wont hurt you, Dubhán." Harry assures, taking in the child's taut shoulders and clenched hands.

Silence descends. Dubhán thinks they are probably waiting for him to make the next move, but he's frozen. The wolf is pleased to see this man, but the boy is cautious. He can't remember how he got bitten and so he's not sure of this man. Had he been on Wolfsbane and it had been a conscious attack? Had Dubhán wandered where he shouldn't have been? Had the man gotten lose because of his own locking charms or someone else's? Then he remembers that first day in front of Voldemort and the Cruciatus Curse and how without the wolf the Healer's said he would have gone insane. And so he finds himself saying words that no one expects: "Thank you."

Remus looks bewildered, Potter looks concerned, and Alexandra looks so sad. He finds himself feeling obligated to clarify so they don't think there is something wrong with him, mentally.

"The Healer's said I would have gone insane, if my wolf hadn't taken over," he says softly. "The wolf let me hold on and do what I needed to do and without it Voldemort would have never seen how valuable I was. How strong." Alexandra's eyes are closed, Potter's eyes are smoldering, and Remus is staring forlornly across the room. Maybe he should have just let them think he was mental. He shoves that notion aside: he doesn't care what they feel or what they think about him!

Suddenly he feels angry at the broom in his hand and throws it aside and storms out of the room. Potter calls after him and Alexandra reaches for him, but he ignores them and pulls free. Emma looks so uncertain, looking between all the adults. It is Remus who rises uncertainly to his feet and catches him right before his foot has hit the first stair.

"I never wanted to hurt you," Remus says softly. "But I am glad it kept you alive."

"I'm part him you know," he says in a deathly whisper.

"Part Voldemort?" Dubhán nods sharply. "I know. So is Alexandra." Dubhán shakes his head.

"She pretends she isn't, so it's not the same. I'm part him and I don't pretend it isn't true and you should all hate me for it, but you don't because you think you'll make me want to pretend it isn't true." He pulls free of Remus's grasp and glares up at the werewolf.

"You give your mother too much credit and the rest of us too little. Nevertheless, none of that matters to me. When I look at you I don't think of Voldemort, or Harry, or Alex – I think of you. I think of you being mine and it makes my heart ache at the same time it makes it speed up in joy. I was so happy when Alex wrote me and said you were safe and alive. I thought and my wolf thought, that you'd been lost forever."

Dubhán frowns up at the man thoughtfully. "I'm not tame like you," he says, as if it had been asked.

"No, I can see that."

"I don't want to be."

"I don't think I'd want you to be, either. I grew up with a family that loved me despite the fact that I was a werewolf, but wanted me to learn to minimize the diseases effect on my life. It wasn't really my choice. I knew no other way to live along side my wolf but to suppress him."

"I'm not the same boy, either." He says. He feels the need to be blunt. To make them accept or disagree to what he is now – but to know it.

"Neither is Harry the man or Alexandra the same women or Emma the same child. Alex won't even let Emma go play outside by herself – a restriction she wasn't as strict about with you."

He thinks of telling the man that his Mum doesn't have to worry about Emma – that he had made a deal with Voldemort, but thinks better. Remus won't believe him and it's better to keep the child safe, rather than be sorry later.

"Won't you come to breakfast? Harry said you didn't eat anything last night."

"It could be poisoned."

"Now really – you're sounding awful tame if you think they could put something past your nose." Dubhán narrows his eyes.

"I'd have to bring out my wolf to be sure," he says, sensing out Remus's reaction. He hadn't thought Potter would think kindly of having to look into amber eyes at the dinner table. Voldemort forbade it. He had always said if he wanted to do that, he could eat in the barracks with the other werewolf's.

"I think Harry and Alexandra would simply be happy that you're eating."

So they walk back into the kitchen and Dubhán eats breakfast and even he admits it is good to feel food in his stomach again.

So, I can now release the snippet about exactly how Devlin was bitten by Remus. Was it an accident? Do you think I should post it? It's actually about 5 pages long. Not sure if you guys are interested in reading it?