The Leader

Chapter 60

"Sirius! What…what are you doing here?" Andromeda blinked in shock at the sight of her cousin. She hadn't seen him since he was a teenager, since both of them had been teenagers actually. He'd been sentenced to Azkaban for life after what they suspected him to have done. She was somewhat ashamed to admit she hadn't thought he was innocent for a moment. He may have been her favourite cousin…but she knew just how the Black's were, how steeped in tradition and Black values. It wasn't so difficult to imagine Sirius had fallen in line as dictated by his parents. They may not have been Death Eaters themselves, but they most certainly wanted their children to be. Regulus had definitely been, she had seen the way he gazed at his arm when he thought nobody was looking.

Poor Regulus, he'd been far too young to make a mature decision, his parents had doomed him. Truly doomed him, as proven by the fact he had disappeared before he reached twenty. Everyone knew what 'disappearances' meant back then, it meant they were dead and were never going to find a body.

"Dromeda!" Sirius said, tears swimming in his eyes before he enveloped her in a hug, uncaring for their audience or the fact her husband was close by and probably uncomfortable with his close proximity due to his old wanted status. Or because you know, he was hugging his wife. Who knew how he'd react? He didn't even know Edward all that well.

"Oh, Sirius," Andromeda breathed out, hugging him back with all her strength. She should have come to see him before this. Some habits were just so ingrained, she had been disowned, ordered never to contact the others lest she wanted the same to happen to them. Orion and her father had meant business, and so she had not contacted them, not even Narcissa who she had been closest to. She wanted to apologise but the words were stuck in her mouth.

"She's going to be just fine, she's alive and safe, Harry won't let anything happen to her…I promise you that. He's a good man even if he's a little bit aloof." Sirius swore, as he reluctantly released her from his hold and stepping back to let her see how serious he actually was about his godson. "This place is very protected against everything." Not only was it guarded and manned at all times, but there were safeguards in place that would send them to a property fully under the Fidelius Charm, he had thought of everything.

"He warned me…us to be careful," Tonks admitted shamefaced, she was an Auror for Merlin's sake, this shouldn't have happened at all. "We weren't careful enough." Everyone including Sirius and Remus who had stayed at the doorway during the short reunion, were looking at her wanting more information.

"What do you mean, Dora?" Edward asked, eyes shadowed as he took a seat near his daughters bed, refraining from smothering her which he very much wanted to do. Instead he clutched her hand giving it a gentle squeeze. "What happened?" he asked his tone soft, quiet and encouraging.

Tonks choked unable to say anything as she clutched her father's warm hand in her cold one.

"We learned some concerning news about Dumbledore, from Harry after we demanded answers from both him and Severus." Shacklebolt was the one to answer, his voice calm and collected, only his eyes gave away his shame and fear. "We knew we had to do whatever it took to bring him down, we couldn't let this go unpunished. So we began gathering evidence, from the storage room, but Dumbledore must have eyes and ears in the Ministry…somehow, I'm not sure how, either that or he just…just suspected us but I don't know how, we hadn't really seen him since the information and we are both good at Occlumency."

"Did anything you touch glow?" Remus asked his tone pensive.

"I…we're not sure," Shacklebolt admitted, glancing at Tonks who shrugged, looking a little bit more alive than he'd seen her. It looks as if Harry had the right idea in bringing in her parents it seemed. "It may have been something in there, because we were ambushed ten minutes after gathering everything. They knew where we lived, the next thing we knew we were wakening up in a cell, everything had been removed from our persons," including their wands, which was gratefully back in his holster, and he kept caressing it every few minutes, just to remind himself he had his source of his power back.

He never wanted to feel so useless and powerless again.

Not as long as he had breath in his body.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he did have something that would alert him if anyone went snooping in the storage rooms with the cases directly related to him on it." Remus commented sounding weighed under. They had all suffered so much betrayal lately that it was playing heavily upon them.

"Well it was him, or orchestrated by him," Shacklebolt stated, "Harry has all the evidence, someone survived to tell the tale under Veritaserum."

"Good, it means you have the evidence you need to arrest him," Sirius' voice was filled with venom.

Andromeda and Edward stared at each other aghast by what they were hearing. Both of them trusted Dumbledore, he was…an acquaintance of theirs, not close by any means. They had been invited to join the Order the first time around but both had declined. They truly didn't want to paint a target on their back with a very young baby. No, as a Black, she knew better than to take a side, it never ended well, especially for the losers.

"What on earth happened?" Edward asked, his hold tightening on his daughter, his blue eyes much like his daughters were shadowed with worries, both old and new.

Sirius snorted bitterly, "A quicker question would be what hasn't he done," he informed them grimly. "Seriously…we haven't uncovered it all…or should I say Harry hasn't uncovered everything, he's trying through, believe me."

"Merlin, Sirius, are you exaggerating?" Andromeda asked, wide eyed, seeking out her husbands other hand.

"I wish," Sirius said sourly, "He was the one who convinced me to switch to Peter…I'll always wonder now if he'd deliberately made Lily, James and baby Harry vulnerable on purpose." Eyes filled with an old pain that would never go away, no matter how many years passed since it happened.

Remus glanced away, amber eyes filling with tears, already suspecting that was exactly what Dumbledore had done. He seemed to have no morals whatsoever, or qualms about taking anyone out no matter how close they seemed to be to him. To think he pretended to the entire world not to adhere to murder and always willing to give anyone a second chance…or maybe he only did it to those who were useful…much like Severus had been. When his use was done he made sure he wouldn't survive another day…and it would have gone that way if the situation had been different…if Harry had killed him.

Harry would have played right into Dumbledore's hands.

Remus had no doubt Harry knew this and it probably enraged him so.

"Tell us everything," Edward demanded, straightening up, his eyes cold and harsh, silently demanding answers that they had that he wanted. "Now!"

"I wouldn't talk that way when Harry is around," Sirius warned him, seriously.

Giving a single nod that he understood, but waited nonetheless on answers.

Each glanced at the other, waiting to see if they wanted to begin the task of revealing everything they knew to newcomers.

It wasn't any easy task, everyone in the room had revered the ground Dumbledore walked on. Put their lives on the line and would have gladly died for the cause and for the old fool who had manipulated them…who had deceived them all.

"Since I was….informed first I'll go," Remus sighed, it was obvious nobody was going to talk. And that much was true, he knew before anyone else in the room had. Since he was able to actually reveal that, it must mean he could at least talk about it with Edward and Andromeda.

Which meant they were under the same spell as him. As all of them. In an odd way it filled him with confidence, he knew he could trust them all…that they wouldn't been able to reveal anything to anyone. Something that had serious knocked him sideways with the Order…who could they trust? Did everyone know what Dumbledore had done? Who was in his league of true confidants?

Here with everyone else, he knew, he knew he could trust them fully.

"I was…well taken you could say, brought here, and told everything Dumbledore had done," Remus began, explaining the entire experience with Harry, including the denial and thoughts that Harry was no better than Voldemort for trying to manipulate him. The seed had been planted and he began to notice things he wouldn't have without the knowledge. The fear he felt for his and Sirius' life, how he couldn't share his knowledge with him. Only to find out Sirius had been working in secret to find out about the Potters wills. Where he knew there was information that would prove him innocent. Then how Sirius had decided to leave, and almost immediately afterwards they were 'found' conveniently by Aurors…the anonymous letter had definitely come from Dumbledore. Telling them everything Harry disclosed to him, including his goals for the magical world and the betterment of creatures.

Everyone listened still as horrified as the first time they'd learned everything.

"He knew? All this time he knew about your innocence?" Andromeda had tears in her eyes, Azkaban was such a horrific place, nobody deserved to be there, even if they were guilty. The dementors completely destroyed the person they were, and when they were released they mostly always ended up committing more crimes due to the fact they couldn't get a job to support themselves or their family. Or that Azkaban had unhinged them completely, broken them in a way that society just couldn't comprehend. It was almost worse than committing murder. She knew many would agree with her.

Azkaban was a good deterrent for most people, but unfortunately those that it touched…it left them with nothing to fear and a broken soul. Murderers deserved life imprisonment but never on that island with those foul things.

Seeing her cousin tear up again, Andromeda couldn't help herself. She stood up and threw her arms around him. Holding him tightly to her chest, stroking his back, realizing how broken Sirius was for the first time. She so desperately wished for Dumbledore's death, what he had done…he actually deserved Azkaban and the dementors.

He was the most foul thing that had walked this earth. How could he have put an innocent man on that island and lived with himself? she was disturbed by what Dumbledore was able to do and live with himself. How could he have gotten away with his actions so long? Rocking him back and forth, as Sirius' body wrenched with sobs.

"Oh, Siri, it's going to be okay, you're safe now," Andromeda whispered soothingly, continuing to rub his back as she rocked him. "Harry will make sure Dumbledore pays for what he's done." Her tone unusually grim, and she knew, she knew Harry would do whatever it took. He'd taken a big risk to tell Remus in the first place – or so she assumed – he must want them safe while he dealt with the wizard.

"Unfortunately that isn't all," Remus sighed, after a few more minutes of letting Sirius cry out his sorrow and pain. He needed to let it out, it was a good thing, cathartic.

Sirius pulled away after a few moments, wiping his eyes, embarrassment playing across his face, "Sorry," he murmured before reclaiming his seat, despite his embarrassment, everyone could see his shoulders weren't as tense as they had been five minutes ago.

"Don't be," she whispered before reclaiming her seat, still reeling over everything that had been revealed, and there was more? She wasn't sure what else could be told for Merlin's sake…then again Dumbledore was over a hundred years old…who knows how long he'd been at this.

There was no judgement to be had with the occupants in the room. Just a tired understanding that they would react the same way if the situation had been reversed.

The revelation that Dumbledore was suspected in the death of quite a few of his Order members murders didn't quite shock them. To go to such lengths to get Shacklebolt and Tonks out of the picture…well he wouldn't have done that if there wasn't something badly incriminating in the boxes. Something even someone as powerful as him couldn't check out of there without being found out. There were ancient wards on the room preventing any such incidents. Copies could be made but the original contents couldn't be moved.

They amount they suspected and whom did surprise them. Benjy Fenwick, he had never been found, not fully only a few pieces of him. They summarised he had died brutally in a Death Eater attack.

Sure, a Death Eater attack, one called Albus Dumbledore.

It sickened them all.

Remus continued talking until his voice was hoarse from it all. After that they lapsed into silence, Tonks and Shacklebolt hadn't even known a quarter of the information spilled today so they were just as much in shock as the others.

Tonks for the first time appreciated the fact she had bloody well survived, such fools they had been. Had they honestly thought at the time it would be that simple? Yes, they had, even after being warned.

No wonder Harry had been beyond exasperated at them.

Severus may have made the procedure look effortless, but the truth was, it had been very difficult to reign in that predator side of himself. All his predator instincts saw was someone weak for the taking, the blood that he lived for, sustained himself on, flowing freely from the wound upon Draco's severed arm. Though he thanked Merlin for his immense will power, he had successfully stemmed the flow of blood and begun healing the damage, refraining from breathing in the scent of the warm nectar that was calling to him.

Only letting out a breath when the stump healed completely with new skin wrapping around it. That was nearly six hours ago, Draco had woken up from the potion that ensured he'd remain deeply asleep throughout the procedure. The potion only worked for forty-five minutes, which was long enough for Severus to do what was required of him. afterwards he had woken in immense pain, thus started both the blood rejuvenators and pain relief draughts.

Every three hours he would get both, at least three times with the blood rejuvenators after that it would be the pain relivers until he could be weaned off them. He had brought everything with him that Draco could possibly need.

Narcissa suddenly jerked awake from the seat in which she had fallen asleep in hours earlier after administering the potions to her son. "How is he?" she asked, her voice still coated with sleep. She should have been ashamed of herself, it wasn't how a Lady was supposed to act. Her parents would have most certainly reprimanded her, but Severus was like family, so Narcissa refused to let herself feel bad about her body's need for sleep.

"He's looking better," Severus commented. "The poison is gone from his system, and the blood replenisher is doing it's job. He will need another dose in five minutes. Never wait until he wakes up, the pain will be too much for him to bear. Every three hours on the dot, at least for the first forty-eight hours…only afterwards do you give it to him when required. You will need to ensure he doesn't become addicted to them, so make sure he truly cannot stand the pain before giving him more."

Narcissa nodded her head immediately, taking the wisdom from Severus and accepting it as fact. She knew he knew what he was doing, this was the only reason she was trusting him with her sons life. She had half expected there to be a failsafe on Draco. Something that would kill him the moment he thought to cut his arm off and thus the Dark Mark. Yet nothing had happened, the mark had just faded away on the cut off portion of his arm. Which had thankfully been set alight until it was nothing but ashes. The sight of it had made her feel sick to her back teeth. The Dark Lord would hopefully think her son had succumbed to the poison at long last, if he knew at all, she wasn't sure how the mark operated.

She would never forgive her husband for dragging their only son into this mess. Dead or not, Lucius would have been by the time she was through with him.

A sob of relief broke through Narcissa's mouth, "Thank you, Severus, thank you," she managed to say through the tears. Her body sagging with the weight being removed from her delicate shoulders. She could never repay him for what he had done.

Severus awkwardly patted her shoulder, a grimace on his face, he didn't do well with sudden bouts of emotion. "It's fine," he murmured, it was his duty really, he was Draco's godfather, he had promised always to look after him.

He hadn't had much of an opportunity to do so, with Lucius whispering in his ear about how good the Dark Lord was how he was going to change the magical world. No doubt filing his head with lies about Muggle-borns and such, in order to fill his head about fantasies, the fact the likes of Hermione Granger got better grades than him didn't help his feelings towards Muggle-borns, jealousy did horrid things to people.

Seeing an excuse to move, he plucked one of the pain relivers from the desk and eased Draco into sitting position and helped him swallow the draught along with the rejuvenator.

"That's him for another three hours, just one more blood replenisher then he's done with them," Severus reminded her. "I have to go now, I'll be back soon to check on him,"

"Of course," Narcissa said, straightening up, "Thank you Severus, I can never repay what you've done for my son. If there is anything you require in return, please let me know."

"I will," not going to insult her by denying her need for a clean slate, even if he never actually asked for anything. The knowledge that he could, if the time came for it, then he most definitely would. He wasn't a bloody Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. He was a Slytherin for a reason. The magic flared between them, holding Narcissa to her word.

Narcissa let out a breath at the knowledge her offer wasn't being rejected. She'd half expected Severus to claim that it was his duty as Draco's godfather. He had always been unpredictable, but was nonetheless pleased he had stated he would come to her if there was anything he needed. That offer would pass down to her son if she died without having fulfilled it.

"Would you…will you…let Andromeda know I'm thinking of her?" Narcissa asked hesitantly.

"Why don't you send something to your niece and sister?" Severus suggested, "You frankly don't have anything left to lose Narcissa. Orion and your father as well as Lucius are gone, he cannot divorce you or demand that you not see her."

Narcissa paused at that, giving a single nod, it was true enough. Although whether her sister would be able to forgive her was another thing altogether.

"Take care," he cautioned her, before Apparating straight to the warehouse.

Harry wasn't in Potter manor, nor was he anywhere in the warehouse he realized as he made quick work of the general surroundings trying to scent him out. Perhaps he was at Gringotts or the Ministry, but Harry hadn't said anything about going to either place. He was busy though, constantly, so maybe something had come up.

Rick would know, as his second of sorts, if anyone did it would be him.

It took all of three minutes to sniff him out, he was in the library with Reg, Reg was reading a book while Rick was currently on the prowl looking for a book by the look of it.

"Do you know where Harry is?" Severus asked, they were supposed to spend the evening together after all.

Rick turned, "Where does his scent end?" Rick asked without turning around.

"The main room of the warehouse," Severus replied, assuming that Harry had apparated away somewhere.

"The corner?" Rick turned around, in silent query.

"Yes," Severus replied, Rick knew him better so he wasn't surprised by the fact he knew exactly where his scent cut off.

"There are only a few places he will be then," Rick stated, "You keep reading, or go and find your Alpha, understood?" speaking to Reg sternly.

"I will" Reg promised, as always quick to do what his Alpha or the Second-In-Command wanted him to do. He understood the hierarchy and respected it, so without more to do, he gathered everything up and made his way back downstairs, he was going to read next to his Alpha.

"Come on," Rick said, with a gesture he too made his way downstairs.

Severus slightly perplexed followed his fellow vampire.

By the time Severus got to the stairs, he found Rick opening a large hole in the floor, all he could see were steps. "Follow me, quickly," Rick added, disappearing down the hole that Severus most definitely hadn't seen before. Curiosity got the better of him, not a good form on a Slytherin but he didn't care.

When the lights came on, he had to close his eyes with the sudden assault on them. When he opened them slowly and carefully he gaped at the sight before him. "Motorbikes?" he asked in genuine surprise. Not just motorbikes, there were cars, bicycles, scooters, but out of everything there were more motorbikes than anything else. "He rides?"

"A lot of us do, actually, Howard got a lot of us into it, he was a biker back in the day," Rick stated wryly. "He's the one who rides the most, he tinkered with a lot of them, they're quite like the charms on the knight bus, we can go up to over two hundred miles an hour, only vampires are allowed on those motorbikes obviously…since we have the ability to manoeuvre at such high speed." A high speed that gave vampires the thrill that humans got on their bikes.

Severus blinked in surprise, Howard was a biker? Well actually now that he mentioned it, it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility. He wasn't one to read a person and stereotype them though. Okay, that was a lie, he had a horrible tendency to read people and judge them, he tried not to. It was usually family of people he knew, like the youngest Weasleys', hell even Harry when he was a child. But those like Howard, Rick, Brecon they were all unknown to him and he really liked getting to know them.

"When it gets too much for Harry…he goes on a ride," Rick explained, "Sometimes he does it for fun, usually with a few of us. When he goes alone, its usually a sign that he's feeling a bit too much even to brew a potion in his own solitude."

"I see…" Severus murmured, and he did understand, slightly, potions were always enough for him, although sometimes he'd need to duel before brewing to let go off some pent up aggression he'd built up over time. He couldn't help but wonder how often it happened, how often Harry got on his bike and just drove? He knew everywhere around London and its surrounding areas. Hell, he'd bet most of England.

"Come on, hop on," Rick stated, "I show you his favourite hang outs,"

Severus blinked, he didn't know how to drive a car let alone a motorbike. He had no desire to be another negative statistic after ending up in a Muggle car accident. As for bikes, he considered them loud, noisy and obnoxious, when he was a kid they'd been truly annoying. Someone down the road from him had owned one, and every morning and evening without fail the damn thing would wake him up.

Rick didn't bother asking again, instead he begun to demonstrate everything Severus needed to do to work the bike. Going on a long tangent, urging him not to go too fast to begin with until he got used to it. "I'll take you a few goes around the blocks until you get the hang of it, if you still don't like it when you can either stay behind or get behind me,"

Severus grimaced at the thought of the loss of control, yes, definitely not happening. He'd be riding his own or not at all. Which gave him one option, to learn to ride properly, which shouldn't be too hard, as a vampire he retained every piece of information he learned easily. Even if he hadn't been, he'd always been a fast learner, even with Muggle things, but that shouldn't be a surprise he had been raised in the Muggle world.

"Choose any that doesn't have decals on them," Rick stated, "Those that do have already been claimed."

"Were these stolen?" Severus asked, as he straddled a green one, feeling extremely odd. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He didn't even like flying for Merlin's sake, he'd never been on a broomstick since his mandatory flying lessons in his first year at Hogwarts. Although he did enjoy the rare times he flew without a broom, not that he'd admit that.

Rick blinked at the unexpected question, a frown marring his features, something difficult to do as he was a vampire, "What on earth do you think of us to ask that question?" more surprised than angry.

Severus realised immediately that he had insulted Rick severely, perhaps even the entire group. "I didn't mean anything by it," Severus stated, realizing he should apologise, he did not want to ruin the friendships he was building here, "My apologies, it's just…I know a lot of you find it difficult getting by without jobs." In fact Severus had been planning on helping them, offering a few paid apprentices where Potions was concerned and maybe some jobs around the grounds of Prince Manor. A place he had yet to visit, but he was sure it was in a state of real disrepair.

Rick sighed, "Yeah, we do, don't get us wrong, we do struggle at times, none more than Dale who tried to keep a property and his kids away from the warehouse. Not that he didn't trust us, he just wanted them kept safe, have a normal upbringing and you know…schooling and such. He's a lot happier now that he's moved here full time with his two kids. They even built up rooms specially for the kids, they love them." They love having other kids to play with, all the attention they need from the adults around them and without money worries Dale was able to spend money on his kids, they weren't going to school in repaired and altered clothes or stolen uniforms. They were even getting educated, just like the others were, but both Muggle and Magical educations.

Now Severus was beginning to feel like shit, "Believe me I know what it's like to struggle," he said sincerely, "I watched my mother go through it, my father was a disgusting alcoholic and an abusive bastard. Even I struggled to eat most days going through my Potions apprenticeship and Mastery. There were times when I just wanted to give in, and would have…but I did have a property, a roof over my head where I didn't need to pay for rent."

"We've all suffered to some extent, which is why this place…it's like family, no, not like, it is family." Rick said seriously, "All of us." Giving Severus a pointed look. He was glad Severus was beginning to open up, they all did sooner or later, but usually sooner. It could be simply because Severus was a naturally closed lipped person or it may be because he didn't get to spend as much time at the warehouse, a lot of his time was spent at Potter manor and the potions lab. "Ready to try it out?" he added, knowing the little conversation was over, if Severus had anything more to say he would have said it before.

Ten minutes later Severus and Rick were racing down the streets of London at full speed.

Severus had a wide smirk of pure delight on his face as he felt the wind on his face and the world nothing but a blur.

He needed no other clarification as to why Harry would ride.

It was amazing.

Although they didn't find Harry, Rick still showed him his favourite hangouts, they were all near the water and beaches, and one had Harry's scent – subtle mind but there – so he had been there before they came.

Four hours later, they finally returned to the warehouse, Rick opened the wall that would let them put the bikes back into place in the basement. Severus felt like hitting himself, he had never noticed that or the large basement of Muggle vehicles. Then again he hadn't noticed the bloody pit either. "Are there any more surprises here?" he asked after he walked the bike into it's previous position.

"You mean places you haven't looked? Yeah, tones of them," Rick said smirking in that delighted mysterious way. "Why do you think this place is so protected? It's not just for us, or the kids, but everything here is worth quite a lot of money." And also why it looked so rotten on the outside so the Muggles wouldn't venture near, not that they could, there were spells on the entire area to prevent it. That and the fact the area was private property, Harry had bought this place, it was the first thing he did. The rest was all added later over the years.

"One day you'll need to show me everything," Severus stated as he removed the keys and placed them in the saddle bag where he'd found them. Yanking off the helmet and placing it at the bottom of the bike.

"What would the fun be in that?" Rick teased, already wandering back into the main warehouse. "It would spoil the surprises down the road,"

Severus chuckled, as he followed Rick, only to blink at the sight of the meeting – he presumed it was one – everyone was there. Glancing at each other, wondering what they had missed.

"What's going on?" Rick demanded of the nearest person to him, who happened to be Wyatt, the half-vampire who was grinning widely.

"Greyback returned," Wyatt informed them, "He wanted to pick out his own brand of vengeance on the asshole who thought it was alright to abuse his daughter and leave her alone while he hunted down a 'werewolf' so he would write his next book."

"What?" Severus choked out, shocked to the core, who would be stupid enough to bring along their daughter? "He actually did the things he wrote about?" incredulously.

Wyatt scoffed, "Fuck no, the idiot merely got the stories from the real people who did the deed then obliviated them. He confessed everything when Greyback merely threatened him," he said in sheer delight.

"So why the shit about the werewolf?" Rick asked, eyes narrowed, "Let me guess, he wasn't looking for the werewolf but the one who took one out?"

"Yes, but the idiot didn't realise that the guy himself was a werewolf, he ran and left his daughter to be mauled," Wyatt grimaced, "Fucking coward," Lockhart disgusted him completely.

"So what's happening?" Severus asked, trying to get a sense of everything.

"May and some of the other women are going to take the kids hunting, along with Howard, Jesse, and Linus," Wyatt explained, two of their best protectors. "What Greyback wants to do…he can't with kids around or those with a weak stomach."

"Which is?" Rick asked curious himself now. Knowing Greyback…well it was going to be bloody and gruesome.

"He wants to perform the bloody eagle," Wyatt murmured reverently, "Man, most people didn't even understand what it was…when they did, I think it actually surprised them that Muggles were capable of such torture." Not many of them were squeamish.

"And Harry's going to let it happen?" Severus asked, unsure of how he felt about that, there's no denying Lockhart deserved it. It was just that he hadn't thought of this group, to be anything anywhere on the Dark Lord's league. Perhaps he had underestimated them and they were worse in some regards. And frankly…Severus didn't care much if it were true, he had found his place here, a home, and like Rick had said, a family. He could truly trust people here to watch his back, to never betray him or Harry.

"Hell, yeah!" Wyatt said cheerfully, "He heard what the pathetic coward had to say, and let Greyback do what he wished as long as Jack agreed as the Alpha," they were bloodthirsty creatures, what could he say?

"Harry loathes child abuse," Rick reminded him, wondering if this would change Severus' opinion of them. "What about Black, Lupin and the rest of our guests?" he asked Wyatt.

"Sounds cut off, they won't be aware of anything, they'll be stuck up there until we're done." Jack stated as he entered the conversation. "From the sound of it, they'll all be asleep soon, they're all exhausted so it won't be a problem." Emotionally and physically.

Now those people were too light to ever become aware of the full extent of their…activities. They would never be one with the group, they were truly just guests. After the war and the danger has passed, they would be allowed to leave, and would never be considered one of their own, just under their protection.

"When's it happening?" Severus enquired, assuming it was right now, he couldn't see any of the kids and some of the women were absent. It could be that the kids were never invited to a meeting and the kids needed someone to watch over them.

"Now," Harry stated firmly, "I won't take the chance that Edith will figure out that her father has been here. She deserves to feel safe, considering she's only beginning to trust us…I refuse to let that bastard change that." Sure his scent was contained for now, but the second his blood was spilled, it would be all over the place, it would need cleared up and the area sterilised before they thought about letting her back.

"Agreed," came the deep rumbling voice of Greyback.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D I would like to take credit for the bloody eagle but someone actually suggested it :D - DemonDragon000 thank you! – and I like the idea very much! Not sure whether to go into detail about it…I'm not sure everyone would like to read it or not but if there's nothing said about it then I'll definitely write it out :D would you prefer to see it from Lockhart's pov or Greyback's? Will Severus end up spending a lot of time with Draco and have Harry put an end to his childish whining or will Draco actually grow the hell up and become stronger because of it? Will we see both Tonks and Draco given magical prosthetics much like Pettigrew was given? I want to add more of Voldemort in but really…I've no idea what to write when it concerns him not until another duel with Voldemort and Harry the question is will it be the last one? Harry is so close to taking over after all :D Read and Review please!