More Than Just A New Beginning

Chapter 9


Harry surrounded by paperwork, begun to pin everything into place, using his board, everything contained within the box was to do with the Hale house fire. Most of which had been dug up by Zane at this point, the rest had been him, he'd requested the information last night, and like always, it didn't take long for everything else to be available now that he had officially opened the case. He'd been reading the case file all night, and was quite frankly enraged by what he found, accidental fire his ass. No fire inspector signed off on such a thing barely a week after a fire that wipes out near enough an entire family.

His phone went off, distracting him for a moment, he answered without pausing to look at the screen to see who it was. "Hello?"

"Sir, I have the results,"

"Mike, this is good, tell me," Harry declared, pinning up another piece of paperwork, using his shoulder to hold the phone in place. Shuffling through the box, trying to find what he was looking for, but paused the second he had confirmation of his worst fears.

"He's a werewolf, but his comatose state seems to have the wolf as well as man buried, there's been no sign of anything strange, except…" Mike inhaled sharply, clearly reluctant to say anything else.

"Well, they aren't really werewolves they have control in which the likes ours can only desire and dream off." Harry said sadly, Remus would have done anything to be the same kind of wolf-shifter instead of an actual werewolf. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, nor was him accepting himself either. "Except what, Mike?" his tone becoming guarded and stern.

Mike swallowed thickly, "I did a full diagnosis on him naturally, once I was sent to the hospital…there are alarming amounts of Aconitum in his blood stream. Three different strands, which means someone here must know about him and is poisoning him." he confessed, his voice quiet.

"Are you still at the hospital?" Harry asked, the desire to actually look at the phone as if it would give him answers was strong.

"Yeah, it has to be one of Peter's doctors or nurses, nobody else goes near, there hasn't been a single person that's visited him that's been recorded." Mike sounded slightly out of breath as he spoke, no doubt making his way downstairs instead of using the elevator.

"Has it been constant or just recent?" Harry asked, brow twitching in fury, the thought of it made him sick.

"Consistent, he was barely in for a fortnight before he was first drowsed, and even at that, the Aconitum was in his blood stream, it has been since the fire…" Mike admitted reading the results, "I'm no healer so it doesn't make sense to me, and I could be wrong." Breathing out when he finally left the hospital, feeling guilty that he wasn't taking the comatose man with him, instead leaving him in there to be potentially poisoned and tortured yet again. "How quickly can you get him released?" he asked, unlocking his car with a few beeps before sliding in.

"I'll go grab the paperwork for his transfer to our hospital in New York then I'll collect a team myself in order to pick him up. He won't be there for longer than an hour or so, you have my word," Harry could hear the strain Mike felt leaving the hospital, but they couldn't legally do anything right now until they had permission. Unless, of course, they just obliviated everyone, but Harry didn't want to mess with anyone's mind, especially when it came to the Hale's he needed all the evidence he could get, and the Muggles were evidence and so were their memories.

"Thanks man," Mike sighed, "I received your messages, I've just sent what I got from Peter's tests, I'll begin my search of the area…I do believe the family home is probably as closest man made structure the Nemeta has allowed near it. Have you seen the pictures I've sent you?" grimly. Not only had he sent Peter's tests through but pictures of what had probably been a happy family home. Also notes of the smell of accelerant, mountain and aconite. 100% a hunter attack on a werewolf family, no contest. Everything was labelled and evidence gathered, it had been drummed into him, no mistakes.

"They've been printed and are up on the board," Harry stated seriously, pictures of all that was left of the Hale mansion, all that was left was the foundation and somehow nearly all the walls. "Do you think you'll need more help? Jordan isn't going to be around much…is there anyone you'd prefer to help you?" it was a bit dangerous for him to be out there himself, considering he was basically a squib, he could not perform magic more complicated than a first year spell. It's why he had come to MACUSA and ended up taking the courses he did, to be able to help even if he couldn't use magic itself. Also why he was so worried about being in the hospital, he'd be useless to apprehend anyone that was a danger to Peter or himself.

"Actually I wouldn't mind," Mike admitted, hating himself for it, but two sets of eyes were better than one, and like Harry said, Jordan was going to be too busy doing his own thing to be around often. It would get lonely pretty damn fast, and he usually had people to talk to every day at work, despite his constant reading and research. "How about Drew?"

"Jensen or Budak?" Harry asked, those were the only Drew's he was familiar with, so hopefully it was one of the two. Flipping through more paperwork until he had gathered everything on Peter Hale, intending on taking it to the big boss, technically he could sign off on it, but it could be used against him if he did that. They could say he was 'Emotionally compromised' and should never have made any decisions in the case. So, it was best for all concerned that the decision's be made by his boss.

"Jensen of course," Mike said, nose screwed up, "Budak is an insensitive asshole."

Harry laughed, "I'll take your word for it, I've only dealt with him once but he was respectful enough to me,"

"That's because you're powerful," Mike pointed out wryly, no jealousy to be heard just truth.

Harry snorted derisively, "There's always one," he admitted, thinking of Umbridge, how she'd blackmailed, smarted and rubbed elbows with those she could in order to get ahead.

Mike remained silent, but nonetheless agreeing with him.

"Alright, you're still at the hospital right?" Harry asked, getting back to the situation at hand.

"Yeah," Mike agreed, staring at the sign letting him know he was just about to exit the hospital, waiting to hear what Harry said, but before he even spoke, he turned the indicator the other way, knowing he'd be going back.

"Stay there, I'll send Drew to you while I get permission to move Peter Hale." Harry explained, "You make sure you and Drew can pass as paramedics doing your job in transferring a patient to a private hospital, understand?" Drew didn't have a subtle bone in her body, it's why she didn't normally go undercover or anything like that. Mike was the best person to keep her contained and show her what to do.

Mike barely smothered his sniggers, "Yeah, got it," knowing exactly why he was the one being warned.

"Not funny," he warned Mike, "I mean it, nothing can go wrong, just remember this is Nemeta Central!" in other words where a lot of supernatural shit goes down, and not all of them could be completely ignorant. So if Mundane knew…well it would give them reason to be afraid, very afraid. The magical's absolutely feared Mundane knowing about them. They'd need to have care where Beacon Hills was concerned.

"Yeah," he quickly sobered up at that pronouncement. "Alright I'll call after I'm done, let you know what's happening,"

"I'll talk to you then," Mike said, putting his foot down and moving away from the exit, pissing off a few people for sitting there too long.

"You will," with that the call ended.

Harry barely waited a second to gather up his paperwork and the information from Mike to print before he was off, Apparating from his apartment building to MACUSA to deal with more paperwork.


"You want to what?" the president of MACUSA asked, staring at Harry Potter befuddled. Donovan didn't have much interactions with the wizard, he was quite able to run his own department without his interference.

"Remove Peter Hale, who is a shape-shifting werewolf, from Beacon Hills hospital where he's already been for just over two years." Harry explained more clearly, "He's an omega, through no fault of his own, which makes him very, very dangerous to the human population, he could potentially reveal the supernatural world. Plus, someone is trying to kill him, if you'll read page ten you'll see the diagnosis that Mike just sent me. Someone is injecting him with Aconitum," far from lethal dozes, but only those who had done their homework on shape-shifters.

"He's not capable of making his own decisions, where is his next of kin? Who is it? His Medical Power of Attorney?" Donovan wanted to know, there was clearly a lack of information on Peter Hale, if they removed him without permission from his family…they could have quite a legal battle on their hands. Not that they would win of course, leaving someone clearly magical in a mundane hospital, it was stupidity at it's greatest.

"No will lodged as far as we can see with any law firm, might be one that deals with creatures but we don't know for sure," Harry explained, precisely and without a hint of impatience. "His family is dead all but four that we found so far, and two of them are underage and wouldn't be able to aid their uncle or father anyway. The two that survived…ran, abandoning Peter completely, they lost any rights to Peter when they did that."

"This says suspected hunter attack," Donovan spluttered, eyes wide, "He was kept in under his own name? Where anyone could have finished off the attack?" that was grounds for making sure Laura Hale never regained Power of attorney from Peter, whether he had a will or not. She had no say in his life, he would make sure of that.

"The Mundane think it was an accident, but I believe if and when I dig deeper I'll find a lot of people have been paid off." Harry sighed, "A week later it was declared an accident, a week, it takes us longer than that, Mundane's take months to come to a conclusion about attacks like this. It's all rather suspicious."

"Why this case? Who came to you and asked you to look into it?" Donavan asked, perplexed, it's almost like the mundane's hadn't made any attempts to hide the fact they were fixing this up to look like an accident when it was anything but.

"It came to my attention during my second last case, they were near victims of the rouge hunter," Harry explained, pausing for a moment before admitting, "Derek Hale's my soulmate, a mate, Zane looked into the case first, and gave what he found to me,"

"So that's why you've come here to have it signed off on, I had wondered," Donovan admitted, he didn't see Harry very often, the young man was very good at his job, had only needed a few questions answered when he first begun, but since then, only reports of his cases had passed his desk. He had a feeling he'd be more familiar with the Hale case than any other since he became the president of MACUSA.

Tapping his wand, a new document wrote itself out on plain paper, not parchment. Then more did write itself out on Parchment, and copies were then made. Only once Donovan read over everything he'd had declared, did he sign it, always cautious even with documents of his own creation. Permission to remove Peter Hale from his Mundane hospital to New York's Magical Hospital, one that actually gave Harry legal custody over Peter so it couldn't be contested. As Derek Hale's soulmate…he had a claim as Peter's (nephew-in-law) family, quite a genius move actually and it was enough for the magical world take notice. Family meant everything to those that have magical blood, and family always came first blood certainly, but when you marry in you marry in for good.

"Sneaky," Harry drawled in amusement, a sly smirk playing across his features.

"I didn't get to where I am by not being," Donovan said dryly, smirking right back.

Harry was quick to sober up, "Thank you," he said gratefully, "For everything," now it was time to get back to Mike, he had sent Drew to him before he'd had this meeting.

"No problem, now go get Hale out of that mundane hospital and seen to," Donovan stated firmly, "I have no doubt they will have him healed within an hour or so." but how long it takes for him to come out of his catatonic state…would be anyone's guess.

"Yes, Sir," Harry replied, swiftly leaving the room, taking the paperwork he needed with him. Calling Mike on his phone as he made quick work of the stairs, the elevator was packed, he didn't want to wait for ages on getting a free one. "Hey, Mike, it's Harry, I'm on my way to you, I'll be there in four minutes, have the ambulance ready, Roger, Rose and Tracey are all going to be investigating the doctors and nurses involved with Peter's care, they're getting updated on the case, but I doubt you'll see them tonight, but you might see them during the course of the investigation."

"Consider it done." With that the phone call ended, as Mike no doubt, began to get everything prepped for picking up Peter Hale and getting him to safety. They didn't need to worry, he had custody of Peter, he could do anything he liked, including moving him to a private facility to get the care he so desperately needed. There was not a damn thing the mundane's could do, nor the hunter masquerading as a nurse or doctor. Thank Merlin he'd uncovered all this, he didn't want to think on what would have happened if they hadn't intervened, he imagined a whole lot of carnage and blood through no fault of his own. In the end he would have been a feral thing, completely beyond control.

A shudder wracked his spine, well aware of what kind of damage a feral creature could do to the human body.

Thankfully, Harry had already memorised the coordinates for the hospital so he could Apparate blindly there. There was only one ambulance in the parking bay, so Harry swiftly made his way over, the feeling of magic washing over it confirmed it was the one he was looking for. Suddenly two people burst out the back of the vehicle, grinning at Harry, all too amused with themselves.

At least they were dressed for the part.

"You can forget that," Harry pointed towards the bed, "He's comatose, he can be helped out in a wheelchair," he wouldn't be in the back of the ambulance long enough to require being strapped into position for the ride. He'd be apparated out straight to see the Healers for whatever he might need.

"Yes, Sir," Drew said, as she jumped off the vehicle, Mike following her, closing the back and becoming a little more serious as the situation demanded of them.

With that the trio made their way into Beacon Hills hospital, the administrator gave them no fuss and no muss. He directed a few nurses to aid them in getting Peter situated, but Harry declined the offer, thanking him nonetheless, and stating Peter could use the wheelchair. The administrator kept a copy of the paperwork, and updated the information on the computer, so that everyone was aware of what was going on. While doing so, he'd given Harry a copy of everyone who had ever had direct access to Peter Hale when he'd asked.

"Now that's complete, Nurse McCall? Take these gentlemen and lady to Peter Hale's room," the administrator commanded of one of his nurses, "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask," he added, his entire tone changing when he spoke to Harry.

It was amusing to say the least.

"Thank you," Harry replied, turning in the direction McCall gestured in before he swiftly took off, following McCall to Peter's room. "I'm going to assume you have not taken over his care?" but her confidence said otherwise. The name McCall wasn't on the list…unless she'd recently gotten married which was a likely explanation as any he supposed.

"Not officially, I've helped when we were short staffed and the like," Mellissa explained, as she stroke with purpose towards Peter's room, knowing the way. "You should prepare yourself, it's…it isn't a pretty sight," she told him, eyes filled with sympathy. She couldn't imagine what he had been through at all, and to lose so many family members.

Harry nodded, he was used to sights like that, he doubted whatever he saw would turn his stomach.

It very nearly did, when McCall opened the door.

But his most prominent emotion was confusion, he was a shape-shifter, why wasn't he healing even a little bit? Even an Omega should have healed by this, it had been two years and the scars still look raw, inflamed and very, very painful. Well, the burns would be gone – at least visibly – within the next twenty-four hours, barring no complications, the presence of aconitum did make things a little more complicated than normal perhaps that was preventing him from healing at all. Until they found out exactly how it was getting into his blood stream, they could do nothing about it, they needed it recorded for evidence.

"It seems he wasn't moved today," McCall stated, her face pretty impassive despite being rather annoyed, her eyes gave her away.

"Moved?" Harry questioned, deliberately making his voice lulling and soothing.

"Peter might be comatose, but he responds to simple commands, such as eat, he can eat on his own with a little prompting, his body is going through the motions, but his mind has retreated into itself to protect him." McCall explained in a way she knew people would understand. Giving a whole slew of medical terms just wouldn't help anyone during times like these. "Normally we like to move them closer to the windows for example, let them see something different other than the ceiling just in case they're aware."

"I understand," Harry informed her, inhaling sharply, he could see Derek in Peter, or was it technically Peter in Derek? Either way the Hale genes were strong in that family, whoever Derek's father was he must have taken on the Hale name otherwise Peter would not strongly resemble Derek, and obviously would have a different name, since Peter and Talia were brother and sister. Talia had been married, so yes, for the father to take on Talia's name…just how renowned was the Hale family? How long had the family taken prominence? Now he was beginning to understand how they felt when they had to comprehend there was a world of magic and that it was called MACUSA.

"Do you wish to know anything else?" Mellissa asked, absently fluffing up the pillows, out of sheer habit.

"No, but it's time to say goodbye, Peter's going to be transferred to another facility, one that can give him the private care he needs, round the clock. Who knows, the next time you see him, he'll be whole and healthy. They've very good plastic surgeons too." Harry planted the seed for it to take root, none of them would remember just how badly burnt Peter was, magical suggestion was an extremely strong force. He hated using it but he didn't want to use the memory charm unless he had to. "Plus, he will be closer to the only other family he has left."

"Oh! Derek and Laura? They've finally settled enough to send for him?" Mellissa said, looking mighty relieved.

"Yes, Britain for now," lying through his teeth, he couldn't risk her talking to a hunter and leading them to New York, he already had his hands full of damn hunters thinking they were able to do whatever they pleased. leave them to hunt after the Hales in Britain, even the paperwork had Britain on it, he wasn't stupid enough to lead whoever was after the Hales right to their doorstep. Not that they'd be easily found, they moved that often, it would have been quite frankly comical if it were not downright dangerous.

"Do you have everything you'll need for the plane ride?" Mellissa spoke to the two paramedics who remained standing patiently waiting at the door staring at the wall, giving as much as an appearance of privacy as one could get.

"A wheelchair is all they need," Harry informed her, "If you would get one that will give him considerable amount of comfort please?"

"Of course, follow me," Mellissa said, gesturing for at least one of them to accompany her.

The moment they were gone, Harry cast a spell that numbed Peter entirely, right down to the nerves so that Peter couldn't feel anything. No pain, no nothing, usually used on witches giving birth actually, only he'd stretched the spell to include nearly everything. It was probably the only relief Peter's had thus far. "Hello, Peter, my name is Harry Potter, please know that you're safe with me. I'm taking you somewhere you can recover and heal without outing the supernatural world. In fact, we're going to give you something to get rid of the pain and speed up your healing process." Whispering it into Peter's ear, crouched down over him, "You're going to be just fine," if he didn't come out on his own within twenty-four hours, then he would enter his mind and speak to him there, guide him back, for all he knew Peter was stuck.

Perhaps he preferred being stuck.


Six o'clock in the morning, someone knocked on the door, that roused Derek from his sleep.

"Can I help you?" Laura asked, suspicion clear as day in her voice, Derek jerked out of bed, only to belated realise he knew that scent. Why was Harry here?

"Laura Hale?" Harry asked, looking for confirmation on what he already knew.

"Yes," Laura answered cautiously, ready to pounce if need be.

"My name is Auror Harry Potter, I'm from MACUSA, the Magical Congress of the United States of America," Harry told her, showing her his ID badge letting her inspect it.

"Magical congress?" Laura mouthed utterly confused, not even marginally relaxing when her brother was suddenly looming at her back.

"Why are you here?" Derek asked, wary to the bone.

"I'm here on an official capacity." Harry told Derek, giving him a sad apologetic smile. "We can do it here or we can go to MACUSA its entirely up to you." He knew very well how to subdue even werewolves, although it truthfully was the last thing he wanted to do.

"You know him?" Laura asked, sounding betrayed and angry.

"I…yes," Derek confessed, without revealing just how he knew him or why.

Harry cleared his throat, "May I?" gesturing inside.

"Get in," Laura hissed, pissed off, opening the door more fully.

Harry paused for a moment, swallowing thickly, almost gagging at the smell in the apartment. Merlin, help him, the smell in there was atrocious. He did not even want to imagine just how bad it was for them, and their superior smell. No wonder Derek had preferred staying with him when he could.

Derek flushed in embarrassment, looking around his abode, ashamed that his mate was getting to see how he lived. He'd never wanted that, not at all. A subtle wave of Harry's hand, and the look was wiped from his face, as he stepped in as though he couldn't smell anything anymore. Or perhaps smell something pleasant, either way the grimace was gone.

"What questions? Hurry up and ask them, I have work to go to," Laura stated curtly, not even attempting to play nice or ask him if he wanted a seat.

"The information I have here is that the Hale fire was an accident, considering you didn't contest the results…can you confirm for me that you, yourself actually believe it was an accident?" Harry asked, blank faced, unable to believe how rude she was. It was a stark contrast to how Derek spoke of her, but no matter, people under stress rarely did play nice.

Both Hale siblings stiffened immediately upon hearing 'Hale Fire' not a subject they wanted to think on let alone speak about.

"Yes," Laura gritted out, fury thrumming through her.

Harry reeled back as if he had been struck, "You would let them get away with killing nearly your entire pack? Tuck tail and run leaving your family unavenged? I thought you werewolves were known for your loyalty?" swallowing the lump in his throat, disgusted and shocked to the core. Stepping back not quite able to keep his professional mask on his face.

"It was an accident, now if you're done please leave," Laura managed to grind out through gritted teeth.

"The case was reopened, and it's now officially an Arson/murder case," Harry informed her coolly, making no attempt to mask his utter disgust at her. "I should also inform you that if you wish, you can visit your Uncle Peter, this is the new number he's been transferred to a hospital more suited to his needs." Handing over a card impassively, but she did not take it.

Derek flinched, and curled up in on himself, guilt most prominently displayed on his face.

"You have no right to move him!" Laura argued, snatching the card from his hand, staring at it. "Not without my permission!"

"I'm afraid I did, the moment you abandoned him as an Omega you lost all right to him, Family or otherwise. Plus, even if I didn't, it would have been easy to have him transferred regardless due to the murder attempts." Harry told them. "As of right now he's in protective custody until we deal with the threat on his life."

Derek stopped breathing, Laura scowled mutinously.

"Murder attempts?" Derek's voice was nothing but a plaintive whine.

"Aconitum has been continuously given to him since his admittance to Beacon Hills hospital two years ago." Harry said blankly. "I'm going to assume you do not wish for anything to do with him, Miss Hale?"

Laura said nothing, staring at Harry as if she hadn't heard a single thing he said.

"Or any of the other surviving Hale blood?" Harry then dug his heels in.

Derek felt like he was going to pass out, he couldn't breathe.

"Nobody else survived," Laura insisted.

Derek flinched, inhaling sharply, "You lied," he croaked, stepping back from her, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before. Why would she lie? Who else had survived? Why hadn't she told him? Why hadn't see taken them with them? His world was once again crumbling around him. Three times it had crumbled around him when would it stop? Why did it always seem to happen to him? "Who?" who else had survived?

Laura snarled, eyes red, "I am your Alpha! Be silent!" panic and fear beginning to erode Laura's common sense.

Harry watched Derek crumble into himself, like he physically had to do as Laura asked.

"Your youngest sister and cousin survived," Harry informed Derek soothingly, truly hating that he was hurting his soulmate but there was not a damn thing he could do about it. "Peter will be awake and healed hopefully within the next day or so, and he will be given custody of them." that's if he wanted them of course, but something told him, unlike Laura…Peter would do the right thing.

Laura roared fully, Derek didn't just crumble in on himself, he curled up on the floor trying to make himself as small a target as possible.

"Incarcerous!" and just like that Laura was bound and gagged, entirely at Harry's mercy, unable to use her Alpha commands to further hurt her brother or deafen Harry. "Has she done this before?" Harry asked, ignoring Laura and making his way over to Derek, shocked and saddened to see him so…subdued and broken.

"It's not her fault," Derek defended her, "Alpha's are meant to have three Beta's," for stability, and Laura didn't have any of those things.

Harry closed his eyes, so that was a yes, she had done this before, Merlin help him, how did he help someone so convinced that nobody was at fault? "Come on, stand up, you can come with us to MACUSA or I can come by later after I've interviewed her." Quite frankly he wasn't sure what to do about this situation at all. "Or you can wait at mine…" giving him an alternative safe space to go to.

"Peter…" Derek murmured, "I…Laura forbid me from calling or seeing him," he so desperately wanted to see him, just how close had he come to losing Peter altogether? How could someone manage to be poisoning him successfully in a hospital of all places?

"That was the specifics of the order?" Harry asked the Slytherin in him coming out to play.

Derek nodded, as he eased himself to his feet, still reeling, "Cora, Moira," he murmured almost breathlessly, tears entering his eyes, they were so young, how had they survived? And on their own? They were children, pups, how could Laura have done that?

"No, Derek, not Moira, Malia, there are some family secrets that are about to come out that you're not aware of," Harry said sadly, "Things that might make you look at your family in a different light."

Derek shot him a puzzled look, he didn't have a cousin called Malia, and they didn't give children away if they were human or anything silly like that. The Hale pack had had humans in it, there had been no prejudice. Two of his cousins were human after all.

Harry quickly created a portkey to the cells of MACUSA and pressed it against Laura.

She quickly disappeared with a whirl.

"Where is she?" Derek asked, panicked. There was one thing to be angry with her, but to not have an alpha? He would turn Omega and that thought was terrifying.

"She's in MACUSA, from what I've just seen…she's losing it Derek, she's a danger not only to you but to everyone who disagrees with her. She needs to calm down, needs some help and if what you say is true, she needs two beta's and we might need to arrange that for her in order to return her to stability." Harry explained, "I cannot in good conscience let her remain free, we can't risk her biting someone against their will or worse going completely feral." Summoning a scarf, he placed it around Derek's eyes, hands tightly gripped his, clearly not sure what to make of what Harry was doing.

"Trust me, I wont let anything happen to you, I promise," Harry said, smiling when Derek let go so he could tighten the scarf around his head. "I'm going to Apparate us now, hold your breath." This would distract Derek for a bit, he definitely needed it.

The first and only thing Derek could smell was antiseptics and clean smells, as they moved though…a familiar, yet unfamiliar smell began to waft up his nose. "I'm going to sit you down," which is exactly what Harry did.

"Peter," Derek deduced, giving a gruff huff of amusement at the fact Harry worked around his Alpha's orders. He hadn't called to find out and he definitely couldn't see him. Then guilt began to overwhelm him again. He'd left him on his own, left him to be hurt by hunters, who had tried to kill him, he should have done something…convinced Laura more instead of just quieting down. Now Laura had been arrested and he'd found out his little sister was still alive…and Laura knew and a cousin he knew nothing about…what did he do when confronted with something like that?

"It's probably best you don't see him yet, he's covered in burns," Harry said softly, not raising his voice well aware that they could hear him. "They're going to purge the Aconitum from him, then they'll apply a burn paste that will encourage his healing. He can't feel any pain at the moment, he's on a very, very strong pain relief, that won't just dissipate from his system like Mundane drugs do." Harry drew out Derek's hand, placing it in Peters, letting him touch his uncle.

"I'm so sorry, uncle Peter," Derek broke right there and then, tears streaming down his face, looking so young and vulnerable in a way that made Harry very uncomfortable. "This is all my fault."

Harry had just been about to ask Derek if he wanted to speak to his uncle in private when Derek admitted to it being his fault. Harry paused, mind reeling, was it just a survival guilty conscience or did Derek actually mean he felt at fault? "Derek? Why would you assume it was your fault?" it was unlikely that he'd work with the hunters. No werewolf would.

"Because it is, I told her where all the tunnels were." Derek confessed broken and resigned to anything that happened.

Harry swallowed, "Her?" he knew who had set the fire? Killed his pack and did nothing?

"K-kate Argent," Derek whispered, stuttering out the words, "But I knew her as Katie Negart,"

Harry's brows rose at the name, it didn't take him long to figure out why, Negart was an anagram of Argent.

"You kept quiet…why?" Harry asked befuddled, he had to have been sixteen at the time of the fire. "Why didn't you inform the police? Anyone? Get someone to listen? You were as much a victim as the rest of your family, bit too trusting, I understand your lack of trust now." He wouldn't have shut up until he found someone who was willing to listen. He just did not understand Derek's mindset.

Derek remained silent, tears were soaking the scarf over his eyes, but relief that he'd finally told someone so prevalent that he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Derek?" Harry prompted him, "I'm not going to judge you, I swear, just explain your reasoning," he tried again to get Derek to talk, to give him a reason why he had remained silent.

A knock on the door prompted Harry to look up, "Don't worry, just stay where you are, it's only a healer here to see your uncle, come in!" he called out a little louder.

"Good morning," the healer didn't even blink at the sight of a young man sitting with a scarf around his eyes, "You are Harry Potter correct?"

"I am, please," Harry moved and gestured for the healer to see Peter at his side.

"My name is Philip Mason, I'm the healer in charge of Mr. Hale's care." He told them introducing himself, "The three strains of Aconitum have been identified, one strain is imbued in his burns, it must have been in the accelerant since remnants of it have been found in the test, it's an unusual compound that MACUSA says is new that Mundane haven't a record of it." the healer explained in a clip manner. Able to tell Harry everything since Peter had been signed in under Harry's care, and was his primarily carer and contact.

"I see," Harry said coolly, he hadn't checked his messages so he didn't have all the relevant information yet. "So how will that be dealt with? Peeling off a layer of his skin or added to the burn paste?"

Derek whined, a very lupine sound.

"Yes, we've added it to the burn paste, it's not going to be pleasant I'm afraid and we have no idea if the potions will hold under the pain he'll experience. Unfortunately, it must be done." The healer informed him.

"Can he be put under during the procedure?" Derek fired off, he did not want his uncle to be in any more pain, he'd already failed him so much.

"This is Derek Hale, Peter's nephew, and he has permission to visit," Harry explained to the healer, "Against the wishes of his alpha."

The healer's eyes suddenly gleamed with mirth, realizing why the boy had the scarf wrapped around his eyes, very smart.

"To properly knock out a shape-shifter, it requires a strain of wolfsbane, and it might be too much for his system to endure," the healer went on to explain, "Which means…"

"He's not a shape-shifter," Derek stated firmly, "He's a werewolf."

"We call all Were's that can shift shape-shifters, a werewolf to us, is someone who was bitten by a werewolf and turns into a wolf once a month most unwillingly. I understand there is another kind of shape-shifter but we have a different name for them." the Healer patiently explained, despite being rudely cut off. "The magical world is vastly different from what you know."

"As I was saying, which means as mild as yellow wolfsbane is, we cannot in good conscience imbibe more into his system."

"So what is the plan?" Harry asked, wanting to know everything.

"We will give him another potion and spell him as comfortably numb as we possibly can then spread the paste onto him, it will be set on fire and it will destroy the wolfsbane accelerant. Once that's done, he will be wiped down and another doze of burn paste will be applied and kept on for a few hours until the burns have faded to a redded new skin." The healer explained the procedure that Peter Hale was just about to undergo.

"And the other wolfsbane in his system? Will it be purged first or secondary?" Harry then asked, Derek was no doubt lost with all the magical terminology.

"We figured oldest first, which has the highest concentration, we have purged his lungs but that is all that will occur until the procedure is done." He informed them. "We will give his body at least five hours to recover from the procedure and with his own natural healing abilities, he should be just fine for the two other purges he will undergo. These ones thankfully will not be painful at all. He was simply sweat out the wolfsbane, it might leave him a little dehydrated but a IV drip and potions will take care of that."

"I see," Harry murmured, "I'm going to assume we cannot be here for the procedure?" Harry deduced.

The healer glanced at Derek, "I do not think you should be anywhere in the vicinity," he informed them bluntly, "He will be in pain, and that might cause Derek to react irrationally, whether they are pack or not, they're still family." And he heavily suspected they were not pack. regardless, he knew how protective werewolves were of their own, especially if one was in pain, for everyone safety and wellbeing, it's best if they could focus on healing Peter and keeping him from hurting them if the need arise.

"That's fine, Derek and I have somewhere to be, how long should we leave it before we return?" Harry asked, making it clear he was going to be here much of the time. Plus, Peter would have a perspective Derek and Laura did not have on what happened.

Derek made a noise in protest, part of him didn't want to leave Peter so soon, the other part of him wanted to get answers from Laura. The most prominent part of him wanted to just find somewhere to go alone and mourn and digest everything he'd learnt today. "Cora…" she maybe thought they were all gone…she was eleven years old, nearly twelve, she was just a child…what had happened to her? Just thinking about her made him want to rush out and find her, bring her close and refuse to leave again. "Who…who is Malia? I can't remember my aunt being pregnant." It seems like whether he was alone or not, he was actually digesting the information and finally asking the questions on his mind.

"Give it an hour, Peter should be settled once more," the healer informed Harry, ignoring the questions Derek asked, well aware of the fact that it wasn't him that the young man was talking to.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Harry revealed, he had nothing to do except investigate the Hale fire case anyway, and he could do that from this room without much trouble. Plus, he was mostly just delegating and getting information from Mike, Drew and of course, Jordan. He probably already had at least one load of reports to read, so he'd definitely need to get his laptop.

"Very well," the healer agreed, "Only one visitor should get to stay overnight and that's only because Peter will heal faster." Well aware of the shape-shifters.

"Derek is that visitor, until the perpetrators of the poison is found he's on protective watch, and that person responsible for him, is me," Harry stated firmly, he was skirting the law he knew, since it was probably a Mundane attacker, and they weren't going to be able to get in here to get to him. Regardless, he didn't care, if Derek wanted to be here, Harry wasn't going to stop him.

The healer sighed, before nodding once, grim but deciding against fighting the Auror on this, they took their duty seriously. Plus, having another werewolf there, it would help Peter, if and when he awakens, familiar scents will help him, especially if it was family.

"I need to see him," Derek declared suddenly before ripping off the scarf, only to inhale sharply, recoiling in horror. This was the first time Derek had seen him since before the fire. They hadn't even visited the hospital to see if he survived the trip in the ambulance. Laura had taken him to the sheriff station and then they were questioned and released, with the promise they wouldn't leave town. They'd lied. Next thing he knew, Laura was driving them to New York, and the endless disgusting apartments had started, everything from those days were blurry to him, the grief and guilt had constantly threatened to choke him and Laura had been relentless, a rock, now…now that rock was on shaky ground and he didn't know how to cope.


A/N Will we see Peter Hale do something selfless and become a 'True Alpha?' or will having three Beta's (two that were pups) to take care of, all of them Hale's have him go out and take care of someone to become an Alpha or will the Nemeton grant him Alpha powers in exchange for taking care of the territory which is seeing an increase in creatures that was bad for them all? R&R please!