I was writing my other story and somehow ended up writing this and some others ideas that came up out of a sudden. I don't make any promises for update schedule. I'll keep writing and posting, if that happens to coincide with my sort of schedule for my other stories, great. Update: Sorry, still not much in the way of an update schedule, I´ll post whenever the chapter is ready, and also I´m rewriting.

At first I thought this will be short, but then... I enjoy writing it far too much, be it writing new chapters or coming back and editing those I already posted.

Thanks to all who take time to read this story. Free virtual hugs and blessings for those who actually share your thoughts.

Disclaimer: I don't make any money out of this, is just for the sake of having fun.

Secrets lurked in the darkness, that's what people think and they couldn't be more wrong if they tried. You see, reality is the mother of all things and fiction can barely keep up. If you let yourself be deceived by learned stereotypes you were set up for failure, with that being said...

Secrets creep around everywhere, you just had to pay attention and maybe if luck smiled or condemned you... perhaps end up learning more than you bargained for, like that old saying "curiosity killed the cat", in real life no satisfaction could or would bring it back, not in most cases. People, be it rich or poor, average or remarkable, they could let themselves be deceived by insignificant things such as a reputation, image, and respectability. In such a neighborhood as Privet Drive; secrets prowled in the darkness, yes, but they were so glaringly obvious for anyone that just paid attention.

Be it as it may, secrets that lurked in the darkness or shined under the sun for all to see, they couldn't be buried. This particular case could've been avoided if a certain individual who loved to plot and decide on the fate of others didn't let himself be deluded in a false sense of security and entitlement. It doesn't matter how smart you are or you think you are... you´re bound for failure if you let your guard down and fail to consider that sometimes, things simply wouldn't go according to plan.

In such an unremarkable neighborhood, late at night a creature of darkness appeared. He wasn't your typical creature for horror films, vampires, werewolves and even zombies where a little overrated... this particular being was minding his own business and heading home after getting some work done, living amongst humans like one more; at present he´d been sitting on the backseat of his Mercedes while his butler drove home; battling the daunting prospect of boredom until the sun rose up again. You see, he didn't need to sleep, eat or do anything his human counterparts had to do, for him it was a matter of choice.

Lord Phantomhive- as this creature was known in society- appeared out of shadows and materialized in the living room of Number 4, Privet Drive. Why? A soul. A demon could sense them for they were his natural source of nutrients; this soul stirred his curiosity and that was a rare opportunity. He had eternity to do everything he wanted after all. Why not go and research?

When you had money, power and all the time in the world you grew bored and frustrated easily, that´s a lesson this demon learned after almost losing himself.

A desperate soul that couldn't quite reach out to him properly for whatever reason, he felt it… the slight pull was almost nonexistent and he noticed entirely by chance when Sebastian drove past this particular neighborhood.

The house was silent and judging by the pictures in the mantelpiece of the kitchen… well. Humans, a housewife with a giraffe neck and a walrus of a husband. And their son looked like a pink meatball. Whose misery managed to entice his senses from afar?

Whose misery attracted a demon? The presence was fading. Not feeling up to search more, the demon let himself be dragged by the shadows the moonlight cast were it could reach, fading through hardwood floors and ending up in a diminutive cupboard under the stairs.

Appearing in front of this soul Lord Ciel Phantomhive wanted to level everything in this despicable house (habitants included) to the ground and torment this sorry excuses of beings to hell and back without allowing them any respite, they were so repulsive as to be completely unappetizing.

An eternity of doom sounded light in comparison to what those damned bastards had done, darkness threatened to overcome him leaving a rabid beast of a demon behind; you see this demon gentleman was human once. A scared little child tormented by a group of misguided, deranged, self-entitled and egotistical men and women with too much money and poor baseless ambitions. And they paid dearly for doing so, he´d seen to that. Centuries had passed and that seemed something out of another life, easily locked in the deep corner of his mind... but coming upon something like this in a seemingly unassuming home had triggered his worst memories.

To face such cruelty in such a quaint and innocuous little place... but really he shouldn't be surprised, humans were monsters. They had more capacity for evil than demons themselves. This couldn't be described.

A toddler.

Abandoned and starved, dying because of it.

The child was covered in a crust of filth. His bony cheek was pressed against an equally filthy mattress, he had a diaper on and nothing else. This toddler had summoned him?

It couldn't exactly give its consent to form contract. Right?

There was something about this toddler…

Time was of essence. The demon picked the little bundle scrunching up his nose and gingerly holding him against his chest… he didn't know if his clothes might survive the ordeal, but this tiny flame had to be saved. It shined with promise even at death's door.

…

If a supernatural entity such as himself could ever be bored, this was definitely it.

Normally, any human being might will have its hands full with the household maintenance alone, Sebastian Michaelis, otherwise known as the perfect butler was bored out of his immortal mind. He had brightened and polished the silverware, the porcelain, changed the drapes, washed all the linen, dusted every book in the library, cleaned every inch of the manor inside and out, cleaned and rearranged the gardens… he even started dinner and kept it warm for his master.

His days were filled with menial tasks that were easier than back in the day when he first came into service when he had to learn everything from scratch with a demanding master, having to run the household on his own, prevent the former servants of making messes and blunders all the time and also help his master with his revenge and missions from the Queen. Oh, the good ol days.

Certainly, modern appliances made work easier for humans, but for him… he missed some of the good old days wholesome housework.

He needed more things to do. There was only so much he could do for his not so young master. He was barely needed as it was, and he only accompanied his master everywhere for the sake of appearances and nothing else. The other demon could handle himself without help and he had just vanished from the car while they were driving back home…

What he didn't expect was the foul smell that assaulted his senses mercilessly upon his master´s return. And the fading aura he could barely register.

Of all things Sebastian could conjure up in his mind to kill his boredom, this wasn't a likely scenario. His master holding a dying toddler covered in filth.

A magical toddler. He hadn't crossed paths with wizards and witches for ages. For all his poor sense of time could help, it might as well be millenia since he last laid eyes upon a member of the magical community, unlike humans they had enough sense as to stay clear from demons. Or at the very least were smart enough as to not offend them.

_ Sebastian. We´re keeping him. - that was everything and, really, his master didn't need to be more expressive to be understood.

That meant save and care for it. Well, he´d been bemoaning his boredom as of late as much as his master and caring for a toddler was a demanding job.

He really didn't have experience with toddlers… ah well. He was bored out of his immortal mind and couldn't really complain about the outcome

_ Yes, my lord.

…

They decided against taking the most recent member of the household to a hospital in the city or one of the most renowned, that could spell trouble later. They had to stay under the radar for now so they ran at devil speed until they reached their target on the outskirts of the city: a small hospital with serious need of more budget that might be persuaded for what they needed. After all, no one argued with donors of big sums, less of all with noble families of old tradition.

The nurses in the emergency room burst of their chairs when they laid eyes on the child that entered with a toddler in arms. The children looked like they had been through hell and back, or as if the older dragged the toddler out of a grave or a car crash. Both were covered in dirt from head to toe, the toddler didn't even look alive.

They rushed the children to the attention area of the ER and frantically fought against time to save the toddler. All the while the other laid motionless on the bed. The doctors attributed it to trauma and didn't ask anything else. They had their hands full with the toddler.

In the highway there was a recorded accident, a noble family had died when their car exploded. It made the newspapers. Apparently they had been murdered by a business associate that wanted complete control over the family company, Funtom Toys.

The Phantomhive family. Such a shame that a young marriage died leaving behind their children. Luckily for the little ones, their butler survived and promptly settled their affairs and saw to it that they were well looked after.

Nothing worthy of special attention made if to the newspapers since they were a noble family and the actual administrator of the fortune and the tutor of the children pressed to have the article printed without pictures of the kids, just of the wrecked car on the highway.

Newspapers and magazines that wanted to publish about it had to go through Futom´s Public Relationships and Legal departments, and also agree to heavily blurred and combed through pictures and articles that had to be given the Ok to be printed.

Sebastian Michaelis, that's the name of the man that oversaw the procedure, the tutor as of now of the heirs to the Phantomhive family empire. And all records of the children kept in the hospital mysteriously disappeared after the whole incident. Everything seemed to perfect and convenient, right? Even so, not a clue was left behind and people who wanted to snoop around found themselves promptly dissuaded from pursuing the matter any further.

Well, if he couldn't pull this off. Them, he wouldn't be an efficient butler for his master, right?

…

Privet Drive was a thriving neighborhood; the key word being was. Nowadays it was known as the neighborhood that caused insanity. Or were those nutty Dursleys lived.

Suddenly the neighborhood started to have a bad reputation, it was rumored by those who lived there from a long time ago that the residents of Number 4 had lost their minds because they associated with the wrong sort. No one was sure of when it started, but they all agreed that the first one losing it was Petunia Dursley. She screamed as if she was being ripped apart the first time, one day while she watered her flower beds under the sun and in perfect view of her neighbors and any bystander that happened to be there at the time. When the police arrived she was rambling about monsters and… dead babies coming for her to take revenge. She was deemed insane and ended up in a government facility, her husband divorced her immediately without much ceremony, the only thing he did for her was to commit her to a private facility shortly after their divorce.

Vernon Dursley married again and kept their child, Dudley. The newest Mrs. Dursley was markedly younger than her husband and was interested in spending money and not so much on running the household or her neighbors lives. Beverly Dursley was the only one unaffected by whatever happened at the house. She only knew how to spend money and look pretty, she had a nanny, housekeeper, gardener and any other staff she though she needed as to not do anything herself. She couldn't be more different than former Missus Dursley even if she tried.

Vernon Dursley started to lose weight and had bags under his eyes, he was no longer that large arrogant man, no.

He seemed scared of his own shadow and his wife, Beverly, often said that her husband was somehow paranoid. As if someone or something followed him.

Poor Verny as she referred to him, ended up rambling nonsense and was declared insane as well. His wife was left a pretty penny and… she committed him to an asylum, divorced him and set a bank account and allowance for Dudley´s care, shipping him off to Vernon´s sister, Marge without a second thought. Everyone agreed that the poor lad could've ended up worse, at least his stepmother didn't leave him broke on top of homeless.

And that was the end of the Dursley household.

…

Far from bored, Sebastian had his hands full from the very first day they adopted the baby and he wouldn't have it any other way. You see. He had researched about their newest addition to the household. They knew his real name and everything there was to be known about him. No wonder he was so special, he was known all throughout magical Britain as the savior, The Chosen One. This was no ordinary toddler, although it was difficult to think he was special when all he did was droll over the place and stare at you with those impossibly green eyes of his.

Ciel had his desk full of newspapers, past editions of the Daily Prophet. He was reading everything about The Potters. This had the potential of making it into a big mess if Ciel walked in the middle of this cluster fuck unaware. He was the Queen's Watchdog.

Besides the newspapers he had a notepad. Some names were written on it. He wasn't surprised that somehow the last name Potter turned out to be influential and well respected even if they weren't nearly as rich as the other pureblood families. The name "Sirius Black" was in the middle of one page and Ciel was immediately drawn to this individual. You see. It resonated with him. It was a secret only known to him and his butler, but he really felt the connection and something about this whole business didn't sit well with him.

Sirius the dog star. Harry Potter had a godfather named Sirius Black and the man was imprisoned. Sirius Black was the only suitable tutor for an orphaned baby Harry. And if newspapers were to be believed, after Sirius imprisonment- which also happened conveniently too fast after the murder of Harry´s parents- Albus Dumbledore took it upon himself to place Harry with his muggle family on his mother's side and subject him to their tender mercies. If those disgusting people ever knew mercy and decency.

They weren't even fit to have their souls devoured for all the demons cared about them. And they got away lightly for what they truly deserved. Ciel wanted something fitting, but he really didn't want to draw the attention of someone who could be troublesome, not before having his cards ready for the game ahead...

A happy squeal distracted the lord of the manor of his musings. Innocent green eyes were fixed on him. Such expressive eyes.

With a sight, Ciel rose up from his chair and picked the toddler, minding his strength. Harry made himself comfortable in the arms of his "big" brother and slowly drifted off to sleep. The baby only drifted off when he was being held close to someone, even demons with their slightly colder temperature will suffice.

Harry was such a gentle baby, he hardly ever cried. Ever curious and testing his surroundings, he could play for hours with anything he got in his grabby hands, it was painful to imagine what he went through, he was used to be left alone for long periods of time even when he had a dirty diaper it was the demons nose and nothing else what let them know he needed a change. He was still recovering from months of neglect. Being abandoned in that cupboard, Harry feared been left alone for long and even if he feared it and loathed it he never cried. He loved being held in someone's arms.

In records, he was Cyril Phantomhive.

And Ciel intended to keep it that way for as long as possible as a measure of protection and a perfect hiding spot.

He really didn't get anything for helping this child. But he couldn't just leave him were he found him. And, who knows? Maybe when Harry grew up, he might turn out to be a hell of an ally. For now, he had to be protected. He already knew the names of most of the other players in the board, at least the prominent ones.

The key names were Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore and… Voldemort, the followers of this Voldemort fellow were something to watch out for. All of them had money and connections, the ones that escaped jail might definitely pose a threat to Harry if he didn't counter them.

Ciel didn't do things halfway; he took responsibility the moment he decided to pick up the dying toddler. But if asked, he really didn't envision himself being a father or brother to anyone after being turned into an immortal being… he really couldn't age and look his years for now, he´d been to close to lose his humanity and his demon nature kept him looking exactly as he did when he got turned. He was forever frozen in his 12 years old self. Maintaining another form taxed him dearly and he didn't want to consume souls if he could help it. The hassle of getting rid of the corpse and covering his tracks got worse as years went by…

As time progressed supernatural beings had it difficult to hide in plain sight.

Harry Potter sat on a playpen at the corner of the office, surrounded by Funtom toys. Strangely enough, the little tyke had taken a fancy to his bitter rabbit. He chewed and drooled all over the poor plushy and his demonic caretakers went to painful stretches to always kept it clean. He never lacked anything, he didn't even need to cry. He just had to look at either of the demons and he immediately got what he wanted! Being picked up, cuddled, feed, cleaned, or just getting a playmate for a short while. Even so, Harry missed his mommy and everyone else.

And he really didn't like those sad lights that lurked in the mansion.

They followed the blue boy everywhere. Six little lights that played with him and were nice. But they were sad! The blue boy couldn't see them and Harry could. They were his friends and they helped him when the bad man came back. The bad man that made mommy go bye-bye.

…

Something about Harry´s scar rubbed Ciel the wrong way. Sebastian just found out about the Potters and the whole war between the Order of the Fenix and Voldemort´s group. All of this about a magic community living and hiding amongst normal people still blew his mind. He was the nobleman designated by the Queen to deal with the supernatural and he was pissed that they had managed to conceal themselves from him. He didn't take well to this kind of scenario. First he needed to secure his cards to protect Harry from anyone that might want to get their hands on him. And he also needed information about his possible allies, friends and foes in this whole affair.

But that darned scar was the first order of business.