4An hour. That's how long Professor Lupin and Headmaster Dumbledore had been arguing about Harry. Despite Professor Lupin's argument that not only was Petunia not blood but she had been a murderer as a child, Headmaster Dumbledore kept insisting that Harry return for the summer. Professor Snape, the only adult who had ever met Petunia, was surprisingly on Professor Lupin's side of the argument. He had no trouble at all believing that she was capable of murder.
Dumbledore kept insisting that as Petunia was raised alongside Lily, that even though she wasn't blood, she could power the protection. He refused to take any of their arguments seriously, even going as far as to try and turn them against each other. It would work for a bit but they would always get back to the argument to prevent Harry from returning to the home of a murderer.
It was Professor Lupin who accidentally broke the stalemate. He had thrown his arms into the air and told Dumbledore that Harry would probably be safer with his mother's birth family, one of whom had tried to kill her, than with Petunia who had actually killed someone. It got Dumbledore's attention at least.
He began grilling Lupin about everything he knew concerning Elsa's original family. When he learned that she had had a twin named Andrei, he had become ecstatic. Even more so when Lupin explained that Andrei was 'stuck' in wolf form from an animagus transformation that went wrong.
Remus had deliberately lied about why Andrei was a wolf, keeping his promise to Lily and James.
Dumbledore had immediately decided that Andrei, in his trapped form, would be a perfect 'pet' to accompany Harry over the summer holidays. Before either Harry or Professor Lupin could argue, Dumbledore sent Fawkes to fetch Andrei Von Uberwald and bring him to the Headmasters office. He then sat back, ignoring Lupins and Harry's angry shouting, satisfied that he knew best and that they would come to agree with him eventually.
After the death of his twin, Elsa, Andrei had avoided Wolfgang like he carried rabies. He couldn't prove what Wolfgang had done, but he and Angua both knew.
Years passed and while he had grown to accept his fate as a Yennork, he still accompanied Angua when she visited witches and wizards, in hopes they would know a cure and he could take a human form like the rest of his family. By the time Angua was eighteen, Wolfgang had become very controlling of them. With Father's mind falling further and further into that of his canine half and mother being obsessed with social status, neither had any protection from Wolfgang's manipulations.
When he started trying to betroth her to another wolf clan, to produce strong wolf children, they decided enough was enough. They were leaving. They travelled together for a bit but ultimately they decided to go their separate ways. Andre found home in the Ramtop mountains, herding sheep, and the last he had heard of Angua, she had decided to live in the world of men. She had become a member of the City Watch.
Because Andrei had a human mind despite his wolf body, Andrei was not only a champion herder, the shepherd's trusted him to guard the flock against threats such as wild wolves.
On this particular day a group of shepherds had come to move the flock to a different location. Everything went the way it always does. Andre and the other sheep dogs carefully herded their flock to its new location but before the shepherds could leave, something very unusual happened.
Andre standing on a boulder, to get a good look at his new surroundings, had been abducted in a flash of Fire. When his vision cleared of flames and he had shaken his head to remove last of the confusion, he found himself in what was clearly a wizards workroom. Lots of books, lots of dribbling candles, a bird on a perch and a man in ridiculous robes with a long white beard.
Also in the room was a tall dark haired man leaning against a wall and watching two wolves in human form yell at the wizard. The man smelled of bitter herbs and he concluded that the man had to be a wizard himself. The two wolves were not related to each other though the older one clearly considered the younger one to be a part of his pack. The older one was tall and thin, his hair was a sandy grey brown and his golden eyes showed just how close he was to turning into a wolf and biting the wizard. His smell to roaring fireplaces, books and something that smelled both bitter and sweet.
It was the younger wolf that caught his attention. He had those same bright green eyes that Elsa had. The eyes that he believed he himself would have, if he had a human form. His hair, and likely his pelt was a pitch black. He was small, underfed but strong. He reminded Andrei of a pup from a wild wolf pack, who had been born during a lean winter. And his scent, he smelled like fast winds, woods, feathers from an owl and below all of that, he smelled like Elsa.
He ignored the yelling of the wolves, who hadn't seemed to notice his arrival, to sneak closer and take a deep sniff of the young wolf. He definitely smelled like Elsa, but how? Elsa was killed by Wolfgang… wasn't she?
In the typical arrogance of wizards, the old one with the white beard was ignoring the two angry wolves too. But that was normal, the older a wizard is, the more they believe that only they have the right answer, even when it is obvious that they have no clue about what was happening. The wizards were staring at Andrei. It was quite frankly disturbing but there were more wolves than wizards in the room so he wasn't worried.
The young wolf showed he was actually paying attention to his surroundings by suddenly gesturing toward Andrei. Apparently he was mad that the old wizard had kidnapped him without even bothering to ask first. The young one would learn, wizards rarely bother to ask before taking, already believing it is their right.