Flynn Ryder was easily one of the best Aurors the Ministry of Magic had ever hired, competeting for the title with the great Potter himself. Once Flynn was on the trail of a dark witch or wizard, he never gave up until he caught them. He'd also never killed a target, something few Aurors could claim. Despite these accolades, Flynn focused on those enemies viewed as lesser threats by the magic community: dark witches and wizards who targeted muggles.
The great Wizarding War, once thought to be the catalyst to cease wizard-muggle tensions and bring down the blood purity regime once and for all, had merely brought an increased amount of legislature on the subject. Many of Voldemort's followers merely stepped back into the ranks of the neutral after his fall from power, free from justice, and free to teach their children the same lies they had been taught: that powerful wizards came from other powerful wizards, that the muggles were dangerous, and that muggle-borns stole magic. Some of Voldemort's followers refused to even do that much, returning to their Dark practices following the mass pardons issued by the new Minister of Magic, Weasley.
Today's assignment was a well-known dark witch, famously an extremist muggle-hater, who kidnapped a muggle-born magical child and killed her parents. Apparently she was hoping to 'stamp the muggle out of her' before it was too late, a ridiculous plan at best. This was where Flynn came in.
It took Flynn mere minutes to scale her tower. From his perch on the roof of the witch's tower, he had a clear view into the only window. He couldn't see much except for a blonde head on a rug, but after listening for a while, he heard two sets of even breathing. Both the witch and the girl were asleep.
Silently, he swung inside the open window. Lying on a bed in the corner of the sparsely decorated room was the witch he had come to capture. For a second, he hesitated, looking at the blonde girl sleeping on the rug in the center of the room. She was small, looked like she was maybe four or so. She must have started to develop magic early. What would become of the orphan? He wondered, anxiously.
A girl like her would be crushed in a muggle orphanage, he'd seen it all too often in his line of work. Every so often, a report would come in; children with unusual circumstances, shoved into orphanages, beaten and abused by the other children at least, the caretaker at worst. He dreaded those missions, they invariably got him into trouble of one sort or another. The last one had put him on probation after an incident with the head caretaker, a rooster, and damn near breach of the International Statute of Magical Secrecy. The witch snored slightly, bringing Flynn back to the issue at hand.
"Stupefy!" The curse burst into the sleeping witch's back. He waved his wand and ropes tied her up. He turned to the orphan, who had been startled awake by his shout, and the terrified look in her eyes brought him up short. Of course she was scared.
"Is she dead?" The girl asked, staring at the older woman. "She was mean… but… I don't want her to be dead." Flynn's stomach sunk at this. How could a mere child have such a complete moral compass?
"No. I just stunned her. What's your name?"
"Oh." She paused, studying him closely. "My name's Rapunzel. Who are you?"
"I'm Flynn Ryder, and I came to rescue you and arrest her."
"Are you a police officer?" She asked, reminding him that she had been raised by muggles. "What's going to happen to me, now that you've rescued me?" Her fear showed through with the question, and he could see the scared six-year-old more clearly.
"You have two choices from here: I can send you to an orphanage…" He watched as her face fell, and he felt utterly sorry for her, and decided to plunge forward on impulse. "Or you can come and try living with me. I've always wanted a child, and you need a place to stay. If you want to leave at any time, you will be free to do so." He paused, as surprised to hear himself say the words as she was. He watched her consider his offer from every angle. "What do you think?"
"I think…" she said slowly. "I think I want to go with you."
***
Five years had passed since Flynn had adopted Rapunzel and he had yet to regret the decision once. They lived in a cozy house in Godric's Hollow, a town famous for being the site of You-Know-Who's defeat twelve years earlier.
Rapunzel's room was spacious, with hand-painted murals on every open surface, and posters on all the rest. The bed was centered in the room, so as to free up as much wall space as possible, and drawers were built into the bottom of her bed for the same reason. On the wall farthest from the door was a huge picture window, and a girl sat on the window seat, sketching in the early-morning sunlight. The relative quiet of the morning was broken as Flynn went about his morning routine.
"Punzie!" Flynn's voice wafted up the stairs. "I have to go to work now!" Hearing this, the girl jumped up and raced down the stairs to hug her surrogate father before he could leave. "Remember to pay for the Daily Prophet before you head over next door, alright?" he reminded her, before adding "And see if you can stay the night; I might not be home until late, and I want you getting to bed on time. And don't eat anything Merida bakes—I don't want you to be a bear when I get home… again."
"I will. Don't worry, dad," the blonde assured him. "It should be fine. We were planning to go down to Diagon Alley with them tomorrow anyway and this will just make sense." With a final hug, her father left the house.
By the time she got to the kitchen, a small, brown owl was already waiting by the window over the sink. She opened the window and the bird flew in and perched on the table. It offered its leg to Rapunzel who quickly untied the newspaper that had been tied there. She then grabbed a small, bronze coin - a Knut - from a dish labelled 'Subscription fees', and tucked it in the pouch the owl had tied to its other leg. Promptly, the owl flew off.
She raced upstairs to grab her bag and her pet chameleon, Pascal, then headed out the door and across the street to her neighbor and best friend's house.