A/N: Well, I have never done so much research as I've done for this fic. I went by what Wikipedia and various other websites said, stir a bit of my insanity in and you have this. I'm sorry if I got anything wrong, the internet isn't always reliable.
This is rated M, not for lemons, but because it refers to rape. A warning.
For Batsy, darling, have a Merry Christmas. (You'd better leave me a really, really long review for this.)
I don't own anything you recognise.
Tokoloshe
Harry frowned at the file he was holding. Odd events had been occuring in the British Wizarding world, more importantly, in London.
This case had, quite literally, jumped at him with the arrival of a woman, and the case scared him, because of its bizarre nature, and it took a lot to scare the head of the Aurory. He'd never expected something like this to happen, something so odd, so disturbing...
The first time anything happened, the department dealing with these cases dismissed it as a poltergeist and advised the family to move. Rude words had appeared against the wall, odd noises could be heard, and only the couple's toddler could see something. Being four, the little boy described the creature as "small and hairy and ugly". The Jones' family feared for their son's well-being and mental state.
Peeves had been more ghost than human, and he bothered almost everyone, not to mention everyone could see him, not just smaller children.
The small family had moved, hoping to be rid of the problem. It went all right for two nights, before the odd noises and pranks started again. Always directed at the adults, never at the child.
Harry was relieved that the boy wasn't harmed by the creature, or at least that was what the files said. According to the parents, it had made friends with the boy, and the child refused to tell them when he was nearby.
The next conclusion the specialists made, was that it was a brownie, who would continue his 'work' until they gifted him with clothing.
The Jones' had put clothes out, making sure they were in sight.
Another week later, and the clothes were still there. The trouble hadn't stopped at all, it had simply gotten worse. The creature was obviously mischievous, exactly like a poltergeist was, but it was yet to be seen if it was evil.
Then the Mr. Jones fell ill. It was awful, he had a high fever, boils had broken out over his entire body, he was differing between being cold and complaining it was too hot, his hands burned - as if it had some sort of fungus-infection, his feet were swollen - it just kept coming. What they did, it kept getting worse, and no wizarding healer nor a muggle doctor could find the problem.
Next? It spread to another family, the Rodnicks. This family had a little girl, age three, who also showed signs of seeing something. In the same way, the little girl wasn't harmed, but the mother fell ill. In this case, the father had lost his job.
It was when Mrs. Jones came to the Aurory, claiming to have been raped, that things spiralled out of control.
Harry had been the first to see her, and he immediately sent her to St. Mungo's for a check-up. Maybe they could extract some sort of DNA from the culprit. That, and she'd been beaten and bruises were everywhere on her petite body.
"I didn't shower once it went away - maybe he left imprints on me." She'd explained, shaking where she sat. It had been later, she was done at St. Mungo's and Harry asked if she was ready to talk about, she said she was. It was a part of his job that he hated – having to discuss the traumatizing events with victims.
"Where was your husband?" Harry'd asked, not having known the circumstances, he hadn't seen their files yet.
"He's sick at St. Mungo's, sir," Mrs. Jones explained, "I left my son at the neighbour's, he's asleep."
Harry asked permission to extract the memory, not asking about her husband, she agreed. Harry had learned that the memory of something traumatic had to be extracted soon after the happening, and it was important that she didn't go to sleep, because sleeping would cause the memory to linger and become immortalized in her brain. And who would want to remember what she had gone through?
Harry now had the memory with the file. He'd looked at the memory, but he couldn't see anything, because Mrs. Jones face had been pushed into a pillow as someone, or something, kept thrusting into her, groaning in pleasure.
She couldn't see anything, only later did he see the face, near the end of the memory, where the creature cackled like the evil sprite it was, and forced her to look at him. It had beaten her, repeatedly, and went as far as ejaculating in her.
He was, as the small boy had described, ugly, small and hairy. It was a horrible experience for anyone to go through, especially when Harry saw the creature's penis - it rivalled a horse's penis. The creature was small, about the size of a dwarf, but it could slung it's penis over its shoulder.
Harry requested the case file from the other department once he'd finished questioning her.
Would a poltergeist rape a woman? Would it beat her? Would it empty its seed into her body? What was this beast? These questions infuriated Harry beyond belief.
Harry thought not. Poltergeists were mischievous, sometimes dangerous when it came to scaring people (Peeves sometimes made people set fire to themselves, after all), but they wouldn't resort to rape as a means of terrifying people.
He told the woman to stay in the wizarding hospital for a while, sending six Aurors to guard her, her husband and her son at all times; this was getting out of hand. He also requested any smiilar files, the Rodnicks' file found their way to his desk.
He feared Mr. Rodnick would meet the same fate as Mrs. Jones had, seeing as Mrs. Rodnick was in St. Mungo's at the time.
He read in both of their files that they'd recently been to South Africa for a holiday. Incidentily, both had gone to the same spot. It was all the two families had in common, prior to the happening, safe for the fact that they both had children.
What he did find positive was that these creatures didn't harm the children - that was one thing. But the creature might be biding his time to do something terrible to them, like centaurs did with some women (he recalled what had happened to Umbridge in his fifth year, and though she was an evil toad, she didn't deserve to be gang-raped by a bunch of centaurs. No one deserved to be raped.)
He sent his personal assistant to ask one of his contacts in South Africa if he could visit them.
The day he became head of the deparment, he'd met people from all over the world, people there who were, in most senses, his equals where jobs were concerned. Fellow heads of departments from all over the world.
He'd met an array of characters, but the witch doctors of South Africa were who'd scared him most. They were salient; spooky yet beautiful. Some acted like normal people; others had this aura of the paranormal around them.
They had many names, it just depended on which of South Africa's eleven official languages you spoke; mostly they were referred to as Sangomas, the 'g' as an explosive sound, but Harry couldn't say that, so he called her a witch doctor.
South Africa was aparently riddled with witches who wished to do others harm, and they used the lingering curses and potions and runes to get their points across. These witch doctors were basically the South African Aurory, they didn't hide from muggles, though, and they welcomed the muggles into their huts whenever the muggles felt they were being cursed by dark witches.
On the other side, a lot of these muggles feared the witch doctors, because they used controversial methods. They spoke to the ancestor spirits, some dabbled in fortune-telling, but only those that have the inner eye can truly see it. Others threw bones, using spit from the person or some sort of DNA who needed his fortune told, mixing it with the bones and then throwing them. They could read these bones like one could read tea-leaves.
"Mr Potter?" His assistant called, pulling him from his thoughts, "She said she'll see you."
Harry nodded, going over to his fireplace. He scooped up some floo powder and yelled her address.
He reappeared in a rather large hut, feeling dizzy from spinning uncontrollably for a longer period than normally – he was traveling across continents, after all. A woman sat on the floor in front of a mat made of weaved grass, candles burning near her.
"Harry Potter," The woman greeted him, her head bowed over a mat. She'd thrown bones on the mat, and only she could interpret it. She had some of Harry's DNA, insisting on a few hairs so as to protect him when she first him.
Her skin was dark, she was from the local Zulu tribe, and beads were weaved into a crown above her dreadlocks. She was dressed in the traditional white clothes of the sangoma.
"Lerato," He greeted her, bowing respectfully, "You know why I'm here?"
"You're people are haunted by a tokoloshe." She said, looking him in the eye. "Take a seat, Harry Potter, we have much to discuss."
He sat down opposite her, on a pillow she'd provided for him. She was looking at the bones intently, her eyes flitting back and forth.
"You must cleanse de woman, Harry Potter, or you'll have a Tokoloshe-child on your hands, which is already bad. She will never be pleased by another man if you do not cleanse her," She went on, "Dey are high maintenance, expensive and cursed children." She spoke the word 'cursed' in two syllables. "And de Tokoloshe will return for him, for de child, and he will kill de woman." She went on. Harry nodded - years of being an Auror had made him hard. "We must catch dis demon, for he will steal de child away."
Her English was a bit off, Harry thought, but she was the one to turn to for this.
"How do I cleanse her?" He asked, hoping it didn't include anything bloody, as some of the Sangoma's things did.
"Abortion." The African shaman replied with a shrug. Harry shivered - he wasn't against abortion, but he wasn't exactly for it either. He was rather surprised by the non-magic means of 'cleansing'. "You say dere's another family?"
Harry nodded, but he hadn't said a thing about another family, he assumed his assistant had given her the file. It was confirmed when he saw the bright yellow file lying on a bamboo chair behind her.
Lerato was one of the few sangomas that wasn't a scam-artist; she knew what she was doing. She came highly recommended, because she didn't fool muggles with mutis and creams that would make them win the lottery or make their penises grow or something of the sort.
"Tell dem to raise deir bed, put bricks under de feet." She said, standing up and going over to a nearby rack. She extracted a silver chain with an odd little creature on it as a charm. "De little one must wear this, it keeps de tokoloshe away." She dropped it into Harry's hand, along with a small tub. "And de others, de mother and de father, must rub this muti onto deir bodies. It is Tokoloshe-fat, it will repell de huli." She clicked her tongue. Harry wanted to ask what a 'huli' was, until he recalled that it was simply another word for 'tokoloshe', which had a lot of spellings.
"Last, Harry Potter, we must find her, de witch, because if we destroy de caster's grip on de creature, de creature will return to what it was before." Lerato said, her voice was deep and eerie, as if she was a bit scared herself.
"What exactly was the creature before?" Harry asked, hoping he wouldn't regret his question.
"It was a man, Harry Potter, a recently dead man, whose body was stolen by a she, a witch. Him tongue and eyes are cut out, and to make him into de African goblin, they blow dis powder into mouth and put a hot iron through his head." She held up a green powder. Of course she knew how to make one, she was a witch doctor, and they had to have their servants.
Harry had to concentrate to follow her dialect, she was speaking Black South African English, 'that man, she was a tsotsi'. Often confusing 'him' with 'his' or 'her' with 'she', or calling a man a 'she'.
"But de making of the huli comes with a terrible price, Harry Potter, it needs de spirit of a loved one, de natural spirit, in exchange for de unnatural one."
Harry wasn't surprised, Voldemort did kill his father; you had to kill someone to make a horcrux, inferi spoke for themselves...
"How do I catch this thing?" He asked. She looked affronted at him.
"You can't capture de tokoloshe, Harry Potter, only I can." She snapped at him. "Only I know the way to banish dem!" Her eyes were wild, the whites of her eyes large as he seemed to be a threat to her.
"Okay, all right, you can banish them!" Harry said defensively. Lerato sat back, her pupils turned back to their normal size, she was calmer.
She leaned over the bones she'd thrown just before Harry arrived.
"Wait!" She yelled, her one finger pointed delicately to an array of bones, "I see, Harry Potter, I see dat dis tokoloshe-child will be born -" Harry shivered, that poor woman. " - and you will take care of it."
Harry paled, he didn't have a shortage of money, but he didn't want to take a strange woman's child from her! "You must take it in, Harry Potter, or it will make many troubles for us all."
Harry gulped - he and Ginny had just gotten married two years ago! Now he had to take care of a baby?
Not that he didn't like children, he adored Teddy, but he wasn't ready for that type of responsibility yet. Ginny couldn't understand it, she wanted to have children, but he just wasn't ready yet. He was the youngest man to have ever become the head of the Aurory, and with it the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, due to his many fights with both dark wizards and dark magic.
"Now you must warn de woman, Harry Potter," Lerato's voice became eerie again, "she will die! But not from de huli-child..."
"I'm not going to tell her when she'll die!" Harry yelled. Lerato gave him a surprised look, before her expression relaxed.
"Of course, you prefer not to know when your time is." She said, nodding her dreadlocked head in understanding.
She smiled suddenly, her unnaturaly white teeth glistening in the candle-light.
"Come now, Harry Potter, we must eat! We are friends, are we not?" She got up, disappearing from her hut, her bangled hand motioning for him to follow.
He laughed to himself before following her out. He loved Lerato; one moment she would be scaring him, the next she'd be the friendliest person he'd ever met.
. . .
He returned to London after a dinner of beef stew and a promise from Lerato that she'd visit the next day, only to find that Mr. Jones had passed away. His heart couldn't take the onslaught of all the illnesses sent his way.
Harry arrived at his home, exhausted. He sauntered into the kitchen, finding Ginny in front of the stove.
"Harry!" She cried alarmed. He smiled at her.
"Hey, love, sorry, it was a long day," He explained. She nodded, dishing up a plate of Harry's favourite food. He didn't have the heart to tell her he'd already eaten, instead he told her of the day he had with his new case. He wasn't supposed to discuss these things with her, but he did, he always had and nothing would stop him now.
She paled at the mention of what the creature had done to Mrs. Jones and the death of Mr. Jones.
"And the little boy?" She asked, her voice shaking.
"I'll probably send him to live with some relatives." Harry answered, "It's the best I can do."
"Now, the witch doctor said something about you taking care of the child?" Ginny went on, "This tokoloshe-child? Well, we'll just have to do it."
"What?" Harry couldn't believe his ears!
"He's an innocent in all of this, Harry, he didn't ask to be made." Ginny tsk'ed, shaking her head. "We'll raise him, as our child, and we'll love him. I'll help you catch this thing, Harry, and we'll destroy it. It destroyed the little Jones boy's life, but we won't allow him to take this child."
"It's the son of a monster, Ginny! It was made by a woman being raped!"
"And that's the child's fault?" She fired back. Harry digressed. It wasn't the child's fault at all. He was wrong for wanting the child gone, it was just hard.
. . .
The Jones' child, Johnny, already knew that his dad had died. When Harry arrived to tell him, he said that his friend had told him.
"He said he was sorry," Little Johnny said, "but his mistress told him to do it. And he must do as she says, or she won't feed him."
Harry went down on his one knee. "Do you have an auntie or an uncle I can take you to?" He asked, Lerato's warning of the Tokoloshe wanting to steal the child fresh in his mind.
"Yes, Auntie Hilde, in Africa!" The boy said excitedly, "That's where I met him!"
"Who, Johnny?" Harry asked, already knowing that he was talking about the huli.
"Mpho!" Johnny answered, struggling over the name.
Harry took the little boy to his aunt, holding onto his small hand tightly as they apparated to the other continent.
He'd met Hilde before he'd taken the boy, making sure she wanted to have him.
"Of course! After what happened to Leo, I can't bear to think of him living with the neighbours!" She said. Harry told her everything, about the Tokoloshe and what the sangoma had said to him, he thought is best to be honest. Leo Jones was her brother, and she'd left immediately when she found out he was sick. She'd been the one to see him die.
"And now Marita is going to die? This is terrible!" She exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks.
"I'm afraid so, ma'am, the witch doctor saw it." He nodded solemnly.
"Which one did you go to?" She asked, hoping that this was all wrong, "You do realise how many cons there are here in South Africa, don't you? Especially with the people moving here! They take these poor muggles for fools."
"Ma'am, with all due respect, I'm the head of the Aurory, I think I know the real thing from the fake thing." He said earnestly, insulted.
"Of course, sir, I just wonder if our Minister of Magic knows." She said sadly, "Because if he does, he's a failure as a minister."
"We'll wait for the next election to sort those things out, ma'am, but we need to make sure little Johnny is taken care of. The witch doctor warned me that the creature would try to steal him." Harry laid his cards out on the table.
"Of course, sir, we will call a sangoma to try and banish it." She agreed.
"Ma'am, we can't just banish it, it'll return. We need to find the person who cursed your brother's family in the first place." Harry said grimly. Then something struck him. "Ma'am, do you know a family with Rodnick as a last name?"
"Yes, they're family friends of my husband, why?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Were they here recently?" He ignored her question, seeing a pattern. They had both visited the same spot – what if that spot was the same farm?
"Yes, the same time as Leo and Marita were here." She confirmed. "Why the questions, Mr Potter?"
He grinned at her. "I have an idea..." With that he gathered his cloak, slipped it on in a dramatic flourish and was gone, leaving a befuddled Mrs. Van der Walt (Leo Jones; sister).
. . .
"Johnny!" She called excitedly from the porch of her farmhouse in the Karoo. He ran to her, arms outstretched, giggling he leaped into her open arms. He was too young to understand that his father had recently died, that he was never going to see his daddy again.
It was a few months later, eight to be precise, Mrs. Jones was now sporting a belly, she was still at St. Mungo's. Harry hadn't even suggested the abortion, and she'd assumed she was pregnant with her late husband's child.
Harry didn't tell her the truth. He didn't have the heart to.
Lerato was in for the plan, to try and catch the caster. She dressed in muggle wear and accompanied Harry to the farm, pretending to be his maid, as did Ginny. Lerato had needed some time to prepare everything she needed for the ritual.
"The help here don't know about us being magical," Mrs. Van der Walt said as they entered her living room, "They're incredibly supersticious, and we thought it best not to tell them."
Harry nodded. Even the muggle-folk in South Africa believed in the Tokoloshe – that was why they raised their beds from the floor. That or to store their luggage underneath their beds.
Harry cast a silent Mufflatio around them before starting to discuss the plan.
"So, I'm your brother from London, your other one." Harry said, for the first time explaining his idea to her. He pulled Ginny closer. Despite his thoughts that he wasn't ready for the responsibility of being a father yet, Ginny was four months pregnant.
"And I'd like you to meet my wife, Ginny. Ginny, Mrs. Van der Walt." He knew he said her name wrong, the 'W' was supposed to be said in a 'V', but he never bothered with it.
"Delighted," Mrs. Van der Walt smiled at Ginny, who returned the smile.
"And this is Lerato," He put a hand on the dark-skinned woman's shoulder, "She's the one that will be finding the caster."
"Thank you for coming," Mrs. Van der Walt gave a small bow, "It is an honour to have you here."
"It is an honour to be here," Lerato said, "I will need to talk to everyone here, to find de witch."
"How will we do that without arousing suspicion?" Mrs. Van der Walt asked, Johnny tucked safely into her arms.
"I'm pretending to be your maid, am I not?" Lerato chimed, "I can complain about what a hard boss you are and insinuate dat I wish to harm you."
Harry didn't like the situation one bit. He was used to Kreacher, who liked both him and Ginny.
"All right, but please report back when you find something." Harry pleaded. The shaman nodded, sighing.
"Dis is going to be a long day for me."
. . .
As the night drew near, the Potters and Van der Walts were sitting outside, just chatting as relatives always do. They chatted about the recently deceased brother, how his funeral had been and made note of his widowed wife being pregnant with his child.
Harry's wand was tucked into his sleeve, as was Ginny's, just in case anything happened.
"Baas!" Lerato called to Harry from afar, using the Afrikaans word for 'boss'. Harry looked up, his demeanor lazy (it was what he and Lerato had decided to play him as, a lazy bastard).
"Yes?" He asked once she was close.
"The peaches are ripe!" She exclaimed. That was code for 'I found the witch', but being on a farm they decided to speak in code.
"And?" Harry said carefully.
"Should we pick some?" She directed the question at Mrs. Van der Walt.
"No, we should wait until they start falling." The woman replied. Lerato nodded, entering the house, where she would be sleeping.
Mrs. Van der Walt had just said that they should wait for the witch to be caught in the action. It made sense and Harry would've done the same.
A few minutes later Harry announced that he was going to go to sleep. Ginny followed him.
"What do you have?" He asked the witch doctor once he entered the house, having cast a Silencing Charm.
"Dat man, Mr. Rodnick, deserved what he got." Lerato spat, clearly seething. "He made himself a nuisance to her! Forced her to do terrible things!"
"He made her give him sexual favours?" Ginny guessed, a bit green.
"In dose words, yes!" Lerato wasn't happy, "But creating de tokoloshe was even worse, I will still help you, but you must bring dat man to justice, okay?"
Harry nodded. Rape was a terrifying thing, an awful thing, but that didn't mean she could resort to the murder and rape of another, innocent, family.
"Why'd she set this creature on the Jones family?" Harry wanted to know.
"She wanted to hurt de Rodnick man, and dey were friends." She shrugged. "She dought, if she hurt dem, she'll hurt him too."
It wasn't logical, it didn't make sense at all, but Harry knew he had to catch her soon.
Lerato dropped a necklace into his hand, it was identical to the one little Johnny was wearing.
"Raise your bed and wear dis, Harry Potter, or de huli will get you." She said. "It won't hurt your wife."
. . .
It was midnight when Harry awoke with a start. He couldn't see anything, but he could make out a vague shape in the darkness. He reached for his glasses, put them on and gasped.
In front of the bed, the creature was standing. His skin was a sickly yellow, his eyes black, he wore a loin cloth, a leer was covering his face.
"Free me." It spoke to him. "I have been shent to make you ill. I cannot." It spoke with a lisp.
"How do I free you?" Harry asked blearily.
"The n'anga musht banish me." The tokoloshe said, his voice grave. With that, the beastie turned around, hung his head, and exited the room.
. . .
The next night the same happened. The creature came again, asked Harry to free him, warning him that he should keep his bed raised, and went on his way.
On the third day of their stay, Harry and his African friend had come up with a plan.
Ginny had gone back to London at Harry's request, and she sent Ron to him. Ron was filled in about everything, he immediately offered to help.
In bed that night, Harry was wearing the charm, his body had been lathered with muti made of tokoloshe-fat and he kept his glasses on.
As predicted, the huli entered at midnight. It seemed to sense something was off, because it jumped around, fast and agile, like a cat, trying to reach Harry.
Out of the darkness a shiny silver rod shot and a leather collar snapped itself onto the huli's neck. Harry grabbed on to the rod, it'd swung around and made its way to his hands.
"What are you doing?" It yelled.
"I'm freeing you." Harry said simply, standing on the bed. He was dressed in his full uniform, including a dragon-hide vest that protected him against most curses.
. . .
On the other side of the farm, Lerato had dressed up, her sangoma-wear in place down to the very last bead. She was murmuring under her breath, speaking to the ancestor spirits, asking them to guide her in her quest to capture the evil spirit of the caster, to banish the creature and to save little Johnny Jones in her native tongue.
Ron, on the other hand, was searching the numerous servants' quarters for magical activities. He kept his wand trained, at the ready to strike. He cast a spell at every room he found empty, locking them inside.
Finally he found her, sitting on her bed. Lerato had shown him who she was, but where she slept was a difficult one. She was whispering under her breath, the curse for the tokoloshe to find Harry and either kill him or make him ill.
What was disturbing was that she didn't have any clothes on.
But she was so caught up in her murmuring that she didn't notice him.
He sealed the door from the outside silently, ensuring she couldn't get out.
Harry came around the corner, the creature hissing at him continuously, attempting to bite and scratch at him. The witch must've heard the noise, because the next moment there was hammering at her door. She was trying to get out.
Lerato was already there, her eyes were completely white, her entire demeanor gone.
"Rosina Molema." Loreta's voice wasn't her own anymore, "You're ancestors aren't pleased with you."
Ron opened the door, and the nude woman stumbled out. She was seething, glaring at all of them. Harry twirled his wand, and a golden rope between the tokoloshe and the witch. Harry smirked at her.
"You're really in for it now." He said, giving the floor to Lerato. She lifted her hands, and white mist blew from her hands, engulfing Molema.
The witch cried out, terrified, but the mist swirled around her, the faces of men and women could be seen in the mist, and they were all yelling at her that she'd done wrong.
The next moment it all stopped. The mist was gone, but all that remained of Rosina Molema was a skeleton.
"She was evil." Lerato said weakly, holding on to Harry. "She cursed many, many people."
"Still, what Rodnick did was wrong." Harry said, pulling the rod closer. The tokoloshe was still alive, but now it had no mistress and was free to do as he pleased. But Harry couldn't have that.
"Mpho," He called it. It looked up at him, surprised that Harry knew his name.
"Yesh?" It answered, scowling. Something told Harry that it didn't like being on a leash.
"You said you wanted to be free?" Harry didn't really mean it as a question. Mpho nodded - he hated his new form.
Lerato put a bowl in front of him. It had bread and milk in it. Mpho looked at her, fear in his eyes.
"It's okay." Harry told him. "You'll be free."
The tokoloshe devoured his meal. He choked on the bread, before slumping over. Dead.
"What are we going to do with it?" Ron asked, disgusted now that he saw it up close. It was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen - and he'd seen some awful things in his life.
"Lerato's taking it." Harry shrugged, looking at her. She nodded.
"De tokoloshe body is a very good means for money." She said, scooping it up. "You must keep dat charm, Harry Potter, many will be after de child."
With that, she was gone. Harry didn't know if she had a wand and if she apparated, but she hadn't turned on the spot, like you're supposed to do with apparition.
. . .
"Thank you." Mrs. Van der Walt said for the upteenth time.
"It's my job, ma'am." Harry answered, glad that the dark witch had been caught and it had been taken care of. "I have paperwork to do." He shook her and her husband's hands and was off. Glad the ordeal was over.
Arriving in London brought a lot of trouble of its own. Namely Kingsley that wanted to know why he was in Africa, and why he hadn't left the case to the African authorities. They were now shouting at the Minister for killing one of their own.
"She had endangered two English families, Kingsley, one family lost the father and the mother was raped by one of their creatures - of course I took action!" He exclaimed. "I may have been hardened, but I'm not heartless!"
Kingsley was shocked. "I want every file, every memory, ever piece of lint on this, all right? I need to state our case."
"I have a signed document of the witch doctor that helped us." Harry placed it on Kingsley's table, as well as the file he'd taken with him and his scribbled notes, the vial with Mrs. Jones' memory in it and finally his own memory of the things that happened when Rosina Molema died.
"I believe you, Potter, but please notify me of these things."
"Kingsley, I did notify you - I sent countless memos to you, asking for advice." Harry frowned. "You mean, you didn't get them?"
Kingsley shook his head.
Harry's mind was in a whirl as Kingsley flipped through the file.
"Ministry employees, both of them." Kingsley noted. "In the same department."
Harry's neck snapped up sharply. "And let me guess... Now that Jones is dead, Rodnick gets his job?" Harry saw it all now. "He never even really lost his job!"
"Yes, he was Jones' second in command - what are you getting at?"
"Rodnick never molested or raped Molema." He started. "He paid her. In return, she would get a servant and she would be sexually sated."
"How is that?"
"The creatures make love to their mistresses, it's their jobs." Harry grimaced. "Now that both of them is dead, we can't pin anything on Rodnick."
Kingsley grinned. "Of course we can, Harry, we find the missing memos and confund him."
"Isn't that against the Ministry's suit, Kinglsey?"
"Yes, it is, but so is what he did," The Minister of Magic noted, "we fight fire with fire."
That was why Harry loved Kingsley as a Minister, he was straightforward with you and he said things as they were without adding a little white lie.
. . .
Ginny was waiting for him, as was Mrs. Jones.
"And?" They both asked. Ginny kissed Harry's cheek and made him sit down at the table. Kreacher carried some onion soup to him, whistling. When he reached Harry, he retched.
"Miss Ginny, please excuse Master Harry," Kreacher said, holding his nose, "he has to go bathe now - that smell will attract the most vile of beasties. Kreacher will keep Master Harry's food warm."
Harry grinned at the irony.
Later he told them about what had happened. Mrs. Jones couldn't believe that their long-time friend had been the one behind it all.
"He and Leo were such good friends! What on earth went wrong with him?" She cried out.
"Jealousy, ma'am, I've seen a dozen crimes commited because of jealousy," Harry admitted, "And worse than this." He shuddered at the memories that immediately crept up.
"Will you arrest him?"
"Yes, we just need to find the proof we need. It's where you come in, Mrs. Jones, would you keep Mrs. Rodnick busy for an hour at most?"
"Of course, yes!" She exclaimed. She'd elected to stay behind the weekend, saying goodbye to her son in a teary fashion.
. . .
Harry and Kingsley apparated to the Rodnick home just as the two women left. Mrs. Jones had made sure to keep a door open for them.
They didn't need to search long, they found all the evidence they needed in the desk in the study. They decided to say they'd found it in his desk at work, because there they didn't need a warrant to search his desk.
. . .
Rodnick was arrested on two accounts of murder, Mr. Leo Jones' murder as well as Rosina Molema's, he was also accused of treason, adultery to his wife (who'd filed for divorce) and unlawful handlings. He was trialed for the rape of Mrs. Marita Jones. All things he'd been found guilty of.
It was all settled within a month. Mr. Rodnick was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban, depending on his behaviour.
At the end of the trial, they tokoloshe-child was born, and it looked like a normal child. Harry didn't know why, but he'd expected the baby to be hairy and ugly. But considering its father used to be a man, it made sense.
Mrs. Jones held the baby boy, who was sleeping soundly.
"Mr. Potter," She whispered, Harry stepped closer to her, "Take care of him." She handed the boy to him.
She laid her head down on the pillow, and, as Harry watched, the pillow's load became heavier.
Marita Jones had died, just as Lerato had predicted.
. . .
Eleven years later
"Dad!" James Potter called, fending his big brother off, running down the stairs, "Tell Leo to stop it!"
Leo Potter leered at James from atop the stairs, before pouncing on him with feline agility.
"Leonard!" Ginny yelled, "Come on, stop it! You'll hurt someone!"
Leo sighed, pouting. "Why?"
"You're scaring your brother." Harry said honestly. Leo winced and turned to James.
"I'm sorry, Jamesie, I was just playing." The two eleven-year-olds looked at each other.
"It's fine, just... don't do the face." James laughed nervously. Leo punched James' arm playfully.
"Ready, boys?" Ginny asked, "You two all packed?"
"Yes, mom," They said in a chorus.
Leo was the famed tokoloshe-child, and he had inhereted some of his father's abilities, like being able to scare anyone, and he couldn't eat salt at all without being sick.
(That's what Lerato did, she poured salt on Mpho's bread. It seemed a tokoloshe couldn't eat salt.)
"Here're your snack-packs." She handed them each a neat parcel. It had an array of sandwiches and home-made food in it. Harry made a mental note to give them each a few galleons for the trolley.
They took the packs without complaint and hurried back upstairs.
"You shouldn't be so harsh, Harry," Ginny said kindly, "he's still young."
"I know, love, but he knows where he's from, he needs to know that he shouldn't scare people." Harry retaliated. Ginny sighed, a defeated sound.
"I know, Harry, but gently, please?"
"All right." He pressed a kiss to her brow.
They hadn't told him that he'd been made by means of his mother being raped. Harry knew if he found that out, Leo would be crushed. What he did know, was that his father was a tokoloshe and that his mother died in childbirth. They named him Leo, after Mr. Jones.
Albus came down the stairs, yawning. "Are you sure I can't go yet?" He wanted to know with large eyes. Harry ruffled his hair.
"Sorry, kiddo."
Lily was sitting in front of the television, watching some cartoon - it got her to sit still for a while.
. . .
As the large-ish family made their way to the Hogwarts Express, they all could feel the excitement coming off James and Leo. Albus wasn't in a happy mood, and Lily was simply staring at everything.
Ginny went with James through the barrier, and Harry went with Leo. Leo had become a son to the Potters, he had his quirks, but they'd raised and loved him as their own.
Leo stopped once they were past the barrier. Harry put little Lily down, who promptly ran to her mother.
"Dad?" Leo sounded uncertain.
"Yes, son?"
"What if they find out?" He asked softly, looking down. "That I'm a beast's kid?"
"Tell them Harry Potter is your father," Harry answered coolly, "They'll shut up and turn away."
That made Leo laugh, he threw his arms around Harry. He didn't mind if people saw him hug his father, he loved his father (though he'd never admit it, his father was his favourite parent). Harry slipped the charm Lerato had given him years ago around his son's neck as they parted.
"Listen - some of them might be after you, this repells them," Harry fingered the chain, "And keep your bed raised, even if you have to magic it higher, and keep salt with you at all times."
Leo nodded, he knew all these things already.
Harry saw the Van der Walt family come through the barrier. Their eyes met, and Mrs. Van der Walt came over, Johnny Jones behind her. Mr. Van der Walt had gone to put Johnny's luggage away.
"Mr. Potter," Mrs. Van der Walt greeted him with a smile. Sixteen-year-old Johnny shook his hand, charm oozing off him.
"Mrs. Van der Walt," He was delighted to see her, he put a guarding hand on Leo's shoulder, who was looking curiously at Johnny, "this is Leonard, my eldest son."
She smiled again, touched that Harry's named him after her brother.
"He's my kid brother." Johnny said suddenly. "He's Mpho's child, isn't he, aunt Hilde?"
"Yes, darling." His aunt confirmed.
Leo still looked at Johnny, unbelieving.
"Dad, you have some explaining to do." He said finally, looking up at Harry.
"I know, son, but not now," Harry said, "he was your mother's child with the man you're named after."
"My brother was a great man." Hilde stated.
"As was your father." Johnny added. "I met him. When he wasn't being ordered around, he talked to me. He told me of his life, of his death. He said he never had any children - but for you."
"You knew him?" Leo's eyes were wide.
"Yes."
"Look after him, will you?" Hilde asked her nephew. The teenager nodded.
"Of course. He's visiting us for Easter." Johnny said with all the confidence in the world.
Harry and Hilde shared a smile. This wasn't as hard as they'd thought it would be.
Leo smiled, "And you're coming to us for Christmas. Right, dad?"
Harry nodded, seeing that Hilde wouldn't mind. "Sure thing."
The two walked off to meet Ginny and Leo's younger siblings. They didn't seem to think much of the fact that they were brothers, just that they were brothers and so what?
Harry suddenly smiled. Ginny saw it and went over to him.
"Love?" She asked. Harry beamed at her.
"They'll be fine." Ginny assured him, slipping her hand into his, as Leo started to tickle Lily.
"I know." Harry replied.
After all, life had a way of dealing you some cards you didn't understand or particularly want at the time, but Harry glanced at James and Leo, they were not only brothers, but best friends, and they would look after one another, the same way Johnny would look out for Leo.
It was all going to be all right.
. . .
A/N: Please review!