A/N

Written for QLFC Season 4 Round 2

Team: Kenmare Kestrels

Position: Beater 1

Prompt: Use the word "Kestrel". Word limit: 1751-2000 (total words not including A/N 1934)

Optional Prompts:

3. (dialogue) "Sometimes I really dislike you."

9. (emotion) Surprise

10. (dialogue) "There's no such thing as magic."

/end A/N

Harry's Haven

I really had been trying to fit in, but after the war ended, I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. I wasn't needed to be a savior, besides, I'd always hated being called "The Boy Who Lived" and "The Chosen One". I didn't want to be an auror anymore. I didn't want to return to Hogwarts as a student or a professor. I figured the easiest thing to do would be to look around and see what the alley was missing and go from there.

It had been about ten years since the war ended and I started wandering around aimlessly. My vaults were overflowing. I'd finally gotten a chance to read my parents' and Sirius' wills. It didn't come as a surprise to see that I had been manipulated by Dumbledore and several others I had once considered friends. After reading them both and going through the proper channels to get my stolen gold, and heirlooms, back, I was richer than even the Malfoys. It didn't stop me from opening a shop just outside of the Alley in Muggle London. Only families with magical blood would be able to see and enter, so I didn't have to worry about the Statute of Secrecy being broken due to my...interesting animals.

"Hey, Potter!" A voice called from the entrance to the shop. "Where the bloody hell are you?!"

I grinned and responded, "Come now, Draco. You know my name. Use it for once."

Draco scowled at me. His scowl deepened as he looked from the top of my head down to my trainer covered feet. "Are you covered in dung? Why are you covered in dung? You do realize that we are expected at my parents home in less than an hour, right?"

I shrugged and turned away to feed Zenny, my four foot long ball python. "The birds were a bit over-excited this morning. I can hardly be faulted for animal droppings when I own an animal store."

Draco groaned and stomped his foot, "Potter! Sometimes..." Draco released another growl of frustration causing my to grin as I mouthed the line along with him, "Sometimes I really dislike you."

I put a few mice into Zenny's tank and turned around to face the blonde. "Yes, yes. You dislike me a lot."

Draco stared at me and huffed, "Oh hush. Go get cleaned up and I'll look after the other animals."

I arched an eyebrow at the blonde. "You sure you can handle the kestrel mews? And the snake den? Zenny is an exception. She's my own familiar, so I know she won't attack anyone, but the adder has a tendency to strike at anyone that isn't me. I've had to separate her out to keep her from attacking the others."

"Dammit, Harry! Just do what I say! I don't want Mother to get mad at me again for you being late!" Draco cried out, wringing his hands together.

I looked at Draco in concern. "What happened? You're never this upset over anything."

Draco sighed and clenched his hands at his side, trying to school his features into nonchalance. "Nothing. Just-just go get ready, please?"

I frowned, "Two minutes to feed the snakes and the muggle animals. You get the kestrels, owls, crups and kneazle kittens."

Draco grabbed an apron and put it on, going to the backroom to grab the feed.

I followed with a grimace. I grabbed what I needed and fed my section quickly before ducking into the backroom and up the stairs into my flat to shower and change.


I sighed heavily as Harry ran in the back to finally do as I asked. I had just finished feeding the last pair of kneazles when the chime over the door went off signifying a customer.

"Welcome to Harry's Haven. How can I help you?" I asked, walking around to the front of the store. I saw a family of four, a set of fathers, a girl around the age of thirteen and a little boy around age six.

"Papa and Daddy said I can have a puppy!" The little boy said happily.

I looked to the parents for confirmation.

The shorter gave a soft smile, "We are just looking for now."

"But I want a cat!" the girl cried out in dismay.

Again, I looked to the parents. "Melody, we are only looking today," the shorter man said. "If we find you a cat, fine, but we were looking for a dog as well."

I looked at the family again. Something seemed a bit off about the boy.

The boy's face has gotten angry. "You always get what you want Mel! It's not fair!" At the end of his shriek, the cage of crups popped open and the two tailed dogs crowded around the family, separating the boy from his family.

"Michael, how did you do that?!" The shorted man yelped.

Michael looked around him in confusion, "I dunno. It just happened. Weird things always happen to me. It's magic."

"There's no such thing as magic," The shorter man chided the boy. The taller one shifted uncomfortably.

"Is too!" Michael retorted. He pointed at the taller man, "Melody wishes for things and they happen. Papa has a stick that does magic! I have magic too!"

I felt my eyes widened in surprise. "Um."

The whole family turned to look at me, the taller male with recognition, then fear, flooding his eyes. "Malfoy," the man whispered, backing away a step.

"Whoa," I said, putting my hands up so he could see I was unarmed. "I swear I'm not here to hurt anyone. I work here with Harry."

The family looked at my with confusion and I sighed, "Harry Potter?" I groaned and raised my voice, "POTTER! CUSTOMERS!"

A bang and a groan came from the back room. A bit of scrabbling and a disheveled Harry walked through the curtain and back into the front of the shop. Harry rubbed the side of his hip with a wince. "Were the stairs always that height, or have I shrunk?" Harry asked with a hiss of pain.

I snorted and pushed his lightly, "You spend too much time with Tonks. Her clumsiness rubbed off on you. Now," I turned back to the family, "Tell them I'm not a Death Eater so they don't try to lynch me, please."

Harry frowned and looked at the family. "Seamus?"

I frowned, "Seamus Finnegan? I thought you were snatched and killed! You weren't in the group of students that I released with Uncle Sev's help at the Manor!"


I listened to Draco speak and understood his confusion. "How did you escape? Or were you even captured?" I asked.

Seamus paled and looked at his family as they turned to look at him. "Papa?" Little Michael asked, the crups parting so the boy could walk over to his father. "Papa, I'm sorry for telling." The boy's eyes welled up with tears.

Seamus knelt down and enveloped the child in a hug, "Oh, no, sweetie. It's not your fault. I knew when we picked you that you were special. Melody is special in her own way," he added, looking at the teenager.

Melody looked affronted, "I don't go to private school, Papa." She withdrew an elm wand from her sleeve. "I go to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. They send for me from the airport every year. It's why I don't come home for holiday."

Seamus choked and looked at his family in confusion, "How did you hide this from me?"

I wrapped my hand around Draco's arm and quietly dragged him back from the family. "What the hell is going on in my store?" I hissed.

"I don't know. I swear I didn't do anything," Draco whispered frantically. "We only have five minutes to get to the Manor. Do you think they'll take their spat elsewhere? Like their home?"

I looked at the loose crups and stifled a snort of amusement. The spotted gray and tan runt had sat on Melody's feet and she hadn't even noticed. My eyes widened again when I saw a gold and orange kneazle stalking forward and about to pounce on the boy.

"Er, Seamus, mate," I called out warily, "I have to close up shop. I'm late to a dinner, and Mrs. Ma-" I cut off with a wince, "That was rude Draco. Narcissa," I continued, "will kill me if I'm late again."

Seamus looked at me in confusion.

"Harry's Haven, Pet Emporium for the Gifted actually closes at six p.m. everyday. It's six twenty-five now. I'll let you keep the crup and kneazle that have adopted your children though."

Seamus looked between his family and Draco and Myself. "Someday, you will have to tell me how that happened," he stated, waving his hand at the pair of us.

"Sure, sure. Just like you will explain having a family and still managing to hide from the magical world," I responded.

"I'll pay for the animals," Seamus sighed, squeezing Michael one more time before standing. "Crups and kneazles are expensive to breed."

I waved him off. "Just make sure you come to me for the supplies needed when you run out." I pulled out my trusted holly wand and summoned two bags to the front, handing the larger one to Melody. "I know you're probably more of a cat person than a dog person, and the opposite is probably true for your little brother, but crups are fiercely loyal and Comet here will protect you until the end of time." I pat the crup on the head and smiled. "Be a good girl, Comet."

I stepped forward and knelt down to be on eye level with the younger sibling. "Hello, Mr. Michael. My name's Harry and this," I reached around the boy and snagged the sneaky kneazle, "is Creeper. He's a sneaky little thing, and will help you get into all sorts of things. Kneazles look like cats, but they are magical, like the crup over there that your sister now has. You can't see his magicalness-" the boy giggled quietly, "yes, I know magicalness isn't a real word, but it works here," I said, poking the boy lightly in the belly. "Anyways, Creeper's magicalness isn't as obvious like Comet's double tail. Kneazle's are great finders and nearly as protective as crups. The only reason I say they aren't is because a crup gets bigger."

Michael looked at the kneazle kitten in awe, "Creeper is mine?"

I nodded and handed Creeper to Micheal gently. "Be careful with how tight you hold Creeper. He's still a baby."

Michael nodded and backed away, holding Creeper very gently.

As all of this was taking place, Seamus was whispering agitatedly with his husband.

"Seamus," I called. "Your kids are set. I really need to get going now, so if you could..."

"Of course. See you later, Harry...Malfoy," Seamus ushered his family out the door and I locked and warded it quickly.


I looked at my watch and groaned. "Mother is going to flay me alive and put my hide in the foyer."

"Oh, don't be melodramatic," Harry said flippantly. "We're late because I was making a sale. She can't be upset over that."

"But you didn't make a sale! You gave them away!"

"Yes, well. Semantics." Harry shrugged. "Let's get going then."

I took his hand and apparated us both away. "You are so taking the fall for this."

"Yes, dear," Harry snarked as we entered the house.

Yes, he could be annoying, but he was my Harry, and nothing could change that.