The laughter of children sounded throughout the park in a small English town as a group of children bid their farewells as they returned to their homes.

One child, a tall girl with green hair, watched her new friends go with a smile. When they were out of sight, she sighed, and with a quick flex of concentration, she had returned to her normal, more adult form.

"Phew...I like being an adult MUCH more than being a kid..." Nowi stated out loud as she stretched her arms. "But it was worth it, to see all those happy children." She added happily. After getting all the kinks in her arms out, she started to walk towards the exit of the park.

The young woman whistled cheerfully as she walked home, enjoying the cool night air. It had been a good day. It always warmed her heart to make children laugh.

Making children happy was one of her favourite past-times for many years, and it hadn't gotten old to see a child smile and laugh. She continued to walk for a few minutes before she stopped at an intersection. One of them would take her straight home, and the other one was a detour.

Nowi felt the urge to enjoy a nice walk, so she decided to take the long way home, whistling cheerfully as she all but skipped down the street.

Nowi may have enjoyed the company of others, but she also enjoyed a little solitude every now and again. It allowed her to think, and reflect on her life up to this point.

When she first came into the world, over one hundred years ago, her parents had left her, leaving her alone. A kindly old hermit had been kind enough to take her in, but he only lived to raise her for about seven years.

Seven years, however, was more than enough time for Nowi to grow and understand the world. She learned that she wasn't truly human, but actually a rare breed of dragon that could disguise themselves as humans. As such, she had the ability to change her human form's appearance to match any age that suited the mood, from a babbling baby to a decrepit old woman. Her dragon heritage also came with an absurdly long lifespan of over five thousand years. This gave her time to grow wise to the world around her. She acted cheerful and bubbly and even a little ditzy to keep those around her in high spirits, but in reality, she was actually very knowledgeable, and fully understood how the world worked, smart enough to even net herself a stable job as a librarian.

She also absolutely adored children. They were so sweet and innocent. Children made her heart melt, and she always loved playing with them when she got the chance. Sometimes children would come to the library she worked at, and she would read them stories, enjoying the enthralled expressions on their faces as she read.

She couldn't think of a better way to live than making children happy.

Her thoughts were interrupted five minutes later when she heard something loud happening a little ways up the street. Nowi looked on in confusion but paid it no mind as she continued on her way down the street. But when she got a little bit further down the street, she heard another loud noise, this time it sounded like a crash and something breaking.

"Oh my gosh, something really bad might be going on over there..." Nowi mused. Deciding to check it out, she ran in the direction of the noise she had heard.

She sprinted towards the door of the house she confirmed the noise had come from and pressed her ear against it while sticking her finger in the other to hear better. She immediately heard yelling on the other side.

"YOU BLEW UP THE WASHER WITH YOUR FREAKISHNESS!"

"I-I'm sorry-"

"SORRY'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, FREAK!"

"Please, I didn't mean-"

"DON'T BACKTALK ME, BOY!"

"But-"

SMACK!

"SHUT UP!"

A soft, scared whimper...

"I'LL SHOW YOU! NO MEALS FOR A MONTH, AND I'M ADDING TEN MINUTES TO YOUR BEATING TONIGHT! TAKE THIS!"

And then, all Nowi heard was the sounds of a child screaming in pain as a cacophony of horrible noises sounded throughout the house.

Nowi gasped in horror as she listened to the heart-rending sound of a child being abused. She began to tremble, her eyes narrowing into mere slits, and she began growling like a feral animal. 'No one...hurts innocent little kids...WHILE I'M AROUND!' She thought angrily

She pulled back her draconic head and rammed it into the door, shattering it into pieces. She dashed in, moving purposefully immediately into the Living room where she saw a huge man beating up an already severely injured child with black hair.

The moment her eyes processed the scene, she was seeing red. Smoke flared from her nostrils, and she let out a terrifying, soul-piercing roar, getting Vernon's attention.

Vernon saw the dragon, and his eyes grew as wide as saucers. He stumbled back, only to trip and fall right on top of Harry.

Harry hissed in pain from this, causing Nowi to growl harder and Vernon to scream loudly. This caught the attention of both Petunia and Dudley as they ran down the stairs and right into Nowi.

Nowi felt something bump into her rump, and turned with a vicious snarl to Petunia and Dudley, who stared for a few moments before running out of the house screaming. With that distraction out of the way, the dragon turned her attention back to Vernon, who was now holding Harry in front of him, intending to use him as a human shield should Nowi actually attack.

Seeing the fat walrus using the nearly unconscious child as a shield caused her to hesitate. 'How dare he..HE'S A MONSTER!' Nowi thought as she snarled again.

She forced herself to calm down, and slowly approached Vernon. The fat man panicked, and decided the best course of action would be to use Harry as a throwing weapon. And so, with no hesitation, Vernon tossed the little boy at the dragon as hard as he could.

Nowi was shocked when the child was chucked at her. But before he could hit her, she twisted her head in a way so that she would be able to snag him with her teeth by his over sized shirt. While she was distracted, Vernon used the opportunity to run as fast as he could and went the direction his wife and child went.

Nowi watched after him with a furious snarl, wanting nothing more than to rip the man's throat out...but she knew she had no time to chase him down. She morphed back to her human adult form, then knelt by the child's side and threw off his shirt to inspect the injuries.

Burns, puncture wounds, bruises, torn flesh...these were just some of the injuries that littered every inch of the tiny little boy's frail back.

Nowi eyes watered as she looked over the rest of his body and say all the criss crossing scars, the bruises, and other wounds he sustained because of that monstrous man. The little body was oblivious to her examinations as he fell unconscious right before he was thrown at her.

Nowi bit her lip at the child's state...then her eyes fell onto something that caused her further distress.

The man had carved words into the boy's back.

Stupid.

Worthless.

Ugly.

Good for nothing.

Freak.

Seeing those hateful words brutally carved into a little boy's back caused something in Nowi to snap as she started to cry for the inhuman things that had been done to this boy. "Why did he do this to you!? WHY!?" Nowi yelled as she cried harder.

Then, she flipped the boy over, still sobbing miserably, and her heart stopped.

He was so tiny. He had the sweetest little face...He was...absolutely adorable. This adorable, beautiful little boy had been suffering the worst abuse she had ever seen in her life.

She decided that he couldn't stay here any longer. With a sense of duty, she gently wrapped her arms around harry and scooped him up. She searched around for a blanket and saw one on the couch. So she went over and snatched it up it so she would be able to wrap Harry in something warm.

Once the little boy was safely cocooned within the blanket, Nowi clutched at him tightly, still crying softly. She looked at his beaten face, bit her lip, then kissed his forehead. "Don't worry." She whispered shakily. "I'll take care of you."

Without any hesitation, she went out of the front door of the prison that Harry once called home and started walking towards her home. Every now and again, she would look down at Harry's adorable face and sob a little. She knew one thing, she definitely won't be walking this way to get home ever again.

Nowi cradled Harry to her chest as tightly as she could without agitating the injuries. She would occasionally kiss the little boy's forehead or cheek, which always made him coo slightly and snuggle in closer to her.

Nowi knew exactly what her next course of action would be.

She had always loved children...and now it was time for her to raise her own.