A/N: I wanted to get the second chapter up right away because this is REALLY where the story starts. I normally will not switch points of view often, but I really wanted to get Al's side of the story. His part is a bit random. Stream of consciousness kind of, but I liked it that way. What do you all think so far?

To clarify, the attackers did not rape Leona. They were going to, but took off before they could, because they heard someone (Albus) coming.

Hopefully my chapters will become longer as the story progresses, but I felt like I should leave this one right where I did.

..

As expected, my parents were in hysterics. At least I had had time to rehearse my story to myself on the train ride home. There were two police cars in my driveway when I arrived home. Upon entering my home, I found my mum sobbing on my dad's shoulder while dad looked simply stoic. "Hey," I said lamely.

Mum screamed and hurried to pull me into her arms while asking a million questions in a row. "Oh, Leona! Thank God! Are you hurt? Where were you? What happened? Why didn't you come home? Did you go to a party? Were you kidnapped? Did you get into trouble?"

"Stacie," my dad intervened, putting a hand on mum's shoulder, "let the girl breathe. I'm sure she'll tell all of us what happened."

Despite his calm demeanor, I could see the relief and joy on my dad's face that I had returned home. I gave him a sad smile and sat on the sofa between him and Mum. The police officers were hurrying to call in and say that I'd been found. Once they settled down and asked for a statement from me, I tried to rack my brain. Surely what happened to me couldn't be a single incident. There had to have been other girls reporting similar things.

Opting for the truth, I began to explain, "My friend Willow called me last night around midnight crying," I began, fidgeting a bit, feeling foolish now for sneaking out so late. "Her boyfriend broke up with her. I told her I would be right there," I shrugged innocently, "I pulled on my jacket and snuck out of the house. When I got the hospital I decided to take a short cut through that alley."

At this point, Mum released a sob and put her arm around me. "Go on," an officer urged.

"I was jumped by three boys. They asked me if I was a 'muggle.' I told them that I didn't know what a muggle was. They pulled out three sticks-"

Dad interrupted, sounding sick, "They beat you?"

"No," I said, "Well, I'm actually not sure. The sticks weren't big. They were quite thin, made of wood, and only about a foot long. Each boy had one. They pointed them at me and different coloured beams of light shot out of them."

"The boys?"

"No, the sticks. Beams of light shot out of the sticks and hit me. When they hit me, different things happened. Cuts and bruises appeared out of nowhere on my body," I cringed as I recalled the pain, "burns on my arms and legs," I winced, my hands running over my body, "sometimes I couldn't move or speak. Not because I was afraid but because they'd done something to me where I wasn't in control of myself. At one point I found myself being dangled upside down by my ankle."

"One of the boys picked you up?"

"No, there was an invisible force holding me up. Around that time, they got scared because they heard sirens. They were probably ambulance sirens from the hospital, but the boys were worried it was the police, I think. They were going to run away. I didn't want them to get away with what they'd done to me, so I grabbed hold of one of them. Suddenly, I was in London. I never passed out, either. It was just, one moment I was in the alley by the hospital, and the next I was in London. The boys were mad that I was there. One grabbed my shirt and tore it open. I think they were going to rape me. But they heard people coming and scampered. A boy came to my rescue. He picked me up and said he would take me the hospital but I said no. I was afraid of going to the hospital because that's where the boys had jumped me. I was in so much pain and I'd lost so much blood. I was just confused and scared and didn't want to go anywhere near the hospital."

"What did the boy do then?" one officer asked.

"That was when I finally passed out. I woke up this morning on the boy's couch in his flat in London. He said that because I didn't want to go to a doctor, he had a doctor come there. He said the doctor fixed me up while I was passed out, and sure enough I felt fine this morning. I was also dressed in different clothes he said the doctor had put me in after tending to me. The boy offered to escort me home, but I didn't trust him. He called me the same word the other boys called me, 'muggle.' He had one of those weird pieces of wood, too. So he just gave me these clothes, money for the train, and I left. It was about a two hour train ride," I added.

"Do you, um, remember the boy's name?"

I thought for a moment, "Al," I recalled.

"Do you happen to remember a surname? Or perhaps the name of the apartment complex he lived in?"

"No, I was in such a hurry to get home that I didn't even look."

"Thank you, Leona, I think that's all we need for now. You should go on upstairs and rest while we talk with your parents."

"Okay, officer," as I got up, I caught the incredulous look on my parent's faces. I know that my story sounded impossible, but they would believe me, right?

When I got to the top of the stairs, I waited and listened, just out of sight from the people in the sitting room. "You don't believe her story, do you?" My mum asked.

"Of course not, Mrs. Sands. You did say that Leona was the middle child?"

"Yes, what are you suggesting?" Dad's voice had an angry edge.

"Well often times children in those circumstances will crave attention. In all reality, it sounds to me like she was on drugs of some kind. You heard her talking about the different colours she saw and the things that happened to her are impossible."

"Le wouldn't do drugs," Mum's defense of me didn't sound very convinced.

"Do you have a better explanation, Mrs. Sands?"

Silence. I sank down to the floor with tears in my eyes. Being attacked by three scary boys? No big deal. Waking up in a random bloke's flat with the suspicion that he might hurt me? I can take it. But hearing my parents discuss with police officers how they didn't believe me when I told the truth? That had me crying like a baby.

When I got to my bedroom, both of my sisters were there. My older sister, Elladora, and my younger sister, Gwendolyn, were sitting on my bed expectantly. "We heard what you told them," said El, "Now tell us the truth."

"That is the truth," I said in exasperation.

"I believe you," Gwen was ten years old. Her loyalty to me was unwavering and I appreciated that so much, but the belief of a ten year old girl wasn't very reassuring. Even if she was a bloody genius.

After a moment of hesitation, Ella said, "I believe you, too. You wouldn't lie to us. You really weren't doing drugs?"

"No," I said, "You can call Willow if you want. I was on my way to her house when I was jumped."

"Do you think those boys gave you drugs?" suggested Gwen unhelpfully.

"They didn't give me anything, I'm sure of that. Everything I said was real and actually happened." They nodded and hugged me.

"That Al bloke," said El, "sounds like quite the hero. Are you sure you don't fancy him even a little bit?"

I snorted, "I'm sure, El. He scared me to death. I honestly thought he was in on it. He called me the same weird word and he had a stick, too."

"Do you think he was in on it?"

"I honestly don't know. He seemed like a nice bloke, but it could have been a ploy. Ella, I'm afraid," I whispered, "I'm afraid of every bloke I talk to. I couldn't even look the police officers in the face. Dad tried to hug me but I just leaned more into Mum to avoid it. I don't mean to. I'm not trying to be afraid or flinch when someone of the opposite gender approaches me, it just happens. You should have seen me on the train. I was ridiculously jumpy."

"Well of course," said Gwen, whose light blue eyes were wide and analytical as always. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is real, you know. It happens to people, Leo." I didn't like it when people called me Leo, but I ignored it for now.

"I know and I think I have it. But if Mum and Dad don't believe me, how can I get any help?" Tears were still leaking out of my eyes as I thought of how skeptical Mum and Dad looked when I left the room.

"And how will they catch the creeps who did this?" Ella added.

….

Two days. That's how long I hid in my room, seeing only my family and Willow. I was so disgusted with my parents that I didn't want to see them. Whenever I did see them, they badgered me with questions about my 'drug abuse problem.'

I'd gone to the hospital, of course, they'd checked every inch of my body but no scars remained. This seemed to verify even more in my parent's minds that I'm a lying attention-seeking girl. At first it was a male doctor who wanted to examine me. After I had a panic attack (literally), they made sure to send in a female doctor when I calmed down. They also gave me a list of things that might help me to control my panic attacks.

Willow was a bit skeptical of my story at first, but to my immense relief she seemed to believe me quick enough. She even spent the last two nights at my house. Now, however, as I sat on my bed reading, everyone was at school or work. I brought my hand up to scratch my head and I heard the doorbell.

Nervously, I got off of my bed, smoothed down my skirt, and skipped down the stairs. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Dominique Weasley," said a feminine voice.

"And Ted Lupin," said a deeper male voice.

"I'm sorry, I don't recognize those names. Why are you here?" I called back. I peeked out the window and saw two people standing on my doorstep. The girl was thin, average height, with sleek blonde hair that looked a touch red in the sunlight. She was the kind of girl that made every other girl hate themselves just a bit because they could never be that pretty. The boy looked older than the girl, with light brown hair. He was tall, over six feet tall I would guess. He was also thin.

They were dressed very casually. Both wore jeans and light jackets. "We're here to ask you a few questions about the other night when you were attacked," called the girl; Dominique.

"Are you police officers? You're not wearing uniforms."

"We were afraid our uniforms would scare you," replied Ted, "we were told that you were skittish."

"Teddy!" scolded the girl.

"Well it's true," murmured Ted.

Timidly, I inched the door open. "Do you have any identification?"

"No," said the girl. I went to close the door but she put a hand on the door that held it open, "but we believe you. We read your report that you filed with the police and we believe you. We want to find who did this to you."

Slowly, I opened the door to allow them entrance. "No one else believed me," I said snidely, "my parents wanted to believe me, I think, but when they took me to the hospital to be checked over, there was no evidence of any injuries, and I should have had plenty of scars. But I know I didn't imagine it," I insisted.

I led them to the sitting room and we all took a seat. Belatedly I realized I should have offered them a beverage, "Would either of you like a cup of tea?"

"No, thank you," said Dominique.

"Yes, please," said Teddy. I nodded and went to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea.

When I return I asked, "Okay, so what do you want to know?"

"Well, you see, it's more what you have to know. The boys who hurt you aren't normal boys," said Dominique. I could tell she was nervous.

"Of course they weren't normal," I snapped, "they were monsters. What they did to me was barbaric."

"Yes, but what the lovely Dom here means is that those boys aren't muggles."

Red warning flags went off in my head. Already on my feet, I backed into the wall behind me. My breathing became labored and my chest felt tight. Teddy reached a hand down, to help me I think, but I screamed. "Get away from me! Get out of my house!"

"Please, calm down," Dominique pleaded, "we didn't mean to scare you." As she spoke she reached into her pocket and withdrew a wooden stick.

"No!" I cried, louder now than before, "Leave me alone!"

"We want to help," Teddy urged. I ran.

I escaped out the back door and didn't stop running. Not until I had reached the park. It was such a public place. Even now there were parents with their children. Surely they wouldn't hurt me in public in front of so many people? I glanced around wildly but the mysterious duo didn't seem to have followed me. I didn't return home for hours. Thankfully my Mum had arrived home shortly after I left so she took the tea kettle off of the stove.

Late that night I couldn't sleep. I'd had persistent nightmares ever since that night and I had trouble sleeping because of them. As I crept quietly down the hall, I heard my parents talking. "We should take her tomorrow," Dad was saying.

"I just don't know," Mum argued.

"We've tried talking to her, she won't talk to us."

"I know, Dave, but really? The mental institution?"

"Something is wrong with her, Stacie! I know you don't want to see it or admit it, but today she left for hours with the kettle on! She could have burned down the house. When we asked why, she said she'd been running away from people who said the word 'muggle.' I love her just as much as you, she's my daughter, too, but we can't deal with this. She needs help."

"I suppose you're right. If they can help her, maybe it is the best choice."

I'd heard enough. I retreated to my room. Sitting on the edge of my bed I thought through my options. If I ran away everyone would know where to look for me. My parents knew all of my friends and family. Where could I go? That was the question, really. Because I wasn't going to stay here and be put on medication and be locked up with a bunch of nutters when I was telling the truth. I was leaving, I just didn't know where to go.

I had my bags packed before I decided. I was going to London to find Al. I was confident that once I was in the city I would be able to find the building he lived in with ease. As scared as I was of the bloke, accepting help from him was a lot less scary than the prospect of being locked up for the rest of my life. Maybe he could help me make sense of everything that was going on.

….

ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER'S POINT OF VIEW

I was at my parent's home in Godric's Hollow. I'd been there a lot the past few days. The girl who I found bleeding in Diagon Alley wouldn't get out of my head. I needed to make sure she was okay. I needed to make sure that the bastards who hurt her were caught and punished for their crimes. For that, I needed my father.

My father, Harry Potter, was the head of the Auror Office. It was his job to catch Dark Wizards. Because this case involved a muggle, he would also have to work with people in the muggle relations office. It hadn't taken my dad long to find the statement she had made with the muggle police. "Blimey," he had said, "the poor girl."

It had become a topic at family dinner. Everyone made comments like, "Well after we talk with her, we'll have to Obliviate her, right?" and "Do you think the same wizards will go after her again?"

Finally, after two days of searching, my dad had located Leona Sands. Even though I was just in Auror Training, I had wanted to go. Dad had discouraged this, of course, afraid that my presence would upset the girl as she had obviously been frightened of me before.

In the end it was decided that Teddy Lupin, who was like a brother to me, would go since he was a fully trained Auror. My cousin, Dom, would go with him as she worked in muggle relations at the Ministry of Magic and would be able to offer Teddy a lot of help in dealing with muggles.

They'd returned unsuccessful and my dad was beyond frustrated. "We're making a lot of mistakes with this," he had said, "we don't want to traumatize the girl further but it's imperative that we talk with her. She'll have to be told everything. Then, hopefully, she'll cooperate and we can Obliviate it from her memory."

That was a few hours ago. Now I was sitting outside in the garden. It was cold outside but I didn't care. This case was really bothering me because it was so personal. My dad appeared beside me and sat next to me with a sigh. "You alright, Al?"

"No," I told him honestly. I was looking down at my hands which were in my lap. "She looked at me with such fear, Dad," I whispered. "Like she thought I was going to hurt her," honestly, she had hurt me more than I cared to admit. No one had ever looked at me like that before and in that moment I realized how I must look to her.

I was tall, standing right at six foot tall, with broad shoulders, plenty of muscle from all the years of playing Quidditch, and I had the same attributes as the boys who had hurt her. I had a wand, which was the weapon of choice they'd used on her, and they must have called her a muggle because when I said that word she had freaked out.

Did I look like a monster to her? I opened my hands, palms up, and stared at them with intensity. Did she think these hands, always so gentle with everything I did, would ever harm her? Something about that moment, about that look on her face, made me want to protect her. I'd never felt that before, either. The strong urge to protect someone other than my family.

Mum always told me how much I was like my dad and I was starting to see it the older I got. The selflessness, the bravery, the sincere desire to do the right thing. Something about that girl made me want to be the one to protect her. To prove to her that these hands were the hands of a good, kind wizard. Not the Dark kind she had met.

"It bothers me," I continued, "when you talk about Obliviating her memory. I want her to remember me," I said fiercely, "I want her to remember that I saved her. I want to be the one to talk with her, Dad. I need to be. I know you and Mum think that I fancy her, and maybe I did feel something special about her, I don't know. What I do know is that I want to be involved in this."

Dad clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Then I'll make sure that you are. First thing tomorrow, I'll give you her address and you can go talk with her."

"Thank you," I said. Dad got up and left me alone with my thoughts. My mind went back to that night. I'd just come out of my Uncle George's joke shop. We'd all stayed late, well after closing time, several of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and myself. I decided to leave because it was late and I had training early in the morning.

As I had stepped onto the street, Rose called after me, "You're such a party pooper, Albus!" I laughed at her comment and continued on my way. I heard the familiar sounds of Disapparition but it didn't bother me; it was a near constant sound in Diagon Alley. Then I heard the small, feeble, pained sound coming from the side of the street.

When I glanced over, toward Knockturn Alley, I saw her. I rushed to her, had a short exchange in which she begged me not to take her to the hospital and then she fainted. Dad was furious at me because I hadn't taken her to the hospital anyway, but something told me she would never trust me if I didn't respect her odd request and I wanted her trust.

I Apparated her directly into my flat and cast a few quick spells to stop the bleeding. Not wanting to do anything further, I contacted St. Mungo's and they'd sent over a Healer who had the girl fixed up almost instantly. I gave the Healer some of my clothes and let her dress the unconscious girl. After the Healer left, I made a makeshift bed on the floor beside the sofa. I slept there all night just in case the girl woke up.

When she finally did wake up, I heard her name for the first time. Leona. I didn't say anything, of course, but I noticed. Her name meant 'lion.' It was fitting. She was brave and fierce. Despite the fact that I'd scared her, she looked like she was ready to attack me if I tried anything.

The only reason I gave her money and let her leave without too much of a fuss is because I knew I would see her again. She'd given me her surname and I was a wizard. When my dad let me read her statement to the muggle police, I'd been so relieved that she hadn't been raped. I was uncertain when I found her. She didn't have a shirt and there were grimy hand prints on her white bra, but apparently that was as far as they'd gotten. I wondered if they'd heard me coming up the street and that was why they left before raping her.

I stood and brushed the dirt off of my trousers. Satisfied that I would see her again the following morning, I Apparated to my flat without saying goodbye to my family. When I arrived, the first thing I did was take off my shoes and throw them into the corner of my bedroom. For two blokes, Scorpius and I kept this place pretty clean most of the time.

Honestly, I just wanted to sleep now. I flopped back onto my bed, knowing it was late. The knock on the door startled me. I wasn't expecting anyone. With a smirk I wondered if my mum came after me because I left without hugging her. Mum was a stickler for hugs. Granted, most of my family was very fierce about that. After nearly having lost everyone in the Second Wizarding War they didn't take anything for granted.

I opened the front door wide, expecting my mum or maybe Rose, but I was shocked when I registered that the girl in front of me had a head full of brunette hair. I loved brown hair. Nobody in my family except my Aunt Hermione had brown hair. Black, red, and blonde were the only shades that existed for Weasley's and Potter's. Leona's hair was a gorgeous shade of brown. Like those caramel coffee drinks I liked to get from the muggle café down the road from my flat.

Her eyes were the exact same colour as her hair and when she lifted them to look at me, I found myself momentarily speechless. Merlin, maybe Mum was right and I did fancy her. "Can I come in?" she asked.

I moved aside, allowing her entrance, and asked, "What brought you here?"

"My parents didn't believe me about what happened to me," she said. I noticed that she was standing in a tense position, with her arms crossed defensively in front of herself. The urge to comfort her rose up in me and I pushed it aside.

"I was just going to get myself a bowl of ice cream," I said casually, "would you like to join me?"

Leona pursed her lips and nodded. I went to the kitchen and started to make ice cream sundaes as I pushed aside all of the things I wanted to say to her. Like what the hell was she doing here at nearly 3 o'clock in the morning? Hadn't she learned her lesson about wandering out on her own in the middle of the night? But, even more pressing, was how the hell did she find my flat? I lived in a wizarding apartment complex that was supposed to be invisible to muggles.

..

A/N: What will happen next?!