Chapter 2

To those around them, Mr and Mrs Meadow represented the perfect couple to raise children. They were in their late fifties, with very lovable and homely personalities. They got on well with all their neighbours and would happily lend a hand if it was needed. Jonathan Meadow was a tall man with a thick crop of brown hair, lightly scattered with grey. He was a mild tempered man, always smiling. Children loved him and he always kept a bag of sweets in his pocket. He was quite a strong man, a smart one too. At his age he didn't have a job per say, but people called him a jack of all trades. If someone needed help with the plumbing, or with tiling, you could bet he'd be there. Underneath his friendly appearance was a sneaky side. His warm but calculating eyes never missed a trick. There was only one secret he kept from his neighbours. Jonathan was a wizard. A muggleborn to be precise. When he finished his schooling, he found that the wizarding world was not all that accepting of a muggleborn trying to take the place of a pureblood. So he chose to leave that world behind and make himself a new life in the muggle world. He started working in a detective agency, and his magic helped greatly with cases. It was on one such case that he met his wife Rose. Give her a poison sample and she could work out what it did and how long it took to kill.

Rose Meadow was a short, slightly pudgy woman with curly blonde grey hair. Where her husband was the one to allow children to go wild in the park, she was the one ready with a hug and a cookie after a long day of play. Of course she wasn't a pushover, and could easily dish out discipline when it was needed. When the couple found out they couldn't have children of their own, even with the help of potions, she was the one to come up with the idea of fostering. And being the good husband he was, Jonathan agreed. Rose was a squib, abandoned when her family found out and raised in an orphanage. However she kept in touch with the wizarding world and soon took an interest in potions, as it was one of the few subjects she could do without needing magic. Her interest soon became a hobby, and then a career when she managed to achieve her mastery. She always thought of it as amusing that so many purebloods owl ordered potions from her. If only they knew. And muggles hired her to help when it came to crimes with strange or unknown substances. She made a nice living off her work, enough for her and her husband to enjoy a good life with a few luxuries.

Over the years the Meadows had fostered many children, each growing to be happy and well adjusted adults. The neighbours agreed though that the lovely little boy and his now adorable little sister were the cutest, sweetest children they had ever seen. The story of how the two were found broke the hearts of all who heard, and each hoped the monsters that had hurt the children were locked up for life. Young Julian was shy and quiet, but always polite and very intelligent. A small cascade of hazel brown hair fell down over the shoulders of his rather petit frame. Those vivid eyes of his had a way of reading people that many would give up their right leg for.

Julian had a passion for both animals and art. If ever there was an animal in need, Julian would be there, and his pictures, while childish, held an element of magic to them. He never yelled or screamed or lashed out, which did cause him to become the target of bullies. However since he had lived with Voldemort and his deatheaters, a few children calling him names never bothered him. Julian was given the choice between magic and muggle school and, still wary of being recognised in the magical world, decided on going to a muggle school.

Julian's world though was his "sister" Evangeline. With waves of curly black hair, slightly pale skin and the same turquoise eyes as Julian, she made for a perfect little sweetheart. When Julian wasn't at school he would change her nappies, feed her, play with her and sing her to sleep. When she grew into a playful smiling little toddler, he would take her for walks to the park and toss a ball back and forth with her. He never frowned at her, or spoke to her harshly. He always kept an eye on her. The neighbours jokingly said that the Meadows were getting rusty if a child was being more responsible than them. It was all in jest, and the couple were proud of their adoptive son.

Of course Rose and Jonathan knew the truth about Evangeline. They managed to get the whole story from Julian, after he found out they were of magic descent. They were happy for Evangeline to call them granny and grampa, and to call Julian daddy. They also knew that both of Julian's parents made the decision to hand him to Tom Riddle. It pained them to know someone had hurt their son enough to get him pregnant.

It was very rare for a wizard to get pregnant. Normally it was the result of some form of creature blood. The mystery was solved when Rose brewed an ancestry potion. As it turned out, Julian had traces of a few creature types, enough that he must have inherited one of their abilities to fall pregnant.

He was also part Demon.

The Meadows couldn't believe their eyes, but there it was. At first they were worried. Demons lived up to their reputation after all, not even magic people liked to confront them, so having a child with Demon blood was distressing.

It also made them curious. Demons were powerful, but what powers would a part Demon have? They certainly weren't prepared for it, so it was left to research everything they could about Demons and what they could and couldn't do, and if there were any records of anyone having Demonic powers.

It took time, but they managed to find enough to learn that emotions were a big part of it, mainly negative emotions. Being scared was unlikely to trigger Demon magic, but being angry certainly would, and Julian had never been angry before. Annoyed at times before he'd been given to Voldemort, but not angry. The Meadows realised that they would have to watch their new son carefully, ensuring he had an outlet for any anger that might manifest. If his Demon magic was let loose, regardless of how little, he would be in danger.

As it turned out, they had nothing to worry about. When Evangeline was a year old, there had been an incident at school where an older boy had called Julian something truly horrible. For an abused child who believed himself a whore for years, being called a slut for looking like a girl caused the dam not just to crack but to shatter.

Julian couldn't have told the Meadows what happened next, but he could remember getting so angry that he desperately wanted to leave before he did something really bad. From the school report, apparently he had simply stood there, and glared. The bully swore that his eyes glowed black, and had screamed and run into the building where he grabbed the nearest teacher and told her in a blubbering voice that there was a monster after him. By the time she had found Julian, his eyes were back to normal but he was still angry. Realising something must be seriously wrong if such a sweet child was so angry, she gently led him inside and called Jonathan, who rushed over to bring him home. Unfortunately, they passed the bully, who now felt confident enough to call out a parting shot. He high tailed it before Jonathan could check him, but the damage had been done. Julian had barely made it inside the house before the Demon made itself known. The Meadows were understandably shocked to see his eyes turn black and start bleeding, while his skin went deathly pale, teeth and nails turned pointed and needle sharp wings ripped out from his back. They backed off as he snarled and growled, his magic lashing out around him.

Little Evangeline though wasn't the slightest bit concerned. This was her daddy and he was home to play with her, so, ignoring Rose's panicked cry and ducking past grabbing arms, over she toddled to give daddy a hug and tell him in her baby garbles about her fun filled day playing in the sandbox and getting a cookie from granny Rose. Jonathan and Rose couldn't have been more flabbergasted, and relieved, when Demon Julian immediately ceased his growling and crouched by her, sniffing her a bit before identifying her as his and picking her up, keeping his wings and claws from harming his little girl. After a few minutes watched them, Jonathan eventually worked up the courage and spoke to his son. He got a few low growls, but beyond that the Demon didn't seem all that bothered. Julian didn't appear to be able to talk in this form, but after a while he calmed and responded with a purr like noise. He knew these people, they were nice, they were part of his nest.

Jonathan crept forward a little more, and after a moment of wariness, reached out to touch his son's shoulder. He sighed in relief when it was allowed, and soon Rose felt confident enough to come forward as well. After around half an hour of gentle words and careful touches, Julian felt calm enough that he was able to change back, exhausted but feeling better.

And that was that. It appeared that as long as Evangeline was around, Demon Julian was nothing to fear. After that the couple stopped bothering about the Demon blood. In place of breathing exercises and writing his thoughts down, which clearly wasn't working against Demon magic, the boy was taken to a martial arts class during the weekend to give him an outlet, and he took to it like a duck to water. Soon he needed other things to do to stop him practicing night and day. By the time Evangeline was three years old, she was joining her daddy in martial arts, music, art, cooking, arts and crafts, sports, gardening and anything else that took their fancy. The two were also given teachings on simple magic, theory and potions.

Evangeline had performed her first act of accidental magic when she was one and a half, making the plate of cookies come to her when granny wasn't looking. Realising they now had two magic using children in the house, Jonathan decided to take Julian out to get his own wand and placed a ward around the house that allowed Julian to practice spells. He in turn would, with Jonathan's help, teach Evangeline. Everything the two were taught they soaked up like a sponge.

The Meadow family were happy with their lives. And it was only going to get more interesting from there with the unexpected new arrival to the family.