Surely, a sweet little six year old girl would have someone claim her by now.

The thought went through Harry's head as he took the Ken doll that Jade handed him. "Would you play with me?" She asked, looking up at him with trusting eyes. Harry smiled. Lily had done the same exact thing at that age. That and play Princess. And Lily would usually assign him the prince role and she would instruct him on how to save her from the dragon/ mad sorcerer/ deep sleep/ whatever else came to mind of his little girl.

Until Jade had came to live with him and Ginny, Harry hadn't realized how much he missed those moments with his now teenage daughter. "Sure," Harry replied, kneeling on the floor. He looked at the doll in his hand. "Who's this?"

The young girl's blue gray eyes just stared at him like he should know. "That's Prince Phillip of course! And she…" – Jade held up the Barbie she had in her hand – "… is Princess Aurora."

Ah, Sleeping Beauty. When he watched it with Lily for the first time, he had had the hardest time getting "Once upon a dream" out of his head. It didn't help that Lily had sung it for days afterwards (off key). He looked around and saw a long forgotten stuffed toy dragon at Jade's feet.

"Is that Maleficent?" He asked her; impressed that she had been able to find James' old comfort animal. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had lay stuffed in the very back of his closet.

Jade nodded and pushed back her blonde hair. "Yep, and Phillip stabs her with a sword- here." She handed him an unsharpened pencil. As Harry did a few practice swings holding the pencil in Ken's hand, Jade put Barbie on her back and set up the stuffed dragon near Ken.

"Rawr!" Jade lifted up the dragon's clothed wings and turned its neck towards the Ken doll. Harry, grinning, lifted the doll's arm, still holding the pencil and opened his mouth for the challenge…

"Harry, someone is in the fireplace for you," Ginny came in the room and took in the scene, her brown eyes full of amusement. "Oh dear, I don't generally enjoy battles right in my kitchen!"

"And yet dear they happen every summer break," responded Harry with a twinkle in his eye. "Who is it?"

Ginny glanced at Jade for the briefest second and whispered in his ear, "Someone from Child Services, he wishes to speak about Jade." Harry's face turned from childlike to a worn down, serious man.

"Oh," he handed Ginny the Ken doll. "Mind if Gin plays with you Jade? I've got to talk with a grown up."

Jade's eyes widen, as if she knew it was going to be about her. Then turning back to the dragon, she nodded and started to catch Ginny up where they had been in their play. Harry smiled a little as a dragged his feet to the sitting room, watching his wife and Jade interact.

Sighing he quickened his pace to the floating head in his fire place. "Find any relatives that will take her Audrey?"

The head shook, her dark hair swinging slightly to the motion. "No, Mr. Potter. In fact, I can't find any records on Jade or her mother. It is as thought they don't exist."

Harry thought back to the little girl in his kitchen playing with his wife. "Oh Jade definitely exists."

"Well, on record she doesn't. Neither does her mother, especially since we don't even have a name. The only people I can think of that don't have some sort of record are those on the run from the law."

Harry thought back to the day he was at Three Broomsticks. Jade's mother had been panicked when she had thought she had lost her daughter. Understandable. But she had also been twitching her head over her shoulder, as though someone might be after her. Somehow, he didn't think it was the law.

"Or the lawless," Harry said quietly. "And they finally caught up to her." He looked at the woman in the fireplace. "But why were they after Jade's mother? Or were they after Jade? Or maybe someone else… or a combination thereof?"

Dark eyes looked at Harry confused. "Mr. Potter I have no clue what you are talking about..."

"I don't expect you to know," replied Harry. "Are you certain that there is absolutely nothing you can find or do?"

"We are certain… Are you and Ginny able to keep her much longer?"

"We'll have her as long as she needs us," Harry shot back, his look stern. "You will not uproot her until she has her own loving kin to call her as their own."

"Very well, good day Mr. Potter." And the head of the woman disappeared back into the greenish flames, which softly and slowly died down until they were nothing more than smoke.

Staring into the now smoking fireplace, Harry realized that it was getting close to time to leave for Hogwarts. The whole auror department had been taking turns helping teachers patrol the hall of the ancient school ever since that quidditch match. Harry shivered to think that the mysterious dark wizard or witch was ever inside the school grounds. They had not seen any sign of an unwelcomed person yet which caused Harry to think that there had to be an accomplice inside the school. Which made him feel more on edge.

And the fact that there were no official records on little Jade or her mother didn't ease his nerves either. There had to be a way to return mother and daughter again…

Harry eyes widen as a sudden thought came to mind. There was someone else who he had gone looking for records on. And though he found them, they had all been from late infancy on. There had been no birth certificate for Iris Rowena Riddle. No early hospital records or government papers. It had seemed that Iris' life had started when Ms. Yewbelle had found her with her mysterious mother's letter...

So was this all connected, or a mere consequence? Harry thought to himself. Somehow he doubted the latter.

"Harry, have they found anything?" Ginny placed her hand on his shoulder, looking concerned. Harry looked around and saw Jade having the Ken doll kiss Barbie awake. He shook his head, eyes solemn.

"According to paper, she doesn't exist… no one can match my description of her mother either… Gin, I – I don't know exactly what we're getting into, but I don't like it."

"Jade stays here though!" Ginny said fiercely. "We're all she's got!"

Harry continued to watch as Jade had the two dolls hold hands as Ken twirled Barbie around on an invisible ballroom floor. "Yes Ginny, she's staying here."

James had just tossed in his last pair of socks into his trunk when he heard a knock on his dorm door. Grinning wide he jugged over to the door and opened it to see Iris holding a pile of papers, her face in a stern frown.

"How did your midterm reports get to my dorm?" She asked quietly, slowly tapping her foot.

James gave a sheepish grin, "Um, maybe I hoped you would take pity on me and check them over for me?"

Giving an exhausted sigh, Iris handed him his reports, covered in red marks. "I've marked everything that's wrong and needs work with little side notes on where you can find the correct answer…"

"Why -?" started James.

"I'm not doing you work for you," she snorted. "I'm not telling you the correct answer."

"But you wouldn't be giving me the answers; you would be explaining why mine are wrong."

Iris passed James and sat on his bed. "Accio, James' text books!"A train of thick volumes shot out of his trunk and landed in a neat stack in front of Iris as she organized the marked papers in front of her. She pointed towards the other side of the bed. "Sit," she ordered.

"I have my Aunt Hermione for this," James muttered under his breath, but he sat down as he was instructed and together the two teens went over what he had written down and what was in the material that had covered in class. After a while, Iris allowed her eyes to wonder and noted James' trunk.

"I see you've packed."

James smiled. "Yeah, I'm really glad the winter holidays are almost here. There's nothing more awesome then being around my wild pack of family… Lupin, Potter and Weasley alike!"

"I asked Mum if I could stay with you… she said that I had to come home first then she'd take me to your place."

James nodded, "That's a normal response from your mum."

"Yeah," Iris muttered. "It is… So are you excited about finally meeting this Jade character?"

"I am," laughed James, "It's like getting another sister to pick on!"

"James."

"What?"

Iris just shook her head. "You're impossible."

"What can I say?" shrugged James with a smile.

"Oh, and do me a favor, rewrite those essays," Iris handed him some fresh parchment and an ink bottle and a quill. "I'd like to see all my hard work mean something and for you to pass N.E.W.T.s."

"Oh ye of little faith," grumbled James, but he beamed at Iris anyway. "Thanks."

Iris smiled back at him and replied sincerely, "No problem, I'm only just returning some of the favors."