Disclaimer: It's JK Rowlings... I'm jealous, but its all hers. I am just glad we get to play in the wonderland she created!

The last rescue of November

The first week of November, 2012, ended with the rescue of a little boy in Australia. His uncle was a large man that had reminded Harry of Uncle Vernon. The boy, seven, was at school when the parchment glowed around his name. Harry and Ginny apparated to the front doors of the school, as the large man was pulling open the door. They followed him in.

He was cussing and yelling when the two turned the corner to see him enter the principal's office. They heard someone crying. Summoning all his strength, Harry held his head high and opened the door as well. Ginny followed him in. "Excuse me." He asked the woman behind her desk. She looked up at him. "We are looking for Ian Richardson."

The woman bit her lip. "He's in there with his uncle and teacher." She pointed across the room. A resounding SLAP sound was heard and the secretary flinched. "Oh dear," she muttered, as the sound was followed by chair being turned over and a loud "WHAT?"

Harry walked toward the door. "You can't go in there."

Ginny put her hand on the woman gently telling her not to interfere.

"I WON"T HAVE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS, BOY!" Roared the uncle. "APOLOGIZE TO YOUR TEACHER RIGHT NOW!"

"But I didn't do it." The little boy cried.

Harry opened the door. Everything in the room stopped for a moment. "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU HERE?" The man said loudly, his hand raised to strike the child again.

"I am Harry Potter, sir, and I am here to find out why you are hitting that child." The statement was dangerously quiet.

"IT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN WHAT I DO WITH MY NEPHEW…. YOU NEED TO LEAVE AND LET ME DEAL WITH HIM MY OWN WAY." He raised his hand, but before he could connect with the child in front of him, Harry grabbed it. The man looked as though he would explode before accepting someone's interference.

"You will not hit him again, ever. Do you understand me?" He looked to the boy who was bleeding under his eye from the first hit. The child was curled into a ball and whimpering. "I will ask you again, sir, if you understand me."

The man wrenched his hand away from the dark haired man. Ginny was moving around to the child. "Are you okay?" The boy was terrified. Ginny was not sure she could pick him up safely. "Harry, he's hurt. I don't want to move him."

Harry looked to the man. "What did he do to make you react this way?"

The man blustered and sputtered. "REACT? I'll tell you what he did. Just look at his teacher." He pointed behind Harry. The woman was in shock, not moving or speaking. But she did have an amazingly long set of horns much like a ram does. "That's what he did. That ignorant boy. I have told him for YEARS not to do things like that. But he continues. And I'll not have it. I swear I won't. My son never does things like that. NEVER! It's always this one. He never listens."

Harry took a step closer to the man. "How did he come to your home?"

"We took him in when his parents were killed. It was two and a half years ago. Our lives have been miserable since then. Our son is the same age, only older by three days. Same classes. My WIFE made us take him."

"Join me for a walk. Ginny, contact Rowan and Sirius. Please fix the teacher, and give her a memory charm. I'll take care of the secretary." Ginny nodded as Harry escorted the man out of the office.

Ginny stood and tapped her ring to send a message of need to Rowan. She turned to the teacher and said gently, "Stupefy" with no emotion behind the charm, the woman slid slowly down her seat. Ginny walked closer to look at the horns; laughing at the burst of uncontrolled magic.

Rowan was meeting with Inspector Maples when her hand began to throb. "Inspector, forgive me, I need to go to Ginny and Harry." Turning to send her husband a message, as the throbbing became deeper.

"I need to go to Harry and OUCH Ginny now. Please excuse me." Her hand was throbbing from the ring, standing she made to leave. He rose to go with her. "What?"

"I'm going with you." Rolling her eyes, she agreed.

Walking to the front door, she was met by Sirius and Remus. One look in her eyes told him there was something wrong. Rowan held the hands of both men and shimmered, seconds later, appeared next to Ginny. "Hello dear, what's going on?"

Ginny was kneeling next to Ian holding his hand. "This is Ian Richardson. His uncle, upset over the horns on the teacher," Ginny grinned, "knocked him across the room." She said it matter of fact.

Steven moved to look at the boy. Taking out a small penlight, and opened his eyes. "He's not responsive. I think he needs to go him to the hospital."

"I wasn't sure whether I should move him or not." Ginny told him.

He pulled out his wand and performed a restraining charm. A back board slid under him and ropes tied him to the back board. He stood, balancing the restrained boy in his arms, and asked Rowan to take him back the hospital Emergency Wing.

Rowan nodded, looking to Ginny, she said "We'll take him to the ER and then where should I meet with you and Harry?"

Pulling out the parchment, Ian's address appeared. "He lives at 1205 Corning, meet us there." Nodding, she put one hand on Steven's arm and the other on Ian's arm, and left the office. Sirius stayed with Ginny.

Ginny removed the horns, performed a small memory charm, revived her and sent her back to her classroom. She then performed a memory charm on the secretary. She was about to return to the office to wait, when she suddenly decided to walk outside to check on Harry. When she opened the front door, she saw them standing under a tree on a front lawn. She and Sirius ran to Harry when he physically picked the larger man up and slammed him into the tree. "HARRY NO!"

Harry did not seem to hear her. He was breathing hard and not speaking. The man's head rolled as he lost conciseness. Remus was seconds behind Sirius and watched in silence as Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and tried to pull him away from the man. "HARRY!" she screamed. Harry allowed himself to look at her. Terrified and shaking, Ginny pulled on his arm again. Finally, Harry released the man who slid to the ground. "Harry?" She asked gently. His eyes were on fire as his anger seethed through every pore on his body.

Sirius now approached them "Let's take him home." Reaching to touch them both, they disappeared and reappeared in his living room.

The man's wife, who was roughly the same size as the man screamed. Ginny and Harry looked at her. Harry, who was still very angry, was unable to say anything to the woman. Sirius seemed unable to form words as he was rocked by his connection to Harry. He could feel the rage as it radiated off of his Godson. Ginny wondered how Ian was but knew that as soon as she knew anything, that Rowan would be there. She steered Harry to a seat as they watched the woman bend over the man. Remus moved to the doorway to oversee the events unfold.

"What did you do to him?" She asked.

"I did less to him that he did to Ian," Harry said, "but if you must know, I slammed him into a tree when he told me that he when he hit Ian, that it was justified. He is a grown man. Ian is a CHILD."

"He is a horrible little boy." The woman said with rage seeping out of her body at the pair who were watching her. "His brother was killed in a war of some kind and we ended up with him. All day he sits in his room. He doesn't do anything he is told. He eats our food and expects to do nothing in return. We never wanted him. He was never welcome here. Him or his family. We never associated with them. They knew we did not want to be part of his unnaturalness. How dare they both die and leave him with us." She was shaking with anger at the audacity of Ian's parents being killed.

"Who were his parents?" Ginny asked quietly.

"His brother, Harold and his wife Arabella Richardson." Something clicked in Ginny's memory.

"How did they die?"

"I told you, they were in some kind of a war a few years ago somewhere in England. We told them not to get involved. We knew we would end up with that little boy. But I swore when we took him in that we would not allow him to continue with his unnaturalness."

Harry was having flashbacks of his aunt and uncle. "Tell me, does he have an actual bedroom or is he forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs too?" She turned pale but did not answer the question.

"Excuse me, Harry, but what did Mr. Richardson do?"

"He was a doctor of some kind in that freak hospital."

Ginny gasped. "Healer Richardson?" The woman nodded. "He was the one that saved…" She did not complete her thoughts aloud. Harry eyed her with concern. Turning to meet him, she pulled him down and whispered in his ear "Harry, Healer Richardson was the one that saved Rowan after her kidnapping. This is their child. He told us about him. Remember? They fought with us."

Dawning comprehension showed clearly on Harry's face. "Healer Richardson? No… it can't be the same one." She nodded. Sirius watched the man's rage leave for a moment then return full force. "You mean…the same one that saved her?"

Turning to the couple he said with a dangerous growl "He was one of the most talented healers the Wizarding community has ever known. Any one of a thousand families would have taken him if you hadn't wanted him. I can not count just how many women and children he saved. And you would treat his son this way?" Harry asked the woman.

Ian's uncle was stirring. Remus followed the woman as she went to get a cool washcloth for him. "What happened?" He asked quietly.

"I threw you against the tree when you told me that Ian deserved what he got." Harry replied. The man was visibly shaken to realize that his bad dream was, in fact, reality. "Now we are waiting to find out how bad he is hurt and what type of old injuries he has sustained by you and/or your wife." His wife walked back into the living room at that moment and stopped at the door. Their eyes met briefly.

"Who are you anyway?" She asked.

"Harry Potter and this is Ginny Weasley, and these are my godfathers Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Who both happen to be bound to a woman whose life was saved by that freak you called a brother." Harry replied.

Sirius watched this exchange but did not try to assist as he didn't understand what Harry was talking about. Rowan had told him several times that she didn't know all of the story and he should talk to the others for the rest of the details; but before he could ask, the names seemed to click somewhere in Mrs. Richardson's memory. "Potter? You are the one that they were going to help. You are the one that started the war," Her words dripped with accusation.

"No, I am part of the reason that the war is over, however. But whoever I am, when our mentor returns to tell us how Ian is, at that point, a decision will be made as to how badly I hurt the two of you."

The front door banged open to reveal a young boy. "Mum, Dad? I waited for Ian, but he didn't come back to class. Is he home yet?"

His dad, still sitting on the floor answered "No, he is not coming back."

"Oh, man, I wanted to apologize for getting angry with the teacher. He kinda got blamed for something I think maybe I did today."

Ginny looked to Harry for a moment. "What is your name?"

"Ricky"

"What did you do that Ian was blamed for?"

"I, uh…" He didn't finish his statement.

Harry joined the conversation "Please Ricky, tell us what you did to the teacher."

"Well, I sorta kinda, thought she was being stubborn about letting me turn in a paper late. So when she turned away after yelling at me, I thought about the animals we were learning about. She reminded me of a Ram. Ya' know, long horns curving down the back of her head. The next thing we know, she grabbed Ian and drug him from the room. We just sat there watching. Some of the kids were laughing, but when I tried to get up to tell her it was me and not him, I just…." His eyes fell to the floor and he did not finish his statement.

His parents' eyes met each other's. Then broke apart as they realized what had happened. His father spoke first, "No Son, you must have made a mistake, it was Ian."

Ricky's head snapped up, "No dad, it wasn't. He isn't the only one who can do cool stuff. He hasn't been teaching me or anything. It really just comes natural for me. Watch." Ricky crossed the room, picked up a book, and set it on the floor. Concentrating every bit of little boy magic he had, the book jumped off the floor and hit the ceiling before crashing back down. Ricky grinned, as did Harry and Ginny. Ricky's mother fainted and his dad choked back a scream of horror.

"No Son - not you. You can't. You couldn't. You are normal. That isn't natural."

Harry stood between the man and his son. "It is natural for a wizard to show early signs of uncontrolled magic, but he is using wandless controlled magic, it must be strong." A crack was heard from just outside the front door, followed by a doorbell. Ginny answered it. In walked Inspector Maples and Rowan Black, both seemed a little shaken. They followed Ginny into the living room to give the report on Ian.

Rowan moved closer to Sirius, slipping her hand into his, before making eye contact with Remus for a split second. Looking down her nose at the woman who fainted, she said casually "Ennervate." The woman groaned as she opened her eyes. Looking down at her she said "I would like to know if you have a table and chairs we could sit at and talk."

Ricky popped up with a "Yes Ma'am, right through there." He walked through a door which opened to show a large, neat Dining Room with a table for twelve. He sat at what could be assumed to be his usual place, and motioned for the older woman to sit next to him.

They sat and waited without words until the couple, to whom this house belonged, joined them. Steven spoke first, "We took Ian to the children's hospital in England. After securing him to a backboard to not make sure we did not add to his injuries, Rowan shimmered us to the Emergency Room. The healers and I worked on the child for almost an hour. He had injuries that he did not receive today."

The Inspector looked to the couple before adding, "Today's injuries were a severe concussion, broken arm, dislocated jaw, and bruised ribs." The air around them crackled. Harry was, once again, losing his temper. But it was joined by Rowan, which was never a good sign. Steven continued, ignoring the air and quiet. "His older injuries are things like a dislocated shoulder, scar tissue on his lungs from illness, a badly repaired broken hand, both biceps are ruptured, which are usually signs of a child who has been grabbed or thrown around.

"He is asleep now in a room. The Medi-Elves are amazing and Madame Pomfrey joined the group for the Emergency section of the visit." He finished the report as he watched the couple who sat across from him. "I need to ask you a few questions. We know his injuries today were caused by you, his uncle. Harry and Ginny are witnesses to the mess you created in the office when you disciplined him.

"But the other injuries, the old ones. Who did that to him? Was it you or your wife?" No one answered him. He counted to twenty before proceeding. "I formally charge you with Child Abuse, Neglect, and Failure to provide a safe home for a child whose parents were killed in the Great War. You will be taken into custody, and if convicted by the Wizened Gamut, you will serve no less than five years in Azkaban. As a Witch and Wizard, you will both be judged according to our laws."

She stammered, "I am not a Witch! I never went to that god-forsaken school. We are not part of that evil world." She finished with conviction.

Steven leaned on his elbows, his hands lower arms straight out on the table. He took a deep breath before he looked across the table with narrowed eyes. "Sorry to inform you of this, but because you choose to not go to school, or because you choose to turn your back on the gifts given you by God, that is not an issue. You will be tried by the Wizard Laws.

"It would be better to have years lost out of your life this way rather than to have your Muggle world know how badly you have mistreated this child. You have one half of ONE hour to clear up your affairs. Tell them what you choose, but at 5:35 PM, you will leave here with this group of Magical Law Enforcement agents to have your crimes read to you in a pre-trial."

Ian's uncle stood, shaking, raging at the man across from him. "You will NOT… we will NOT… you have no right…" He blustered and sputtered. "I WILL NOT GO WITH YOU!"

Rowan stood, the air now familiar to Harry and Ginny, began to crackle. Her words were slow, methodical, and measured when she spoke. She apparently did not want there to be any doubt as to their understanding of what she had to say. "This is something about which you have no option. There are no discussions. You have injured a child. You chose to ignore the gifts with which you were gifted. However, if you wish to be brought into the Muggle Judicial System, have no doubt, that I will personally see you hang for what you have done to him. Now, I suggest you take the option that Inspector has given you. I will count to five. By the time I have finished, you will tell this panel Muggle or Wizard. And in case you do not make a decision, I will make it for you and the result will be Muggle…. ONE…."

The couple looked at one another. Sirius loved his wife.

"TWO…"

They leaned to speak to each other. Remus stood and moved away from the table, taking Ricky with him.

"THREE…"

Ricky cried. Rowan gave no sign of backing down. Remus fell in love with her all over again.

"FOUR…"

The couple looked at their son. Remus realized Rowan was protecting the child of a man who saved her life, and she didn't even know it.

"FIVE…What is your decision?"

The man stood shaking, anger and indignation mixed with fear. "What will happen to our son during this time?"

Ginny answered, "He will live at the Riddle House and attend classes there. We will take care of him until your release, assuming you are not both punished with the harshest punishments; unless there is other family which can assist with their care."

"There is no one else. That's how we ended up with Ian."

"We…will go with you. Ricky, you and Ian will stay with these... wizards... until the final decisions are made."

Ricky whimpered. "I'm sorry daddy. I didn't mean to do it." Turning to Harry, he cried "Please don't take mummy and daddy. It was my fault. I made the things happen. I won't do it anymore. I swear." He cried.

Rowan turned to Ricky, holding back every negative emotion she had at that moment, she realized she could not speak without the emotion that had now taken over. She made eye contact with Harry.

He had to be in complete control of his emotions if he was going to talk to the child. It seemed he did, because when he spoke, his voice was gentle, "It will be temporary. You will be able to stay in a room with Ian if you want. But your parents have hurt him very bad and will need to answer for what they have done to him. It is not your fault. It is theirs. Everything will be okay."

Ricky nodded. Turning to the couple, Harry suggested that they take their half hour and make whatever phone calls they needed to make and Harry would assist Ricky in getting packed.

At 5:35 PM, two separate Port-keys were activated. Four members of the Magical Law Enforcement Division took the adults to the Ministry. Ginny and Ricky used the second Port Key to go to the Riddle House, while the others sealed the house, and apparated to the hospital.

By 5:40, Ricky asked to see Ian. Ian was drowsy, but was glad to see his cousin. "I'm sorry Ian. I am the one that caused the horns on Mrs. Brister. Now, the ones that brought you here took them to a court thing cause of what they did to you. I messed up really bad this time Ian. It's all my fault…" he was crying before he finished.

Ricky sat up a bit more and tried to reach for him. He gasped as pain shot through his shoulder. Ricky, a horrified look on his face, stood up. "Are you okay?"

"Yea. It just hurts. But it is loads better than it was. I didn't know that you could make horns. I'm really sorry about your parents. I didn't tell them anything, I swear."

"I know. The tests they ran on you showed 'em what happened to ya'."

"Oh. But they weren't too bad. I mean, really, I was always okay. They just got a little mad."

"Yea, but I am the one who did most of what you got in trouble for. I shouldn't have let them blame you. Daddy just scared me when he got that mad. Mummy being mad was worse than daddy sometimes. But she never hit as hard."

"So what are we going to do now?" Ian asked with a hint of fear.

"They said we would be staying together with them until Mummy and Daddy get out of trouble."

"Oh, well, it's really nice here. Can we stay in the same room?"

"That's what she said. But I dunno nuthin' for sure."

"Oh. Ricky?"

"Yea?"

"It'll be okay."

"I know. I just wished it would kinda all go away. I'm sorry they didn't want you."

"Me too."

"You sure it will be okay?"

"Yep. Harry Potter said so."

"Okay…"

And with that simple declaration, the boys fell into silence until a nurse brought them dinner and made a bed for Ricky to sleep in the room with Ian. Depending on what the morning brought, they would either be taken to the Riddle House, or they would be seeing the adults.