Kingsley hadn't expected anything more from the day than the usual. He would run around the village pretending to be an Auror (or a police officer if one of the Muggles asked him what he was doing), only going home whenever he was called for. It was how he spent all of his days.

Or most of them, at least. His mum had begun teaching him reading and basic arithmetic, so he couldn't always run around anymore. Sometimes he had to sit still at their kitchen table for a few hours and trace his letters and numbers. It wasn't fun, but his mum insisted that it was important. Apparently, you couldn't go to Hogwarts unless you knew how to read, so Kingsley tried his best. Most of the time. Sometimes sitting there was just too hard.

That was only a few days a week though, and today was one in which he was free to run around for as long as he wanted. His mum was busy cleaning and didn't have time to help him with his numbers.

Finding a litter of kittens had never been something he'd expected, but he heard the soft mewling from a bush along the side of the road and immediately had to investigate. His heart nearly stopped when he found the four squirming kittens cuddled tightly together amongst the roots of a bush.

In all his short life, Kingsley had never seen kittens for himself before. They were tinier than he would have expected, and he could tell from the way they stuck close together that they needed a mummy or daddy cat. They couldn't have hunted down a mouse by themselves like Kingsley had seen the neighbor's cat do once. He looked around, but there were no other cats in sight.

Feeling a little daring, he reached out to pet the tiniest of the kittens, and his heart twisted. He was a big kid compared to the kittens, but even he would be scared if he had no idea how to find his mum or dad.

There was clearly no other choice but for him to find their mummy or daddy for himself. Though he hated to leave them behind, he knew it would be better for them in the long run. There wasn't much in the neighborhood that was scary anyway, so he was sure they'd be safe.

"I'll find them for you," he told the kittens softly before setting off down the road at a jog, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of a cat. He had a talent for finding things, so he knew the kittens had nothing to worry about with him on the case.

It took him twenty minutes before he found a dead cat resting in an alleyway with bloody scratches along its body. Kingsley cried out, backing away before he could gather his courage.

Taking a deep breath, he approached the body and squatted down beside it. The cat had the same orange and white spots that two of the kittens had inherited. Kingsley knew this had to be the kittens' mother, and his heart hurt knowing she was dead and the kittens had no mum.

He didn't dare touch the body, but he leaned over it to look at the wounds. There were what seemed to be claw marks, so his best guess was that it had been attacked by something. His mind conquered up images of spooky monsters to explain it.

There was a small patch of grass nearby where some dandelions were growing. Kingsley plucked each of them out of the dirt and scattered them across the cat's body, not knowing what else to do in memorial. His parents probably wouldn't let him bury it, and he couldn't take it back to the kittens. Having your parent missing was one thing; seeing them dead was another.

He stroked his hand in the air over the cat as if he were petting it, hoping that it was up in heaven somewhere where it could see the gesture and recognize what it meant.

With several tears dripping down his cheeks, Kingsley set back off for the kittens at a far slower pace than the hurried one of his earlier search.

It would be a hard sell getting his parents to take in the kittens, but he was determined.

Prompts:

Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments

Seasonal Challenge - Air Element: (word) heaven

Seasonal Challenge - Audrey's Dessert Challenge: coffee - Kingsley Shacklebolt

Button Bonanza: blue - talent

Word count: 724