It was two weeks later when JooJoo came back to haunt Kit. After the meetings with the childcare representatives, which Remus sat through to report to Mrs Weasley; after Kit called Saedi, the wedding planner; after Nate recovered from the chicken pox and received shots from a trusted doctor for common ailments, Kit stood stirring a successful batch of soup on the stove, her back to the two men in her life. As Harry read the paper, Nate looked out the window frowning slightly. As Nate gave a tiny sigh Kit turned around, concern on her face.

'What's wrong?' she asked him as Harry looked up at them both.

'I want JooJoo back,' Nate whispered wistfully. Kit looked at Harry. Harry shrugged.

'I'm sorry, dear,' Kit attempted, 'but JooJoo lives in the wild.'

Nate nodded sadly. Kit shot Harry a piercing look. Harry looked back down at his paper pointedly. She rolled her eyes as she turned back to the bubbling soup.

'Maybe we could get a different kind of JooJoo,' Kit said offhandedly. Harry looked up in surprise and Nate clapped his hands.

'What? Kit, I don't think –' Harry began, laying down the paper in front of him.

'It wouldn't be exactly like JooJoo,' Kit continued over Harry's protest, 'but it would be small and cute.'

Harry frowned at her as Nate beamed.

'Daddy can wash the dishes when you and I go to get one.'

'One what?' Harry inquired as Kit laid the soup in front of them, an ice cube in the smaller bowl. 'What kind of JooJoo are you getting?'

She smiled wryly. 'A Malfoy shaped one.'

Harry looked at her, nonplussed. 'Excuse me? Malfoy shaped?'

Kit nodded, testing a bit of Nate's soup for how hot it was.

He stared at her. And then it clicked.

'You've got to be kidding me.'

Kit laughed outright. 'I most certainly am not,' she grinned.

Harry merely shook his head, turning silently to his soup.

Kit and Nate went out, leaving Harry with the dishes again.

'His name is Caleb,' Kit announced as Nate toddled in front of her upon their arrival back. 'He'll be living in a cage, and you don't have to do anything for him,' she added. 'But admit it,' she said, thrusting the cage to Harry, 'he is awfully cute.'

Harry crinkled his nose. 'I don't have to do anything?'

'Nope,' Kit beamed, and Nate clapped his hands. The ferret in the cage ran in circles. 'It won't leave it's cage.'

'Okay,' Harry nodded, turning back to the paper.

Kit eyed him suspiciously. 'Okay? That's it?'

Harry nodded again.

Her eyes narrowed. 'Good,' she said softly, bemused at Harry's relaxed expression.

'Oh, and Kit,' Harry said as she and Nate were making their way up the stairs. 'Remus sent Hedwig back for a while.'

'Why?'

Harry shrugged. 'Said he was renovating his cottage. And I distinctly remember in seventh year when Hedwig came back one night with a ferret.'

'It was a squirrel,' Kit corrected him. 'Hedwig won't eat Caleb.'

'Okay.'

The next day was Nate's first at Nursery School. Harry spent fifteen minutes in the car restraining Kit after they had dropped him off, consoling her that the nursery school was the best there was. Kit eventually nodded, and Harry drove her back home.

'Where are you going?' she asked when he said he would only be dropping her off.

'To a job interview,' Harry replied simply, and Kit looked at him incredulously.

'Dressed like that?'

Harry rolled his eyes.

'What kind of job is this for anyways? And why,' she added, 'didn't you tell me before?'

Harry sighed. 'There's a pub nearby,' he began, and Kit scoffed, 'that needs an extra hand,' he continued louder. 'They had an ad in the paper, I called them the other day, and they're willing to give me decent hours and decent pay.' He looked pointedly at her as he stopped at a red light. 'And that's what we need, so I said yes.'

'Then why do you have to go for an interview?' she asked sullenly, slumping in her seat. 'And why a pub?'

'I'm sorry,' Harry said softly. 'I know how you feel about –'

Kit snorted, looking out the window.

-- Kit, or Phoenix, sat in her pink bedroom, listening to her mother rant and rave below her. Tears formed in her eyes again as she recalled the letter that came for her that morning. Her mother refused to let her go to Hogwarts. 'I'll teach you my goddamn self!' she had spat at her only daughter as her father left the room quickly. 'Fuck,' she muttered now, silently amazing herself with the maturity of the words she uttered at eleven years old. She pulled the black marker from her pocket and found a blank piece of her wall that had no drawings on it. She did not care that graffiti covered most of her walls. They were her mother's walls, and she hated her mother. Hated her for the alcohol. Hated her for the meal-less days. Hated her for the abuse. She sighed, scrawling the twenty-first 'Fuck her to goddamn hell' on her wall.

'Phoenix!'

Phoenix slipped quietly out of her bedroom, tiptoeing down the overflowing stairs filled with bills and bottles.

'Phoenix' her mother screeched again, and Phoenix covered her ears with her hands as her mother stood a mere two feet in front of her.

'Yes, mum?' she asked calmly, keeping the two feet space between them, knowing if her mother advanced on her she wouldn't be able to back away.

'Clean up that goddamn kitchen,' she ordered, slurring her words as only she could at eleven in the morning. 'You left it a mess again, you bitch!'

'Yes, mum,' Phoenix said softly. 'I'm sorry, it won't happen again.'

'You're damn right it won't!' her mother screeched again. 'And when you're done that, I need you to go to the store for me.'

Again, Kit thought miserably as her mother stumbled into the living room. But she silently followed the order of cleaning the kitchen. It was spotless when she finished. When she went to take money from the jar her mother kept on the kitchen counter, she found it empty, and winced. Bracing herself for the attack, Phoenix stepped into the living room where both her parents sat; watching the muggle TV her father had bought.

'I need money for the store,' Phoenix said softly. Her father looked at her worriedly as his hand immediately went to his pocket. Her mother, on the other hand, rounded on her.

'Money? You mean you spent it all, you little wench?'

Phoenix winced as her mother stood.

'You little slut! Spending all my money when you know I need it!'

Her mother swung at her, hitting Phoenix's already sore stomach.

'Belle, leave her, it's okay,' her father attempted. 'I have money she can –'

Belle laughed raucously. 'You have money, you dirty bastard?' she spat, trying to focus on him as he slipped between Phoenix and her mother. 'After I know you've been sleeping with all the sluts in town!'

Her father rounded on Phoenix as well. 'You told her?' he roared, advancing on her tiny form. 'You said you wouldn't!'

'Well, she did, you fucker!'

'Shut up!'

Phoenix ran before they could stop her, stumbling out the door when the pain in her stomach ripped through her body. Tears flowed down her face as she ran to the nearby river – her haunt. She collapsed on the bank, the shouting and screaming reverberating in her head. Since her mother had begun drinking she had counted down to the day she would be able to leave to Hogwarts. Now she could not.

A girl sat on the bank along from Phoenix, and they both managed weak smiles at each other. They were friends instantly. Phoenix's mother never worried when she did not come. Adrien was the best thing that had happened to Phoenix, and after a couple of years she went home every night when her mother was not drinking and her father was out with another mistress. The atmosphere was still stiff, and Kit received several letters asking if she would attend Hogwarts, all of which her mother discarded.

Phoenix answered the letter regarding her sixth year, but by that time, she was going by Kit. She was also helping Adrien with fervour. She would not see her best friend go the same way as her cold-hearted parents. ---

'It'll be okay,' Harry said gently, placing a hand on hers. 'I'll come home every night. Please don't worry.'

'I won't – after a while,' Kit sighed, finally turning her gaze to him, 'and I want you home to tuck in your son.'

Harry pulled into the driveway and unlocked the doors. 'I'll put in a word about it,' he said softly, leaning over to her. 'I'm sure we'll work something out.'

Kit nodded sadly, kissing him softly. 'I love you,' she whispered.

'Love you, too,' Harry breathed. 'I won't be too long.'

Kit only nodded, stepping out of the car and slamming the door.