Her lips curled into a sneer, bitterness seeping from her skin.

"What would you have to be scared about?" She spit, her eyes burning with anger. "What have you ever had to be scared about?" The words of her last sentence were full of breath, swelling like a balloon, rising.

Al grabbed Scorpius's arm, gasping softly as he stared at the bloodstained fur of the ginger cat. Scorpius shrugged his hands away.

"What did you do with that cat?" Scorpius crossed his arms. His voice was surprisingly clear and undaunted. The woman snorted with amusement.

"Isn't that funny?" Her voice was rough, as if a knife had been used to hack it apart into torn pieces held together by bits of fraying thread. "A Malfoy trying to play hero. For a bloody cat. Literally." She giggled maniacally, her laughs punctuated by sudden gasps. Her brown hair hung limp and looked dehydrated. Her course skin sags from her face. Her lips are peeling. She looked like she's past fifty, but Scorpius suspected she was much younger than that.

She began trailing the wet blade over the surface of the cat, who started writhing again in her arms. She tightened her grasp, clenching her fist around the cat's neck and squeezing. The sound that escaped the cat resembled a silent shriek.

"No!" Scorpius started to step forward, but Al grabbed his arm again and yanked him back.

"Better the cat than you." Al snapped under his breath between clenched teeth. But he also looked horrified and sickened.

"There, there darling…" Her eyes began to shine. "Mama would never hurt you! What kind of mama would hurt her own child?" She puckered her lips and made kissing sounds.

"She's insane," Al whimpered, grabbing Scorpius's arm again. "She's absolutely insane."

"Why are you doing this?" Scorpius shakes his head. A gust of wind flows from the open window. A series of creaks from the hinges of the various metal objects scattered around the shop fill the room. The woman tilted her head.

"He likes it you know." She rasped. "He likes it."

'Insane.' Al mouths. Suddenly, she plunged the knife down the cat's side, leaving a large gash. Blood began to pour from it. Scorpius and Al shrieked. The cat began to struggle less, its attempts at breaking free becoming more listless and lethargic.

"See…" She purrs, caressing its chin with one of her mottled, knobby fingers. "He likes it."

"No! He doesn't like it! What kind of sick monster are you!" Scorpius screams. The woman shudders, as if she has encountered something mildly distasteful. The sound feels foreign in the dark shop. Scorpius guesses it hasn't heard anything higher than whisper in all of its existence.

"Shhh…" She grinned. "Shhh… He likes it…" She repeated.

"He's become used to it." Scorpius licks his lips, feeling queasy.

"Same thing!" She cackles. "That's how we love! We learn to accept the pain. We learn to accept it, until we begin to need it. We need it… the pain becomes addictive…" Insanity burned in her eyes. "So addictive that we begin dealing with the devil. That we only take what is so painful, because it feels so good. Until it becomes too much, and we are consumed…"

Al looked nauseous. He put his hands to his mouth, his eyes wide.

"Of course, you wouldn't know that." Her smile soured, as if the thoughts that were so pleasurable to think a few seconds ago had acquired a bitter aftertaste. "When have either of you felt pain? When will either of you have to?" Suddenly, she tossed the cat aside. She lunged forward unto Al, her hands outstretched. They both crashed the ground, Al flailing around as the woman attempted to get a strong hold around his neck with one hand, the pocket knife raised in the other.

"I've been waiting so long to do this…" She growled, her face twisted, red from the fury coursing through her blood.

"NO!" Scorpius gave another strangled scream and launched himself unto the woman's back, pulling with all his might. He overestimated her strength. Her feeble body, much thinner under the shawls than Scorpius had expected, fell off with ease, her hands slipping away from Al as if they were coated with butter. The skidded away. Scorpius fell back with the force of his own momentum.

Al shot up from his back, his fists raised. But the woman remained on the ground. As if all the anger has been soaked up by the earth and she no longer has the strength to stand up again. She just stared up. Al and Scorpius exchange a confused glance. The cat gave a feeble meow from the corner of the shop. Scorpius rushed forward and gathered it in his arms, gasping at the depth of the wound.

"It needs help." Al didn't respond. He just continued to stare at the woman. He opened his mouth to do so, just as the door of the shop flew open, revealing Al's father.

"What the?" Harry's glasses were knocked aside. He blinked rapidly, panting. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN KNOCKTURN ALLEY?" He hollered at them. Al quickly opened his mouth, then slowly closed it again. Scorpius held the cat close to his chest. His hands, and his wrists, were bright red. Harry's eyes passed from both of them to the woman on the ground, recognition suddenly lighting in his eyes.

"What are you going to do to me?" The woman croaked, chuckling slightly. "Harry Potter?"

Harry waited. "Nothing. Come on." He gestured to Al and Scorpius.

"It needs help!" Scorpius cried urgently to Harry, who nodded. And so after Harry cast a Patronus to the rest of the family they left the shop, walking up the streets of Knockturn Alley, their arms in Harry's tight grasp, back to the light of Diagon Alley.

The bell jingled as they entered Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Teddy rushed forward, taking Al in his arms and holding him close. Scorpius ran to the counter where Victoire was standing. Her eyes flew open when she saw the mangled mass of ginger.

"Scorpius?"

"Please!" Scorpius brought the cat forward to her hands. "Please help him!"

"Of course." She nodded vigorously, taking him and sprinting to the back of the shop.

"Go get Al and Scorpius blankets." Harry told Dominique, who nodded vigorously and hurried to the back.

"Where were they?" Teddy asked, still holding Al. Harry crossed his arms, his face as hard as stone.

"Flora Carrow's shop." Teddy sucked a deep breath of air into his chest.

"Carrow?" Al snapped away from Teddy. "You mean… Carrow…?"

"Amycus Carrow's daughter." Harry's lips were pursed.

"No wonder she was off her rocker." Al shivered. "Did you see what she did to the cat?" His face was pale.

"Please don't tell me you went in there for the cat, did you?" Harry sighed, rubbing his face with his hand.

"It was my fault." Scorpius and Al said simultaneously, before turning to exchange a surprised glance.

"It was my fault." Scorpius repeated. "Al told me not to." Dominique returned with the blankets, handing one to Scorpius and wrapping the other around her younger cousin. Harry sighed again.

"What… what happened to her?" Scorpius asked timidly, not able to meet any of their eyes, just beginning to realize the sheer stupidity of his actions. "After the war?"

"Her father and aunt were thrown in Azkaban. It turns out her father had been abusing her… abusing her in more ways than one." Harry remarked sadly.

"You mean…" Scorpius began, trailing off.

"Physically, emotionally… sexually too." Al's eyes went wide. "Her mother died giving birth to her. She didn't have much after the war. We tried to give her welfare, but she refused. I went there myself and tried to convince her, but she spit at me. She was even willing to fight me. Her father had treated her terribly, but somehow, in some way, she still loved him. She felt that accepting anything from us would be disloyalty. She was only a few years older than me. She got married, to some downtrodden pure blood fanatic. He didn't treat her much better than her father had. I think he died a while back, from choking on his own vomit when he was drunk." Harry looked away, staring out at the street where two girls and two boys were chasing each other in a game of tag. "Ginny wouldn't want me telling you this."

"That's terrible." Scorpius murmured.

"Seriously Scorpius?" Al tightened the blanket around his shoulders. "She tries to kill us and tortures the cat and you still feel bad for her?" Harry squeezed his eyes shut at the reminder.

"Still… isn't that part of the reason she did it all?"

"You're too nice Scorpius." Al rolled his eyes. But Harry gave Scorpius an understanding, if tight look.

"You're safe." Harry nodded, as if reminding himself. "You're safe. I've notified your parents Scorpius. They're coming. Teddy, you should take Al back home." Teddy nodded. Al quickly hugged Scorpius.

"I don't blame you." He whispered in Scorpius's ear. "You're just braver than I am."

"No." Scorpius muttered. "Just dumber." Al flashed him a knowing look before leaving with Teddy. Scorpius was then alone with Harry.

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter." Scorpius whispered, looking away. "I put your son in danger. I was just thinking about the cat." Harry bent down and cupped Scorpius's chin in his hand.

"You did something selfless," Harry whispered, "But I was very worried about both of you. Anything could have happened. There are much stronger men and women out there, who have been waiting a long time to get their revenge." Scorpius nodded. Then Harry did something unexpected. He hugged him.

"Next time," Harry whispered, "Come get me. I'm an Auror. I catch Dark wizards. Catching a cat would be a walk in the park."

When Harry pulled away, Victoire was standing at their side smiling. In her arms was a purring ginger cat who looked like nothing had ever happened him. As if he had just woken up from a long nap.

"Good as new."

"All thanks to you!" Victoire shook her head.

"I just fixed him up. You're the one who saved him." Victoire winked, and Scorpius blushed in response. He took the cat.

"What will you name him?" Victoire asked. Scorpius blinked.

"He's not mine!"

"We'll put an ad out. If nobody comes to claim him, he's yours. But judging from the state he was in even without the bleeding, he's a stray. Our had a really bad owner he was lucky to escape anyway. Scorpius looked down into the wide green eyes of the cat.

"You know," Harry mused, "He reminds me of Crookshanks. A bit. But Crookshanks was ten times bigger and a lot more angry." Crookshanks had died when Rose was seven. She had been devastated.

"If he's nobody else's, I'll call him Adler."

"What were you thinking!" Astoria cried as she rushed forward. She fell to her knees in front of her son, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into a tight embrace. His face was pressed into her neck as she dropped kisses into his hair. Scorpius could feel her trembling slightly.

Then she pulled away roughly. Her face was damp and her mascara was running down her cheeks. "What were you thinking!" She screeched again, shaking him desperately.

"She was hurting it!"

"Scorpius, it's a cat!"

"What would you have done if it was me?"

"That makes absolutely no sense! You can't seriously compare yourself to a cat! You're worth a million times what that cat is worth!"

"Well that depends on who you're asking, doesn't it?" Astoria gaped at her son. "I mean, I bet a bunch of people would say a slug's life is worth more than mine. It really is perspective. Who are we to decide what life is more important than another?"

"You're twelve years old Scorpius! What kind of twelve-year-old thinks things like that?" Astoria sputtered.

"What were you thinking about at twelve years old?"

"Not that!"

"Mum…"

"Sh." Astoria was hugging him again.

"I'm keeping the cat." Astoria didn't respond.

"I'm keeping him."

"We'll talk."

"I am. After everything that it took to get him…" Astoria shook her head, as if she was already trying to forget.

"Alright." She relented.

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not. Not because you could have been killed." She sighed. "And that's what worries me."

Rose had a lot of memories, many of which she didn't begin to understand until much later. She had memories of her father waking up gasping, muttering incoherent sentences, all punctuated by helpless screams that died in his throat. Sometimes he'd start calling someone's name – Hermione, Harry, Fred… he'd start apologizing between his heartbroken sobs. Saying sorry over and over again. Rose realized later he was searching for his own forgiveness when he asked for theirs, and he knew he would never be able to have it. Rose remembered her mother gathering him in her tiny arms, his face pressed into her neck. Rocking him gently back and forth, both of them trying to find solitude in each other's arms.

Or of Hermione herself, when her father was away, tossing and turning restlessly, burying herself in blankets, only to throw them off again. Breathing deeply into her pillow, pressing her hands to her hears so she could escape the noise neither Rose or Hugo could hear. All of the grown ups seemed able to hear this noise. George on his birthday, Grandma Molly at Christmas. But none of the children could. They talked a lot about it when they were younger. They talked about wishing they had been a part of the war, so they could fight and so they could be brave. So they could understand. They said it when no grown ups were around, so no one was there to reprimand them for it. But as they grew older, it felt more insulting to say it, especially when they were granted more access to the more painful stories of the war.

She remembered seeing the scar on her mother's arm - seeing the word but not comprehending its meaning. Mudblood. It was just a word. Like chalk or cherries or carpet. Something that had no significance in her life or mind. She couldn't see the weight of it, nor the stories or the pain it held inside of it. She once told her mother that she didn't understand what it meant. Her mother replied with, "I hope it stays that way." Gradually, she she began to know more about the definition and the pain it could cause, but she suspected she wore armor that the people before her didn't – armor which protected her from it. She began to think more and more about what her parents had to go through to give her this amour.

One night, a week before she went back to Hogwarts for her second year, she woke up around midnight. She crept downstairs for a glass of water, but froze in her tracks when she heard hushed voices. A light was on.

"You don't have to go back Ron." Hermione whispered.

"Yes I do."

"Ron…"

"Stop it Hermione." Her mother didn't say anything more. She pulled her chair closer and buried herself in her husband's arms.

Rose had always wondered why her dad had stopped being an Auror. Back when she was eight, at the time where it was almost certain he would be promoted to Deputy. Everyone around her on the streets and in the shops talked about it. Speculated.

"Well isn't it obvious?" One short man in Flourish and Botts boasted. "He's jealous of Harry Potter! He knows he'll never be Head Auror with Harry around, and he doesn't want to be second best!"

"He doesn't think he can do it!" Another woman whispered to her friend in Gringotts.

The worst and most ludicrous was one she heard in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes itself.

"Well his wife's having an affair with his best friend, and he doesn't want to see him again at work because of it!"

But none of them knew the truth. That Ron wasn't jealous of Harry (but very proud), or doubtful of his capabilities (at least not enough to leave), and his wife was definitely not having an affair (especially not with Harry, who she considered a brother).

He was haunted by his past, and he was tired of his present being a daily reminder of it. But he was needed, and so he would go back, no matter how much it hurt. Rose crept back upstairs, her heart aching for her father, but at the same time feeling so proud of his loyalty and strength.

"Adler." Al wrinkled his nose. "Adler Malfoy. You should have waited until I was there until you named him." They were sitting in the train compartment in their muggle clothes, on the way back to Hogwarts.

"Better than Albus."

"That's not worth much. Everything's better than Albus."

"Not Scorpius."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes – "

"Shut up boys." Rose snapped. She was sitting beside Scorpius, Adler resting in her lap. She petted his head, giggling when he purred.

"He reminds me of Crookshanks…" Rose smiled sadly. Scorpius squeezed her shoulder. They exchanged a smile.

"Adler is just as much of your guys' cat as he is mine."

"Considering I nearly got stabbed by a crazy woman to get him, that makes sense." Al joked.

"Still can't believe you did that." Rose glared at Scorpius.

"Well he's here, isn't he?"

"That he is." Rose leaned down and kissed Adler on the head, between his two ginger ears.

"You know," Al remarked, "I'm really happy about that."

Adler purred in agreement.

I'm very very sorry I wasn't able to update for more than month. First I was busy with Nanowrimo (which I finished) and I had a lot of tests and homework in the last few weeks before Christmas break. I will try to update two more times before the break ends. Thank you for all the reviews and support while I had sorta disappeared.

Question : What characters do you want to see more of or know more about? Which members of the Weasley family?You will be seeing more of Dominique next chapter because that's when Quidditch is going to start! I'm excited for it.

Please review, favorite or follow if you like the story! Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it) and Happy New Year!