An Introduction of Gangsters

The opening of the Shelby Home for Children was finally here and it felt like after weeks of preparation, we had finally produced what I had imagined. Of course, a lot of credit had to go to Lizzie.

I knew for a fact the Shelby Home wouldn't be complete without her help.

The family were currently prattling about the Home, looking into the classrooms on the bottom floor while waiting for the reporters and photographers to come and take the opening photo.

"You did good," Arthur said, a note of pride in his voice as he peered into one of the classrooms, giving a smile to one of the teachers, Mabel.

"Thank you, Arthur," I said, knowing that he actually meant it. I knew it was different for him, having me open up the Home. I had effectively found his children - the children he didn't know anything about - in my quest to open a home for the orphans of Small Heath.

"You know, a lot of these children have parents," Polly muttered, her eyes taking in some of the newer children who had come to us over the last couple of days.

"I know."

"You should send them back to their parents," she added, her eyes flashing to me. The darkness of her eyes was almost scary enough to want me to curl up in a ball, but I had gotten used to Nana Gin glaring at us all like that when we went to argue. Polly wasn't scary.

"I think, Pol, that some parents have sent their children here because they need to," I told her, knowing for a fact that some of the parents in Small Heath couldn't afford to keep their children.

"They're taking advantage of you."

"They probably are, but if I can do anything to help those children, to prevent them from being neglected, abused, or starved then I will." I was just reminded of Tom Riddle from the original timeline. The one where he was left alone and turned into a dark lord. Just the thought of any child being treated that way destroyed me. "I have it in my power to prevent any child from being alone, Polly. Why would I turn someone away just because their parents are alive?"

"You're a good person, Romy. Too good."

Polly gave me a soft smile before walking over to Arthur's boys, engaging them in a conversation with their newly found father.

"She's not wrong," Tommy muttered, coming to join me from behind. I wasn't too surprised to see TJ curled up in his arms, head resting against his shoulder and asleep.

The boy had been plagued by bad dreams, calling out in his sleep all night for someone called Betsie. He sounded scared and was searching for her multiple times throughout the night. It left him exhausted and wanting cuddles from his dad.

"I just see a world where he has no one," I muttered to my husband, bending down and pressing a kiss to TJ's head. "I see him in every child, Tom. I don't want any child left on the streets."

"Between this place and that woman's club you've got going on, you'll have all of Small Heath wrapped around your finger." He didn't seem angry or annoyed. There was a hint of pride in both his eyes and his tone.

"I do have another idea actually," I told him, thinking on the thought that had been pondering my mind for the last couple of days. I'd spoken to Lizzie about it and she seemed to think it was a good idea. "I want your opinion on it."

"Romy, I love you, but you need to hold on to all those thoughts for a moment." He shifted so he was closer, his voice low enough that no one else would be able to hear him. "Let me deal with Campbell before you have any other bright ideas."

"Is this so you can get me knocked up?" I muttered, frowning at the slight curl of his lips. It didn't even phase me that he seemed to know what 'knocked up' meant.

"No." I wasn't sure if I totally believed him. Especially because of the small smirk on his face. "It's so my men can keep an eye on you when you go prancing about Small Heath like a woman on a mission."

"I guess that's an alright reason," I mumbled, giving him a pointed look. "You do know that I'm stronger than all your men, Thomas."

"I know that, but they don't. Campbell doesn't."

"So I've got to play the defenceless wife?"

"No." He gave me a pointed look. It seemed we were becoming well versed in pointed looks today. "You've got to play the strong witch that could kill anyone that looks at her wrong, pretending to play the defenceless wife."

"You're only with me because you fear me," I teased, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"I'm with you because you drive me crazy," he muttered, a soft look warming his eyes from their normally steely blue. "Oh great." I followed his gaze and almost felt as annoyed as him.

There was a reporter and photographer following behind him and I knew they were going to want a photograph.

"Might as well get this over with," I said, taking Tommy's hand in mine, plastering a smile on my face and acting the part of a defenceless wife.

London hadn't really changed much between 1919 and 2047.

It was still dirty. It was still busy. I still got weird looks when I wandered down the street.

I knew this time that the strange looks I was receiving had more to do with the fact I was walking alongside Alfie and not because I was related to The Harry Potter.

"I don't understand."

I rolled my eyes, giving him a pointed look as he swanned through the market, his eyes stopping briefly on the various fruits and veg.

"I'm getting married," I told him, smiling as an older lady gave me a large smile, her eyes drifting to Alfie and giving him a pointed look. He seemed to shrug her off, moving through the market and towards the bakery.

"Yeah, I know that." He glanced down at me, his hand coming out to steady me and I tripped on a cobblestone. "You want me to hand you over to Tommy. Why not Phineas or Newton?"

I had thought about it. While I knew Phineas and Newt before him and I was technically related to Phin, Alfie was the oldest.

"You're the oldest and by magical law that means you have to be the one to hand me over to Tommy. No matter how barbaric I think that is," I added, not at all happy with how archaic magical weddings could be.

"So you're doing a magical binding then?"

"A mix of magical and gypsy," I told him, almost laughing at the grunt of annoyance he gave.

"Fucking gypsies."

"Come on, Alfie, that's your nephew's blood you're disrespecting."

He turned to me as we came to the bakery, the morning sun being blocked out by his large figure. I could see the annoyance on his face, but I knew he wasn't going to say anything. Well, nothing too bad anyway.

"I'm writing a marriage contract."

"No."

"If you want me to fucking give you over to him, he can sign a fucking contract." He huffed, pointing his finger at me before turning and making his way into the bakery.

I gave him a moment, sharing a look with Ollie. It was clear that Alfie was adamant about the marriage contract, something Ollie said he'd bring up when I popped into the bakery earlier today to find my brother.

"Told you, Romy," Ollie said, leaning against a crate, newspaper tucked under his arm.

"Oh shut up, you," I grumbled, ruffling his hair as I followed Alfie into the bakery.

It was surprising to smell freshly baked bread as I stepped inside and I couldn't help the smile from forming on my lips. He'd taken my advice. I told him that his bakery would actually be a good cover for his distillery if he actually baked goods and sold them at a discount to those that worked for him.

"Alright, love?" I was taken aback by the large hand that rested on my arm, tugging me into a hard chest. This movement was quickly followed by those large hands squeezing my hips and roughly pulling my backside against the man's groin.

"What the fuck," I muttered, gripping hold of the hands holding me, digging my nails into his skin. "Get the fuck off me."

"I'll be quick," the man grunted, his hands bunching my dress at my hips, slowly lifting it up.

I spun to give him a piece of my mind, but paused as I saw Alfie storming over, a look of thunder on his face.

"Oi!" he bellowed, causing everyone to go still as he marched over to us.

"Fuck," the man behind me muttered, pushing me away as quick as he could.

I turned to face him, grimacing as I took in the pure fear on his face. He knew what he was in for now. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"You little fuck!" Alfie shouted, coming to a stop in front of the man, his fingers digging into his chest. "You think you can lay your fucking hands on her? What gives you the right?"

"I'm sorry mister Solomons, sir, I didn't know she was yours."

Ollie decided it was time to come in then, his eyes looking down at the newspaper as he came round the corner.

"Alfie, Tommy's here for - oh fuck," he muttered, eyes lifting up in that moment to see the mess I had somehow made.

I caught the eyes of Tommy behind Ollie, little TJ resting on his hip as they both took in the scene in front of them.

"She's not my woman! She's my fucking sister!" I could tell that Tommy was slightly surprised to find Alfie this worked up. He'd heard many stories from Phin and Newt but this wasn't how I wanted their first meeting to go. "You think it's alright to put your fucking hands on her? You fucking bastard! Fuck! Fuck!" I could tell from the way that his body tensed that some serious shit was going to go down. And by serious shit, I meant this guy was about to get his head beaten in. I had to stop that before TJ could see it.

"Alfie," I warned, taking a step forward only stopping when Tommy gave me a look. He wanted to see what Alfie would do. I dropped my eyes to TJ, warning my husband that this wasn't a good idea, to let our son see violence first hand, only to be shocked by the frown on the boy's face.

He was looking at the man as if he'd just taken his favourite toy. The small dent between his eyebrows was adorable and he looked so much like his father at that moment.

Alfie took a step towards the man, raising his cane, ready to knock his teeth in when the man made a run for it. He didn't get very far as Alfie used his cane to trip him and the man fell, face first to the floor. The cane was brought down on his back, a grunted scream coming from the man as he tried to curl in on himself.

He seemed to make the mistake of trying to kick out at Alfie, almost causing the man to stumble and lose his footing.

"Fuck!" Alfie grunted, gaining his balance and raising the cane. I knew this strike was going to hit the man on the head, either knocking him out or killing him. I had to stop this.

"Uck! Uck!" TJ called out, his hands clapping as he smiled at Alfie. He was obviously very happy with himself for copying his favourite uncle. "Allie! Uck"

"Fuck," Alfie whispered, his eyes flickering to TJ and then quickly glancing at me.

I knew, from the look in his eyes, he never meant for TJ to see him acting violently.

He lowered his cane and put on a large smile, walking over to Tommy and TJ, ruffling the boy's hair as he smiled up at his uncle brightly.

"Alright, TJ?" It was affectionate the way they greeted each other and I was surprised when Tommy relinquished his hold on our son and let the boy clamber out of his arms and into Alfie's embrace.

"Alfie, this is Tommy," I muttered, not really knowing how I was meant to move away from the fact he'd just beaten someone in front of my son. "I thought it would be good to introduce him to you. Especially considering our wedding is in two weeks."

"What?"

"The thing I came here to talk to you about."

"I thought you were getting married in March," he grumbled, turning slightly to look at Tommy. I didn't miss the way he straightened his stance, standing over my husband. I didn't think the whole intimidation thing was going to work.

"It's March next week, Alfie," I said, sharing a glance with Ollie.

"Oh fuck."

"Uck."

"Can you please stop swearing in front of my son," I snapped, ignoring the stare I got from the three of them. "What?"

"You swear all the time, Romy," Tommy said, giving me one of those annoying looks. The one where he was basically saying he was right and I was wrong.

"No I don't."

"You do." I turned my glare on Alfie as he replied, shifting TJ in his arms.

"No I fucking don't!"

I gritted my teeth as Tommy and Alfie shared a look. Tommy raised his eyebrow and Alfie tilted his head and then they both shrugged.

"What the fuck was that!"

Tommy turned to me, that fucking smug smirk on his lips as he walked over, his hand lifting up as he titled my chin up.

"You're a liar, my love." I opened my mouth to respond only to be cut off by his lips. It was a long kiss, one where his tongue teased against my bottom lip and his teeth nipped, begging for an opening. I knew he was purposely doing this to distract me and to possibly send a message to Alfie. A message that said he didn't need his acceptance, I was his woman whether Alfie accept it or not. I almost whined in dissapointment when Tommy pulled away. "Where do you think the kids get their dirty mouths?"

"I'll show you a dirty mouth," I muttered, letting my eyes roam down his body and settle on his trousers. Was it my fault he'd managed to turn me on?

"Oi, don't be saying that shit near my nephew," Alfie groaned, walking past us and up the stairs to his office.

"I like him," Tommy said, watching as Alfie muttered something to TJ that had the boy laughing.

"Of course you like him," I muttered thinking it was a bad idea that I had introduced them.

I could only imagine the trouble they would bring me.