A/N: A bit earlier than expected, but here is the next chapter!
Enjoy!
It was early in the morning when the uncharacteristic barking of his dogs woke Will up. Stumbling downstairs still half asleep, he opened the door to let them out of the house so they could pee.
Will expected them to run out and do their business.
What he didn't expect was to look down and see a baby there, laying in a basket, fast asleep.
Shooing the curious dogs away from the basket, Will crouched down to take a better look. Not daring to touch her, he carefully pulled down the baby blanket, taking a better look.
Familiar chocolate brown curls framed her peaceful face, a face that looked startingly like the one from his own baby photo's.
His breath hitched and Will blinked, stupefied.
Eyes frantically searching for a sign that he wasn't actually seeing what he was seeing, Will's gaze landed on her forehead.
There was a fresh scratch on her face, running like a lightning bolt from her forehead to her temple, bright red and angry. It looked like a recent injury, and not one that could happen naturally.
Someone had carved the lightning bolt in her flesh.
Someone had hurt her.
Other than the wicker basket and the bright yellow baby blanket there was only a thin envelope visible.
Looking from the sleeping baby to the letter with his name on it laying on her little chest, Will frowned. So they had left her here with him on purpose.
The girl with hair like his.
Eyes searching for any hint of who left her here, he was disappointed to find no sign. Not even any footprints pressed in the dusty ground.
There was no one here. Someone had just put a baby on his doorstep and left her here without leaving a trace. Had they no sense? He lived in a rural area in New Orleans. What if she'd crawled off and got eaten by an alligator?!
She looked to be around two years old, maybe. He wasn't the best children, not having any experience with them, but he was pretty sure that by two years old they could move independently.
It wasn't safe here, certainly not for a toddler who could crawl away any moment.
A toddler that closely resembled him.
Rubbing his morning scruff with one hand, Will shakily breathed out. "Shit."
He couldn't leave her here. He had to bring her inside and find out who she belonged to. Alert whoever needed to be alerted in cases such as this. Quickly scooping her up, he froze when she opened her bright green eyes.
He knew those eyes.
Lily.
He'd met her almost three years ago, after a particularly bad case involving the grisly murder of young men around Will's age. His supervisor had sent him off to get a break, and Will had decided to get a drink in his usual bar.
He'd forgotten about Mardi Gras and all the tourist it would attract.
Sitting in the bar, nursing a drink and very much regretting he hadn't chosen to go home, he'd seen her.
She had been a flame he couldn't help to be drawn to. Her friends had noticed his look and pushed her his way. Will had been grumpy and totally prepared to leave, but she'd started talking and Will-
Will had felt like he was staring into the sun.
Lily's lust for life had contrasted beautifully to his dark thoughts after the case he'd just solved. She'd been smart and interesting and he still couldn't believe she'd chosen to talk to him of all people there.
Will wasn't good with woman, his empathy often making him off-putting to others. They might think he was pretty, but woman sensed he was different and often stayed clear.
But with Lily it felt natural.
They talked and Will learned she was British and on a girls trip to celebrate gaining their masteries. Will told her about his own job and was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't walked away.
They drank and eventually Will gathered his courage and asked her if she wanted to dance.
He still remembered her brilliant smile.
After that the night had been a blur of alcohol, dancing and eventually, his bedroom.
It had been over two years since that night, and now he was looking at a toddler who he strongly suspected to be their daughter.
A daughter he hadn't know existed.
What happened to Lily? Why hadn't she told him about the pregnancy?
Blindly searching for the letter that had fallen down in the basket, Will couldn't help but notice things about the girl.
His daughter.
If she was Lily's then she had to be around two years old but she was thin, tiny and paler than she should have been. She was clean now, but he noticed signs that told him there had been neglect if not outright abuse in her past.
Fury shot through him, and he gritted his teeth.
Sleepy green eyes grew wide and the little girl ducked her head, frightened by his rage. Will flinched back as if struck, realising she'd picked up on his anger.
"Shhh," He murmured, rocking her instinctively. "You're safe, darling. Please don't be afraid."
The toddler hickuped, bright green eyes peeking up at him and Will felt something inside his soften when one tiny hand reached out to pet his face, trying to reach his curls.
He chuckled, "Yeah, those look familiar, don't they? You've got the same hair as I do."
"Mine?" Her voice was high and clear and she reached up to get to his hair again, her other hand pulling on her own curl as if to show him.
"Just like yours." He assured her, adjusting his grip. Will settled her down in his lap and opened the unusual wax seal of the letter.
Dear Mr. Graham,
It is to my great regret that I have to inform you of the death of a friend of yours. Lily Potter nee Evans and her husband, James Potter were murdered some months ago on All Hallows' Eve.
Their daughter, Roselyn Lily Potter was the only survivor.
As we were unaware of your existence, we placed little Rose with her maternal aunt. Unfortunately, Petunia Evans and her family proved to be unsuitable for her sister's child.
After some tests in search of a blood relative, we found out about you, her biological father. As her closest relative by blood, it was decided she should stay with you.
Please take care of her, she's a precious child who has lived a short but difficult life.
Love her, Mr. Graham. Please.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Will read the letter again, incredulous. This had to be a joke. Witchcraft and Wizardry? There was no such thing as magic.
Yet that didn't explain how his daughter ended up on his doorstep without so much of a hint as to who left her there.
And most troubling of all, how was any this legal? Lily was English, and her husband was likely English as well. How had this Dumbledore person even found out about him, decided he should raise the girl and then left her on his doorstep with only a letter?
Why was the Headmaster of a school even involved in the custody of an unrelated child?
Roselyn.
He had a daughter now, and he had no clue what to do. He had no supplies, nothing to help him take care of a toddler. The letter suggested that his thoughts about mistreatment had been right. What if she needed medical care?
He had no clue of her medical history, no clue about what had been done to help Roselyn or if she had any allergies or genetic disorders he should be aware of.
When he got his hands on the asshole who decided to drop a baby on someone without any warning or pertinent information-
Well, he would do something.
"Mama," Roselyn babbled suddenly, grabbing for the letter. "Papa, pa-foot!"
The last one was shouted at Buster and Sadie, the latter letting out a startled bark. Will chuckled at them and told the dogs to calm down with a cluck of his tongue.
"Buster, Sadie, come here." Both dogs approached warily, unused to children. "This is Roselyn, my daughter."
Holding out her tiny little hand for them to sniff, Will felt a strange sort of calm. It might be shock, but as he watched the toddler giggle and carefully attempt to pet the dogs, Will found he didn't care.
He had a daughter.
It didn't even occur to him that he could refuse. He had no family, his father having passed away years ago. He had resigned himself to never having a family of his own, no wife or children because what woman would want to put up with a neurotic freak like him? But here she was, Roselyn.
Will was a dad now.
Whistling so the dogs backed up a bit, Will stood up. Rose still in his arms, now perched on his hip, he went to find them some breakfast.
Searching through his embarrassingly bare fridge, Will wondered what did two-year-olds eat?
Better yet, "Are you even potty trained yet?"
It turned out she wasn't.
It also turned out that when Will went to register Roselyn as his daughter who lived with him, they already knew. According to the documents, Roselyn Lily Potter had been in his custody for half a year now and was doing very well.
No check-ups were needed.
Will cursed under his breath, dread sinking in his bones. This wasn't normal. Someone manipulated the system that never should be messed with like this. There were no safety measures put in place anymore in Roselyn's new custody agreement.
What if he, like her previous guardians, mistreated her? With no check-ups, there would be no one to keep an eye on her.
He frowned, a storm brewing in his eyes. Whoever this Dumbledore was, he'd already misplaced his daughter once. If Will's math was correct then she'd likely stayed with Lily's sister for months before someone took her away.
Meaning that it was very likely that Roselyn had no check-ups then either.
That was a dangerous mindset, especially for a Headmaster of a school. No one was above the law and children deserved the best chance they could give them.
Will couldn't profile someone with only a letter but he still didn't get a good impression of the man after his careless actions towards Roselyn.
Still, everything involving the custody of his daughter was in order so Will decided to shrug it off for the moment. He had enough on his mind as it was.
It got even weirder when he went back to work and people asked how it was going with little Rose. He saw in their eyes that they thought they knew her, that they were fond of her.
But the memories were shallow, the emotions behind them even more so.
He was starting to suspect there might be something to Albus Dumbledore's letter.
That suspicion turned into fact when only days later Rose started to summon her new toys, when the lightbulbs exploded or when the dress her babysitter, Mrs. Carson, gave her turned from bright pink to a cheerful yellow.
Magic.
His daughter had magic.
He tried to find Mr. Dumbledore after that, but the man was nowhere to be found. Neither Albus Dumbledore, or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, existed according the multiple searches he did.
And so life continued. Over the next two years Will worked himself up to Detective in the force, making a name for himself as he closed case after case. At twenty-five, he was the youngest Detective in New Orleans, until the day came it all changed.
It was a case like any other. Murder-robberies that left a trail of destruction. Will knew the guy was desperate, knew he wouldn't come in quietly.
But then he came face to face with the man mid-robbery and knew he had a sick little girl at home, knew he was doing this so he could pay her bills. That his wife left him, and he was all alone.
Will couldn't shoot him.
So the killer shot him first. It was his partner who saw it all and stepped in, shooting the suspect before he could aim again and calling in an ambulance for Will.
He could have died, leaving Roselyn an orphan. Because he couldn't shoot the guy. Because his empathy made him feel everything that man did and understand.
Will wasn't happy, his bosses weren't happy.
And Rose, who was four by then, had understood enough to be scared. That one visit while he lay in the hospital after the surgery to get the bullet out of his shoulder was enough for him to make a decision.
Will turned in his resignation, packed up the house, his kid and the now four dogs, and left for Quantico.
He couldn't be an Agent, not while Rose was still so very dependent on him. So he applied for the Criminal Profiling position. Not his dream job, but it would have to do.
For Roselyn.
They even offered to pay for any further schooling, a fact he took gleefully advantage of.
Will found a house in Wolf Trap, Virginia. A lovely little house surrounded by nature, perfect for Will's little family.
There was a river close by where he could fish and a school for Roselyn to go to. Perfect, he hoped.
Smart little girl as she was, Rose had very little experience with other children. She was a sweet girl, so Will wasn't truly worried, but he was a little afraid the other kids would pick up on her differences.
Children always did.
Rose was his daughter and while she hadn't inherited his empathy, she had the eerie ability to pick up on the emotions of others. Adding the strange occurrences when her own emotions ran up high, Will was a little worried.
But the days passed by in their new home and they adjusted well.
Buster, Sadie, Max and Cassie were all too happy to have the open space the property had to run around in, and Rose loved her new room.
Will personal favourite was the porch. The view was amazing and with a little work, he could spend every morning there, watching his kid and dogs play together.
Will would put down a chair there and knew he could grow old in this place.
"Daddy?" A little voice asked, and Will turned around.
His daughter had grown in the two years she lived with him. Still tiny but her dark brown curls, so like his own, had grown to mid-back and with her green eyes and doll-like appearance he was still surprised she was his.
But the hair was undeniable and so was her brain.
Though he did wonder where her ability to get a tan and that bright mischievous grin came from, it certainly wasn't from the pale redhead Lily or Will himself.
"Yes, Rose?"
She shuffled her feet, Buster at her heels. "My special potion has run out."
Rose had scars. She had them when he got her, and he still had no idea how she got them. The one on her forehead stayed bright red and angry even after two years and Will was seriously debating going to a doctor for it.
It looked inflated sometimes, and Will wondered if there was something special about it. Special like his daughter was.
But other than that one, she also had a nasty bite mark on her ankle and what he knew to be belt marks on her back.
If he ever came across Lily's sister, he wouldn't hold back.
It was Mrs. Carson, Roselyn's babysitter in New Orleans, who recommended he use vitamin E cream to help the scars fade. Roselyn was young yet and the scars could disappear as she grew, but the cream would help.
They called it Roselyn's special potion to make it more fun for her, to add a little magic in her already-probably magical life.
"Does your scar hurt again?" He asked, watching her rub her forehead. A tell he was very familiar with.
She nodded, "My head hurts."
He frowned, picking her up and setting her on his hip. "Did you dream of the green light?"
Every time her scar hurt she had that same dream. A woman screaming and a bright green light.
Will knew, though he didn't understand how, that it was likely Lily who screamed for mercy. That his daughter remembered flashes of her mother's murder.
She nodded against his shoulder, seeking comfort. "Mummy screamed."
It made him furious that a killer had come so close to Roselyn. It scared him to hell to know she'd witnessed her mother's death, to know she'd likely seen the killer.
A killer he still didn't know the identity of, or if he was ever even caught.
Will had tried to find out more about Lily and her and her husband's death, but other than a newspaper article about a gas explosion, nothing could be found.
Just like Hogwarts, Lily and James were shrouded in mystery.
Lily had a paper trail until she was eleven, appearing perfectly normal. James Potter on the other hand, didn't exist. He was a ghost.
Will would have assumed some kind of cult if it hadn't been for the letter and the strange occurrences.
Something had happened to Lily Evans when she was eleven, something that made her disappear. Something that allowed a person like James Potter grow up without any documentation or paper trail.
It worried him, knowing it was likely coming for Roselyn as well.
"Shall we go see if there is a doctor who can help?" He said, stroking the back of her head. It was time they let a professional look at it, even if it truly was a magic scar.
At the very least they should have a recommendation for him, right?
She was nestled in his side now, and Will breathed in her clean scent. Rose was one of the only people he could tolerate touching him, living with him. Her emotions were pure, and the love she had for him a balm for his killer invested mind.
Rose lifted her head, looking at him with an adorable frown on her face. "Will there be needles?"
Will didn't lie, refused to lie to his daughter. "Maybe. But I'll be there every step on the way, okay?"
"Okay, daddy."
He smiled down at her, blue eyes meeting green. "But first, breakfast!"
A/N: Also, just to clarify, James Potter blood-adopted Roselyn when she was a baby. She is a Potter by blood and magic, just as much as she's Will's.
Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know your thoughts?