Lia and Teddy were beyond excited. This would be their first real visit to Night Raven, mostly to cheer on the Diasomnia team. Baul was unable to go with them, but Melody had both boys on a magical tether of sorts.

Everyone was having a good time, visiting a few vendor stalls. That was when it happened, and Melody would be kicking herself for weeks that she let her guard down. She had become too complacent.

The first clue something was wrong was the sound of screams. It made her instincts go haywire, because they did not sound like happy screams. People were terrified.

Melody went to scoop up the children, but the wall of people came too fast. To her absolute horror, Teddy and Lia were swept away in an instant.

She heard the distinct sound of accidental apparition, but there was no telling where her children ended up.

The only thing preventing her from going straight into the rampage of an overprotective mother dragon was the fact it would only cause more confusion and chaos. She needed to find her sons, immediately.

With Teddy and Lia

Lia was sniffling, as the loud noise had startled him badly. Teddy had fortunately been holding his little brother's hand, so when Lia teleported using his fae magic, he had gone with him. The loud crack was startling, but not as much as suddenly being separated from their mother.

It was super scary for both of them, but Teddy knew he had to be strong. He was the big brother after all, and surely someone knew Sebek, Silver or Lilia here. Lilia had mentioned that he was the 'vice housewarden', which sounded important.

Lia started to sniffle again, and Teddy looked around for an adult that felt trustworthy.

That's when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hi! Are you lost?"

Teddy looked at the person before him, and it was someone about his age. He had warm red hair and a pair of fluffy ears. A small tail poked out of his outfit. There was such a warmth in his eyes that Teddy trusted him almost immediately.

"We got split from Mama," sniffled Lia.

"Maybe my unca can find her! He's really smart!" said the other boy. He held out his hand. "I'm Cheka!"

"I'm Teddy, and this is my brother Lia," said Teddy. "Who's your uncle?"

Cheka smiled brightly at them. He rarely got to make friends his age.

"He's suuuper cool and really tall! His name is Leona and he goes to school here!"

"Cheka, where are you?" called out a voice.

"Is that your uncle?" asked Teddy.

Cheka shook his head.

"Unca Leona is part of the big game. That's Neji," said Cheka.

"Prince Cheka, you should know better than to disappear like that!" scolded Neji. He reminded Teddy of a bird for some weird reason. Smelled like one too.

"They got split up from their mama!" said Cheka.

Neji's eyes softened a bit.

"Do you know your mother's name?" he asked gently. "Perhaps we can make an announcement on the speakers."

Teddy nodded.

"We got split up because of the big crowd earlier. It scared Lia."

Neji winced. Cheka had split off after being spooked by that crowd too, but thankfully had that tracking device on him.

"I'll tell you what. We can have someone look for your mother while the game is going on. Until then, you can stay with us for a bit. Is that acceptable?" he asked.

Teddy could sense that the man was honest. He nodded slowly, but kept an eye on Lia.

"I want mama," said Lia, teary eyed.

"It's too noisy for us to find her just yet. But we will have some friends of ours look for her," said Neji gently.

Lia nodded slowly, but stayed close to his brother. Teddy's hair flashed from his usual teal to a more sedate tawny color.

Cheka blinked, fascinated.

"Wow! How did you do that?" he said excitedly.

"Teddy can change colors!" said Lia.

"Why don't we discuss it while our friends look for your mother?" suggested Neji.

Cheka was a lot of fun, and was beyond fascinated with Teddy's ability to change his features at will.

"That's so cool! So you can change your form at will?" said Cheka, excitedly. His enthusiasm was helping to keep Lia calm.

"I'm not very good at it yet," said Teddy. "I can mostly do just colors and vague shapes."

Cheka was about to say something, but then he noticed who was on the field.

"That's my uncle Leona!" he said excitedly.

Teddy peered down, and saw a tall lion-kin on the field. He looked terribly, like someone who had come from a rough quest.

"Is he okay?" he asked concerned.

Neji was frowning, but kept his mouth shut. Even he could see Leona looked like hell. Worse, his movements were off, which meant something must have happened.

One of the guards leaned down to whisper to him. They had found the children's mother, and she was beyond worried. It would be a small matter to arrange their return, once the games were over.

He really should have expected Cheka to dart off the second he had the chance to meet his uncle. The other two followed, which did not bode well for his blood pressure.

"Where are they?" demanded Melody.

"Cheka went to find his uncle. With that hit he took on the field, they're likely in the school infirmary right now," said Neji calmly. He could tell in an instant that being direct was his best hope for survival.

Seeing a human woman with smoke coming out of her mother and the aura of a protective mother did not bode well for his mellow.

In the infirmary...

Leona was having a shit day. It was bad enough he Overblotted, but having his bratty nephew there with two random kids was pure hell. He took one look at the youngest of the trio and knew the kid was vastly overdue a nap. He looked ready to break out into a full blown tantrum from how tired he looked.

It made him scowl, and before anyone could react he scooped the kid up.

"Hey, what are you..." started Ace.

To the complete disbelief of everyone there, Leona had the kid out cold within a few minutes with a bit of humming.

"I am not dealing with a screaming toddler who's that tired," he stated flatly. He stole one of the covers from nearby and put it over the kid, blocking out a bit of light.

"How...did you know how to do that so fast?" asked Jack slowly.

"Who do you think got stuck babysitting him?" said Leona, nodding to Cheka. The brat simply grinned at him.

Ruggie snickered.

"I had no idea you were so good with kids," said Ruggie, though he winced from his ribs hurting.

"I was one of the few who paid attention to the brat. Everyone else is too busy to play with a small child," said Leona, rolling his eyes. "You learn quick when a toddler is about to throw one hell of a tantrum."

Ruggie snorted in agreement, but it wasn't his kid so he had mostly planned to leave the room.

"Where did these two come from anyway?" asked Deuce.

"We got split from Mama," said Teddy. "The crowd scared Lia, so he magicked us away, but we couldn't find her."

"Neji said the guards would find their mama, so they stayed with us during the game!" said Cheka proudly. "Teddy can change colors!"

Leona blinked, before he stared at the slightly older brat who's hair shifted from a rainbow of random colors.

Actually, now that he was looking at the sleeping brat, the kid looked ridiculously familiar. Too familiar, in fact.

Three seconds later, an aura of eminent death arrived. The only one not terrified was Teddy. He looked happy.

"Mama's here!" he cheered.

"That's your mother causing that?!" said Ace in horror.

The door to the infirmary nearly slammed open, with only a bit of wind preventing it from banging against the wall.

There in the doorway was a very irate female mage. Her black hair whipped in the wind she created by opening the door, and her green eyes blazed with fury.

Leona felt very intimidated and he didn't even know why. He just knew he was in the presence of an alpha predator...and one that was very, very pissed off.

Salvation came from an unexpected source.

Yuna, the oddball prefect of the Ramshackle dorm, took one look at the woman and let out an odd squeak.

"Dear Morgana...you're Melody Potter!" she said in a shocked whisper.

Dead silence, as the woman scanned the room and saw her youngest sleeping near a lion kin and her godson looking very relieved to see her. Then she blinked, registering what the young female had said.

"Who's Melody Potter?" said Ace, baffled.

Yuna's head whipped to him incredulous.

"How the bloody hell do you not know who Melody Potter is? She's the Woman Who Conquered! She practically ended the Blood Purges!"

"I'm completely lost..." said Deuce. "Is that on a later history test or something?"

Melody blinked, before a slow smirk appeared on her face.

"Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor or Slytherin?" she asked simply.

"I wasn't sorted into your house. I was a Hufflepuff," said Yuna proudly. "Or I would have been, if things had gone differently."

A sympathetic wince filtered through Melody's face.

"I'd be happy to discuss it later. First I need to check on my sons," she said. Yuna brightened at that.

Lia, finally alerted to his mother's voice, wiped his eyes a bit. He took one look at his mother and his face visibly brightened.

"MAMA!"

Melody easily caught the ballistic missile that was her son, though Leona was rubbing his ears from the sheer volume. He wasn't alone...Cheka, Jack and Ruggie were equally affected.

Melody was just glad her sons were safe.

~*~*~*~

Yuna was incredibly nervous, and who could blame her? The Melody Potter was sitting across from her with a bit of tea.

"So you dropped out of Hogwarts after Dumbledore fell?" she asked with sympathy.

Yuna nodded, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Death Eaters came to my house shortly before my second year. They likely got my address from the Hogwarts registry. My parents..." she started, but her voice choked off in a sob.

Melody put a sympathetic hand on hers, as no explanation was needed.

"I managed to avoid it because I was at a friend's house, and I ran before they could find me. Then I was captured, and taken to Malfoy Manor... that bastard Malfoy from school looked incredibly smug, and then there was a massive blast. Your dragon form created enough of a distraction for me to escape."

"How did you end up here?" asked Melody gently.

Yuna had a pained look on her face.

"Some heartless ministry official showed up at my hotel room, said that because I dropped out of Hogwarts I was too 'irresponsible' to have magic and sealed my core. I was trying to head to the Leaky Cauldron in the hopes of finding some help when I was picked up by the carriage and ended up here."

"I'm sorry, did you just say some idiot sealed your magic because you had the sense not to return to a school being run by known Death Eaters?" said Melody, her voice tight with fury.

Yuna nodded.

"The mirror said that because I had no magic, it couldn't sort me."

"Did you catch the name of the soon to be dead idiot?" asked Melody. Yuna shook her head.

"I do vaguely remember what he looked like."

Melody took a deep breath and let it out her nose.

"First things first, we are getting your situation sorted out here," said Melody flatly.

"What?" said Yuna, confused.

"You said that you were relying on the headmage's charity. That ends today. No way am I letting another victim of that damn war suffer needlessly, especially after you've already lost so much," said Melody firmly.

Yuna's mouth was open and shut, mostly in disbelief.

"Why?"

"I know what it's like to be a victim of circumstance. Your luck is clearly almost as bad as mine," she said with dark humor. "And while I can't help everyone who suffered, I can help you."

Yuna felt tears go down her face. She never expected this to happen. Her life had been one downhill train wreck since her only year at Hogwarts.

Melody pulled her into a much needed hug, and she began to cry.