Chapter 2 - 1965

A man frowned as he stared at the horrific sight that laid in front of him. "Pogerly, are you getting all this?"

"On the contrary Max..... I don't think I can get rid of it. What ghastly monsters would do such a thing?"

Max sighed before taking out a cigarette and lighting it. "Monsters in human skin I suppose, a new sort of dark spell.... that or a bad case of a manticore running wild."

"I don't believe that there is a manticore who can do this much damage, not to mention this sadistically."

Max placed the lit cigarette in his mouth and took a big breath of smoke. "Damn, what a mood killer. It's my daughter's fifth birthday as well."

"At least you get to go home and have cake, I have to go to another case after this one."

Max silently observed the scene in front of him with a heavy look. The house, that once belonged to a pair of wizards, had been utterly demolished. Every window was shattered and decorated the floor in a painful pattern of reflected light. The white walls were painted in crimson red splatter as pieces of-

Max averted his eyes as he felt a sickening urge well up in his stomach. He had seen a lot of things in his years, but this would rank in the top five for the cruelest.

Max was about to take in another puff of smoke to calm his heart when Pogerly called from one of the rooms. "Oi, Max. There's a kid in here. He is still breathing. God damn."

Max hesitated before running into the room immediately. "By Merlins beard, they spared a child?"

"Overlooked him more like it. The kid was hiding under the bed. They must've missed about him. Hell, I barely noticed him myself. Only discovered him after I stepped on his hand."

Max stared down at the child who was hiding under the bed. It was a boy with raven hair and crimson red eyes. His face was blank and emotionless while his body lay still. The only sign of the boy being alive was the slight tremble in the boy's hands. In fact, the boy reminded Max of a doll.

"....what are we going to do with the boy? We can't just leave him here.... and to place him in an orphanage after what the boy has gone through...." Pogerly said with a grin expression.

Max hesitated before glancing back down at the boy. The boy had a striking resemblance to his now five year old daughter. In fact, while his daughter took after her mother, the boy eerily resembled him. Similar black hair with red eyes, similar face shape but a little bit thinner. This boy could've been his son.

"Hey Pogerly."

"What is it Max?"

"The people who lived here before, they were wizards right?"

"Yes, they were the Emrys. A very odd but young couple who came in to the ministry to register a couple of months back, no relatives from what they told me. They looked nothing like this boy though. The wife had red hair and the husband had brown. It might've been dyed though."

Max hesitated as he stared into the emotionless eyes of the boy. The longer he stared, the more he was convinced on what to do.

"Pogerly, you have friends in the familial laws office, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do- wait. Don't tell me that you are thinking about-"

"I'll adopt the boy." Said Max in a voice so determined that Pogerly knew that he would not change his mind. "He will need a wizarding family and a friend. To make matters even better, he is about the same age as my daughter, we will be able to send him to hogwarts together."

"But Max, you barley even know the boy. What if he has relatives who want to take him in?"

"You said it yourself, he doesn't have relatives."

"But Max, what about your wife? You can't adopt a kid without her consent!"

Max shrugged. "She will sympathize for the boy and agree to take him in within a heartbeat. You know how she is."

"Max, the boy might have difficulties in adjusting."

"It's not something a little time can't fix. And if he still has some trouble, the memory charm will help him."

"We can't just perform a memory charm on the boy-"

"Actually, whether he is adopted by me or not, he will receive a memory charm. For the same if his health. What he has seen in here can't be imagined by the rest of us."

"...."

"Pogerly, connect next with the familial law office. I'm not going to give the boy away so get me someone who will let me adopt the boy with no problem."

"If.... if that is what you want then sure. I hope you don't end up regretting your decision."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Pogerly sighed before tasing his wand. "Good enough for me, let's get this damned job over with already. Appare vestigium!"

Max covered the emotionless boy's eyes as they watched the glimmering of gold as the scene replayed themselves right in front of their eyes.