Ever since his parents had been taken to prison, Drew was determined to prove their innocence. His father worked for law enforcement, for goodness' sake- how could he do something so horrible to end up in prison?

The only helpful thing that he was able to find was his father's journal, which he felt guilty reading. Thankfully, and helping him feel less guilty, it rarely had emotional entries- most were related to his job, or projects, or notes he jotted down. But in reading the many entries of the journal, he had just gotten to a part where his father mentioned "the box." According to the entries, the box was a gift from Drew's grandfather- his mother's father. It was long, narrow, and black, with golden accents and no information on how to open it.

Drew found this box intriguing, and scanned the journal for any mentions of it. Even if it didn't have anything to do with the search for his parents, it was interesting nevertheless.

Spell after spell, through all his father's research, and even potions on occasion, Alexander Lycan could not find out how to open the box.

Drew sat back in his seat. The box had to be in here somewhere. He put the journal down on the desk, and with the description in mind, started looking in all the drawers of his father's desk. He tried to leave everything where he found it, but if his father ever sat in this desk again, he would definitely know that Drew had gone through it- the blonde was not a careful or dainty type.

And then, he found it. It had to be the same box- it fit the description perfectly. A black wooden box with golden accents, long and narrow. Drew placed it on the desk, looking at it.

He squinted at the box. "What are you?" he asked.

Then, the box opened, the top half peeling back as if on hinges.

"That's your grandfather's wand," he heard a voice say.

Drew jumped, turning in his chair to see his grandmother. His relationship with his grandmother was slightly tense ever since she had kept from him that his parents were in Azkaban, but he refused to dwell on it too much, especially since he was so engrossed in his search for his parents. "What?" he asked.

She entered the room, standing next to him as they both looked at the box. She was right- a wand lay within the box. "It used to be your grandfather's. It was in his will to your father after he died, but Alexander could never figure out how to open it. How did you do it?" she asked, in awe.

"I... I didn't. I just found it and put it down."

"English Oak and Romanian Longhorn Dragon Heartstring," Lucianna said. "Twelve inches, and flexible. He had it personally made for him. English Oak favors the strong, loyal and courageous. It chooses casters with intuition and an affinity with creatures and plants. It must have chosen... you."

The wand did chose him. He picked it up, analyzing it.

English Oak favored the strong, brave, and loyal. Drew was strong, not only physically, but in his emotional capacity. He always stood up for a friend, even if it got him in trouble. Even his first instance of magic was protecting a friend from a bully. He was brave, almost to a fault, often diving headfirst into things, even when they were dangerous. (There were numerous times when broom racing that he probably should have slowed down to get past an obstacle, but was convinced he could get through. It probably wasn't the best idea at the time, but it definitely proved his bravery.) And though he never was the best at school, Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures were two of his favorite classes. He always thought it was because they were more hands-on classes than lecture classes, but now that he thought about it, he probably did have an affinity for the natural world. Not to mention his bond with his dog, Buddy.

As for Dragon Heartstring, which favored powerful wizards, Drew supposed this suited him much more than any other wand core. Unicorn Tail Hair wands were consistent, and Phoenix Feather wands produced a variety of spells, but Dragon Heartstring focused more on power. Drew, always more prone to large and impressive spells rather than complicated and specific ones, he cared much more about power than variety or consistency. That may have also been why he chose broom racing rather than dueling or Quidditch- dueling took too much variety of spells and consistency, and Quidditch had too many rules. He would much rather just get on a broom and use his strength and power. Romanian Longhorns were bold and stubborn, and those traits were reflected in Drew. Like his search for his parents, he refused to give up on anything he put his mind to, even if it meant doing horrendous things like researching.

It was longer for a wand, though not an absurd length. This also was appropriate for Drew- shorter wands favored the refined, and longer wands preferred the flamboyant and dramatic. Loving to joke around with his friends, over-exaggerating most situations for humor, and enjoying flamboyant shows of arcane power and strength, a longer wand made more sense for Drew. Perhaps more length held more power, as opposed to more concentrated power, or perhaps this was just one of the mysterious qualities of wands, but it felt good as he turned it over in his hand. The length made it the perfect length in his hand- as he held it, the balance point was perfect.

Though it didn't bend in his hand, it wasn't solid either- he would describe it as flexible. Drew tried to be a friendly and open-minded person, never wanting to be so set in his ways that he missed out or was seen as cruel, but he could also be quite stubborn when it came to things that he was determined about. So he supposed even the nature of flexibility of the wood suited him- not too bendy to be a doormat, not too rigid to never admit he was wrong.

"Well? Give it a swish," Drew's grandmother encouraged.

Drew glanced to her, and then back to the wand. "Maybe you should stand back a little?"

She did step back, though she didn't look scared in the slightest. Seeing as the wand had already seemed to have chosen him by allowing the enchanted box to open, she must have doubted that anything crazy would have happened by testing the wand out.

He gave it a swish, and the entire room seemed to light up from the wand, making a low humming sound. He even felt his feet lifting off the ground slightly. His heart swelled, and his hand tingled like it had been struck by lightning. Everything about holding the wand just felt... right. Like it was made for the curves of his palm, the weight perfect in his hand. Like it was made for him. As the wand's reaction died down, he turned to his grandmother. "I suppose that means... it did choose me. But... why didn't it open itself to my father? He's strong, and brave, and loyal, and everything you said."

His grandmother shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. But as a very wise wizard once said, the wand chooses the wizard. You may keep it, if you like. Just be careful- it is quite powerful, and you may have bigger results than you originally hope for."

Drew nodded. "Thank you," he said, sitting back down in the office chair of his father.

Drew was never much of a student. He always had some friends that would study late into the night, earning themselves top scores. But lately, he became a stellar student, just... not in any school subject.

Newspapers were his newest obsession.

Of course, being a Hit Wizard, a top secret job, his father's office didn't have much helpful information in finding their guilt.

But being a journalist, and a journalist who kept many newspapers, his mother's office was a source of great knowledge. There had to be something in there that could give him even a hint of who he was looking for. His mother's office wasn't usually clean, but Drew was pretty sure he had made it the messiest it had ever been. There were stacks everywhere of newspapers that he read through, finding his mother's name and highlighting where her articles started. He searched for any way she could have insulted somebody, any way she could have said something the government didn't like, anything that could point to her being framed. There was nothing about his father, at least not by name. He was mentioned in some book reviews and such, but not anything that would point to anybody being so insulted they would frame them and send them to prison.

Because Drew was determined they had been framed.

But so far, throughout all of summer break, Drew had found absolutely nothing. His mother wasn't a journalist who liked to write opinion pieces or stir up drama in the Wizarding World. She was an informant, and wrote recommendations, and occasionally news. She wasn't anybody to hate, even from when she started writing articles right out of school.

Drew sat back in the desk seat, sighing. A clock ticked in the background, and he looked up. It was two in the morning. He knew he probably should have gone upstairs and gone to bed, but he didn't think he could bring himself to fall asleep. So many questions and not enough answers filled his head.

He sighed, standing, and decided he probably should go to bed. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He walked towards the door, but in his tiredness, bumped into the bookcase next to the door on his way out. He growled as a couple of books fell to the floor. Drew huffed- he already had made a mess of all her cabinets, drawers, and her desk, so he could at least keep her bookcase the way it was. He knelt down, putting the books back in the shelf, when he found something he didn't even know existed.

Yearbooks.

Seven yearbooks, one for each year that his mother had attended Ilvermorny, had been on the bottom shelf this whole time. He knew it was late, but he couldn't not look through the yearbooks.

He looked through her first year yearbook- all the pictures were in black and white, which made him smile. He didn't even know that Ilvermorny produced yearbooks for their students. When he looked back, it did say that it was student-created, so he deducted it was likely a student project that had faded away.

The blonde flipped to the picture portion, where the first years would be, and smiled as he found her. She looked so little, and her hair was bright purple. Drew laughed- it was like her to have crazy hair colors in school.

He found his dad, too, who was in the same year as her. He looked different, too- a little shy, even.

Drew, flipping through the yearbook, found one picture that was scribbled out. His brow furrowed, and he cocked his head. That was interesting- he wondered why the face had been scribbled out. The name under was Clint Kerr.

The boy quickly opened the second-year yearbook, looking for the same name. Clint Kerr- blacked out.

In every yearbook that Drew's mother owned, Clint Kerr was blacked out.

It dawned on him, slowly. This could be the enemy he was looking for. This could be the framer of his parents. Drew reshelved the books, including the yearbooks, but made a mental note to come back to them.

He left his mother's office, walking quickly through the halls to a room that he hadn't visited much in all his years of living here- the library. The library was huge, but not being a bookworm or the type of student to study or run after knowledge, Drew didn't read much. But one thing he did know was in here was an address book.

He pulled the huge tome out from the shelf, dropping it on a table. He flipped open the pages, searching for Kerr.

And there- Clint Kerr.

Thunder boomed, the sound overriding the crashing of waves against Drew's ears. He gasped for air, treading water under him to keep his head above the stinging saltwater. Only panic ran through his veins, and he could hear his heart pounding in his chest, under the deafening sound of the storm. The sea raged, tossing him back and forth. His legs ached, having been treading the water for so long. He couldn't let the ocean pull him under. He just couldn't.

The waters were dark, just like the sky, not a star or a sliver of moon in sight. A wave pushed his head under, and he kicked back up to the surface, coughing the salty water out of his mouth. His chest heaved, and he felt himself growing weaker by the second.

The storm pulled him under. As he sank deeper, he felt his legs give out. It was strangely calmer under the water, as he sank down, watching the rain hit the waves from below. The fight left his body, and water filled his lungs, bringing him deeper, deeper, deeper...

A hand grasped his shirt and pulled him up out of the water.

Suddenly, he was eleven, and at home. His mom was holding him by the shoulders. He had just told her he didn't understand potions at all and didn't ever want to go to potions class ever again. Her eyes softened.

"I'm not giving up on you."

He blinked, and he was nine, and he had twisted his ankle jumping off the fifth step of the staircase. The fourth step was his record, and he was determined to beat it. His dad wiped the tears from his face as his mom healed his ankle with her wand.

"I'm not giving up on you, bud."

He was six, and he had punched a kid at recess for being bullying a classmate. His friend was small, with glasses, and always got picked on by the biggest kid in the grade. Before he could get hurt, Drew punched him, and somehow, he got in trouble. His mother was on the phone with the principal, which took much explaining because of her pureblood past, and was defending him, furious with the principal at the injustice. She angled the phone away from her voice and locked eyes with her son.

"I'm not giving up on you, Drew."

He was four, and he couldn't figure out how to ride the little broom his parents had given him for his birthday. It was all he ever wanted to ride a broom and become the best broom racer in the world (well, at least for the past four months, it was all he could talk about), but he kept falling off into the grass. He felt his dad pick him up by the waist and brush him off.

"Come on. I'm not giving up on you."

He was just a baby, and couldn't sleep through the night. His mom held him in her arms as he cried, singing and rocking him.

"I'm not giving up on you."

Drew gasped, sitting up. He was in his bed again, surrounded by darkness.

August 8th, 2025

"Where are you going?"

Drew froze. He had been staying at his cousins' house for a couple of nights now, and he decided tonight would be the night. They wouldn't be up on a random summer night, right?

It had taken weeks and weeks of research to figure out why Clint Kerr was never at his home in America whenever Drew went by. And tonight, he was finally going to end this. All of this.

The blonde turned around. "Uh..."

Rose stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching as he hesitated at the door. Maybe his aunt or his grandma would be mad if she caught him like this, thinking he was sneaking out to get up to trouble. Or even his older cousin, Frankie. But Rose just looked at him, concerned. She knew more than anyone what was going on in his life- more than his grandma, more than his friends at school. And she knew he wouldn't sneak out if he didn't feel like he needed to.

Sometimes he wondered if she could read his mind. How had she known he was up? How had she known something was going to happen? Maybe being an animagus gave her some kind of feline sixth sense, or maybe she just knew him too well.

"I..." Drew sighed, leaning against the door. "I'm going to rescue my parents."

Rose blinked at him. "What?"

"I have a sneaking suspicion that this evil guy they went to school with kidnapped them and he spends the summer at his summer home in London. So that's where they would be and that's where I'm going."

"Why would he kidnap them?"

"Look, I don't have all the answers," Drew said, crossing his arms. "All I know is I want my parents back. And if that means sneaking into some guy's summer mansion, then so be it."

Rose paused, searching his gaze. Quiet stretched between them in the silent house. "I'm coming with you."

"No-"

"Stay right there. I'm coming."

"Rose-"

"I'm serious. I'll wake my mom up if you don't let me come," she said, turning to go up the stairs.

"Rose, you don't understand," he said under his breath, following her. She closed the door before he could follow her in there, and he grimaced, leaning against the doorframe. "It's going to be dangerous," he said, quietly. "I don't know what kind of security there will be, or how powerful he is. I don't know what's going to happen."

Rose opened the door, changed into dark clothes like he was. "I know," she murmured, pushing past him. "That's exactly why I'm going."

"Rose-" he chased her down the stairs, and out the front door.

She closed it, gently. Somehow, she was calm despite not even knowing what she was throwing herself into. "So, where to?"

"Rose, you can't come."

"Why?"

"Because I can't lose you."

"Well, guess what?" she said, pulling her wand out. "I can't lose you, either. Where to?"

Reducio

permission given to godmod Rose Moon because it's me

Crack.

Winter night air surrounded the two cousins, and Drew felt himself get pulled down.

"What-"

Rose waved her wand, and the world seemed to slightly blur around them.

Drew waited.

"You can talk now," she said. "Muffliato Charm."

"I thought we were apparating inside," Drew said. The two of them were behind a big bush, and trees surrounded them.

"Me, too," Rose said, peeking over the bush, which wasn't far away from a large metal gate. Drew peeked over with her, seeing the looming manor through the gate. It was surrounded by a metal fence with spikes on the top, and the gate was guarded. Rose ducked back down, and Drew followed.

"There must be some kind of enchantment on the manor stopping people from apparating inside," Drew said.

"It would have been too easy," Rose said. "We would have gotten caught immediately once inside."

The two cousins paused, faintly hearing the confused chatter of the guards. Drew hoped they would just brush the sound of him apparating off as just an animal or the wind breaking a tree branch. He wasn't sure how much that was going to matter, though, seeing as though there was no clear way in.

"I say we go in guns blazing," he said finally.

Rose rolled her eyes, but couldn't help suppressing a smile. "No."

"Come on, you're a Gryffindor! Aren't you supposed to love that kind of stuff?"

"I also love not getting killed."

Drew sighed, but he had to admit she was right. Two barely of age wizards against a whole guarded manor that was clearly protected with enchantments clearly wasn't the most effective choice.

Then, Drew watched realization spread slowly over her face. "What?" he asked.

"I have an idea."

"What is it?" he asked, and as she turned to meet his gaze, he furrowed his brow at her. "And why do I feel like I'm not going to like it?"

"You really aren't."

"Just say it," he sighed.

"I'm an animagus," she said. "So it wouldn't be hard at all for me to get inside. I can just pretend I'm some stray cat and nobody will be the wiser. I'm very stealthy and small and-"

"Well, I knew all of that, but I don't see-"

"I'm going to turn you into a ferret," Rose blurted.

Drew stared at her. "What."

"Please hear me out-"

"No!"

"We'll be able to sneak inside. You can use your nose to find your parents. I swear it'll work."

"What if you do it wrong? Or you can't... untransfigure me?"

"Trust me," she said. "A friend and I practiced spells like this a lot because we thought we might be able to use them in a duel. That's not exactly the case, but I promise you, I'm really good at it."

Drew clenched his jaw. She was right. He did not like her idea at all. But what he hated even more than her suggestion of turning him into a ferret was that it did make sense. They would be able to sneak through the manor much easier as small animals than as people. "Does it have to be a ferret?" he whined. "Can't you turn me into something cool like a wolf or something?"

"I only know so many human transfiguration spells," she said. "I doubt an armchair would be helpful, and a ferret would probably be better than a chicken, a pig, or a bat."

"Really? That's all that they teach you at Hogwarts?"

"Shut up. They teach you the same at Ilvermorny."

He peeked over the bush again, just briefly, before ducking down and sitting on the ground. The guards were still there, though they had seemed to brush off Drew and Rose's entrance."Okay. Turn me into a ferret."

She smiled, a relieved satisfaction (with perhaps a hint of mischief?) spreading over her face. "Okay. But we won't be able to talk once I do, so we have to make sure we're paying attention and-"

"We'll be fine," Drew said, brushing her off. "We have to hurry, though. I want to do this as soon as possible, when most people are asleep."

Rose turned her wand on Drew, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Furritas."

And the next thing he knew, Drew was a ferret. Rose shifted into her animagus form in front of him, and Drew wiggled his claws. Rose's whiskers twitched, and she turned towards the manor, crouching as she crept towards the fence.

Drew followed in her paw steps, not taking long to get the hang of walking. What was mostly different was how long his back felt. He placed his little brown paws down softly on the grass as he followed Rose. As they got to the fence, Rose glanced at the guarded gate and the unsuspecting guards, before sticking her head through two of the rods in the fence. She pushed the rest of her way through, her thick calico fur fluffing back out once she cleared the thin gap.

Drew followed, able to squeeze through the gap fairly easily because of his small size. The two set off side by side, walking quietly through the pine straw that led up to the manor. Drew realized that perhaps winging it wasn't always the best plan, because he had no idea how they were going to actually get in the house.

It was an impressive house. Most of it was made of black brick, and it was often accented with silver and white, with elaborate metalwork often found in the structure.

And... there. A window, slightly ajar on the second floor. A drainpipe ran alongside it, and Drew ran up to it. It didn't take long to clamber up, using the joints of the drainpipe as footholds (pawholds?) and Rose with her stronger legs and sharper claws followed in case she had to catch him. Drew jumped onto the windowsill and peeked into the room. It appeared to be a bedroom, one that reeked slightly of smoke, and a singular man sat at his desk on the other side of the room.

Drew felt as if his heart stopped. Could this be the very man whose house he intended to infiltrate? Rose and Drew, frozen on the windowsill, exchanged unsure glances. There was no time to find out now, and they had to stick to the plan. The very vague, very likely to fail plan.

Finally, Rose slid inside in the small crack the window offered, and from there jumped silently to the floor. Drew would never quite understand how cats did that. They were so quiet, so sneaky. Though he supposed he had grown up with a dog, and Buddy's goal never was being elegant or refined in any way.

Rose scanned the room, slinking under the huge black canopy bed near the door. Her green eyes shone up at him as he looked from her to the floor. It wasn't a long distance, certainly a safe jump, but Drew didn't know how to be careful like she did. He didn't know how to land silently.

And as Drew made the small leap toward the ground, there was a soft thump as he hit the ground.

The man at the desk whipped around, but not before Drew had been able to dart under the bed next to Rose. They both backed up, watching his feet as he was still turned around.

Drew felt his little heart pounding in his ears.

"Who's there?" the man asked, standing. He made his way towards the door, staring at the window and where Drew had jumped down. His feet lingered near the bed, and Drew tensed every muscle in his little body, ready to run at any moment.

But instead of peeking under the bed, the man turned to the door, opening it. "Ben?" he said, peeking his head out.

"Yes, sir?" a posh voice responded. Maybe a butler of some kind? "Are you alright?"

"Was that you?"

"Was... what me, sir?"

There was brief silence, and the man sighed, entering his room again, though his shoes were soon replaced by new ones- much more polished, clearly more taken care of. "Are you... hearing things again, sir?"

"It's fine," the man snapped, sitting down in his chair and turning his back. He had a distinct American accent, his voice carrying this tense kind of exhaustion that Drew did not envy. "Everything's fine. Why are you here, anyway?"

"I was just coming to check on you, sir. You should be asleep. It's-"

"I know what time it is."

Rose nudged Drew with her nose. The butler had come further into the room, and was holding the door open as he faced the man, who was sitting at his desk again. If there was a time to get out of this room, it was now.

"I just... can't sleep when I know she's out there," the man said.

A silence followed, and Drew darted out from under the bed, passing the butler. Rose followed, and the two entered the hall. They looked down both sides of the hallway, finding it empty and dark at this late hour, and Drew raised his snout to the air as he vaguely heard the butler and man start arguing about smoking.

Rose's eyes darted around, clearly uncomfortable out in the open like this, especially with a light ferret like Drew. Not smelling anything useful, Drew and Rose picked a direction, walking down the hall against the wall. They ducked between shadows, constantly checking their surroundings as they turned the corner and opened up into a huge room. An elaborate door stood on the other side, down a grand staircase, and Drew was surprised it wasn't guarded, though he supposed there were likely guards outside.

The two made their way down the stairs in the dark entryway, and Rose stopped in her tracks as she reached the bottom. Drew looked back at her, her nose twitching. Cats had better senses of smell than ferrets, but Rose hadn't seen her aunt and uncle in a long time, even longer than Drew had. She didn't know the smell of his dad's cologne or his mom's shampoo, signature scents they both enjoyed.

But Drew did. And he smelled them. They were here.

He lifted his nose, and there it was. It actually hadn't been long since they were here, in the entryway. Which didn't make sense. Why would they be so close to the door?

It didn't matter. He had the trail. Now it was time to follow it.

The manor's details blurred around Rose and Drew as he followed the trail. It was quite a unique experience, one that Rose wasn't sure her cousin would ever have again, but he was so focused on the task at hand that he couldn't really seem to dwell on the peculiarity of tracking down one's parents in ferret form.

Rose followed him closely, keeping an eye out for anybody up at this late hour. She had to admit, if it wasn't for the adrenaline pulsing through her, she would probably wish she was asleep right about now, but the tense situation kept her senses sharp. She was concerned, though, that Drew's were less so. Sure, he was laser focused, but she didn't know if she could trust him to be completely rational if anything happened. She could see so many places where something went wrong because of his emotion, and it scared her a little.

But could she really blame him for that? These were his parents they were talking about. Rose knew she'd be devastated and livid if anything were to happen to her mother, especially something as sinister as this, and she had three siblings at home. Drew didn't have anyone. It was just him and his parents and Gramma. They were the two most important people in his life, and he hadn't seen them in years.

The calico cat felt like she could jump at any sound, at any flash of light. This was so dangerous. Plus, if they got separated, how was anyone supposed to know that Drew was truly human? He could be trapped as a ferret forever. She hadn't shared this concern with him before making the decision, but it lingered in her mind now. She almost regretted even coming- maybe she should have just talked Drew down and found another way to get her aunt and uncle back. Maybe this guy could be reasoned with. Maybe the authorities could be involved. That would probably have been the smart thing to do.

But looking at Drew, even as a ferret, Rose knew there would be no talking him out of this. His eyes carried that determination that she recognized even from when they were young, telling her that there was no way he was going to be stopped. He had to do this, himself.

As they rounded another corner, Rose saw the guards before Drew did, and she jerked forward, grabbing him by the scruff to yank him back behind the wall. Drew wiggled out of her grasp, sending her a glare, and she suppressed the urge to swish her tail. Rose crouched down, her back against a vent on the wall. She kept to the shadows and looked around for any sign that somebody had heard their brief scuffle. The cool air from the vent felt good on her fur, giving her a brief moment to breathe as Drew peeked around the corner, seeing two guards standing in front of the doorway along the wall.

He looked back at her, great meaning in his blue eyes. She blinked her own green ones, understanding. That was the room.

Rose looked up at the ceiling, at the walls. There had to be another way in. And then, she realized.

Both Rose and Drew looked aside at the vent she was crouched next to, realizing in tandem their next move. Rose stepped back and shifted into her human form, keeping low as she pointed her wand at the screws fastening the vent cover to the wall. Drew watched, likely jealous she had the option to be human whenever she wanted, as the redhead detached the vent cover with a simple and silent unlocking charm.

She placed the cover back on the ground, carefully, before shifting back into her feline state. She looked at the cover on the ground as Drew entered the vent, wondering if she should somehow find a way to reattach it to cover their tracks. Though she hoped by the time the cover was discovered, they would all be out of this place.

It really was quite a beautiful manor, she admitted to herself as she squeezed into the metal vent space, though the old metal vents were less so. It was a fairly easy fit for small-legged Drew, but Rose had to crouch down quite a bit to fit inside. She was lucky, she supposed, that cats were such... liquid creatures. She found that if her head could fit in a space, the rest of her body could follow, and that seemed like a sort of hidden talent few talked about. It made her feel a little like an octopus.

Drew still seemed to be following the scent, his quiet little sniffles audible to her as they echoed in the metal space. They had to turn a few corners, and Rose felt her muscles cramping slightly, but it wasn't long before they reached another vent cover.

The room on the other side was actually fairly... nice. A large, comfortable bed sat on the other side of the room, and a couple of armchairs sat against the right wall, the large door on the left. But though the nice room seemed to be quite homely, there were many signs that this was not so. The sheets were nailed to the bed, not allowing them to be removed, and there was no window in sight or softer light than the one above their heads. A blonde woman, who sat against the bed on the floor, seemed devoid of all hope. She held a bottle of perfume in her hands and watched the glass shimmer. The few drops of perfume at the bottom swirled around as she moved it. A dark-haired man sat in one of the armchairs, slumped, with his head back as he stared at the ceiling.

Rose didn't know why they were up, but as she scooted next to Drew to press her face to the vent cover, she could see their eyes. Sure, maybe they didn't look as refined as usual, their hair frizzy and their clothes askew, but they weren't badly groomed- it was clear they were skinnier than she had ever seen them, but they weren't being starved, and they had showered in the past week. But their eyes were a sight that would haunt Rose for a long time, utterly hopeless. As if they were dead.

Rose couldn't think of any better way to get their attention than to meow.

It had to have been a strange sight to Colette and Alexander Lycan. A ferret and a cat crouching in the vent, faces pressed up against the cover, both with strangely familiar eyes staring at the couple.

Their gazes latched onto the vent cover in unison, utterly speechless at the situation they found themselves in. "Merlin," Coco said, coming to crouch in front of the vent. "They're trapped."

Xander laughed, a hoarse and empty thing. "We must be seeing things."

Coco pressed a hand to the vent cover, and Drew raised a paw to touch hers. "Xander... there's something..." Her eyes searched the animals in front of her. "Never mind," she said. "I really must be imagining this."

"No, say it," he said, sitting up.

"There's something familiar about them," Coco said. Xander narrowed his gaze at her, but still came to crouch next to her in front of the vent. "Look at their eyes."

Xander did, inspecting the pair in front of him. Rose didn't know what came over him in that moment, whether it was a paternal kind of instinct or whether he actually recognized his son's eyes in a ferret's body, but something seemed to shift.

"We have to get them out."

Coco laughed, the same empty one he had before. "How?"

"Give me that," he said. She handed her bottle of perfume to him, and he tore the cap off. The golden top was circular, and thin enough to use as a screwdriver. He began working at the screws of the vent cover, his face hard with determination Rose had seen mirrored in Drew's eyes just moments before.

It took a few minutes of struggling, but as the vent cover came off, the two creatures tumbled into the room. Drew jumped at his mother and father, a crazed frenzy of energy at the sight of them. They were both surprised, credibly, as ferrets were not usually seen jumping around and nuzzling into people. They both scooted back and laughed, real laughs this time at the strange nature of it all.

Rose shifted into her human form, and whipped her wand out to cast the Muffliato Charm before the guards outside could hear the screams of her aunt and uncle.

Their faces were both slack as Rose stood before them. "Um... hi," she said.

"...Rose?" Coco asked, tenderness in her voice.

"Yeah," she said.

They stared at her. "Is this a trick?" Xander's voice was quiet. "How do we know you're not just another one of his attempts to get information out of us?"

"I... what?" Rose was taken aback. She guessed she had expected a much more happy reunion, but there was only distrust in their eyes. "No, it's really me. I..." She paused, taking a moment to think. "My tenth birthday. You took me and my siblings and Drew ice skating. Jess cried and Gabe and Frankie fought over something stupid like the best way to skate. And..." Faith's name caught in her throat, refusing to leave her lips.

The redhead watched as their expressions shifted from shock to awe and pride. They both got up, slowly. "It is you," Coco said, coming forward and taking her niece in her arms.

"You're an animagus," Xander said, a smile on his face as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Their attentions drifted down to the ferret still jumping at them. "Does that mean..."

"Oh, no, Drew's not- he's not an animagus," Rose said. "But..." she continued, smiling. "That is your son."

Rose pointed her wand at the light colored ferret, ignoring her aunt and uncle's myriad of expressions. "Reparifarge." Drew shot up, and it wasn't long before he was standing that he was enveloped in his parents' arms.

It really was quite a beautiful moment, and Rose felt her eyes brim with tears. Drew's body was racked with sobs, such an unusual sight to her. He was so tall, even taller than his mother now, so strong, so confident. He always seemed so sure of himself and so independent. But now, held in the arms of his parents, he seemed to revert back to just a little kid, burying his face in their shoulders. His family was whole once more. All three of them. As it should be.

She let a tear slide down her cheek and thought about what it would be like for her family to be reunited like this. She held her wand hand with the other by her stomach, admiring the sight. Maybe she should have been jealous, but this moment wasn't about her.

They pulled back finally after a moment, the two parents looking their son in the eyes. The moment should have lasted longer, but they all knew that they didn't have much time.

"I knew it was you," Coco said. "I thought I was going crazy."

"You've grown," Xander said. He looked over Drew's shoulder to Rose, holding his hand out to her. "A lot has changed since we've been gone, hasn't it?"

She smiled sadly, another tear falling down her cheek. She took her uncle's hand, letting him pull her in to stand with the three of them. "More than you know," she admitted softly.

"I'm so sorry," Coco said, cupping Drew's face with one hand. "I'm so sorry we've missed so much. You've had to do so much growing up on your own."

"It's not your fault," he replied, shaking his head. His expression turned from the gentle softness and affection he had for his parents back into the hardened determination he had earlier, seeming renewed upon their reunion. "But we are going to get you out of here."

"How?" Coco asked. "You can't apparate in or out of the manor."

"Yeah, we learned that the hard way," Drew said.

"Rose could turn us all into ferrets," Xander suggested, mostly serious but with a refreshing glimmer of humor in his eyes. "Get out the same way you got in."

But before they could finalize an escape plan, the door opened with a bang. Spells shot at the four inside the room, and Rose's dueling instincts kicked in. She was barely able to duck from the first spell slung her way, shielding herself from the next, but there were too many guards flooding in the room, and she couldn't fight off all of them. Within seconds, Rose hit the floor with the rest of her family in the room, unconscious.

"Andrew Lycan."

When the cousins came to, slowly regaining their consciousness, they were in a dark room, illuminated only by candles lit on the desk in front of them and the moonlight shining through the two floor-length windows on either side. They were sitting in chairs, hands bound behind the backs. The voice behind them startled the pair, and he rounded the desk to stand behind it.

"That's not that impressive," Drew shot back as he did. "I know who you are, too, Clint Kerr."

The dark-haired man raised an eyebrow at that, and Drew suppressed a small satisfied smirk.

"So you know then. You know why I had to do this."

"I know you're insane," Drew hissed. "To keep two people against their will just because of a stupid schoolyard grudge-"

Kerr slammed his hands down on the desk. "Don't you dare-" Drew wished he didn't feel affected by the man in front of him, but there was something crazed, something desperate in his eyes that he couldn't understand. Plus, no matter how much he struggled against the ropes binding him, he knew it was useless.

"Your parents took everything from me, Andrew," he said, his voice dangerously low. "We... we were going to be so... powerful. We were heirs to some of the most affluent families in America and powerful wands in the world, expertly crafted. We called them the Dragon Wands." Kerr reached into his pocket, pulling out three wands. One was an ash one Drew didn't recognize, and the other two belonged to Rose and Drew. He put his own back in his pocket and carelessly dropped Rose's chestnut wand to clatter on his desk. "English Oak and dragon heartstring- Romanian Longhorn. A powerful, stubborn, and loyal dragon." He admired the wand in front of him. "Almost identical, the three of them, if only we could figure out how to access their magic."

Drew remembered the box opening to him, revealing the wand inside that Kerr held in his hands now. "But the wands didn't choose you."

Kerr glared at Drew. "I don't know how you came to have this wand, boy, where your parents have sniveled away the other that formerly belonged to me, or where the third has been hidden, but I do know that your parents betrayed me. They gave up on me, gave up on us. We were going to set everything right- no more of these muggles and half-bloods in our schools, in our workplaces. We wanted real magic. True magic."

He turned, crazed eyes still on Drew's wand. "Pure magic."

Kerr walked to the window to the right of his desk, letting the moonlight shine on the Dragon wand in his hand. "They said that we were wrong. That mudbloods and squibs were as good as any wizard," he snarled. Drew felt Rose tense beside him, holding her anger back. "They left me. Abandoned me when I needed them, said I was crazy. My two best friends. And the box that held my dragon wand went mysteriously missing."

"You're crazy," Drew whispered. "You're actually insane."

"Right as my daughter went mysteriously missing."

The two cousins sat in silence, flabbergasted by this new revelation.

"...what in Merlin's name are you talking about?"

"My daughter. My precious Katerina, gone. Kidnapped by your parents," he said, running his fingers over the wand in his hand as his eyes darkened.

"My parents would never-"

"Oh, but they did. Who else would have reason to steal the wand? Who else would have reason to hurt me like them? They admit to nothing, and I won't let them free until they tell me where she is."

The weight of Kerr's words hung in the air, stunning Drew speechless.

And out of nowhere, with a faint whistling noise, a spell shot towards Kerr. It hit him square in the back and his limbs became rigid, and he fell backwards to the floor, stiff as a board. Rose was standing , her hand shaking and the knuckles white as she gripped the wand he had left on the desk.

She turned towards Drew, murmuring something as she pointed the wand at his hands, the motion making the ropes fall loose. Drew rubbed his hands as she rushed towards Kerr's body. "How did you-?"

Rose took Drew's wand from Kerr's hand, passing it to him as they stood by the door. Relief flooded him as he was once again united with his grandfather's wand, armed once more.

"Do you think there's any use in being sneaky?" Drew asked.

Rose considered it for a moment, then shook her head. "Probably not."

"Let's get out of here," he said, raising his wand to point at the door.

"Wait-"

Rose turned back to Kerr, who was just barely moving now, struggling to try and sit up. "We're going to bring your daughter back. I promise."

"What-"

"Later- just go."

Drew shrugged. She was right. There was no time for her cryptic words right now.

"Bombarda!"

Bang.

The door burst open, and the explosion gained Rose and Drew only a moment of cover before they sprinted down the grand staircase. Guards were soon in their wake, but the two teens were fast enough to get out the front door. As they ran through the snow, their breath coming in fast puffs, they constantly had to duck out of the way of the spells shooting at them. Rose tried to conjure a shield behind them a couple of times, but it didn't last long as the spells soon broke it.

Rose grabbed Drew's arm as they approached the fence, pointing her wand behind her. "Ascendio!" she said, and the two were launched into the air. The moment they cleared the fence, gravity pulling terror out of their lungs, he felt her grip tighten on him.

Crack.

references this solo

Rose peeked out the closed blinds of the front door.

"Are we sure they didn't follow us?"

"Yes. We apparated away as soon as we got outside the perimeter. Nobody followed us."

"This is bad," Drew said, and she could hear the panic in his voice. "Like, really bad. We went to rescue my parents and they're in this random guy's mansion and we have nothing more than what we started with except for a story about how my parents didn't turn into bad guys and how he really likes my wand."

The redhead turned to him, confused. "We have so much more. We know where your parents are, why they're there, and that the guy who kidnapped them is... kinda... stupid."

Drew sighed, pacing in the living room. All the lights were off in their paranoia, not wanting to attract any more attention from those they had just left behind or their family. "Rose, I get that you're smart and analytical and stuff, but cheap insults really aren't helping. My parents are locked in a fancy manor against their will. And your mom is going to be incredibly suspicious if she finds out that we snuck out."

"We just need to act fast, then-"

"How? He knows we're coming back. It's the obvious move for us: rescue them."

"You're right, Drew. We're on a time crunch." Rose followed him in the living room and leaned against the wall. "But I'm serious- he's stupid. They tied our hands so loosely and... unskillfully that your average boy scout would laugh at the ease even I could untie myself. He didn't have any of his minions in there as he explained his entire motivation to us, either. And now we know what he wants."

"I mean, I don't know what a boy scout is, but you're right. It was pretty easy to get out of there. Plus, when we left Kerr, what were you saying about-"

"There's this girl I know at Hogwarts," Rose started.

"Rose, your personal anecdotes aren't-"

"Drew!" Rose snapped. "Can you listen to me? Her name is Katerina Kerr."

Her voice had been uncharacteristically rough and quick, and she felt bad immediately after, but it did what she had intended it to do. Drew slumped down on the couch, narrowing his eyes at her. "Okay, I'm listening."

Rose let out a breath, letting her voice return to normal and ensuring it stayed hushed as to not wake her family in their relatively small house. "She said she lived with her aunt because she didn't get along with her dad. She didn't say it, but I know she ran away. And Kerr said that his daughter's name was Katerina- they both look so alike- it has to be her."

Drew, still slightly stunned by her sharp tone and processing what she was trying to explain to him. "But Kerr thinks my parents kidnapped her."

"But they didn't. She ran away. If we can go to her and convince her to reconcile with her dad..."

She watched as he sat up, her idea making sense to him at last. "Then he'll realize he's wrongly imprisoned my parents..."

"...over a stupid school grudge-"

"-and he'll let them go."

Rose nodded, much preferring that they finish each others' sentences rather than interrupt each other. "Exactly. I'll write to her right now."