After leaving Newt in the kitchen to ponder over the book on curses he was reading I made my way through Small Heath until I made it to the surgery. I wasn't too surprised to see Dr Turner leaning against Lucy's desk, the pair of them muttering softly.

I didn't like the look Dr Turner gave me when he turned to look at whomever entered his peace.

"Nurse Shelby." And there was the condescending tone he was going to use. "I'm not impressed with your behaviour yesterday." He pushed his cigarette out into the ashtray on Lucy's desk, his arms coming to cross over his chest as his eyebrows furrowed in a frown. "Mrs Gibbs was traumatised when I got to her yesterday."

"She went through a miscarriage, of course she was traumatised!" I snapped, annoyed that he was pointing the blame at me.

"You weren't on duty, you should have never gone to her."

"Are you blaming me for her loss? She was already losing too much blood when I arrived. There was no preventing her delivery," I told him, clenching my hands over the handle of my nursing bag as I glanced to see the same look on Lucy's face. She was agreeing with Dr Turner.

"That young woman went through something traumatic, she will never—"

"I know what she went through, Dr Turner, probably a hell of a lot better than you do." I couldn't stand the fact that he kept highlighting how traumatic Nora's experience was. Couldn't he think of anything better to say?

"Yes, yes, because you are a woman, you understand her feelings. Well, I would like to inform you, young lady, that just because you are a woman, it doesn't mean you will experience the same as every other woman out there."

What a condescending arsehole.

"As a matter of fact, Dr Turner, I can put myself in Nora's shoes because I —"

"You cannot put yourself in Nora's shoes! Stop thinking you can!"

"I miscarried yesterday!" I snapped at him, feeling my chest rise and fall rapidly like my anger. I was almost satisfied with the shocked look on his face. Almost. "Not that it's any of your business, Dr Turner, but I also experienced a miscarriage while helping Nora with hers. So yes, I can put myself in her shoes." I huffed and set my nursing bag down on the counter next to me as I turned to give him my full attention. "I don't think this is going to work out."

"No, I suppose it wouldn't do for you to be on the midwifery rota for a couple of weeks. You can start today's shift by giving a visit to Lizzie Stark," he grumbled, turning and grabbing a note from Lucy. "She was in an altercation last night with an unwanted guest. See to her wounds before finishing off with the factory lot."

There was something about the way he said altercation and guest that made me grit my teeth. He had no respect for a woman of Lizzie's profession. Just because she did what she had to to help her family meant it was alright to regard her with disgust.

"When I said this wasn't going to work I didn't mean me working on the midwifery rota. I meant working for you." I rolled my eyes at the blatant disrespect this man held towards women. It was clear he thought they were meant to be underneath him. And if I was any good at reading minds - which I was - he was very much pressuring Lucy into being underneath him almost every evening before returning home to his wife. "It was ... well I can't even say it was nice working with you because you're a stuck up arsehole."

"Why you little—" he stopped when I raised a hand in front of me.

"I would think carefully about what you're going to say or do, Dr Turner, lest you forget who my husband is."

Had I ever felt so powerful reminding someone that Thomas Shelby was my husband? No.

Did I enjoy seeing the fright in his eyes as he thought of all the horrible things Tommy could do to him? Yes.

"I'd watch my back if I were you, Dr Turner," I said, giving him a smug look as I picked up my medical bag and left the surgery.

There was something about telling a stuck up arsehole to watch his back that made me satisfied.

"Mrs Shelby!" Lucy called, causing me to turn to see her looking uncomfortable by the surgery door. "Dr Turner told me it was Inspector Campbell that hurt Lizzie." She looked scared and I was tempted to look into her mind. "He mentioned something about the Inspector going to see her again." She glanced down the street as if expecting someone to appear out of thin air. "I've seen what he's done to some of the ladies around here. She'll be in pain."

She didn't have to tell me about this, but I could see on her face that she actually was scared for the women in Small Heath.

"Thank you, Lucy. I'll go to Lizzie now."

"Tell her to stay away from home tonight. I don't want her ending up in a ditch."

"Okay." I gave her a firm nod before turning back around and heading in the direction I knew Lizzie lived in.

If Lucy was warning me about Campbell and wanted Lizzie out of her house tonight, how rough was he with women he thought he could rule over?

***********************************************************************************************

"Lizzie," I called, knocking on her door as I glanced around the street, ignoring the looks of her neighbours. "Lizzie, I know you're in there. Open the door." I could hear her shuffling behind the door and sighed in frustration. "Lizzie, if you don't open this door now I will blast it open," I told her, speaking softly so no one else would hear.

It seemed to work as she opened the door slightly, glancing at me from the darkness.

"What do you want?"

"I'm just here to help you, Lizzie. Can you let me in?"

She seemed to think about it, her eyes darting over my shoulder and taking in the street behind me, before pulling the door open and letting me in.

"I heard what happened last night," I told her, spinning as soon as she shut the door to give her a proper look over. "Merlin's beard, Liz, what did he do to you?" There was circular business running across her jaw and chin, the fine imprints of someone's fingers gripping hard. Both eyes were bruised and I could tell she'd been hit in the nose with the slight swelling under her left eye and the slit lip on the same side. There were clear bruises down her neck as well and I dread to think what the rest of her body looked like.

"It wasn't just him," Lizzie muttered going over to the small table cramped into her one room flat. "He had three other men with him. All Irish coppers, new to Small Heath."

"He brought others with him?" The thought of Campbell letting three of his men force themselves upon Lizzie made my stomach flip.

"One he had his fuck he pissed off," she grumbled, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep inhale. "He promised me more tonight." Her eyes flicked over to the small kitchen in the flat and I couldn't help my surprise at the amount of drugs she had piled on the side. "I was about to ... I was going to ..." she never got to speak the words as she gave into her sobs, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

Biting my lip, I blinked away my tears and made my way to her, carefully resting my hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, love, you pack a bag and you're coming home with me," I told her, pushing her hair behind her ear and giving her a soft smile.

"I can't, he ... he said—"

"I don't care what he said, Lizzie, you're coming home with me." I rubbed my thumb over the bruising on her jaw and gave another sad smile before turning and making my way to her dresser, pulling the bag out from underneath. "You can stay with us tonight and then I'll take you to Bessie's. I'll make sure a man stand guard outside at all times until I give Campbell a talking to."

"Why are you helping me?"

It was an innocent question. One I could understand why she was asking. The people in Small Heath weren't the nicest. I'd not been naïve to miss the looks they gave Lizzie when she joined us at the Garrison last Wednesday. They judged her for her profession.

That sort of thing didn't matter in the time I grew up.

"Do you know much about love potions?" I asked her, folding her clothes and placing them into her bag.

"Only what Bessie taught me after she returned from Hogwarts," she replied, staying in her seat as I waved her off.

"You get the basics of what they do, right? Make someone falsely love the giver. They become infatuated by it." I turned to face her and gave a sad smile as I remembered Merry. "My sister, she ... she tricked her husband into falling in love with her by keeping him on a love potion. She did it for months, Lizzie. Kept him trapped in this false reality where he was in love with her when in real life he hated her. He hated that she was a witch. People in the village teased her and were cruel because of her looks. No matter how horrid he was to her she was in love with him because he was beautiful."

"What happened?"

"I wish Merry hadn't of been so stupid, keeping him strung along for that long. She became naïve to the effects of the love potion. She thought because he was so infatuated with her while taking it that he'd love her without it, but as soon as she took him off the potion he ran away."

"I'm sorry."

"No! That's not the point, Lizzie, we shouldn't be sorry for Merry but for Tom. She tricked him. She used a potion to bend his will. What she did was wrong. By tricking him like that, by making him consume that love potion was taking away his free will and his consent. She's no better than Campbell and his men and that disgusts me! My own sister is no better than the rapists roaming the streets. She did horrible, wrong things to Tom, but I still love her." I wiped away my tears and clenched my hands over my mouth holding in my sobs. "I love her and she was .. she was a monster."

I startled as Lizzie wrapped her arms around me, bringing my head to rest against her shoulder as she rubbed my back, gently shushing me as my tears escaped.

"You don't believe that, Romy. Merry wasn't a monster." Her hands patted my back before pushing me back to look me in the eyes. "I remember seeing her, you know. She was a sweet thing, misunderstood and misguided but not a monster. I've seen monsters and Merry wasn't one."

"But what she did—"

"Was wrong, yes, but I've seen the look in there eyes when they rape. They enjoy it, they enjoy the fight. Merry, she ... she did something wrong, something she did because she falsely believed it was love but she didn't get off on his pain. She believed he loved her and as misguided as that was, she only wanted something she'd never had before."

Hearing it from Lizzie, listening to the way she explained it made sense. In a way.

I hadn't ever thought about the way Merry had put Tom Riddle under a love potion and then went on to rape him because there were more important things to worry about at the time, but the last couple of months had allowed my mind to wonder and with Campbell and his men roaming the streets and hurting woman made me think how Merry wasn't any different.

But Lizzie was right.

Merry didn't do it because she got off on the pain; she did it because no one had ever loved her.

Not under Tom was put under a love potion.

Not until I came into her life.

"Come, along, let's leave before it gets dark," Lizzie said, giving my shoulder a squeeze and picking up her bag.

***********************************************************************************************

On the way home, even as Lizzie's arm was tucked in mine, I couldn't help but notice the amount of children running barefoot in the streets, just like Artie and Danny had been doing.

It pained me to see how many children were running around. Had all of them lost parents to the war or were they just being neglected?

"What are you thinking about?" Lizzie asked, nudging me as we got closer to the house.

"I've got a crazy idea, Liz, a real crazy idea," I told her, biting on my bottom lip as the idea continued to grow. She gave me a look that said to continue but I shook my head and nodded towards the house. "I want to talk it over with the rest of the family."

"Oh, then perhaps I should go to Bessie's now," she muttered, sounding put out at the mention of family.

"Shut up, Lizzie, you're part of my crazy idea," I told her, dragging her into the house, not finding it surprising at all that the house had recognised her as family. Perhaps it was so intune with my mind it was already guessing my future ideas. "Tommy?" I called after the door closed, wondering if he was already home.

It came to no surprised that when we entered the kitchen that all the Shelby's were gathered around the table. Since Tommy moved in here with me and TJ, everyone seemed to make this their headquarters and no longer lingered around the betting den.

"Fucking hell, what happened, Lizzie?" John asked, getting up from his seat and coming over to the battered woman.

"That was Campbell and his men," I told them, directing Lizzie to the seat John got out of and turned to face my husband. "I have an idea."

"That's never good," Newt muttered, coming into the kitchen, a book resting against his chest in his folded arms.

"My ideas are always good, Newton, if you remember I found you in France when you were getting your arse beaten because they thought you were a traitor," I said, giving him a pointed look.

"You promised not to mention that," he grumbled, his cheeks flushing red as Ada laughed at him.

"How many times did you go to France?" Tommy asked, clearly understanding this was a different time to when we saw each other.

"That's not the point." I waved him off as he went to argue and glanced at the whole family. "I want to open a children's institute and start taking care of the children of Small Heath."

No one seemed to answer me, all of them pondering over the idea. I could figure out what Tommy was thinking. He was trying to understand how this would benefit us.

"If we've seen helping the orphans of Small Heath we'll gain more respect. I don't like the idea of any of those children wandering the streets in search of food, stealing what they can and then sleeping out in the cold and wet because they have nowhere to go. If we can do something about it then I want to."

"Aye, I agree," Arthur said, being the one to surprise everyone by agreeing first. "Romy saved my boys from the streets. I owe it to her so I'll help her with this."

"How are you going to fund this children's institute?" Polly asked, which was a reasonable question seeing as she was in charge of finance.

"I have the money." Thinking about it, I had more than enough money to fund it. "Only Tommy knows this," I said, glancing at my husband before flicking my eyes over at Newt. "I'm the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, which means I'm the heir of Slytherin and have a lot of money to my name."

"You own one forth of Hogwarts," Newt said, sounding beyond shocked.

"Well, when you put it like that, then yeah, probably."

"You have a seat on the Wizengamot." Still the sound of disbelief.

"Technically I have two as I'm also a descendant of the Peverell family."

"Really?"

"Look, this is fascinating and all, but why am I here?" Lizzie asked and I knew she had some sort of idea as to what we were talking about.

"I want you to help me run the children's institute," I told her, smiling at the surprised look on her face. "Come on, Lizzie, you don't need to be selling yourself anymore. Take the job, help me with the institute."

"Why me?"

It was a good question. Out of everyone in Small Heath why did I ask her?

"You know about magic, Liz, I intend to use my sources to find all the orphaned magical children and have them raised at the institute where they can learn about their magic like any other magical child would."

"Because we never got that chance," Tommy added, catching onto where my thoughts had gone. "You think we would have developed our magic like Finn if we'd had the chance, don't you?"

"I think there could have been a possibility. You all have such strong instincts and I believe that's your magical core warning you. If you were around magic more as children you'd have developed it like Finn or John's kids."

"My kids?" John asked, a frown forming over his eyes.

"I feel it growing in them, John, they use their magic accidentally sometimes and think it's the house. They're all going to grow into spectacular witches and wizards."

"If they're anything like you, they'll be amazing," John said, giving me a wink.

"So if we're doing this," Tommy said, pulling out a cigarette and rubbing it against his bottom lip. "If we're opening this children's institute, where and when is it gonna happen?"

"Well, I'll need Lizzie's help finding the right building." I glanced at Lizzie, hoping she'd be willing to help. I gave her a bright smile when she nodded in agreement. "Once we find the building, I can have things sorted in a couple of weeks and during that time, Phin and Newt can use their contacts in the wizarding world to find any information on orphans and we can gain the trust of the children of Small Heath."

"What do you intend on calling the institute?" Pol asked, a curious look on her face.

"The Shelby Home for Children," I said, hoping they'd all agree to the name.

"Shelby?"

"Of course, we own Small Heath, it's about time people start recognising that."

***********************************************************************************************

Thank you for reading xx