They had made it back to the village over two hours ago, and though Harry had stayed with Gwen to keep her company he had to leave for the afternoon. Gwen wanted to protest when Harry told her this, not wanting to be by herself in a village of boys that did not like her. But she didn't, she stayed silent and merely mumbled a goodbye before Harry had left with Peter and two of the other lost boys. After hiding herself in the room of his hut, she finally decided she needed to go out. She was now standing off to the side in the middle of the village, her hands clasped in front of her as she hesitantly gazed at her surroundings.

Some boys were playing a game of tag, threading through the various huts and laughing as they ran. Gwen smiled at the sight and hesitantly began to walk around the camp. She observed the different activities that were going on, three other boys playing tick tac toe and using sticks to draw in the ground. They were too busy with their game to notice her standing there watching them, but it hadn't lasted long when Gwen laughed lightly at one of their reactions and the same boy looked up at the sound of It. The glare he sent her ceased it immediately and she looked away, turning on her heel to keep walking through the village.

The sound of repeated pounding echoing off the trees that surrounded the camp area caught her attention and she found herself drifting in the direction it came from. She turned a corner, the pounding much louder now and her eyes fell to the source of it. Three boys stood behind a wooden table, using a rock as a hammer as they tried to shape the edges of a bark of wood. They were too focused on their work to notice Gwen's scrutinizing gaze but she was so enthralled with what they were making, that she hadn't noticed the small boy sitting at the foot of the table until one of the boys tossed his finished piece down to him. Gwen stared at the boy, immediately observing that he might of been one of the youngest she had seen in the village so far. He looked to be around six- maybe seven years old but he was short for his age. His legs were small and his hands were pudgy, extra baby fat in his cheeks that made them puff out as he focused on the task in his hand. Gwen stood there quietly as she watched him him try to loop a string of bamboo through the tiny holes into the odd shaping stick the boy had tossed on the ground. It looked like a slingshot, a bad replica of one but it was done okay enough for her to recognize what it was supposed to be. There was a pile sitting at the little boy's feet, one that was increasingly growing and the boy seemed to have noticed too. Becoming more agitated with the task he was obviously assigned. His cheeks were red in frustration and something tugged at Gwen's chest when she heard him whimper like the child he was. She couldn't take it.

She moved forward, the three boys working behind the table pausing momentarily to glance at her before they continued with their work and chose to ignore her. She stopped once she reached the little boy, looking down at his light brown unruly hair. He didn't look up at her but when Gwen cleared her throat his head snapped up in surprise, blue eyes wide as he gazed up to meet her hazel ones. "Hello. I'm Gwen." She smiled warmly at him but he merely blinked at her before looking back down at the slingshot and string of bamboo in his hand. "Do you need help?" Gwen asked him softly but he continued to ignore her. She stood there as he tried to tie the bamboo through the holes again, small hands struggling to grip both ends correctly. Gwen decided she would take the initiative and sunk down onto the dirty floor, moving to sit cross legged beside him.

She said nothing to him as she reached for a slingshot then a string of bamboo. Carefully, she slipped it through both holes on either side of the wood and began to tie them. She left it loose enough for the bamboo to be stretched back before setting it to the side to create a new pile of finished ones. She reached for another one afterwards, silently repeating the same task as before. By the fourth one she was making, she noticed the little boy beside her had stopped fiddling the one in his hands. She could feel him watching her but she didn't want to let him know she knew, afraid he would retreat so she let him stare. Only when she caught the hesitant movement of his hands in her peripheral vision did she turn her head to take a peek at him. His gaze was on her hands, scrutinizing the movements of them before he'd look down at his own and try to mimic her actions. Gwen smiled warmly at the sight, slowing down so he could watch more easily.

She was so lost in thought about the island a few minutes later that she nearly jumped right out of her skin when the boy beside her shouted in triumph. Her head snapped down to look at him to see his toothy smile and his blue eyes sparkling as he held up the finished product. "I did it!"

"You did." She agreed with a grin of her own and he looked up at her timidly, seeming to have realized how excited her got in front of her. His chubby cheeks flushed pink and he looked down, tossing the slingshot he just made into the pile Gwen had created. He was silent as he reached for another, sighing quietly as he readied himself to make another one. Gwen paused to watch him work, noticing how he always hesitated once it came to tying the bamboo. His eyebrows would furrow in concentration and when his eyes kept flickering between his hands and Gwen's, she realized the real problem.

"Do you not know how to tie a knot?"

He looked up at her, startled by her question before hurriedly looking down at the slingshot again. He didn't answer her but she knew she had hit the nail on the head when he kept fiddling with the bamboo, waiting for her to continue her own work so he could mimic her again. But she didn't want him to have to keep watching her for guidance. She was going to teach him herself.

"Here," she moved to grab a long string of bamboo and bent her leg until her bare foot was close enough to reach. "I'll teach you. Just watch me, okay?"

The boy nodded slowly and Gwen slipped the bamboo under her foot, bringing both ends up on either side. "Okay, first you take this side and wrap it underneath the other," she said before demonstrating what she meant. "Then you pull it." She pulled. "And then you basically do it again. Slip this side underneath and pull again." She pulled it once more, leaning back to display the knot now on her foot. "See? It's easy."

He didn't say anything for a moment but he nodded, blue eyes flickering up to look at Gwen. "C-can I try?"

Gwen smiled and nodded. "Of course." She quickly undid the knot, and this time held her wrist out for him to practice tying the knot on. He slipped the bamboo underneath her arm, bringing both ends up but unevenly before tying them together the way Gwen had showed him. He leaned back once he was finished and although it was a loose knot and the bamboo slipped down her arm, he did good for his first real try. "Good job. Just keep practicing and you'll become an expert." She said in encouragement and she felt her heart warm when he gave her a happy smile. His small fingers worked to undo the knot before he was practicing on tying the bamboo again around Gwen's wrist. She watched him for a long while, murmuring words of encouragement to him as he went and correcting the small mistakes he made. He didn't fuss when she did it but took it in stride, following her suggestions and each time he was improving. He even felt more confident by the time Gwen told him she thought he was ready to make more slingshots.

"I-I never learned how to tie my shoes." He suddenly shared with her as he picked up another slingshot. "M-mum never taught me."

Her heart stopped in her chest at the mention of his mother and she looked down at him with curiosity and sadness. "You remember your mum?"

"A little." He whispered. "B-but she left me with a mean lady and other boys. She s-said she would be back but she never c-came."

She left him at an orphanage. Gwen's heart broke for the little boy and she looked away, biting her lip and willing herself not to cry. She always had a huge soft spot for children and this boy was so innocent and pure. She could never fathom how a mother could abandon their child. And now here he was, stuck on an island with a bunch of other boys that probably didn't care about him as much as they should. She had the urge to bring him under her wing, and she silently promised that as long as she was there she would take care of him. He was far too young to be on this island. And though Gwen still felt she was too young as well, he needed a mother figure and she was the only one on the island who knew anything of that nature.

She cautiously reached behind his back and rubbed it in comfort. Immediately, the boy looked up to her in surprise but she felt him relax. "What else haven't you learned?"

He frowned. "To swim. Harry won't let me go out to the sea or lake on my own."

"He's smart for that. You'd drown if you went by yourself."

"But I can never go swim with the others." He whined quietly and Gwen tried to hide her smile that he seemed to be quickly warming up to her. "They say I'm too small and they don't want to have to take care of me while they have fun."

"I'll tell you what," Gwen started. "I will teach you how to swim. And the next time everyone goes out for a swim I'll come with you and take care of you myself so you can have fun as well."

"Really?" His blue eyes were wide in hope and Gwen nodded. "T-hank you Miss."

"Gwen. Call me Gwen." She said, tilting her head as she realized she didn't know his name. "What do I call you?"

"I'm Tristan." He whispered shyly and Gwen grinned at the name.

"That's a nice name." She commented and he blushed. Gwen smiled at his reaction, thinking it was adorable how shy he was. She looked down at the pile they had created, noticing he already had finished four more slingshots. She was about praise him for his good work when the sudden sound of boys' cheering in the distance caught her attention. The three boys behind the table that she almost forgot about dropped their what they were doing in an instant and ran around the table in the direction of where the cheers came from. Tristan gasped beside her, and unlike the three boys who took off with excitement, she noticed the look of fear on Tristan's face.

"What's going on?" She asked, seeing more boys run by with a sense of urgency. Her eyebrows furrowed in concern and she began to stand up when Tristan reached for her hand to pull her back down. But she was much bigger than him and he was too small.

"No! Don't go! I don't want to see them fight!" Tristan shouted in fear and Gwen's eyebrows shot up.

"Fight? They're fighting?" She glanced in the direction the boys had disappeared to and began to move towards it when the small hand clasped around hers tugged her back.

"Don't go." He pleaded and she squatted down to pick him up swiftly. He clung to her, wrapping his arms around her neck as he buried his head into her shoulder. Gwen hurriedly moved in the direction the other boys went in, moving around a few huts until the cheering grew louder. Her steps faltered once she reached the middle of camp and saw the large crowd cheering, all of them circling something that was happening in the middle. She couldn't see, and she began to gently tug Tristan off of her but he wouldn't let go. He was quietly begging her to let them be but after a few words of comfort whispered into his ear he reluctantly released her. She set him down on the ground and he followed close behind her as she went towards the crowd and shoved her way towards the front.

Gwen gasped when she saw the reason the boys were cheering, horror and concern filling her in an instant. Two boys were in the middle, fighting each other with their fists. Blood poured out of one boy's mouth and his eyes looked to be drooping. He swayed on his feet but that didn't stop the other boy, the same one Gwen had recognized from the night before that she thought was much taller then the others, from punching the bleeding boy square in the face. Once his fists connected with his jaw, Gwen sprang into action, ignore the pleading shouts of Tristan as she ran into the open middle. Immediately, she gripped the back of the large boy's torn old shirt and ripped him away from the nearly unconscious one. The action sent him falling on his behind but Gwen didn't stop to see if he was okay, too distracted with the one who was lying on the floor bleeding. She ran to him, bending down to check for a pulse. He was still alive thankfully but she could see he was in no shape to be fighting anymore. She didn't even know why there were doing it in the first place.

Her head snapped up then, eyes filled with anger. "Are you insane? What is the matter with you? Why would you hit him?" She shouted, barely noticing that the cheers around her had died down.

"We were having a friendly quarrel, one that you had no right to interfere with!" The boy shouted angrily and Gwen reeled back in surprise.

"Friendly? You think beating this boy near to death is friendly?"

"It's just for fun!"

"Fun?" She spat in disbelief, shooting up to her feet in a rage. "What kind of person thinks this is fun? This is inhuman!"

"This is what we do around here old lady!" He shouted, moving towards her swiftly. Gwen took a step back when she saw the anger on his face but she wasn't frightened. She was too angry to think sensibly about the fact that she was surrounded by a bunch of boys who didn't like her. "And you interfered! What does that mean for her lads?" He asked the crowd and they all shouted the same thing simultaneously.

"She fights!"

Gwen looked around the crowd in disbelief but she didn't have a second to register what was about to happen before she felt a hard shove to her shoulders. It happened so fast and she fell back at the force, her head hitting the floor a little too hard that for a brief moment she was dizzy. She blinked hard, ignoring the sting of scratches on her arms as she scrambled to get to her feet. She was never one to condone fighting; she hated violence but she wasn't going to let this boy beat her up without defending herself.

Just as she was raising her arms to block a hit, the boy quickly struck her in the chest where her breast was. She yelped in pain, immediately reaching to hold her throbbing bosom as she took hurried steps back. She backed right into the crowd and she felt hands shove her forward, nearly making her crash into the chest of the fairly large boy but she dodged him at the last minute. He growled in anger as the cheers bounced all around the trees, taking long strides towards her and swinging his fist to her face once he was close enough. Gwen blocked it before he could hit her, but he was quick to throw an uppercut into her stomach. The air was knocked out of her and she hunched over in pain for a moment, using the brief opportunity to throw a hit to his crotch. He shouted, falling to his knees in pain and Gwen hurriedly stood straight and began to run towards an exit through the crowd. But there was none; they all blocked the way and wouldn't let her through. She was trapped, and her head darted in every direction for an escape and she faintly heard the loud cries of Tristan somewhere in the mix. Her heart clenched at the sound and she wanted to go to him but a hard pull at her hair caused her to scream and fall back onto the floor.

In a flash, the boy was straddling her and before she could gain her bearings, he threw a punch to her jaw. She heard some boys gasp in surprise that he'd actually struck her in the face while the others kept cheering. Her sight became blurry for a brief moment and she tasted something metallic in her mouth, but she forced herself to stay awake. Her arm instinctively moved to shield her face when he went to hit her again and she clenched her jaw when she felt the ache in her arm from the blow. The boy growled in anger and for a second, she thought that he was very strong for his age as he tore her arms away from her face. She was helpless as he did this but she did her best to knock him off of her, writhing beneath him as he held her arms down with just one of his hands. He raised his other fist in the air and Gwen prepared herself for the hit that was to come, flinching when she saw his fist coming down towards her.

She was so focused on trying to knock the boy off of her that she hadn't realized the cheers had stopped around her. But she finally did notice it when the pain from the punch never came and the weight of the boy on top of her suddenly disappeared. She opened her eyes then just in time to see the boy being flung back onto his behind, his fist that was ready to hit her now in the tight hold of Harry's hand.

Gwen's eyes widened at seeing him, her gaze swiftly moving over the blood that was covering his hands and chest. Some of it splattered on the side of his face, leaving him looking lethal. She sat up quickly despite the dizziness of her head, watching as the boy stared up at Harry in fear. Gwen's eyes darted around the crowd, noticing Ed, Will, and Peter standing at the front of the now opened crowd. Ed and Will looked dumbfounded over what they were seeing while Peter didn't look in the least bit bothered. Maybe a little surprised but not so much bothered.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry shouted loudly and every single one of the boys flinched. It was deathly quiet amongst the camp, a huge contrast to how loud they were being just moments before. "I asked you, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Gwen's eyes widened at the curse word that left his mouth, the boy's own lips falling in surprise before he quickly spluttered to answer.

"S-she interfered with mine and Jacob's fight and the r-rules are-,"

"I know what the damn rules are kid. I made them. But she, does not. Nor do they apply to her." He seethed, shoving the boy's arm back. "When did I even approve of this fight?"

He looked around the crowd, seeming to be searching for some kind of help but no one dared step in. "Y-you were gone so-,"

"That's right. I was gone. So I never approved of this," his voice was hard and threatening that even Gwen suddenly felt afraid of him. "And you think it's alright to hit a girl?"

His eyes widened in disbelief. "She interfered! She-,"

"I don't care what she did!" He shouted loudly, his voice filled with anger. Gwen gasped when he suddenly gripped the torn shirt of the boy and hauled him up to his feet, dragging him closely until their faces were mere inches apart. "You don't ever touch her. And if I have to tell you that again, it'll be your blood on my hands instead of this boar's." The boy quickly nodded in understanding and Harry stared at him evenly, before shoving the boy away and glancing around the crowd. Every single one of them seemed to have shrunk under his hard gaze as his eyes flickered across each one of their faces. "And all of you? You should be ashamed of yourselves for cheering him on. How dare you encourage this." He shook his head, showing his disappointment. "You're all pigs. You belong with the damn Pirates if you think it's okay for any boy to hit a girl." Not one of them looked up as he spoke, their heads hanging in shame. "If anyone of you touch her, ever, the same threat goes to you. And for your punishment tonight, none of you get a single piece of the boar we killed. Fend for yourselves."

Harry gave one last scolding look to the crowd before he turned towards Gwen, who still sat on the ground. He didn't hesitate to stride over to her, holding his hand out for her to take. She stared at the blood covered skin for a moment before she accepted and clasped his hand with her own. He pulled her up to her feet and Gwen blinked rapidly, still trying to rid the dizziness she felt.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked quietly, his green eyes studying her face with a look of worry. "You've got blood on your lip."

"I'm alright. It's just a cut." She tried to assure him, releasing his hand and looking down her own to see there was barely any blood on hers. It must have already dried on him. "Thank you. For putting a stop to this." She whispered so the others couldn't hear. They were still staring at them, watching their actions with curiosity.

"I'm sorry I had to even do it. They have no idea how to treat a girl, and I apologize for that." He mumbled, looking away in shame. Deep down Harry felt he was responsible for their actions. He had never cared before about their fighting habits, he let them do what they wanted but now he was starting to see what it was turning them into. He was the oldest of them all and he felt he should have been a better example to them. They looked up to him, after all.

"It's fine. Maybe they'll learn." She said, sighing as she pushed her hair away from her face. Harry looked back at her when he saw she wasn't looking at him, taking the brief moment to study her face. There was a red mark on her cheek and his jaw clenched at the sight of it, the urge to pummel Oscar into the ground for hitting her filling him. He didn't know where this protectiveness was coming from but he felt it strongly for Gwenevieve the moment he walked into the village and saw what was going on.

"I'd like to get cleaned up, if that's okay." She said as she looked down at her dirt covered arms. She could also feel the dirt on her face and hair.

"Of course, I'll take you to the lake." Harry said and Gwen nodded, turning to head through the open gap of the crowd when she heard a small voice shout her name. She looked in the direction it came from just in time to see Tristan breaking through the front of the crowd and running towards her. He flew into her, throwing his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly. Harry watched on in surprise, staring as she bent over slightly to hug the child to her. He could hear her silently shushing him and he actually envied him when she ran her fingers through his hair in comfort.

"Hey, I'm alright. It's okay darling." She murmured and Harry heard him sniffle, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion. The boy was always so shy and closed off from the rest of them, Harry always thought it had to do with him being the youngest. But there he was hugging Gwen like he had known her his whole life after only leaving her alone for just a few hours.

"But he hurt you." Harry heard him whimper. He could see Gwen didn't like to hear him upset and Harry quickly stepped in, patting his back lightly. Tristan pulled back slowly, looking up at Harry and quickly stepping away from Gwen when he realized he was still standing there. He looked down in shame and fear, thinking Harry would hurt him for touching her after he just threatened them all.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Harry said softly, patting the child's head and ruffling his hair that was similar to Harry's. He smiled faintly when he saw the relief on Tristan's face. "Gwenevieve is going to be okay, you shouldn't worry."

"But I couldn't help her and I wanted to but I'm too small a-an,"

"I'm glad you didn't step in. Otherwise you would have gotten hurt as well." He told the boy. "But how about you come with us to the lake? I'm sure you can make it up to Gwen by keeping her company? That's if she would like that." Harry looked to her just as Tristan turned to look up at her hopefully.

"Can I come with you?" He asked timidly and Gwen smiled down at the boy, nodding as she brushed some dirt off his cheek.

"I would like that very much."

Tristan smiled and didn't hesitate to reach for Gwen's hand, holding it with his small one. She smiled fondly down at him before glancing at Harry and turning to lead the way out through the crowd. Harry stood there for a moment, watching her as she walked away and Tristan pressed himself up against her side. He leaned his head on her and she released his hand, moving to wrap her arm around his shoulder as he hugged her hips instead as they walked. Something tugged at Harry's chest at the sight and for a split second, he found himself picturing her like that with a child that looked identical to Harry. Or identical to her.

And though the thought disappeared as quick as it had came, it terrified Harry more than anything that he even thought of it.

* * * * * * *

I lowkey love angry Harry it's hot lmao

Questions:

Favorite part?

How does everyone feel about the new character Tristan?

I'll update soon! Glad you guys are liking this story. It's so fun to write. Don't forget to vote and let me know what you think :)