Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Let There Be No More Curse	By : lexiatel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 61015 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Jk Rowling, I do not make any profit in writing this story what so ever, I am just having some fun.

Chapter List
- 45
- 46
- 47
"Sweety, are you finished?" Draco asked, knocking on the closed door he stood at.
"No." Talli's tiny voice was heard. "I feel no ting."
"Give it time."
"I finished my book, Daddy," she announced a moment later, sounding bored. "No ting comes out!" The doorknob twisted shortly after that, and she emerged with a smile on her face. "I twied!" she exclaimed with a shrug. "It muss not be time!"
Draco sighed, disappointed. For the past week, they've been trying to toilet train Talli. They had thought it was going to be easy since she didn't like sitting in bodily waste, but that had been far from the case.
Talli was also being quite finicky since Hermione's talk with her. She didn't want Draco in the bathroom with her while she sat on the toilet, and neither was he allowed to bathe her anymore.
"You can no wash me, Daddy!" she shrieked when he had announced that it was bath time.
Draco was taken aback. "And just why not?"
Talli scoffed, throwing up an arm. "Daddy, you is boy, tat's why!"
"I'm your father, Talitha," he corrected her firmly, rarely ever calling her by her given name, "and I've been bathing you since the day you were born; I will continue to it until you can safely do it on your own."
"You does not has penis then?"
Draco stiffened, uncomfortable that his daughter even mentioned the male body part, specifically his. "Of course I do!"
"I want Mumma to wass me."
"She's not here."
"Ten I wait." She sat down on the floor, crossing her legs.
"No, you will not. You will bathe, and you will do it now."
"But I has to have girl to help me!" she stubbornly insisted, breaking out in tears. "I do no more hurts to penis!"
Draco swallowed hard as his little girl wrapped her arms around one of his legs, begging him to let her mother bathe her instead. He picked Talli up to hug her and shakily spoke soft words to her. "Al-Alright, Princess, we'll get Mumma to wash you from now on."
"It's just a phase," Hermione assured Draco when he brought up Talli's persistence. "She's nearly three and developing her own personality, amoung other things, such as independence."
"Scorpius doesn't do this," Draco pointed out.
"Yes, he's… a little different."
"Don't say that! He is not strange!"
"I'm not implying that it's a bad thing," Hermione defended. "He's just relaxed most of the time. Observant and agreeable."
"Unless something is bothering him."
"Which appears to be a rare occasion. Talli's not like that though."
Draco sighed. "So it's begun then? The terrors of having a daughter? I was hoping I would get lucky with mine."
Hermione laughed and playfully smacked him. "Quit your worrying! We can deal with it! Besides, I keep hearing it's the teenagers we have to worry about, and it's not just the female gender that is affected by puberty."
Draco groaned. "Let's not talk about that please!"
"Daddy! Help!"
At the sound of Talli's cry, Draco and Hermione both hurried into the bathroom that their children shared. Scorpius stood next to the toilet with a guilty look on his face. He was standing in a large pool of water. The toilet bowl had an enormous amount of toilet paper sticking out of it.
"I was onwy trying to help!" Scorpius began explaining. "Tawee said it wouldn't fwush!"
"Oh, Talli, sweetheart," Hermione moaned, taking out her wand. "Remember when Mumma said you don't need to use a lot of wiping paper?"
"I twy not to, Mumma, but the biggie was too yucky, and the paper keeped being dirty!"
"After three wipes, you need to ask for help, alright?" Hermione spoke to Talli gently as she magically started to unclog the toilet. Draco led Scorpius out of the mess, instructing him to remove his soiled socks.
"But I didn't knows you were home, Mumma."
"Well, Daddy was, and he can help you whenever I cannot."
"But not in the baffroom, Mumma! He is boy!"
Hermione picked up Talli and kissed her cheek. "Baby, Daddy promises he won't look— doesn't he?" she directed at Draco.
"I promise," Draco announced without hesitation, summoning up a pair of clean pajama bottoms for Scorpius since the hems of the ones he was wearing had also gotten wet.
"Your daddy and I are here when you need us. We really want to help you with anything you can't do, alright?"
Talli nodded. "Okay, Daddy can help me again, but I twy by myself first!" she said pointedly.
"That sounds like an excellent plan!" Hermione said, laughing.
*/*
"And this is for you, Princess." Daddy handed Talli a long and skinny wrapped gift.
"Is it my birffday?!" Talli asked in absolute delight. She knew it couldn't be Christmas since there were no decorations, plus no one else was getting a gift.
"No, sweetheart, we decided to get you something special for your success in using the toilet all by yourself!"
Talli squealed at her mother's explanation and began ripping at the paper. A second squeal erupted from her when she discovered what the gift was.
"A bwoom!" She jumped up and down as Daddy eagerly helped her remove the rest of the paper. She mounted it as soon as the paper was out of the way. "Daddy, you will teach me how to fwy?!"
"That's the idea, yes, Princess. Now budge up so I can get on.
"Be careful with her, Draco," Mumma said worriedly as he looped an arm around her and guided the broom to the back door.
"It's a training broom, Mumma, I be okay!" She was three and a half, but Talli knew her brooms. Training brooms couldn't go very high, neither could they go fast.
"Now listen to me, alright, Tallistar, because this is important."
"I'm wissening, Daddy," she assured him. She wanted to fly just as good as he did one day!
"Always keep one hand on the broom, otherwise, it will seem like it has a mind of its own, and that's a good way to lose control and get bucked off!"
He showed her how to properly steer, maneuver, speed up and slow down, and finally to land.
"I can twy now, Daddy?" she asked when they had landed.
"You may. This time you get to fly me around."
"Oh, goodie!" Talli shrieked. She never imagined getting to fly Daddy around!
"Talli, you're a natural flyer!" Daddy shrieked after she had began. "You definitely inherited the Malfoy flying talent!"
"I'm natral!" she tried repeating, excited with his compliment.
"I'm sure you'll be ready for a real broom before you turn five!"
"A Skywacer X?!" she asked hopefully.
Daddy chuckled. "That's much too advanced for you, but we'll get you a good one."
By the time James Potter turned ten, Talli was just as good as any magical born child who liked broom flying. So when James's birthday party came around, she was excited to play the Quidditch game that the young Potters decided to start.
"You cannot play, Talli!" Scorpius scolded Talli when she claimed that she wanted to participate. "Father says you cannot play contact sports, and Quidditch is a contact sport!"
"You're not going to tell him, are you?" she asked, worried that he would. "They are just kids like me, they can't hurt me!"
Scorpius stepped back, slumping his shoulders. "No," he said quietly. "I won't tell and get you in trouble…"
"Oh, goodie! Thank you!" She gave him a big hug before getting onto her broom. "It's going to be fun, maybe you can play too! It's not so scary!"
"I'll just watch and hope you don't get caught!"
Talli looked out across at the Burrow. Her mother was in the odd-shaped building, talking to the other adults. "Mumma won't notice," she told her brother confidently. "There are too many of us out here for her to know."
"It's not Mother you need to worry about."
Talli grinned. "Yes, well, Daddy's not here."
Scorpius responded by looking up at the other kids who were getting ready for the game. "It doesn't look very safe…" he commented, watching James chase Albus around tormentingly.
"It's perfectly safe! I'm the only one who hasn't got to play yet! I'll show you, Scorpius, it's going to be okay!"
"Scorpius!" James called down. "Want to referee?"
"Alright!"
"No playing favourites!" Talli warned him and flew off to meet the others.
"You can play this time?" Lily, asked, heavily surprised since Talli had to sit out with every other game they played.
"Yes! Can I be on your team?"
"Sure, we're with James."
Talli was assigned a position of Chaser along with Lily. She had a lot of fun and even scored a few goals, getting the Quaffle past Edgar (the Keeper). That was an achievement too, because Edgar Weasley was the best Keeper Talli knew under the age of seventeen. But all good things come to an end, and her bubble was popped when the Bludger crashed into the stick of her broom, breaking the tip of it right off.
Talli sucked in a breath, holding on for her dear life, trying to regain control of the broom when it sailed straight to the ground. As she sunk closer and closer to the ground, Talli realized that what her daddy had said was probably right: she was too little for Quidditch.
She closed her eyes, readying herself for the crash, but as soon as she did, she was jerked to an abrupt stop. Talli reopened her eyes and found that she was hovering just above the grass. She tumbled off the broom, crying in complete fear and relief.
The other kids were swarming around her, expressing their thoughts of what just happened.
"Are you okay?!" her brother asked, touching her shoulder. "Did you get hurt?"
"No!" Talli wailed, wrapping her arms around him, trembling. "But I was so scared!"
"So was I." They held onto each other in silence as everyone else spoke around them.
"Thank Merlin she didn't fall all the way!"
"Imagine what her head would look like if she wasn't stopped by that spell!" James exclaimed, semi-excited by the thought. "Blood everywhere!"
"She almost died, James!" Albus pointed out frantically. "This is no time for joking!"
"Who casted the spell?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, there's no adults here yet," Edgar noted.
"Maybe it was Talli," Louis Weasley suggested. "Once, when I was stuck in a tree, I was so scared that I would never be able to get down, and then I just started floating to the ground!"
"Yeah," Albus agreed, "Talli may have done it. Did you use accidental magic, Talli?"
"No," Scorpius answered for her and took her hand, pulling her toward the Burrow to get her away from them. "It wasn't Talli."
Talli ran to her mother when they got inside, whimpering. "I'm sorry, Mumma, don't tell Daddy!"
"What's wrong?!"
"She's alright," Scorpius informed. "She just had her first fall, and it scared her."
"Oh, sweety!" Mumma cooed. "Are you hurt?" She immediately checked her over for bruises.
"No, Mumma. Scorpius stopped me from hitting the ground."
*/*
It had been nine years since a child had last used accidental magic for a heroic deed, and Scorpius was now all over the news because of it.
"This is helping our name incredibly, Scorpius," his grandfather said with bright eyes. He set the latest issue of The Daily Prophet down and pushed a plateful of Scorpius's favourite biscuits his way.
The boy picked up one and twirled it around his fingers. "I was really scared, Grandfather. I've never been so afraid in my life, and it's all my fault, I knew she wasn't allowed to play."
"Talitha was already going to do what she had set her mind to. She's very much like your mother there. You would not have been able to stop her from doing it."
"I know…" But Scorpius still felt guilty about it.
"I haven't told Father exactly how it happened yet." The other children hadn't ratted Talli out either, knowing Father didn't want her playing Quidditch. "And I can't get her to confess."
"It is probably best that your father does not find out."
"Really?" Scorpius was surprised Grandfather would say that. "Shouldn't he know?"
Grandfather leaned back into his chair with a thoughtful look. He took a nibble off an almond-peach biscuit before saying, "I do not believe your sister should be punished twice. She has learned from her mistake. Sometimes our experiences alone are fair enough punishment."
Then he changed the subject, standing up. "Go get your robes, we have to be at St. Mungo's by two."
By now, after three years of Grandfather taking Scorpius to St. Mungo's, practically the entire world knew of the weekly visit that they would do. Everyone thought that Scorpius wanted to be a grand Healer just like his grandfather was— only the two of them knew what really went on though.
They had talked about telling the rest of their family, but Scorpius was fairly certain that his parents (his mother especially) would worry about him over-stressing himself. He felt it was better off this way, and Grandfather respected his choice. Besides, his parents had other things to focus on than his healing trips to the hospital.
Sometimes the healing wasn't quick or simple. Luckily, most were though. With the majority of the people he saw, he could cure their problem away by a mere touch, so long as he put complete faith in his amulet; he believed that the treasured object held the healing abilities, and that he was only able to harvest the magic.
Grandfather thought differently though. He was certain that Scorpius had the ability and insisted it was the amulet that assisted him with performance. They had argued about it for a while before Scorpius decided to shrug the topic off. It really didn't matter who or what held the exact magic, so long as people could get cured and return to their everyday lives.
"They're going to be upset when I can no longer come here," Grandfather announced after the two had been able to brush off a group of 'fans'.
"When will that be?" Scorpius asked, confused by the statement.
"Once you start school; you'll have no time for this. Especially since half of the visits are awfully pointless."
Grandfather was speaking of when the amulet wouldn't do anything. That's when Scorpius would try to help people on his own. He could never help anyone if the amulet wasn't glowing though.
Scorpius didn't blame his grandfather for considering the visits pointless since he was only able to cure someone every once in a while (roughly one in eight visits to St. Mungo's), but each visit was worth it to the boy if there was that small chance that someone could go home.
Scorpius cupped the amulet to his chest. He wore a serious, determined look. "Grandfather, I want to do this even after I start school."
"Son," his grandfather started to argue in his firm, authoritative voice, "your education is very important. You can not toss it to the rats like it means nothing. After you have finished with it, if you still want to help people, you can, but your main focus once you get to Hogwarts shall be your schooling."
Scorpius knew better than to argue with that. His grandfather wouldn't punish him, but the elder man was persistent with his lectures, and it was best to just nod and agree when Grandfather spoke in that particular tone.
"Schooling shall be my main focus," Scorpius verbally agreed as if he was some trained animal. He was speaking a lie though.
Nothing was more important than helping people.
*/*
Scorpius wandered around Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes waiting for Talli to burn a hole through her pocket by spending her eighth birthday money (oddly enough, the shop had coins that would burn an actual hole through the pocket of one's clothing). She was there specifically for some broom accessories, and Scorpius had been forced to tag along while his father shopped at the apothecary nearby.
When the Potter children entered the shop with their mother, Scorpius knew he and Talli would be there longer than they had originally intended; Lily Potter and Talli were really good friends.
"Guess what?!" Lily exclaimed, bouncing over to Talli, full of excitement.
Scorpius watched from several feet away as he quietly toyed with a pair of glasses that made the eyes of its wearer grow twenty times their usual size. He had overheard that Ron Weasley had loosely based the item off of his Divination professor back when he went to Hogwarts.
"I don't know; what?" Talli didn't like guessing games, so she never even tried to 'guess what'.
"I practically flew this morning!"
Talli looked at her blankly. "Don't you fly everyday on your broom?"
"Yes, but this time I didn't use a broom!"
Talli gasped in shock. "You flew without a broom?"
"Yeah! Accidental magic! James was teasing me, and he took my doll and went to throw it over the fence! I was afraid the neighbor woman— Mrs. Chantelle, you remember her? That hateful, grumpy, old woman— I didn't want it to be stuck there forever! She'd never let me have it back! Why, I'm sure she would give it to that ruddy, rat dog of hers! And… I just… flew…! And I caught my doll before it went over the fence! It was pretty thrilling!"
"How exciting," Talli said, smiling. Scorpius sensed that she was having to force it though. Now that she was eight, all of the other children they knew had done some sort of magic, and most of them had done it several different times. Everyone except for her, and lately, she had been asking about it.
Mother and Father were avoiding from discussing the topic with her, but Scorpius had overheard them whispering when they thought no one was overhearing; they knew they would have to talk to her about it eventually.
Scorpius didn't want to believe that she was a Squib. It would be too strange to go to Hogwarts without her. They were close, being less than a year apart in age. Talli liked to think of them being twins because it was like they were, even if they didn't act the same.
Scorpius wasn't sure what he would do if she was non-magical. He would be very sad because he'd not get to see her much at all after he went to Hogwarts. The first year was going to be bad enough without her, but spending his entire adolescent years with the absence of her would be quite depressing.
Not to mention it would be very unfair for her. Scorpius couldn't imagine how upset Talli would be if it was really true that she was a Squib. And with him being at Hogwarts, he wouldn't be able to help her through it.
He sincerely hoped that her magic was just taking its time in revealing itself.
"Can't I have one, Mum?"
A girl a little older than Scorpius was by the cages where all the pygmy puffs were displayed, pleading her mother for one.
"Now, I told you already, Gloria, we only came in here for a few school supplies." The mother of the girl wore a pair of faded, thin jeans and a shirt with a tear at the bottom of it. Her shoes were old too, about to fall apart at any time.
The girl frowned, longingly looking at one, poking her finger into the cage of it. "But I don't want to take a toad to Hogwarts with me… It'll just wee all over me…! That's gross!"
The pygmy puff in the cage purred at her, hopping over to her, rubbing itself against the extended finger.
"Don't do that!" the mother scolded in a hiss, pulling the girl away hastily. "How many times must I stress not to touch anything?!" But it was too late, the pygmy puff started squealing unhappily when the girl was out of its reach.
"I didn't touch him, Mum! He came to me!"
The woman dropped the handful of things that she had been waiting in line to pay for and rushed her daughter outside.
"Bloody hell." Ron came up to the distressed creature. "What is your problem?" he asked the creature. It was now puffed out to two times its previous size, trembling unhappily and throwing an absolute fit. "Quit that, you'll scare everyone away— Lily!"
The girls went over to Ron upon his call. "What did you do to him, Uncle Ron?" Lily asked, opening up the cage to calm it down.
"I didn't do anything!" her uncle said indignantly. "I heard it crying, and I came over to see what was wrong with it! So, what's wrong with it…?" His tone had softened on the question, desperate for her to fix the problem.
Lily was an expert when it came to pygmy puffs, and she had a dozen of them at home because she absolutely loved them. Her family liked teasing her, saying that she would open up a farm of them one day— to which she wouldn't deny doing!
"He is not an it, Uncle Ron," Lily stressed, rolling her eyes. "Remember how I told you how to tell them apart—"
"I don't really care, they all act the same! Please, sugar quill, just get it to be quiet!" Ron then hurried off to help a customer.
"Aww, he's missing someone…!" Lily announced, cradling him to her chest. "Poor fella!"
"His mumma?" Talli asked, petting his soft fur.
"No, pigpuffs don't spend much time with their parents, they prefer humans." Lily looked around the shop. "Well, he must have liked someone who was in here. They are probably gone now."
Scorpius stepped forward. "I'll buy him."
"I don't think he wants you, Scorpius," Lily told him, frowning at the thought.
"I know who he wants though, I'll take him to her."
Lily smiled, pleased with his offer. "Okay! Pigpuffs costs two Galleons, and fifteen sickles— toss in an extra three Galleons, and you can have the cage and a year's supply of toys and food!"
Scorpius took his coin pouch out of his pocket and gave Lily the entire amount she quoted (a memorized sales pitch she had learned from her uncle George). "Thanks!" he said in a hurry as the three of them gathered the pygmy puff and its new belongings. He then ran out of the shop to look for the girl that the pygmy puff had emotionally attached itself to.
"Alright, mister," Scorpius spoke to the wailing creature, darting his eyes around the forming crowd in the street. "Help me find your new companion."
He searched in several shops not stopping until the pygmy puff's cry changed to a squeal of joy. Scorpius stopped immediately in his tracks. His chest suddenly felt warm. He knew the amulet was glowing just by the heat that radiated off it.
That was strange, it hadn't been glowing before when the girl was in the shop.
Where is she…? he asked the amulet, curious if it would direct him to who he was searching for. Just as soon as he did, he saw the girl and her mother a ways away with their backs to him.
"Wait!" he called out. A few people turned their heads and started making a commotion with his presence.
"Little Scorpius Malfoy! How are you this afternoon?"
"His name is Scorpius Granger-Malfoy, dear, remember?"
"Oh, right, how could I forget! How is your little sister, boy?"
"Has she done anything magical yet?"
"Where's your mother? I have something to ask her."
Scorpius had to duck out of the way as a group formed around him. "Sorry, can't talk now!" he hollered behind him, hurrying to catch up with the girl and her mother before they could depart from the wizard community.
He breathed deep for air as he ran after them them, quickly growing tired. "Wait, please!" But they didn't stop. "Pygmy puff!" he shouted out, his last hope in getting their attention.
And that was all it took. The girl stopped and turned around, looking.
"For you!" he said breathlessly, slightly lifting the cage up in gesture. They were several yards away, but Scorpius could see the dimples of the girl's smile from where he stood. She made a dead run for the pygmy puff and immediately took the purring creature into her arms when she approached Scorpius.
"Gloria!" her mother scolded from afar.
"You mean it?" Gloria asked in complete disbelief, not acknowledging her mother at all. "He's really mine?!"
"It was a store special," Scorpius informed, grinning. "My friend said to tell you that you were the shop's two-thousandth customer this month! Every month, they have a different giveaway."
"Mum, I won! They had a giveaway, and I won! Please let me keep him! Oh, please, Mum!"
The mother looked skeptically at Scorpius as if she knew exactly what was going on.
"Free food and accessories for a year," he added pointedly, knowing she was wondering how she could afford to keep the critter.
Finally the woman smiled, and her eyes pooled with the moisture of tears. "Of course you can keep him, Gloria, you won him after all!"
"Thank you, Scorpius," she then whispered to him, taking the bag of food from him and squeezing his shoulder gently. "You're a very kind boy."
He blushed at the compliment and grabbed a hold of his amulet, noticing that it was growing cold again. "It was nothing. Nothing at all."
That night, during a trip to the bathroom, Scorpius saw something oozing out from under Talli's bedroom door. Their rooms were separated by the bathroom they shared, and ordinarily, things just didn't ooze in like that.
It was Father's very successful Lava Gloop (named by Talli; Father had thought the name was too immature, but Talli had reasonably argued that it would be kids who would mostly buy it, so the name was a good one). It had been created after Talli and Scorpius played an imaginary game of what they called, "Don't Touch the Lava!" The two had learned to play from the Potter children who in turn had been taught the game by their paternal cousins.
In Father's version of the game, it came in a volcano shaped bottle that would erupt the 'gloop' and start slowly spreading around the room, reacting very much like the Portable Swamp that the Weasley twins had made when they were teenageers, making Scorpius wonder if Father had used that as a model.
If one touched it, the affected skin would look all burnt and wrinkly. The last person to touch the lava was declared the winner. This was usually Talli since she was incredibly limber and quick on her toes. The toy was perfectly safe, and the fake burns would fade away after an hour or so.
Scorpius carefully avoided the lava that was creeping further into the room and leaned forward to knock on his sister's door.
"Yeah, you can come in," she announced.
He swung open the door to see that the floor of her room had no bare spots, covered in lava shin-deep. The brightness of the lava made everything around the room glow.
Talli was sitting at the head of her bed with her knees tucked up to her chest. "Hi."
"Got bored, did you?"
"I accidentally tipped the bottle over when I went to turn on the light— guess I don't need the light now."
By instinct, from playing numerous of games, Scorpius looked for a way to get to Talli without going through the lava, but there was no possible way, and he could tell his sister needed him at the moment, so he stepped into the gloop, wincing at the warm sensation of it. It also had a numbing, tingling feeling that reminded Scorpius of when his feet would fall asleep.
Talli giggled when he sprinted to her bed in a hurry and literally jumped into it. "Look at your feet!"
They were pretty charred, but only by appearance, nothing more. He wiggled his toes, smiling as black decay flaked off them.
"Why are you up?" he asked, turning serious and scooting up to sit next to her.
Talli's smile faded instantly. "What... if I'm a Squib…?"
Scorpius avoided that immediate question. "What makes you think you're a Squib?"
"I heard it from Mum and Dad… Daddy thinks I'm a Squib."
"Oh…" Scorpius had been hoping he would be the only one to hear the conversations his parents had of Talli's magical status.
"You believe that I'm Squib?" Her voice quivered at the thought of it.
Scorpius tried not thinking about the books he had read that involved Squibs. He had been curious about them for a while now, after hearing his father whisper about it in fear. He knew for certain that his parents would not do to Talli what other families in history have done to Squibs born into their own families, but it was still strange to think that she might never cast magic.
He thanked the stars that Talli wasn't a big reader. She liked physical activity more than anything, and reading was nearly torturous for her. The girl could hardly sit still for anything.
"I don't know if you are or not, but you're my sister, and I'll always be your brother no matter what you can and can't do, and Mother and Father will always, always love you too."
"I'm worried how Grandfather will react if I am," she whispered, inching closer to Scorpius for comfort. "Grandmother would be okay with it, I think, but Grandfather might pop a vein."
Scorpius wrapped his arms around Talli, and thought on what she said. Grandfather would be extremely upset to learn that his blood birthed a Squib, but maybe he loved Talli enough to overlook that after a while.
Scorpius could hope so anyway.
"He loves you," he assured his sister. "He might need time adjusting, but he'll probably be alright with it after a while." Scorpius had spent enough time with the man, he didn't think he would really disown Talli like Father was worried about. He might start acting strange around her though.
"I'm going to become a wedge in the family." Talli sounded like she was ready to cry.
"No," her brother said firmly. "If anyone has a problem with the possibility of you being a Squib, they are the wedge in the family, not you. Families stick together no matter what happens. You just be Talli, and the rest of the world can bugger off if they have a problem with you!"
Talli sniffed, and then she giggled. "You never curse, Scorpius!"
"No," he admitted quietly, realizing only after she mentioned it that he had said a bad word. "I find it rather useless— usually anyway."
She kissed his cheek before setting her head on his chest. "Thanks," Talli said, yawning. "You're the best brother a Squib could ever have."
"You don't know for certain that you're a Squib." Talli didn't hear his last sentence though, she had fallen asleep.
It would make things a lot easier if you weren't one though.
*/*
"I don't understand why we have to set the table if we have a house-elf," Talli grumbled, taking a plate from the stack in her hands and placing it onto the table.
Scorpius, in the process of sorting the silverware, stole a quick glance out of the dining area to be sure that their mum wouldn't overhear the upcoming conversation. He was always doing stuff like that, overly paranoid that Mum would catch them talking about such things.
"We don't have a house-elf," he corrected her when his eyes were back on his task. "Father has the house-elf, and her name is Toogy."
Talli sighed, guilty from not mentioning Toogy by her name. "But she likes doing it, and I don't, so it's just dumb!"
"It builds character," Scorpius repeated what Mum often would say when it came to doing chores. "And it takes only a few minutes to do, so you best just finish the job, Talli, cause if she catches you complaining, she'll assign us the dishes too."
Talli grunted unhappily but said no more, knowing what he said was true, but it still seemed unfair when Toogy or Mum or Dad could just get it done with a wave of magic, and she and Scorpius couldn't. She wondered when Scorpius started Hogwarts if she would be made to set the table all by herself. And if he came back, after learning how to magically do it, would she still have to unfairly set the table manually while everyone else around her could do it with a spell?
She sat down in a chair in front of the last plate she had set and put her head in her hands. How on Earth was she going to survive life surrounded by magic when she couldn't cast it herself? And that's besides the embarrassment that she and her family were going to go through when everyone discovered her inability.
Talli looked up as the adults stepped into the dining room, readying themselves for their weekly family meal. Both sets of her grandparents were there, and so was her great-aunt.
Her eyes followed Grandfather around the room as he sniffed the pot of strange food Mum had concocted for the evening (she always tried to introduce them to new foods during their family meals). He finally sat down after earning a scold from Grandmother for his teasing.
"You are quiet this evening, Talitha," he noted next to her, pouring her a glass of ice water.
"Yeah."
"And where has the cat stored your tongue?"
"I'm just not hungry tonight, Grandfather."
'I'm afraid you'll end up hating me because I'm a Squib,' Talli thought as she added a lemon wedge to her water.
Grandfather gave her a funny look. Scorpius had once explained to her that when he made that look he was analyzing you.
"Break eye contact with him," her brother had advised her should Grandfather ever aim that specific look at her. Scorpius never told her why he said to do that, but Talli thought that maybe it was because their grandfather could read people's thoughts.
She looked down at the napkin that she was now wringing in her hands. If he could really read her thoughts, Grandfather surely couldn't learn that she was a Squib in such a way.
Talli felt his hand pet her head before he played with her long braid of hair. He often commented that her hair looked nice in a braid. This was true. When it wasn't tied up, it was a complete mess.
"Did your father dress your hair up before I arrived?" he asked, chuckling. Everyone knew that she couldn't keep her hair tidy after so many hours— not like that was her fault, her hair was barely manageable!
"Yeah," she answered, momentarily grinning at the memory of Daddy's impatient fussing he had done over it.
"Tallistar, why couldn't you get my hair?" he had grumbled.
"Cause I'm the difficult one, Daddy," Talli told him what he would often say to her.
Scorpius sat down on the other side of Talli, placing a platter of sliced bread near them. "All set," he announced. His hair was perfect. Blond, beautiful, long and compliant. He had Daddy's hair, and he liked it long like Grandfather's— nearly reaching his mid-back.
Talli wasn't unfortunate. Her life could be dramatically worse, but her brother was notably lucky. She didn't hate Scorpius for his grand amount of luck, but Talli was... well, she was envious over it. No one had to wrestle with his hair just to get it to look acceptable. He enjoyed reading, so no one had to give him countless of lectures on why reading books was important for the mind's growth. He was often quiet, and so he was never told to settle down, and Scorpius hardly ever did anything wrong, so he was never in trouble.
And Scorpius had a magical core that was just waiting to mature and unfold.
Talli did not.
Scorpius was perfect.
Talli was not.
Talli stood up suddenly with her hands firmly pressed into the table. She looked around at her family. Only a couple of them had noticed that she was standing up.
"Excuse me," she spoke above everyone else. "I have something to say."
Talli earned several different looks. Mum was curious, and Scorpius appeared antsy all of a sudden. Grandfather wore his typical, unreadable stare while he waited for her to begin. Grandmama was not happy to have been interrupted with the conversation that she was having with Aunt Andromeda, and Grandpapa held a barely, noticeable smirk, as the man found his wife's annoyance to be amusing half of the time.
"I'd like to attend a Muggle school."
"Excuse me... a what?" Grandfather blinked, unable to believe what she had just said.
"I was just thinking, since there's a high chance that I'm Squib, it would be better if I learned how to be Muggle."
The entire room of people went dead silent. It was almost as if Talli had pressed the pause button on the television set.
Daddy began laughing after a moment, first nervously, then hysterically. Mum conjured up some potions for him.
Grandmama and Grandpapa remained silent, not knowing what to say.
Scorpius scooted his chair closer to Talli, taking her hand and giving her a gentle, reassuring smile.
Grandmother wouldn't take her eyes off of Grandfather who appeared to have been hit with a freezing spell.
"I was thinking," Talli started again after Daddy had stopped his uncontrollable laughing and was avoiding eye contact with anyone. His hands twitched uncomfortably, and he kept clearing his throat. "It's rather stupid to hide this any longer—"
"Honey, we don't say stupid. Use a better word."
Talli rolled her eyes at her mother. "Fine! Pointless. Useless. Redundant. Unnecessary. Take your pick, Mumma!"
"I quite like redundant," Grandpapa spoke up to break the ice. Mum sent her dad a glare. He rose his hands up in surrender. "Only putting forth my input!"
"So, may I go to a Muggle school?"
"I need a drink!" Dad rose up from his chair.
"Pour me a glass too, Draco," Grandfather added, emotionlessly following him out of the room.
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Let There Be No More Curse