Oh... Um, hello there? Oh right! You're the interviewer. My mom and dad had mentioned you'd want to talk to me about who knows what. I'm not exactly sure what all this hay say is about, but I guess this is something I have to do. They did tell me to tell you the truth and nothing but the truth. The full truth and nothing but the truth. They said that I should hide nothing and speak with full detail. So... I guess I should start? Yeah... I'll start now... Where should I start?
I guess you already know that I am a boy... And I will not prove it by dropping my pants or anything because, well... Quite frankly, I don't like you and you can go back to fishing for needles in a haystack. So, simply put. Yes, I have a penis. Now, can we stop talking about this? I don't need to shove it anywhere to prove it. So, just take my word for it. I am a fifteen year old boy. Fifteen. Yup. Fifteen. My birthday is actually on fifteenth day of December in the year 2007. I guess that makes me a Sagittarius right? Don't you dare start going on a rampant about the zodiac or astrology. It's a proven fact. I may not be good at Divination or Ancient Runes, but, do I doubt their power? No I do not. Magic is such a diverse field with so many options, so much power... So much to learn... So much power to grab for myself.
So, um. Er—I forgot to give you my name right? Yep, I did. Okay... So my name is Tony, Tony Stebbins. Okay, stop looking at me like that, I kind of misled you and didn't give you my full name. My full name is Kirk Anthony Stebbins. I am Kirk Anthony Stebbins. I go by my middle name in public for reasons. Why? Because my parents like to call me Anthony. They introduce me as Anthony to their friends despite it being my middle name. I know it's weird and all Kirk is my first name. But, there's a story behind it besides it being a more proper and acceptable name. It was how I was raised. I quite love the nickname Tony. Tony is mine, my invention. I told them a million and four times to call me Tony despite the fact they keep using Anthony to refer to me.
I however was not born Kirk Anthony Stebbins. I am not a pure-blood like my parents, Alexander and Sarah Stebbins. It's actually a strange story of how I've come to be their kid... How they got their only child. Needless to say Alexander and Sarah are not my biological parents. A pure-blood couple adopting a kid, unheard of right? That's what happened. They were really nice to me, when my parents sold me. They fucking sold me. They sold me to no tomorrow. I was born to muggle parents. I was a rarity. I started showing signs of magic when I was around five years old screaming to my biological mother, I was angry with her. About what? I'm not entirely sure. She was yelling at me and I was screaming back and I caused something to happen, an reaction that woke up my biological father and scared them out of their wits.
What had happened that caused them to be scared out of their wits? Was I a rotten child? Was I a child just so bad that I was nothing but problems? I admit, I had unfair tantrums, but don't most kids do? So... What did I do? I caused the cabinets in the kitchen to fly open. The dishes came flying out of the shelves, breaking half of their precious china. My biological mother used to yell at me about the china and touching them. I don't know exactly what I was screaming about, but nonetheless I caused her precious china to break and fly across the kitchen. It terrified my parents. My mother was screaming and wondering if it's an earthquake, yelling at me to get under the table. But, it wasn't an earthquake. My biological father just asked what the noise was when he came down.
It was there and then when they realized it was me. I was terrified. My biological parents started soothing me and the objects stopped flying. As time went by my magic became more and more potent. By the time I was seven I learned I could hold my hand out to a crayon I wanted that was a foot away. I was too lazy to stretch out and get it, I just had to think about it while asking for it to come to me and it flew over. It took a while, like a minute or two to do it, it moved slowly and didn't work all the time. It surprised my parents each and every time I was able to do something. So anyways, one day while eating at a nice restaurant outside on our vacation to Crieff, Scotland. This was a big deal for us. Why? We were Irish. I remembered I loved my parents, quite happy. They saved up for a very long time for a nice vacation and my biological dad won some sort of contest so we got to tour Scotland and so we were eating lunch outside in Crieff. I loved Scotland, it was so gorgeous.
So anyways, there my parents Alexander Stebbins and Sarah Stebbins met me for the very first time. I was only about seven years old, it was like a month after my birthday so it was cold out. I was hoping it'd snow. It never snows, anywhere and it made me sad when there was a winter with no snow. So, I was sitting at the table eating, my biological dad took my cup of soda away from me because our food hadn't arrived yet. It made sense I suppose? I drunk all my soda and then got mad when there wasn't a refill because I really liked soda. I loved it so very much I'd sneak my parents soda out of the kitchen at night. So I held my hand out and spoke, "Come to me soda pop cup!" Guess what happened? Just like my tiny little crayon it did come to me, about a foot, my biological father caught it and held onto the glass so it wouldn't move.
Then this couple, my parents, my real parents... Not my biological ones come up to my biological parents and introduce themselves, with their pretty funny looking clothes and nice smiles. They were friendly. My biological parents introduced themselves as Anthony and Suzanne Trey. They paid for our lunch and my mother said my biological parents were nice muggles. That confused me greatly. They smiled and left. We went back home, to Hillquarter, Coosan, Athlone in County Westmeath. It was a small place. Not many there. There were lakes I guess? People came and fished... But, they were all old men just looking for an excuse to screw their young fishermen buddies on boats during the hazy mornings.
Ugh. Those filthy muggles. Alexander and I had tried hundreds of times to have a kid. Heck, we were foolish enough not to use contraceptives back in our seventh year at Hogwarts. I know, Ravenclaw alumnus, I'm not dumb. But. How the hell do muggles get a magical kid? It's obviously stolen magic. Magic that should've been for my kid. We tried and tried, we couldn't have a kid. Three miscarriages late into pregnancy Alexander and I were envious, various of how these muggles could ostracized us, our society. It is them who are lower, they don't carry our birthright, squibs aren't even worthy of our birthright. Anthony had our birthright and was being raised by muggles. Filthy. This should be a crime.
Seeing Anthony there performing magic in plain sight of other muggles was wrong, very wrong. It's been the law for many years that the muggles should not know of our world. This law is not for our damn protection. This law is for their protection. This is to stop idiotic swine from walking in front of our wands when we're doing real work. This boy, trying to get his drink and bringing a glass to him without touching, without a wand. He was strong in this gift. All children do similar things, but, the parents were clueless. Feeding him delusional eyes saying he was gifted. No, magic is not a gift. It is a fucking birthright.
I have no idea why my parents came here. Why the hell did they come out to Hillquarter? It seemed so out of place. I never heard of a magical person living in Hillquarter. It was all the way in Ireland. My parents weren't Irish. I was Irish, key word here, bud... Was. My parents came by our house one day, knocked on our door. I answered it even though I wasn't supposed to answer the door. My biological father seemed to be shocked they knew where we lived. I don't know how they knew. But, they did. They came to visit often, when they spoke to me in private they told me about my birthright, of how I had magic. Of how magic is a right, not a privilege, how I need to be exposed to it. They told my biological parents I needed to start visiting Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, other magical battle sights across the United Kingdom... To familiarize myself with the magical world immediately.
They came again and again. Each time my parents came to see me they took me out to lunch, usually my biological mother or father came along. Eventually after a few months, both were busy and they came to visit again they let me go with my parents alone. Each time I saw my parents the gifts they gave me blew my mind. Once I got a galleon, I had never seen a gold coin before that wasn't an American woman with a baby on her back. This was just... It had a fucking dragon on it. It was fucking awesome. Just awesome. I know I didn't use the word fucking back when as often as I do now. My parents have foul mouths so it rubbed off on me, so don't you dare fucking judge me about saying fucking fuck fuck, because I don't give a flying fuck on a broom. I'll try to tone it down if it'd make you happy...
The gifts they gave me besides the money from the magical world was also books, small toys, even some candies. They once gave me a photography book that was simply amazing. I saw Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the book for the first time. It looked amazing. I gasped and said "I want to go there one day!" My parents started laughing and told me I'll get to see it. I quite loved the gifts from them. They were some of the best days of my early childhood. Like, seriously. I was so excited every time they came and visited. My parents have always refused any sort of pecuniary compensation for babysitting me.
There's one gift, I still have it today. It is always in my trunk by my bed. At home it goes to my desk. I keep it for a good reason, besides it being a gift from my loving parents. A book, it was more of a notebook. It looks kind of like a diary? The cover was old, and scrapped. There were a lot of notes and writings dated to the 1990s. The notes were across many subjects. It was of things my father had learned things he felt he needed to take notes of in his studies. Well, he was a Hufflepuff in school, I guess he had to try and make up for things. He wasn't smart like my mom. He wrote a lot of things about history, of other things I should know in there. There were a few ripped out pages in there. I shaded over a page of random practicing of his signatures to see if I could figure out. Let's just say he also used it for his romantic... Writings that I never want to see again.
This notebook was something I read going to sleep, I kept it under my pillow. It helped me a great deal, the book was an an accumulation of my father's handwritten lucubrations from himself from back when he was at Hogwarts. It meant so much to me. Even today, it's perhaps one of the most meaningful things of my life. There's nothing I love more of material books that I have. I love my shiny things now, but, this book. This rattled old notebook with yellowing pages. This is how I can pull off my purity. I am not a pure-blood. This is my family secret. This was my secret link to the world. This notebook made me pure-blood and nobody can deny it.
That home of his was small. Filthy small. It had clutter around the place. The location was odd, Ireland. That island of nobodies off to the side, near a filthy lake where filthy muggle companies dump liquids and other things that are such toxic. The town was so small, there were no attractions there. I don't even think it could even be called a town. Or a village. Hogsmeade puts that place to shame. Small towns? There are better places instead of a place with no magic around there. When they learned their son had magic they should've been making plans to expose him to the world. They were horrible parents, cutting him off from such a world even once we revealed it to them. I just put on a happy smile and sat around while they stayed in that area that had long been a nidus of improper culture.
I offered to give the boy a great gift. I had it in my hand. A great notebook, it had all my work, my notes from things about the world. It was of a great many things that had facinated me about the world, magic. Things I believed the boy would love. I worked on it for almost a month straight to give the boy a chance. The muggles? They were talking about him not going to one of the great schools of magic. I couldn't have that. Not at all. I snuck the book to the boy anyway.
The atmosphere of which the boy was being raised was simply noisome. I couldn't stand it. Every time I had to give those filthy muggles bastards a fictitious story while I gave a spurious smile. Their child a mudblood deserved more. He had magical blood in his veins. Alexander and I were trying to rescue this child. He wasn't going to be a damn mudblood under my watch. Oh no he wasn't. The boy was going to be much more. Something much, much greater.
That is the day I decided and devised a plan to make that boy my son. I'd raise him properly. Get him better clothes. Even give him his own bedroom. It was disgusting to see him having to share a room with his kitchen, living room, and parents bedroom. The boy had no privacy. What would his parents do when the boy turned thirteen and started humping his bed? Nothing! They were too lazy to even go get a good damn job. I had to hire his mother just so she can get that boy decent food. Typical poor muggles. Corrupting innocent children. Their culture is wrong.
I was eager for the visits from my parents. I thought they were so cool. I thought the magic they were doing was awesome. They told me as my magic settles in my explosive emotions would happen less. When I was angry, sad, scared things happened. But, it got better over time. Perhaps it was the knowledge of one day I'd have a wand? I thought it was stupid I had to wait until eleven years old to get a wand! Just stupid! Stupidest law ever. Seriously, why would the government make such a law? Limit potential growth? Why not start teaching a child basics of wands in charm school? It makes no sense. This needs to be changed.
One day I was being taken to a carnival in Diagon Alley for the summer carnival. I had no idea there was such an amazing sight hidden. I was so lost there, shocked. I was just in awe at the wonders. It wasn't the rides like the ferris wheel that shocked me. It was the exotic animals, the people coming as if they walked out of the television screen on one of my mom's old movies. It felt as if I were thrown back into a time where technology didn't exist. It was... A relief. I used to dream of getting an iPad. The Annual Diagon Alley Carnival of 2014 was one of the best and most terrible days of my life. It was so full of memories and of confliction I try to bury so deeply.
I found it amazing. So amazing that we could step into our fireplace and appear at a shop in Diagon Alley. I got to pet animals and even got to ride a hippogriff... Though it took almost fifteen minutes before the hippogriff stopped flinching at me. I realized there and then at the petting zoo I loved those animals. So many animals I have never even dreamed of existed. I was so fascinated by them, the food. Merlin, I loved good food. I still do. I try everything. Seriously, if it's a real food that people eat, I'd probably like it too. I eat sushi, I eat snails, bananas, American food and stuff. I'm not very picky about my food. I love exotic food, going to new restaurants or going to dinner parties hosted by foreigners. Diagon Alley blew my mind, so hugely. I just cannot put it to words. It was one of the best days of my life.
When we went to go get ice cream chocolate frogs, I was so excited to see my ice cream could move, but not get out of my bowl! I was afraid to eat the cute green froggy with mint chips. But, I did slowly and it tasted so good! It was exciting. It was the start of my love for so much food, I believe. After we ate ice cream and I went to the bathroom I went on a roller coaster. My dad said he didn't like roller coasters and my mom said she had a stomach ache. I nodded my head and went into the line by myself. They said they're going to get lunch and to meet them right by the restaurant near the ride exit. I nodded my head. The lunch lines were long, it made sense to me. It saved us time I guess.
My husband and I had decided to take Anthony to the annual Diagon Alley Carnival. We made plans ahead of time, and we made sure his parents had other obligations. We've been in his life long enough they had trusted us to watch him and take him to local museums and things such as that. Now, we offered to take him to a magical carnival so he could learn more about magic. They were reluctant, but Anthony, as expected kept asking and they gave in. We had gotten a muggle phone, since we lived Ottery St. Catchpole near my home. It was a place where some of us known families were found. The honored Diggories, the Weasley family, the nutty Lovegoods and finally, our family, the most respectable of the land with a home not looking like a four year old's toy blocks.
Our village was in Devon, a muggle city, so the... What do they call it? Space signals? Worked on the phones... I don't know how they work. I just know muggles have too many towers that destroy their skyline and the natural beauty of the world around them. They're destroyers. So, they called us. Our plan was in place. We had set up obligations for both Anthony and Suzanne Trey. While Anthony was off on a ride, perhaps the roller coaster as that boy seemed to like to try anything new at least once... We had planned to apparate out and take care of this problem.
Take care of this problem we did. With our son Anthony, or should I call him Tony? He prefers Tony. I'm just glad he uses Anthony over that disgusting name, Kirk. My wife and I apparated away to the home of Anthony and I knocked on the door. I knew they'd be home, as the obligations would fall apart, so they'd go home for some alone time from Anthony to fornicate like the disgusting muggles they are, when they couldn't possibly afford to have a kid. Nothing wrong with fornication from respectable peoples. Just, they should've had a license to breed so it could've been pulled.
I rose my wand as soon as Suzanne opened the door. I grinned at her and I spoke a strong word, "Imperio." Oh, her face was priceless before she had begun to do my bidding. I just laughed and handed over papers to her, I told her to sign them. She did. I told her to go find her husband who was naked on their bed doing exactly what I thought they'd be doing. Fornicating. I told her to tell him to sign it. She nodded her head and did my bidding. I don't normally like unforgivable curses. Actually, I try to avoid them at all costs, but this one seemed to be a vital use. I don't regret it.
He signed it. Anthony Trey signed it. The papers were mine, I grinned and barged in and grabbed the paperwork. My wife came in behind me. Anthony was freaking out while Suzanne was calm. So very, calm.
I didn't really like roller coasters. They always terrified me honestly. But, my dad talked me into going on it while he and my mom went to get lunch. I'm glad they talked me into it. It was the best day of my life by far. I loved everything. Every little tidbit. It was so amusing, the jerks and turns. I was so terrified. I didn't like the drops. The fast scared me. My stomach dropped, it felt weird like I had a hole in my stomach, like when my biological dad drove too fast over a speed bump. This is what I remembered of the roller coaster. But, I got used to it. The ride went a second time around and the second time I enjoyed it and was screaming. I wanted to go again, but, I knew I needed to go get lunch.
I climbed off the ride and walked on over to the place where we said we'd meet for lunch. I looked around and couldn't find my parents. I shrugged and got into line, thinking maybe they saw a game or something they wanted. I waited in line wondering where they were, just following it mindlessly and jumping around the tiles not landing on the cracks. I was jumping back and forth over on the cracks singing "Step on a crack break my mother's back." I was laughing and having fun. Of course some people stared at me oddly for using a muggle rhyme, but, that was what I knew. I didn't really know anything else. I was just trying to entertain myself and have fun. I was only seven years old. It was the only thing on my mind at the time. I kept hopping about, laughing to myself.
We tricked them into signing away Anthony. It was worth it. Anthony deserved to be with us. But, now we had a problem. We had to go clean up a mess. We had the one loose end we wanted finished, just two left to take care of. I grinned and rose my wand to the man, despite him being in bed of an impressive size wondering about in his confusion thinking just his wife would come back, I grinned as I pointed my wand at him.
I'm not a dumb woman. I am a Ravenclaw. I'm intelligent. I knew an unforgivable curse, the killing curse could've possibly been identified. I needed this to be a muggle death not one would recognize. I knocked him out, put him to sleep. I then pointed my wand to the sheets on the bed he fell back upon sprawled out in his snoring. Fire. Precious fire. I turned around, couldn't bear to look. If he survived, he was worthy.
I commanded Suzanne to go back into bed with her husband, just as my wife put him to sleep. I told her to never leave the bed. Fire on the bed, starting to spread. I looked away and pointed at the curtains, Anthony's bed, and caused fire. As soon as the fires started I grabbed the small plastic box Anthony had used as his collection of toys and the gifts we gave him. We left and walked away to across the street. We watched until fire consumed their small studio and spread next door. We were satisfied. We left. Anthony was ours. Legally in every sense of the word. No more loose ends.
"Anthony!" I called out as I returned to Diagon Alley. I had a smile across my face. There was nothing wrong in the world. Everything was perfect. I walked up to the boy dancing around singing a muggle rhyme to himself, "Oh, honey... No muggle rhymes, we need to teach you new ones." I gave a hug to him and grinned. "You know, your father has news for you." The curious boy's eyes raised up as he stayed still and looked at me. I grinned and nudged toward my husband, toward Alexander. I wanted Alexander to break this news. I thought he deserved to hear it from his father.
"We're your parents, Anthony." I spoke to the boy. The boy looked confused, he nodded his head. "You always have been our child, it's time for you to come home with us." I told him. I gave a smile, my wife's grin was even larger than mine.
I accidently stepped on a crack and my heart leapt. "Oh god! No!" I was terrified. Instantly terrified. "Anthony!" I heard a voice call out my name... My middle name. There were only two people who called me by my middle name and they were my parents. My biological parents almost never called me by it because it caused confusion within the family due to someone actually named Anthony. I never thought it made sense. But, now it started to make sense to me. I heard my mother talk again telling me to not use muggle rhymes, and referring to my father. I was curious. Why was my father here? I thought. I thought my father didn't like magic.
Oh boy. Was I wrong. Apparently Alexander and Sarah Stebbins were much more than family friends. They sat hugged me and chatted with me, saying how I was going to go home with them. I thought their home was awesome. We had been over for dinner a few times. I loved the toys. I loved the cute little elves running about. They were always nice to me. They never yelled at me. They were cool. Awesome. Totally awesome people. We got food, they let me order anything I wanted. I couldn't decide... I asked Mr. Stebbins, which was what I called my father then to choose for me. He laughed and ordered the same thing he did. I was always so curious to try new things out. This was one of those times. We got our food and went to go eat at a table.
"You know, your father and I don't often eat out at places like these. We're of a higher caliber. Have you ever ate in a restaurant where napkins are put on your lap by a muggleborn whose only purpose is to serve you, Anthony?" I shook my head toward my mother, shaking my head. I was a bit confused why they were calling themselves my parents. I told her I haven't. I looked at her and asked a question... A question that caused her to gasp. "But, I'm a muggleborn." I said. She shook her head no, rapidly no. She started chanting, "No... No... No. You're not muggleborn. You're pure. You're our son. Got that?" They went on explaining to me some things, how I'd be moving in with them. They already have my things, books, in my new bedroom. I asked if I could pick out the colors, I was so excited for my own room.
"But... What about my parents?" I asked. I was confused. So very, very, confused. I didn't know what to think. I was wondering what exactly to do, what to think. I sat there, with my hand picking up a piece of my fried food. I couldn't pronounce what it was. But, I ate it, staring at my parents blankly. I blinked at them. I was confused, I wanted to ask questions. I had a million questions. A million questions going back and forth in my mind. I just shot them out in such a large blurt. I just kept going and going with my questions. "But, where will we live? What city? What about school? Where would I go to meet with friends? Can we stay in Ireland?" I asked a dozen more questions, so many questions I don't even remember everything I had said. I do remember I said a lot and asked a lot of questions.
My parents sat with me for a while explaining some things. I just stared at them blankly. I wasn't sure what to think. I just stared barely eating. I had no appetite. I just stared blankly. I told them over and over I wanted to go back to Ireland. I missed my biological parents so very, very, much. I asked again "Why am I pure, if I was born to muggles?" I was so confused over this. So very confused. I stared at my parents blankly. They seemed to stare back at me as if they were a loss much like the first time I asked them where babies come from. Cause, I got really curious once where babies come from. But, that was not anywhere near as awkward as when I asked how come I didn't have boobs and questions about my penis. Oh boy, were they in for some sort of adventure. Bahahaha. But, seriously kids. Penises are better. We don't have problems.
"Um. Wow, son. Um. I'll let your father take care of this." That is all I said. I was still distraught over things. I didn't even touch my food. I couldn't yell at Anthony for not touching his food. I just sat there in silence. Had I really just murdered someone to take their kid? My husband and I had tried so many times. I was such... So. I was... Consumed by hatred and jealousy. I wanted him. I wanted a son so badly that I was willing to rob scum of their precious child. In a ton of dirt a rare gem can always be found. Anthony was that gem. He was mine gem, much like how this gold on my ring and diamonds in my ears are mine. Not those poor people that dug it up. Mine. I lay claim to it.
"We gifted our magic to you, that makes you ours." That was the only response I could come up with on a whim. I guess it was true to an extent. I did give the boy some magic, I taught him things that he otherwise would have never learned. Does it make me a bad person I basically kidnapped him? Does it, honey? Are we bad people for kidnapping Anthony all those years ago?
No. We are not bad people, Alexander. Anthony is a great boy. He's a son that we're proud of. He's good in school, his friends say he's in the library often. He hasn't tried to get anyone pregnant... Like you did when we were teenagers, despite I being in an arranged marriage. Besides, he was a good kid. So well behaved, wasn't he Alexander?
I have not one regret to this day from taking our son to his rightful home, Sarah. Anthony is ours. Nobody can dispute it. Besides, I'm proud of him. He's growing up well. Plus, he got into Slytherin unlike I did. Lousy Hufflepuff. Wrong house. The badgers should be launched into space with that idiotic fucking squib going up there.
Dear, the squib is a pure-blood. He's alright. Anthony says let the squibs and muggles conquer space, so one day we can force them all to leave. Besides, Anthony was such an adorable child. He's ours. No doubt in my mind about it. Doesn't he look like us? He looks so much like us! ANTHONY STEBBINS YOU SHARE THE PHOTOGRAPHS RIGHT NOW!
"ANTHONY STEBBINS YOU SHARE THE PHOTOGRAPHS RIGHT NOW!" Wow. My mother's speaking for once? Shocker. -rolls eyes- Okay, so yeah. I guess I will... Um... These are me when I was younger?
Yeah. I also look a great deal like my parents. If you don't believe me I have the evidence right here...
I'm proud of how much I look alike to my parents. I have my dad's eyes. Seriously. Look at my dad one day. I know he looks incredibly young. I don't know why he's aging slow. I hope I got his genes. I for sure have my mom's hair. Don't I look like a perfect blend of those two? I think so. So, anyways. Before I was born and all, before they brought me back to my
real home from those fake muggle parents I had I did learn about their marriage. Did you know my mom was once in an arranged marriage? Oh. I'm getting ahead of myself am I? I need to talk about what happened in Diagon Alley still...
So, while in Diagon Alley after we ate and my parents explained some things to me, I got excited with bribes. They offered to buy me things to decorate my new bedroom. But, the first stop we had to make was Gringotts Wizarding Bank! I never been in a big bank before. My raised dad always went to the one on the corner, and I had to wait in the car... That's when we did have a car before it got stolen. So anyways, my parents set me up my own vault! I didn't have to share! My very own vault! They put a lot of gold in it. My eyes were gleaming. There was so much gold the goblins were piling in there. The goblin handed me a key and told me don't lose it. My dad took the key from my hand and handed it back to the goblin, along with a few galleons demanding a duplicate just in case. The goblin nodded and gave a second key. My dad grabbed both, he pocketed one and gave me one and told me don't lose it. He said he got the key just in case and he'd lock it in his office along with the other keys. I was a kid, I was excited.
He told me to go into my vault and grab some money. So I did. I grabbed seven shiny gold coins and a handful of the others, the sickles and the knuts. We went shopping. We got me a poster, my dad surprised me with a broom. We went around and around. I also got commented on how much I look like my parents. It was a total shock to me. But, I did know I had black hair much like my mother. To think of it, of my other parents... Maybe they weren't my biological parents. They both had brown hair, I had black. How did that happen? I looked in the window to see my reflection, my eyes. The woman was right. My eyes did look like my dad's. Even today. Look at them.
My mom had explained I was related to the Stebbins it was a complicated family tree matter. I never followed along. I really didn't care. I was just too excited with all the bribes they were trying to do to keep me happy. For the first time in my life. I had money. I got to call the shots. Not parents. Not adults. Me. No school. Me. I got to learn about magic. I got to fly on my dad's old broom later that day. After I spent my seven galleons and handful of knuts and sickles we went home. I got to see my new bedroom, it had a bed. It was a nice and pretty bed. It was in a place not far from a home that looked really strange. I think it was the Weasley home? We lived with my grandparents for a while. They hugged me and pinched my cheeks. I was their first grandson. They mentioned something about a family secret. I really didn't care about any family secret. I was tired. I got worn out.
I didn't eat dinner, I curled up on the couch while they talked and fell asleep on them. I didn't even know where my bedroom was. I couldn't find it again in the maze of a house. I was just so tired. When I woke up, I found myself tucked into a bed. I yawned and slowly got up from stretching. I started wandering the house looking for a bathroom. I saw an elf. I asked the elf, the elf stared at me for a second and grabbed my hand. The elf snapped away to the bathroom, so now I was in the bathroom he snapped away. I was like "Thanks a lot for the help genius... I need to learn how to find it." But, boy did I have to go pee. That was perhaps one of the most memorable pisses of my life. I had a shiver. You just don't understand what that means if you're a gal. Seriously. You girls are seriously the wrong genders. Boys are so much better. You just don't understand.
Anthony had fallen asleep in Sarah's home for the first time. Sarah's parents took an instant liking to him. We showed them the paperwork, that I had signed. They nodded their head and agreed to the secret. We were desperate. Sarah was their only child. They needed a heir. I needed a heir. Someone had to carry on our two family names. Why not take a magical child with such a gift from his undeserving parents? To this day I felt it was right and justified in my heart. I picked him up off the couch, the boy hadn't eaten much since lunch. I wanted him to eat something more, "Come on son," I spoke to him... Calling him my son for the first time. My heart still leaps from that memory. His arm wrapped around my neck and I carried him up some stairs to his room, at least temporary. We were going to ask him if he wanted to paint it, and change things around. I think my wife did... But, I had a discussion with my wife right after.
I walked out to explore the home more and more. I found so many doors. I opened each door that was unlocked and looked around. I found my grandpa playing a weird card game... To this date I still don't know what he was doing. I eventually found my way to the kitchen and asked a elf if there was cereal. The elf looked at me crazy and commanded me to sit down at the bar. I nodded my head and went over to the bar and climbed on up. I sat there, waiting. The elf jumped up and around the kitchen like a wild maniac. I watched in amazement. Within moments the elf had placed a plate of food in front of me of steamy hot breakfast. I grinned and ate it faster than the maniac elf ran about the kitchen. I was starving. While I was eating my parents came and found me in the kitchen and sat at my side. My mom picked a piece of sausage off my plate and ate it and didn't eat anything else, she only drunk some sort of coffee that I remember that had such a foul smell and my mother threw it in the sink telling the elf to throw the batch out.
I smiled and talked to my parents. "I feel lost." I told them. I really did. I told them I couldn't find my way around. I just blinked and looked down at my plate of food trying to eat again. My mother broke the silence and made me sad. I remembered being so lost when they talked to me. What it was exactly... I'm not sure... If I can choke up the words to say. I know it was wrong for me to be raised by muggles, but... I actually do think I loved them? Maybe it was some form of Stockholm Syndrome. My mother had broken horrible news to me. News that caused me to push away my plate and rest my arms on the counter and lay my head down on them. I was sad, I was trying my best to hide it. My dad patted me on the back telling me it was okay, and asked if I wanted to go somewhere. What was it they told me? It was something that would break the spirit of a child even today...
They told me my parents were dead. They told me how after they went to put me in bed, they went to my home to ask my muggle parents if they'd like to see me. They told me there was a fire, I was lucky I wasn't there. Everything was gone. I found it so hard to believe. I just nodded my head at my dad. I didn't say anything. I did want to go out with him. I wanted a distraction, I wanted out of this unfamiliar home... That's all I really remember. "Your mother and I had a discussion last night as well, I think you'll like it, Anthony." He smiled leaning across and over me as I was in the middle to kiss my mother. I do remember exclaiming it was disgusting and making an eww sound, and they both kissed my cheeks instead. Made it a dozen times worse. A dozen upon a dozen times worse!
"So... Um. What did you talk about? Can I know? Or is a surprise? I can pretend to be surprised," I said... I was still a bit saddened. But I sat there silently. I sat there waiting for a response, wondering what they were going to do or say. I blinked, looking between the two. Their eyes danced across one another as if they were undressing one another with them. It was weird. I don't know how to describe it. It was like a conversation with their eyes. But, instantly, both shook their heads and both said the same word at the same time, "Surprise."
I looked at my wife that night after Anthony went to bed. I blinked and looked around the house. It was the house of her parents. It was her family home. It wasn't mind. My family home was in Scotland, outside of Edinburgh... Today, the entire area has way too many muggles ever since some rich muggle author moved to Edinburgh. Ugh. Go bqack to welfare muggle author, you ruined my home. So anyways, I looked at my wife. Devon had muggles in it, our little town even did. We could walk a stone's throw and find a muggle. I had lived with her since I married her. Her parents were angry that I ruined her wedding.Oh... That was a fun day.
"We need to move out, Sarah. We have a son. We need our own place. Let's go to Hogsmeade, infuse him with just pure magical culture, nothing but magic. Let's not even let him see a muggle city." I told her, my words. I was strong. I wanted Anthony to have no contacts with muggles. I kidnapped my rightful son. He was going to get the best that a magical child could possibly have. Because why? Because I said so.
I nodded my heard to Alexander as soon as I heard his words about getting our own place. I remember thinking of our own place for so long, I dreamed of it. But, it never seemed feasible. Hogsmeade real estate was tough everything was already bought, the market was tough. Plus, we had it made. House elves doing work for us. Our money, all of our income from our portfolios, trusts, ownership percentages were just sitting in our vaults collecting money. We probably spent more money on Anthony then anything else in our lives. He was worth it. He still is worth it to this day.
I continued to nod my head. "Yes. We should. For us... For our son," I whispered back to him and kissed him. I was ecstatic. So excited. I wanted my own place. My own place seemed amazing. With just me, my husband, and my son. Our own home. Oh, the dreams I had that night.
"Good," I smiled to my wife and kissed her, wrapping my arms around her as she slipped away to dreamland. I laughed, knowing her. She loved to let her mind wander. I kissed her again and spoke softly back, "Remember that manor you said is your dream home?" I laughed. "Tara Tyler... I found her." I grinned and watched my wife's reaction. She was thrilled so happy that she pulled me by my collar and dragged me further into the bedroom.
My mom walked me back to a bathroom and told me to clean myself from a shower or bath, she didn't care which. I asked where my room was and she pointed down the hall. I nodded my head. After the shower, because I took a quick one because I was excited. I didn't understand death very well. I was only seven. Seven years old. I was freaken seven, so don't you dare judge me for being happy after finding out my parents died okay? So anyways... My dad, my real dad came and got me after I got dressed and picked me up. He swung me around onto his back, giving me a back ride. I gleamed and was roaring loudly. "Rawr!" I screamed as he ran down the hall and down the stairs to meet my mom. There my mom spoke a name to Hogsmeade Village and my dad jumped into the fireplace with me on it. I would've been scared, but, I have used the floo network before. I stayed on his back until we came to a house, a large house with a gorgeous lawn, fenced yard, stone building. It had a nice lawn, awesome steps. I loved the appearance. There was no road. I thought that was strange. It was just a path to go home.
To this day I live in that manor. I love it. It's huge. There are several bedrooms. I have a nice bedroom, more like a suite. I have a large bathroom, a large bedroom with a good view of the lake. The castle of Hogwarts was able to be seen on good days. But, it was a bit hazy so the castle was a bit too far to see. It was actually a bit of a walk to the inner shopping areas of the village. My dad said he liked that. He said it kept the unruly teens out of his yard. Made no sense to me. We had a fence... But, nonetheless... I loved it. I picked out my room quickly. It's on the third floor... And the second floor... There's a couch in there, a reclining bed. A table. There's a lot of room. There's no television. Why? No need for one. I'm a pure fucking blooded wizard. I don't need one. It took me a few years to decorate it how I wanted it.
I did talk my parents into wiring the house to at least have more electricity so I could have lights without magic and I convinced them that Tesla from America was a wizard... No idea how they fell for it. But, I got electricity. There's a balcony outside my room, it has a good view. You could stand out there naked... I'm not saying I have... Okay, I have. Nobody can see us, there's a haze protection spell or something. I don't know the exact details. I do know there's a rule that we can't venture out past a certain point in the lake. I think it's due to the monster or the Hogwarts barrier. Makes sense to me. I never tried. Downstairs there's a hot-tub, a living room, a gorgeous kitchen. There's also another suite master bedroom like mine but larger. My parents stay there. We have about four guest rooms in the home. Too much room honestly. We don't really use it. I guess grandma and grandpa stay here now and then? If I have a friend over, I just usually let them stay in my room... I have a fridge (thanks to the electricity). I have a couch, I have a large bed. Heck, my mattress is so good I can hump it and the person on the other side won't feel it. Want to see? Of course you do. -thrusts in the chair- See. I thrust hard. My parents spared no expense when it came to building and decorating my room. I'm extremely happy with it.
I loved my first birthday with them. I just turned eight years old. They got me chocolate pudding. It was something I missed. It's actually my favorite. But, don't tell anyone? Like nobody knows I have a favorite food. I try not to play favorites, but... Chocolate pudding with tiny little chocolate chips and a hint of mint is so mouth watery. Damn it to voldemort's hell. I want chocolate pudding now. Can we get some now? Oh yeah... My biological parents I almost forgot about them...
Do I miss them? Of course I do... Sometimes. I lived with them for seven years. We didn't have money, but, I really think I did love them. They weren't the right parents for me. I think it was fate how I found my real parents. It did give me an appreciation of my place in the world. With many lessons from my parents, I am not muggle. The muggle world has nothing to do with me. My small home with them that burnt down was a hazard. Heck, I'm the one who won the contest to Scotland where we met my real parents. I entered my... Old dad's name into everything. He did yell at me because he hated junk mail. But, hey, free trip. Right?
So, on my eighth birthday I was told I was enrolled into charm school. This actually made me happy. I was excited to start blending with other kids my age. My last name was turned into Stebbins. I fought to keep the name Kirk. They wanted to name me Anthony Alexander Stebbins. I still really liked the name Kirk. I'd admit, I still do to this day. I didn't lose my affection to my first name despite me going by Tony and known by Anthony by the wizarding world at large. I am Anthony Stebbins to the world. To me and my closest friends... I am Tony Stebbins. To me? I'm still just Kirk. I am just Kirk. Because, I am Kirk. Because I was once Kirk Anthony Trey. Now I am Kirk Anthony Stebbins, the heir and the last of the great Fawcett and Stebbin Bloodlines. This family tree, my entire noble family is my legacy. My shoulders are riding on it because I am male. I have a dick. That apparently matters for some reason. Though, I don't think my parents are riding me as hard as others do...
I'm not even in an arranged marriage... Yet. Probably never... I hope? I did learn that my mom was in an arranged marriage. My dad interrupted it. He should really tell you the story. I love it. It's one of my favorites... They both should. But, they dated back in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I once heard Professor Snape caught my parents getting it on at the Yule Ball. I thought that was hilarious. Also... My dad never seems to age in any of his photographs. I wonder if he's a vampire? I can't be entirely sure. I hope not. Because, that'd be such shame to our family. We don't need another Scandal after that Lumiere incident... That I barely understand.
I was in love with a boy named Alexander Stebbins. He was dashing, Blond hair, gorgeous piercing green eyes. I loved snogging him. I loved ruffling his hair. I loved laying out on the fields of Hogwarts grounds on nice days wrapped into his arms. Despite me being in an arranged marriage to a man I never met, I loved Alexander Stebbins. Before my graduation, on the Yule Ball, I decided to give him something I didn't want my future husband, my fiance to have. I wanted my love to have it. It was I who led Alexander to the carriage that day that Professor Snape caught us and deducted house points. It didn't do any good, we just wandered out into a darker part of Hogwarts and found some bushes... It wasn't the best experience, but, I loved Alexander so.
After my graduation, I was so sad. I'd never see Alexander again. I wept for days. I met my future husband, I was due to get married within a month after my graduation and move into his residence as a potions brewer. I didn't want this. I wanted Alexander. I wrote an owl to Alexander, wrote to him how I felt. How I wanted him. Oh, how I loved him. I loved him so. I looked dashing in my dress. I loved that man, loved him so very much. My fiance? Not at all. I had cold feet. I wanted to run, disappear.
When I was sorted at Hogwarts it was one of the worst days I've had. I was sorted into Hufflepuff. I come from a Slytherin legacy, I did have a father that was in Ravenclaw... But, Slytherin legacy. My family was so disappointed, that they disowned me. Thought I could do nothing right. I just went on with my school life. Around age fifteen I fell in love with Sarah. Oh, how I loved Sarah. I followed her around like a lost duck. I jumped into the lake for her. I carried her books. She dumbfolded me with her smart talking. I just stood there going "That's hot." Why? Because it was.
Time went by, we kept dating, kissing. I learned she was in an arranged marriage. I agreed to be best friends, and we'd keep it at that. But, the Yule Ball came, something changed. I knew I wanted to thrust my hips against her for years, it felt natural to me. It's what I did at night in my dreams. But, she led me to a carriage. Before we got anywhere Snape caught us. Ugh. Snape. Go back to your damn dungeons. Anyways, she led me further deeper into the grounds and pulled me onto the moist grounds, I didn't care where I was. I waited eighteen damn years for this moment, I went at it with everything. I didn't care about anything else but Sarah. I kissed her passionately so many times.
I nailed the hot chick.
You nailed me? You were such a dork. It was I who wanted you, consider yourself lucky, Alexander. I even said "I choose you Alexander."
I do consider myself lucky. It was all seriously such a huge stroke of luck. I got the letter from Sarah. My heart wept. My family did come around to me being a badger. They told me I needed to get married and set me up on dates. My heart was still with Sarah. I heard about her wedding. I wasn't invited. I was hurt I wasn't invited. I went anyway. I objected. I walked up during the objection and kissed her in front of the groom. I pushed him away to hear the gasps of the family of the groom. Sarah gleamed admitting out loud she loved me. I remember her words. "I choose you Alexander." I kissed her and picked her up into my arms and turned to leave, leaving the groom whose name I don't care to remember. But, I turned around and told the ceremony guy to just marry us and get it over with. That's how we got married. Not that good of a story... But, Anthony likes it. I ruined a groom's wedding and took over it for my own.
My family was so fueled with jealousy when I married a Fawcett. I stole her. I stole her heart, and to this day, she still has mine. Granted, I was a sweet shy kid. My Slytherin like traits came out when I was much, much older. I never even joined Dumbledore's Army!
The family secret is hard on us... Or exactly was. Now? It's actually much easier to manage this secret. Not many know of this. It's a secret, a secret of the depths of the family. What does the public know? I'm not adopted. I am not adopted. Don't you dare say I'm adopted. They are my parents. My real parents. Everything's well now. My parents gained their place back in society when they revealed their secret son they've had for seven years. It actually worked quite well, around the time I was born, my mom had a miscarriage I think. I don't want to talk about this anymore.
I loved it with my parents. In Charm School, this was amazing. My parents upgraded my wardrobe big time. I no longer missed Anthony and Suzanne Trey, they were vanishing from my mind as there were memories made.
I'm quite good with memory charms. Why do you think that's my job? Over the years I've been slowly adding memories to Kirk's mind to replace his biological parents. I am giving him memories of my family, of us. It's a slow process... Very slow.
My parents had wealth, I liked this. I never had to ask for money. All I had to do was say "Tony Fawcett." Shopkeepers were suddenly yes, sir. Right away sir. Soon they knew my face around Hogsmeade. I could walk into a store and instantly get an escort. Granted, I was usually with my parents. But, today? It comes in handy being recognized. My family are fucking Hogsmeade titans. I don't care about Diagon Alley, it can go rot. Hogsmeade is better. So much better. I loved it in Hogsmeade.
Being eight was amazing. There were several adventures. I remember going hiking in the hills with my father one day when my mother was sick with the Dragonpox. My father did decide on that day he should take me and catch up on my vaccinations. I hated them. Vaccines weren't fun, so he awarded me with a hiking trip with him. I loved it, jumping around with him. Fishing. Heck, I even remember taking off my clothes to do a cannon ball into the lake we were fishing at. It wasn't the black lake by where we lived, it was a loch somewhere else. I don't exactly remember where. I need to ask my dad that. I want to take my future kids there one day. It was a fun day. A great day. When I was eight I did get some nice gifts from my parents, but, it was mostly things with my name on it... Anthony Trey.
Christmas was much better. They told me they expanded my trust fund and they took me out to a production at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts. Oh! How I loved it. My parents loved the arts. They donated money to it. They also encouraged me to try instruments. I spent the better part of age eight trying to learn the violin. Needless to say I sucked. Right before I turned nine I started trying the flute and saxophone. I hated both of them so I went back to the violin which I still disliked. My parents rode me hard about music. I just barely turned nine and they were disappointed and hired me a tutor to come every day to talk to me about music and instruments. The tutor took the violin away from me and tried a guitar... I did like the guitar. It was more fun, simpler I thought. But, it didn't feel right. I wanted something more. I didn't know at the time what I wanted.
There were such so many instruments. There were so many choices. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think. I just wanted to learn something, I wanted my damn parents off my back about this. Instrument this music that. They were so god damn bitchy about it. Seriously. They never shut the fuck up about me needing to find my place in the arts. At the time I wasn't so sure why they were so keen about the arts. But, now, when I look back... I quite love they pressured me into it.
I loved the arts. The Fawcett family has always been such large supporters of the arts. With my marriage to Alexander, I kept at it. It was in fact how we, as the Stebbinses rebuilt our reputation in the magical pure-blood community. We became the patrons of art. We supported not those lousy painters that need to get a real job and stop leaching on society... We supported actual art, performances, music... All those beauty taught at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts. I was proud to support it. It's in my blood. I wanted my son to learn one... Just one instruments. I just wanted to show my family had actual talent. I had access to some of the best musicians in the country through my philanthropy. Of course I was going to use it to get Anthony the best he could possibly get. Anthony Stebbins is my son and I wanted him to show those other spoiled little brats why we, the Stebbins family is greater than them.
I just wanted to brag, "Oh hey, Anthony can blank." Oh trust me. I brag him to high heaven. Joseph Lumiere, your children are embarrassments, I love them so much. They're welcome in my home, except you, you scrandal. I'll ruin you one day. I'll ruin you for what you did to my family.
My dad came one day and took the instrument I was trying to learn away. I actually don't quite remember the name of it. It had a lot of holes in it, kind of like a flute but much, much fatter and dark and black. Well, whatever it was I sucked at it, it was screachy and loud. I never liked the sound of it even by my tutor who supposedly played it well. It was an ugly sound. I think it was a merfolk instrument. What was it? Oh right! The Clarinet? So, my dad grabbed it and threw it out my window, it shattered. I was happy, "Thanks dad!" I gleamed and jumped up and hugged him. There was no luck with instruments yet. My dad had other ideas. Good ideas. I loved his ideas. He was the fun dad. He totally was. I really loved my dad. His idea this time? A father-son trip!
I was so excited for a father-son trip! Anything we had done before my mom came along and they were mostly shopping trips. My mom had to go to someplace where I don't remember but, we took a long hiking trip. We walked out past houses and ended up in a Hogsmeade broom shop. I wondered why we were there. My father pointed at the broom in the window and the shopkeeper quickly grabbed it and handed it over. My dad raised his hand up again and spoke, "I said two." He spoke, he pointed toward the window again at the other one showing that he was using two fingers. I didn't mind. The second one was handed to me. My dad looked down at me and gleamed as we walked out of the store and he told the shopkeeper to charge it to his vault. "I'm going to teach you to ride a broom." I was excited!
When I say I was excited, I mean excited. I was jumping out of my chair and screaming excited. I never ridden a broom before. Outside the shop my dad dropped both brooms to the ground and spoke a word to bring his broom up. He told me to do the same and told me to think about it and take my time. So, I did. It took about three minutes before I did. My dad said to copy him carefully. I'm a good mimicker. I was able to mock my parents footsteps and voices at the same time. It's how I learned to dance. I guess it came in handy. I mounted my broom, let me tell you, it's perhaps one of the easiest things to mount and it doesn't bitch back at you. Oh, yes, I'm talking about you damn woman of a toy hippogriff. I know you're like a mechanical bull, but merlin's sake! You need a damn slow setting and not talk? So yeah. anyways I'm quite glad about this.
We hopped onto the brooms, I followed my dad. He went slow at first and kept a few feet up off the ground. I asked why. He said it was to make sure I wouldn't fall, just being safe. He told me his father took him on a long trip, they'd be gone the entire day and learn everything there is about the broom in a day. He told me it'd be challenging, I may fall, I may get scrapes and bruises, but to not be afraid. We slowly went faster and faster. Within an hour my stomach felt like jumping every time I couldn't keep my broom steady. It felt like that roller coaster ride all over again. I then started thinking of the car rides that felt like this, smooth but for random bumps that made my stomach dropped. I suddenly missed Anthony and Suzanne Trey. But, I kept my tongue. I was told to never mention them at all. So, I kept my tongue. I just followed my dad as we went over a loch away from Hogsmeade.
Can I just say I hate this tradition? It makes no sense. It's dangerous. I think this is how Alexander's uncle died. I don't like this tradition. It's just too dangerous. They should've at least let me come along. But, no... Alexander assists it's for guys only. Oh, I got back at Alexander. He didn't come back to a warm bed... I put a present there for him, as soon as he laid down a glitter bomb exploded on him... It did take about a week to get rid of all the glitter. I swear sometimes I think I see a sparkle someplace after all this time.
I love the beauty of the sights. My dad sped up, but, I was afraid to go any faster because he did a sudden jerk and circled around me and came to my side to shout at me through his quidditch goggles, I also had mine on. But, they looked so goofy on my dad. I had to try and not snicker at his goggles. "Hey son, we're going over the loch and then over some cliffs and we won't be able to stop for an hour. Are you up for this?" If I said no, my dad would stop. We did stop twice for me because I felt my legs get tired and it did consume energy. I wasn't sure how it was tiring... But, damn... It sure was tiring. So, we went onwards... I nodded my head. My dad smiled and sped up and shouted at me to pick up the pace, we soared low over the lake, so low my dad was showing off. He leaned his broom to the side and let go of one hand to touch the water. I saw it splashing out, and some of it hit me. I giggled at the hitting. But, I was too afraid to touch the water. I wanted to hang onto the broom for my dear life despite me being afraid of it.
We flew past the loch and came to a steep wall with a small waterfall, we went up it, my dad circled around the waterfall, I tried too, I nearly hit the wall side, my dad laughed and pulled up sharply. So I did my best to follow him too, I nearly hit the cliff wall a second time. I shouted he was going too close for me. I didn't like these sharp turns at all. My dad seemed to get the message. He didn't slow down, but, he stopped darting in and out of objects I would become a pancake from. We did finally come across an abandoned castle. My dad slowed down and eventually jumped off his broom. So did I, but, I more stumbled off and lost my footing. My dad laughed and slapped me on the back. "Be right back, dad! Gotta piss!" I ran off to a local tree and unzipped my pants. My dad laughed and picked up my broom. He was inspecting it. He did it at each break. He inspected it to make sure it was right and recast a cushioning charm on it. He told me the charm wears off fast, but, one day I wouldn't need it. "I can't wait to get my wand." I commented to my dad when returning zipping up my pants to grab my wand again. My dad laughed pointed his wand at my hands with a cleaning spell and told me when my balls drop I can have a special wand. I didn't know what he meant... Then. Trust me, they're not hidden today. Hahaha.
This was perhaps one of my favorite family traditions. All the boys in my family learned to fly the same way on weekend trips. Usually they were just a day at a time every weekend until the son goes off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We're proud of having many quidditch players in our family. I wasn't very good with sharp turns, it seems that Anthony has that problem too. It took me a great deal of practice. I did play quidditch as a beater. But, I think I'll let Anthony do what I wanted to do if he wants... Competitive broom racing. Now that's a sport I can stand behind as a proud father. Screw what my own father thinks about it.
I was proud of my son for keeping up. I actually stopped more than he did thus far. Anthony's such a good boy. I'm proud of him. He's the type of son I love to show off to my friends. I couldn't wait to show off his racing skills once I trained him. He was just flawless. My son is the best kid in the world.
I stared at my dad with confusion and wanted to ask him what he meant. He handed me back my broom quickly and hopped back on before I had a chance to ask him a question. So I hopped on my broom and kicked off, following him. I didn't start off upside down this time, so that made me happy. We flew around the castle once, seeing the grazing cows and took a direction back toward home. We kept flying until we hit our yard. My dad hovered over the house and told me to go land on my balcony. It was a tight landing. Every time I landed before I tumbled or took several yards to land. So I tried. My dad told me to. So I went down, sped down and flew toward the balcony. I tried to slow down but the broom went too fast. I let go and dropped down to the balcony, hitting it hard. Wasn't hurt, but my broom kept flying and crashed straight through a window. Ooops. Not too bad, dad had someone come and fix it.
Around Christmas my dad was gone to his dad's house. I wanted to go to Grandpa Stebbins, but, it started snowing! I made a promise to my mom. I was taught by my parents to never betray a promise. I was told my best and most valuable thing I had was my word. That I should stand by my word without question... So I did. I told my dad I had to fulfill a promise. He slapped me on the back and smiled. I waved him off and closed the door. I walked across the living room and went into the hall and walked past an office and went into the bedroom suite where the couch was and a lounging area. It was much larger than mine. But, I kept walking past and pushed open a second set of doors. I saw my mom in bed laying there. I jumped up on the bed and shouted "Mom! It's snowing! Snowmen time!" I screamed. My mom tackled me and started tickling me behind my ears. Ugh. I hate when my ears are tickled. So damn ticklish there. So very ticklish I am. My mom told me to go get dressed.
I ran off to go get dressed. I was excited. I ran out of her room and back into the living room, I went off to the side by the bathroom and went up the stairs to the second floor, I walked past two guest rooms, then hit the third guest room... Which the housekeeper at the time stayed in. But, before the housekeeper's place and the fourth room on that floor... There was a fifth place. It was more of a family room at first. But, my dad had more walls expanded around it, making it more like a mini living-room for me. It had the couch in it, the fireplace wasn't in it however. There were my brooms, my trophies, posters on the walls. I quite liked the room. It even had my desk facing out the window looking out upon the lake. I grinned and loved it there. There were books and papers stacking up. For good reason, I was in Charm School and outside of Charm School, as it was now summer... My parents gave me homework. There is a good reason I guess? My parents wanted me to be smart. I had their old History of Magic books, their old Herbology and Potions books. They told me I couldn't practice magic, but there were no rules against studying and remembering things.
I'm actually quite glad looking back a few years that my parents were hard asses on me learning things before school. It made my first year much easier. But, that's coming later. Right? So yeah. I walked around the table, chairs, and couch and went up the stairs to the third floor. There was a gorgeous spiral staircase that went up. It took up like a third of my opening room. It provided me privacy. I didn't know why I needed it. But, my dad told me it'd be for when I got older. He said I'd be able to hear people up there on the third floor. He also brought in some sort of contractor to redo my stairs. He said there was something he wanted when he was a kid. He said he wanted a slide. So, he had a contractor install a button that would magically change my stairs into a slide so I can slide down... Then they'd turn back into stairs when I reached the bottom. I loved it. Simply loved it.
There was a futon downstairs as well, my dad said it's good for when I have guests I guess? Only one friend ever slept over, it was from Charm School. But, we both fell asleep on the floor by my fireplace... Because it was cold. I had a lot of privacy in my room. I really liked it. I asked my mom once why she didn't take it, even though it was smaller than hers on the first floor. She said she preferred first floor and I was a kid, I deserved the room of my dreams. I laughed and giggled about it. Upstairs past the spiral staircase opened up to this great floor. I had a large bed, I think it's called a queen size? My parents bed is larger. Mine's just fine. Still is. It was always too large for me, but, I do manage to sleep all over the place. I did fall off it a few times. Hah! I loved coming up the stairs the first time when my dad told me it's my room. I just only asked him it should be where the dining table is for the view because I loved staring out of it. My dad was simply like "Do you one better, bud." There is a smaller couch and a chair upstairs, by the fireplace. The fireplace was actually quite nice. But, my dad told me the fridge has to stay in the downstairs part of my room.
I loved it the first time I took my dear wife and my son to our home. This was my new home, I loved it so much. I didn't tell my wife I had already bought it. I actually spent nearly everything left in the Stebbins vault for it. My wife knew it'd cost that much. The Stebbins family did lose a great deal of galleons and assets due to the fall of the Death Eaters in the Second Wizarding War. My parents and family supported it. It was unfortunate they joined the wrong side. But, it wasn't my choice. The Second Wizarding War happened when I was much younger. Heck, Lord Voldemort wasn't known for his return until I believe it was around the time there was the Goblet of Fire... Yeah, I entered my name into that... Didn't get selected. Oh well. That was um, my seventh year. Harry Potter's fourth I think? Yeah that sounds right.
So yeah, my family lost a great deal of wealth. Such a shame we lost so much wealth to be honest. I didn't lose much of my trust fund because it was locked out from my parents. My father thankfully had the sense to take his name off when I graduated Hogwarts, thus it wasn't able to get seized. I just wish we would've moved more wealth over. I don't have many galleons left in my private vault. Our shared vault is being stretched thin as well. We're not spending nearly as much on Anthony as we hoped we would. The boy doesn't seem to notice. He seems perfectly fine with the cutbacks we made. He's happy. Thankfully all of our big purchases are out of the way. A lot of the boy's clothes are coming back into style, so that's good... At least according to my wife? I have no clue about fucking style today. In my day we wore robes. Today? All the kids wear jeans. I want to snap at Anthony for that... But, I really cannot because it's the in fashion.
I remember when I followed Anthony up to the third floor. He said he immediately wanted to see the view of the lake. It was a good day to be honest. I remember seeing the outline of Hogwrts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's castle. It wasn't the easiest thing to see, you had to squint to see it, but it was there for sure. Anthony made me laugh, he had declared that the top should be where they do social events, parties, dining, etc. It had a perfect view. "Do you one better, bud..." I spoke to Anthony placing my hand on his shoulder winking at my wife who just came up. "This entire floor... Looks like enough room for one nice sized bedroom. It makes sense you have the second largest right? Your mom here is becoming an old broad despite hitting her forties..." I laughed looking at my wife who was giving me the no sex look. I'd make it up later. I totally did... By the way. Score.
Anthony's expression was unbelievable the kid look bewildered. "So, we're taking the first floor master bedroom. This looks like it was once a family room... I think it'd be perfectly fine as a bedroom. You have a bathroom there, a nice fireplace to keep you warm there. Your own balcony with a view over the lake... I know you love lakes Anthony. We can get you a couch for here," I walked around showing him what we could do. I started asking him questions like color and all. My wife had an idea. Her idea was intriguing. Honey? The idea? Your turn.
Yeah? Oh, right. My turn. I remember seeing this home. It was bewildering. I was in love with it. I loved it ever since I was a teenager walking by it. I had actually discovered it because I wanted to find a dark alley to snog Alexander behind, but, we ended up finding a hidden row of manors and large homes near the lake. Needless to say, this was actually the location of our first kiss. I didn't want it to be in public. The home looked ran down and abandoned. There was once a famous opera singer who lived here. She disappeared after her husband died some years ago and held onto the home for years. I was told it was one of the most gorgeous constructions ever done in Hogsmeade Village.
To my surprise some years ago the manor came to life, the boards were fixed, grounds taken care of. Miss Tyler was moving back. The town of Hogsmeade was thrilled. So was I. I hoped she'd one day perform. I heard she was legendary. So, Anthony finding this place? Was a miracle to me. No idea how he pulled that off. With Anthony running up to the top of the stairs, my husband calling me an old broad... I couldn't help but to smile at my son then give my husband a death glare. I loved my husband's idea, of turning this room that Anthony had become so attached to the view of into his bedroom. There were only five bedrooms. This would make six apparently. I stepped up to Alexander and wrapped my arms around him and kissed him softly. I was proud of him. He to this day is a great father.
I had an idea after I kissed him and we explored the other rooms. Anthony had liked our suite the opening room. "You know the spiral staircase that goes to the third floor?" I asked Alexander in front of Anthony. "Why don't we wall that in? We can cut five or six feet on either side too, just rebuild that entire side. This way Anthony has his own living room? He had already asked for electricity. We can wire that in when we're renovating." I spoke. Alexander liked the idea, we both looked at Anthony. Anthony grinned and nodded his head. "Let's buy it."
I stripped off my clothes and pulled on new clothes and grabbed a thick jacket I had gotten for last Christmas. It was getting tight on me, I couldn't zip it up all the way. I didn't care. I raced back downstairs to my mom, I found her in the kitchen already dressed and drinking coffee. She gleamed at me and placed a mug down on the counter of hot chocolate for me. I was happy. I loved chocolate things. In the summer I loved cold chocolate pudding. In the winters I loved hot chocolate. My mom knew me so well. We drunk my hot chocolate and her coffee as we talked about me and my dad's latest broom ride to the snow-tipped valleys some miles away. My dad had been taking me almost every weekend on a broom ride. He told me this would be a regular thing. I loved a father/son day. Mom usually went and got her hair done or something. Sometimes we came back to a living room rearranged.
We finally went outside... I threw a snowball at my mom while she was showing me how to build a snowman. It took us all day, but we finally built one snowman. We didn't dress him, because I accidently tripped and knocked him down ruining our perfect snowman that actually looked disfigured and horrible. He was no Jack Frost. I was so very happy. I kept gleaming and smiling. My mom hugged me and took me back inside as it had gotten dark and I was shivering. I had another cup of hot chocolate and we curled up in her bed. I fell asleep in my parents bed. When I woke up, I found my dad in bed too! I was happy. I woke up early, kissed my dad on the cheek and hopped out of bed. I think he smiled. I couldn't tell.
One of my favorite memories of Anthony is actually a series. There were times we needed to use a car, or a knight bus. Or even when we were in a restaurant or at a party out late. He was always so polite, so calm. A perfect son to be honest. He fell asleep sometimes, he yawned and told us he was tired, but he didn't complain. He sat patiently, the boy had patience. No idea where he got it from. Neither his mother nor I have patience. When he fell asleep, I loved picking him up, his arm wrapped around me as he was dozing off with his head on my shoulder. I know he was getting to big for it at nine years old... But, he being asleep like a little angel... It made me smile.
I once came home from a business trip, came back to Hogsmeade to realize it had snowed! I remembered why Anthony blew the trip with me, because he promised his mother. He was very much like I and his mother was. We were strong about our word. We meant our word. Our word was our entire reputation. We rebuilt our reputation. We weren't wealthy, we didn't have a ton of power. But, the people that new us? They knew my family kept it's word. Anthony did so too. I was proud. I walked in my home, taking off my jacket and walked into my bedroom, stripping down to my boxers, how I've always slept. I realized my wife was cuddling another man. Oh, no she wasn't cheating. It was just Anthony in a large t-shirt... I actually had been wondering where that shirt had disappeared to. He was asleep with my wife's arm wrapped around him. The boy rolled over as I climbed into bed, I kissed him on the forehead and laid down, locking him in the middle.
It was a shitty day for business. I lost a major contract. But, I came home to my sweet innocent Anthony. I loved that boy with all my heart.
It snowed again the next day, and the next. I joked with my parents that it wouldn't snow on my birthday. But, boy was I wrong in two weeks. On the fifteenth, my tenth birthday, double digits baby, it snowed! I woke up to snow. I was thrilled and happy. I was still yawning, but I opened up my balcony door and stepped outside to just touch the snow. We hadn't had snow for a week. But, there was still dirty snow on the ground that had been slowly melting away. The lake was partially frozen, I didn't care about that. I stepped back inside because I was shivering cold and just in a large t-shirt and boxers. I turned around to find my parents there, already coming up the stairs. I was able to hear them. I closed the door and smiled as they screamed happy birthday to me. I liked my birthdays.
For my tenth birthday they gave me some different presents. I got a new jacket, I really did need one as I outgrew my old one. New underpants, clothes... A lot of clothes... Too many clothes honestly thinking back. I got some new magical toys, a new notebook, a new quill set... Some things from the Weasley Wizard Wheezes stores. I was happy. Of course, I got candy. My birthday was so close to Christmas, my parents always did a good job for both. I admit, I am spoiled. I'm called their Christmas baby. Ten days before Christmas is my birthday... December Fifteenth. I was happy. My parents took me to my grandparents, the Fawcetts of course, we really didn't go to the Stebbins house much. They had a nice meal for me. My grandma complained about not knowing my favorite food. My parents snickered as I told her, "Chocolate." My grandma laughed and said good and she revealed a large super chocolate cake. I was thrilled and happy and ate a piece of that before the chicken.
I actually quite loved my birthday dinner. I had fun at my grandparents. They both kissed me on the cheek saying I could stay whenever I wanted to. I laughed and told them sure, sometime. My dad placed his hand on my shoulder and apparated out of there. My mother stayed for a while after. He took me upstairs and walked me to my bedroom. He tucked me into my bed, really tight. It had actually been a long time since he had done that... But, I liked it. He sat on the edge of the bed and told me something, something that made me grin, made me so happy. "Anthony, son. I'm so very proud of you. You know, your grandparents think you're the best thing that had happened to them since I destroyed your mom's wedding?" He laughed and told me the story of the wedding, I loved it so much.
My son's tenth birthday was just something different. Sarah's parents still hated me despite it being years since I walked into her wedding and ruined it. My own family was also pissed at me because they didn't get to come to my wedding, because I basically kicked out Sarah's original groom and took his spot. I don't regret it one bit. I don't regret it one bit just like I don't regret Anthony. I'm sorry to say, Sarah. Anthony is the best thing to happen in my life. I've grown so attached to him. I just wanted to hug my son a thousand times the night of his tenth birthday, I must've done it. When he had to answer questions, he always had the right answer.
Sarah's parents have always been questionable about Anthony. My parents cared less. They thought I was an idiot badger boy that deserved nothing. They all ended up being arrested, mostly... So I was alone. It was why I was with Sarah for so long in her home. I do believe in purity, in magic over muggles. Always have, but, murder is such questionable. No doubt about it. I know, contradictive. Ugh. I can't take this pain. I can't know I murdered Anthony's real parents and stole him. Sarah honey? You there?
Oh boy! Anthony was perfect tonight. My parents loved him so much. They also agreed to keep our secret. I stayed after with my parents to discuss the legality of Anthony's purity. We cleared up the family tree. We removed my blasted husband's portrait and name and replaced it... And a new portion was added. It was the portion about Anthony. I even got my parents to agree to use his full name, Kirk Anthony Stebbins. They wrote him into his will. It took years, but, they did it.
My heart wrenches now, what we did to the boy's parents is catching up to me... I so agree, Alexander... I'm here. I agree with you... We shall. Shall we? We must forget. This is going to chew us up. In one. Two... Three. Obliviate.
Hmph. Odd flash of light. Wonder what my parents are doing in that other room. I hope they're not embarrassing me. So yeah, um where was I? So, my dad was proud of me and all, my mom was still off at my grandparents. I went to bed. Well, later on Christmas came around ten days after my birthday. We went back to my grandparents home. I was actually quite glad to be back because I really like Grandma and Grandpa Fawcett. We had an early meal. I wasn't that hungry, but, I did drink hot chocolate like tomorrow. Seriously... Dinner at two pm? What are grandma and grandpa? Old. They're wizards they have many years left to go. After we ate food... There was turkey and some other thing I cannot pronounce because I didn't really care for it, but I'd eat it. My grandma didn't like it... So I don't need to remember it.
Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot. When I woke up for Christmas, my room was decorated! We decorated the living room! I remember helping my dad and mom decorate it, put up stockings and all. But, not my room, just the stairs... The main stairs around the living room. But, I woke up to find my bedroom all festive. My parents must've done it while I was asleep. So anyways I woke up got ready and all, was glad to see decorated, I hugged my parents and we went off to grandma and grandpa's home. So, when it got to presents, they told me to open mine first. I was kind of the only kid there? So it worked out quite well. So I um opened up the large one first. I ripped off the paper and looked, stared at it. It was a bicycle. I was surprised to see that. My grandma laughed and nudged me to open the other presents while she talked. "You know wizards were greatly involved in these things? Muggles follow our lead. Besides, you need to know how to ride one, young man. Just in case you're ever in London and decide you don't want to ride with muggles in crowded... What do they call it? More dangerous versions of knight busses dear. I hear people die on those!"
I grinned. I accepted the bicycle. I knew my dad had one. There's one in the garage... I actually don't know why we have a garage. We don't have a car? I don't think I've ever seen a car in Hogsmeade. If there are some, I've obviously need to learn to pay attention. So yeah, anyways after the awesome Christmas presents and we went home, me and my dad put my bike in the garage until the snow melted. I couldn't wait to use it. I wanted the snow to melt right away. Though the bicycle made me miss the muggle world a bit. Anthony Trey, the muggle father that raised me didn't even teach me to ride a bike. Granted, he didn't have one.
As well as for Christmas I got something from my father... A book on wand lore! It was actually quite intriguing. He told me it was since I loved to learn and I gotten bored of the Herbology, History of Magic and other books. I couldn't practice magic, so reading about it, and the laws that govern magic were the next best thing. I quite enjoyed it all. I started reading the wand lore book that night and I started falling in love with wand lore. It was so interesting how cores and woods blended together to create such power. My dad stopped pressuring me to play instruments as much as I failed at yet another instrument. Though, my mom refused it. She heard me singing a small lullaby in the shower one day. She got me a singing tutor without even telling me! But, they tried. They had tried so many instruments, none clicked. My mom was desperate for me to learn an art. Singing was one I liked, but, I didn't like being in front of others for it. So, it was an interesting ride in that field.
Winter was surprisingly cold that month even after the snow had melted. It was too cold to go out on my balcony most days. I just stayed in the kitchen or in the living room by the fire drinking hot chocolate as my mom had coffee and my dad had whatever suited his fancy. Around February my dad had decided to take me to France. It was still cold though. I have never been to France, not at all. I was actually very excited. I never left the United Kingdom or Ireland. Does Ireland count? I'm not sure if Ireland counts, it's like saying the Welsh have their own country. I don't think they're their own country. If so, Hogsmeade should be its own country too. See how badly that can get out of hand? Oh, I'm going off topic, so yeah. Um. I did want to go to France. I was so excited about it. My mom was even coming to. We were going to go to Paris for a few days then down to Cannes, I think that's what it's called. I didn't know any French, I told my dad that. He was like it's alright.
"Anthony!" I remember calling out. I grinned at the boy when he raced down the stairs to his name. He hadn't been feeling well. He was a bit sick, I think he got the flu or something. Probably from one of those dumb muggleborn kids he was mingling with when down at the shops on his own. I don't like him wandering off when the damn tourists are in the city on the weekends. Weekdays are much better, but, he didn't seem to get the picture. Well, it's probably Sarah's fault for letting him wander around anyway. But, anyways, Anthony did come down and I remember him asking why I called him. He didn't stay in the living room, he darted into the kitchen narrowing avoiding a hug from Sarah.
I heard laughter from both of them, "Anthony." I spoke again into the air. The boy finally did come toward me with a bottle of butterbeer. I slapped the armrest of the recliner I was in next to me. Anthony came and sat down on it. "So, you remember those pictures of France you were staring at? Well. You better go pack, bud. I have a business trip there, and your mom and I decided we'll spend a week there. How does Paris and Cannes sound?" Anthony's reaction was gold. Shiner than all the galleons in his vault.
I distinctly remembering my dad telling me and I was extremely happy. I remember jumping straight up off the chair and screaming "Yes! Going to France!" My dad laughed and I hugged him and kissed him on the cheek before racing up to my room. I threw a bunch of clothes onto the couch I had upstairs, as my dad finally got me one... Well the upstairs' upstairs, you know the third floor that only had my room. I quite loved it, still did despite all the stairs. I did get angry at the amount of stairs sometimes. I tossed all my clothes off the couch and onto the stairs, basically spreading litter across the top five steps. I sat down on the top step as well and stretched my arm up to press the button. I screamed in delight as the stairs fell and into a slide just for a few seconds. As I passed each step raised back up. I was at the bottom, landing in a pile of my own clothes. I walked up and tried to remember where my luggage was. It was kept on the second floor. Then I remembered my mom put it under the chairs by the windows looking out to the second floor balcony that surrounded the entire side of the house and led to a small hill if one would walk out among it.
I pulled it, out, not caring about the decorations or pillows. I shoved my clothes in there and walked out the door. I went around across the grass and walked around the house. It was a bit steep, but not too steep. It was just easier then throwing this luggage down the stairs. I didn't want to get into trouble. I opened the living room door and smiled as I walked straight into the home. My dad laughed. He was racing to lock the door on me, but, I was far too fast for him. Sucker. My dad told me to get to France we'd be taking the Floo Network to Diagon Alley. I nodded my head, a bit confused. I saw my mother carried out a suitcase as twice as big as mine. Mine wasn't even full. My father handed me a pinch of the powder and I threw it into the fire place "Diagon Alley!" I screamed in delight and came out on the other side. I waited for a moment for my parents to come. They took forever, or at least I thought they did.
My dad came out behind me, and behind him was my mom. He grabbed my hand and said stay close. Diagon Alley was busy. It was always busy. I looked around remembering the carnival once here. "Can we go to the Carnival this year?" I asked. My mom started laughing and said sure. My dad led us into some building and told me to touch a weird looking cauldron and don't lift up my finger. So I did. I watched as my mom and dad did the same thing. I was actually quite confused. Suddenly I felt myself being sucked into something unable to move. A moment later the room looked different. I was somewhere else. My dad welcomed me to Paris and led me away to where we'd be staying for a few days.
"Welcome to Paris!" I shouted to my son and slapped him on the shoulder. I led the way toward the small place we'd be staying. It wasn't much, but we wouldn't be staying in the room much. I just had a business meeting. I did tell the boy and my wife that as soon as we got into our room, just two bed. Shared regular hotel room. "You two have fun, I won't be back until late tonight." I wouldn't be able to have lunch and likely not dinner with them. My wife understood. Anthony looked at me with his confused eyes. He was excited to go on vacation. But, now he was just confused. "Hey, bud. Business is a priority. You get me the rest of the week okay? Think of this as time for you and your mom." I smiled. Anthony nodded and grabbed his mom's hand and dragged her out of the room demanding to explore.
Explore I did. I told my mom I wanted to explore. My dad was going to be gone that day. So, I wanted something to do besides sit in an empty room all day with nothing to do. We went around exploring the streets of magical Paris. My mother went into so many clothing shops. So very, very, very, many. It made no sense why that woman needed so many clothes. But, all I could do is sit and wait. We did eat a light lunch, from a side stand instead of a restaurant. For dinner we went to a show where we ate and watched a performance. I was tired, I don't remember much about the performance actually besides it having a talking owl. That talking owl was actually pretty cool. But, I liked the cute little cat more. I wanted a cat. I didn't have a pet. We actually didn't even have an owl. Strange right? No house elves, no owls. We were just living with us and the housekeeper of the month.
The next day we explored more of magical Paris. My dad was with us. I was having fun. I asked if we could go to the muggle zoo. He wondered how I heard about it. I told him it's a big city, of course there was one. My dad slowly nodded his head. He agreed to take me to the zoo. I was excited. So, on our third day in Paris we went out to the muggle world, we saw the tall tower that looks... I don't know how to describe it. It's just tall. Tower of Paris... Waffle... Something like Waffle or Iffy... Eiffel? Eiffel Tower! There we go! We went by there and we walked by a pyramid made of glass, which was actually totally cool. I think it was the Lover's Museum or something. We didn't go in. We did make it to the zoo, Zoo de Vincennes if I remember the name right. I was ecstatic.
The zoo was a lot of fun from what I remember. We saw the giraffes first, went over to the zebras. I asked how come the horses had stripes. My parents laughed. We went over to the Lemurs, there were so many other animals like the Flamingos, Hippopotamuses, Kangaroos, Reindeers... The Reindeers had no fur... It was weird. Even goats! I liked the Elephants. They were large, and huge! There was only one Chimpanzee though... The Penguin exhibit was closed. But, I didn't mind. After talking to a parrot for a few moments and giggling about how it could talk, I called the parrot a giant pixie, that made my dad laugh. We went over toward the more mountainous part. There we saw the big cats, the tigers, the lions, even a deer. Some vultures... And otters. I liked the otters. I've seen them before on flying trips with my dad, the Scottish River Otters. The deer weren't that exciting cause we saw them all the time.
There was a new exhibit. A place that read Felis Margarita. I thought it was an amusing name. My dad spoke the English name to me as the sign was too high for me... I was really short at ten years old, don't judge me. I can read. I was just short... Small. So, anyways, um. They were Sand Cats. I was fascinated by them, I remember calling them cute. I told my dad and mom that I wanted a cat like that. I knew Hogwarts suggested a pet. So, I wanted a cat. Not an owl, not a toad... Who wants a toad anyway? Toads should be in the lake. I wanted a cat. My dad smiled and told me he'd look into getting me a cat for Hogwarts when I did start it. I groaned, cause that was forever away. Like over a year away. We left the zoo, I was happy. I loved seeing all the animals.
That night we hopped into the Floo Network and went to Cannes to go to another hotel. I crawled into bed, curled up with my new stuffed animal as my parents kissed. My mom came over to me and looked at me. She told my dad, "He's so adorable." I growled at her and stared at both my parents, "I'm not adorable. I'm manly as hell." I ducked under my blankets, hid under them and fell asleep.
"I'm not adorable. I'm manly as hell." I still remember those words to this day. Anthony must've been around ten. I just couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear as I wrapped my arm around my husband and placed a hand on his chest. This was our little boy who was growling at us. I couldn't help but to give a soft chuckle and watch him fall asleep. I turned to my husband and remember speaking, "You did well today. Thank you."
Cannes was fun. Interesting. I don't really remember much about Cannes besides watching a pretty woman with long white gold looking hair shooting fireballs into the sky while she danced around a bonfire. I think it was a Veela village outside of Cannes. But, I couldn't be sure. It was interesting, but I was tired because almost everything seemed to be focused around night and I was yawning just wanting to sleep. I did get to go to the Cannes zoo again, my father took me to one since I loved the one in Paris so very much. We saw sand cats again. Here a lady was talking about how they aren't domesticated, they're common in desert regions of the middle east. I nodded my head. She spoke about how they were docile, they loved to stay up at night, they loved food, especially chicken. I grinned at this. I liked chicken enough. My dad spoke to her about something. I don't remember what.
My son was fascinated with the sand cats. I'd admit, I was too. They looked unique, interesting. My heart was a bit sad when the zoo caretaker told us they weren't domesticated. I approached her and asked her if she knew of any research about domestication or was anyone trying, they looked like a common house cat. She nodded her head, "Actually, in Oregon... In the United States... I believe there are a group of people that have domesticated this breed." We talked for a few more moments. I smiled and thanked the muggle woman and went on the way with my son. We went off back to meet with the boy's mother.
We went home. Cannes wasn't that exciting besides the fact a fireball almost hit my mother in the face? But, that freaked me out for a second. But, I did love the trip to France. I loved walking the beaches. But, I was really glad to be home. I remember being so tired that I crashed in the living room as soon as we walked in. My mom said she'd make me something to eat, so I waited. I never got to eat. I just fell asleep. I woke up to find a blanket over me on the couch. I went to the bathroom and then went up the stairs and went into my own bed and went back to sleep. I was extremely exhausted.
I woke up that morning again, for the second time. Now it was around nine or ten am. I was a bit hungry. I yawned and walked down stairs, still clothed from the night before because I was just so tired. I looked around the living room to see my mom sitting there with an ice cream treat in her hands. The fireplace was roaring. It smelled so good, it had chunks of something in it that made it even more delicious. I yawned again and sat next to my mom, stealing a bite of her food. I smiled at her lady friends. "Hi Miss Courtney... Miss Rachel." I smiled. I think they were part of my mom's book club. I secretly think they just met up for the wine. I looked down at the coffee table and sounded out the book title aloud. "Are you reading this?" I asked.
I liked my moms friends. They were nice people. My dad's buddies were cool too. Time went by. Eventually summer came by. I was so excited for summer! My parents kept their promise. They took me to the Diagon Alley carnival. I only stayed for a few hours. My mom needed to get back home and my dad had to run off to work wherever in Voldemort's Hell that was. I went and rode the rides to the carnival. My dad did go on a few with me. I got too much candy. I think I ate too much food as I got a really bad stomach ache, so my dad had to apparate me back home. I didn't like stomach aches. I actually wasn't feeling well the day of the carnival, but, I lied to my mom just because I really wanted to go that day. It was actually a fun day, but, when I got home I threw up. I didn't like being sick. I think my dad was a bit disappointed I lied. He carried me up into bed and told me to stay put.
After a few days I did feel better. My dad took a few days off. The weather was nice, the traffic in Hogsmeade wasn't heavy. My dad took my bike out and decided to teach me to ride the bike again. I already knew how, actually. So it surprised him. So, we decided to ride around Hogsmeade and explore the streets. There were some streets my dad said he never been on and he was curious. So was I. In reality, I just wanted to spend time with my dad. I thought my dad was the coolest person ever. When I told him that, I think he blushed a thousand shades of red.
When Anthony called me the coolest person ever, my heart leapt. I stared at the boy from my bike that day. I had to stop and rest my bike against the random wall just to grab Anthony off of his bike and into a large hug. Anthony is the perfect son. I have never been so glad he was my son on that day. I hopped back up on my bike and told my son, "Race you home!" I laughed, the boy shook his head and grabbed his bike up off the ground and pedaled after me and eventually gained speed and passed me up. I let him win.
The summer came to an end and autumn came around. The hot weather vanished. No more swimming for me in the lake or the pool. I actually liked the pool much better. The water was cleaner than the lake. My dad told me there's a giant monster in the lake that liked to haunt the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I Thought it was hilarious. I grinned and laughed it off thinking it was a joke until he gave me a mythology book turned to the page about the giant squid. I stared at it blankly and tossed it aside and went back to studying my wand lore book. I didn't have to take charm school anymore. My dad thought it was too slow on progress for me. He just kept buying me books and he quizzed me on them randomly. I hated the quizzes. He gave me ten questions at a time. If I got more than two wrong he made me reread the chapter again and used a new ten questions from the chapter... So I actually had to read the chapter and couldn't just get away with it.
I did wonder about Ireland, I kind of missed it when I came across it in my book. For a surprise, on my eleventh birthday... My dad took me to Ireland. So it was just me, my mom, and dad walking through parts of the magical heritage sites of Ireland in the cold. I was freezing. It was actually quite a memorable day trip. It ended with us getting candy from Belfast and we came home. We did come home. I looked around for a letter from the famous castle, the school I was supposed to go to. I remembered going to my parents asking why there was no letter. I didn't know why I didn't get a letter from Hogwarts at the time. It made me sad. "Am I not good enough for Hogwarts?" I asked. My parents both laughed, big time.
"Oh honey..." I said. I remembered my son's reaction when we got back from Ireland. I was exhausted myself. My son was excited because it was still his eleventh birthday. He was under the assumption the Hogwarts letter came on his eleventh birthday. I shook my head and told the boy it didn't. It would come when he was eleven. "You are eleven now, dear... But, your letter will come when you are eleven. Not the exact day you turn eleven," I smiled at him. He nodded his head. I think he understood.
I understood. I nodded my head. I was a bit disappointed. My dad gave me a gift. I was shocked at the gift. My dad had left about halfway through our Ireland trip. He said he had to do business. He walked in when I was sitting playing a card game with my mom in the living room. My dad stormed in and handed me a cat. A gorgeous cat.
I spent a while tracking down this cat breeder in Oregon. I tried my best. My son grew attached to the Sand Cats. He even tore pictures of the cat out of books. I spent a while tracking down this breeder. I did find the breeder around six months before Anthony's birthday. However, there were no cats available. I told them to contact a number when there were cats available and that I would purchase one. The number was to a magical-muggle company. As much as I don't like going into the muggle world, but, they had their advantages. Fletcher Enterprises took care of this dealing for me, and sent an owl out my way when the muggles called for me. I grinned. The owl found me while I was in Ireland. My son 3was sad because I was leaving in the middle of his birthday.
I made arrangements to get the cat brought to the United Kingdom from the United States as fast as possible. It was tough. It took a sizable chunk of galleons to make it happen along with the purchase. I had to go to a town outside of Edinburgh. Gorgeous lake, I'd admit. I went into a skyscraper. It was hard for me to believe the skyscraper, the only one in the skyline belonged to a wizard. It was a muggle company. I was sure about it. They specialized in technology. I did later research it. The owner is muggle-born that decided to expand his company's reach into the magical world. I actually think it's brilliant. It allows me to stay on the wizarding side of the world, let a middleman deal with the muggles. So, I didn't have to interact with that strange lesser world.
So, I obtained the cat. I also got a few books from the breeder about the cat. I came home, walked into the door to find my beautiful wife and son sitting in the living room playing a card game. I grinned as I walked in silently. My son hadn't noticed until I leaned over on the couch and stuck a cat into his lap. His reaction was worth it.
"Did I do well honey?" I heard my dad smile and kiss my mother. I looked down at the cat in my lap, my dad had put in my lap. I was shocked. Taken by surprise. It was a sand cat. A gorgeous sand cat. I was so happy. I hugged it, kissed it. Gave it more hugs. I loved the cat. I even named it immediately. Sandy. I named him Sandy. I loved Sandy from the second I saw him. He was young. My dad told me it was on me to take care of him and train him. I nodded my head and agreed. I immediately took the cat upstairs and showed it my room. I loved the cat so very much. My mother came up with a litter box. My dad suggested getting a second one for the downstairs part of my suite. I nodded my head. I was excited. I stayed up late and fell asleep with my lights on reading about sand cats and how to take care of them. How to feed them. I worked for a few weeks becoming Hogsmeade resident cat expert.
For Christmas we went back to grandma and grandpa's. I got a lot of things for my cat, I also got a very nice trunk from my grandparents. I had a lot of fun. Sitting at the table, laughing, drinking warm butterbeer. I was happy. So very happy. I loved that Christmas. I even got to bring my cat to the Christmas! I was actually very happy. Time went by after Christmas, I was training my cat. The cat training was actually going very well. Sandy was well behaved, he used his litter box. He slept on the couch upstairs a lot by the fireplace in the winter. Other days he napped on my bed in my lap when I was doing homework. Despite not being in Charm School didn't mean I didn't have homework. My parents gave me a lot of homework. I guess it was a good thing? I pretty much memorized most of the basic herbs, potion techniques, and major battles of Hogsmeade and the Wizarding World. I was good with Hogsmeade lore, but I guess that was because I lived there.
My Hogwarts acceptance letter did arrive during the summer. I remembered reading it,
Dear Mr Stebbins, We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July. Yours sincerely... I stared at it. The first day of September was a weekend. So, it was an all day train ride. I was happy! My parents were happy. We immediately had a family outing to Diagon Alley that very day, we bought my clothes, my books, everything I needed except for one thing... My wand.
I asked about the wand, wanting to get one. My mother smiled and told me we needed to go eat dinner first. I thought Ollivander's would've been closed so late! The dinners were always so late. But, boy, was I surprised. At the restaurant my grandparents were there. Not just the Fawcett grandparents, my Stebbins grandparents came too. They all clapped for me when I came in. They all told me stories of their first days at Hogwarts. They told me their stories their houses. Apparently my father was the first Hufflepuff in his family. Most were Slytherin or Ravenclaw. I laughed and grinned. I nearly forgot about my wand. I was going to mention it, but, my grandfather, that had memory problems handed me a box, wrapped carefully. "Here, son. Take this." I opened up the box, inside the highly decorated nice wooden box was a very fine wand. "Yew wood, with blackthorn ridges, this wand has been in our family for many, many years. With a core of a dragon heartstring... You know, those were once rare and expensive? This was far before the Enchanted Feather Company made getting wands easily. We had to actually go to Romania to obtain a dragon heartstring."
I remembered reading wand lore, how Gervaise Ollivander used kelpie hair, kneazle whiskers, and troll whiskers. Garrick Ollivander came up with the supreme three... Unicorn hair that had been so popular for so long, and the most common for good reason. There was the phoenix feather, and then the dragon heartstring. All of them had such long histories of being used, but en masse it was uncommon until Garrick Ollivander brought them to the masses. "Really?" I gasped and picked the gorgeous ten inch wand out of the box carefully. The family watched me. Everyones eyes were on me, watching as the wand decided it liked me or not. Suddenly I felt warmth, the wand was glowing. I heard someone say wave it. So I did and some fireworks came out. "It feels good! Is it really mine?" Everyone at the table nodded.
"Anthony, this wand is a family heirloom. It has been in our family since before the reign of both Gervaise and Garrick Ollivander. We've had it for a few centuries. The actual wood and core is ancient, but, the yew ridges were added when I was just a boy, for easier grip when handles started coming into fashion. Every person that had this wand added something new to it. I added yew ridges, my father dyed it black. My grandfather fixed a crack in the wood. This wand wood is gorgeous, beautiful. It has history. This is the Stebbins family history, Anthony. You are to carry it on. Your father has decided it should go to you, instead of him." I gleamed. I knew my grandfather was sick. I just gasped and looked at the wand. I looked over at my mom and grabbed her wand looking at the handle. I gave it back, I reached over to my grandma's wand as she had it out to light candles. Similar handle. Both were of blackthorn. "Let's take this into the shop... And add a real handle to it. My addition will be the blackthorn handle to this awesomely cool wand."
My son did something I or Alexander couldn't. He married our families. He made his family legacy wand, the Stebbins wand have a classic Fawcett blackthorn handle. He did something that I couldn't believe. I immediately got up from the table and went to my old room where my old wand was. I broke my first wand. But, I still had the handle. I came back and handed it to Anthony. "This... From my first wand."
My mom handed me a handle, it looked gorgeous. It just needed to be attached. My parents all nodded, and my grandparents gleamed about my idea of combining the handle with the wand wood. My grandmother, grandma Stebbins reached for the wand, "That's expensive deer. I'll have it taken care of immediately." She reached for the handle and the wand that was given to me and carefully placed them both back in the box. I was happy. Thrilled. I went to get my cat and we went home.
A few weeks went by, then a month. My Hogwarts letter was long ago sent back. I was anxiously waiting to start Hogwarts. Around two weeks before I started Hogwarts, about a month and a half after I got the wand, Grandma Stebbins showed up to our home. She handed me the wandbox, I opened it up. The wand was gorgeous, a gorgeous black handle. She even had the liberty of carving my name into the handle. On the wand there were other names carved into it, I noticed my grandfather's name and another part sanded down changing the ownership. The other names were gone, it was just mine...
Anthony the handle read on the top in small barely noticeable letters. On the actual wand, I could see with gold coloring some new words,
Fawcett and on the other side,
Stebbins. It was a true family heirloom, a merger of my family history.
Hogwarts started. I was so excited. I was confused why we had to go to London and I had to take the train. I've seen the station a million times living in Hogsmeade. But, it was the law. It was tradition. My dad and mom both told me they had. So, I went to the train station, boarded it. I said goodbye to my parents. I missed them, I sat alone on the train not wanting the food. I just pet my cat. It took a while. When we arrived at the Hogsmeade station that I've been to before. I told a kid I was sitting with when we got on the boats, "I live there." The kid laughed and rolled his eyes at me. I shrugged, my cat was left back on the train as per instructions. I was a first year. I took a boat across the lake, the large lake and into the castle. Inside there we got to stand in front of the school for sorting. A potter got sorted in my year, a Lily Potter. She got Gryffindor. Her cousin, Hugo Weasley got Hufflepuff. I thought they were a Gryffindor legacy, boy, was I wrong.
The floating candles, the sky were all beautiful... Gorgeous. I was in awe, I wasn't sure what to think of the Great Hall. It was my first time there. There was no big event that cause dme to be there. I saw the professors. The headmaster gave a small speech and spoke of new rules, and welcomed me to the school as a first year. I was nervous. The hat looked strange. My name got called before the Weasley boy.
Kirk Stebbins. I stepped forward. I blinked, I was nervous as hell. I didn't know what to do. I was scared. The hat sat on my head for a while, thinking, talking to me. I stayed silent, scared,
Don't be scared boy. Oh, I remember your parents... Are they your parents? They don't seem. Something's not right here boy. I know not of your history, but, I see who you are. You love magic. You have an undying love for your legacy... Loyalty. You love your achievements. Your wit, your attitude. You appreciate magic, you have cunning, ambition... Traditional! Clever! Power! Oh your obsessive power... The hat shouted after a moment, people were staring at me. Staring at me a great while. "Slytherin!" the hat shouted.
The Slytherin table clapped and cheered for me. I walked over and took my seat next to a boy who patted the seat next to him. "Hi. I'm Tony," I said to him. The boy laughed at me grinning. He introduced himself and welcomed me to Slytherin. I jumped up on a bed, claiming it. But, then I got sad when I realized trunks and animals were already distributed. I got up and looked around at all the other beds. Didn't find my name. I realized the bed I had jumped on was mine! So yay! I grabbed my cat out and hugged him, I laid back on my bed and fell asleep without meaning to. School was to start the next day. I had to get used to everything.
I was so happy to be accepted into Slytherin by a prefect. I listened to the speech, but, I only heard bits and pieces of it because I was so excited. I didn't know what to do. I was just in awe of the wondrous castle. The castle had so many wonders. He talked about how the serpent was the wisest of creatures. Talked aobut the emerald green and silver colors. The entrance to the room, the windows look under the lake even seeing the giant squid. That made me happy. I was excited to have a window bed. I was gonna try my best to claim it as fast as I can. There was some talk about Dark Arts. But, I didn't pay much attention to that part. I was just excited about moving stairs. Merlin... I was like wait what, Merlin? Merlin himself was Slytherin.
There was a snide comment about the self-soaping dishcloth. I spoke back about it, the comment was mine, "But, it does come in handy when you're stuck with chores." I spoke. Some kids laughed, others just stared at me. There was a dark reputation. I didn't quite care about the dark reputation. I did like that the Slytherins looked after their own. The Ravenclaws were said to backstab, where Slytherin stuck together. The prefect said I was choose by the Sorting Hat because I had a chance to be great. I could be great. Greatness. I grinned at this. This made me happy. So excited for school as well.
I giggled and laughed about the Bloody Baron, being on his right side he'd scare people for me. Don't ask about the blood. That made sense. The password changes, so I had to make notice of it. The dormitories were awesome. I immediately jolted in and grabbed a good bed.
School went well. I took a liking to actually casting magic. My entire first year actually went very, very, well. I really enjoyed the magic, the casting of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms. Potions was alright. Herbology seemed to be easy... I don't know why. Okay. I do. I guess I do... Haha. It's because my dad rode my back about it. So my History of Magic score did well. So did my Flying. It finally made sense why my dad had me learn so much. I was a bit ahead. I seemed nerdy and got a handful of house points for Slytherin. I'm so glad about it. I made some friends, but, I mostly looked to older years. I was interested in their spells that I couldn't pull off. I thought it was cool. I spent a lot of time in the library reading away or playing with my cat. Then I turned twelve. A few days after I turned twelve was time to go home. I didn't take the train home like many others. I asked my Head of House about it, so I just walked straight off campus and walked home.
My parents were so happy to see me when I got home. I didn't bring my clothes or books with me. It was a holiday. My mom and dad both hugged me when I got home. I sat my cat down before they had a chance to. My cat ran off somewhere in the house, not entirely sure where Sandy goes off half the time. But, I was so happy to see my parents! My mom dragged me to the kitchen and insisted on me eating something. I grinned and nodded my head. No homework for me for the winter. I just stayed at home, helped to decorate the tree. Went over to my grandparents to decorate and eat. I had to go to two grandparents that year. The Stebbins wanted me at theirs too. They no longer seemed to be mad at my dad for being a Hufflepuff.
It was actually a good holiday. Besides me thinking my cat was lost, until I found my cat hidden under a pillow. Oh, and one day I nearly burnt down the house because I forgot to turn off the stove. Oops. My dad took me aside and told me to just ask my grandpa for an elf. I laughed thinking it was a joke. My dad laughed too and walked off. I was told to not try and cook again. They got it under control at least. At my grandpa Stebbins' house, I asked for an elf jokingly. I broke out into laughter, couldn't keep a straight face. My grandfather stared at me "In the early 2000s, sometime before you came about little man, they gave them their freedom. You have to pay for them now. But, the elves are still so loyal to their households and work for nothing." I stared at my grandfather. Blinking.
"I'll give the elf double." I said. My father shook his head at me "Anthony don't." My grandfather just broke out into laughter and said "Fine. Take them." I grinned. The elves all stared at me with their weird clothes. I waved at the little elf who was shy and ran away. I just gave a soft smile.
"Anthony don't." I said to my son. My son asked my father for an elf. You don't ask my father for anything. Lorsander Anthony Stebbins was not asked for anything. He was a man that gave things. You never asked Mr. Stebbins for anything. This is what I knew, and I was his only child. I was his son, his so called heir he blasted off the family tree because I was sorted into Hufflepuff. But, he was proud of my grandson. He talked about how great Slytherin was, he talked about the hotties in Ravenclaws. Anthony was embarrassed about that. But, Anthony did ask for an elf. I told him don't.
I was shocked my father said yes. I blinked again. I couldn't believe it. I know he wasn't happy with the law changes after I graduated Hogwarts. Muggleborns and elves got rights, half-breeds got more rights. My son is growing up in a different world. I want him to survive in it, hold onto traditions, but not get himself arrested and locked away for a law. I did give my son a present for Christmas that year, one of Hermione Weasley's gold coins from back at Hogwarts, but not an original. I got him one of the new and improved ones. It would allow him to send messages to me while he's at school without needing to rely on owls and me to send messages back. Plus, I was told all the kids have one now. So, I thought he should have one too. The messages were short from what I heard. But, I just wanted Anthony to have one.
I scored some elves. I went home that night, didn't take any elves home with me. But, my father said he'd pay for them if grandpa Lorsander kept his promise. By golly, I woke up with an elf cleaning up my clothes off the floor of my house. I blinked. It was that little one I saw that was shy. "Hi," I remember saying to her. The elf grew wide eyed at me and disappeared to someplace else. Before I went back to school, I left a small thing on my bed, a gift for the elf named Ixxy. It was a thank-you card. I was taught and raised that muggles and other species are lesser than we are. That I'm pure-blood so we're greater than others. But, I am to treat others with respect. Respect was something I was taught big time, unless I needed to get something done. My family may have been purist, supporting purist nominees, but, it was interesting.
My first year ended and I was twelve! I wasn't sure of what the grades was. I came back home for the summer. I hopped on a broom the first weekend after the school year had ended. My dad and I decided to follow the river up, and we eventually found otters. I was so excited when we saw otters. I demanded we land and take a break there. I just sat there in the field by the river for about a half an hour just watching them. I loved otters, well at least did. I loved animals. I was fascinated by the river otters. I actually quite like all animals. The broom rides were a highlight of my summers. I loved riding with my father. I didn't even bother trying out for the quidditch team, because I didn't want a quidditch team position like my father had, or my father's family had. I liked racing. I didn't like the sport very much. I liked to watch it. But, I didn't like to play it. I just loved racing my dad on the summer adventures. I beat him this time. I feel so happy when I beat him. I know when he fakes lets me wins. But, this time I thought I really did it.
Damn, boy. How did Anthony go faster than I? Our broom model is the same. The boy sped above me, went above me, went faster than me. I don't know how the boy managed to beat me. I didn't even have to let him get ahead, I was struggling to keep up with him. I nearly didn't notice he set down for a break by the river. I was wondering why he had sat down there until he shushed me up when I opened my mouth to speak. He pointed over at the river otters tossing a stone and playing around. He was enjoying it, having fun seeing nature in its natural habitat. "We should go to Romania one day." he told me.
I did tell him we should go to Romania one day. Why? I wanted to go see a dragon. I was just curious. I've never been to Romania. Haven't even been there yet. My dad laughed and told me perhaps one day. I don't think he liked dragons. I understand they're scary. I know they're dangerous. They weren't something you just walked straight up to. But, I wanted to see one, just to see one. A few days later I woke up in the middle of the night from a dream about a dragon. There was a man standing above me, staring at me. I woke up because of a loud crack. The man just stood there staring at me. I woke up screaming, I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, not even using the slide. I kept running in the dark down the next flight of stairs and across the living room and into my parents room. I jumped up onto their bed. "There's a man in my room!"
Anthony woke me up. Saying there's a man in his room. I was laying in my boxers. I jumped up quickly. I grabbed my wand off my nightstand and told my son "Stay there, stay with your mother." I walked out of my room and jogged up the stairs, I ran down the hall and walked through the door. I quickly went up the next staircase in the door and went up to Anthony's room. He was right. There was a man staring there, talking to the bed. Referring to the person on the bed as Anthony. I just blinked. It was just Sandy, Anthony's pet. I walked closer, shining my wand light "Lumos" at the man. The man blinked and looked at me calling me son. I stared forward. "Father... What are you doing here?"
My father was losing his memory.
My dad came back down the stairs. He told me it was my grandpa. He said he was going to take my grandfather home. My mother explained to me my grandfather had memory issues. He forgot where he was. She told me that is why I had his wand, why they handed it to me, even though he was still living. She told me his wand was taken away because his memory and he was a danger to himself and others. That he wasn't supposed to be using magic for his safety. I nodded my head in understanding. She told me it was probably my grandfather lucid long enough to want his wand back, forgetting he had given it to me. I was a bit confused, but, she just told me it was a sign of old age. I thought he was young "But... don't wizards live for centuries?" She replied, "Not when they did what he did."
Second year was interestingly and slow. My grades from my first year were great. My parents were thrilled. Of course, no flying this time. But, all the mandatory classes were again. I thought History of Magic and Herbology was boring. Christmas that year was weird. We didn't go to Lorsander Stebbins' place. My grandma said to not to. I was told by my mom his memory was much, much worse and I should focus on my studies instead. so, Christmas was just really at my house that year. Grandma and Grandpa Fawcett came to our house too! I was excited to be at home for Christmas. I was now thirteen, a teenager! My family kept joking about my teenage life, telling me of how one day I would have a love of my life. I'd be sneaking out of the manor's window and climbing down the steps to go snog some girl on summer nights when I'm grounded. I blushed hard, I didn't believe them. They told me stories of my parents, of how my parents snuck around. It surprised my mother. She was like "You knew?!" To her parents over half the time.
I did not realize my parents knew I was sneaking around with Alexander so much. How did they figure these things out? I had no clue. I really thought me and Alexander were sneaking around during summer nights, snogging when they weren't in the room. "Why was I in an arranged marriage then?" I asked. My parents simply laughed. I rolled my eyes.
Why were they telling my son all those things? He just turned thirteen. Why does he need to know about me and Alexander sneaking around? Anthony wouldn't do that... Anthony's nothing like his father... Oh shit. He's exactly like his father.
My grandpa passed away. My mom took me to go see a tailor in Hogsmeade. The tailor messed up my sleeve. I wasn't happy. I was a bit mad. I barely started liking grandpa Stebbins. "Why the hell did you mess up my suit?!" I screamed, it was my only suit. I was protective over it. My mother shot me a look. I looked back at the tailor with puppy dog eyes, "I'm sorry, sir. Can you fix it?" I asked. The tailor apologized because he had cut too much off. So, he gave me another suit to use while he redid my pants. I nodded my head, accepting that. After the funeral, I ran up to my room to get out of the itchy suit, I ran into the new house keeper because I wasn't paying attention when I was running down the hall to the welcome room of my suite. I got up and apologized. She had a pretty bad fall. But, she was always mean to me and yelling at me. I liked Ixxy the house elf more than her.
I finished off my second year. My grades were pretty similar in most classes. Outstandings across the board. My family was so proud about those. I did my best to work hard again. I found Herbology and History of Magic to be incredibly easy. Why? Because of the books and things my dad and mom taught me about it. They stayed on top of it, though, they let me relax during the summers and have fun, play with Sandy and all. I was really enjoying Defense Against the Dark Arts and charms. I found it fun to be honest. To practice spells and hexes instead of inanimate objects, which wasn't as fun. I sat on benches in the court yard, acting like I was reading a book... Okay, I actually was reading the book sometimes. I can multitask. I'm a damn teenager. So, back then I had my wand at my side, just ready to point it at random people who walked by. I focused on Gryffindors or Badgers for the most part. I spoke a spell quickly, sending the hex their way, hiding my wand and looked down at my book with my eyes really looking over it. This is how I practiced.
Summer came around again. Thirteen years old. My first teenage summer. I loved it. Though, I was a bit obsessed with magic. I was pissed off I wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school. I lived in Hogsmeade. I should've been allowed. I had magical fucking parents. Still makes no sense to me, despite being fifteen now. That summer was fun. I was in the pool with my parents, my dad got out to jump in again. He loved jumping off the diving board. My mom erupted out in laughter and told me not to look. I just had to look. I turned my head around to look at what she was laughing at. My dad had lost his shorts in his last dive. I broke out into laughter and made a snide comment, "Talk about shrinking the salamander." My mother broke out into laughter again. I swum forward and grabbed the trunks and threw them at my dad. "I've seen far more of you then I ever needed to see in my life." I spoke again. My mother was having another fit of laughter.
My son's comments... In the perhaps one of the most embarrassing moments of my husband's life were gold. I just couldn't stop laughing. If I had kept my laughter, my son probably wouldn't have noticed that Alexander lost his shorts. But, he had seen. His comments, his quick wit "Talk about shrinking the salamander." I just broke out into laughter from that. I had no idea where he learned that. I still haven't learned where he gets this from. My son spoke again about seeing more of his father then he ever needed to see. I just broke out into laughter again.
There was one person who was able to make me laugh that hard before. That was always Alexander.
Me and my dad went on our broom trips again. He called me well behaved. There was also something quite awkward he talked about by the river spot with the otters. I wanted to see the otters. My dad was flying competitively that day. When we landed down and I was sitting there watching the otters playing he came up next to me. He had brought a bag with him. I was wondering why. We didn't ever bring food. Only water now and then. We usually just had lunch when we got home. Though, we were planning on taking a weekend long trip with a tent. But, my mom said no... So that was the end of that discussion. But, that was a discussion I would've preferred to the conversation my father brought up with me. He decided to give me the talk about sex. What made it worse was he had a book... A banana, condoms, and... Actually, I don't feel comfortable in going about the details of the strangest conversation I've ever had. But, my dad did give me a box and told me to keep it and stay safe if I ever got to that point... Uh. Thanks dad.
I would have been thrilled to have condoms. But, Anthony? He seemed so awkward and embarrassed about it. Still does, honestly. When this discussion happened he was only thirteen. I started snogging girls when I was around fifteen. Granted, it was mostly Sarah. But, I didn't sleep with her until I was seventeen. But, I just want my son to be prepared as possible. I wasn't prepared.
-coughs- Alexander, you were a clean slate. I loved you being a clean slate. I loved corrupting you, in my own way... Wait a second. No. I don't want anyone to touch my baby. Alexander! How dare you, why did you do that? He should've been kept clueless. I didn't want him to know all of this. This should've been my job, Alexander. Why did you even buy him that stuff? How dare you Alexander.
My third year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started. This was the year of some electives. I returned to Hogwarts, but, I didn't take the 'extra' stuff my father got me. I left it in my room. I'm was only thirteen? Why would I need it? I didn't need it. The third year was awesome thus far. My new electives were Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Divination. I took Divination because I thought it'd be easy. I don't like math, so I never took Arithmancy. I thought Ancient Runes would've been interesting. I've become obsessed with magic. I loved the power of Charms, Defense spells, Transfiguration. I loved being able to control everything including the air. I loved the control. I loved the power. I wanted to know more. Much, much more. There was a reason why I was excelling at Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration. These were classes were I cast spells and hexes. I practiced in the halls while reading for History of Magic by practicing on random people in the courtyard or corridors.
I started sneaking into the restricted section at Hogwarts' library. The books in there were better. I learned more hexes, more spells. I didn't care about the potions that this badger in my class was so obsessed with. Someone should've grabbed a book and smacked Hugo upside the head for yawning in Potions class or even causing a sort of explosion. I didn't like that explosion. I was actually doing well on my damn cauldron and fucking Hugo Weasley had to go ruin it. I don't mind the Weasley family, they're nice enough. They're good with magic. They always have a smile. They're everywhere. I learned one valuable thing when I started at Hogwarts... Never cross a Weasley. Ever. The Weasley family was able to stomp you into the ground.
I loved magic. I was addicted to magic. It was my passion. I was becoming obsessed with magic. Yes, it was a great obsession. I snuck books out of the restricted section of the library several times. I wasn't quite sure why I loved them so much at first. But, the more and more I got, the better edge it gave me. I loved my grin on my face after I made it out of there with a new book and returned one. I even abused any extra credit position to get me access... For good reason. But, there wasn't many of those opportunities. Sometimes the magic just felt too easy for me. Other ones I practiced until I got it. There were thousands of books in the library. I would never be able to finish them all if I even used one a day. But, I realized I started going to the Dark Arts books. I wasn't a Dark Arts lover... I didn't want to stand and murder people.
There was this little badger. I loved using badgers as guinea pigs for one reason. They didn't fight back and got all confused and ran away. I bet badgers were even scared of the dark. Hah! So, um... Thaniel what's his name? Yup! Thaniel Smith. He was an adorable little badger. One year younger than me. He was a second year. He was an easy target to trip, to hex. It worked. I don't think he noticed who it was at first, but eventually he did. I was caught sneaking into the restricted section at Hogwarts in about November. So, I was on a watch list whenever I walked into the library. I needed the librarian to cool down before I could start sneaking in again. So, this badger, I saw him walking through the library one day. I grinned and walked up behind him and then grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him to the darker sections of the library... That weren't as trafficked.
"Hello, Thaniel," I remember smirking and shoving him up against the wood of a shelf. I stepped forward, rested my arms at his sides. If someone were to look, it probably would've made us look like a gay couple. Trust me, I'm not gay. And, plus, your mind better not be there. I was only thirteen. Thaniel was twelve I think. He was a second year. I leaned my head forward and whispered into his ear, "Go to the restricted section, and the third shelf second row there is a book called Hexes for Dominos. Get it for me, and perhaps, I won't point my wand at you for something very unpleasant." I smirked and pushed Thaniel away and watched him scamper off. I watched him and moved toward the librarian to distract her. Surprisingly Thaniel got the book and brought it back to me. I gave a smile. I grabbed the book quickly, "Thanks, I guess." I spoke to him.
This had become a regular event for me and Thaniel. I had him sneak the books back in, and get me others. I eventually stopped thanking Thaniel for these. I started expecting them out of him. It gave that badger a purpose for me. I stopped using him as a guinea pig at first, but, I missed what an easy target he was. So, I started hexing him again and practicing magic on him. He didn't fight back. He accepted everything. I just smiled and grinned. I admit, I became a bit stalkerish that year. I learned his schedule and turned the boy into a guinea pig. Though, someone else once called Thaniel a name, someone of my year. I turned around and hexed the name caller and growled, "Thaniel is mine." He was my territory there and then. Only I was allowed to push him down. It was my rule. I didn't care what others did. I got jealous. I was greedy. The good boy boosted my ego. I loved my ego being boosted.
When people tripped and their backpacks dropped. I just walked past. Not bothering to help half the time unless I knew them. I minded my own business. Though, I did purposely kick a few backpacks on a bad day, making the problem worse. Eventually Thaniel did stand up to me... I socked him and gave him a busted lip and a black eye. I gasped. I apologized and couldn't believe this happened. I never gotten... This violent with someone. Or in a fight. Thaniel was such an easy target. I laid off of him. I wanted to apologize, I even said "I'm sorry" under my breath. But, I did lay off of Thaniel. One day I found an adorable little chinchilla. I picked up the chinchilla and I saw the boy. I knew there was fear in his eyes. I just smiled at him and handed back the chinchilla. "Here you go." That was my biggest mistake I think. It was when Thaniel realized I let my guard down for animals.
I loved animals. This isn't a flaw. I always loved animals. I also make promises, but they're rare. When I make a promise, I'll fulfill it. My strongest part of me is my word. It is a family thing. Everyone should know that about a Stebbins. We are great on our word. Our word is always the best choice. We're dependable. One day, I walked up behind Thaniel, toward the end of my fourth year when I was fourteen years old. I shoved him against the corridor, it had been a little while since he stood up against me. "You. If anyone else ever lays a hex upon you. I want you to run to me. You are under my protection, you hear?" I growled at him and pulled up on his robes and shoved him in another direction. I walked away with a smile on my face. It was the closest I could get to apologizing to Thaniel. But, if he knew anything about me for being my guinea pig and gopher... It was I kept my word. I'd go to war. My word is dependable, and don't you ever dare mistake it.
During summer between my third and fourth year I had my first major crush. I snuck out to just stare at her. I refused to talk to her. Also, I am not gay. I don't appreciate being called gay. I can stare at girls if I want. I may seem gay, because I'm sexually repressed. But, this is just because of how I am. I'm very straight. When I feel it's time to shove my dick somewhere, it's gonna be a chick okay? I am not gay. I am most definitely not gay. Don't you dare call me gay. Ever. Got it? Crystal? Good. Okay, so anyways, speaking of being gay. We had a gardener in our yard one day. We came home early from my grandparents, and I spotted him kissing another guy. I just stared at them when they walked into the pull house, I was just curious. I had my first home alone day. I loved that. I spent the whole day in the house in my boxers doing nothing. No reason to even get dressed.
I wanted to go to the Celestina Warbeck concert. I asked my parents about it. They said no. I tried to sneak out, I had no idea how I was going to get into the concert. But, my mom caught me and grabbed me by my ears and pulled me back in. I did get grounded for a few days. They lifted it so I could go flying with my dad and on a weekend camping trip. Finally. Mom caved. I got to spend an entire weekend at that spot by the otters, make a camp fire, melt chocolate and marshmallows over fire. Just me and my dad. I loved it.
A guy, an attractive seventh year once grabbed me when the magical stairs got stuck when my fourth year started. I blinked when he told me to hang onto him tightly. My words slipped out, "I imagined you would say that under different circumstances." I got several stares. I turned around and looked at the group and just gave them a sly smile, "Well. I did. And that's not an innuendo. I'm straight ladies." I laughed and left. I forgot to thank that Seventh year. I just went on. I'm totally straight.
Though, um... Joseph Lumiere won the election. My family was pissed. The Fawcett's put a great deal of money on the opponent. I don't think they ever liked the Lumieres. My dad commented about them needing to go back to France. My family was never a big purist family. They weren't ever fully interested in politics. My family lost some wealth in that run, I believe. I first noticed this because when I went to Diagon Alley that summer before my fifth year... I found my trust fund empty. My vault was completely empty. I told my dad, my dad blamed it on the goblins, saying he had moved it to other obligations and forgot to move it back. He said it was an investment. I nodded my head. It was his money in the first place, but, I wanted shopping money. My mom talked to me. I nodded my head. Apparently we needed to cut back. She cut the live in house keeper, we were going to keep the elves.
I was going to go to the Diagon Alley Carnival, but, some hooded guy came to our house and talked to my dad. My dad was locked in his office all day, so I didn't get to go to the Diagon Alley carnival. But, boy, when the Daily Prophet issued an emergency paper, I was very, very glad I missed it. Who would attack the carnival? It was so innocent. There weren't many mudbloods there. Besides, if there were they should've been left alone. They're in the magical world, not in the muggle world fornicating.
I did hear about one of my classmates ending up in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I heard he was admitted for mental reasons. I know he missed some weeks of school. I heard he gotten beaten up pretty badly. When I finally heard what happened through the grapevine, I gulped. How did he let that bullying get so badly? I wasn't that bad with Thaniel. Was I? Felix Pendleton went way too far. Beat the kid and practically left him to die and drove him to suicide? The mistake here, Mister Pendleton. Never. Mess. With. A. Fucking. Weasley. There's a million of them. They're talented. They have powerful parents, their fucking uncle was Head Auror, their mother is a hotshot lawyer who struck down nearly every pureblood favorite law. This is a different world, bud. You may not like the mudbloods and muggle influences. Nor do I, but like it or not, our clothes, fashion, everything is influenced by them over time. Besides, they make our food. They're lower than us. We don't interact with them. Obey the law. I don't want to be in fucking Azkaban for the rest of my life with some of my family on the Stebbins side... Well, I actually think they're dead now... I know, who is talking. I practice Dark Arts. But, I do it for the knowledge. For the power. Tell me when I abuse my power, maybe we'd talk. I haven't used an unforgivable curse nor killed yet.
Also that summer... I did accidently catch my parents banging. I knew they were screwing. They tried to hide it. I used to think it was too strange, but, now when I think about it. At least they still love each other right? At least they're not having affairs. Oh, man... If they are having an affair, I'd kill them. I like having happy parents. Happy parents equal happy Kirk Anthony Stebbins. But, damn. I sometimes feel like I should be the one allowed to have sex. Not people like my parents. I don't even want to think about what they do in the privacy of their own bedroom. I cannot disapprove this act. This was how babies were made, I was made this way once... But, that's not important... It's just. I'm their son. I didn't need to walk in on this scene. I just went straight back upstairs. I think they must've thought I was out of the house or sleeping in. Well, guess what parents? I woke up. But, I suppose it's good they still love one another... Luckily, neither of them tried to talk to me about it. Luckily.
That summer was interesting still. But, I did remember it being cold one day. My mom woke me up, pulling my covers down and kissing me on the cheek even though I was fifteen years old. Come on mom. I'm fifteen, your little boy is going to be sixteen soon enough. But, she pulled me out of bed, and fed me breakfast. I smiled when I saw Ixxy run by and hugged my leg before she disappeared. I wondered what got her into such a happy mood. My mom's an awesome and good person and all. But, this just seemed strange that she did this for me. To me. Woke me up like I was eight years old again or something. But, I didn't mind. I quite liked it.
My baby is growing up. I don't like this. I want him tiny again, in my arms, sitting in my lap fighting me for ice cream. I missed when Anthony was a tiny little tyke. Oh, he was such a cute boy back then. Now he's a handsome man. I know sons leave their families when they find a girl. Alexander left behind everything for me. I just don't want to lose Anthony. He's the pride and joy of my life. He was one of the best parts of my life. I love Anthony greatly, I really do love Anthony. I just don't like that he's growing up. Why must he grow up? Surely there is a spell to keep him tiny.
Granted, he's becoming a handsome young man.
It was a fun summer though. I loved racing with my dad, though he seemed to be at work even more and more. Ever since Joseph Lumiere won Minister for Magic it seemed my dad lost a contract or two, and they seemed to be big ones. He was scrambling trying to cover it. I think he backed the wrong person. I don't really know or understand the beat going on behind all of this. I just know my parents really do not like Joseph Lumiere. Though, I have a Lumiere as a professor. She's nice. A prefect in my house is a Lumiere, she's nice enough too and obviously has taste. And Cabot... I think he's Gryffindor? He's also nice. The Lumiere siblings all seem to be nice. I just don't know what it is about their father my dad really does not like. I thought the Lumiere family was purist. Apparently purist families bicker and fight too.
I locked the door to my room once. It was because I didn't want anyone to open it, and I wanted Sandy to stay in there. I was crawling around looking under everything for Sandy. I hadn't seen my cat all day. My mom started banging on my door. "Busy!" I shouted to my mom, I kept crawling against the floor in my boxers just looking for Sandy. Needless to say she wasn't even in my room. I got up and went to unlock the door and answer my mom... But, you know how mothers are? They have to go make everything a million times worse. Well, my mother was one of them. She started going on about this, "Oh! Dear! You're playing with yourself aren't you? ALEXANDER YOUR SON IS MASTURBATING! I TOLD YOU HE'S NORMAL!" I grew red and opened the door immediately looking at my mother. I was in shock. Just pure and utter shock. My mother was talking like this...
"Oh, honey, it's okay. You know your father used to do that. It's normal... Even healthy. I know you have needs. Go back to what you're doing. Lunch will be ready when you come down stairs." I just looked at my mom. My face was bright red. I turned around and walked up my spiral staircase and got dressed, quickly and came back down stairs. My mother and father were both giving me awkward stares. It bothered me. Their awkward stares bothered me so much.
I did get them to shut up when I turned and said, "No. I wasn't masturbating. Okay? I mean, of course I do. Not like I've ever been caught... Some close calls, yes. But, you were so far off base. I'm looking for Sandy. Have you seen my cat today? I can't find him? Anyways. Ugh. Can we not talk about this? I'm single. I'm a bit shy. I do not have a girlfriend. There. That's my entire sex life. That's all you need to know. But, me? I just walked in on you guys for the second time last week. I know far too much. So how about we just drop this subject and eat our lunch and go back to pretending we're a happy family while I stare at dad wondering what is happening with my damn trust fund being empty again for the second time this summer." That did shut my parents up. It worked.
I couldn't believe my ears when Sarah told Anthony that. What made it even worse was she shouted it aloud for the world to hear, of what Anthony was doing. Sarah, honey. Anthony is a fifteen year old boy. We can't stop him. We do need to respect his privacy. I'm sorry, hun. You just embarrassed our son to high heaven and back. This is going to bother him for a day or two. It feels nearly as bad as when it happened to me when I was a teenager... Sarah, just don't call Anthony out on that. If you do somehow witness something you walk away, quietly without making a sound.
Our baby is growing up too fast, Alexander. Far too fast. And, I know... I called it out wrong. But, what's wrong with him knowing about you? It's only a natural order of things you know. I'm a healer at St. Mungo's for a reason you know. Besides, you have a good reason not needing to do what Anthony does...
I just glared at my parents the entire day. I wasn't mad or angry at them... I was just unnerved and embarrassed around them. They shattered my entire guard. Usually that only happened around animals. My parents rarely ever shattered my guard. I didn't like my guard being shattered. It felt uncomfortable. I just stayed in my room for that day... Sandy did eventually show up. No idea where he went. I just laid there with Sandy on my lap. I just waited there, petting my cat. He was a good boy, he was well trained. I really loved him. I sat there laying back, I did fall asleep and take a nap. For some reason I dreamt about muggle cities. I don't know why. I think they were American muggle cities. Why was I dreaming about muggle things? I'm magical. This confuses me. I'm a pure-blooded boy living in Hogsmeade. Why would I need to know things about the muggle world? Weird dreams.
Sandy was such a good cat over the years. I think he was the best present I ever had. I'm still surprised to this day my dad found him for me. I don't know how my dad found it. But, I never been to a zoo since that trip to France. I quite loved watching them in their habitats. I did get Sandy to eat practically anything off my plate. Sandy did have a favorite food. Chicken. I knew this for sure by now. Sandy sure loved chicken. Sandy also loved to chase chocolate frogs around... But, chocolate is such a bad idea. Though, I sometimes get worried he doesn't drink enough water... But, then I remembered he's from a desert. He could survive a while without fresh water. But, I always keep water out for him... But, when it's time for food? That cat automatically shows up. I'm not consistent in the times I feed him... He just seems to know when I have food for him.
The last few days of the summer sucked. I couldn't go to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade to pick out my own clothes. I got sick. My mom being a Healer of course treated me at home and brewed her own potions... They were always a bit weird. But they worked. I hate being sick. I hated it then. I still hate it today. My mom kept me on bed rest because of how cold I was feeling. I kept getting out of bed and laying by the fireplace. I asked Ixxy to start it for me. Ixxy did so. I felt so very cold, shivering cold. I thought my rash was turning colors. My mom kept checking up on me and kept yelling at me to go back into my bed. She kept bringing me soups and potions to take. I felt better the last day before school. I wanted to go shopping, get new clothes or something. My mom said no. She ordered me to stay in bed another day. She wanted to be on the safe side. But, ugh. I wanted to get up and run around.
I'm in my fifth year now. It's currently October 2023. I guess you could say things are off to a good start. I'm fifteen. I'll be sixteen in December. I'll have Christmas on the 25th. I might find my father's firewhiskey stash for once... I can't seme to find it. I am now a fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have great grades. I'm not #1 at everything, but, I sure as hell am competitive for that title in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration. What can I say? I love magic. Screw Potions, Herbology, all that crap. I'm taking it still because it's mandatory. I probably will continue to take it. It's a good filler. But, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I just know I'm obsessed with magic, I love the power it gives me. I love feeling power. I think I'm addicted to power.
But, a fifth year? I'm so fucking nervous about my OWLs. That means Ordinary Wizarding Levels in case you've forgotten. I want to get a straight Outstanding in at least Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Transfiguration. I don't really care about my other classes: Astronomy, Herbology, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Ancient Runes, or Divination. I'd take a few or more than a few Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests just to prove I can and make a good name. My mom did great at it. I think I'd continue to take Care of Magical Creatures. Why? Because the animals are so sweet. I know, Thaniel figured out that was my weakness. I still look at that boy in the halls and point my finger at him and then point two in my eyes, basically muttering, "I'm watching you."
My fourth year grades were as good as my third year grades. I think my third year was my weakest year. I wasn't entirely sure why. But, I did get distracted a bit in my third year. It was perhaps due to me wanting so many restricted section books. My craving died down a little bit in my fourth year... In my fifth year I got more permission thus far to grab a book. I purposely choose some books I felt was a bit powerful. I liked choosing assignments and books above my skill level. I tried. I tried my best. I didn't tutor younger years. I didn't want to be a freaken professor. I just wanted to learn everything there was about magic. Why did I want to learn everything about magic? I don't know. I was addicted to it. I was so freaken addicted to it. I don't know what I want to do in my life. I'm so very confused of what I want in my life. Do I want to work in Banking like my father? I think not. I'm not good at math like him. Do I want to work as a healer? I think not. My parents are great in their positions. But, they do not feel right for me. I still don't know what I want to do. I have over two and a half years to figure it out I guess? That's why I want to do well on my OWLs and take several NEWTs. I want to keep my options open. So very open.
I do study wand lore in my free time. I love wands. I'm not obsessed with wandless magic. It's so inferior. What's superior was wands. Wands were powerful objects that let me direct my magic. It let others direct their magic. I have a great wand, an old powerful wand. I loved my wand. I want to learn this as a hobby. I think next summer I'll learn more about it. But, I did make a few wands over my summer. Only three wands, with cores I bought. All were unicorn hair. But, it was the easiest wand to make. So, yeah. I am planning on hexing random people around Hogwarts with my extra wands. I think this is what I want to do with my life. I want to make a wand powerful enough to replace my family heirloom... Okay, not replace. But, be as good as it.
I want to be a fucking wand maker.
I'm coming for you Ollivander.
