Chapter 69: Chapter 69
"Nina is not old enough yet," Herb said softly as he comforted his daughter. Comforted, "Before the summer of your twelfth birthday, I'm sure Hogwarts will send an owl for your successful enrollment. So cheer up."
"Dad, do you think I'm stupid?" Nina said as she pouted in dissatisfaction. "I may not be as smart as Albert, but I'm not stupid. I already know I can't do magic. Nina is not a witch."
"You can't be sure. I am certain you are a witch," Herb said to his daughter.
"Stop that, dad," Nina shouted as she cried. "Over the summer, I found out that I'm not a witch. When me and Albert went to the park and Albert met his friend Gabriel, he did magic in front of him. Gabriel got a letter from the Ministry telling him they expelled him for using magic in front of a muggle. Gabriel is a wizard. Albert is a wizard, and I was the only other person there. Nina was the muggle they were talking about in the letter. I don't have magic. Nina can't go to Hogwarts." As she finished her rant, she started breaking down and started crying.
Daisy sighed softly and went to give her daughter a hug. Albert had told her about what happened in the park and his inkling about Nina's magical potential. She didn't expect her daughter to be clever enough to piece it together. That was one problem with having smart children. They were hyperaware of their surrounding and could puzzle things like this out.
"It's okay Nina. You don't need magic. You are perfect the way you are. Cry if you need to," Daisy said as she picked up Nina and rocked her.
The mood in the room turned sullen and nobody said a word while she cried. Once she stopped enough to listen to someone without hyperventilating, Luke started speaking.
"Nina, as your mother said, there is nothing wrong with you if you aren't a witch. Just look at me. I love life here in the muggle world. We have magic here. Look at the television there. The wizarding has nothing like that. Look at that vinyl. We have musician like The Beatle, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie. They have the Three Weird Sisters and, trust me, they are weird. They have a barbaric sport, Quidditch. We have football. The beautiful game. Don't forget we're here," Luke said. "If I suddenly gained the ability to do magic, I would still stay here with you. With Grandma Sansa. And here, with my family."
"But... but..." Nina said while struggling to articulate her sentence. "I want... to... go... to Hogwarts."
Tom, sensing Nina's volatile emotional state, jumped off the sofa and ran to her legs. He then rubbed his head against her trousers.
"Although it is regrettable, I could not go to Hogwarts. I don't regret living a life in the muggle world. If lived in wallow and self pity, I would have never gone to school. Never have gone to The Abbey School in Reading and never met my lovely wife. The muggle world has its own charm," Luke said as he ruffled Nina's head and picked up a Milky Way. "It's good you've calmed down. Here have this. It makes you feel better."
"Nina, put that down!" Herb said, while holding a letter in his hand.
"Why?" Nina asked.
"Don't you want to have the sweets Albert chose for you?" Herb said, as he picked up a packet of sweets. "Animal Sound Sweets. Makes the eater produce random animal sounds. Sounds interesting."
"Don't be so glum, my dear. Although you can't join the Wizarding World, you can still experience it through gifts Albert sends," Daisy said. "Don't you want to try the gift Albert chose for you?"
"If Nina doesn't want to try it, I will," Herb said as he opened the box, threw a sweet into his mouth. He opened his mouth to speak, but a roar came tumbling out. He opened his mouth again, but this time it was a...
"Meow!"
What he heard frightened Tom, and he scurried away from Nina. In his hurry. He ran under the sofa and hid there. There was a moment of silence. Everybody turned to look and Herb and he was going to plead his innocence. But, like last time, another animal sound came out. This time it was a cow. Herb covered his mouth.
"I want one. Can I have one?" The sweet immediately distracted the girl and held her hand out towards her father.
While they the father-daughter was having fun while the grandparents, Daisy, first got Tom out of his hiding spot and read every single letter her son had sent.
"Nina, remember not to tell anyone of your friends about this, about Hogwarts and about magic," Daisy said as she put the letter in her hand down. "The Wizarding World takes their isolationism seriously. Albert said that if a Mag marries a muggle, their wand is taken from them."
"Got it!" Nina said as she continued to play with her father and grandparents.
"If they take their isolationism seriously, why do we know about it? It would make sense to like erase our memory and kidnap the magical children. Then make magical families adopt them and indoctrinate them, right?" Herb said.
"That sound like something H. G. Wells would write about. They allow us to know so that we can help them accept it faster. If they did just kidnap children like you said, there would be mass panic and the children would be unlikely to listen to them," Daisy said.
"Which letter was that written in? This one?" Herb said, as he picked up a folded letter.
"No, it's this one. And it's addressed to all of us," Daisy said as she handed another folded letter to her husband.
Herb raised his head and turned to Luke. "Dad, did Albert write that for you as well?"
"Yeah, here it is. We haven't opened some of them yet," Sansa said as she got up and picked up a letter from the cabinet. She opened it and skimmed it before handing it to Luke.
"What did Albert write to me about?" Nina asked.
"He asked you to take good care of Tom, and you should eat as much food as possible, otherwise you'll lose your chubby cheeks. Don't let Tom get too fat. Also, he said you need to make more friends at school, and don't let people bully." Herb said. He then looked at his father, who had a peculiar expression on his face. "Dad, what's the matter with you?"
"Nothing!" Luke said as he sighed softly.
Sansa had skimmed the contents of the letter. At the end of the letter, it mentioned a man named Filch, who was a squib, working as a janitor at Hogwarts. Luke felt pity for what Filch may experience at Hogwarts. How could a squib clean up the mess of over three hundred energetic students who could use magic? If he were in Filch's position, he would have had a mental breakdown from watching kids using magic in front of him. It was torture that he could not survive with.
Hogwarts could, at any point in time, hire a witch or wizard to do his job more effectively. They would have magic and the student would probably listen to them. Luke held no sympathy for someone like Filch. It was his own choice to lead a life of torture. And Filch was lucky that Dumbledore cut the budget by removing the previous wizard in that post.
As a squib, Luke thought it would be better for them to live in the muggle world. Here they could get an education and earn money for them self instead of living of inheritance money. Instead of staying in the magical world and torturing themself. Compared to Filch, his life was heaven. He was well-off, had a family and had grandchildren who he could spend his accumulated fortunes on. Luke then looked up and saw a family photo taken last summer of his family and let off a small smile.
"Grandpa Luke, what are you happy about?" Nina asked while staring at his joyous face.
"I just feel blessed," Luke said as he folded the letter and put it down. "Come on, I'll blow bubbles for you."
Luke got up and walked towards the cabinet and took out a small bottle of bubble solution. He closed the cabinet and shook the bottle. He started blowing it around the room.
"Whey, BUBBLES!!!"
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