Hogwarts (Challenges and Assignments).
Assignment 5 — Muggle History: Terrible Muggles In History — task 7 — Augusta Gein — write about a mother teaching/encouraging her child to be cruel
March Event — Mother's Day — write about a mother telling her child about the birds and the bees
"Look, Sirius." Walburga held the squirming toddler to her breast and pointed up into the large tree. "There is Mister Blue Jay. He is blue. Say it," she told the boy.
"Boo," repeated Sirius obediently.
Walburga's eyes narrowed. "Blue," she emphasized.
"Boo!" said Sirius — stubbornly, thought Walburga.
She managed a tight smile, though it appeared more of a grimace. "Mister Blue Jay is a bad bird," she informed her son. "If you see him, kill him."
"Buh why?" Sirius wanted to know.
She placed him on the ground on his feet and stared into his eyes with her own cold, grey ones. "Because I told you to." She stood up again and led the toddler over to a log which she knew nested a home to many bees. She handed him a long stick. "Poke it," she instructed. Sirius frowned, but reached out and gave the log a hard shove with the stick.
Bees buzzed out.
"These are bees," Walburga told Sirius, who was watching them with great interest. "They should not be allowed to live."
She drew her wand and sent a purple spell at the cloud of insects. Sirius clapped as it hit the bodies of the bees and made them explode in a flash of bright colors. Several bees fell to the ground.
"Now you," Walburga said, picking Sirius up again and handing him her wand. He waved it experimentally before the Black matriarch wrapped her hand over his and directed it at the bees. She sent the same spell at them, and she laughed, a cold, high sound, when many more landed on the grass, charred beyond recognition.
"That's a good boy," she praised. "Keep doing that. Mother is going in now."
She left Sirius with her wand and walked into the house. She watched dispassionately as her young son sent multi-colored sparks at the bees before being swarmed by the angry insects.
She drew the curtains closed and turned away from the window. It had been a good lesson, she reflected. The boy might still have some hope left in him.
word count: 349
