Family Life

Disclaimer: everything that you recognize belongs to miss Rowling. The OCs, however, are mine.

Written for the Realistic OC challenge


Picture Books & Kisses

It was a hot midsummer night. The crickets were still singing in the fields as the first traces of dawn's early morning light began to slowly creep over the treetops.

Scabior was awake before dawn, packing a few of his belongings and preparing to leave for a couple days.

Being the leader of the Snatchers often meant that Scabior had to leave home for an extended period of time while he was out tracking muggleborns. Sometimes he was home every evening. Other times he would be gone for several days.

As Scabior finished packing the supplies he'd need for work he heard the sound of footsteps softly padding across the floor. He looked towards the doorway and saw his four year old daughter standing outside the door, dressed in her soft pink nightgown and holding her plush unicorn in her hand.

"Daddy?" she softly murmured, rubbing sleep from her eyes with a tiny hand. "Are you leaving?"

Scabior sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not this again."

Every time he left for a couple days his daughter would always cry and create a scene, wanting him to stay home with her and Draconius. He hated seeing her upset as she clung to him and wept, but he had to go to work to support his family.

He was in hopes of leaving early enough that Melody would still be asleep when he left. But it didn't look like that was going to happen this morning.

"Yes, sweet'eart," said Scabior, turning to face his daughter. "I'm leaving. Daddy 'as to go to work."

"How long will you be gone? Are you gonna come back, daddy?"

Melody's biggest fear was that her father wasn't going to come home. To her the days he spent away from home felt like years, and there were times when she thought Scabior would never return.

"I will be gone as long as it takes for me to finish my job," said Scabior.

"Daddy, no. I don't want you to go," Melody whined. She ran to her father's side, grabbing a handful of his leather jacket and clinging to him as tears began pooling in the corners of her blue-grey eyes.

"Go back to bed," said Scabior, tugging the corner of his jacket out of his daughter's grasp. "You're going to wake your mum."

"But I'll miss you, daddy. I don't want you to leave."

"I know tha, sweet'eart," said Scabior, bending down and gently stroking Melody's soft brown hair. "But I 'ave to go to work."

Melody's eyes were brimming with tears as she sniffled and whimpered. She looked so much like her father, her long hair escaping the confines of her ponytail to hang in strands across her face. No matter what her parents did her hair remained just as wild and unruly as her dad's. But it was in her eyes where the strongest resemblance could be seen. And looking into her eyes made Scabior feel almost like he was looking at a mirror image of himself.

There were some subtle differences, though. Her hair lacked the crimson streak that her father had. Her facial features were also more like her mother's. And when she frowned or pouted she could scrunch her face into the exact same scowl her mother wore whenever she was angry about something.

And speaking of her mother...

"What's going on out here?"

Scabior looked up from his daughter to see Draconius enter the room, barefoot and clad in her ruby colored bathrobe.

"Daddy's going away," Melody sobbed. "Make him stay. Mummy, please don't let daddy leave us."

Draconius took a few steps forward, bent down and picked up her daughter. "Sweetie, you know daddy has to work," she said softly to the crying child, trying her best to comfort her.

"B-but I don't want him to go," Melody sniffed, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

"He has to, sweetheart. And you know he'll be home soon."

"But I'll miss him."

Draconius held her daughter, gently rubbing her back as she held the little girl over her shoulder, Melody's head cradled in the crook of her neck. "I'll miss him too, Melody. And I'm sure he'll miss us too."

"Are you going to leave too, mummy?" Melody asked.

Sometimes when Scabior went to work Draconius went with him, using her healing skills to patch up Scabior and his men when they were injured fighting with muggleborns who resisted being captured. Melody was then left in the care of Scabior's aunt who watched over her while they were away. But Scabior's aunt wasn't available to babysit because she was away visiting her relatives in Scotland, meaning that Draconius would have to stay home this time and look after her daughter on her own.

"No, sweetie. Mummy's staying home this time," said Draconius. "I'll be right here the entire time daddy's gone, and we can think of loads of fun things to do while we wait for daddy to come home."

Melody sniffled, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Daddy..." She turned her head, her lips pursed in a pout as she looked over at her father.

Scabior wiped away her tears with the corner of his plaid scarf. "I think you can survive a couple days without me. You're a strong little witch. You can be brave while I'm gone, can't you?"

"Scabior, we don't know if she's a witch just yet," Draconius reminded him. "She's too young to experience any sort of accidental magic at her age."

"She is a witch," said Scabior, smiling a little as he gazed down at his daughter. "Trust me on this, love. I can see it in 'er eyes when she looks at me. She 'as that same magical spark tha you 'ave. An who knows? She may end up snatching with 'er dad one day when she's older."

"I don't know, Scabior. Are you sure you want our daughter living that kind of life? And it probably wouldn't be safe having her around Greyback."

"None of my men would lay a 'and on 'er. Not if they know wha's good for them."

By now Melody had quieted down a little, finding comfort in listening to her parents talk. She was too young to understand any of it, though. The war, the Snatchers, the Dark Lord. All of it had little to no meaning to her. And it was probably better that way, because it meant that she didn't have to be burdened with the same concerns her parents had.

To her the Snatchers were just a bunch of men her father was friends with. Sometimes one or two of them would come over to their house to visit and have a couple drinks with Scabior. Other times they would come with news about the war.

Once, Scabior tried bringing Melody out for his men to see when they came over. But she was shy, staying back and hiding behind her father's jacket as she avoided the stranger's gaze. One of Scabior's men joked about it later, saying that she didn't take after him because she wasn't out trying to flirt with people of the opposite sex.

"Well, you'd better get going, Scabior," said Draconius, rubbing and patting her daughter's back in an effort to keep her calm. "And don't worry about Melody. She'll be alright. I'll take good care of her. You know I will."

Scabior smiled. "I know, love." He kissed Draconius on the cheek. Then, right before he was about to turn around and leave, an idea came to him.

He removed his plaid scarf, wrapped it around Melody's neck and draped the excess fabric across her shoulders.

"Take care of this for me while I'm away, Melody," he told her. "An know tha as long as you wear it, I will always be close to you."

.oOo.

Later that morning at breakfast, Draconius began discussing ideas with Melody on how they were going to keep themselves occupied while Scabior was away.

"Something we can do while daddy is away is drawing and coloring," Draconius suggested. "I know you like making pictures. We could draw something nice as a present to surprise daddy with when he comes home."

Melody looked up from her bowl of cereal. "What kind of drawing, mummy?"

"How about a picture book? We can make a book showing all the things we'll do while your father is away. Then, when you miss your father and want to know how long until he comes home, you can look in your book to see where we are in the story and that'll tell you how soon he'll come home."

A smile spread across Melody's face. "That sounds like fun, mummy."

Draconius smiled back at her daughter. "Wonderful. We'll get started on the book after breakfast."

After breakfast was over and Draconius had cleared the dishes from the table and charmed them to wash themselves in the sink, Draconius set a stack of parchment on the kitchen table along with some quills and a bottle of ink.

"Alright sweetie, let's start with pictures of what we do in the morning," she said, dipping the quill in the ink and handing it to Melody. "What do we do in the morning after breakfast?"

"Play with kitty!" Melody said happily.

"That's right. Then what do we do next?"

"Water the plants in the garden."

"Anything else, sweetie?" Draconius asked.

Melody was already drawing a picture of herself playing with her mother's cat on the parchment. "We get washed up for lunch?" she asked.

"That's right. Good thinking, Melody."

Before long Draconius and Melody had several sheets of parchment showing the various activities they would be doing in the coming days while they waited for Scabior to return. Draconius then lightly tapped the sheets of parchment with her wand, magically binding them together and creating a book, which delighted Melody to no end as she took the finished book from her mother.

They took the book over to the couch and sat down. Saros, Draconius' five year old black cat, strolled up to her owner and rubbed against her leg.

"Look mummy," said Melody, pointing at the black cat. "Kitty wants to look at the book too."

Draconius gently stroked Saros' back, and the cat jumped up onto the couch, purring happily.

Together the family settled down and got comfortable, with Saros lying across Draconius' lap and purring contentedly as they began to look at their new book.

Later that night as Draconius was putting her daughter to bed, Melody asked if she could look at her book one more time before she went to sleep. Draconius got out the picture book, and Melody was quick to point out the drawing of her mother sending Scabior her patronus.

"Mummy look. You said I could talk to daddy before bed. Can I tell him goodnight, mummy?"

"You can tell him whatever you want, honey," said Draconius, withdrawing her wand from a pocket in her dress.

.oOo.

Elsewhere, several hundred miles away, Scabior sat on the dry dusty earth, his back against the trunk of a large pine tree. A campfire was crackling a few feet away and the skies above were clear, showing thousands of brilliant twinkling stars between the gaps in the forest canopy.

Most of his men had already retired to their tents for the evening, leaving him by himself in front of the fire. He was just about to go to bed when he looked up and saw a silvery light flittering across the evening sky.

The ethereal form of a tiny shimmering fruit bat came down from the sky, trailing minute flecks of blueish light like stardust in its wake. It landed on the earth in front of him, folding its wings and looking up at him with what appeared to be a smile on its face.

Scabior leaned forward, cocking his head to the side as he looked at it with interest and mild curiosity. He knew this was his wife's patronus, but he didn't know why she had sent it to him.

The fruit bat opened its mouth and the sound of his daughter's giggling laughter filled the air.

"Daddy! Hi daddy, it's me!" The silver bat waved at him. "I miss you, daddy. Mummy says I can talk to you and tell you goodnight. Sleep good, daddy. I love you!"

The next voice that came out of the patronus belonged to his wife.

"Good evening, Scabior. I hope you are well this evening. Melody just had to speak with you before bed, so I decided to conjure my patronus and send it along with a message from the both of us."

The silver bat flew up and landed on Scabior's shoulder. It turned its head and kissed him on the cheek.

"And that is a little gift from me," said Draconius' voice as the bat spoke. "Come home soon, dear. I love you."

The glittering patronus dissolved, fading away into the night, leaving Scabior with a smile on his face and a feeling of warmth and love in his heart.

"I love you too, pet," he murmured softly, gazing up into the heavens above. "I'll be 'ome as soon as I can."

.oOo.

When Scabior came home from work a few days later, he found his wife and daughter outside in the front yard. Melody was helping her mother in the garden when he returned, and she immediately dropped the basket of fresh mint she was carrying and ran towards her father as soon as she caught sight of him walking up the path.

"Daddy, daddy! You're home!" Melody leapt into her father's arms as he bent down to pick her up.

"'Ello, sweet'eart," said Scabior, smiling at his little girl. "Did you miss me?"

"Yes, daddy. I missed you lots and lots. But me and mummy got to play and do lots of fun stuff. We made a picture book too, daddy."

"Oh really?" Scabior looked over at his wife. "Sounds like you two ladies 'ave been rather busy while I was away."

Draconius, who had taken out her wand and used it to return the scattered herbs to the basket her daughter dropped, picked up the basket and walked over to her husband.

"It's good to have you home again, Scabior," she said, wrapping her arm around him and placing a kiss on his cheek. "It's better to kiss you in person instead of through my patronus."

"An it's better to receive a kiss from you in person," said Scabior. He then leaned over and whispered in her ear, "We can do a lot more than snogging once my aunt comes back an we 'ave a proper babysitter, love."

Draconius smiled at him as they started walking towards the house. It was good to have him home again, and now their family was whole once more.