Disclaimer: The words are all mine, but the world and the peoples who walk around in it are borrowed.
The Witch of the Riddle House
I slid their wands from up under their pillows after they went to bed. I tied them up with mine till the three were just one. They said I was a squib. This was the moment of truth, time to see what I was made of. Mudblood or the real thing? If I was a witch after all then something would have to come out of one of these three wands.
I didn't make a sound when I did it. I was gonna call my Papa's name when I cursed him. I wanted him to know what happened and for him to know it was me killin' him, but be just a second too late to stop it.
If I couldn't get a thing out of any one of these damn wands here I'd hit them both of them two with the first thing I picked up, rack them in the head and be done with it.
I got a ways from the bed. I had to get both of them at the same time, my first shot was the only one I was gonna get. If it worked but I just got one of em then whoever was next would wake up from the mess of the spell… and call the snakes on me.
I pictured back when I was six and Papa said I ought to be "drawn and quartered." Snakes rolled around my arms and legs, then got tight as belts and took me up in the air. Morfin did it, he's the one who told the snakes to. But it was Papa who wanted it, his command.
"Avada…"
I waited for Morfin to stop kicking in his sleep so I could make it fly straight and hit him dead square. Morfin was the one who I learned the killer's curse from, back when animals came around the house. If they tried to come up on the porch and talk, he'd pop out from up under the stairs and say these words…
"Kedav…"
And they'd all fall down like this...
But before I put the last letters on the curse the room lit up on its own. Not green like the spell light, but bright… like the sun. I looked around and I saw some man's face, and then another one back in the corner of the room where it'd been dark. I couldn't kill nobody after I saw them two, my heart froze where it was, missing some beats. My breath was cold inside me, and I thought I felt my papa's Bowie knife squeezing my chest.
Wizards from the government stood around the room in a circle. Their wands were pointed over at our bed. Bout' half of them still shined with fresh "lumos" spells.
He said they would come, that official. Come by if they did what they done to him, if they didn't stop stabbing him. I knew he was real. I see things Papa and Morfin say ain't there sometimes. Even when a rock comes upside my head from one of em so I see straight, it's still there, I just say it's gone so Papa won't pound my skull more. I see the stuff that ain't even there extra more 'matter of fact when he's breaking me.
That one who came to see us…Ogden, he didn't have to do none of the things he did for me. Me. He fixed my pot like it was nothing, kept asking about me, put a charm on my neck so Papa didn't snap it in half when he was squeezing my throat shut. May Glinda the Good Witch of the South have some mercy on him. He talked in this nice voice like the kind I hear coming out of Tom's radio box. It was one of the best days of my life at first. I hear about kings and angels, God and doctors when mugs pass by (Dear God I hear about the most, when Papa puts his cruciatus on them.) That stranger was like one of them, something good, a saver of things.
And Papa cut the smile off of his face. And I did nothing, let him catch him and watched him bleed. As if holding back my tears was doing something. I thought I'd do something about it tonight though.
I didn't go check on him after they left him for dead. I figured he was too, and didn't want to go look and see, see how the light had left his eyes. No, that wasn't the real reason… there was one more.
More of Ogden's friends were coming on in through the doorway, walking without making sound. They were going to see that someone got their comeuppance. I looked over at the quiet feet. Heard "Finite Incantatem," and the sounds that should've been there just a minute ago rushed right back into the room.
A long song of words started up, everyone drawing in the air with their fingers while they mumbled a spell I'd never hear before. They could've set a dragon on Papa and Morfin, it wouldn't have mattered, they'd keep on laying in the bed dripping with firewhiskey. Some red doors made out of metal built themselves all around them just fresh out of the air. It all turned into a box with buttons going up and down the side, and they got trapped in that box. You could hear them snoring inside of what looked like a birthday present on the mattress.
"Good work, miss! You disarmed them, we appreciate your cooperation." said one of the people. I was so afraid of him. I would've yelled, but it just couldn't come out, I bet there was a scream in my eyes if they looked good, I had to be wild-eyed.
So close… somebody cares about Merope.
I'd have said I was guilty too, all he had to do was ask me and I'd nod my head yeah. I felt like I wasn't there. I'm not there...
"…Testimony may be needed…"
Most of em went flying out the window on their broomsticks up at the moon.
"… under a provisional summons until the trial's conclusion…"
My wand looked so innocent sitting in my hand.
"Miss, you need not include your own wand."
I told him no with just the shake of my head.
Then I bit back a laugh, you almost got me! The bite turned into a smile all the way up to the apples I have in my cheeks, and I didn't care one little bit. What could he do to me for laughin? I was ready to laugh my ass off in just a second or two, but then I saw Morfin sitting up in the bed grinning. He pointed at me with his wand and snakes came out of my mouth. I scratched at my mouth, but there was nothing in it. He wasn't there when I looked back, the snakes neither. All that was in my hands was a bit of blood from where I'd cut my own face.