This is written for the Lent Challenge on the Golden Snitch Forum. Vivi beta'd this, so she's saved me on this one. Thanks to her.
This is for Tiggs. Thanks for your patience, kindness, and understanding.
It started on a Wednesday.
Amelia ruled with a disciplined hand, so when she struck their child for causing a scene in Flourish & Blotts, Benjy pulled a straight face and pretended like nothing out of the ordinary had happened; he leafed through the pages of a book, thanked the publisher from Obscurus Books for considering his manuscript, and purchased a boxed set on a whim.
The words he'd wanted to say turned to ash in Benjamin Fenwick's mouth.
Charlie turned towards Benjy, fat tears swimming in his green eyes as his bottom lip quivered. He shared Benjy's fair hair and his good looks, though he might be lanky and towering over his schoolmates when he'd get older.
"This is where it stops." Amelia steered him out of the store and Benjy followed, taking Charlie's hand out of his mother's. Charlie wiped away invisible tears and whimpered like a dog, but she continued walking as she checked her watch. "I don't have time for this! I get forty-five minutes for downtime. And he acts like I'm murdering him."
"Yeah, well, he's this many." Benjy picked up Charlie and flashed three fingers in Amelia's face. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
Benjy, stocky and muscular, marched after Amelia when she continued on her way. A pendant, a cross, went up and down on his chest as he heaved a sigh. He hated whenever she'd reason with Charlie like a miniature adult. She had let Benjy sit on the sidelines for two and a half years as the house-husband as he worked from home; he loved having the opportunity to witness his son changing from a loaf of bread to a tiny human, and he enjoyed escaping to boxing sessions at night.
Amelia wore the trousers in the family, and Benjy didn't even humor her brothers or his sisters about this anymore. She had climbed the ladder in magical criminal law faster than her father, Edward, a revered judge and figure. Benjy proudly said he was a baker's boy who fought as a lawyer for the underdogs.
"Put him down." Amelia counted the minutes as they passed by. "If you encourage him to act this way, Benjy, it's not going to get better. He's wrapped around your little finger likehe's a prince. Shut it down."
"Mama," Charlie whined, pointing at the display window. A plush toy, a dragon, danced in the air thanks to a Levitation Charm. It spun around a collection of Dougal the Dragon books. "I want it."
"No." Amelia jerked her head at Benjy, telling him to get away. Charlie crumpled into a heap on the floor, bawling. She walked away, her square jaw set. "I have a disposition."
"Amelia. Wait." Benjy stopped between his son and his wife.
"I cannot waste time." Amelia waited for Charlie to waddle over to her and knelt awkwardly in front of him, shifting at an odd angle. She lowered her voice and said softly, "Charles. You can't act like this with your baby sister on the way. Are you a baby?"
Charlie shook his head.
"Do you want me to treat you like a baby?" Amelia took his pudgy hand away from his face. "Answer me."
"No, Mama." Charlie stood and contemplated his untied red trainers. Amelia fixed this problem and kissed his thick curls, promising to see him at dinnertime. She usually made it home around seven after a twelve-hour marathon shift. She put in at hearty fifty hours, keeping up with her gentleman counterparts; Amelia hoped to sign on as partner any day now.
Benjy left Charlie with the bookstore manager while the fellow searched for the Book of Invisibility. He chased after Amelia, wanting a word. They never went to bed early or argued in front of their son, but neither of these things applied at the moment.
"You'll have plenty of time for me," he said, cutting across her before she ran away. Benjy took off on afternoons because Charlie needed to remember the old batty cat lady, Arabella Figg, wasn't his mother. She needed to come up for fresh air. "Are you going to have this kid and pass it off after your maternity leave, too?"
"You write your books. I don't know why you take cases." Amelia sacrificed herself for the Ministry for Magic and seemed to forget she could be both mother and lawyer. Elphinstone Urquart had trained them both from scratch and their paths veered off in different directions. "I never told you to throw in the towel."
"Yes, I chose to not let our son be raised by strangers. Let's argue this again." Heated, Benjy grabbed her by the wrist and applied pressure there. He had never put this thought in words, and when he finally came out and said it, it sounded like it came from a stranger. "You're a bitch."
Amelia nodded. "There it is. You feel better?"
"No." He regretted this move immediately, knowing there was no taking it back.
"I hear it a lot. Not from my husband. But your sisters … four out of five of them blame me. Why are you bothering to have another child with me?" Amelia laughed mirthlessly. "Ask me for a divorce."
"I can't." Catholics, devout ones, didn't believe in such a thing. His father, a friendly chocolatier and pastry chef, stayed with a statue of a wife for forty years and counting.
"You think on that," said Amelia. She turned on her heel.
She wasn't cold by nature. People actually liked her. After this war had slaughtered her family, Amelia had hardened and found protection in a blank expression, hiding herself behind a mask. Some Death Eater had sent her on a scavenger hunt to find her mother floating facedown in the Thames. After her father, Edward, had gotten poisoned during a trial in 1976, she had left the courtroom and locked herself in the house.
"Please give me my wife back," he said, not caring he pled with her. He tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear and pressed his lips against hers. "This will end. You're dead inside, and I can't… I can't find you."
"I am right here." Amelia always gave him the same answer. She walked back into the bookstore, purchased the children's book set, the toy, and a bag of chocolate sweets and ruffled Charlie's hair again. She left without another word after she handed Benjy a sealed letter.
Charlie thanked her too late. He took Benjy's hand, confused and lost. "Mama is angry with me. I did something wrong."
"Oh, no, sweet boy, no." Benjy hugged him and it slowly dawned on him he couldn't start to explain this to himself. He opened the chocolate bar with his teeth, tore off a chunk, and swallowed cheap stuff. He gave the rest to Charlie and grimaced at the manager. "Your chocolate tastes like sandpaper, my friend. Shit."
Charlie repeated him, unintentionally adding a new word to his vocabulary. Benjy swore again. Charlie learned another curse, although Benjy doubted he understood the meaning behind it.
"Filter, Benjamin." Benjy reminded himself. The manager offered him a quick tip: use pejoratives or substitute kinder words. "Yeah, I tried that. I met Cornelius Fudge, Junior Minister, last week and I can't look that man in the eye anymore."
He thanked the proprietor, left his unfinished manuscript and his book set, and disappeared further into Diagon Alley.