Reject Kid

(A character study of Hugo Weasley)

Ever since he was at the tender age of nine, Hugo Weasley always supposed that he and his sister, were reject kids. Or at least, he was. He only assumed this because any kid born within a family of magical blood would experience some sort of magic from their own person – Rose had at the age of 4; she ended up setting the garden spontaneously on fire while she was playing outside with Albus. But Hugo was different.

His father guessed that it was because he was born three weeks earlier than he was supposed to be, and he was just a late bloomer – he could tell his mother was convinced otherwise, but she hadn't said anything. He passed the age of four without a single sign of magic, and eventually when he had gotten to nine years old the hopes of his parents were slowly diminishing. With a positive spirit Hugo would continue on with his life, playing with his cousins and attempting to read high level wizard books that his mum said she would save for him when he was older.

Though he tried not to show it, his dreams revolved around going to Hogwarts and showing some sort of magic; even if that meant setting the garden on fire like his older sister, or turning his Uncle Harry's hair pink like Lily (who had experienced this when she was five. They're the same age), or even simply levitating a book from its resting place. He dreamed of becoming the golden child of the Granger-Weasley's, since his sister was surprisingly sorted into the Slytherin house and as wrong as it sounded, his father was furious about it. He was determined to bring the light to the rattled family (which was only because of Rose's spontaneous sorting), but when his eleventh birthday passed without an acceptance letter everything he wanted was crushed and ruined.

He had stayed up all night with his back propped against the pillow and a good read in his lap and his mother's Gryffindor scarf around his neck, waiting. Just hoping and hoping that it wasn't too late and maybe Errol was lost with his welcome letter. When it had failed to show, the next day Hugo was absolutely crushed. He ignored everyone who attempted to talk to him and responded only with anger, something very foreign to him; even to Lily, whom he considered his best friend since birth. They were inseparable, and he shoved her away so furiously that he sent her running to her father in tears.

That day revolved around constant fighting from his parents. Though he did not say or make his appearance noticeable (they were too wrapped up in screaming at each other anyway), he watched and listened to their fight with his freckled face set in stone. Drama central in the Granger-Weasley household, his father had claimed the prize of being the bad guy. While his mother was defending Hugo for not showing signs of becoming a wizard, his father was calling him names like "Squib" and with a brain like his he didn't need to be told what it was.

"Squib: Wizard-born Muggles, which are rare and are usually looked upon with some degree of disdain. Their lack of magic ability it often contracted from the parents of their muggle-born mother or father, and they are most rare in pureblood families but not impossible."

Part of him wanted to blame that on his mother, who was indeed a muggle-born witch, but he did not have the heart to do so. After all, it wasn't like she could control her blood status or what type of family she was born into. He wasn't at all prejudice (how could he be?), but he couldn't help but be angry and believe this.

His dreams diminished and he soon became a shell, wanting nothing more than to experience Hogwarts like his sister and the majority of his other cousins – to even get a wand would mean the world to him, and not the plastic ones little muggle kids bought, oblivious to the world of wizardry. To simply know that he, Hugo Alexander Granger-Weasley, was a squib and could never do any of these things he had wanted for so long was, as one might have guessed it, absolutely devastating. It was like telling someone that their best friend had spontaneously died, but in a more practical sense.

A sadistic grunt emitted unintentionally as he sat at the work desk within his tidy, large bedroom. A geometry book was laid flat before him, revealing problems that he could solve at two years old – he was supposed to finish these pages before school began in just a week; September 7. Ever since he hadn't been accepted to Hogwarts for being a bloody squib, his mother had endeared the suggestion to enroll him in a muggle school, although they lived in the wizarding part of Wales, England. Now at the age of 14 (but soon turning fifteen), he was in the ninth grade, but should he had been at Hogwarts, he would have been in his fourth.

Dropping the black pen to the pages he leaned back in his seat and rubbed his palm over his face, his fingers entwining with the bushy mass of ginger hair. The thought of his lack of magical abilities sickened him and fouled his evening, and although he usually was enthusiastic about his school work, he was suddenly in no mood to finish it. The gentle knock on his door had somewhat brightened his spirits, because he knew the tapping – it was none other than his sisters.

"Come in" He murmured, though loud enough for her to hear through the wooden door blocking them from each other. Sure enough, Rose quietly slipped into the room with her auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and her fringe hanging in front of her eyes. The sixteen year old witch glanced at his textbook, before taking an impromptu seat upon the bed not far from where he was sitting.

"What's up, Hughie?" She asked him genuinely, her chocolate brown gaze fixated upon the white ceiling. Being quite the perfectionist, he slightly cringed as his bed sheets crinkled when his tiny (to him anyway; even though he was younger he towered over her) sister laid back.

"Maths homework, I've got to get it finished." He answered her, biting the inside of his cheek before blurting. "Speaking of finishing, shouldn't you be packing?"

"I've finished millennia's ago" She waved her hand in the air as if to dismiss him. "But I was hoping…"

"Oh Gods, what do you possibly want from me now?" Hugo asked with a roll of his eyes. He folded his hands behind his head, spinning his wheelie chair to fully face her now.

Rose frowned over at him. "I was only hoping for my dearest little brother to lend me mum's copy of the Deathly Hallows. You know how much I like that book, I might need it for when I'm bored."

"When you're bored?" He snorted, shaking his head as he stood and made his way to his display of bookshelves across the room, easily picking out the children's book she was indicating and gently tossing it over at her. She grunted softly when it landed on her chest, and glared at him. Truthfully, he didn't want to give it to her as he often preferred to read it himself, but he thought he might as well find something new to do whenever he didn't have plans with the few muggle friends he's made. "How could you be bored at Hogwarts?"

"Err…this is the easiest book I could read most of the time…It's kind of like a comfort thing." She sighed, her arms splayed out on either side of her.

"I don't understand" He admitted begrudgingly, furrowing his brow.

"Yes, I didn't expect that you would. I guess to me it's just a dyslexia thing…I dunno." She trailed off and the room filled with a comfortable silence. He felt slightly proud that he was the one she, though very vaguely, opened up too, whereas to any other cousin or friend she would bottle anything up inside. He supposed it was just a sibling thing.

"So, excited to be starting your sixth year tomorrow?" He asked, eager to make a conversation. It was brightening his mood somewhat, though that admittedly didn't make much sense.

His older sister rolled over onto her stomach and faced him with a small grin, using her fists as a headrest as her elbows dug into the mattress. "Yeah, I am. Will you be coming to Platform 9 and ¾ this year?" Rose questioned, her face looking slightly hopeful and eager.

"Um, I'm not sure. I don't think I will…" Hugo sighed, lowering his eyes and turning his back so he couldn't see the disappointment in his siblings face, and instead focused upon the maths book.

"Well why not? You used to come all the time." She murmured, and he could practically envision her frowning.

"As much as it's tempting," He began, his voice a little bit sharper than normal. "I don't believe that going there will make me feel any better about myself. It's something I've decided three years ago."

"Guess I shouldn't have hoped for a positive answer then." Rose huffed, irritation clear in her tone.

"You wouldn't be so optimistic if you were in my, magic-less, freak of nature position now would you?" He unintentionally snapped at her, though not once looking over his scrawny shoulder.

"Hugo, look at me."

Rose's tone alone was firm enough to make him stop fiddling his fingers and hold his breath, but nonetheless he did not oblige to her wishes. At least, not until she repeated this much more sharply than the last. He exhaled and turned around – she was sitting cross legged on his bed now, her pretty face looking hurt and somewhat sympathetic.

"You're right, I wouldn't be positive about this. But just because you hadn't inherited any magical abilities doesn't mean you're a freak of nature, do you understand me?" She rambled on, and he visibly winced. "You're a perfectly normal boy, whose parents and sister is very proud of you for your strength…not to mention your brains. Mum gushes over you, dad's proud to call you his son. Your cousins, aunts and uncles aren't ashamed of you one bit, and neither am I! Salazar's bloody beard, have some respect for who you are Hugo, it's been fourteen years."

Somewhat alarmed, he silently stared directly into her eyes at a loss for words. Usually he would have wittily commented straight back at her, but for some reason being told all of this gave him the inability to do so. Instead, he settled for: "Say…which house d'you think I'd be placed in?"

"Really, Hugo? I just poured out all that very true, but mushy feel-better shit just for you to wonder what house you'd be in?" Rose crossed her arms tightly over her chest with a scowl.

"I have nothing to say back to it, and I was quite inquired about where I'd be sorted for a while…" He gave her a small smile. "But thank you, for saying all that. I guess I have to get over it, and finally recognize that I should be happy for all of you that get the chance to go to Hogwarts instead of sitting here dwelling that I don't." He bit his tongue to stop rambling, subconsciously tousling his fiery mop of hair with his hand.

"Finally got some literal sense knocked into you, have you? And I thought YOU were the brains out of the pair of us."

"Books are my friend, Rosikinz. I'm afraid I haven't met tact quite yet." He sniggered, leaning back and watching her as she stood up, dusted off her pajama bottoms and headed for the door with quite footsteps.

"Yeah…well cut it out with the pessimistic bull, all right? That's my job, and…and it hurts to know that my younger brother thinks that kind of thing about himself." With her hand on the doorknob she twisted round to face him, chewing her bottom lip. "I have enough people hurting me already as it is; I'm running out of places to hide their bodies." With that, she turned the knob – but before she completely left the room he called out to her, a sudden anger boiling through his veins.

"Oi, who's hurting you?" He inquired, though he knew the answer was positively none other than Scorpius Malfoy (he studied their relationship before; it was very clear the two were in love), but a protective nature surged through him.

"That's top secret, if I told you, I would have to kill you." She called over her shoulder and shut the door behind her.

But it wasn't long before she had cracked the door open, stuck her head in and murmured to him: "By the way, I think you'd make an excellent Ravenclaw."

(A/N) Just a short, short one-shot that I wrote up through a case of severe boredom. I wanted to capture the relationship between Rose and Hugo and also the little addition to adding Scorpius at the end ^^. Hoped you liked it!

Don't favorite without a review please! :)