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A/N: Thanks so much to Angielima, daniellover1, ginnypotter7491, LunaBee13, and Dawn Elliot for reviewing the previous chapter!
Scarlett's mother walked into the office. Her curly red hair was slightly disheveled and she was looking down nervously.
The other two adults were a man and woman holding hands. She thought she recognized them vaguely but could not think from where. She concluded that these must be the other Scarlett's parents.
The woman had silky dark hair which was pulled back in a ponytail to reveal ice blue eyes that matched the blond Scarlett's. The man had dark hair and eyes and was quite tall. He seemed so even more standing next to Scarlett's mother than hand in hand with his wife.
Professor Longbottom stood to greet them. "Welcome back Oliver, Katie." He shook the hands of the other Scarlett's parents. He nodded at Scarlett's mother in welcome but their was a suspicious glint in his soft eyes as he did so.
Professor Longbottom returned to his seat and all three parents sat down across from him.
It seemed as though they had not spoken to each other since first seeing each other minutes earlier but Scarlett knew that they knew each other. After all, she and the other Scarlett were cousins, and they had played together as toddlers. So their parents must know each other.
Professor Longbottom cleared his throat.
The sound reminded Scarlett of the news she had just received and she had to fight the tears forming in her dark eyes.
"Oliver and Katie," the professor began to speak, "your daughter, Scarlett, as I said in my letter to her, is not a squib as you have assumed. Rather, she is a witch."
The blond girl gave a slight smile, but upon seeing the look on Red-haired Scarlett's face she stopped. Scarlett was grateful for that.
Professor Longbottom continued. "So Scarlett Olivia Wood is a witch - I have done some research and found that out for sure. There is only one problem. Scarlett never received her Hogwarts letter. Scarlett Coral Wood - who is not a witch - did receive an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Hogwarts doesn't make mistakes. Ever. So what is truly going on here?"
No one spoke. Professor Longbottom continued. "Mr. and Mrs. Wood, I am sure you are happy to be reunited with you sister-in-law. And I'm sure Scarlett and Scarlett are happy to have been formally introduced once again." Professor Longbottom looked at the three adults again. "Do any of you have anything to say?"
Mr. Wood spoke up. "Eleanor hasn't spoken to us since my brother died."
Scarlett felt a pang at the mention of her father's death. Then a jolt of excitement and curiosity as she realized that this man was her father's brother, her uncle.
Mr. Wood continued. "We haven't seen my niece since the funeral." He gave Scarlett a kind smile. "Eleanor said we were not to associate with her and her daughter ever again. She blamed us for Michael's death."
Is that true? Scarlett wondered. Did my mother really blame my aunt and uncle for my father's death?
Mrs. Wood fiddled with her dark silky hair before adding, "the two girls used to play so nicely together. And the four of us had been so close before Michael died. We even purposely planned for our daughters to be the same age. We were so surprised that they were born on the very same day. We thought they were going to be best friends for sure."
The two Scarletts smiled at each other.
Katie Wood continued, "but then Michael was killed in a car crash and Eleanor decided that we would never see each other again. She said that it was our fault."
"I was jealous," Scarlett's mother whispered, speaking for the first time. "I was jealous because my husband was, as you know, a squib. He had no magical ability even though his parents and brother did. Once he died, I guess that jealousy came out. I thought it was unfair how you not only got to outlive him Oliver, but also got to have magic, which Michael never did."
Neither of the two Scarletts said anything.
"Do you have anything else to tell us Ms. Wood?" Professor Longbottom asked sounding slightly irritated.
Ms. Wood nodded. "Yes, I do. I did something very bad. But please, let me explain, I just wanted to avenge my husband."
Scarlett's mother took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She did not open them as she spoke. "After my husband was killed I thought it was so unfair, as I said before, that my husband's life seemed so much worse than his brothers." She nodded towards Oliver. "You were a wizard Oliver, and your life will probably be double as long as Michael's. And you made so much more money than Michael ever did. I was a woman stricken with grief, I have been ever since his death, and I've regretted what I've done ever since Scarlett left for Hogwarts. But here's what I did. I decided that if my husband had to live as a squib throughout his childhood, than your daughter would too. I'm so sorry Scarlett," she opened her eyes and turned towards Scarlett Olivia Wood but did not meet her ice blue eyes. "So sorry," she repeated.
"I remembered the Hogwarts letters that you, Katie and Oliver, showed me when I first married Michael. I formed a plan. I decided that on Scarletts' eleventh birthday, my Scarlett would be accepted to Hogwarts and not yours. And so for years I practiced forging the Hogwarts envelope of my little Scarlett. It did not look exactly like a real Hogwarts envelope, not even close, but it didn't matter, because Scarlett would not know what it was supposed to look like. Then I made my way back to your house and waited outside your door until an owl came zooming towards the house. I took the letter off its foot and put its content into my forged envelope. Then I reattached the letter to the owl's foot and returned home while the owl searched for my house. Eventually, it found it and dropped off my Scarlett's letter. I also did a bit of research from some books that Michael kept in the house - he loved to read about Hogwarts even if he couldn't go there - and found that the Professors of Hogwarts, when going to collect new muggleborn students, are alerted as to which house a Hogwarts acceptance letter was delivered and that is where they know to go."
Professor Longbottom looked outraged. He slammed his fist onto his desk, but then, seeming to control himself, regained his composure and said calmly, "that is correct, do you have anything else to say?"
"Well then my daughter Scarlett went to Hogwarts, when really my niece should have. And I'm so terribly sorry. Really. So sorry."
"That's okay Aunt Eleanor," spoke the other Scarlett Wood. "I can understand why you've done what you've done." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "And I've started to really life life as a muggle - being a squib is actually amazing because you get to be a part of both the magical and muggle worlds. And I've made such great friends at muggle school."
Scarlett Coral Wood however, was outraged. "What do you mean your sorry Mom?! How could you do this to me?!" Tears were now cascading down her pale cheeks in abundance. "You just have to get my hopes up by making me think I'm a witch don't you? You just have to let me make friends and have fun and feel so at home here at Hogwarts, when you really know deep down that eventually someone will figure you out and it'll be over. I can't believe you wouldn't let me get to know the only aunt, uncle, and cousin in the world that I have because you were jealous for no reason. Or wait - maybe they're not the only ones. I bet we have more relatives that you're hiding from me because you can't stand the fact that someone could possibly have something that you don't!"
"Scarlett please-" her mother began.
"I don't want to hear it."
"I'm so sorry Scarlett," spoke Scarlett Olivia Wood. "I'm so sorry that you have to be ripped away from the magical world like this - I know how it feels."
"Thanks." Scarlett gave the other girl a small smile before Professor Longbottom asked for their attention once more.
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