Disclaimer: I really do feel bad for Coconuts, and there is nothing magical about the lack of control I hold over the rights to Harry Potter.

Tag 37 - The Magic Hassle
Title: The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Dreams of glory were shattered at his feet, and Coconuts was back in a small, dark bathroom, scrubbing at a grime-caked bowl with all of the strength his tiny body could muster.

This was his existence, and he hated it.

Day in and day out, it was always the same. It wouldn't have been so bad to be one of Dr. Robotnik's robots if he could at least live the life that Scratch and Grounder did. Whenever he heard them complaining, it always set his teeth on edge. They thought their lives were bad? Oh, Sonic hurt them today, and oh, Dr. Robotnik called them idiots for failing! Big whoop, baaaw more. If all he had to deal with was a stern reprimand before he was released to go back to comic books and cartoons, he'd consider his life golden and sacred. Whenever he wanted to go a few rounds with Sonic, he always had to sneak out. Technically, Coconuts wasn't allowed to leave the fortress. Technically, he was supposed to always stay out of sight and out of mind, cleaning the toilets if he was lucky, mucking the sewers if he wasn't. When Scratch and Grounder were out in Mobius, messing up and making Dr. Robotnik furious, the tongue lashing they got was only after he'd had time to cool down by kicking Coconuts across the room. The indirect physical abuse they suffered at the hands of Sonic was nothing like the direct physical abuse that Coconuts suffered at the hands of Dr. Robotnik. To say that Dr. Robotnik disliked him would be a huge understatement; Dr. Robotnik hated him, and seemed to have created him just to have an outlet for his anger.

Coconuts slammed the toilet brush down into the toilet, and slumped against the grimy wall.

He hated it. He hated everything about it. He hated Sonic, for being his one-way ticket out of a miserable existence, yet slipping through his fingers every time. He hated Scratch and Grounder for having brilliant lives, yet complaining all the time. He hated Tails for having an even better life and caretaker, and not even realizing what it was that he had. He hated Dr. Robotnik for always treating him worse than the gum that got stuck to the bottom of his shoe. And he hated himself for not being good enough to get out of the situation.

If he could've, Coconuts might've cried, for it would have been the perfect woe-is-me icing for the pity cake he wanted to make for himself. But robots cried only about as much as they ate, which was to say never.

Never, just like the better life he'd always dreamed of. Deep down, Coconuts had known that everything Wes Weasley was selling him was a scam. He'd known it, but he hadn't cared. The truth was, even more than catching Sonic, Coconuts just wanted to be a wizard. He wasn't allowed to read, but he'd snuck some books back inside the fortress from one of his forbidden excursions out, and when everyone else was asleep, Coconuts had used the bulb on top of his head for light as he locked himself in a closet, reading about a boy who was an abused house servant like him one night, but off on a magical journey to a wizarding school the next. Coconuts wanted to be that boy. Sure, he was on sanitation duty now, but maybe someday someone would rescue him, and he'd go from sleeping in the cleaning closet to sleeping in a dormitory at a school where he could learn magic.

Maybe it was a dream he'd never achieve, but that didn't stop him from wanting it so badly he could taste it.

"Coconuts!" The enraged yell made Coconuts jump, and then his shoulders slumped. "Get up here, now!"

Picking himself up off the floor, Coconuts exited the bathroom and made his way to the main room, where Dr. Robotnik was glowering at him from the center, Scratch and Grounder in the background. Coconuts slumped in, hesitation making his every step drag.

"You called, Your Evil—ack!"

Dr. Robotnik kicked him hard, sending him sailing across the room and right into the wall. He was dazed, but as the stars cleared from his vision, he could hear Scratch and Grounder laughing.

"That's for that ridiculous bill I now owe to that Wes Weasley!" Dr. Robotnik snarled. "I thought you needed a reminder of how much it pains me. After all, however much this pains me, you can rest assured that you will feel double!"

"Y–Yes, Dr. Robotnik, sir, of course." Coconuts stood up, thankful that he was made out of metal so that he didn't have to deal with any bruised ribs, but as he made his way out of the room, Dr. Robotnik kicked him again, this time sending him right back down the stairs.

"And clean those toilets!" With that, the door to the main room slammed shut, and Coconuts once again pushed himself up off the floor.

Someday, maybe, someone would come rescue him. They would take him away from this, and take him to a place where he could be great. When he made his way back to the bathroom, Coconuts picked up the toilet brush, and waved it like a magic wand.

Someday . . .