Before long, most of the children had joined Quico for what soon became a spectacular dance party.
Little Severus, who could hear the music all the way out in the kitchen, did what children typically do and grabbed the nearest pot from the cupboard. Laughing, he beat on it like a drum, while Draco sat with his fingers in his mouth, drooling and watching the older children in the living room.
Harry started singing loudly, even though he had no idea what any of the words were. He tried his best to improvise, and was hit with a flurry of rice when Alecto decided she couldn't stand the sound of his voice.
Gel really wanted to join the others and bust a move on the dance floor, but he hadn't developed enough coordination to participate. He settled for flinging his clothes across the room at Quico, Modesty and Credence, much like an enamored female tossing her bra on stage for the lead singer at a concert. Even Newt decided to join the fun, and was happily giggling while holding his plush niffler's paws, moving the stuffie in such a manner that it appeared to be dancing.
The only person who wasn't enjoying the performance was Alecto. She had crawled under the couch and curled into a ball, both hands over her ears as she tried to block out the noise. But the music kept getting louder, and the only reason the dementor allowed this to continue was because she was used to blasting Metallica for three to four hours at a time.
Modesty was actually laughing when Alecto started to cry, but nobody could hear either of them because the music was too loud. It was then that Quico made the mistake of reaching for a broom that was leaning against the wall by the front door. He thought he could use it to play pretend, holding it like a guitar while strumming the bristles. It was loads of fun, until a spark of magic flared to life within the broom, causing it to vibrate down the length of its handle.
Without warning the broom launched itself into the air, and Quico let out a startled yelp as he was yanked off his feet. His fingers slipping, the boy reached up with his other hand, grasping the handle and screaming.
With lightning speed he rocketed around the room, circling the living room six times in quick secession before Barty ran in and drew his wand. There was a brief flash, the broom freezing in midair with Quico still holding on for dear life.
The boy whimpered, his feet dangling above the furniture. He appeared to be on the verge of tears, shaking from head to toe with fright. "Mommy!" he wailed, kicking his feet and sobbing.
"Dammit!" Barty swore, gritting his teeth and running forward. He had to duck to avoid being kicked in the face, reaching up and taking hold of the child under his arms.
"Of all the things, you forgot to put away your broom," the dementor snapped, swiping her husband's broomstick the instant Quico had been moved to safety.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't think to put it away, love. Because a majority of the children are - " At that moment, Barty paused in midsentence, his wife tucking the broom into a nearby closet. He looked down at Quico, who was crying and clutching the fabric of his jacket, and the word "magical" drifted past the Death Eater's lips.
"Barty," the dementor said at length. She switched off the radio with a wave of her hand, then turned and looked at her husband. "Is he...?"
"I don't know," Barty replied, sounding thoroughly exasperated. "Though it wouldn't be the first time we let a Muggle into the daycare."
Within a matter of minutes the party came to a screeching halt, the children pouting and whining at the lack of music and dancing. And yet Alecto was absolutely thrilled by Quico's accident. She remained in her defensive ball position under the sofa, both hands over her mouth, shaking with barely suppressed laughter.
Only Modesty cared enough to come forward, standing beside the couch while her father sat with Quico in his arms, holding him gently as he continued his warbling cry.
"Do you know what I think?" Modesty said, reaching up and rubbing Quico's back. "I think he sounds like a cat when he cries, like a kitty purring. Does he want to be a soft kitty too?"
"Humph!" Gel pulled down his pants and flung them at his sister. "Me soft kitty!" he hollered. "Me, me! One kitty, me soft kitty!" His furious cries were enough to summon Albie, who sat down beside him and starting stroking his hair.
"Don't!" Quico whined, slapping Modesty's hand when she tried to pet him. "I'm not a cat. I don't... I don't even own a cat. Not anymore."
"You don't?" Modesty rubbed the sore spot on the back of her hand, then took a step back in case he tried swatting at her again. "May I ask what happened to it?"
"It was a friend of mine," Quico said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "He backed over my cat like a banana and it went pffrt."
"Pffrt?" Modesty mimicked the sound he made.
"Yes." Quico nodded. "Pffrt. Just like that."
"I used to have a cat, too. Me and my brother Credence, we found him outside in the rain. I named him Deceit, but then Mrs. Barebone made me get rid of him because she didn't like cats."
Quico slid off the Death Eater's lap, still sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes. "So what happened to him?" he asked, pointing at Gel. "Did a witch turn your cat into a person?"
Silence, followed by a soft meow from the silver haired toddler.
"No, he's just playing pretend," said Modesty. "Or at least I think he is."
"Then why did that broom fly if there aren't any witches here?" Quico asked, lowering his head while nervously fiddling with his tie. He hesitated before looking up at her. "We have a witch living next door to us back home," he said in a frightened whisper. "I think she turned some of my neighbors into donkeys."
Barty tucked his wand into his back pocket, then placed a hand on Quico's shoulder, steering him in the direction of the blanket fort. "Don't be ridiculous," he told Quico. "Everyone knows that witches aren't real."
"Yes, they are!" Harry spouted, running over and rambling like an idiot. "Witches are real, and some day I'm going to go to school and learn magic, and I'll play Quidditch and have my own broom and an owl, though I'm not sure what kind of owl. I could get a snowy owl, a barn owl, or a screech owl, or maybe even a grey owl! And then - "
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Quico shouted, just inches from Harry's face. "You're driving me crazy!"
Little Harry Potter quickly shut his mouth, for about five seconds, before he unleashed a flood of tears and ran from the room.
"Do you know how much I've wanted to do that?" Barty asked his wife. His face split in a wide grin, only to have the happiness sucked out of his very soul by his scowling wife. "I'll see that he settles down," he muttered, the smile falling from his face as he left the room.
Credence, meanwhile, had returned to the blanket fort, and was now lying on his side in a pile of pillows. The noise was too much for him, all the screaming and crying, and he desperately wanted to take a nap now that the party was over.
He placed his thumb in his mouth, unaware of the fact that his wand had slipped out of his pocket before settling in the blanket fort. Within a few minutes he was fast asleep.
Quico glared at him, and was about to boot him in the rear when he noticed the wand lying on the floor. "A wand!" he breathed, eyes widening as he turned it over in his hands. He looked back at Modesty. "Look, it's the witch's wand! See, see? I told you there's a witch!"
Modesty's mouth opened wordlessly, looking from the wand to her sleeping sibling then back enough. "I don't think we're supposed to play with that," she said, knowing full well that it belonged to her brother Credence.
The little boy's eyes darted around the room, looking left to right as though he expected the witch to come flying out from under the sofa. He pulled on Modesty's sleeve, dragging her into the adjacent room.
"What're we doing?" Modesty asked, glancing at the wand in his hand.
Quico leaned in close and whispered, "If there's a wand, then there must be a witch somewhere nearby. It might even be the one who lives next-door to me. So when she comes back for her wand, we're going to catch her! And I'll take all the credit because it was my idea."
Modesty wasn't so sure about this, but Quico kept right on talking.
"That's right. I'll be famous. I might even get rich if there's a reward. No, wait, my mommy already has a lot of money. But everyone will cheer and thank me for catching the witch. And they'll have parades in my honor, and build a statue that looks like me, and I'll have my own holiday, and lots of toys and candy and maybe even that square ball I've always wanted."
"Square ball?" Modesty blinked and looked at him in confusion. "I've never heard of such a thing. But we do have regular toys to play with."
She flipped open the lid on the toy chest and took out a small pink ball. "Do you want to play?" she asked sheepishly, offering him the ball. Quico took one look at it and rolled his eyes.
"With that tiny thing? Pffrt, no way!" He crossed his arms over his chest, looking rather smug as he told her, "I have bigger toys at home. And mine are much better because mommy only buys the best toys for her most perfectiest son."
"Then why don't you have a square ball?" Modesty questioned innocently.
Quico didn't have an answer to that.
While they were talking about toys and witches, Alecto crept out from under the couch. She crawled along the floor, leaving behind a trail of rice and glitter, until finally she made it to the family room. She then dove behind a potted plant, snickering and giggling when she heard Quico return to the topic of witches.
"Filthy Muggles!" she hissed between her teeth, removing her wand from a pocket inside her dress.
Modesty was still trying to get Quico to play with her. Partly because she didn't want him playing with her brother's wand, and also because she was starting to see him as a potential friend and play mate.
"What if it isn't a real wand?" Modesty asked. "Maybe it's just a toy. I had a toy wand once. I kept it hidden under my bed and would play with it once in a while."
"You had a toy wand?" Quico raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I did. Sometimes it's fun to pretend to use magic."
"Well, there's only one way to find out!" And with that Quico snatched the ball out of her hand, threw it into the air and waved the wand at it.
Nothing happened. The ball hit the floor and bounced a little before coming to a stop at his feet. Modesty and Quico looked at it, then back at each other.
"Let me try that again," said Quico.
He waved the wand over the ball, flailing his arms and yelling, "Stupid ball! Why are you still round?"
Then suddenly there was a flash of light, and the ball doubled in size.
Alecto giggled.
"Okay, that's a start," Quico said, narrowing his eyes at the massive ball. "That's more like the one I have at home. But it's still the wrong shape."
He waved the wand over the ball again, only this time when Alecto cast her spell the ball began to multiply. One ball became three. Those three multiplied and became eight, then fourteen became twenty and then thirty. There were so many of them that the room had been magically transformed into a giant ball pit.
Modesty gasped, slipping and falling over onto her back as she tried to climb out of the ball pit. She disappeared beneath the multicolored balls, and all the while Quico was laughing and having a tremendous amount of fun. But then the mountain of balls grew towards the ceiling, and all that remained was Modesty's hand just visible above the dozens upon dozens of brightly colored balls.
"Help!" The little girl floundered and flailed. She was going to suffocate under all those toys. "Quico, please! Help me!"
The furniture disappeared under the balls, the bookshelf and the potted plant vanished too, until the door to the family room was bulging on its hinges.
Quico looked around, hearing Modesty's muffled cries as she was sucked into the ball pit. But Quico, having made his own ball pit in the back yard at home, knew how to expertly maneuver through the sea of bouncy balls. He held his breath and took a dive, swimming through the balls until he found Modesty struggling to escape the room full of toys.
Alecto, meanwhile, had Apparated to a different room in the house, choosing to flee the scene before things got out of hand. With any luck, the two Muggles would suffocate in their favorite playthings, leaving her to get all the cookies and attention as usual.
She returned to her rice tower, acting all innocent and cute while Credence slept and the children played. But then Barty looked around and said, "Where is Quico and Modesty?"
"I'm right here," said the dementor, shaking the rice and cheesy cracker crumbs out of her cloak. A few Swedish fish tumbled out of her ragged sleeve, and she quickly inhaled them.
"No, the other Quico," Barty continued. "I haven't seen him or Modesty since Credence went to sleep."
There was a pause, the both of them scanning the area.
Credence was still sound asleep, sucking his thumb in his blanket fort. Nagini was beside him, curled up with a book on potion making that she had borrowed from the bookshelf, while Newt was busy tucking in his plush niffler, saying that it wanted a nap with Credence.
Severus had finally gotten his fill of cheesy crackers, and after letting out a belch so loud it shook Alecto's rice tower, he fell asleep on the sofa beside his father. Chasity was doing her best to pay attention to Harry's ceaseless rambling, though every now and then she could be seen glancing around the room, wondering where her sister had gone. She wanted to look for Modesty, but for now she was trapped by the little boy who going on and on about the different kinds of jam he likes.
Gel, well he was being his usual self, and was currently tangled up in several layers of clothing that he was trying to remove. He wriggled and squirmed, until eventually he fell over onto the carpet. All of this was incredibly funny to the little wizard, who snorted and laughed while Albie tried to yank his pants off.
The dementor sighed. "I'll take care of Albie and Gel, while you look for Modesty and Quico."
Barty nodded and stood up, his sleeping son drooling all over the couch with cheesy cracker crumbs stuck in his hair. He made it halfway across the living room when Alecto latched onto his leg, clamping down and wrapping both arms around him. She could hear a faint thumping sound coming from down the hall, and the last thing she wanted was for Barty to discover the two children before they'd been suffocated by the all the toys.
"Uncle Barty, I wanna cookie!" Alecto whined. "A shiny cookie, no, five cookies! With lotsa shiny sprinklers!"
Barty rolled his eyes. "What else is new?" And then he paused. "Sprinklers?"
"Uh-huh!" Alecto nodded vigorously. "Silver and gold and rose gold and platinum!"
Thump, thump. What was that? Barty turned his head in the direction of the hallway, momentarily forgetting about Alecto.
In the family room, Quico had grabbed Modesty by the wrist and brought her to the surface. The little girl gasped for air, but when she reached up with her free hand, her fingers easily touched the ceiling.
"Hold on!" Quico cried, not even taking the time to question how such magic was possible. All he knew was that he had to find a way out before they were smothered under a mountain of toys.
With his hand still closed around her wrist, Quico dove under the sea of colorful balls, swimming through them and finally reaching the door to the hallway. He held on tight to Modesty, her eyes widening when he turned the door handle, only to discover that the crafty Death Eater had magically locked the door.
Thump thump, the noise drifted down the hallway. It sounded like someone was kicking the door.
"Uncle Barty!" Alecto wailed, trying to get his attention. She chomped on his ankle, snarling and slobbering like a rabid dog. Her saliva soaked through the bottom of his pants, and Barty managed three steps before shaking her off and making a run down the hall.
The noise was getting louder, and Quico let out a shout, kicking and screaming with all his might.
There was a split second before Barty reached the door in which Alecto briefly considered hexing her fellow Death Eater. She was about to pull out her wand and transfigure Barty into a chicken when Quico kicked the door again, just as Barty's fingers closed around the doorknob.
"What the - " Barty tugged on the doorknob, twisting it sharply before he realized what had happened. Alecto already had the incantation on her lips, but Barty was faster, moving with the speed and determination of a concerned father. And before Alecto had time to act, the door flew open and both children came tumbling out, along with a tidal wave of toys.
Alecto looked up as the wall of balls came rushing towards her, swallowing up Barty before engulfing her as well. And in the middle of it all, she was struck with a particularly large ball, right smack in the middle of her forehead. The force was enough to cause her to lose consciousness, and for a while no one was able to locate her beneath the massive mound of toys.
The barrage of balls poured into the living room and kitchen, and only Quico seemed capable of riding the wave as they spilled onto the floor, filling the blanket fort and bouncing off the walls. He emerged from the mountain of toys, looking as though he clearly wasn't impressed with the sheer volume of balls.
"Eh, I've got more toys than this at home," he said with a shrug. And he was probably telling the truth.
Modesty gasped and rolled out onto the carpet, only to be scooped up by her father a moment later.
"There you are!" Barty exclaimed, pulling her in for a hug. "And you," he said, turning to look at Quico. "What exactly happened in there?"
"Quico tried to help me, daddy," said Modesty, though she wasn't going to admit that he'd been playing with her brother's wand. She didn't even know how he made the ball multiply, unless he was some sort of Muggle born and nobody knew it.
"That's all well and good, but it doesn't explain how this happened," Barty continued, adjusting his hold on his little girl. He watched as his wife drifted into the room, sighed heavily, and then shook her head.
"Another mess," said the dementor. She didn't even take the time to question it. She just opened her mouth and started sucking up the multitude of balls. Which would have been fine if Quico hadn't grabbed onto one of the balls and started yelling that he wanted to keep it.
He refused to let go of the ball, even when the dementor had sucked it up and it was halfway down her throat. Quico just planted his feet on either side of her face, dug in his heels, gripped the ball and tried pulling it out of her mouth.
"That's mine!" Quico shouted, the dementor's arms flailing wildly. "I want it, I want it, I want it!"
Half choked by the ball in her throat, the dementor launched into a sudden coughing fit and spit out the ball. Quico fell to the floor, hugging his prized toy even though it was positively dripping with saliva.
"Are you alright, love?" Barty asked, rubbing her back while she continued to cough and wheeze.
With one arm around Modesty's waist, Barty placed his hand on his wife's shoulder, helping to steady her movements as she doubled over with her hands on her knees, taking in several deep breaths.
The dementor lifted her gaze, surprised to see that the ball Quico was holding was square instead of round. Somehow, something had gone wrong with Alecto's Doubling Charm, causing one of the balls to change from round to square. All of this was very puzzling indeed. And if it weren't for all the children who still needed to be fished out of the pile of balls, Barty and his wife would have had time to stop and figure out what had happened.