Jade stood there, mixing the dough for the cookie. She felt very strange to be making cookies in a stranger's home, all by herself. Francis the butler walked into the kitchen to observe Jade's progress and saw her set her bowl down. "Madame I know this is a bit odd for you, but I haven't seen Young Master Alcaeus speak this much in his life." Francis said.
"What? What do you mean speak this much in his life?" Jade asked.
"He's been a very quiet boy from birth. He has no mother and his father, a single parent, struggles to raise his son. I, along with my fellow companions here feared for Young Master Alcaeus. He hasn't passed anything this year and this is his third year repeating the same thing!" the butler said.
"Third year repeating? Why?" Jade asked.
"He doesn't seem to be interested in learning anything. He's too lazy to learn anything. As much as his father beats him, he doesn't want to learn. That's why Master hired your friend to help him, but that hasn't been going well either." Francis said.
"That man has the nerve to beat that poor little boy?" Jade asked. There was nothing that angered Jade more. Whoever it may be, no one had the right to lay a hand on a child. Hearing this, Jade wanted to meet the man that Alcaeus called father and shake some sense into him.
"The poor boy does not have a mother and as much as his father tries, there is no effect on Alcaeus." Francis said.
"One moment." Jade said filling the tray with the batter of cookie dough. She placed it in the oven and turned the oven on to bake the cookies. "Can you show me his room?" Jade asked wiping her hands.
Francis showed her the way and took her upstairs. Jade entered Alcaeus's room and looked around the extremely messy and disorganized room. Clothes, toys, pencils, paper and all sorts of things were on the floor. Jade wouldn't be surprised if there was a living thing under all the mess, waiting to jump up to attack her. She turned her attention to the walls that had drawings for everything. Animals, planets, trees, and caricatures of people. On the far left side of his wall, there was a fish, as big as the wall, its mouth wide open as the other little fishes were sucked into its mouth. Jade picked up that he had an interest for the marine world, since there were boats and fishes that mostly swam around his walls. His wall was a living canvas for Alcaeus to draw on and the use of colors Alcaeus used to portray his work stunned Jade. In her 6 years of being in an art school, teaching art, Jade never saw something from a child, who was so creative.
"It's a disaster but-"
"It's beautiful." Jade said looking around. She walked to Alcaeus's desk and touched a book. She opened it to see the way he wrote and for a 7 year old, Jade was a bit surprised to see his horrendous handwriting. She squinted and looked closer to see his struggle with writing and started to realize that laziness wasn't really the cause for Alcaeus's failure in school.
She saw the words that he spelled wrong, written incorrectly, but differently. He confused letters with b and d and b and p. N and U, M and W were all mixed up and almost illegible. "Does Alcaeus have trouble tying his shoes?" Jade asked still flipping through the pages.
"Yes, his father ties them every morning." Francis said.
"How about buttoning his shirt? Or taking care of himself? Does he play any physical games?" Jade asked. Francis nodded to all except for games.
"He mixes up buttons, never takes care of himself, he's been wearing the same clothes for three days now. Every time he tries to play, the children in his school make fun of him. He can't catch a ball and can definitely not play Quidditch." Francis.
Jade placed the book on her face and gave a very big sigh. "When is your Master coming home?" Jade asked.
"In a few hours." Francis said.
Jade sat in front of Alcaeus as he ate the cookies happily. "Eat as much as you want love, I've made a lot for you." Jade said seeing him ravish a cookie. She heard Francis greet Alcaeus's father and she stood up, seeing Draco Malfoy, stand there as Francis explained what happened.
"Why couldn't you just tell her to get out?" Draco asked sternly. Francis couldn't reply to that, so he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. Draco gave an angry sigh and walked to the dining room to see Samantha's friend. He saw his son, sitting with a plateful of cookies and a woman standing next to him, with long dark hair and kind features turn to him, somewhat baffled to see him. "Have we met before?" Draco asked.
It took a while for Jade to get over her shock and respond to Malfoy. "Why yes. We studied together, same year in Hogwarts. Jade Harper. " Jade said sticking her hand out.
"Slytherin?" Draco asked shaking it.
"Gryffindor." Jade replied. He cocked his eyebrow and crossed his arms. "I have to speak to you privately." Jade said.
"You don't have to. I've received Miss Madison's letter this morning and I asked my butler to kindly tell you that we won't be needing your service, but somehow that didn't work out too well. I apologize for the inconvenience it's caused you to travel all the way here and wait for my arrival." Draco said bluntly.
"Well…it hasn't caused me any distress or inconvenience today. Your son was charming and I was more than happy to make him some cookies, but the real reason why I stood over was to speak to you. Francis already told me that you wouldn't be needing me, but Mr. Malfoy, it's not you who needs me, it's your son." Jade said.
Draco furrowed his eyebrows and placed a hand on Alcaeus's chair. "What are you talking about?" Draco asked.
"I told you Mr. Malfoy, I need to speak to you privately. Without Alcaeus." Jade said. Draco stared at her for a while. She really had nerve to be speaking to him like that. She discreetly ordered him around and bossed him on what to do.
"All right then, upstairs, in my study. Would that be up to par for your Majesty?" Draco asked sarcastically.
Jade noted the hint of malice in his tone but shrugged it off. He was always this way. Rude, obnoxious and short tempered. "Let's not call me royalty just yet Mr. Malfoy." Jade said. She looked away, smiling slightly and using his wonderfully decorated staircase as an excuse to not look at him.
Draco shot her a dirty look and opened the door for her in the study room. It was incredibly dark when Jade walked in. Draco pointed to the curtains and they moved to wash light across the entire room. "Have a seat." Draco said pointing to the seat in front of him.
Jade thanked him and sat down, amazed by his book collection. "It's a sad thing. There are so many people out there, who read to their hearts content and to where there are so many others who cannot." Jade said resting her eyes on Malfoy.
"Like my son." Draco said to himself.
"Exactly." Jade said seeing him snap up. "Your son is a very gifted artist. His perception on the world and the beauty of it is very different from the likes of you and I. However, he's unable to pass English, Math, his sciences and the rest of his subjects in Primary school. Why do you think that happens?" Jade asked.
"He's lazy. He doesn't care about passing." Draco answered.
"Lazy? Even after 2 years of being stuck at the same level?" Jade asked.
"He's tired of it, doesn't want to bother with it. He has no motivation to go on." Draco said.
"Motivation. That's right. No motivation. So whose job is it to give him motivation anyways? Certainly not yours right? I mean you are the father of this child. If your child struggles not just in one class but in all, he get sick and tired of it because he has no bloody motivation." Jade said.
"What are you exactly trying to say?" Draco asked leaning over.
"Your child has dyslexia." Jade said softly.
Draco stood there for a moment and shook his head chuckling. "You obviously haven't really heard about me in Hogwarts. I don't deal well with pranksters and liars. You know that now, so I'll let that by, but the next time, do not make the attempt to joke again." Draco warned.
"I'm not lying. Here, Alcaeus's journal. For a 7 year old child, his handwriting looks like it's written by a pre-schooled child. Look at his confusion with letters, particularly letters that look similar. B instead of D, W instead of M. Look at the way he spells the same world 3 times, each differently. We all make spelling errors but all our errors do not include spelling the same word three different times. Have you wondered why he's never good in math? He's never memorized the multiplication tables. Memorization is particularly difficult for a dyslexic. Addition, subtraction and these numbers, they all don't make any sense to him, he can't learn because there is no meaning to him, nothing he can remember them by." Jade said.
This all didn't make sense to Draco. Deep down, he didn't want to believe it but felt angry with Jade. "You mean to tell me that my son is mentally retarded?" Draco asked.
Jade fell back to her seat and stared at him with wonder. "Mentally retarded? Do you know what that means Malfoy?" Jade asked vehemently.
"Well you're telling me that my son is an idiot! That he's not smart!" Draco said.
"Being smart has nothing to do with this Mr. Malfoy. I never told you that your son was an idiot. I said he was dyslexic, that means he has a learning disability, something he can't help. Your son has a higher level of intelligence than a normal child, but the only thing that is stopping him is his inability to understand words and write them. He can't perceive them as well as a child who does not have dyslexia, but he can definitely beat that child by the power of the way his mind works. If he could only have someone that could encourage him and teach him, that's all he needs. Some time. I don't know you well enough to judge your parental skills but…from what I've seen; he's been beaten to the ground by everyone, especially by the man who he calls his father." Jade said.
"He'll learn. He doesn't need me or anyone else to teach him English." Draco said. Jade balled up her fists and got up.
"Ignorance is bliss, but not for long." Jade said. She walked up to his book case and pulled out two books. She threw them down in front of him and opened of the books. "Read this." Jade said pointing to symbols of Ancient Runes.
Draco looked up and gave her a look. "You can't be-"
"Read it correctly." Jade threatened.
"How-"
"Read!" Jade yelled.
Draco looked back and looked up again. "I can't read this." Draco said.
"Concentrate." Jade said tapping the page.
"But I said-"
"Stop fooling around and read this!" Jade barked. "What about this? Fair enough? It's English Mr. Malfoy." Jade said opening the other book.
"I know it's English, but it's Old English." Draco said through clenched teeth.
"Old? But it's still English isn't it? Everyone knows English." Jade said sarcastically.
Draco quieted and sat back, feeling horrible. "Do you know how it feels to be Alcaeus now? Things he never knew, he'd been growing up his whole life, like this. Mr. Malfoy, if you let me spend some time with your son, I promise he'll be on his way. He just needs a hand, someone to help him and mentor him throughout this. I just need a few hours with him every day." Jade said gently.
Draco got up and walked away, with a hand over his eyes. Jade felt disheartened by his coldness. For a second, Jade thought that Malfoy wasn't going to permit her to help his son, but instead he turned and told her to arrive whenever she wanted.