Written for Assignment #5 on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry forum: Charms, Task #5 – Write a kidfic. Word count: 440.
Three Birthdays of Ursula Scamander
October 24th, 1943
"Up!" demanded Ursula. She managed to get to him through the length of the living room, even though there wasn't much furniture she could cling to. She had started standing up and trying to walk some time ago, but wasn't entirely proficient yet.
Newt held the girl under her armpits and lifted her vigorously. She laughed… And then pulled his hair with rather surprising strength. "Ursula, don't."
He didn't raise his voice, but the message was clear. She looked at him for a moment, and soon loosened the grip on his hair.
Dealing with children was a lot like dealing with magical creatures, Newt thought. He completely didn't understand why Tina looked so scandalized when he had shared his conclusion with her.
"Who's my birthday girl? Yes, you are," he confirmed, more softly. "We need to get you ready for aunt Queenie's visit."
October 24th, 1948
"Ursula Scamander, you better come down this instant!" Tina's voice was irritated, but Newt could catch the slight shade of panic in it. Children's broom had safety charms built in and it couldn't fly higher than five feet from the ground. Apparently, this was not enough to make his wife worry less; she didn't think Ursula should learn to fly so soon. He thought she was being too strict and overprotective at times, but she had lectured him on the importance of the united front long ago.
"You want to check on the bowtruckles?" he suggested. A couple of them inhabited a tree just outside their kitchen window and showed up quite regularly. Ursula seemed to love this funny, stick-like creatures and even named a pair of them.
"Jazzy and Pearl?" She thought about it for a moment. "Yes!"
October 24th, 1953
Eleven. They couldn't quite believe that their daughter was eleven already. Fortunately enough, with her October birthday, they had ten more months before she would go to Hogwarts. But today was the big day. As an eleven-year-old, Ursula could get her very own wand; and they both knew perfectly well that she wouldn't forgive them if they tried to postpone the trip to the Ollivanders.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"We are going to apparate to the Diagon Alley, so you need to…"
"…hold your hand and not let go. I know, dad," finished Ursula impatiently.
"Right. One, two… Three."
They landed in the apparition spot closest to the wand shop, so they only had to walk for a few minutes. Newt looked at Tina over their daughter's head. This time it was his wife who smiled encouragingly.
"Welcome to the Ollivanders, sweetie," he announced, stopping just in front of the door.