Chapter One
Albert Runcorn would be the first to admit he didn't have much experience with children. In fact the only time he'd been willingly around children since he was one himself was when Amata was younger. Even then he hadn't really lived with her being at Hogwarts most of the year after she'd been born. By the time he'd really taken an interest in his sister she'd been about thirteen and he'd already moved out to his first flat. Living with one full time, and being partially responsible for the upbringing of said child, he found was an entirely different experience.
The first year had been a particular kind of hell when the girl had suddenly become ill out of nowhere. The Healers had been clueless to what exactly was going on, Amata had spent months in tears near constantly, Althea had barely moved and a night shrieked constantly, and a war raging around them.
But they'd managed to get through it and the illness was a distant memory, though Althea would sometimes get a distant look in her eye that reminded him eerily of those months of listlessness. Thankful it had thus far always been a passing moment after which the toddler would quickly focus back on whatever Amata was doing at the time.
This was just one of the things that stuck out about his niece. Because during those little dazed moments of hers she wore an expression much too old for any three year old. Albert would have been willing to dismiss it if it hadn't been for some other odd occurrences that surrounded her.
For instance he was certain the child knew how to read or almost certain anyway. Sometimes he would catch her with copies of his Daily Prophet with an intent look on her pudgy face as she flipped through it. When she'd spotted him though she'd just smiled and pointed to the moving pictures as if fascinated by them. It had been an admirable act. When he'd picked up the paper to look at it he'd realized that she'd been reading an article about the war memorial being built at Godric's Hollow. He'd been more subtle in his watching after that purposely leaving the newspaper unattended and watching for her to get them. Sometimes she'd take the bait and the paper would vanish, but other times she'd just leave it there. It had taken him finding her reading an article focusing on Elphias Doge, which had a very distinct lack of pictures before she stopped faking. Instead she'd just looked amused at him before finishing up the article with a giggle and toddling off to find Amata. After that she didn't bother hiding her ability to read, though she still demanded his sister read to her during "storytime".
Another more obvious tell was how she talked. For the longest time she was a very quiet baby. In fact it was a big concern when her first birthday passed and she didn't speak. The Healers had come to the conclusion that she may be a bit slow. Albert was inclined to agree until he was passing the nursery after a long night of overtime only to overhear a quiet whisper inside. At first he'd assumed, a little annoyed, that the house-elf was in there talking to the child. He'd opened the door to tell the elf to leave, but only found Althea looking up at him with her striking blue eyes. It had taken a few more times to realize that what he was hearing was Althea talking to herself at night. She spoke to quiet for him to hear exactly what she was saying, but occasionally heard snippets ranging from meaningless sentences such as "I miss walking." to random little songs like "Players gonna play, play, play.". Neither of which made much sense. The speech had been almost incomprehensible at first but steadily became clearer as months progressed until finally at almost two she'd spoken her first words at breakfast. A very clear "Good morning, Mummy" to an overjoyed Amata followed quickly by a slightly dismissive "And Uncle Al.". After that she still hadn't spoken overly much, but would talk to Amata whenever she started a conversation making his little sister ecstatic with her "little genius".
Even more shocking though was when he caught her reading a Rita Skeeter biography and giggling the entire way through. After she'd finished she took a quill and began correcting the books frankly terribly grammar and writing little comments in it that pointed out how sensationalized it was. Pointing out the lack of concrete evidence and reliable sources and citing. She seemed particularly fond of the book, though more in the way of mocking it than anything. It made its way into her room hidden in her dresses and when Albert unearthed it he couldn't help but snort at some of the more pointed comments questioning both Rita Skeeter's abilities as a journalist as well as her mental facilities. Albert had never forgiven the one for the scathing comment she'd made towards him in one of her articles about the Ministry, even if he hadn't been named he'd known exactly who the "overarching ambitious snake" she'd mentioned had been.
Even with his limited experience with children Albert felt he was perfectly within his rights to say his niece was abnormal. At the very least she was a sort of genius that he hadn't believed was possible. It was honestly a little frightening. He probably would have been worried for the future of the wizarding world is not for one little fact.
Althea for all her obvious, secret genius was incredibly lazy. When not entertaining her mother or doing one of her outrageous behaviors she was found napping. And not just in her room. Albert had found her everywhere a small child could fit curled up like a content cat in some cupboard or spread out across his desk face stuck to some paperwork he needed to finish. More often than not she wouldn't even bother to open her eyes when he moved her, just moving until she found a comfortable spot and continuing her nap.
Merlin help them if she ever got any ambition though. It was normally trait he would admire and encourage in his niece, but considering how much she'd managed with what looked like minimal effort he thought he'd prefer her as is. Oddness and frightening progress aside Albert found himself fond of the tiny girl in a way he rarely was with people who weren't Amata. If anything at least Althea made life interesting.
Author's Note: There's a poll up now about what house Al should be in, vote if you care to! It'll be up as long as we're in part one. Thanks for reading!