A year in the life of Harry Potter
Chapter 22: August, 18
"When will we be going to Diagon Alley?" Quentin asked at breakfast.
"Calm down, calm down," Severus told her, not able to suppress a smile. "We've just come back from our holiday, can't we rest for a day or two?"
"What is this alley?" Harry asked.
Quentin shook her head, looking sad. "How little you know about the wonders of the Magical World. It is saddening."
"Well I wouldn't say that Diagon Alley is that much of a wonder," Lucy said critically. "It may be well hid from Muggles but that's about where it ends."
"And what are these Muggle-thingys?" Harry asked desperately, not understanding half of what they were saying.
"Muggle-thingys as you called them are non-magical people, meaning that they are not wizards, witches squibs," Severus explained. "And Diagon Alley is the shopping street for the likes of us."
"Squibs???"
"People who were born to witches and wizards but can't perform magic like their parents," Quentin said.
"Now I've heard everything," Harry muttered.
"No, you haven't," Quentin conjectured. "You haven't heard about pure bloods, half-bloods, muggle-born, quarter-bloods and three-quarter-bloods."
"Quentin, how many times do I have to tell you that there aren't such things as quarter-bloods and three-quarter-bloods," Severus asked sternly.
"Yeah, but I can't be a pure blood because of you and not a half-blood because of Mummy," Quentin pointed out. "And if-"
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked irritated. "Pure bloods, half-bloods? What are these things?"
Quentin exploded in laughter. She couldn't help herself. "That aren't thingsHarry! It's how you call people who come from certain families. Families like the Malfoys or the Wintergartens are well-known pure blood families, meaning that they don't have anything mugglelish - nonmagical - in them - at least that's what they claim. Muggleborns are witches and wizards which were born to muggles but still possess magical abilities, which makes it rather weird and more probable that they come from a long line of squibs. Half-bloods like you and Daddy are half magical and half non-magical, which actually means one of your parents is muggle-born and the other one is pure blood. And I'm a three-quarter-blood because Mummy's a pure blood and Daddy's half-blood."
"You're a half-blood and that's the end of it," Severus said, annoyed.
"Come to think of it, why does the term Mud-"
"Quintella Lucy Margaret Snape!" her father snarled furiously, hitting the table with his fist. "You know very well that that word is forbidden to be said in this house!"
"I - I'm sorry," Quentin said quietly, looking down. "I forgot."
"Hey, Harry," Quentin said, entering Harry's bedroom. "Mummy said we'll be going to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Since breakfast she had been awfully quiet.
"What is this word Severus doesn't want ou yo say?" Harry asked, sitting up. He'd been lying on his bed reading A study in scarlet.
She sat down next to him and looked around cautiously to make sure no one else was there.
"Mudblood," she whispered in his ear. "It's a swear word for muggle-borns, Harry. It's wha pure bloods sometimes call them, because they think their blood is dirty, like mud."
Harry gasped.
"Daddy doesn't want anyone to say it because - because it reminds him of how he lost your mother," Quentin continued in a whisper. "One time in his fifth year at Hogwarts your father bullied him in front of everyone - the whole school. You see, him and your father were enemies, but both of them loved your mother. I think she'd have chosen Daddy if he - if he hadn't called her the 'M'-word."
"How do you know all this?" Harry asked.
Quentin looked at him with a pained expression. Without saying another word she left his room.