Arabella
Title: Arabella
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Arabella Figg, Albus Dumbledore, original characters. Mentions of Voldemort.
Rating: G
Summary: Written for the word "squib" prompt at 1_million_words - Arabella Figg's life growing up as a Squib.
Arabella’s sister Martha once brought a Muggle-born friend home for the holidays, and that girl had talked about how she’d always known she was different from her friends and family. Arabella understood exactly what she was talking about.
Her family hadn’t meant to make her feel left out. Every time Martha managed to turn her vegetables into sweets, find herself on the roof of the house or make something fly across the room, she’d say to Arabella that she was sure that it would happen for her one day. Their mother used to shush Martha when she said that, saying that Arabella was a good girl not trying to use magic in the home, and it was all very well Martha pointing out that the Ministry couldn’t tell who was doing it, the family knew and that was what mattered. Later, their mother had caught Arabella desperately trying to breathe some life into a dead flower. She’d said something about how she was sure it would happen to Arabella soon. But Arabella had seen a look on her face, a look she would almost have described as horror.
She had believed it at first when her family had said she would start to show signs of magic. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Martha received her letter and departed for Hogwarts when she was eleven years old. No such letter arrived for Arabella. Her mother sent an owl to Armando Dippet, the headmaster at the time, asking him if there had been some kind of mistake, and why had Arabella’s letter not arrived. Arabella never saw the response, because her mother had torn up the parchment as soon as she read it. But she knew that it was time to face the fact that the family had been hiding from for eleven years: she was a Squib.
Instead of learning Transfiguration, Potions and Charms with Martha, Arabella attended the local high school and studied home economics. She knew that the intention was for her to integrate herself into the Muggle community, however she felt unable to do this, because she could not invite anyone back home without them finding out the background she came from. She was also unable to integrate into her family’s community. Some in the wizarding world avoided the family once it became known that Arabella was a Squib, and every time Arabella saw her family’s former friends turn away from her she wanted to scream at them that she wasn’t contagious. Once, Martha had been taken to the hospital wing after being cursed by a group of Slytherins and the family had had to bring her home for a time to recover. For a long time she wouldn’t explain why they had turned on her, but eventually Arabella heard her answer when their mother had asked her for the umpteenth time.
“Lestrange and Avery, and Riddle - they found out that my sister is a Squib.”
Arabella packed her things and left the family home that night. It was better for her family that they were no longer tainted by their association with a Squib. She knew that she would miss them, however she also knew that it was better for all of them if she assimilated herself into the Muggle world and allowed them to live in the wizarding world. Occasionally she heard things about the group of Slytherin boys from Martha’s year, and what they were inflicting on the wizarding world, and she thanked God every day that she had removed herself from her family’s lives, because it was the only way to protect them from the people known as Death Eaters.
Then one day, Arabella received a visit from Albus Dumbledore. He told her that the man her sister had known as Riddle, but who most people knew as He Who Must Not Be Named, had been defeated, but there was a chance that he might come back. The child who had defeated him, Harry Potter, had been placed with his aunt and uncle in a village called Little Whinging. “And this is where you come in,” Dumbledore went on. “I need you to help me protect Harry, to make sure that Voldemort can do him no harm while he is there. His family will trust you in a way they won’t any of us. Will you do this for me, Arabella?”
She would do it not just for Dumbledore, but for all those who had ever suffered at the Death Eaters’ hands. “Yes,” she said. “I will.”
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Arabella Figg, Albus Dumbledore, original characters. Mentions of Voldemort.
Rating: G
Summary: Written for the word "squib" prompt at 1_million_words - Arabella Figg's life growing up as a Squib.
Arabella’s sister Martha once brought a Muggle-born friend home for the holidays, and that girl had talked about how she’d always known she was different from her friends and family. Arabella understood exactly what she was talking about.
Her family hadn’t meant to make her feel left out. Every time Martha managed to turn her vegetables into sweets, find herself on the roof of the house or make something fly across the room, she’d say to Arabella that she was sure that it would happen for her one day. Their mother used to shush Martha when she said that, saying that Arabella was a good girl not trying to use magic in the home, and it was all very well Martha pointing out that the Ministry couldn’t tell who was doing it, the family knew and that was what mattered. Later, their mother had caught Arabella desperately trying to breathe some life into a dead flower. She’d said something about how she was sure it would happen to Arabella soon. But Arabella had seen a look on her face, a look she would almost have described as horror.
She had believed it at first when her family had said she would start to show signs of magic. Now she wasn’t so sure.
Martha received her letter and departed for Hogwarts when she was eleven years old. No such letter arrived for Arabella. Her mother sent an owl to Armando Dippet, the headmaster at the time, asking him if there had been some kind of mistake, and why had Arabella’s letter not arrived. Arabella never saw the response, because her mother had torn up the parchment as soon as she read it. But she knew that it was time to face the fact that the family had been hiding from for eleven years: she was a Squib.
Instead of learning Transfiguration, Potions and Charms with Martha, Arabella attended the local high school and studied home economics. She knew that the intention was for her to integrate herself into the Muggle community, however she felt unable to do this, because she could not invite anyone back home without them finding out the background she came from. She was also unable to integrate into her family’s community. Some in the wizarding world avoided the family once it became known that Arabella was a Squib, and every time Arabella saw her family’s former friends turn away from her she wanted to scream at them that she wasn’t contagious. Once, Martha had been taken to the hospital wing after being cursed by a group of Slytherins and the family had had to bring her home for a time to recover. For a long time she wouldn’t explain why they had turned on her, but eventually Arabella heard her answer when their mother had asked her for the umpteenth time.
“Lestrange and Avery, and Riddle - they found out that my sister is a Squib.”
Arabella packed her things and left the family home that night. It was better for her family that they were no longer tainted by their association with a Squib. She knew that she would miss them, however she also knew that it was better for all of them if she assimilated herself into the Muggle world and allowed them to live in the wizarding world. Occasionally she heard things about the group of Slytherin boys from Martha’s year, and what they were inflicting on the wizarding world, and she thanked God every day that she had removed herself from her family’s lives, because it was the only way to protect them from the people known as Death Eaters.
Then one day, Arabella received a visit from Albus Dumbledore. He told her that the man her sister had known as Riddle, but who most people knew as He Who Must Not Be Named, had been defeated, but there was a chance that he might come back. The child who had defeated him, Harry Potter, had been placed with his aunt and uncle in a village called Little Whinging. “And this is where you come in,” Dumbledore went on. “I need you to help me protect Harry, to make sure that Voldemort can do him no harm while he is there. His family will trust you in a way they won’t any of us. Will you do this for me, Arabella?”
She would do it not just for Dumbledore, but for all those who had ever suffered at the Death Eaters’ hands. “Yes,” she said. “I will.”