Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 59

"What?" Fred raised a curious brow at my shocked face.

"This necklace!" I said, holding it for Fred to see. "Sirius said an old friend had given it to him when he gave it to me as a birthday gift."

"Er... so?"

"It belonged to my mother!" I exclaimed, jumping off the couch and pacing around.

"Are — are you sure?"

"I'd seen it before! It used to be in my parents' bedroom, in one of the drawers! It had always been there!"

"I-I'm sorry but — I'm still not following," Fred said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked puzzled. "What does this have to do with the possibility of you being a Squib?"

"Don't you see!?" I said excitedly, sitting back down next to him. "This proves our theory about my mum being a Witch!"

"Lexi—"

"—Just hear me out!" I shook my hand impatiently at him. "That's how Sirius knew my mother! Maybe they used to go to school together and that's how they were friends! Maybe that's why my father always disapproved of me reading Harry Potter and involving myself with fantasy worlds! Maybe he asked my mother not to use magic anymore when they got married because he was against the idea of the Wizarding world!"

"But — Lexi..." Fred sighed. "Didn't Dumbledore tell you that he'd done his research and figured that there was no one magical in your family?"

"Well... Dumbledore isn't the most honest man around, is he?" I rolled my eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind," I shook my head, trying to block out the things I knew about Dumbledore's past.

There were more important matters in hand.

"I wonder..." I started, but my voice trailed off as I lost myself once more in my thoughts.

"What?"

"I've never really used a wand before."

"Then what's the one you've already got?"

"Dumbledore gave it to me last year along with a letter, saying that it didn't contain any magic," I explained. "Maybe... I mean... what if I tried doing a simple spell with a real wand and it actually works?"

Fred pursed his lips together, his eyes filled up with concern.

"What is it?" I raised a brow.

"Nothing."

"C'mon, tell me," I insisted. "Obviously something's on your mind."

"Well... Wizards and Witches show magical signs since they are children," he explained uneasily. "If you haven't had the signs until now, there's no chance that you can... you know..."

"No chance that I can use magic now?" I completed him and he nodded hesitantly. "Look — I need to at least try! I have to know. So are you in or not?"

"I'm in," he said without a moment of delay.

"Let's go to the Room of Requirements, then," I said happily, holding my hand out for him and he took it, standing up as well. "I've been dying to go there ever since we got here this year."

***

Fred led me to the seventh floor, going from different secret passageways so we wouldn't be caught out of bed. And at last, we came to a stop by a tapestry showing Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance the ballet.

My heart was throbbing hard against my chest out of excitement like it never did before.

As we came upon the wall, I closed my eyes and thought to myself, 'I need somewhere to practice magic,' and repeated it in my head a few more times.

"Lexi," Fred finally called out my name softly and I opened my eyes, seeing that an enormous door had now appeared before us.

"Well..." I started, biting my lower lip. "This is it."

Hesitantly, I grabbed for the door and opened it, walking inside the room with Fred by my side and then closed it behind us.

"This is the room we came to for Dumbledore's Army tonight," said Fred, looking around as I smiled to myself like an idiot.

"So what now?" Fred asked, dragging me out of my daze.

But I didn't answer him. Instead, I closed my eyes once more and thought, 'I need a wand and an opponent to use it on.'

No sooner had I thought this, that when I opened my eyes, I saw that a table had appeared out of nowhere with a wand on it, and next to it there was a wooden dummy, in the shape of a wizard, holding up a wand in its fake hand.

"What spell should I try?" I asked, walking towards the table and looking down at the wand. "What's the easiest?"

"We practiced Expelliarmus tonight," said Fred. "It was pretty basic. You can try that. Do you know the wand movement for it?"

"I've read about it theoretically," I nodded. "I always practice the wand movements with my fake wand whenever I'm alone; but nothing ever happens, obviously."

"Well, go on, then. Give it a try," said Fred, looking uncertain, yet supporting me either way.

Nodding again, I took the wand off the table and took a few steps back, standing opposite the wooden wizard dummy.

I raised the wand in my hand and pointed it at him, gulping. And with that, I yelled out, "Expelliarmus!"

But the moment I cried it out, the wand blasted away from my hand and exploded when it hit the wall before us.

     I turned to Fred awkwardly, saying, "That was a good sign, though, right? I mean... something did happen. It could mean that I maybe have some magic?"

     "Lexi, wands are internally magical objects; it works for any human beings, or even animals, but only controlled by wizards and witches," Fred explained. "The same thing happened when one of our Gnomes accidentally got ahold of Charlie's wand a few years ago and it blasted just like now."

     "Are you comparing me to a Gnome?" I forced a grin and joked, trying to change the tense atmosphere of the room.

     Fred chuckled at that, but it faded into a sad smile. "I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you thought it would."

     "Me too." I nodded, pursing my lips together. "But maybe I could be a Squib, after all? If my mum really was a witch. I could still hold on to that thought. I mean... that could explain a lot, couldn't it?"

     "Well, next time you see Sirius, you better sit him down and have a very serious talk with him about this," he said playfully and I giggled at the pun.

"You're right," I sighed in defeat, holding my necklace. "He can't get out of an explanation this time, now that I know for sure that him and my mother were friends."