Home?

[Agatha Dobbs]

June, 1883

• Agatha was glad to have her father at home once again. It had been nearly a fortnight that Willoughby had spent in the hospital, and while she would visit her father wherever he lay, the witch was pleased that the healers thought him well enough to recuperate at home. She was, however, still rather anxious, but for the first time since Willoughby had taken his turn, Aggie was nervous not about his condition. No, with Winifred returning home that day, Aggie’s sister took much of the witch’s concern.
  
  She had been surprised, to say the least, when her mother had said the younger of the Dobbs girls would be coming home. Winnie was supposed to be spending her first season with muggle friends, finding a muggle husband to marry—not wasting her time in a village where most men would not look twice at her if they knew she was a squib. Aggie did not begrudge her younger sister wanting to spend time with their ailing father, but did wish that such a visit would not require a negative impact on Winnie’s marital prospects.
  
  Aggie sat on the parlour, fingers busy at work on a cushion to give to the healer who had so dutifully seen to her father. It was not custom to give gifts to those who merely did their jobs, but the witch felt grateful to the woman nonetheless. She winced slightly as her preoccupation with Winnie’s return caused her to jab herself slightly in the finger, and she moved to suck away the blood drop that had formed just in time to look up and see her younger sister in the doorway.
  
  “Winnie!” she exclaimed, rather startled. Though this was technically her sister’s home, the squib was in it little enough that it was still an unusual sight. “Welcome home!” The cushion sat largely forgotten in her lap, her formerly injured hand now resting upon it.

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

Mina had been disappointed when Winnie informed her that they wouldn’t spend their first season together. They had talked and prepared for it during their whole final year at Briarcliff but, thankfully, Mina was understanding. While Winnie knew that the best for her would be to find a good muggle husband and have her muggle babies until the wizarding world was only just a forgotten dream, she could not leave her father. Not when they had lost so many of the years they could have spent together.

The housekeeper had picked her up from the train station and then they had rented a carriage to home. Winnie knew that it would probably be faster and cheaper for them to just ‘aparate’ as they called their popping from one place to the other, but the woman seemed too careful not say anything that could potential be insulting towards her lack of magical abilities. It was quite funny, really, how squibs were viewed similarly to blind or paralyzed people.

She had quietly stepped inside the house, expecting to see her mother first, but it was her sister, Agatha. She tried to brace herself, but she could not help the growing awkwardness inside her.

“Aggie!” she exclaimed. She looked around the room, before settling. “It is so good to be home. Properly, home.”

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• There was an awkward moment when Agatha wondered if she should rise to hug her sister, but Winnifred seemed content to sit herself down—thus neatly solving that conundrum. While the witch was genuinely happy to have her youngest sister home (Webster, in addition to being a brother, was hardly the most stimulating conversation, and Annora was obviously not a presence in the house), the years the two spent apart rendered her uncertain what to say next. Aggie knew little more than she had to about Winnie’s schooling, and Winnie likely would not understand much of the elder Dobbs’ work. Their father seemed a pertinent but rather unpleasant subject, and the squib was fresh enough from the train that she could not have participated well in any discussion about their mother.
  
  “Mother says it will be a miracle if Webster can stay in school after next year,” Aggie settled on at last. Just because their brother could not partake in intelligent conversation did not mean he couldn’t be the subject of it. “Father is planning—when he is well of course—to start looking into Ministry work for him, though with the grades he has it will be difficult.”
  
  Winnie did not need to understand Hogwarts or the Ministry or magic itself to understand poor academic performance and the need to call in favours.

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

Winnie knew that her brother was not the brightest of people. Or the most dilligent worker there is. Sometimes, if someone at least tried, his lack of superiour intelligence could be overlooked, but from what Winnie understood, Webster was not even trying to improve. Which was silly, if you asked the squib. From the little Winnie knew about Hogwarts, the classes taught there seemed rather silly compared to the classes taught at a muggle school. Charms and Potions sounded like a game compared to mathematics and French!

"Surely he is not that bad with his wand?" Winnie commented. Waving a piece of wood and saying some words did not seem that different from making toast or tying your shoe-laces and those were skills that pretty much everyone possessed. "And having a sister in a condition and ties such as mine would benefit him if he were to have a job involving muggles!" She didn't speak bitterly, but rather in amusement. The days she would cry herself to sleep for not being a witch had long ago passed. "Aren't there special wizards who make sure nobody casts magic in front of muggles?"

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• Aggie was not sure whether to laugh at the suggestion that Webster might work with the muggles, or sigh at her sister’s—unfortunate, of course—ignorance. She decided on the latter, her tone growing to its most patient as she explained.
  
  “Webster doesn’t have any ‘muggle’ skills, Winnie. He couldn’t do anything fitting of his position with the education he has, and he is too old to seek another education. And yes, there are people who stop magic-folk from performing in front of muggles, but he isn’t nearly good enough to be one of them.”
  
  She smiled sheepishly at her younger sister. “Magic isn’t as easy as it looks.”

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

Maybe Winnie truly did not understand. But this was magic, not mathematics or science. Maybe hers was some sort of squib/muggle prejudice, but she didn't see magic as something that demanded much thought. Perhaps it demanded determination, but not really thought.

"Perhaps we should have sent him to a muggle school before Hogwarts" Winnie mused. "If he had to deal with mathematics for even a month, he'd appreciate waving a wand much more."

Not that mathematics were bad. Winnie had grown to rather like them. But if Webster had troubles waving a stick, then mathematics would be like hell to him.

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• “I am quite sure Webster was taught mathematics, Winnie. He was also taught potions and charms, but that does not mean he is any good at them.”
  
  Honestly! Just because her sister had spent the past several years with muggles was no excuse to be so foolish! Webster had been taught basic things, but would need a more advanced education to function in the muggle world as someone of his status ought to—and if he were capable of a more intense education, he would surely take it at Hogwarts.

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

“Well, he could always work at a shop.” Winnie commented. If Webster was too much of an idiot to work for the Ministry, then perhaps it was more suited for an “easier” job. Besides, to Winnie, it seemed much more normal for a fifteen-year-old to work at a shop than the Ministry. Wizards had to be really odd indeed if they allowed teenagers to work there!

“I bet he’d be good with the people. Perhaps he could even elevate to the position of a manager sometime!”

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• Webster managing anything seemed a bit of a stretch to Agatha, but she thought she had been coming down too hard on her recently returned sister and did not wish to fight. Instead, she flashed the younger girl a quick smile before agreeing, though not exactly whole-heartedly. “I’m sure there is a shop that would be quite happy to have him.”
  
  For Webster’s sake, she hoped Father could find him a Ministry job. She doubted the boy would much enjoy himself as a shop worker.
  
  “And what about you, Winnie? Will you stay long? Will you find work or will you let mother parade you about?”

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

Winnie didn’t think that Webster was that useless, but then again, she hadn’t lived with the family long enough to really know that much about anyone. She probably was like some distant cousin visiting, rather than their daughter and sister.

“I’d like to live here” Winnie replied. She wasn’t planning for this to be an only month long visit or something. “And I suppose I should find some sort of work, lest mother tries to marry me off! I could work at a shop, perhaps? I do not think a muggle would do for anything better than that, here.”

She didn’t speak the last works bitterly, but rather, with a smile on.

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• Aggie tried very hard to keep the surprise from her face, though she didn’t quite manage. She had not thought for a moment that Winnifred might be here to stay—she was not, of course, opposed to the idea, but did not consider a magical town the happiest of places for a squib to put down roots. Hearing that her younger sister practically considered herself to be a muggle did not help the brunette overcome her bafflement in the least.
  
  “It would depend on the shop,” she offered, trying to sound optimistic. “Some would require magic, I suspect, but surely there are plenty that do not!”

  

[Winnifred Dobbs]

“Surely, a clothing shop would have me!” Winnie said. Wizards might have had pointy hats and robes in their wardrobe, but that was still more normal than wands and cauldrons. She could manage to work at such a shop.

“I shall investigate soon,” she said. “I am sure that mother will take me out in town, so I will see which shops need employees!”

  

[Agatha Dobbs]

• Aggie was not so sure that her mother would want to take Winnie out to find work (at least, not as much as she would wish to find the squib a husband), but merely smiled in response. “Speaking of mother,” she said as Amity herself entered the parlour. It seemed their awkward time alone had drawn to a close. Agatha resolved to improve on it in the coming weeks.