Mother had come to find the three of them one morning - Gideon, Fabian and Molly. One arm was used to hold the baby, while on the other arm was perched the family's owl.
Fabian remembered that morning particularly clearly.
His very favourite quill had gone missing. His favourite quill ever. The quill that Father had given him for his tenth birthday, just months ago. It was a special quill with tendrils of gold running through it, his first ever big boy's present.
Which, of course, was why Fabian had spent all morning looking for the thing, to no avail.
He was lurking in one of the darker corners of his little sister's room when Mother had burst in, looking a little anxious.
"Fabian!" she had exclaimed, relieved. "Mercy me! Where are the other two?"
“I think they’re by the River,” Fabian told her. “Should I fetch them, Mother?”
“Yes,” she told him hastily, “Yes, run along and fetch them. Quickly! There’s a good boy.”
He’d then run down into the garden, as fast as his legs would carry him. Fabian and his family lived in a small community, but the land spread over acres upon acres. Mother said it was meant for farming and keeping cattle. She also happened to severely dislike most animals, so they just used some of the land for growing fruits and vegetables. Almost half of the land, however, they didn’t use for anything, and it was here that Fabian found his older brother, Gideon, and baby sister, Molly, up a tall, wild apple tree.
“You have to come down!” he shouted up to them. “Mother said!” Molly looked towards the house.
“She can’t even see us from up there,” she argued, and Gideon tossed an apple at Fabian. Molly giggled.
“No, she wants to talk to us,” Fabian informed, matter-of-factly, and dodged the apple easily. “And it had better not be about that fork you two stole, or I’m telling Mother what happened to it!” Gideon dropped from the tree.
“Alright,” he said quickly, bargaining. “We’re coming, but you can’t tell Mother.” Molly was seven and not old or strong enough to get in and out of the tree without help, so Gideon went back to get her down. “Or I’ll… I’ll set Molly on you,” he continued in a lighter tone, “Then you’ll be sorry.” Molly giggled.
The three of them ran back up to the house, and up to Molly’s room where Mother was still waiting. Fabian had not noticed until now that she looked distinctly ruffled, long, brown hair falling out of its clip and she was holding herself a little differently. Mother was always calm and collected, elegant to the point of being cold, and undoubtedly statuesque; she was never in a hurry, and never ruffled.
“Good, you’ve come back,” she said, one hand on her heart, the other still holding the baby. The owl was now sitting on the bed. “We haven’t much time. I need you three to quickly collect up some clothes and come into the living room. I’m going to floo you to your Aunt Laura’s house for a few days.”
“Why?” asked Gideon, looking slightly alarmed.
“Don’t ask questions,” snapped Mother. “But for the Merlin’s sakes, do something about your hair, Gideon!” Gideon felt his rusty brown hair defensively and several twigs fell on the floor. Mother said nothing more about it. “Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry, you three!”
Fabian didn’t find out why they’d had to leave the house; not when they all hurried into the living room with small bags of clothes; not when they’d used the floo and arrived at Aunt Laura’s house; not even for the rest of the day. Aunt Laura was nice, but a bit scary, with a stern face and sharp features like Mother. Unlike Mother, however, Aunt Laura was really quite short “ shorter than Gideon “ and her legs were kind of stubby, so whenever she was moving quickly, she’d totter around in a style not unlike that of a dizzy baby. Not even Gideon had the courage to ask Aunt Laura what was happening, so neither he, Molly, nor Fabian knew what was going on.
The next day’s prospects were brighter, however, as Aunt Laura and Uncle Bilius, her husband, had to go into town. Fabian, Molly and Gideon were given a whole day to explore the house, as they never had before, and even more excitingly, the grounds. There had always been a dark area a little way from the house, which was unlike any garden that Fabian had ever seen. Funny coloured mushrooms grew on the ground and even on the trees, there were weird insects, and lots of the plants moved when you walked past, like they were all watching. It wasn’t scary though, somehow. It was just a thrill to finally be allowed to properly look around.
They spent a long time in that area of the garden, just exploring and inspecting the different life forms it held. Eventually, however, they reached the other side of the dark spot, to discover a plainer place “ the area beyond the shadowed forest.
It was a long path, and really wide, like a road (except that it was so empty, it may as well have not existed). Very carefully, the three crossed, remembering Mother’s warnings about fast-moving devices and running horses. They didn’t know if the other side of the road was still on Aunt Laura’s property, but didn’t think about it very much… Now was their chance to explore, and there were far more interesting things with which to occupy their minds.
It was in a clearing next to the road, where there were no trees growing. The grass was quite soft, and it was clearly evident that people had been here not long ago. Most prominently, the three of them found a small ring of rocks, in the centre of which were ashes like there had been a fire. The ashes made their hands black when they picked them up, and black dust got all over Gideon, Fabian and Molly’s clothes very quickly, which was possibly why they weren’t allowed to touch the ashes in the fireplace at home.
They came back the next day, and the day after that to explore the place, but it was not until the day they went home that Fabian found it, the most important discovery in their little adventure.
It was not in the open, but in the long grass nearby and had he been in a slightly different position, he never would have seen the thing. The little cylinder was not large “ perhaps the size of a goblet. It was shiny like a goblet too, and colourful with lots of words “ Muggle words, most of which none of them recognised. At the top of the object was a little, white knob. None of them knew what it was, and shortly after Fabian found it the day began to darken and they had to go back to the house.
When the three of them arrived at the back door, Mother was waiting there, to take them home. She was having tea with Aunt Laura and Uncle Bilius, and hailed her three children when they walked inside.
“You’re back, at last,” she said by way of greeting. “It’s time to come home now.”
“Why?” asked Gideon. They were all anxious to know.
“Your father’s had some relatives visiting. They’re gone now,” explained Mother vaguely. “You needn’t know the details. Now, go and get your things and we’ll go home.”
Not satisfied, but used to Mother’s unclear ways, they went to retrieve the few belongings they had brought. Fabian carefully wrapped the metallic cylinder he had found in a soft jumper, so it would be safe when they went home by floo, then rushed back to the lounge where little Aunt Laura was already kissing Gideon and Molly good bye.
“Be good now, Munchkin,” she told Gideon sweetly, “and good luck at Hogwarts.” Fabian snickered.
“Thank you for taking care of them, Laura,” Mother said gratefully to Aunt Laura. “You know children; I shudder to think what would have happened if they’d come across Larkin’s cousins!”
“Well, never you mind, dear,” replied Laura, still using her simpering tone which frustrated Fabian to no end. Larkin was Fabian’s father. “Good bye, the lot of you!”
Fabian and his brother, sister, and mother arrived back at the house shortly, a little sooty but glad to be home. The three children briefly greeted Father, who sent them off to their rooms almost straight away to play, as he usually did. Gideon, Fabian and Molly went to the room that Fabian and his brother shared, because it was the biggest and it was too dark to sneak outside. Besides, Mother would be in to put Molly to bed soon. The three of them sat in a small circle on the floor, and Fabian unwrapped the object he had found.
“Can I hold it?” asked Molly, and took it curiously before Fabian had a chance to answer. She turned it over and over in her little hands.
“What do you reckon it is?” Fabian asked the other two.
“I think it’s something Muggle,” Gideon told him. “It must be. Only Muggles would be mad enough to make something like that. Can I“?” Molly gave it to him.
“How do you know?” she asked. “Munchkin?” Molly and Fabian laughed at Gideon, who took it all in good grace. In other words, he ignored them.
“Muggles really like shiny things, you see,” Gideon told the other two, aloof. “Everything they make is shiny, like glass and metal and plastic. This is metal.” He shook the metal cylinder, and inside something small and hard like a tooth or bottle cap hit against the metal sides.
“Maybe it’s a knut,” said Molly. “Maybe it’s a knut-making thing.”
“But then how do you get it out?” asked Fabian. “It doesn’t seem possible. Maybe you’re not meant to, and the sound is meant to scare off wild animals or something.” Gideon shook it again. It didn’t sound all that scary.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But then what’s this?” He tapped the little knob on top. “It seems loose…” Gideon couldn’t pull it off, but when he pushed it, something sprayed into Fabian’s face. He coughed “ whatever it was was completely foul, and Gideon dropped the object immediately and threw the fuzzy jumper over it. Molly squealed, and scurried away to the corner of the room.
“Are you alright?” she asked, scared.
“I’m fine,” Fabian told her, using his hand to try and blow the smell away, glad none of whatever it was had gotten in his eyes. It seemed to be a Muggle device that sprayed, and the contents of the bottle dried very quickly. “It smells completely awful.” Molly crept forward to smell it, and started coughing.
Before either she or Gideon could reply, though, Mother opened the door and all three of children looked at her with badly feigned innocence, though really they had done nothing wrong.
“What’s wrong with you three?” asked Mother, probably seeing the looks on their faces. “And what’s that smell?”
“It’s a secret,” Molly told her certainly. Mother raised her eyebrows.
“A weird flower,” prompted Gideon.
“Well, alright then,” Mother told them. “I just wanted to tell you that Aunt Laura says you behaved very well, so thank you. You’ve proven to me that you can use your common sense and behave, even if I don’t get a chance to tell you to.” They all stared at her, not sure what to say. “And Fabian,” Mother continued, “I found your birthday quill. It fell behind the kitchen table.” She gave it to him, and Fabian took it.
“Thank you,” he told her seriously.
“You just keep an eye on it in future,” she replied. “Molly, it’s almost bed time,” added Mother, and closed the door again. Gideon was staring at Fabian, wide-eyed.
“What?” Fabian asked, a little confused.
“You know what that is?” asked his brother. Fabian shrugged. “It’s magic! Some kind of Muggle magic, which is like a completely different kind of magic because Muggles can’t do our magic! That’s why they’re Muggles!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Muggle magic, like those light things where you press a button and they turn on, and the cars that drive without magic or horses,” Gideon told him. “You know what that bottle is? It’s good luck spray!” Fabian looked at the jumper-covered spray bottle in awe.
“You think so?”
“It must be that,” Molly agreed with absolute certainty. “Gideon sprayed you, and Mother came in here, and told us we were good, and found your quill, and didn’t put me to bed yet!”
“You’ve been sprayed with good luck, mate!” Gideon added excitedly. Fabian picked up the spray bottle carefully from underneath the jumper, as Molly watched, wide-eyed.
“What should I do with it?” asked Fabian.
“Spray me!” Molly suggested eagerly. “Come on, spray me! I want to stay up late.”
“Alright then,” agreed Fabian reasonably, and Molly got onto her knees and closed her eyes and mouth very tightly.
“Come on,” she said, pursing her lips as soon as she had spoken. Fabian looked at the knob on the bottle. There was a little dot, out of which he assumed the good luck would come.
“Ready?” Molly nodded, and held her nose.
Fabian pushed down on the knob and the good luck sprayed out again, like a thick mist, onto Molly’s little, round face. He let go quickly, and Molly breathed out. They all coughed.
“Does it feel any different?” Gideon inquired curiously, wiping Molly’s closed eyelids with his thumbs, because it was a bad idea to get even good luck in one’s eyes.
“Not really,” Molly told him. “It feels cool though. Like when you have a cold shower in summer. You know?”
“Yes,” agreed Fabian. “It’s wet, but then it’s not wet after a moment.”
“Well, let’s go and see if Mother lets you stay up late,” Gideon suggested, getting to his feet. “We can sneak out and see how our fork tree’s going, Molly!”
Fabian was so excited about his good luck spray that he didn’t even argue, as he usually would, that there was absolutely no such thing as a fork tree. He just wrapped the spray and his quill in the jumper and followed the other two out into the hall.
They ran into Mother, who was on her way back to the bedroom, apparently to put Molly to bed.
“Mother, can I stay up tonight?” asked Molly confidently. “We want to play a game.”
“Molly, it’s getting late and I was hoping you three would help me in the garden tomorrow,” Mother told her. “It’s time for bed.”
“What?” Molly sounded disappointed and slightly shocked. “But“”
“No ‘but’s, Molly, I warned you it was nearly bed time.”
“That’s not fair!” Molly complained, tearfully. “You were meant to let me!” Mother put her hands on her hips.
“What are you talking about?”
Molly frowned.
“Nothing,” she grumbled, and walked meekly to her bedroom.
Gideon and Fabian waited in their room for a few minutes until Mother had seen Molly to bed, and listened until she was safely downstairs before sneaking along the hall and tip-toeing into Molly’s room. Molly sat up as they came in.
“It didn’t work,” she whispered miserably.
“Maybe it’s broken,” suggested Fabian. The three of them all thought about this for a little while, in silence. After some time had passed, Gideon shook his head pensively.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then what happened?” demanded Molly, a little too loudly.
“Shh, Molly!” hissed Fabian.
“Maybe it chooses who to give luck to,” Gideon proposed, his voice very low. “Maybe it gave Fabian good luck because he found it and got it away from that empty clearing.”
“How do we make it work again then?” asked Fabian, who very much liked being lucky.
“We have to make it happy,” Molly said, realisation in her tone. “We have to do something good for the muggle magic bottle! Why“”
“Shh!” hissed Fabian again, listening. There were footsteps in the hall outside.
“Quick!” Molly told her brothers, as quietly as she could. “Hide!”
As Molly lay down in her bed, as if asleep, Gideon and Fabian crawled underneath it, as fast as they could. Fabian was barely hidden when the door opened a crack, and Mother’s face poked in.
“Molly, are you awake?” she whispered. Molly didn’t respond, and Mother closed the door quietly. Gideon let out a breath of air, and he and Fabian crawled out from under the bed.
“Thank goodness you’ve still got some good luck,” said Gideon, sitting down on the side of Molly’s bed. “Or we’d have been caught for sure.”
“So it lasts for a little while then,” Fabian remarked. “That’s pretty good.”
“You have to spray me when I start at Hogwarts in three weeks,” Gideon told his brother earnestly. “And we can save up luck for a while so there’s lots on the day.”
“How do we make the luck work again though?” Fabian asked worriedly. “How do we make a muggle spray bottle happy?” Molly yawned.
“We could make it look pretty,” she suggested tiredly, “or… or make it breakfast in bed?” An image of the little spray bottle using Fabian’s bed came to mind, with Molly feeding it some kind of gourmet breakfast, although it seemed unlikely that the spray bottle should need to eat.
“Something like that,” agreed Gideon. “I think we’ll talk about it tomorrow though. You should get to sleep, Molly.” Molly yawned.
“But I want to stay awake and get good luck,” she contradicted.
“Well, how about you dream of some ways to make the good luck work again,” Gideon suggested. “And we’ll go and do the same. Alright?” Molly nodded, obviously tired.
“Alright,” she agreed, and lay back down.
“We’ll find a way to make it happen,” Fabian said. “It couldn’t be that hard, could it?”
“Good night,” Gideon whispered to Molly, and he and Fabian headed for the door.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Fabian told her. “Early.” Molly waved, and Gideon and Fabian stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door quietly, before heading towards their room.
“There’s got to be a way, hasn’t there?” asked Fabian quietly, frowning.
“Sure there has,” Gideon said confidently. “Why would the Muggles make a good luck spray that’s impossible to use? Even they’re not that mad.”
Most of their remaining night, Fabian and Gideon spent trying to think of ways to impress the spray bottle. They didn’t try anything, seeing as how Molly would completely kill them if she missed out, but came up with some pretty good ideas to try. It really all depended on what metal, muggle spray bottles actually liked.
After a while, Mother came in and put them to bed, and a bit after that the light from the hall disappeared too.
“Do you think it’s cold?” whispered Gideon, through the dark.
“I wrapped it in the jumper,” Fabian replied with a yawn. “It’s at the end of my bed.”
“Do you think Aunt Laura knew about that place?” Gideon asked again, after a little while.
“I doubt it,” Fabian told him, his words a little slurred. “Or else we probably wouldn’t be allowed there, would we? Munchkin?”
And Gideon either fell asleep or just stopped talking to him.
Whichever it was, Fabian didn’t remember anything after that.
o0oOo0o
“’Where is my cauldron?’
Asked Mildon Dee-dee.
‘Something, something,
Something, me-me.’”
Fabian groaned drowsily.
“‘Don’t give me that!’
Said… da-da-da Zap.
‘You left it in Bristol,
Along with my cap…’”
Fabian opened a bleary eye. The sun was already up, and sitting in the middle of his and Gideon’s now-bright bedroom was Molly.
“‘I’ll get thee, I swear!’
He cried something-dook,
‘I swear I shall get thee,
By hook or by crook…’”
“That’s not how it goes, you know,” he croaked. Molly had missed out a verse, not to mention the words she replaced with ‘something’. “What are you doing?”
“Painting,” Molly told him. Fabian rubbed his eyes and sat up, blearily.
“Painting what?” he asked.
“Lie back down,” Molly told him crossly. “You moved!”
Well, there was the answer to his question.
“Why are you painting me?” questioned Fabian, too bemused to be particularly angry at being woken up.
“We figured the spray bottle liked you,” Gideon answered, as he entered the room carrying several little tubs of paint. “So we thought it would like to have a portrait or two with it at all times.”
“What?” demanded Fabian, alarmed.
“I know, out of anyone it would most want likenesses of you. Mad, huh?”
“Lie down!” ordered Molly, biting her lip and painting with her head very close to the parchment. Fabian lay back down, obediently.
“Are you quite sure it has eyes?” he inquired. Gideon shrugged.
“It must,” he said simply. “How else would it know who it was spraying? It’s that or it can sense stuff, and it doesn’t matter which, because either way it’ll still be able to tell what we’re doing.”
Thus, when Gideon, Fabian and Molly went to breakfast that morning, they left the spray bottle with what appeared to be a little shrine, composed of messy looking pictures of Fabian.
One might say the Muggle spray bottle was a bit of a mixed blessing.
Since the three of them didn’t want to lose their good luck on something as trivial as getting out of gardening with Mother, they left the Muggle spray bottle in Gideon and Fabian’s room, and followed Mother out to the garden. Ordinarily, it would not be necessarily for children of magical heritage to help in the garden “ or, in fact, for wizards and witches to work much on their garden at all. It took only a few waves of a wand to water, and a Vanishing spell to get rid of the weeds.
However, Mother seemed to use a different philosophy. As she told them whenever they asked why they had to do gardening the Muggle way, “It is a law of nature that kids get dirty. One may as well be there when they do, to see that they don’t do too much damage.”
Mother came down to the garden too, but being prim and proper as she was, she never actually touched the plants, or the dirt. She would do things the magical way, since she was not a child but a respectable lady, and therefore never got dirty.
Today, the little family discovered a particularly bad infestation of blubbering baby-brussel sprout bulbs, which took almost two and a half hours to clear out. It was particularly difficult, because the bulbs were impossible to unearth until they stopped blubbering, so the whole experience was more like baby-sitting than anything.
When they were finished, Molly, Fabian and Gideon trailed after Mother as she pranced back up to the house, without even the hems of her skirts having gotten dirty. The three of them got cleaned up very quickly, anxious to get back to the Muggle spray bottle. Molly in particular seemed very worried about its welfare, sitting alone in Gideon and Fabian’s bedroom. What if it was hot in that jumper? What if it was bored?
They arrived back at the room to find the bottle just as they had left it, wrapped in a jumper in the sun. Fabian picked it up, since he was the one it liked.
“It’s warm,” he informed the others. “Do you think spray bottles can get sick?”
“Oh, no!” cried Molly, snatching the spray bottle away from Fabian. “Do you have a fever, Gucky?”
“I think“” began Fabian, and then paused. “Did you just call it ‘Gucky’?”
“Yeah,” Gideon told him. “It makes ‘good luck’, and you can’t keep something like Gucky without giving it a name, can you?”
“We need a healing potion!” Molly told the other two worriedly. “Poor Gucky.”
“How are we supposed to get that?” Fabian asked. Molly shrugged.
“We’ll have to distract Mother,” said Gideon. “Then we can probably sneak one of the pepper-up vials from the bathroom cabinet.”
“You can do it,” Molly ordered with certainty. “I’ll stay here and take care of Gucky.” She patted Gucky sympathetically.
“But Gucky likes me,” Fabian contradicted. “Shouldn’t I“?”
“Alright,” Molly told him, scowling, “But you have to keep him nice and warm and tell him a story.” She looked at Gucky. “Look at him,” she cooed, “He’s very cute, and very glad that we’re back. Aren’t you Gucky?”
Gideon and Fabian shared a look of confusion, and Gideon shrugged.
“Well, come on Molly,” he said. “We may as well get this over with; we wouldn’t want Gucky to be sick for any longer than he needs to.” Molly nodded, and she and Gideon hurried out the door.
Fabian stared at Gucky, who he was holding like a baby.
“Well,” he said. “Gucky. That’s an interesting name, don’t you think?”
Gucky didn’t seem to react.
“I like it,” Fabian went on. “It’s better than ‘Fabian’ anyway “ rolls off the tongue, you know?”
Gucky just sat there.
“You know, I was very lucky to find you in the first place. It’s almost like I was meant to, isn’t it? Everyone’s better off now.”
Fabian thought Gucky agreed.
“It must be interesting to be a good luck spray bottle,” Fabian continued, half to himself. “You get to see people at their best and luckiest of moments, and everyone is so much happier when you’re around. Then again, I don’t know how you got lost in the long grass… Did you give your last owners bad luck? Were they mean to you?”
Gucky didn’t react. He seemed a little cold.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” apologised Fabian. “I suppose if they were, you wouldn’t want to think about it, would you? I’ll talk about something else…” he paused, thinking. “Well, you might want to know about Gideon and Molly’s fork tree. I’m sure you’re well aware that there’s no such thing, but last week they stole a fork and buried it, to make a fork tree. Not even a shoot has come up! It’s not going to work. Forks don’t grow on trees.”
He looked at Gucky, feeling their communication was working a little better now.
“I know! It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? Imagine what the kids at Hogwarts will think if Gideon ever mentions his fork tree “ they’ll think he’s mad, just like I do! He’s older than me, you know, starting Hogwarts this year, in a few weeks, I think. Still isn’t very sensible though.”
Fabian was sure that Gucky agreed.
“But still, they go down and water the fork every day,” he told the spray bottle reflecting upon the madness of his siblings. “I have much more interesting things, like this quill that Father gave me for my birthday…”
Gucky and Fabian heard what sounded like galloping down the hall. Gideon and Molly ran into the room. Molly looked upset.
“It didn’t work!” she told Fabian tearfully. “I told Mother I had a dance, and she wouldn’t listen, and she wouldn’t move away from the bathroom so Gideon couldn’t get the potion! What will we do?”
Fabian placed a hand on what seemed to be Gucky’s forehead.
“I think his fever is going down, anyway,” he told the other two. “See, feel…”
Molly felt Gucky’s temperature.
“You’re right!” she confirmed, relieved.
“I guess he gives himself good luck too,” Gideon said, shrugging. Molly sat down on the bed beside Fabian, and hugged him and Gucky passionately.
They spent much of the rest of the day playing games that Gucky could be included in and, come nightfall, his temperature had completely come down. In fact, over the next couple of weeks, most of their activities centred around Gucky, and he, in turn, gave them luck. Sometimes it didn’t seem to work, but of course Gucky probably knew better than them, so anything that seemed unlucky was probably good for them in the long term.
o0oOo0o
It was almost two and a half weeks later, when Gideon, Fabian, Molly and Gucky were coming back from one of their nature walks, when everything changed.
“Maybe we can use some luck, and see if Mother lets us sit outside and watch the sun set tonight,” Molly was suggesting. “I think Gucky would like that. Wouldn’t you, Guck?”
Gucky didn’t reply “ he never replied “ but they could all tell he agreed.
“Actually,” Gideon told the other two, “I was hoping we could save it.”
“What?” asked Molly. “Why?” He sighed.
“I’m going to Hogwarts, the day after tomorrow,” Gideon mumbled. Molly and Fabian halted.
“What?” exclaimed Molly again. “Why didn’t you tell us? I forgot it was so soon “ are you sure?”
“I’m sure. And it didn’t seem relevant enough to mention,” said Gideon, shrugging. “But can we start saving up, do you think?” Fabian nodded.
“Yeah. This is important.” Molly reluctantly agreed too.
Thankfully, Mother allowed the three of them to watch the sunset that night, even without a fresh dose of good luck. Occasionally, she came out to check on them or watched from the window, holding the baby, so they needed to keep Gucky covered, but other than that everything went smoothly and easily.
“I can’t believe I’m going,” Gideon mumbled after one of the long periods of silence that accompanied watching a sunset, holding Gucky like a talisman. “I’m going to be gone for so long.”
“Well, that’s okay,” Fabian said earnestly. “We can write you letters and things. And you’ll come back sometimes.”
“But still,” Gideon told him, frowning. “I can’t imagine not being here. We’ve barely ever been away, and I don’t remember ever staying anywhere on my own… I can’t imagine life here, without me either.” Molly sleepily scooted closer to him, apparently not having thought of this.
“It’ll be alright, won’t it?” she asked. Fabian nodded.
“Sure it will. I’ll come down to the river and keep you company.”
“Really?” asked Molly. “But you’re so boring!” The breath Fabian had just taken in turned into a hacking cough.
“What?” he demanded. Molly shrugged.
“It’ll be worse when you both go,” she told them fearfully. “Then I’ll just have Mother to keep me company. And the baby.” She shivered.
“That’s ages away,” consoled Gideon. “Just make sure you keep writing to me, and tell me how the fork tree’s going…”
Fabian couldn’t remember going to bed that night, so he supposed he must have fallen asleep down there in the garden. That night, Gucky slept in Gideon’s bed though. That much he knew.
o0oOo0o
The next morning was the thirty-first of August, and Fabian woke up to an ear-splitting scream. He sat up, shocked. It was barely light outside.
The screamer was Molly. And she was standing in the middle of the bedroom.
“Molly!” he snapped. “Shut up!”
Molly squealed, and jumped on Gideon’s bed.
“It’s growing!” she shrieked. “It’s growing, it’s growing!”
“Shh “ shh!” Gideon hushed her. “You’ll wake up Father!” Molly lowered her voice.
“It’s growing!”
“What’s growing?” asked Gideon.
“The fork tree!” Molly exclaimed, ecstatic. “I went down to water it and I went there and I saw it and it’s growing!”
Gideon cracked a huge grin, and he and Molly high-fived.
“Brilliant!” Fabian stared, alarmed.
“That’s impossible!”
“Well, it happened!” cried Molly, bouncing. “It’s growing!”
“Come on, let’s go down,” Gideon said, “I want to see!”
Not even bothering with dressing gowns, he and Molly sprinted out of the room. Fabian ran after them, grabbing his on the way out.
The fork had been buried about two hundred feet from the house, near an old, crumbling fence. The site was marked with a stick poking out of the ground, and when Fabian got down there, it was to see Gideon and Molly dancing around the site of the buried fork, and Gucky leaning on the fence. When he moved closer, Fabian noticed a small shoot poking out of the ground, almost white in colour and definitely not grass.
The fork tree was growing.
He couldn’t believe it!
“How did this happen?” demanded Fabian, talking to himself. Forks did not grow into trees. No one answered him, of course. They were too ecstatic.
They remained by the fork tree until Mother called them in for breakfast.
The rest of the day was spent mostly in Diagon Alley, with Mother, buying books and other school supplies. The three Prewett kids very rarely got to go to places like Diagon Alley or meet new people, so it was a huge event for Gideon, Fabian and Molly. Because Gideon was so busy, Molly and Fabian passed Gucky between them for most of the day, as they explored and looked around.
It all went by so fast “ as soon as can be, the sky was beginning to darken and it was time to go home. They all had an early night that night, both because of exhaustion, and because tomorrow Gideon would be leaving for Hogwarts.
Gucky spent the night in Gideon’s bed again.
Fabian thought it was strange to see his older brother so scared. He was rarely scared of anything “ not because of bravery, but because he just didn’t care about all that many things, because he was stupid.
Even Fabian himself was scared. Without Gideon in the house, he knew everything would change. There would be big shoes to fill “ after all, without Gideon there, who would look after Molly? Fabian was only just realising the extent of his older brother’s presence in the house.
He couldn’t even remember having a bedroom of his own.
With a head full of thoughts like these, it took Fabian a while to get to sleep.
o0oOo0o
The next day, the first of September, he was up at dawn again, this time entirely of his own accord. Fabian yawned, and rolled over to see Gideon, awake, staring at the ceiling.
“Are you scared?” he asked, his voice sounding a little funny because he’d just woken up. Gideon sighed.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “I guess I am. Are you?” Fabian shrugged.
“I suppose,” he answered. “A little.”
“It’s a good thing though,” Gideon said, and it sounded like he was half talking to himself. “Right?”
“Sure it is,” agreed Fabian. “You can do magic at Hogwarts. Everyone looks forward to magic.” Gideon smiled.
“Yeah.” He picked up the wand, which was sitting beside his bed, and Gucky, and then looked at his watch. “Mother’s going to find ways to take up the whole morning,” he said. “You and Molly should probably spray me now.” Fabian looked at his watch. It was six o’clock.
Gideon and Fabian crept out into the hall, and made their way softly into Molly’s bedroom, where she was soundly asleep. Fabian stopped at the door, so he could see if Mother or Father woke up, and Gideon went and sat on Molly’s bed.
After some hesitation, he shook her shoulder gently.
“Molly,” Gideon whispered. “Wake up.”
Molly grumbled.
“It’s the first of September,” he added. Molly’s eyes snapped open.
“What time is it?”
“Just after six,” Gideon told her. “I thought we could go out to the fork tree, and you could spray me before Mother wakes up.” Molly sat up, and pulled on her slippers.
“It’s cold.”
“I know,” whispered Gideon, and got up, pulling a jumper out of her cupboard, tossing it to her. “Rug up.”
When Molly was nice and warm, she, Fabian, and Gideon who was holding Gucky, crept along the semi-dark corridor, and downstairs, then went through the kitchen (of course skipping the floorboard that squeaked, mostly just so they didn’t break the silence and startle themselves) and out the door. The morning was misty, and morning dew covered the vast grounds. With every step they took, icy cold grass was crushed beneath their feet.
The fork tree looked much the same as it had the previous day, but with a slightly blue tinge from the cold. Gideon knelt down, to be at a level even Molly could reach. Between them, it was decided that Molly would spray first, and then Fabian would too, just for extra good luck.
“We’re going to miss you,” whispered Molly. There was no need for quiet, but the morning was almost silent anyway and there was something about it that they subconsciously were unwilling to break. Molly sprayed Gideon in the face. When Fabian took his turn, however, something strange happened. After just a moment, Gucky spluttered and good luck stopped coming out. Molly snatched Gucky.
“Gucky?” she asked, shaking him a bit. She pushed the knob at the top, and something didn’t work. “Gucky!”
As the three of them looked at the little magical spray bottle, they could tell there was something wrong.
“He’s cold,” Molly told the others, frightened, “and really light, like he’s…” She trailed off.
“Empty?” asked Fabian. Molly nodded.
“I think “ I think he might be gone,” whispered Gideon. Molly’s lip trembled, and she burst into tears. “I think he’s finished.”
“No he’s not!” Molly insisted miserably, although it was clear that Gucky had been lost. Gideon took Gucky, and hugged Molly around the middle, looking a little disturbed. As for Fabian, he was struggling not to become teary himself. Gucky was like a person “ a pet, sort of.
Nothing else was coming out. No matter what they did. Gucky had run his road.
“Gucky’s soul has probably gone to a new spray bottle,” said Gideon hopefully, still seeming unhappy. “That was the last of his good luck, for now.” Molly sobbed into his shoulder.
After a little while, the sun began to rise, and Gideon, Fabian and Molly knew that Mother would wake up soon. They decided to bury Gucky near the fork tree, and Gideon remained behind to dig a grave while Fabian went with Molly to pick flowers.
“It’s going to be okay, you know,” Fabian told her awkwardly. Molly sniffed.
“But Gucky died,” she said, “and we’re losing Gideon too.” Fabian stopped.
“I really don’t think Gucky’s dead,” he told her, certainly. “We’ve just had all the luck we can get from him; now, we just need to get luck another way while someone else gets a turn.”
He spotted a nice little patch of white flowers, and he and Molly began to pick some.
“And Gideon’s not going,” Fabian said. “Not like Gucky. Gideon’s going to be here forever, really.” Molly sighed miserably. “And I’m not that boring!”
“You don’t even know how to play boiled-apple cricket.”
Fabian scowled and picked another flower.
They brought a small bouquet of the flowers back, to find Gideon sitting by a little hole in the ground, sort of staring into it. When they got closer, they saw Gucky lying in there. The funeral service was very short, because they’d never been to a funeral and didn’t know how it went, and at the end, they covered the Earth back up over Gucky, wished him well, wherever he was, and placed the white flowers on his small grave.
When Mother called the three of them in for breakfast, Gideon, Fabian and Molly obediently trudged towards the house.
“Do you think it means anything?” asked Gideon, when they’d begun walking. “That Gucky left when I was being sprayed? Did I get the luck? I need it.”
“I don’t think it meant anything,” said Fabian. “He lasted just long enough, really.”
Gideon sighed, heavily.
“Maybe it did mean something,” Molly said suddenly. “Maybe since you got the last of his luck, he blessed you extra specially. He must have chosen that moment, and decided, ‘this is important’ and gave you his soul or “ or something.” Gideon frowned.
“You think so?”
“He was very caring in that way,” Fabian conceded. “He could always tell.” The three of them bowed their heads in mourning of their short-lived friend and spray bottle, Gucky, much to Mother's confusion.
Gideon was significantly more cheerful, however, when it came time to leave. Excitement, it seemed, had finally stepped in, and when they had reached Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Fabian noticed his older brother looked unbelievably nervous, but at the same time, invigorated. He waited until the last moment to board the train, and then jumped on, waving madly out the window (much to the amusement of onlookers). Fabian and Molly chased the train until they couldn’t run any further along the Platform, and then the three of them all waved and shouted at each other until Gideon was completely out of sight.
Molly was teary again as they walked back to an embarassed and annoyed-looking Mother, and Fabian could feel that Gideon’s presence had left the group. It felt… alright though. Not permanent. Things were as they were meant to be, and, of course, Gideon had all the luck Gucky had to give with him.
Strangely, when they finally left the Platform, Mother looked a little troubled, but that passed relatively quickly.
Mother was never troubled.
Molly, Fabian, Mother and not Gideon arrived back in the lounge room, through the fireplace not long after this. Feeling a little lost, Molly and Fabian decided to go to the kitchen for something cold to drink. Somehow, Fabian remembered having a drink as having taken longer than that. When it was all gone, Fabian looked at Molly apprehensively.
“What do you want to do?” he asked. Molly thought for a moment, and then grinned.
“Let's go and visit Gucky; I should probably water the fork tree anyway.” Fabian considered that.
"Okay. But then you have to teach me to play boiled-apple cricket."
//the end
Prewett'd : Gucky and the Fork Tree by Mind_Over_Matter
Chapter Notes:I've now officially fallen in love with Gideon, Fabian and Molly Prewett and family. I hope you enjoy my characterisations of them in this little adventure.
Disclaimer: Although we know little about these people at this time, they still all belong to J.K. Rowling, Queen of All Things Harry Potter.
Special thanks to Chislarina, who beta-ed this story for me!