Samuel was already home from school by the time Adrian returned, and their mother made a special dinner to celebrate the first night that the family were back together. There was almost constant chatter from the two boys while they were eating, as they caught up on the term’s events. Adrian told them about the new friends he had made, while being careful not to dwell too much on the fact that he had hardly spoken to his fellow fourth years all term.
–We were sorry to hear about the Quidditch,†his mum said as she served dessert. –Especially after we had just bought you that new broom. We wrote to the Headmaster to express our concerns but he replied explaining that it really was just being done to ensure your safety. It really is such a shame that some people insist on spoiling things for the rest of you. He did say that perhaps next year, after some of the bigger troublemakers had left school, they would be able to re-examine the issue. And after all, you are only in your fourth year.â€
–Yes but three of the best players on our team were seventh years,†he grumbled. –It’ll be years before we have such a good chance of winning the cup again.â€
–You could have been seriously hurt, Adrian! I’m not happy about the idea of you playing while there are people determined to take every opportunity to cause trouble. I think the headmaster has been very sensible.â€
Adrian too could understand why they weren’t allowed to play but it didn’t stop him feeling angry every time he thought of. He wondered if the Dumbledore’s Army people considered their actions to have been a success. He still didn’t really understand what they’d been trying to achieve. Still, at least he didn’t have to worry about it for the duration of the holidays, and maybe when he got back, things at school would have calmed down a little bit.
–Mum,†he asked after the table had been cleared and they were tucking in to dessert.
–Yes?â€
He hesitated. –Can I ask you something about…You-Know-Who?â€
He his mother’s face froze for a moment while his father shifted awkwardly in his chair.
–I’m not really sure it’s appropriate right now, Adrian,†Theia said at last.
–What do you want to know?†Edward asked, ignoring the warning look from his wife.
–I’m just confused. Everyone says that he’s back from the dead and that we’re at war again. And some people have told me that the new laws are because of him, but wouldn’t we know if the Ministry was under his control? Surely he couldn’t do it without anyone noticing?â€
–You’re right - he’s not in control of the Ministry. When I go in to work, You-Know-Who isn’t there in the Minister’s office. The Ministry consider him to be a criminal. He would be arrested if he tried to walk in there.â€
–So does that mean the laws are definitely okay then? It’s just, not everyone seems happy about them.â€
–Well, Adrian, the thing is,†Edward started, but before he could continue, Theia interrupted him.
–Of course they are, darling. The Ministry is still under control of good witches and wizards and everything they are doing is done to protect people from good wizarding families, like us. The people who object don’t understand what they’re talking about. It is a big change of course, but the Ministry know what they’re doing and there has been a lot of research. Besides, how many of your friends at Hogwarts have seen exactly what it’s like to grow up as a wizard without magic?â€
Adrian could see his brother looking uncomfortable across the table and instantly felt bad for bringing it up.
–Thanks,†mumbled Adrian quickly. –It does all make sense.â€
He still wasn’t completely sure, however. He had been feeling more and more uneasy when he thought about the Muggle-borns who were being arrested - he didn’t really know exactly what happened to them. The look on his dad’s face had suggested there was more to the story as well, but his mum seemed so confident, and it obviously still upset Samuel when they spoke about his lack of magic.
The holidays passed quickly - almost too quickly for Adrian’s liking. They spent Christmas day with his mother’s parents and Boxing day with his father’s. He got on a lot better with the Radley grandparents - they were less stuffy and enjoyed playing games with the two boys. Plus, while his mother had been an only child, his father had four brothers and sisters and between them they had twelve children, so there were always lots of other people to play with among their cousins.
Other than visiting their grandparents, little else of excitement happened. Adrian convinced his father to take him to the Lake District to do a bit of flying now that he was unable to at Hogwarts and once again he marvelled at the speed and responses of his new broom, feeling a renewed confidence that when Quidditch started again, as he was sure it would, he would help the Hufflepuff team to victory. However, his dad only had a few days off work over the holidays and so the trips were not as frequent as Adrian would have liked.
Samuel was at home though, and the two brothers made the most of the time they had together.
–Thomas Edison was a Squib,†Samuel said to Adrian one night. It was day before they were both going back to their respective schools, and their parents were out at a belated New Year party. They had decided that Adrian was old enough to no longer need a babysitter and the boys were taking full advantage of this to stay up late and gorge on their remaining Christmas chocolate.
–Who?†Adrian asked, chucking a chocolate frog into his mouth.
Samuel rolled his eyes. –Thomas Edison! He was an inventor.â€
–I’ve never heard of him.â€
–What do they teach you in Muggle studies?†Samuel asked, exasperatedly.
–Not that,†Adrian said, his thoughts turning to the weekly hour he spent with Professor Carrow. So far they had been taught about all the ways Muggles were inferior to wizards - definitely not about the things they had achieved.
–Well, he was an inventor from America.â€
–And how do you know he was a Squib?â€
–It’s common knowledge, particularly in America. Our History teacher was explaining it all to us. The Edison family were originally from Canada. They were one of the earliest wizarding families to emigrate from Europe. Even when they moved to America they were still thought of as some of the oldest purebloods around. But Thomas was born as a Squib.
–He grew up seeing all the ways that magic could improve people’s lives. He worked for Muggles and saw so many things that could be done quicker and more easily if they had access to magic. But he knew he could never have what his wizarding family had, so instead he looked for other solutions to the problems, and started inventing things to let Muggles have some of the same conveniences as Muggles. He was responsible for electric lights!â€
Adrian groaned. Muggle things had always confused him a little bit, and electricity was just plain weird.
–So are you saying you want to be an inventor?†he asked.
–No,†Samuel replied, sounding frustrated. –The point is that Thomas Edison did amazing things with his life. He’s famous among the Muggles! He wasn’t content to just work in a shop or an office and he didn’t see why he couldn’t do brilliant things even without magic. I want to be like that. I want to dosomething with my life.â€
He paused, perhaps sensing that what he was about to say was not going to go over well.
–I’m not a wizard, Adrian,†he said. –I’m a Muggle. I know they call us Squibs because somehow it’s better than telling someone their child is a Muggle - it gives us some sort of link to the wizarding world. But really there is nothing different between me and the Muggles who live next door.â€
–Yes there is,†replied Adrian sharply. –You’re not a Muggle. You’re a wizard who doesn’t have magic, and the reason you don’t have magic is because of Muggles and these Muggle-born wizards who randomly appear with no magical background whatsoever.â€
–I can’t believe you actually think that. I knew Mum was determined to believe that all Muggle-borns are terrible people but I thought you had a bit more sense. Everything that is happening to Muggle-borns is terrible, and when I hear them using people like me to justify their actions, it makes me sick.â€
–It is for you,†Adrian said. –It’s to get justice.â€
Samuel laughed. –Justice? For what? For the fact that by some freak of nature I was born unable to do magic? It’s no one’s fault, Ade. There’s no evidence to suggest that Squibs ever had magic to be stolen.â€
–If there’s no evidence then how are the Ministry able to justify what they’re doing? They must have a reason for passing the new laws,†Adrian argued. –You heard Mum on the first night of the holidays.â€
–I don’t care. I want to be a Muggle. I want to live like them, go to school with them and have the opportunity to be anything I want to be. I’m clever. I know it sounds like boasting, but I am. I don’t want to do the kind of jobs there are for Squibs in our world. I have a teacher at school, and she says that I could join a Muggle secondary school in September and then one day go to one of their universities. She knows other people who’ve done it.â€
–She should be fired,†Adrian said bluntly. –It’s not her place to fill your head with those kinds of thoughts.â€
–She seems to be the only person making sense at the moment! And Dad agrees with me!â€
–What?â€
–I spoke to him. He agrees that if I can do more with my life, then I should.â€
–Mum would never allow it.â€
–One day it won’t be up to Mum. I’m going to be a Muggle, no matter what, even if it means I have to stop being a Radley.â€
–Then what is the point in everything that’s being done for you now?â€
–There is no point. That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say. I don’t want any part of it. And I don’t want you to be involved either. It’s obvious that you’ve not been happy at school this term - all your letters sounded miserable apart from when you were talking about Quidditch, and you’ve barely mentioned Dorian since you’ve been home. I don’t want you falling out with your friends because you think you’ve been defending me!â€
Adrian didn’t know what to say. Somewhere, he could hear some logic in what his brother was saying, but he wasn’t ready to accept it yet. Instead he stood up, gathered up his chocolate wrappers and walked out of the room.
Adrian didn’t see Samuel before he left the next morning. Their father was due to Apparate him to King’s Cross, while Theia ensured Samuel got back to the Institute safely. Adrian was both sad and a little relieved. He hated leaving home after the argument they had had the previous night, but he also wasn’t sure whether he would have been able to make things right that morning. He just couldn’t accept that Samuel wanted to be a Muggle. Why would anyone want that if there was even a slim chance that they could have so much more?
He was surprised that Samuel had said their dad agreed with him, and had specifically asked Edward to take him to the station so he could find out if it was really true. Adrian was certain that his mum agreed with what he thought about Muggle-borns and would have supported his actions the previous term, and he had assumed his dad would too. The more he thought about it however, the more he realised that he had never actually heard his dad talk about the Muggle-born laws, or do more than just nod when his mum had ranted.
Samuel had to be back at school earlier than Adrian, which left Adrian and his father home alone for a couple of hours in the morning. Adrian had finished all his packing before breakfast and had put the finishing touches to his holiday homework. When he finally plucked up the courage to speak to his dad, he found him in the study, frowning at some paperwork. However, when Adrian entered the room, Edward looked up and smiled.
–Everything all packed?†he asked.
–Yes, Dad,†Adrian replied. –But I wanted to ask you something.â€
Seeming to sense that the conversation they were about to have was important, Edward put down the parchment he was reading and looked up. –Why don’t you sit down?â€
–Samuel said to me last night that he wanted to go to Muggle school,†Adrian said once he sat down in the desk chair opposite his father.
His dad nodded. –He has told me that too.â€
–But I thought you and Mum had decided that he should go to the Squib Institute so he could live like one of us?â€
–We did. When Samuel’s condition was first discovered, your mother and I had to make decisions how about how we would bring him up and what sort of education he would have. At the time, he was very young and not really able to decide for himself so we did what we thought was best.â€
–Does that mean you don’t think the Institute is the best place for him anymore?â€
–I don’t know, Adrian. I know that Samuel has been talking a lot to his teachers about the possibility of going to a Muggle school where he would get a more academically focused education than he has at the moment.â€
Adrian couldn’t quite believe his dad seemed so calm about the whole thing, and perhaps Edward could sense his frustration, because he asked, –Do you think it is a bad idea?â€
–Mum has always said that Samuel is still a wizard, but that he was just born without magic. I thought he went to the school to allow him to keep living in the wizarding world. If he goes to a Muggle school wouldn’t it be letting the people who have stolen his magic win?â€
–If Samuel’s magic has been stolen, then do you think leaving the Institute would prevent him from one day getting it back?â€
Adrian thought for a moment. –No, probably not,†he said at last. –I still don’t understand though. Why would he want to leave the wizarding world?â€
–I don’t think Samuel really feels like he belongs in this world. Yes, we may have always said that he is just a wizard born without magic. But what does that really mean? There is so much he can’t do and will never be able to do in our world. Every teacher he’s had has said he is very clever and has so much potential, but without being able to do magic, he’s never going to be able to use the talents that he does have.
–Think about this way. You are very good at flying. Remember how angry you were when you found out that Quidditch had been cancelled. Imagine being told that you could never fly again. It wouldn’t be fair on you to stop you being able to do the thing that you’re best at.â€
–It’s not the same,†protested Adrian.
–But it is, of course it is.†Edward paused. –I’m going to tell you a story,†he said. –When I was in my last year at Hogwarts, more than anything in the world I wanted to work at Gringotts. I passed all the entrance exams to get in to the bank and I knew I would be really good at it. But my mum and dad didn’t think working in with goblins was a respectable career, so they made me apply to the Ministry instead. Now, of course, I do enjoy my job, but sometimes I wonder how different things would have been if I’d been able to do what I wanted after I left school.
–When you and Samuel were born, I promised that I would always support you, no matter what you wanted to do. And that hasn’t changed just because Samuel is a squib. He has thought a lot about this, and I will be speaking to his teachers as well to make sure they agree, but if he wants to go to a Muggle school, then I will do everything in my power to help him make it happen. He is very clever. I am sure he would have been a Ravenclaw like me had he gone to Hogwarts. I want to see him achieve great things and be the best he could possibly be.â€
Edward had become very serious all of a sudden. –I can’t tell you what to think or force you to support him, but I really hope you will be able to, Adrian. I would hate to see you boys fall out.â€
–What about Mum? She’ll never agree.â€
–I’m not going to give her the option. I don’t want you to say anything about this to her yet. I will tell her myself very shortly.â€
Adrian nodded. –I’m still not sure I understand why,†he said, –but I suppose he should be able to do what makes him happy. And there’s still a chance that one day his magic will come back and he’ll be able to come back and be a wizard after all.â€
Edward sighed. –Adrian, there’s something else we need to talk about,†he said. –I can’t tell you too much, but I want you to be careful at Hogwarts this term. Sometimes, things aren’t as straightforward as they seem. I don’t want you to get yourself into trouble, of course, but don’t just accept everything that people tell you. Sometimes there’s a lot more going on that you realise. Do you understand?â€
Adrian wasn’t completely sure he did, but his father seemed so urgent that he just nodded.
–Good. Right, we’d better be going. Go and fetch your cloak and I’ll get your trunk downstairs.â€
Suddenly all the seriousness was gone and his father was bad to his normal self. Adrian headed back to his room with his head swimming and a million and one questions swirling round his head. He wasn’t completely sure what his father had been trying to tell him, but he had some ideas. Suddenly, all the doubts that had been rising in his mind at the beginning of the holidays had flared up again, and Adrian found himself wondering yet again exactly what he was supposed to believe.