The Brighter Years of Black (3)

1984 (8)

"Erica Willow Black!" Remus Lupin roared.
"We do not, I repeat; do not use our magic on muggles! And most certainly not on muggle children. What possessed you? I thought I taught you better!" By the time the man was done scolding the little girl his voice had lost its anger and was instead characterised by disappointment and frustration. This shift of tone was all it took for the child to burst into tears, she had never meant to upset her Godfather.
"I-I'm sorry Mooney I... They they were making ffun of your s scars- I just got angry with them... they made me so mad Mooney and it just happened" the girl hiccuped and stuttered hurriedly through her explanation "I didn't mean to hurt them at all... I didn't mean to use magic... I'm so sorry Mooney.." The little girl sobbed, avoiding her Guardian's gaze.
The man froze, he felt his heart break in his chest and fall into the pit of his stomach at her words.
"Oh pup..." he sighed sadly, falling back into his armchair and pulling his Goddaughter into his lap.
"They don't understand in the same way we do. They fear what they don't know so they joke and laugh at it to make it seem less scary..." he pauses, seeing her confusion and decides to try another route.
"Do you remember," he begins "when I told you about bogartts?"  She nods silently "what are they Pup?"
"They're creatures that look like what we are scared of Mooney" she tells him.
"Very good. And what did we learn is the best possible defence against a Bogartt?" This time she hesitates, thinking for a moment .
"Laughter?" She asks, clearly uncertain.
"Exactly pup! Now, they are only children and they most likely don't know anyone who looks like me so I'm new and maybe a little scary. So to make themselves less scared; they try to make it funny. And maybe they don't think about how that makes others feel... does that help you understand Pup?"
Again, she hesitates but eventually nods.
"I think so Mooney..." she trails off, suddenly oddly quiet "am I in trouble...?" She inquirers worriedly.
With a sigh, the man shakes his head.
"No Erica, I'm confident you understand better now and will try a lot harder and find it much easier to control your emotions and your magic if it happens again." He looks down at the raven haired girl in his lap, leaning back against his chest comfortably, with an adoring smile.
Luckily, he thought to himself, no one had been seriously injured- the three boys had suffered relatively nasty nosebleeds and -Thank Merlin- their teacher had just assumed his goddaughter had punched them which was, although embarrassing to explain, not impossible.
He had to restrain a chuckle when he thought back to just how closely she had resembled her father; sat in that headteachers office being reprimanded by the woman and himself, ebony curls obstructing her face as she stared at her own lap. Her mouth was apologetic and regretful but she held a familiar gleam of pride in her eye that was 100% her father.