Freaks: Year Two

The Twisted Tree

Referenced abuse.

Jasper was staring out the window waiting for a specific something.

The thing he was waiting for should have come about a month ago in his opinion. Hogwarts was cutting it quite close.

Toby was passing by Jasper, and he stopped when he just saw him staring out the window with no intentions of moving. "Jasper? What are you doing?"

Jasper looked at Toby from the window. "I'm waiting for your letter."

Toby gave him an odd look. He had told Jasper that he wasn't magical a few times. He thought Jasper knew none of them were magical. They had all stated it. Was he just in deep denial as Hogwarts was now nearing closer?

"Jasper...I told you that – I thought you knew–" Toby sighed. "Jasper, I am not magical. I have known that for a while. I thought you would have too. Especially by now."

Jasper shook his head. "I told you, you're a late bloomer with magic–"

"A late bloomer with magic?"

"It's the best I could have come with," Jasper said quickly before continuing what he had been originally saying, "And that's fine but your letter is bound to come at some point. It has to. The owls are just taking a long time..."

Toby sighed, slightly frustrated. "It's not happening. There are no owls coming because there is nothing to bring."

"There has to be something!" Jasper exclaimed and Toby hated to see that his older brother was in such deep denial. Toby had figured out quickly that it wasn't any good to hold onto hope, it was just better to think the worst because then you wouldn't be disappointed.

"I'd thought you would know this but magic doesn't go to every kid."

Jasper brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees, staring out the window to avoid Toby's gaze. "I know that but...I really thought that we would all be magical. We have to be. Why would I be born with magic yet not any of you? How are muggleborns even created? Where do we even get the magic from?"

"I don't know Jaz. Maybe you're just special."

"It's not fair."

"Yeah."

Jasper let out a quiet sigh before looking over to his brother standing a few feet away from him, not facing him so all he could see was the back of his head. It was only the two of them in the room and Jasper couldn't help but feel a little on edge. It was just so quiet. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop and with every passing moment of silence, Jasper felt his anxiety grow.

"Are...are you okay?" Jasper asked, tentatively.

"Totally."

There was a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Jasper felt his stomach drop at that. He should have been expecting this, if they weren't magical and he was, the jealousy was bound to come in sooner or later. Jasper had just really hoped it would have been later but really, he couldn't blame Toby for feeling jealous or bitter or angry, he couldn't blame him at all but he really had hoped that nothing would have gotten in the way of their relationship but there had been a slight crack in it this summer and it was obviously growing every moment Hogwarts was nearing closer.

"I'm really sorry–"

"Sorry?" Toby asked, making Jasper stop mid-sentence. "You're sorry? You're sorry, of course, you're sorry. That's all you ever are, but you know, that's never going to fix anything!"