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“I want to be a witch!”
Charlotte Ridley sits herself in the seat she’s claimed as hers and hers alone at the dinner table, joining Fallon, Liam and Olivia who’d already made themselves comfortable, Charlotte lagging behind with the time thanks to her new favorite discovery: Harry Potter books.
“Well, your grandmother on your father’s side is a witch herself, so you may have gotten some of those genes.”
“Fallon!”
“What?” Charlotte watches her parents, eyes drifting back and forth between each of them. Fallon only shrugs at her Liams’ words, swirling some of the fresh linguine pasta onto her porcelain white plate. “It’s true.”
“Is that true, Dad? Is grandma a witch?” Charlotte’s eyes widen in her father’s direction, all focus on her pasta dinner long gone after the revelation. "Oh my god! Dad, are you a wizard?!”
“No,” he says, picking up his eating utensil and twirling some fresh pasta against it, a light scraping sound against his plate accompanying his words.
“But, mom just said that grandma was a witch!”
“And your mom needs to learn to stop talking sometimes.”
Charlotte pays no mind to the stern look Liam shoots off in Fallon’s direction, taking another bite of her garlic bread after she’d dipped it into some of Liam’s homemade tomato sauce. Fallon’s shoulders scrunch up towards her neck mouthing what towards Liam, who’s still giving her that look. For a minute, the only sound that’s heard it forks scraping against their respective plates and Olivia’s tiny hands banging against her high chair.
“Mom, dad, guess what!?”
Fallon smiles in her daughters direction. “What, sweetie?”
“I sorted all four of us into our Hogwarts Houses when I finished the book,” Charlotte beams, excitement swirling in those baby blue eyes both her parents adored so much.
“You finished the book already?” Fallon looks at her daughter, matching eyes and hair color, eyes wide at the words Charlotte just spoke. “Charlie, I only gave it to you this morning.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte’s eyes roll around in her sockets. “It wasn’t that long, mom.”
Liam can’t help but smile watching two of his girls exchange words at the dinner table, eating his home-cooked sauce and pasta. “So, where do our loyalties lie in the world of Hogwarts, Miss Ridley?”
“Olivia’s a Hufflepuff!” The seven year old smiles brightly at her father. “Cause she’s boring and Hufflepuffs are boring.”
“Excuse me?” Liam’s fork hangs mid-air filled with the long, starchy noodles. “Charlotte, I’ll have you know that I’m a Hufflepuff.”
“Yeah, like she said, Liam,” Fallon grins sarcastically at her husband, unable to stop herself from laughing in his direction. “Hufflepuffs are boring.”
“Do you want to sleep on the couch tonight?”
“There’s 15 bedrooms,” Fallon replies, smug eyes bright and beaming. “No need for a couch, I’ll find another bed.”
“Don’t worry mom!” Charlotte brings her tiny hand up to rest on her mom’s upper arm. “My bed is big enough so you can stay with me if daddy sends you to the couch.”
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Liam’s head shakes from left to right. “You’re not sleeping together so you can spend the night plotting something against me for when morning comes.”
Charlotte giggles at her dad’s words, dipping her fork back into her plate full of fresh pasta, scooping some up with her fork and taking another big bite.
“What about my Hogwarts House, Charlie?”
“You’re a Slytherin, mom,” she says proudly. “Just like me!”
“That’s my girl,” Fallon grins, running her fingers through her daughters long, soft brown locks.
“Your mother’s Slytherin side will not corrupt my princess, no,” Liam leans over to Olivia in her high chair, seemingly incredibly intent by the amount of tomato sauce splayed all over her face. He uses the cloth covered in pink polka dots to wipe her face clean before she dives right back into her dinner. “Not like it’s corrupted my first born.”
“I thought I was your princess,” Charlotte exclaims. “You better explain yourself, Mr. Hufflepuff.”
Fallon shifts her body towards her husband. “Yeah, Mr. Hufflepuff. Explain yourself.”
“Do you want to make it two nights on the couch?”
“Wait,” the little brunette speaks up, eyes wide in a sudden realization. ”If I'm a witch, does that mean I can double my money with magic?! Just like I do with my stocks?!”
“Oh my god,” Fallon’s eyes widen at her daughters words as she looks over at Liam in complete panic and desperation for his help in how to deal with their daughter.
“No no no, don’t give me that look,” Liam shook his head, raising his hands up in the air in a hopeless way. “Maybe if you hadn’t taught her how to operate the stock market and then give her a copy of The Sorcerer’s Stone after she got her first thousand in profits, I'd be more willing to help. But, this? This sounds like a conversation for mother and daughter, my dear.”
“Sweetie,” Fallon swivels her body towards Charlotte. “You can’t just make money appear out of thin air, you have to earn it.”
“But, it appears out of nowhere with my stocks?”
Fallon looks up Liam, eyes pleading with him to jump in and help her with their current conversation. “Keep going, babe. You’re doing great.”
“The thing is, you have to work for your money,” Fallon explains to a wide-eyed Charlotte. “You can’t just take something that hasn’t been earned.”
“But, you stole that twenty out of dad’s wallet last week when you took me to get ice cream! You didn’t earn that!”
Fallon’s jaw drops at that. “Charlotte Grace!”
“So, you did know where my twenty went when I asked you if you took it?!”
“That,” she says moving her index finger between her daughters’ body and her own, “was a secret between the two of us, young lady!”
“Sorry, mom,” the young Ridley says sheepishly, looking down at her empty plate to avoid her parents eyes.
“Why do you want to be a witch so bad anyways, Charlie?” Liam looks at Charlotte, taking her last bite of linguine off her plate and pushing into her mouth. “I thought you wanted to be a business woman like your mom?”
“I can be like Voldemort and have loyal followers like him,” Charlotte bursts out excitedly. “I think it’d be good for business!”
“Oh, dear god,” Liam mutters, pushing his face into the palm of his hand. "Are you proud of yourself, Fal? You’ve raised a Death Eater.”
“Me?” The eldest Ridley shrieks in the direction of her husband. “You’re responsible for half of her!”
“I’m not the one who showed her how to operate the stock markets at seven years old!”
“She was interested! Was I just supposed to tell her no?”
“Yes! She’s seven!” Liam pushes his fingers against his temple, resisting the headache that’s threatening to form. “Wait, how do you even know all of that about Voldemort if you’ve only read the first book, Charlotte?”
“I’ve done my research, daddy,” Charlotte rolls her eyes. “He’s gonna build an army so he can kill Harry Potter,”
“Okay, so on top of teaching her how to operate the stock markets,” Liam says, turning towards his wife once more. "You’ve also taught your daughter how to read the last page of a book first, too?”
“Why is everything my fault, Liam? You’re raising her, too, you know!”
Everything stills after that, Liam pushing his body forward to start collecting the empty plates off the table. He stacks them up neatly and lays all the used silverware on the top plate before lifting them and heading off towards to the direction of the kitchen, silencing encapsulating the room where the three girls remained.
“So,” Charlotte drags the vowel out on her single syllable word while she turns her small body towards her mother. “Can I read The Chamber of Secrets now?!”