.: Muggle :. "Hey look, it's the weirdo, and his weirdo sister."

The beefy 8 year old guffawed at his own statement, his lackeys following his lead. Grail had been forced into taking Harmony to the park, and was perched atop the monkey bars as he made sure the tiny blonde down below didn't get into any trouble. He was familiar with the small gang of boys who had arrived on their bikes, now circling the two of them like vultures. They attended school with him, and had been bullying him since the first grade, seeing how he was much smaller in size and stature than they were. Harmony didn't seem to pay them any mind, continuing with her chalk drawings, though the mere sight of them made her older brother's skin crawl. Grail had always had a short fuse, but he lacked the physical strength to back up his outbursts whenever he got mad enough and was no longer able to ignore them. There were four of them, and only one of him.

"I thought we told you this was our park."

"Yeah, well...you say a lot of stupid things, it's hard to keep track..." Grail started climbing down, dropping into the dirt below, grateful that he hadn't fallen to his knees and made a fool out of himself. He could just hear his mother and father, scolding him about controlling his temper, and the thought made his fists clench into balls. He was always getting in trouble at school for 'being disruptive', the other boys feigning innocence and producing crocodile tears to make him look like the culprit. They were always telling him to 'just ignore them', but they didn't know what it was like. They couldn't understand how miserable he was living with these muggles; they didn't even know magic existed in the world. It was like being a bird who was living with fish, wingless and grounded.

"You two need to leave," demanded a rat faced boy with buck teeth, all of them still circling around them in an attempt to be intimidating. Grail stepped closer to Harmony so that he was standing beside her.

"We don't need to do anything."

"Maybe we should just go home..." Harmony finally spoke, ever the pacifist. The boys laughed again and Grail swallowed thickly. This was a matter of pride. This was a matter of not letting them win.

"We're not going anywhere. You haven't finished your picture yet."

"It's alright, I can start a new one at home."

The husky ring leader skid to a halt in front of them, the other three following suit. "You heard her, weirdo." One of them reached out to snatch the chalk that was in Harmony's hand, making the young girl gasp with surprise. Her lip pouted and she blinked before looking to Grail.

"Give it back..." He spoke through gritted teeth.

"And what are you gonna do if I don't? You gonna try and hit me like you did the last time?" The other boys laughed at the memory - they had shoved him into a closet and left him there the last time he had attempted to retaliate; the time before that they had pushed him into the frozen lake and he had nearly caught pneumonia. Didn't stop him from trying.

"Maybe I'll just break your hands, instead."

This clearly wasn't a good enough incentive, and the one who had stolen the chalk made a show of breaking it right in front of the two siblings. He and Harmony didn't get along for the most part, but these boys had been making his life miserable for the last few years, and if anyone was going to mess with his sister it most certainly wasn't going to be them. He felt his blood begin to boil, and before he could even reach out for the boys collar in an attempt to punch him in the face, the boy let out a scream of pain, falling to his knees. Grail could hear his heart pounding in his ears, his pulse picking up tempo as he realized what was happening. The boy's fingers were bending in directions they shouldn't be, and the sound of cracking bone could barely be heard over his shouting, the other boys panicking and hopping on their bikes, riding away from the two siblings, leaving their friend blubbering on the ground in front of the siblings. Harmony squealed and covered her eyes with her hands, turning away.

Her brother, on the other hand, knew that this meant more than just getting revenge. This was the first time he had ever done magic, and the thought made his fists relax. He took a step forward before crouching down in front of the boy who was crumpled at his feet. For the first time in his life he felt...powerful. He felt in control. Without saying anything, he watched the boy writhe in pain before he eventually reached out to grab the shards of chalk. He examined them in her palm.

"This was her favorite color, you know." He looked up at the boy, staring at him for a second. "I want you to say you're sorry."

"I'm s-sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Grail smirked with satisfaction before rising to his feet, turning around towards Harmony who flinched as he hand the chalk back to her. She seemed afraid of him. He couldn't say he hated the feeling of being feared; in that moment, knowing he could do magic made him feel damn near invincible.

"Finish your drawing, Harm. It's getting late." return to top .: Prompt :. (drabble) return to top