Chapter Text
Paul Matthews hated the blue mark on his cheek with all his heart. It made him different, and Paul was not about being “different”. It made him stick out. No matter what he put on his face, it never went away. Stanley told him to be proud of it. It was the one thing he had left of his god-forsaken mother and father. A reminder they died for him.
Paul would have much rather he died than them at this point. He hated Stanley. He was told he was a family friend who opted to take him in when nobody else wanted to post-death his parents, so he should be grateful. Paul hated Stanley. Stanley hated Paul. It was mutual hate for each other.
His 11th birthday was coming up, which meant that yet again, he’d have to put on a smiling face and accept absolutely nothing from him. Maybe, by some grace of God, Stanley would remember he needed new glasses. The prescription was pretty old. He couldn’t see anything out of them.
Paul tried the door of the cupboard under the stairs and found that it was still locked. Great. Stanley hadn’t opened it yet. He’d have to wait until either a) Stanley opened it or b) Stanley left and Paul could figure out how to pick the lock from the inside. The lightbulb flickered above him as he laid back against the old couch pillow he used for his head. Just great.
Happy Birthday, Paul.
The one thing that could’ve made him smile was the photograph of him and his parents he had found. Stanley never noticed it missing. He was little, probably around a year old. His father had curly blonde hair and hazel eyes, and his mother had long red hair with blue eyes. She wore a pair of nurse’s scrubs and he wore a red sweater. He held the little baby and his mother smiled at her boys.
Tom and Becky. Those were their names. He’d learned them from the scrawled handwriting on the back of the picture he could only assume was Becky’s. Thomas and Rebecca Matthews. The only people who’d ever loved him. Stanley said they’d died against an intruder, who’d killed Tom before coming upstairs. Becky had put herself between the intruder and him. Paul didn’t know what had come between him and the intruder that left him alive, but whatever it was granted him this existence and he resented it for it.
The familiar sound of the door slamming behind Stanley as he went to work startled Paul. He put the picture under his shirt and scrambled around for a paperclip. Unable to find one, he began to jiggle the knob. Sometimes, he could just jiggle it and it would unlock, which was odd since Stanley was always having the lock replaced. He heard the click and stepped out, a little unsteady on his feet. He walked into the kitchen and peered out the window.
A little owl sat on the windowsill, a letter in its beak. It had white feathers and stared at him through the kitchen window. He gently pried it open and the owl flew in, dropping the letter on the table before sitting itself down on the counter. He stared at the letter addressed to him.
Mr. Paul Matthews
411 Dursley Road
Cupboard under the Stairs
London, England
He opened the envelope and unfurled the piece of paper hidden inside.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Paul Matthews,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. The term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Cynthia Houston
Deputy Headmistress
Wizard? Paul?
This had to be a joke. There was no such thing as wizards. They were fake and made-up. And even if they weren’t, an ordinary, very un-special and unimportant kid like Paul couldn’t possibly be a Wizard.
“This is some sort of joke.” He muttered and the owl hooted, flapping its wings. He snapped his head up.
Stanley’s car was back and the man was walking back towards the house. He’d probably already spotted the open kitchen window, meaning Paul was screwed. Paul tried to scramble back into the cupboard, but it was too late. Stanley burst through the door, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and turned him around.
Paul tried to hide the letter behind his back, but Stanley easily reached around him and ripped it out of his hand.
“Now, what the fuck is this?”
“It’s a...a letter, I got it this morning, and-and it was addressed to me so I opened it and-” Paul stuttered, getting nervous.
“A letter. You?” Stanley muttered, unfurling the paper. “Who would be sending you a letter?”
“I don’t know, but I got it so I opened it. It’s mine. Can I have it back?” Paul’s voice went quiet.
“Shut up before I put you back in the cupboard. You’re lucky I haven’t already.” Stanley went quiet and read the note before laughing, “Wizards are not real, dumbass. This is some sort of joke.”
“Wizards? Joke?” Said a new voice in the doorway. “Are you crazy? Wizards aren’t a joke. I know that because I’m a wizard. Or at least I think I am. Who knows.” Paul turned his head to try and see the voice, but Stanley dropped him to the floor.
“Who the hell are you?” Stanley spat at the doorway, pushing Paul away from the view.
“My name is Tootsie Mega-Girl, I’m here for Mr. Paul.”
Mr. Paul. That was a new name. Paul’d never heard anything like that before. He usually responded to “dumbass” and “shithead”. Never his real name.
“Tootsie Mega-Girl?” Stanley said incredulously. “What the fuck kinda name is that?”
“My name! Where I come from, your first name is what you do and your second name is what you love. My name’s Tootsie on account of my occasional toot and my second name is Mega-Girl because I love my wife!” Tootsie was loud, but not in a bad way like Stanley was. Paul liked that. Stanley looked pissed, though.
“You ain’t bringing him to that fucking Wizard school with all your magic and puppies and fucking rainbows. Soon as Becky graduated from there, she fuckin’ married Tom instead of me.”
“Well, that ain’t my problem, so I’m taking the kid.” The owl flew over and rested on Tootsie’s shoulders. Paul looked at Tootsie before taking a step forward. Stanley grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. Paul gave a yelp of pain as Stanley jerked his shoulder. He was praying the photo didn’t slip out from under his shirt. He’d be dead if Stanley saw.
“You stay where you are,” He growled, and Tootsie’s face turned red.
“Let him go.”
“No, fuck you.” Stanley was still squeezing his shoulder tightly.
“Let him go,” Tootsie said again, more insistently this time.
“I said I’m not letting him go. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
“A’ight that’s it.” Tootsie Mega-Girl took out a pointed stick and pointed it at Stanley. “I did warn you.”
Paul felt the grip loosen, and then he had no more grip on his shoulder. A little “ribbit” sounded from next to him. He looked down and there was a frog.
“Not bad, right?” Tootsie grinned as Paul moved away from the frog, “There he is. Little tiny frog boy now. Get your stuff, kid, we’re leaving.”
“I don’t really have much,” Paul mumbled, looking down at the floor. Tootsie put his hand on the shoulder that wasn’t hurting and smiled.
“You’ve gotta have somethin’, kid. Nothin’ of your parents?” He asked, and Paul reached under his t-shirt and pulled out the picture. Tootsie’s smile grew wider.
“That’s your mom ‘n dad! They were real nice, y’know. Your mom used to bring me things a lot.”
“You knew my parents…?” Paul asked, and Tootsie looked at him.
“Hell yeah! Everyone knew your parents, ‘n you too, kid. See this little blue patch?” Paul’s hand flew to his little blue mark. “It’s ‘cause your mom protected you from an evil wizard.” He looked at the expression on Paul’s face. “You didn’t know that?”
“I don’t understand.” Paul looked extremely confused, “What do you mean?”
“You don’t know? Your mom ‘n dad were wizards, Paul.” Tootsie started as he began to walk out the door. Paul pulled a pair of sneakers and the flannel he’d stashed behind a shelf on before following him. “They were real good at it too. Your mom was at the top of her class! Your dad was real good at Quidditch. He was a seeker, y’know. They won almost every year with him on the team.”
Pauls’ head was spinning. Wizards? Quidditch? He didn’t understand any of this.
“Listen, kid, I understand it’s a lot to process, but it’s all real.”
“This can’t be...you’re kidding…” Paul shook his head, looking back down at the picture. It began to move, Becky flashing Tom a smile before Tom kissed her cheek. He gasped a little bit, and Tootsie smiled.
“Pictures move, ain’t that somethin’?”
“Yeah,” Paul said in disbelief. “It really is.”
“C’mon, we’ve gotta get you some stuff for school.” Tootsie looked down at him, “You look awful tiny. Maybe my wife can get some meat on your bones.” He reached down to hold Paul’s arm, but he scrambled away. He didn’t like that. Stanley would grab his arm too hard a lot. Tootsie nodded and walked a little farther away from the house. Paul tried to catch up to him, but Tootsie was a little fast for a giant man.
“C’mon, Paul, we gotta go.” Tootsie held his hand out for Paul’s, “We’re gonna apparate to my home. Well, my home off-campus, that is. Mega-Girl’ll get you all set.”
“Apparate?” Paul asked. “How do we do that?”
“Why it’s quite easy for an adult wizard like me, I’ll show you.” He grinned and took his magic stick out. Waving it around them, Tootsie Mega-Girl muttered something under his breath, then suddenly, Paul’s stomach flipped upside down. When his vision cleared, they were somewhere completely different from where they’d just left.
“Oh. Mega-Girl, I brought a visitor!” Tootsie chimed, opening the front door to the little house. A woman with white hair stood in the kitchen, turning and seeing Paul with Tootsie.
“Oh, did you?” The woman gave Paul a pleasant smile. “So, you got your letter?” She asked, seeing the note that Paul was clutching.
“Hell yeah he did, and this guy, he was bein’ awful rude about it, so I turned him into a frog.” Tootsie kissed the woman’s cheek, “Paul, this is Mega-Girl, my wife.”
“Nice...nice to meet you, ma’am,” Paul mumbled, still staring at the note in his hand. “My name’s Paul.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Paul,” said Mega-Girl.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Paul said. “But is Mega-Girl your real name? It’s just… I’ve never met anyone with that name before.”
“You’re not being rude,” Mega-Girl said with a smile.
“Her real name’s Meredith, but I called her Mega-Girl ‘cause she was so smart, and it just stuck!” Tootsie grabbed Mega-Girl’s waist, “What a woman.” Mega-Girl blushed at that.
Paul smiled. He’d never really seen anything like this before. All the girlfriends that Stanley had, they just fought, and none of them really ever liked Paul. He felt a twinge of longing, wondering if this is how his parents had acted before they’d died. Probably.
“He’s Tom and Rebecca’s kid.” Tootsie whispered, taking a piece of fruit from Mega-Girl’s bowl. “He’s got the mark and everythin’ like they’ve been sayin’.”
“Mmm,” Mega-Girl smiled at Paul and her husband. “I figured that out the minute you apparated in. Your parents were good people,” She said to Paul.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but what do you mean by the mark..?” Paul pushed his glasses up. Mega-Girl just set the bowl of fruit down on the table and then gestured for him to sit. He sat in front of it and watched her sit across from him.
“You know your blue mark, the one right here?” She touched the same area on her cheek where his mark was. He nodded. “Okay, so when your mother died, she put herself between you and Von Nazi. As a result of her putting herself between you two, the spell backfired and when it hit Von Nazi, it gave you the mark.”
“Who’s Von Nazi?” Paul asked. The name itself gave him chills.
“Aw, Mega-Girl, we aren’t supposed to say his name-”
“By not saying it, you give him power, even if he’s long gone.” Mega-Girl looked at her husband before turning back to the small boy in front of her. “Von Nazi was an evil, evil man. You know Hitler?”
“Yeah,” Paul said. He’d learned about Hitler in school.
“Well Von Nazi wanted to recreate his vision within the Wizarding community, and he very nearly succeeded. However, he vanished the night your family was attacked. Nobody really knows what happened.”
“Ew.” Paul made a face, gingerly picking up a piece of fruit and eating it. “That’s horrible.”
“You got that right,” Tootsie Mega-Girl replied. “On that note, I’ll bet you’re starving. Whaddya want to eat?” Paul shrugged. He didn’t get a say in what he ate, if he even ate at all.
“Come on, kiddo,” Tootsie urged. “We don’t have the same rules you had at that other place. Anything you want. Pick something.”
“Tootsie, darling, lay off him a bit, he’s probably a little scared,” Mega-Girl whispered and Paul’s face burned red. He didn’t like this.
“Can we have cheeseburgers?” He blurted out. He’d only ever had one before, five or six years ago. Stanley had gone out with some friends, and come home with half a cheeseburger, which he’d, so generously, put in Paul’s cupboard for him to eat, but it had been the best thing he’d had in a long time.
“Sure,” Tootsie said with a reassuring smile.
“Can you see?” Mega-Girl asked, inspecting his glasses, “Those look very old.”
“Not really,” Paul admitted. He hadn’t been able to see out of these for a few months now. They were too scratched, and even if they hadn’t been, he was probably about two prescriptions behind.
“Well, we’ll have to fix that,” Mega-Girl said. “Can’t have you going off to school with bad eyesight.” She held her hand out for the glasses. Paul took them off and handed them to her, eager to see more magic. She took her wand out and muttered a spell under her breath before handing them back to Paul.
“They’ll do until we can get you to a real optometrist. How do they look?”
Paul blinked and gasped. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to be able to see clearly. “They’re awesome!”
“Darling, we’ll take him to Diagon Alley tomorrow, get him his supplies? We’ll need to stop by Gringotts too.” She called to Tootsie, throwing words and places out that Paul had no clue what they meant.
“I can take him,” Tootsie replied. “For now, I’ll go wrangle up some cheeseburgers.”
He strolled out of the room, whistling.
A little cat came around the corner. It was black with white patches around its eyes and it jumped right up into Mega-Girl’s lap.
“Ah,” She said. “I almost forgot to introduce a third member of our family. This is Specs.” She looked up and saw Paul’s expression. “Go on, you can pet her.”
“She isn’t gonna scratch me, is she?”
“No, she’s gentle,” Mega-Girl leaned down and kissed the top of the cat’s head. “I’ve never seen her lash out at anyone.” Paul reached out and gently tapped Specs on the head, yanking his hand away. All Specs did was meow and look at him. He reached over and let her sniff him. She sniffed before rubbing her head against his hand. He smiled softly.
“She’s cute.”
‘She is. Tootsie and I can’t have kids, so she is the closest thing we’ll get.”
“Why can’t you?” He asked, and Mega-Girl scratched behind Specs’ ears.
“Lots of reasons, kid.” She said, and Paul nodded, shutting up. Tootsie came back in with cheeseburgers for all of them. He set one cheeseburger in front of each, and Paul’s mouth watered. He was starving. He hadn’t eaten anything that day, or the day before, so it was a surprise that he didn’t eat the entire thing in one bite.
He felt…happy. He hadn’t felt that in years. Maybe this was going to be a good thing after all.