Chapter Text
The unease in the Madrigal household was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes. The once happy and excited family of a few days prior was unrecognizable. Now there was tension in every member of the family, and none more so than the little girl in the middle of it all. Mirable was a wreck after her failed ceremony, no one had seen the little girl in the three days that had passed since that night. And while the rest of the family was quick to assure the village that she was okay, that didn't make the glaring problem disappear. That the gift promised to the youngest's Madrigal on her fifth birthday had disappeared before her very eyes.
This led to Alma standing outside the nursery, trying to think of the best way to comfort her nieta. Realizing that nothing was going to come to her by just standing outside, she knocked softly on the door. The quiet sniffles inside paused for a moment but no voice beckoned her entry. With a quick prayer for her late husband for help through this she cracked the door open just enough to peek inside.
"Mirabel?" Alma asked the bundle of blankets that covered her youngest granddaughter. "Can I come in?"
The little girl hiding under her covers nodded and gave another loud sniffle. The blankets shifted and big brown eyes, red with tears stared up at her. "Abuela?"
She had seen a lot of terrible things in her lifetime. But nothing had felt so wrong as seeing her nieta, normally so full of light and joy, looking so sad. In another world, in another time, this would have been the decline in her family. Alma would shoved the families youngest away, look for answers that made things worse, and torn her family apart. But here and now, Alma just wanted to comfort her granddaughter.
So she bundled up the little girl and showered her with assurances that her family loved her, gift or no gift. That she would always be special and just as much as everyone else in her family. That the world must have planned bigger things for her. Little did she know how right she was.
-x-
Mirabel was bored. Sure she lived in a magic house that was alive, and her family all had amazing gifts beyond her wildest imagination, but somehow she was still bored. Isa and Dolores had gone out for a girls day, and Camilo was with Tia and Tio Felix for today. Luisa had promised to play with her when she got back but that would take forever. She had elected not to go to the town square with Mama today, the last time she went she had been cornered by a bunch of bullies who said mean things until Isa arrived and threatened to put roses in uncomfortable places. And Abuela and Papi were both out, who knows where.
This left Mira with one remaining option, so she jogged up the little stairs to her Tio Bruno's room. She didn't bother knocking and he wouldn't hear her unless he was at the bottom of his room. Instead she stood at his sand curtain and bellowed inside.
"Tio! Tio Bruno! I'm bored!" She listened as her voice echoed off the cave-like walls, then giggled and shouted again, "Echo!" And again her voice bounced off the walls before disappearing.
"Mirabel? I'm sorry Sobrina I can't come down and play right now, you'll have to wait until I'm finished." Her uncle's voice echoed from the top of the thousands of stairs, she gave a loud huff and shouted "okay!" Before making her way back out of her uncle's room, shaking some sand off her shoes.
Well if no one was going to play with her she'd just have to make her own fun. So she bounced outside and made her way to the edge of the forest nearest to Casita. Here she found a stick and played an epic duel of defending her home against intruders. But fighting off invaders takes a lot of energy so she curled up under a tree. Before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep in the shade of the tree's.
Her dream was a weird one, she wasn't in Casita but she was definitely in a house. But it looked so dull and lifeless she wondered how anyone lived in it at all. She walked through the house until she heard crying coming from a little door under the staircase. When she tried to open it it didn't budge, then she noticed the little sliding bolt keeping the door locked. Once she had pulled it free, she opened the door. Inside was a boy around her age, with messy black hair.
"Why are you crying?" Mirabel asked the strange boy in the closet. "Are you okay?"
The boy startled and jolted up to look at her, "who are you?"
"I'm Mirabel. Who are you?" She asked, while taking in his appearance. He was as white as a sheet and had big green eyes that looked out behind round glasses.
"I'm Harry. But-how did you get in? My aunt and uncle went out for the day." The boy - Harry asked her in a whisper.
"I don't know. I was outside Casita playing when I got sleepy, and then I was here." She sat down just outside the door "do you live in here, it's very small?"
Harry nodded and poked his head out of the little doorway, glancing around. The same way Camilo and her did when they were trying to get away with something. But why would Harry need to get away with leaving his tiny room in his own home?
"Aunt Petunia says they don't have enough space but my cousin Dudley has two whole extra rooms! And they won't even let me have one!" Harry said in a weird mix of caution and annoyance. Suddenly to Mirable sleeping in the nursery sounded far more appealing. Compared to Harry who slept in a tiny closet. Just then Harry's stomach rumbled, he wrapped his arms around his stomach and pulled his knees to his chest making a whining noise.
"Oh, are you hungry?" Mirabel ruffled through her pockets and pulled out an arepa her mama had given her this morning, and she had taken with her as a snack. "Here you go, my mama made this for me but you can have it."
Harry looked completely stunned at this offer, much to Mirabel's confusion. But he hesitantly took the arpea and took a bite, and gasped. Mirabel hadn't noticed before but there was a big bruise on Harry's arm that had healed with the magic of her mama's cooking. Harry quickly shoved the rest of the food in his mouth and swallowed, almost without chewing at all.
But he seemed to regret this choice as he immediately broke out in tears. So Mirabel did what all of her family did for her when she was sad and wrapped him in a big hug. For a second she thought she had messed up as Harry seemed to start crying more at this but he soon leaned into the hug and wrapped his arms around Mirable in return. Mirabel sat hugging the strange boy in the closet until she suddenly jolted awake to the sound of her Tio calling for her.
"Here Tio!" She stumbled out of the brush and ran over to be scooped up by her favorite tio.
"There you are Mariposita! And here I thought you went to find someone better to play with!" They started making their way back towards Casita.
"I made a new friend Tio!" She said eagerly, excited to tell him about her adventures in the strange house with the boy behind the little door.
"Really? Who was this new friend?" She rushed in front of her tio and started walking backwards to face him while she talked.
"His name is Harry! He lived in a little room under the stairs of his tio and tias house! He had black and hair and glasses like mine!" She beamed while rambling about her adventures.
Bruno could only assume that this was an imaginary friend as Mira had come wandering out of the woods and there was no one named Harry anywhere nearby. But suddenly his youngest sobrina's face turned sour and serious. "You know Tio I don't think Harry was very happy. His room was tiny! And there was a lock on it from the outside! And he was crying, so I gave him a hug and an arepa but he cried more after that."
Choosing to ignore those red flags for the moment he slowed his pace to hear the rest.
"And he had a big bruise on his arm, but mama's food fixed it right away! But for some reason he was still sad."
"Well, if you see him again you'll just have to cheer him up." With that his niece got a determined look on her face and nodded before running back into Casita.
-x-
Harry woke up with a shock to hear Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon coming back in and for a second he thought they were going to open the door and let him out. Instead they walked straight past and Dudley made a face at him through the slots before following his parents to watch the television. Leaving Harry alone to think about the weird dream he had just had.
A girl with glasses and wild curls had unlocked the door to the cupboard, and talked to him. She seemed just as confused as he was, and had seemed sympathetic. It was a nice dream, it was nice to imagine having a friend that no one else knew about who could sneak him food and she had even hugged him. But he was still locked in the cupboard so Mirabel couldn't be real, besides there was no way she could have gotten into the house in the first place.
Harry was content to have believed it to be a nice dream when he suddenly caught a glance at his arm. Where a once large purple bruise, courtesy of Uncle Vernon throwing him in the cupboard, now was nothing but smooth pale skin. He marveled at how the bruise had seemed to disappear in mere hours, when he noticed how his stomach wasn't wracking with hunger as much as it had been. And there was the faintest taste of cheese in his mouth.
He gasped at what this meant. The dream had been real, which meant someone had actually come in and been nice and fed and hugged him. That he wasn't completely alone. That meant Mirabel was real, and she had come to see him! Harry had made a friend!