A/N: Written for the QLFC
Season 5, semi finals
Team: Holyhead Harpies
CHASER 2: A fluffy story using the prompt 'sad' (word) OR an angsty story using the prompt 'happy' (word)
Optional prompts: 5 (scenario) a deeply religious Muggleborn discovers they're a witch/wizard / 10 (video) watch?time_continue=11&v=LMNkKBin5XI (pan around a house) / 15 (phrase) stabbed in the back

Happily Normal

"Mum! He's doing it again!" Melissa Cragen's fourteen-year-old's daughter's loud voice disturbed the relative quiet of the Friday afternoon. She looked up and saw the lights flicker and immediately stood up to rush upstairs to her son's room.

"Rob! Stop it!" she yelled as she threw open the door. Her ten-year-old son Rob was sitting in the middle of his bedroom, surrounded by floating books that dropped to the floor the moment his mother rushed into his room.

"Mum, did you see? I actually made them fly!" Rob said, sounding happy. Melissa shuddered for a moment, then walked up to her son and slapped him in the face. Even as he let out a startled cry, she embraced him, holding him tightly.
"Oh, Rob, why is this happening to you? Come, let's pray together… I don't want to lose you to evil," she said, sobbing now. Together, mother and son kneeled and folded their hands, closing their eyes as they asked for support: "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

Early the next day, Rob had almost managed to forget about his latest 'episode'. He was bored, not for the first time he wished their parents allowed them to have video games like most other kids their age. Not wanting to read a book, he decided to see if his sister was doing something interesting.
"Chris? You down there?" he called from the top of the stairs leading to the basement/garden floor. Their house was built in a hill, with the 'ground floor' facing the street on one side but what was the basement on the street side lead straight into their large garden on the other side. The family bedrooms were all on the top floor, but since the past year or so his sister Christine had more or less moved into the lower floor instead.
Getting no answer, Rob descended the stairs and went into his Chris's domain. Or rather, the 'family game room', as their father called it. His eyes went wide when he saw Chris lying down on the couch and taking a drag from a cigarette.
"Chris! You're not allowed to smoke!"

His sister scrambled to her feet, looking panicked, then let out a sigh of relief when she saw Rob was alone. "Man, you almost gave me a heart-attack, Robbie..."

"Don't call me that," Rob complained. "And you're breaking the rules! I'm telling mum and dad!"

Chris's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare, Robbie! Who do you think they'll believe if you tell them? Their good Christian daughter, or the little demon who stabbed them in the back by playing with witchcraft?"

"I'm not a witch!" Rob cried out.

"You're a devil worshipper! I hope you rot in hell," his sister spat out. Rob ran away crying.

x-x-x-x-x

"I just don't know what to do," Melissa said to her husband Paul. "It's still our Rob, but you know what the Good Book says..."
"'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,'" Paul quoted after a brief pause. "Mel, you can't mean—"
"Of course not!" she interrupted him. "But… maybe we should talk to Father Morris tomorrow? He might know what to do?"

"Like what? An exorcism? Honey, those things don't happen any longer."

"I know! But what else can we do? He's got an evil spirit in him, how else can you explain the… things he can do?"

Both were quiet for a while, then Paul started: "Maybe we can—"

This time, he was interrupted by the ring of the doorbell. "Are we expecting someone, dear?" he asked.

"No, but maybe it's the post?"

The husband and wife pair walked to the front door and opened it to find a tall, black-haired woman standing there in a rather odd green dress. She looked very strict and professional and stood there with pursed lips as she waited for the door to open.

"Hello, can we help you?" Paul asked, looking at his wife to his side as if to ask her if she had any idea who this woman could be.
"Ah, hello. My name is Professor McGonagall. I'd like to speak with you about son, Robert, if I may?"

"Our Rob? Did he do something?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, certainly not. He's not in trouble, I'm actually here about an opportunity for him," the woman answered her.
Husband and wife shared another look, then Paul opened the door further and Melissa stepped aside. "Please, come in. May I take your coat?" Paul asked.
"Yes, thank you," Professor McGonagall said. A part of Paul noticed she was very graceful for a woman of her age, almost cat-like fluidity in her movements as she shrugged off her coat and handed it to him. He idly noticed it was covered in a tartan pattern.
"This way, please," he said, leading her to the sitting room. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Just water, thank you," she answered.

x-x-x-x-x

A bit later the Cragens were sitting there, waiting for their visitor to start speaking.

"As I said, my name is Professor McGonagall. I represent a special school that seeks out specifically selected students from Great Britain and Ireland, and your son Robert has come up in our prospective student roster."

"That's the first we hear of it," Paul said after a moment. "Did St. Michael's, his primary school, arrange this?"

"No, we have our own selection methods," Professor McGonagall said. "Would you mind if we asked Robert to join us?"
"Not just yet," Paul said. "I'd like to know more about what this school of yours is about first, Professor."

"Very well. I am the Headmistress of Hogwarts, which as I mentioned is a special boarding school, located in northern Scotland. We offer secondary education for ages eleven to seventeen, and our alumni almost universally go on to hold high positions in business or government."

"Sounds good so far, although I must say I've never heard of 'Hogwarts' before. Is it customary for the Headmistress to go on these kinds of visits?" Melissa asked.

"The existence of Hogwarts is a closely guarded secret, and I take some joy into meeting my future students first-hand each summer," Professor McGonagall said, her expression softening slightly.

"All right, so why is Rob one of your possible future students? Our son isn't exactly the top of his class," Paul asked.

"Paul!" Melissa hissed

Professor McGonagall ignored Melissa, saying, "We take in students with special talents. Tell me, have you noticed anything unusual occurring young Robert lately?"

Both Cragens gasped at the same time, then Melissa's look turned afraid while Robert started to look angry.
"I see you have," Professor McGonagall continued as neither parent said something. "The full name of the school I represent is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and we teach, well, magic."

Paul clenched his hands around the arm rests of his chair. "If this is some kind of joke..."

"I assure you, it is not," Professor McGonagall said. "I am a witch, and your son, Robert, is a wizard."

"We are a good Christian family! I'd like you to remove yourself from my property, now!" Paul said in a louder tone, rising from his chair.
"Please, Mr. Cragen, there is no reason to be angry," Professor McGonagall said.

"Exodus twenty-two verse eighteen!" Melissa called out, reaching for a black book lying on the side table next to her. "'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!'"

"I am familiar with the Bible, Mrs. Cragen," Professor McGonagall said, still sitting there with her hands folder on her lap. "Witchcraft, wizardry, magic is not related to demonic possession despite what… some books say. It is a perfectly natural part of our world and—"

"I asked you to leave our home, and I'll ask you again," Paul said, standing on the other side of the low table that separated him from the strange woman. "I am not a violent man, but I will protect my family from evil."

"Mr. Cragen, Mrs. Cragen, I see I made the wrong impression," Professor McGonagall said, sounding a bit sad. "Please, it is very important for young Robert to learn to know how to properly use his magic. If he is untrained, or learns to fear his own talents, the results could be very bad for not just himself, but you, too."

"But we don't want him to have magic!" Melissa pleaded. "Please, can't you just take it away?"

"Well, in some rare cases we can bind a child's magic so it doesn't become a problem, but that is—"

"Bind it? And this will not hurt Rob in any way?" Paul interjected.

"Not hurt him, no, but it will mean he cannot use his talents… and there is no way to undo it, once it's been bound."

"Do that, then!" Paul asked.

"But… Mr. and Mrs. Cragen, are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Melissa said, Paul nodding next to her.

"I… I need to think about this, I need to speak to someone from the Ministry… is it all right if I ask someone else to come by, later today?"
"Of course," Paul said.

As quickly as she had arrived, the witch left.

"I knew you were possessed," Chris hissed to her brother next to her. They were sitting on the middle of the stairs leading to the top floor, out of sight of the sitting room and entrance hallway.

"But she can fix me! I'll be normal again, Chrissy."

"Thank God," Chris said softly, then she hugged him.

x-x-x-x-x

Three hours later the doorbell was rung again, this time by a young adult man in his mid-twenties. He had black, messy hair and wore round glasses. The most distinguishing feature Paul noticed on him as he opened the door was a faded scar on the man's forehead, looking slightly like a lightning bolt.

"Mr. Cragen? I'm Auror Harry Potter," the man said. "Professor McGonagall told me about her visit to you and I would like a chance to speak with you, your wife, and young Robert."

"How do you do," Mr. Potter said, extending his hand. Reluctantly, Paul shook it.

"Auror Potter was it? What, exactly, is an Auror?"

"It's a position in our community's department of law enforcement. Think of a mixture between your regular street bobby and a Scotland Yard detective," Mr. Potter said, grinning. Then, more serious, "I am also one of the few people licensed to bind people's magic, if need be."

Paul lead the two inside, and for a few minutes they mostly repeated the same things they had talked about with Professor McGonagall earlier.

"I understand you, really I do," Mr. Potter said. "I grew up not knowing about magic, either. My relatives had no great love of it either, albeit not for religious reasons… I can say, though, that going to Hogwarts really changed my life for the better. I am really hesitant to take this chance away from Rob, without hearing his own opinion first."

"If I allow you to speak with Rob, and if Rob decides to give this Hogwarts a chance, and if I don't feel you are tricking my son, we'll consider allowing him to… try," Paul said after a moment to think.

"I can take an oath that I will not try to trick you or your son, if that will make you feel better?" Mr. Potter offered.

"Paul, let him," Melissa prompted. "Even if he is a… witch… he looks honest."

"A wizard, ma'am," Mr. Potter corrected her. "And thank you."

x-x-x-x-x

Rob looked hesitant as he went downstairs, his parents having called him. Mr. Potter explained about Hogwarts and magic to him, and Rob just said there taking it all in. Chris had followed him downstairs and was sitting with her parents now, all taking in Mr. Potter's explanation with silence (despite all of them having heard it before by now).

"Rob, I can understand you're afraid," Mr. Potter said. "I was, too, the first times I did accidental magic. Why, when I was about your age, I made the glass of a snake enclosure disappear at the London Zoo!"

"Really?" Rob asked, his eyes wide. "I… I make stuff float. And sometimes, when I'm afraid or angry, I make all the lights go out."

"That's magic, Rob. If you go to Hogwarts, you'll learn how to control it and that there is no reason to be afraid of it."

Rob was silent for a while, fidgeting with his hands. "I don't want it, though. It is evil..."

"Magic isn't good, or evil, Rob. It just is. I won't lie to you, some people do evil things with magic — that's why I have a job, I catch those that do. Most of us lead good lives, helping others with our magical powers."

Rob was quiet for a long while, then spoke: "The Apostle Paul and his friend Silas met a witch in Philippi. She helped her employers get rich by fortune telling, but Paul knew she was doing evil and used the power of Jesus Christ to drive the demon out of her. I don't want to have a demon in me, even if it seems to be doing good. I want to be one of Jesus' people."

Mr. Potter took of his glasses and polished them before putting them back on, letting out a sigh. "I promised your parents I'd listen to you, Rob. So I'll ask you one more time: will you be happy, if I take away your magic? Knowing that you cannot change your mind later on?"

Rob looked directly at Mr. Potter, nodding. "Yes, sir. I will be happy."

"So be it," Mr. Potter said. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. So, a magical bonding, four Confunduses, and four Oblivitates… I hate the paperwork already."

The Cragens had no chance to reply before Mr. Potter stood up and produced a polished stick from somewhere, then he waved it in their direction and said something in a foreign language. Next, they knew nothing any longer.

x-x-x-x-x

Paul blinked twice, taking in the scene in front of him. He was sitting in his own home, his wife sitting next to him, and their kids sitting on chairs on the other side of the small table.

"What did you just say, Rob?" he asked.

Rob rolled his eyes. "Daaaad! I was asking about Bible Camp, this summer. Jimmy and Mark are both going, can I go too?"

Paul grinned. "Well, that depends on what Father Morris has to say about your behaviour in church tomorrow, doesn't it?"

None of the four noticed a young man walking away from their property, looking oddly sad as he left a happy family behind.