of daisies and anxieties

     At this point, Patricia had heard her children and decided to step in, setting down her gardening supplies before walking over to the two young Wagtails.

     “What are you too talking about, hmm?”

     “Mummy, how come Rinnie's words are bumpy?”

     “B-b-bumpy?”

     Patricia placed a finger to her chin as she thought of a way to explain her daughter's impediment to her son. “Well... you see, your sister just has a little quirk!”

     “A k-kwuck?”

     Patricia nodded, smiling at the two toddlers. “A quirk, yes. It means you’re special, dear.”

     “Do I have any quacks!?” Jace questioned excitedly, his eyes wide.

     “Quirks, dear. But of course!” their mother laughed, pulling her two children in for a hug. “You tell stories in your sleep – that's pretty quirky.” She planted a kiss on both of her kids' foreheads before continuing. “Your quirks make you who you are, loves. So don't ever let anyone make fun of you for them, alright?”

     “Yes, mama!” The two chorused, giving their mother a squeeze.

     “That's what I like to hear, darlings! Now, who wants to help mummy plant some flowers?”

     “I d-d-do!” Erin quickly proclaimed, skipping over to the garden hand-in-hand with her mother while Jace hopped back onto his toy broom to fly around some more.

     Nobody ever really talked about Erin's stammer after that day – not even Myron, which surprised Patty (though, he probably just didn't want to admit that his daughter was “flawed” in any way, and to him, acknowledging a stutter was doing just that.) Over the years, with a little bit of help from therapy, Erin was able to control her stammering in situations where she felt comfortable – it was easy for her to remember to slow down and choose her words if she was comfortable with whom she was talking to! Since she was rarely allowed to leave the house due to her famous father, there were hardly any situations in which she /did/ stutter. Controlling her speech had become second-nature for her, sometimes she even forgot that she had an impediment!

     It wasn't until she was about eight years old that her stuttering was once again brought to her attention.

     The Weird Sisters were on tour in the United States, and Patty and the children had traveled along, having never been before. Patty, Jace, and Erin were out exploring while Myron and the band set up for their show that night when the three stumbled upon a little park.

     “Mum, can we go play!? Please?” Jace begged, motioning to the playground that other children were climbing all over.

     Erin bit her lip – the only other child she'd ever really interacted with was her brother. She didn't have any friends her age, and had no idea how to play with anyone other than Jace. Not only that, but she loathed having to interact with people who weren't in her immediate family. The blonde looked up at her mother, the expression on her face displaying a silent protest to her brother's request.

     Patricia, however, thought the experience would be good for her children and, without seeing the expression on her distraught daughter's face, nodded her head as a smile spread across her lips. “That's a great idea, Jace! You and your sister go have some fun, okay? I'll sit here and read my book. But remember,” she dropped her voice down to a whisper, crouching to be at her children's heights, “those children are muggles, so you can't talk about magic, okay?”

     Jace nodded excitedly and grabbed his sister's hand, despite her attempts at pulling it away. “We won't, mum! C'mon, Rinnie, let's go play!” And with that, he ran toward the other children, practically dragging Erin behind him.

     “Who the hell are you two?” A boy who appeared to be a few years older than the siblings, perhaps about twelve or thirteen years old, stopped the two before they could get on the playground.

     “Hullo! My name's Jace, and this is my little sister, Erin! What's your name?” The blond boy greeted, a large grin on his face.

     “None of your business, stupid brat.” The older boy spat.

     Erin cringed and squeezed her brother's hand tightly as she shifted her position to try to hide herself behind him. “J-J-Jace, maybe we sh-sh-should go back to m-m-mum...”

     The adolescent raised an eyebrow at the tiny blonde, his scowl transitioning into a mean smirk. “What was that?”

     “Rinnie's just a bit shy, is all! She was saying tha-”

     “I wasn't asking /you/, I was asking /her/.”

     “I-I-I... I s-s-s-said th-”

     The boy cut her off with a loud laugh. “Spit it out, Freckles, I don't have all day!”

     “S-s-s-s-sorry, I-”

     “C-c-come on, k-k-kid!” The boy shouted, mocking her stammer.

     By this point, Erin's bottom lip had begun to quiver and tears had started to form in her eyes. “I-I-I...”

     “Leave her be!” Jace growled, any trace of the friendliness he'd displayed before gone. His eyes were narrowed and his free hand had clenched into a fist. “So her words bounce a little bit when she's nervous, what's the matter with that?”

     “She sounds like a total idiot, that's the matter!” The bully laughed loudly once again, doubling over and holding his sides. “Say some more stuff, Blondie, this is hil-OOF!”

     Without wasting another minute, Jace released his sister's hand and tackled the older boy to the ground. He sat on his stomach as he repeatedly punched the adolescent in the face. “I said leave her be, you bloody moron! Don't you EVER call my little sister an idiot!”

     “Get off me, you little bi- OW!!” A loud crack followed by a stream of blood flowing from the bully's nose informed Jace that his work was finished. “I think you broke my nose!”

     “Good.” Jace hissed, standing up and kicking the jerk in the side one last time before turning around. “C'mon, Erin, let's go back to mum. This park looks boring anyway.”

     Erin, who'd been frozen in shock throughout the whole ordeal, finally snapped back at her brother's words and nodded, watching as the boy who her brother had just beat tried to sit himself up. “Y-y-yeah, let's leave b-b-b-before he gets up...” She agreed, wiping at her eyes with one hand and grabbing her brother's hand with the other before walking back to their mother.

     “Done already? That wasn't very lo- JACE WAGTAIL, WHY ARE YOU COVERED IN BLOOD!?” Patricia shrieked as she glanced up from her book to see her son's knuckles cracked and bleeding and her daughter in tears. “What in Merlin's name happened!?” She whispered as she dropped her book and ran to them, crouching down to their level again.

     “Some bully was making fun of Erin's quirk.” Jace stated, grimacing as his mother grabbed his injured hand. Erin nodded, looking at her mother before quickly turning her attention back to her brother.

     Patricia sighed. “That doesn't mean we fight, Jace. It's good that you wanted to protect your sister, but that's not how you should do it. You should have walked away, or came to me. You can get in big trouble for fighting!”

     “But he was being mean to Rinnie!”

     “I know, I know... let's just get out of here before they find out it was you who did it.” Patricia, much like her daughter, was not a fan of confrontation. Despite knowing that she should stick around and find the mother of the boy whom her son had beaten up, she couldn't bear to have to try to explain what had happened. So instead, she placed her jacket over her son, hiding his bloody clothes from sight, and began to head back toward the hotel they were staying in. When they at last returned to their room, she pulled out her wand and got to work on fixing up her son's injured hand.

     “I'm sorry, Jacey, mummy...” Erin apologized, watching them from her seat on the bed.

     “No, Rinnie, you don't need to be sorry! The only person who needs to be sorry is that moron from the park!” Jace declared, hopping off his seat after his mother had finished her work with his hand.

     “I think he feels plenty sorry, Jace,” Patricia insisted as she placed her wand back in her purse. “But next time, love, please, don't get into a fight.”

     “There won't be a next time, mum,” Jace stated as he sat down next to his sister, pulling her in for a hug. “I'm not ever going to let anyone make fun of Rinnie's bouncing again.”

“Now, now, let’s see… who remembers the spell that dad uses when he wants something from a different room?” Patricia interrupted, walking into the living room and setting herself down on one of the abandoned couches.

“Um… C’mere?” Jace tried.

“Not quite… Erin, do you know?” Patricia questioned.

“Achio?”

“Getting closer!”

The brother and sister looked at each other, trying to remember what it was their dad said whenever he left his drink in the kitchen, or if he wanted to play a song and his guitar was still in the practice room…

“Accio!” The two burst out at the same time, their grins taking up nearly the entirety of their faces.

“That’s right, offspring! Accio!” Myron tossed his head back and laughed. “So, if we want Santa to come, we just need to say…”

“Accio Santa Claus!”

“Ding ding ding! Alright, kiddos, I think this calls for a song!” Myron stood up, sliding his guitar strap over his shoulder. “Who’s with me?”

“Me!” The children both jumped to their feet, bouncing with excitement.

“Mama, are you gonna sing with us, too?” Erin asked, skipping over to the woman and grabbing onto her hands.

“I don’t see why not!” Patricia agreed, chuckling lightly.

“Alright! We’ll improvise it then, okay family? A one, a two, a one-two-three-four!” Myron shouted before playing an opening riff on his guitar.

“It’s Christmas Eve, the night is young, The tinsels up, the stockings’ hung, Mistletoe dangling in the air, So moms and daddies can-“

“Eeeeeew,” Erin interrupted.

“Don’t you dare!” Jace protested, giggling.

“Good rhyme, son!” Myron winked before placing a soft kiss on his wife’s cheek and continuing the song,

“But the kids are tired of waiting For the gifts they’re anticipating. Good thing that I know a spell To get that old man here, just yell… You know what to do, kiddos!”

“Acciooooooooooooooooo, Santa Claus!” The entire family sang, following Myron’s lead.

“Take it away, Jacey, my boy!” Myron yelled, nodding his head toward his son.

“But dad, I don’t know any words that rhyme with Claus!”

“What ‘bout ‘fa la la la la la la la la la’s?” Erin suggested, throwing in a line from an old traditional Christmas song she’d been singing with her mother earlier.

“Perfect!” Myron grinned, strumming along while his wife and kids burst out in the familiar line of ‘Deck the Halls.’

The family continued to sing their silly little Christmas tune, dancing and jumping around the room, until they ran out of ideas for lyrics. When that happened, they resorted to the old classic Christmas songs, with Myron putting a bit of a ‘rockish vibe’ to them. After almost an hour of their ‘family jam session,’ the children were finally starting to get worn out – much to their parent’s liking, considering they were also quite weary from the holiday preparations.

“Alright, Wagtails, I think it’s time for bed!” Myron declared, setting his guitar on its stand and turning toward his children, crouching down for Jace to hop on his back before returning to full height and scooping Erin up into his arms.

“But dad, I’m not tired!” Jace protested, though the way he rested his head against his father’s shoulder gave his true feelings away.

“Oh, Jacey, I don’t think that’s true!” Patricia laughed, placing a little kiss on her son’s forehead.

“But… Santa hasn’t come yet! We used the magic words! We even sang them! And he’s,” Erin yawned, rubbing at her eyes before continuing, “still not here yet…”

“That’s because Santa can only come if he knows the children are sleeping. If he knows you’re awake – and trust me, he knows! – he won’t deliver your presents! And you don’t want that, do you?” Patricia continued, walking with her husband up to their children’s bedrooms.

“No…” Both of the young Wagtails answered.

“I didn’t think so. Now, to bed, both of you. We don’t want to make Santa wait!”

“But mummy-“ Jace began.

“No buts! You heard your mum, it’s time for you two kiddos to go to bed! And mummy and daddy, too!” Myron crouched down, letting Jace slide off his back and gently setting his daughter on the ground. “Now, give us some smooches and then off to bed!”

“Fiiiiiiine,” Jace sighed, hugging both of his parents and giving them each a kiss on the cheek before walking to his room.

“Nigh-night, mummy and daddy! Happy Christmas Eve!” Erin giggled, wrapping her tiny arms around her parents and pecking their cheeks before skipping off to her room, humming ‘Accio Santa’ as she did.

“Happy Christmas Eve, darlings!” Patricia giggled, turning away from her children’s rooms to head back downstairs.

“See you goofballs in the morning!” Myron called before following his wife.

The two proceeded to arrange their children’s gifts under the tree, all the while humming the little tune their family had come up with.

“Y’know, Patricia, I think maybe The Weird Sisters should release a Christmas album. And take a guess at what the first single would be!”

Patricia laughed, shaking her head. “Great idea, honey – but I think you should have two featured artists on that track, considering they helped write it!”

“What kind of father would I be if I didn’t include my precious children on it?”

“Well, I’m sure it’ll be a hit!”