Yesterday had not gone as planned. Felix had a set budget for Gabby’s school supplies, and the daft girl didn’t seem to put two and two together. It didn’t make more money for her to spend.

As it was, his job kept them comfortable. Or it was supposed to... There were a lot of extra expenses in keeping up a ranch for dragons, least of all the extra hands of help he needed. Part of him wanted to cart his daughter off to her grandparents to be watched (to keep her away from the boys he had at the ranch). Another part wanted to just lock her in the attic with Merlin.

Holidays were sleepless with a snarky teenager in the house. Add in having to train new dumbass school graduates and keep them from getting eaten, and Felix had wondered how he had never become addicted to coffee.

He was still fuming from Gabriella’s complete lack of appreciation. It wasn’t as if Felix was a bad father! He provided for her, listened to her whining, and put food on the table. If he couldn’t give her the designer brooms and quills she wanted, that just meant he couldn’t afford them!

But regardless... This was his morning shower. He’d fed the dragons, re-showed at ranch hand how to clean out a stall, and checked on the perimeter spells. All that was left was to shower and have a good morning meal.

He was almost done with the quick hot shower when, as he ran his fingers through his beautiful hair, it started to come out in clumps around his ‘handy’ brush. Staring at one hand, holding globs of hair, he ran his other one through, scared as he felt his head growing cooler and his hand growing hairier.

It wasn’t long before he was panicking, trying anything he could to wash out whatever was in his hair. All he ended up doing was washing his hair off of his head.

By the time he got out of the shower and to a mirror, he had gone from upset and scared to upset and angry. Fingers ran over the very white dome that presented itself in the foggy mirror. His teeth grit before he stormed out of the bathroom, dressing gown cinched tightly. “GABRIELLA!” Sometimes, Felix could kill her mum for leaving him to deal with her all by himself.

The shopping trip for school supplies yesterday had been a complete and utter disaster. It never normally went particularly well, with Felix not wanting to part with any money for his darling only daughter. The apple in his eye. The nuisance he obviously didn’t want around over the summer and couldn’t wait to wave off back to Scotland until Christmas. This year’s trip for supplies had been the worst yet. Felix seemed to be of the belief a new uniform wasn’t needed, she could squeeze into her old tatty one and obviously wasn’t going to grow at all! He complained that he’d spent enough on books last year and why did she need new ones now. Gabriella seriously doubted her father had even been a teenager and attended Hogwarts like every normal person around. He had no idea!

Upon returning home Gabby had been uncharacteristically quiet. She hadn’t argued with her dad or picked a fight. She’d taken her new belongings into her room and spent the evening avoiding her very tight, very easy to anger father. There were far more rewarding ways to ‘punish’ her dad than by shouting at him and rising to his temper. Gabriella had started learning that over the past year.

From the hallway her father’s voice carried. “GABRIELLA!” he yelled with an all too familiar rage. Wet footsteps were heard padding towards her room after the bathroom door slammed and Gabby, presently stood in front of the full length mirror scraping her messy hair back couldn’t fight the smirk that twisted her pink lips.

Her hand dropped, letting the mane of bushy hair drop and fall over her shoulders. With difficulty, an innocent expression reshaped her features and the girl padded her barefeet across the fluffy carpet towards the door. She opened it to find a robed figure marching straight for her.

Dark brown eyes travelled north and widened to resemble galleons. Bigger than galleons. Above the expression of fury creasing Felix’s aging features was a most spectacular white head. It was shiny as trophy too! Gabriella’s mouth dropped open in very real shock before lips twisted. Her body threatened to break into laughter and shake with hysterics. Instead the young girl gripped the doorknob and stared at the figure before her.

“You’ve...shaved.”

Felix didn’t feel that he looked good without hair on his head. He had shaved it close, perhaps, or buzzed it near, or kept the hair short. But to go completely bald? That was a look he had never wanted to try on himself. Some people looked good with it, he supposed. Maybe. Felix? He looked good with hair.

Just like his darling daughter. What if he retaliated in kind? She wouldn’t find it so damn funny!

He’d only caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The look on his daughter’s face, however, was enough to fill Felix in on the mess that was his head. If he wasn’t so angry, Felix might have also laughed. Might have.

Probably not though. He was never good at finding humor in the pranks played on him.

“You’ve...shaved.”

Eyebrows rose dramatically as he stared at her in disbelief. “Shaved?” His breath came out in horror. “Shaved?” One hand quickly closed the distance between them as he grabbed her shoulder while the other held on to some imaginary hair on top of his head. “IT FELL OUT, YOU TWIT!”

He was very protective of his hair. Especially now that he had none. Felix fumed and let go of her shoulder, voice suddenly calming down. “That’s it.” Suddenly his wand was in his hand and he pointed it at her first for good measure before lifting it past her and flicking it quickly. Her things started to pack themselves, boxes tumbling down from the attic at the pull of the spell.

Quick as a flash a hand shot out and latched onto Gabby’s shoulder while his other struggled in vain to cling onto what was just no longer there. His shiny head was balder than a baby’s bum and Gabriella knew it would be that was for at least 2 weeks. Maybe longer if she’d put too much potion in his shampoo bottle, she had been rather liberal with it, failing to read the label any further than ‘Smooth legs for a fortnight in seconds.’.

“IT FELL OUT, YOU TWIT!” Roared the glossy headed wizard as his face reddened with fury. Gabby did note that while his face turned the shade of tomato soup, his head remained shiny, glistening and bright white. Dark eyes moved over the offending part of his anatomy and it certainly did take every ounce of self control she possessed to stop her from laughing in his face. Felix’s bad temper didn’t really scare her, she’d seen it too often, and this was just delightfully entertaining.

But his attention moved from his daughter and the wand was out. Cross eyed, Gabby watched it pointing at her before it twitched and the noise behind her made her spin around. Stuff was flying from the rafters and the bed, messily falling into her trunk, books banging down on vials and clothing.

“Hey what are you doing?” Gabby reached out for his arm to lower it and stop the spell. The moody bald idiot was ruining everything. “Stop it, Felix! It’s not my fault you’re balding prematurely!”

Felix was attempting to stay calm. As calm as he could in this sort of situation, anyway. His breathing was still shallow and his hands were trembling. But he was trying to stay calm. And steady. Otherwise he wouldn’t get everything in one go. Besides, it was easier to focus on what was going on in front of him than what was visible to everyone else.

The problem was, they saw his head. Just his head. There were areas the potion had dribbled down, propelled by shampoo and water. He’d be ecstatic to notice that-later, though.

Right now, he was packing up his daughter’s room, one box at a time.

“Stop it, Felix! It’s not my fault you’re balding prematurely!”

He thought her question was more rhetorical than anything. All she had to do was watch him and she could see what he was doing. Though her touching his arm did cause some of her shirts that were supposed to go into a box to explode in all directions, he didn’t stop. He just tightened his arm and focused a little more.

It was her fault, though. There was no one else it could’ve been. She should’ve thought it through more. Had someone else she could’ve passed the blame on to. Merlin wasn’t able to do this one. It wasn’t like breaking a dish or knocking over some furniture.

Once everything was packed up, he turned his attention to her, keeping his wand out. “You haven’t had a lot of time with your grandparents. While you’re visiting them, all your stuff will be sent to Hogwarts that needs to go. The rest... I might throw away.” Pocketing his wand, he started to walk away. “Watch your shampoo bottles.” He had to find a decent hat to cover his head up.