Not.  This wasn't ominous. 

The door to the library swung shut as Abby was promptly sent on her way to perform the task Aileen had assigned.  It had been Abby that had invited Jacoba over but it hadn't been more than three minutes before the older sister had sent the younger on her way.  If Jacoba didn't actually already know both Abby and Aileen, she would have been certain this was that scene in the movie where the unnamed extra got axed by the creepy old guy. 

Luckily, she did know them.

This wasn't the first time Abby had invited Jacoba over.  Since crossing paths several weeks before, Abby had firmly implanted herself in Jacoba's group of magic-ly destitute friends.  But, as of yet, none of her visits had resulted in Abby scurrying from the room at her older sister's direction, leaving Jacoba alone with said sister. 

Jacoba turned back towards Aileen and offered a grin that probably revealed a bit more of the building anxiety than she'd intended. 

"Has something happened?" Jacoba asked.  "Is Sasha okay?"  Most everyone who knew her brother knew it was a reasonable question.  "Has he done something?  You know.  I'm not his legal guardian.  Schröder's probably not a lot of help, but I can't do anything official.  Is it about Abby?"  Jacoba glanced over her shoulder, back towards the library door. 

---

Title from Nanci Griffith's Woman of the Phoenix

Aileen had spent an inordinate amount of time planning this meeting. A few days ago, she'd suggested that Abby invite Jacoba over, claiming that Abby hadn't seen her in a while (it had only been about a week, but her little sister was too excited by the idea to care). Then, she'd given her a list of chores to do, knowing full well that Abby would 'forget' to do most of them and attempt to weasel her way out of responsibility with a grin. Which usually worked. This time, it did not. To Abby's shock and horror, Aileen had sent her out of the house just a few minutes after Jacoba's arrival, telling her that if she didn't take the crup for a walk like she was supposed to, this visit would be very short indeed.

Once the front door had slammed and Abby's complaints and the crup's barking could no longer be heard, Aileen plastered on a polite smile and brought out tea into the library, offering Jacoba some and then taking a seat in the armchair across from her. She consciously avoided sitting behind the desk. She'd feel too much like a professor, and she wanted to have a mature conversation about the problem. However, despite her minimal efforts, Sasha's sister began rattling off questions in a rather Sasha-esque manner, causing Aileen to blink at her in surprise.

"No, no," Aileen waved her hand in the air. "Sasha and Abby are fine. It's you I'd like to talk about." That sounded more ominous than she'd intended.

"I hear that you've been experiencing some magical disturbances. Side effects." In other words, Abby had spilled the beans.

 "If I'm not being too intrusive, how long has this been going on?"

Aileen took a sip of tea and looked at her curiously. There was no sense in stalling when Jacoba already seemed nervous, and they only had so much time before Abby would return.

For that brief moment between discovering the meeting was about her and learning the nature of the meaning, Jacoba's apprehension and confusion spiked.  Thankfully (or, rather, the thanks would probably come at some later date), Aileen didn't leave Jacoba hanging for too long and cut to the chase. 

Jacoba let out the breath she'd been holding in a deep, full chested sigh as she settled herself into one of the armchairs.  "Oh.  That.  He told you."  Jacoba bought herself some time to consider her thoughts and get over her annoyance by taking her tea and sipping it.  "Or, rather, he probably told Abby, who told you.  They're kind of insufferable."  Magical disturbances.  Was that what they were called?  Side effects?  Like it was some kind of cure for an illness. 

"I don't know why this is so embarrassing, but it is," Jacoba admitted.  "But-"

Jacoba shook her head and shrugged.  "I'm not sure.  Isn't it supposed to start when you're young?  I remember noticing 'oddities' in my brother when he was five or six."  She was avoiding the question.  "I first recognized them about a month after getting back to Berlin.  This guy came after me and, suddenly, his shoes were tied.  I've noticed it a couple more times since.  I assume it's not a big deal.  Just means I'm more like a squib than a muggle?" 

At least, so far, that's how she was choosing to see it. 

Aileen nodded, choosing to accept the 'they're insufferable' statement rather than explain that Abby had begun asking her questions about late bloomers. After getting over her initial panic that she'd have to sit down and have a sex talk with her younger sister, she'd finally gotten Abby to tell her that she was asking about a friend, and a friend's magical difficulties at that. It was still alarming, but not quite in the same way.

She raised her eyebrows when Jacoba gave her an example, resisting the urge to ask if she'd actually seen the shoelaces tie together, or just saw the man trip over himself. Perhaps the muggle attributed it to magic simply because she was around witches and wizards so often now.

"No," Aileen answered with a shake of her head. "Squibs aren't able to do magic at all. They can see the magical world, they can move through it, and they can even have familiars, of a sort. But magic? You can either do magic, or you can't. Most children know well before their eleventh birthday."

At least that was what people wanted to believe. It was less messy. Exceptions were possible, but Aileen had never heard of one, and felt wary of encouraging any idea that might get her sister's hopes up.

“What other experiences have you had, recently? We might be able to pinpoint where this is coming from.”

Aileen shifted in her seat, trying not to look too skeptical.

Squibs weren't able to do magic at all, Aileen had clarified.  And, neither were muggles.  For all practical intents and purposes, neither could Jacoba.  Things happened but Jacoba could only fathom to guess whether she'd actually done anything.  She couldn't explain the shoelaces.   She certainly couldn't remember conciously doing anything to make them tie themselves.  They'd just happened. 

And Jacoba was perfectly content to continue to identify with the likes of Tilly and Abby.   She'd found her place amongst the squibs and she was well aware of how much many of them dreamed of something like this happening to them.  Jacoba was very aware of the fact that, unlike them, she hadn't spent her life dreaming of this development.     
 
"But, I haven't done any, either."  She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to. 
 
Jacoba shrugged, shaking her head.  If Aileen was looking for instances that screamed 'magic,' she wasn't going to find them.  They were all subtle things that, in  themselves were unremarkable. Together, though, they formed a pattern.
 
"I don't know," Jacoba admitted.  "Just lots of small things.  A stuck train door when I almost missed my connection.   A couple others.  A dropped shot glass that just happened to land right side up my first day on the job.  I couldn't even tell you if they were coincidence or magic.  There just ended up being enough that I felt like I needed to come back.  I wasn't really sure until the flagged me past at the tournament.  Either those were coincidences and I'm a squib, or..."

Aileen nodded, understanding what she was getting at. The chance that Jacoba had never received her Hogwarts letter was so low that Aileen didn't even bother giving voice to the possibility. And as for the other possibility, magical curses were called curses for a reason.

She took a sip of tea and studied her. It seemed much more likely that Jacoba was seeing what she wanted to see, perhaps in an effort to be closer to her younger brother (just thinking that meant Aileen was spending far too much time around Maiko). As strange as it was to be sharing tea with a muggle in her own library, and stranger still to see her as a real person for a few minutes instead of Abby's friend or Sasha's sister, Aileen would much rather be sitting across from a muggle than a magical conundrum. Magic worked a certain way. If you didn't fit the mold, you weren't a witch, period.

"I'd imagine that they let you into the tournament because they recognized you and knew your relation to Sasha," she gestured at her. Jacoba hadn't exactly been flying under the radar. "You do seem more adept at navigating the wizarding world than other muggles." Not that Aileen had ever willingly interacted with muggles in general. "But I'd attribute that to practice and a certain Schlagenweit obstinance, than anything magical," she smiled very slightly.

"If you were really a witch," Aileen went on more seriously. "Your magic would be rather uncontrolled and dangerous at this point in your life, since you've never learned to harness it. So unless you levitated the shot glass, or shattered the train door, or any number of more explosive reactions, I am fairly certain that you've just noticed a few lucky coincidences."

Believing it was settled, she relaxed her posture a bit and set her tea cup down on the end table between the chairs.

Aileen did have some very valid points, even if the points’ validity was inflated by Jacoba’s eagerness to accept them at face value.  Freak occurrences – occurrences that were so inexplicable they could be dismissed as the muggle equivalence of magic – happened all the time in the muggle world.  Though they sometimes went under the less mundane titles of miracles, luck or simple unforeseen happenstance. 

Like Aileen said, there were even some perfectly reasonable explanations .  They’d let her into the tournament because she was a champion’s sister.  The train doors had simply gotten stuck.  The shoelaces … Jacoba didn’t really have an explanation for those.  Perhaps, it was a matter of simple, pure luck.

When Aileen backed up her position with a firm insistence that any manifestation of magic would have been uncontrollable and obvious – and would have probably started long before Jacoba had left London -  Jacoba was more than happy to consider the issue settled and resolved.

"Well, good!"  Jacoba declared with more eagerness and relief than the professor was probably expecting. "This is good.  I'm glad.  That does make more sense and-"  And ... was that it?  Jacoba watched as Aileen relaxed back into the couch.  She was in no hurry to find any fault in the woman's logic.  She was perfectly content to remain a self-proclaimed muggleborn squib.  "So, that's settled." 

Jacoba shook her head.  "I just hope my brother hasn't gone and told too many other people.  The last thing I need is for the Diagon-ites to think I'm turning into a wannabe.  I doubt that'd make me any more popular amongst that crowd."  Such a stance would likely turn more people against her.  "I haven't told anyone but him."

Aileen’s eyebrows shot up when Jacoba agreed without argument. Now, she might be agreeing so she could run off and get a second opinion, but she seemed genuine, and a tiny flicker of doubt formed that Aileen quickly pushed away. This only meant that Jacoba was a bit less stubborn than Sasha. It only meant that Aileen had successfully made her point. That was all.

“I’ll tell Sasha and Abby that it is important to keep it to themselves,” she nodded. The last thing the young woman needed was more harassment at Reducto. No matter Aileen’s traditional views about keeping muggles and wizarding folk separate, she didn’t want Sasha’s sister to come to harm because of unfounded rumors. In her opinion, she was being quite helpful, taking the time to steer the muggle toward a sensible outlook.

When the front door slammed in the distance, Aileen put a hand to her forehead and resisted a sigh. Clomp clomp clomp went Abby. Skitter skitter skitter went the crup on the wood floors. Then came the sound of the rubbish bin clattering and Abby whooping in the kitchen. Then the sound of the pipes as Abby washed her hands.

“If that isn’t my sister and her accomplice in mayhem, than it must be a herd of abraxans. Shall we go see?”

Aileen stood with the tray, holding out her hand for Jacoba’s tea cup.

As if this conversation was some deal that could be sealed with a gesture of finality, Jacoba handed the teacup back to Aileen with a satisfied grin and got to her feet.  There'd been a lot of confusion over the last couple of months - all of which were just matters that had been prematurely settled with false assumptions.  Like the Ministry screeners flagging her into the stands at the Tri-wizard tournament.  And...

Even as Jacoba started to follow Aileen out of the room, her mind started systematically ticking through the list of flaws in their logic.  Yes, Jacoba had listed off all the examples of magical ... burps and they could all be reasoned away as coincidence.  But, there had been other signs.  Other indications that, regardless of whether she was capable of performing any magic tricks, strictly speaking, she wasn't muggle. 

Jacoba stopped just inside the doorway, scowling at the ripples of blonde hair leading the way out of the room.  "So, that means I'm a squib, right?"  She asked, trying to piece together all the bits and pieces. 

"If I can't do magic but I'm still ... susceptible to magical things, and can use potions and see the magical world without help, that means I'm a squib?  Right?" 

Aileen stopped just outside of the library, glancing back at the young woman.

“Since Sasha is muggleborn, as far as we know,” she paused, as if to confirm this. There had been speculation in the papers, but that was likely Rita Skeeter stirring up trouble out of boredom.

“Then you would be a muggle.”

Aileen tried to say it as if there were nothing wrong with it. Still, beneath the neutral tone, a hint of disdain lurked. In her mind, a big difference existed between muggles and squibs. Perhaps Abby’s jokes about ‘the squib club’ weren’t helping Jacoba understand.

Of course, Abby chose that moment to appear in the hallway, looking between the two women with open curiosity. For once, her little sister did not interrupt. Aileen glanced at her before choosing to continue with the conversation, hoping that it was nearly settled and that Jacoba would not mind Abby listening.

“Anyone can use potions. Creating them is another matter.”

Aileen began to lead the way to the kitchen, Abby following quietly.

“I’d imagine you can see the magical world so easily because you expect to see it. You know for a fact that it exists, so it doesn’t bother to hide from you.”

Muggles saw ruins when they looked upon Hogwarts because they didn’t know Hogwarts was there. Muggle parents escorting their children around Diagon, however, could get around fine after an initial introduction – she assumed!

“As for being susceptible to magical things,” she hesitated. “Do you mean you feel the effects of spells strongly, or..?”

"He might not be."  The admittance escaped Jacoba before she had considered whether that information was really necessary.  It wasn't, of course. 

Jacoba shook her head.  "Not that it matters. My mother - our only shared relative is a muggle.  And-"  Jacoba snorted derisively and shook her head.  "No way there's any magic in my father's family.  They likely would have culled it early on."  It was, perhaps, an exaggeration - but not by much. 

Still, it wasn't making sense.  The pieces weren't all fitting together and Jacoba was torn between letting the issue rest and maintaining her 'muggle-hood' and, at least for her own sake, coming to some understanding of what was going on. 

The latter won out.

"I know," Jacoba confirmed.  "I've used floo powder so, I assume, I can use most potions.  But, that potion - the genealogy potion - I thought it was specifically designed to test magical heritage." 

Jacoba followed Aileen as she led the way to the kitchen, sparing a glance or two behind her towards Abby.  "How does the whole magical world know that, though?  I mean - I've seen most of Wizarding Britain, but - I was noticing new ... old new shops in Munich that I'd never seen before.  That others around me didn't seem to see.  And, I've never had anyone escort me to Wizarding Germany.  Or Romania.  Or Czech Republic." 

"I don't know."  Jacoba stopped when Aileen drew up and shrugged.  "Out of curiosity, I've been playing with some of the sale items in the Weasley shop.  And, I've peeked at a few of those stranger books at Flourish and Blotts.  I haven't come across anything that's behaved differently for me than for other people who pick them up.  And - I think I called the Knight Bus the other day.  Could that really all be from ... the magical world just getting used to me?"

It seemed that Aileen had been too hasty with the tea set, bringing it back into the kitchen when clearly, not all was settled. She’d hoped it would be simple. But when Jacoba casually admitted that Sasha might not be muggleborn, she glanced at her sharply, finding fault in the logic that her father’s side of the family would have culled magic early on. The supposed muggle relative could have magic in their bloodline, too. The more she listened to Jacoba, the more she actually listened.

Still, there was no explanation for why she seemed to have a delayed magical reaction, if that was indeed what this was. Immersion in the wizarding world should not affect a person’s magical capability.

“The knight bus never works for me,” Abby pointed out, sitting on the kitchen counter a few feet away from where Aileen leaned against it. “No matter how much I gesture, I just look like a loon flapping my arms in the wind.”

Aileen took a sip of tea, wishing it were something stronger. “Perhaps there is something more going on here,” she admitted slowly with a glance at Abby, hoping the girl wouldn’t take that statement and run with it.

“I had dismissed the Daily Prophet articles last year as Rita Skeeter’s typical tripe,” she continued, uncertain if Jacoba knew who the reporter was. “I really know nothing about your family, except that Sasha had to hide being a wizard from them.” Despite her efforts not to speak ill of the dead, distaste colored her words.

“You mentioned a genealogy potion. Did you or your brother end up taking it?" Her tone switched back to one of curiosity. She ignored Abby’s raised eyebrows. To someone who had grown up in wizarding society, the question could be considered intrusive or rude, but Aileen was counting on the fact that Jacoba likely did not know enough to take offense.

Jacoba looked towards Abby when the girl happily announced her failed attempts to hail the Knight Bus and grinned, awkwardly.  She was exceedingly glad and grateful that Abby seemed to be taking this all in stride.  She'd been in Abby's shoes before.  Well - similar shoes. Shoes of the same brand ... just slightly different style. 

After getting kicked out of her home, Jacoba had spent almost two years loitering in London.  It was easy to make quick, fast friends there - everyone was in the same, precarious, lost boat.  But, every once in a while, they'd get one of those kids that got annoyed with some petty thing their parents did and ran off for a few days.  Jacoba remembered the strong tinge of jealousy she experienced while watching those kids get bored of the homeless life and run back home.

She hadn't spent her life hoping and wishing for this development and, quite frankly, would be more than happy to gift it to Abby, or Tilly, or any of the squibs she knew who spent their lives dreaming of this very thing if she could. 

"My family-" Jacoba hesitated a moment.  "Both my father and our mother's family were very ... conservative?"  The Reids were pureblood - Jacoba didn't know how much of any of this would make any sense to them.  Or if they were even aware purists existed in the muggle world.  "I've kind of come to understand that your ... Death Eaters are not unlike the magical equivalent of what my family was like?  My family disapproved of those not like them about as much as the purists in this world.  But, my brother and I don't share the same father.  I've always assumed that's where his magic comes from." 

Jacoba nodded her head, glancing between the two sisters.  She knew better than to get too far into the details of the genealogy test.  It hadn't revealed anything about her family, after all, so the results were for her brother and his new found family to reveal - or not reveal - as they saw fit. 

"We both took it.  All it showed on my account was that I wasn't related to his father's family.  Which, is no surprise.  I was really just a control to make sure it was working for him.  But - it, you know, still worked for me.  It gave results - my blood mixed properly with the potion - the results just happened to be a lack of blood relation."

So Sasha and Sasha’s sister did not share the same father. How exciting! Possibilities flew through Abby’s mind – maybe there was wizarding blood somewhere in the mother's line, or Jacoba was somewhere between a squib and a witch, or she was actually a late bloomer, the kind Abby had always dreamed about.

Silence settled for a moment after Jacoba spoke. Bouncing her knees, Abby held back a mixture of emotions. Aileen seemed pensive, her fingers resting on the counter but not moving.

Abby glanced at Jacoba, then at Aileen.

“You know what we should do?”

She paused for dramatic effect.

“It would settle everything. Well, pretty much. It’d help answer our questions. Because I have an idea of what we could do next if this doesn’t work.”

Aileen raised an eyebrow, yet seemed reluctant to burst her bubble.

“Jacoba, have you ever tried waving a wand around? Used your brother’s or anything? Even just for fun?”

Waiting a moment for her reply, she rambled on.

“A real wand. Aileen, let her borrow yours. Just for a second.” Abby focused on Jacoba so that she couldn’t get distracted by her sister’s expression. “I’d let you use mine, but well,” Abby threw her hands in the air and grinned.

Aileen stepped away from the counter, annoyance radiating from her. “Abby.”

“What! It’s simple. It’ll help us narrow stuff down. Chances are nothing will happen, right?”

Abby nodded encouragingly at Jacoba, seeing no reason besides her sister’s pride that they couldn’t do this.

Jacoba had no idea what kind of hair-brained suggestions Abby was capable of brainstorming but she had long since figured out the girl's ideas were generally far more creative than her brothers.  In most situations, Jacoba considered this a good thing.  Right now, though, she wasn't entirely so sure. 

The expression on Aileen's face wasn't all that reassuring.  Neither was Abby's excited, building suspense. 

"Waving a wand?"  By the tone of Jacoba's answer, Abby could have just as well asked her if Jacoba had ever considered dating a politician.  The answer seemed just as obvious.  Abby couldn't be serious.  Could she?   "Ah - no.  At least not one that wasn't shiny and black and white.  I haven't really actually seen my brother's wand."  He still wasn't entirely in the habit of carrying it with him during the holidays.

Discussing odd spontaneous-tying shoelaces was one thing.  Actually holding one of those things was another, entirely.  Jacoba cast an uneasy glance in Aileen's direction and the uneasy look on the older woman's face only fortified that this was a bad idea. 

"Ah - no," Jacoba said, shaking her head.  "I ... that's not really necessary.  I'm not sure - If the general consensus is it's unlikely it'll do anything then I'm really alright -"   Jacoba wasn't entirely sure why the thought of trying a real wand was so unsettling - it took a fair bit to make her uncomfortable. 

"Do we even know what it's likely to do?  If I do have magic, will it care?"