The fort was magnificent. Chairs and sticks had been placed around the room with enormous blankets spread over them. Beneath the sheets a small lamp glowed and a range of teddy bears and stuffed animals huddled together to soak in the light. Hugging one of these teddies particularly tightly was a young girl whose tanned face was shrouded by a mop of long dark curls. Her face was buried into the soft fluffiness of the teddy as she leaned against the wall.

Nanny had brought her home that afternoon, having to pick her up early from the newest primary school after Gabby had got so mad she’d attacked Louis, a horrible boy in her class. Children could be so cruel.

“You’re a freak.” The boy had taunted in front of her class when the teacher had popped out of the room. “No wonder no one wants to be your friend.”

Gabriella had scowled at him as everyone else in the class got up to see better what was going on. They’d started to gather around.

“Freaks don’t last long here, you’re” The boy’s words had been cut short by shrieks when the lights in the classroom started flickering before they exploded. Gabby’s eyes didn’t move from Louis. She just continued to scowl.

“She’s a witch! Look what she did!” Agathe had screeched, stretching a long thin finger and pointing it in Gabby’s direction.

“We should burn her! That’s what they do to witches. Then she can go to hell and join her family!” Louis yelled.

It was then that Gabriella had found her guts. She launched herself from her seat and at Louis. Her fist landed a successful left hook into his cheek and before the young boy knew it, he was on the floor with her on top of him, pummelling his body, her face red with anger. The rest of the class had gathered close, eager to see. Very quickly Gabby was hauled bodily from the boy and held away by the teacher who started to drag her from the classroom.

When Nannny had shown up at the school Gabby was sat outside the office, arms crossed, head down and schoolbag at her feet. There was no way, she’d decided, that she was coming back here. Over her dead body.

When they finally arrived back at the house in the alps, Gabby had refused to speak to her nan. Instead she’d dropped her school bag at the door and run up the stairs to her room. She’d flung herself into the fort, leaving the sign ‘Trisspassas will be eetan’ pinned to the sheet at the entrance.

Bills were a never ending nightmare of adult life. They forgot to warn you about that while you were at Hogwarts. Sure, they said don’t try to grow up too fast, don’t let your fun years slip by, but you never really appreciate those words until suddenly they’re falling out of your mouth with a morsel of regret. And now that it was just him having to pay everything, without anyone to blame the low grocery fund on, he found it all the more true.

His life wasn’t completely full of ridiculous adult stuff, of course. He had a young hatchling on the property; he had to feed it and clean up after it, like an over sized puppy, on top of doing the same for that damned shag of a dog that Gabby had picked out. Merlin seemed to keep her company, at least, which helped when she was home from school but he was still working.

The last few years had been a hard transition for any normal child, but the last few months had been a whirlwind of activity. Felix felt a little bad for dragging Gabby out to the middle of nowhere so he could enjoy his career more, but also felt that it was right, to expose her to the more beautiful side of life. Cities were great to visit, but they were no place to run around, in his opinion. She didn’t see her grandparents as often as she had before, though his mum made it around often enough that you couldn’t forget her face easily.

Plus she had free use of the owl to keep in touch.

One of the sticklers about moving to the ranch, however, had been insisting that Gabby continue to go primary school. It was something Kayleigh had encouraged; it wasn’t as if they could afford a tutor, after all, like when he grew up. It was just hard to keep her in a school for very long; Felix understood being angry and lashing out at the world, especially when it didn’t seem to have a cut out for you. The problem for Gabby, however, was that she hadn’t been taught yet to control her magic.

Felix had tried, but the man did not have the best patience in the world. He was honest about that, at least.

When he saw his mum earlier than expected, Felix had finished laying the hay in the newly constructed barn before dusting his hands off, discarding the gloves, and making his way back up to the house. They had a cup of tea while she explained, quietly, what had happened to Gabby at school. His jaw was tight as he heard the recollection, head in his hands as he considered any number of angry retorts. In the end, however, he merely shook his head and took a deep breath. “We’ll just... have to look around for a better primary. There aren’t any wizarding towns around that you’ve found hosting one?” His mum turned to lecturing him about taking better care of his own daughter instead of his career; they argued for a few minutes before Felix got fed up and threw his hands in the air, walking away from his tea to let it grow cold near his mother.

He took the stairs two at a time. When he finally made it to her door, Felix leaned against the frame of it and looked around for her. Eyes focused on the fort before he scratched his head, stepping over to it and getting down on his hands and knees. He rasped his knuckles on the wooden floor boards. “Is it trespassing if I own the property?” He smiled and waited for entrance.

Plodding towards the fort wandered Merlin the scruffy puppy. Still very small and dopy, Merlin had only been in the house for a few weeks. He’d been chosen to give Gabby some company but above all he was giving her a laugh. Gabby had never known a dog so daft as Merlin! Now, un benownst to her, he’d just been stirred from his nap by Felix kneeling on the floor and banging on the sign at the entrance to the fort. Merlin was now stood next to the entrance, staring at the sheet hanging down. He started to walk at it, padding unsteady foot after the other. But the sheet didn’t move.

At her father’s voice Gabriella lifted her head to glance at the entrance of her fort. Why was he here now when she wanted to be left alone to hide? Then she saw the dog shaped lump trying to get through the sheet.
“You’ll still be eaten. Even if you do own some proper tea.” Gabriella informed her father as she hugged Teddy Bluehead ever tighter than before. She didn’t want a visitor. She didn’t want to have to tell Daddy what had happened. He’d only get irritated and tell her she had to go back.
“You have to go to school, Gabriella, your mum wanted it.” He’d say. And then he’d force her to go back to the bullies to get burnt to death. That’s what they wanted to do.

“You may let Merlin in. He won’t be eaten.”

Proper tea. Felix clenched his jaw and rolled his shoulders before glancing to the pester-some pup; he had to really try to not correct her. Sometimes it was so frustrating to be a parent. There were many times he just wanted to throw his hands up, dust them off, and walk away from it. It had only gotten harder since Kay decided to leave him to it. There were many times that Felix had to take moments to walk away and collect himself to properly deal with the situation at hand.

Luckily there was a bunch of material in between them, and he made sure to school the irritated sigh that almost slipped out of him. After another slow breath in, he shifted himself so he was sitting in front of the tent, his knees up and his arms wrapped loosely around them. Merlin paid little mind to Felix, other than to sniff him, before pushing his way through to Gabby.

How simple was that dogs life? Or most dogs, for that matter? He was fed, cared for, loved on by a little girl with a lot of love to give. Felix cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck before considering the easiest way to slip into the conversation of the day. “How did your day go? Did you learn anything exciting?” Felix would’ve preferred having a drink to approaching this conversation.

He didn’t get that sort of simplicity in his life, however. He recalled his mum downstairs and scowled briefly, glancing over his shoulder to the door. She had too many opinions on how he should parent. She wasn’t the best person to take advice from, in his humble opinion. She made a much better grandparent than a parent.

Merlin trotted in happily and bounded up to the curly haired girl. She opened her arms for him to jump into. The little dog’s wet tongue ran up her tanned cheek and dribbled slobber down her chin. Gabby gripped onto the furry fidget tightly. He was now her only friend. Ever since they’d moved here and she’d been sent to muggle school with muggle bullies and foreign people.

“I’m not going back!” Gabby shouted towards the entrance of her fort. Daddy had asked how her day had been. He knew. She knew he’d have spoken to Nanny. She always had so much to say about everything. Even at her young age Gabby could see how frustrated her Dad became when her Nan was around. His face always tensed and his shoulders hunched the way the boys at school did when they were getting told off.

Regardless of whether Felix knew, in the last hour sat in the safety of her fort, Gabriella had decided there was no way she would be returning to school. She was going to live in her fort with Merlin and they would never have to leave. Daddy and Nanny could bring them food and they could have a bucket in the corner.

“I don’t have to go to school, Merlin.” The young girl quietly told her dog. “No one makes you or Daddy go.”

Felix closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. This was frustrating. He sat down on his bum and wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling his knees in close. Why hadn’t someone written a guide to parenting that was actually useful? He rubbed his chin with a thumb outstretched between his knees, considering what his next move might be.

The problem with Gabriella was that she was just as stubborn as her parents. He could tell that was just going to get worse the older she got. It was quiet in the room, and so for the most part, he heard what she whispered to Merlin in confidence. Felix cleared his throat and considered his options.

Finally he rolled his eyes at himself and pushed the opening of the tent out of the way, scooting himself under the blankets until he was in the stuffy little fort she had made herself. Or little, considering his size compared to hers. “Daddy already went to school. It’s why he has to-” Why was he talking about himself in the third person? Felix made a noise and frowned. “It’s why I have to work now. You can’t have a proper career without schooling, Gabriella. You’re going back to school. Just maybe not that one.”

He waited for the protests before he lightly held his hands between his knees, resuming the position he had outside the tent. “What if I teach you a couple things? Ways to... defend yourself against those mean bullies. No one messes with someone who is smarter and better than them, right?” Felix smiled and leaned forward, hand gently holding the back of her head. “They’re just jealous of you and how amazing you are, Gabs.”

He released her head and pulled back, nudging the helpless dog with his foot. “Is your magic slipping out?”

The fort’s defences were breached as Daddy opened the entrance and shuffled in. If she’d have been in a better mood Gabby would have attacked the giant as he entered, setting her guard dog on him to send him cowering back out of the fort. As it happened, she didn’t even look at him, but instead continued to hug Merlin close as the puppy snuggled into her chest. He really was her only friend ever since Daddy had dragged her out here into the middle of nowhere with no one her own age with magic to play with. There were only unpleasant French muggles.

Daddy told her she’d be definitely going back to school and Gabby ignored him. If she didn’t want to she wasn’t going to. Nanny could look after her and teach her and Merlin everything they needed to know for Hogwarts. She didn’t need to go back to any school until then. Until she got her letter. He couldn’t make her.

His hand pulled her closer, trying to be comforting and Gabby closed her eyes, trying not to cry. Big girls didn’t cry.

“They wanted to burn me.” She finally mumbled into the dog’s fur. Her head lifted and eyes glistening with fresh tears looked up at her dad. “They said I was a witch and I needed to be burned.” Her own arms had scratches on from where the boy had tried to fight her off.  “I got really angry.”

Merlin started fidgeting to be free of her and Gabby released her grip, allowing the dog to start sniffing around the fort.
“I hate it here. Why can’t we go back home?”

Felix felt sudden anger flare up, and he grit his teeth instead of letting out what he wanted to. Burning would be the last thing those kids thought about if he had any say in it. Or the only thing on their mind. It took a moment for him to breathe through his anger enough to ask the question. “What happened when you got angry, Gabby?”

Since she was relatively unhurt, physically, it wasn’t as if Felix could justify hanging the children by their toes and leaving them somewhere for a couple hours. Or maybe make their shoes get so hot it felt like they were being burned. Tit for tat. Eye for an eye. Felix didn’t have much appreciation for the justice system these days, especially when parents didn’t discipline their bully children.

Of course, he felt this way primarily in relation to his daughter. He was occasionally a hypocrite.

Felix eyed the dog for a moment before he took in a slow breath, fixing his daughter with a look. “This is our home now, Gabriella.” Hands rested on his thighs as he shifted a little. “We’ll find you the perfect place. For now, here, you have your fort with Merlin, and I built you that tree house too.” Though the weather was getting a little too cold for that. “We have dragons to take care of here, love.”

It was hard trying to explain his choices and career to his daughter. She didn’t understand it, yet, couldn’t grasp why they were so far away. Felix had had a small falling out with the Ministry, but had been able to get enough support and finances to build this place. He’d been trying to make it safe and still playable for Gabby. Not that she would understand that.

And how his mum was here, bothering him about how to properly raise a child.