Freaks: Year One

QUACK!

"And yes for the night." His mother said. "We don't know how long we will be. It was last minute."

Alabaster nodded.

"Can we trust you with this?" His father asked. "Are you capable, or will you mess up as you do with everything else?"

"I won't mess up." Alabaster said. "I can take care of them overnight."

"Good." His mother said, and she disapparated.

His father said, "Don't let the other two get hurt while we are gone, or you will be sorry."

Alabaster nodded. "I won't."

His father disapparated without another word.

Alabaster turned, and sat down on the couch, with a heavy sigh, and watched the fire. Atticus was already asleep, so he just had to keep an ear open, and his sister was getting ready for bed. It was already quite late, and she should have been asleep already, but he could do that easily. All he had to do was tell her to go to sleep, and the rest of the night would be a breeze.

He had taken care of his brother, and sister before, but it was usually during the late afternoons, and evenings, not during the night. He wondered what The Dark Lord could be doing in the middle of the night. Something to do with children? Children wouldn't be up that late. Yes, he was, and his sister was at the moment, but they were inside, these children were apparently in a forest. Why were they in a forest? Were they lost? Maybe The Dark Lord was helping the children get home to their parents. Maybe his parents would tell him when they got home? He answered that question himself though, they didn't tell him much except to say what a failure he was, so he doubted his parents were going to tell him about it.

Alabaster briefly wished he was in a forest.

"Alabaster?" Adelaide was walking down the stairs, she now had her pyjamas on. "Where's mother, and father?"

"They had to leave." Alabaster told her, as she sat on the couch beside him. "Apparently they had an important job to do with The Dark Lord."

"How long will they be?"

"I don't know." Alabaster said. "They will be gone overnight."

"So why isn't Auntie coming?" Adelaide asked as in the past, their aunt would always come over to watch them if their parents had to go out late.

Alabaster shrugged. "Maybe mother, and father think I am finally mature, and responsible to take care of you two at any time in the day."

Adelaide nodded. "Can I stay up late?"

"No, you have to go to bed on time – well, right away." Alabaster said as it was already past her bedtime. "I don't want to mess this up."

"But they won't know."

"Go to bed." Alabaster instructed her.

She sighed, and got up. "Fine."

A couple of hours later, Alabaster was in his room, drawing. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to go to bed as well. It was 10:22PM now, and his parents were still not home. He decided to draw some more as he waited. Hoo was sleeping on his pillow peacefully. Alabaster wished he could sleep, but he did not want to take any risks in case his siblings needed him.

He heard a noise outside his door, and thought at first it was their house elf Paddy, but Paddy didn't talk with them that much or even cause much commotion. He was usually as quiet as a feather, you didn't even know he was there, so Alabaster wasn't sure why he was making noise.

Alabaster opened his door, and saw there was no Paddy, and he realised the noise was coming from his sister's room. Why was she still up? He had told her to go to bed. He walked over to her room across the hall, peeked in, and saw she was at her desk putting away her quills. "What are you still doing up?"