Chapter 558 - Fernburgh Ⅲ

Deciding to stand back to watch at a slight distance, Arthur takes a seat on the couch to observe the ensuing madness. Dora is the first to react as she changes her hair to pale blond and eyes to gray-blue to match. However. Malfoy continues to ignore the child, who stares up at him in confusion at failing to gain praise or some sort of reaction from him.

"Unc-o Lu-lu," Charlie loudly said as he tugged on the fine robes of Lucius Malfoy with his slightly grubby hands.

Lucius's lips twitch in annoyance as he finally says, "Weasley, don't you have some sort of nanny, a house-elf to take the children away to the nursey?"

"Molly and I want to raise our children ourselves," Arthur firmly retorted. "That's how we were raised and would like to continue the tradition. And though a house elf might be something we might consider in the future if we have more children, but I personally think that too many parents in our world rely on house elves to raise their children rather than taking a more proactive approach."

Lucius's face tightens as if recalling his own childhood. His mother had died shortly after childbirth, and he had all but been raised by a nanny house elf. Not that his father had not educated him nor that his father had not loved him, but it was at a distance.

Seeing the younger wizard's expression, Arthur can all but guess Malfoy's train of thought. Feeling a slight touch of pity for the man, Arthur says, "They just want your attention, they'll leave you alone, Malfoy, if you give them what they want."

Somewhat afraid to trust the advice of a Weasley, Lucius' eyes slowly flicker downward to the two young children staring intently up at him, as they clutched his robes. Uncertain of what to do, he glances over at Weasley, who makes the motion of petting something, and whispers, "Say something nice."

A tad of a flush can be seen on his pale cheeks as Lucius raises his hands and rathe clumsily pats the two young children on the head. Clearing his voice, he rather awkwardly says, "The two of you are most excellent lineage and will go on to do great things."

Dora satisfied at having received the attention that she wanted hurries over to play with a discarded toy on the rug. However much to Arthur and Lucius's shock, Charlie raises his hands in the air in the universal sign that he wanted to be picked up. Panicked, Lucius glances over at Arthur, who warily motions to Lucius to pick up Charlie.

Rather rigid now, Lucius stiffly picks up the redhead little boy and holds him up in mid-air unsure of what to do. Charlie giggles and says, "Sit."

Understanding the demand, Lucius uneasily places the redhead little boy on his lap. Charlie happily stares up at the long, shiny hair and gently reaches up to wrap his hand into the hair. "Pwetty," Charlie said as he gently touched the luscious silver blond hair.

Lucius has a strange expression on his face as if uncertain of the emotions he is feeling. A bit more confidently than the first time, he pats the little boy's short, silky red hair. The two of them are like that for a minute, before Charlie releases the pretty hair and says, "Down!"

Lucius quickly moves to comply as he gently sets down the little boy on the ground, who rushes off to play with his same-aged second-cousin. Lucius wordlessly stares at the child if amazed, but rather bewildered by the transpired events. Catching the stare of Weasley, Lucius sits back up, and haughtily says, "Of course, I can deal with a child, Weasley. Though I can see the merit in having a closer relationship to one's own child."

Arthur merely grins back at Malfoy, who glances away and avoids meeting Arthur's gaze until another knock at the door caused Arthur to rise and see who it was. Opening the door, Arthur is greeted by the sight of a fair-haired man with a rather mellow voice, Edward Tonks usually called Ted instead.

"Ted," Arthur smiled at the muggleborn wizard, who had been a former Hufflepuff.

"Arthur," Ted grinned back and rather friendly clasped the arm of the former Gryffindor.

Chuckling, Ted steps inside as Arthur closes the door behind him. "Where is Dromeda and Dora?" Ted asked glancing around for his wife and child.

"Andromeda is in the kitchen with the rest of the women," Arthur replied. "And little Dora is in the parlor room playing with Charlie."

"Thank you, Arthur," Ted said, before hurrying over to the entrance of the parlor room, before quickly spotting his little munchkin.

"Dora," Ted lovingly said as he knelt onto his toes as the little girl glanced up and let out a cry of delight.

"Daddee!" Dora screamed as she abandoned her toy on the ground and rushed towards her father who engulfed her in his arms and placed kisses on her rosy, round cheeks. The little girl is delighted by her father's antics and returns the gesture by trying to kiss him back.

Chuckling, Ted takes a seat on the couch and only then notices Lucius Malfoy staring at him with a rather perturbed expression on his face. Smiling at his brother-in-law, Ted cheerfully says, "Why hello, Lucius, I didn't see you there."

"Hello Edward," Lucius sniffed, before removing imaginary lint from his robes in avid response at his initial dismissal by his muggleborn brother-in-law.

Putting his daughter back on the ground, Ted fondly watches his little girl run off to play with her cousin and changing her hair again to red, and eyes to blue to match the little boy. The two happily chatter to each other the only way little children can as they play with their toys.

Leaning back against the couch seat, Ted is about to speak, but Arthur first asks, "Are you ready for the start of classes yet, Ted?"

Ted chuckles and says, "Well school is starting tomorrow, and I must admit I am excited and feel quite privileged to be teaching at the Quattor Academy."

Lucius's blue-gray eyes sharply return to his brother-in-law with avid interest. He was rather curious about the so-called universal education for all wizarding children. No doubt it would falter much lower than the private tutoring for pureblood children.

"So, what is it going to be like?" Arthur asked in fascination as he took a seat next to his son, Bill, much to the obvious comfort of Malfoy, who shifted a tad away with a fierce scowl.

"I am actually envious to be perfectly honest," Ted admitted. "One of the language professors is a former language interpreter, who speaks over twenty languages fluently, and can get by in ten others! And though she is a muquib now, I find that most of the muquibs teaching are all former professors or some of the brightest minds in their fields. Any wizarding child would be so lucky as to have them as their professors."

Curious, Lucius interrupts and asks, "Oh, are they better than private tutors?"

"Oh yes," Ted firmly replied. "I showed Dromeda some of the initial homework for the five-year old's, and even she was impressed by the teaching style of the teacher. Dromeda even said that it was far better than the tutors that she and her sisters had as children. As such, Dromeda and I are in complete agreement to send Dora to Quattor Academy upon her coming of age. We feel that the Academy offers two unique advantages that private tutors do not offer."

"Which is what exactly, Edward?" Lucius sharply asked.

"A variety of subjects to learn from, and more importantly other children to socially interact with," Ted explained. "I'm sure that all of you experienced this as children and from what Dromeda told me, wizarding children often have solitary childhoods if they are devoid of siblings.

Seeing as I went to a muggle primary as a child the thought of going to Hogwarts was not quite so terrifying as I knew I could still easily make friends. But not all wizarding children are quite that social at the start of their first year at Hogwarts, and as such from what I have seen it is rather difficult for some children to make friends and especially between inter-houses."

Ted paused, before carefully adding his own personal opinion. "I would even go as far as to say and suggest that the parents of pureblood children should in fact send their children to the nearest academy. Their children would not lose anything in the exchange, but rather gain more out of the experience. Also, it is not as though a wizarding family of such magnitude cannot still hire private tutors to use during the summer to ensure and verify that their child is in fact receiving the education that they wish they receive. And if said parents should find a fault in their children's education, it is not as though they cannot remove their child and return them to the usual private education within the home. Either way, there is not a loss inquired."

Lucius's inclines his head slowly at his brother-in-law. "Your idea has merit, Edward. I shall ponder your answer for the future." That and it possibly might be an excellent political move that would certainly come with its own advantages.

That was the best possible response that Ted could have gotten out of his younger brother-in-law. Because if Lucius thought the idea was beneficial to his child without a doubt it would be easy for Dromeda to sway her younger sister, Narcissa. In which case, Malfoy's children were as good as to be enrolled for the future at Quattor Academy and thereby ensuring that the pureblood families would follow with the trend. It was a win-win situation for all in his opinion, because he genuinely believed that the purebloods children needed to make friends with other children, and thereby influencing the wizarding world a little more for the better.