For Love of a Bear

"GIVE ME BACK MY BEAR!"

"Aww, does ickle Penny want her widdle bear back?" Daniel Clearwater, three years older than his eight-year-old sister Penny, teased. He held it high above her head and laughed as she jumped up, trying to get at it.

"Danny Danny, give him back he's mine!" Penny pouted at him, crossing her arms over her chest. Daniel laughed again.

"Only if you can reach him, Penny dearest!" he said, dancing away, the precious bear held up high above him so that Penny wouldn't reach it.

Penny screwed up her face and glared at her older brother. Then she opened her mouth and let loose. "MUMMY! DADDY! DANNY WON'T GI--mmmph!" Daniel covered Penny's mouth with his hand to make her stop shouting, though he still held the bear out of her reach.

"No no, Penny!" Daniel said, wagging a finger at her. "Bringing Mum and Dad into it isn't fair."

"It's not fair that you won't give me back my bear!" Penny exclaimed, and lunged, trying to grab the poor mistreated stuffed animal again, but Daniel jumped back out of her way. "You big git, I want my bear back and he's mine and you're just being mean to take him from me!"

"What's the magic word?" Daniel asked, grinning and still holding the bear out of Penny's reach. Penny didn't say anything, and just resumed glaring at him with narrowed eyes. She lunged at him again, latching onto his shoulders to get at the bear, and suddenly fell to the ground with an OOMPH, one of the bear's paws clutched in her hand.

She looked around in confusion. Where did Danny go? He seemed to have just disappeared...then she noticed a small greenish-brown lizard-like creature staring up at her with wide eyes. Well, as wide as a lizard-thing's eyes can be.

Penny and the lizard-thing stared at each other for a moment. Then Penny's eyes open really wide, and she opened her mouth and shouted, "MUMMY MUMMY MUMMY! MUMMY, DADDY, COME QUICK! DANNY'S GONE AND THERE'S AN ICKY LIZARDY-THING!" She clutched her bear closer to her and watched the lizard-thing warily.

Out in the corridor, she could hear the sound of running feet, but then there was a pop, and Daniel was sitting where the lizard had been, looking very shell-shocked. He stared at Penny dazedly, and when their parents burst into the room, he stared at them dazedly too. Their parents stopped where they stood and looked from Penny to Daniel and back again. It was then that Daniel seemed to notice that everyone was staring at him.

"Mum!" he shouted, causing Mrs Clearwater to jump in surprise and Penny to clutch the bear closer.

"Danny?" Mrs Clearwater answered back cautiously, unsure as to what was happening.

"Mum!" he said again. "It was Penny, Mum! She turned me into a newt! I got better..." he added uncertainly, as their parents and Penny blinked at him.

"A newt, Danny?" Mrs Clearwater repeated faintly, and Daniel nodded vigourously.

"A witch, a witch, she's a witch! She's a witch, Mum, I know she is!" Daniel continued excitedly. "I bet she turned me into a newt so I could be one of her spell ingredients!"

"Isn't that rather...negated, by the fact that you're...you again?" Mr Clearwater asked hesitantly, as if not sure what to say about this new development. It seemed as if he would have liked to add "if you indeed had even been a newt at all", but wasn't sure how to say it diplomatically.

But this seemed to phase Daniel not at all. "That doesn't matter," he said, waving his hand. "I bet that she'll turn me into a newt again and then she'll use me as a spell ingredient!"

Mr and Mrs Clearwater exchanged glances, and Mrs Clearwater opened her mouth to say something, but a small sniffling interrupted her. She looked down, and Penny sniffled again, holding her bear tightly to her chest.

"I d-didn't m-mean to turn him into a n-newt!" Penny said miserably, her lower lip puffed out and her eyes all red. "But he s-stole my b-bear and wouldn't g-give him back to m-me..." Small tears started rolling down her cheeks, and she sniffed again.

Mr Clearwater bent down and took Penny in his arms. "It's all right, sweetheart," he said soothingly. "We know you didn't mean to turn your brother into a newt..." Penny buried her face in her father's shoulder.

"Danny stole your bear?" Mrs Clearwater asked, and Penny nodded into Mr Clearwater's shoulder. "Danny..."

Danny squirmed. "Honestly, Mum, it's not like I wasn't intending to give it back..." he muttered, but a knock at the door interrupted him. Shooting a glance at Danny that told him she was not finished with him yet, Mrs Clearwater went to go answer it. And when she opened the door, she stood blinking at the three men on the doorstep, who looked like they were wearing black robes with badges on the front that "Accidental Magic Reversal Squad".

"Is this the Clearwater residence?" one of them asked, and Mrs Clearwater nodded uncertainly. "Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we got a notice that there was some accidental transfiguration here, and we're here to clean it up."

"Accidental transfigur--what?" Mrs Clearwater asked.

"Transfiguration," the man repeated politely. "Of the amphibian order. Mind if we come in, ma'am?"

"I suppose..." Mrs Clearwater answered, stepping aside to let the men in. Somehow, she got the feeling that something...odd would have happened if she hadn't.

"Where's the newt?" the man asked once he and his fellows were inside, looking around the house.

"That was me!" Danny exclaimed, waving his hand. "Only I'm not a newt anymore, because Penny turned me back. She didn't want to get the law after her," he said knowingly, and Penny sniffled loudly and wailed, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"Hello," the man said, crouching down near Penny and Mr Clearwater. "You're Penelope Clearwater, aren't you?" Another sniffle, and a short nod. "You don't need to worry, there isn't going to be any law after you. It's perfectly all right. So you turned your brother into a newt and then back again?"

"Didn't mean to," Penny said miserably, leaning back from Mr Clearwater's shoulder and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "But he stole my bear and wouldn't give it back."

"Can you keep a secret?" the man asked her, and Penny nodded warily. The man smiled. "Once you're eleven, you're going to get trained in doing that sort of thing intentionally, though it's best not to turn family members into newts. You're a witch, Penelope, and it's a perfectly normal thing--I'm a wizard, myself."

"You are?" Penny asked in a small voice. The man nodded.

"I am," he smiled. "And there's lots of witches and wizards--a whole world of them! And when you turn eleven, you'll get a letter about going to Hogwarts, and then you can do magic all on your own."

"I knew it!" Daniel bellowed, causing Penny and the man and everyone else to look at him. He was pointing at Penny. "I knew she was a witch, I knew it!"

The man chuckled, and turned back to Penny. "You keep that a secret, Penny," he said. "I'm going to fix your family's memories a bit so that they don't remember this, but you remember for them, all right?" Penny nodded, and gave him a tremulous smile. He stood up, and nodded at his two fellows. They turned to face Danny and Penny's parents, quietly said, "Obliviate," and, with one last smile at Penny, disappeared with a small crack!.

The other three blinked, and looked around in confusion. "Penny?" Mrs Clearwater asked, seeing Penny smiling at them. "Penny, what just happened?"

Penny's smile grew slightly wider. "Nothing," she said innocently. "Just holding my bear..."

Mr and Mrs Clearwater exchanged glances. "All right, dear..." Mrs Clearwater said, and she and her husband left the room. Once they were gone, Daniel grinned at Penny, and made as if to snatch her bear away.

"Nuh-uh," she said, twisting away. "You take my bear and I'll turn you into a newt."

"Yeah, right." Daniel laughed, and Penny smiled quietly.