Intervening “We were just playing keep away!” Ingrid protested. Ok, so Freddie had been flirting with her. She wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t realise that. But Theodore did not need to know that. After he’d shown up, the three of them had played a more mundane game of piggy in the middle for a bit until she’d got so bored that she gave up and went inside. Her brother had followed her and now they were arguing over the scene he had witnessed.
“He had his hands all over you!” Theodore glared. The Quaffle had also been lying discarded on the ground. It had not been just a game. At least, it wasn’t the one that Ingrid thought it was. If Freddie was involved, it was a game of rather a different nature. And one that Theodore didn’t want Ingrid being a pawn in.
“It’s a physical game.” And she hadn’t particularly minded that fact…
“You cannot behave like that around boys. And especially not around Freddie.” He thought Ingrid might well be that dumb, but he knew for a fact that Freddie wasn’t. He would exploit Ingrid’s naïvity, and enjoy seeing how much it wound up Theodore. The latter, he assumed, was the whole reason Freddie was doing it. Theodore didn’t really consider the possibility that someone might find his kid sister genuinely attractive, or the fact that other people’s interactions did not always revolve around him as the centre. In his mind, any interest Freddie had in Ingrid could only be explained as an attempt to get at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ingrid asked.
“I don’t think he suits you,” Theodore answered hotly, wondering how he could possibly justify this, put Ingrid off. The truth would definitely do that in a heartbeat but he couldn’t exactly tell her.
“Since when do you decide who suits me? What’s wrong with Freddie. He’s cute. He likes sports. He’s from a good family.”
Theodore thought he might vomit at the first of those attributes. Ingrid could not be attracted to Freddie. It was just unbearably disgusting. There were dozens of decent wizards in the world. Why did she have to pick the one who he’d- well. With whom… certain things had transpired. Was the universe really so desperate to smite him for his bad behaviour that it would do this?
“I just do. I know you both better than you know each other. He isn’t right for you, and I…. I forbid you from associating with him in that way!” he snapped.
“You forbid me,” Ingrid laughed, “You forbid me? I don’t have to do what you tell me.”
“I’ll tell mother and father you were being inappropriate.”
“Go ahead. I’m sure they’ll be very interested to know how it came to pass that I was left in a situation where my reputation could be so imperilled. And then they’ll also tell you that you don’t decide who I date.”