The Disappearance of Philip Carson Longbottom

[Deleted]

December 24th

Phil arrived home to an empty house after getting back from the Windsor Christmas eve ball. It had been fun, more fun than he had expected it to be. He had only gone out of boredom but he was glad he had gone. Now he was just happy to be home. Where he could rest from the dancing and socializing. That peace didn’t last long as there were loud chimes from the doorbell. He wondered who would be here so late. It was almost eleven. Either way it had to be something important to be coming to their door this late. Opening the door he found Marigold standing there with a bag. “Mari.. what’s going on? I thought you were spending time with your family in America.” All of it was confusing but it wasn’t exactly a bad surprise. “We came home early and I wanted to see you, it’s a surprise!” She said with her normal warm smile. “Well, I’m definitely surprised,” Phil said walking outside the door and closing it behind him. She had been inside their house but that was after they had made sure to hide all the magic they could. Something he felt terrible about putting his family through. To hide that part of themselves.

“Listen Mari. There’s something I need to tell you,” Phil said finally finding the courage to tell her just who he was. He wasn’t supposed to, according to the law they had to wait till marriage but that just didn’t seem fair to Phil. To wait that long to finally reveal such a big secret. “Hmm? What did you do something bad?” She teased, he could tell she was just messing with him. “No.” He got out between the laughing, his mind did flash to thinking of Andy for a moment. It had nothing to do with something bad, just that he knew it still had feelings for her that he hadn’t exactly told Marigold about. “It’s nothing bad just something about me I... I couldn’t tell you or wasn’t allowed to til now. I’m still not allowed to tell you but I trust you.” Phil wasn’t as nervous as he thought he would be. “What? Now I want to know even more.”

Phil stood up straight as if it was going to give him more confidence at this moment. He had already come this far. He couldn’t exactly stop now. “I’m actually a-“ he got out before Marigold cut him off. “A wizard?” She got out, that sweet smile still in place. “H-how did you.. when.. I-“ Phil stammered out, how did she figure it out, he thought he was so careful. Why would she even guess that? She just giggled for a moment before starting to dig into her bag. “Sweet Phil, you stuck out like a sore thumb. You didn’t know so much of us muggles that I played along. It was cute to watch and you were kind of cute too. So I wasn’t in a hurry.” Marigold explained in her sweet tone which he used to like but with how she was speaking now he was rather unnerved.

Phil thought he was the one with the secrets yet... she had some of her own. “Sadly my friends got impatient, so I have to stop playing with my new toy. I did want to play a little more too.” Marigold winked after that before continuing. “Oh well.” Marigold shrugged pulled a bottle out of her bag quickly, it almost looked like a perfume bottle. Before he could react with how confused he was she quickly sprayed him in the face with it. He couldn’t exactly react now that the world around him was spinning and going dark. He could feel himself falling, the last thing he saw at that moment was Marigold's shoes. “My poor sweet Phil, you trusted the wrong person this time. they’ll be along to pick us up soon.” With those words, Phil was lost in the darkness.

[Deleted]

December 25th

Phil awoke and wasn’t sure just how much time had passed. Hours? Days? He had no way of telling what time of day it was, he just knew how sore his body felt and the pain. He was tired to a chair in a dark room. No windows or lights. He could barely see in front of him for that at matter. He wanted to shout for help but stopped himself. Shouting wouldn’t help, these people... Marigold had taken him and any shouting would just alert to them he was awake. He dropped his head once more. How could he have been so stupid, he trusted someone so fully and this is what he got for it. He slowly started to worry about his family, Marigold knew about them too. Would she go after them? Was he enough. What did they plan to do to him exactly? Why did they want a wizard if they were muggles anyway? All questions he feared the answers too.

The door swung open eventually and the lights turned on with a flash. It took a moment for Phil to adjust to the new light. There stood Marigold, not in her casual clothes he had always seen her in. These were a more dark and leathery. With two much older men behind her. “Wh-why are you-“ Phil got out, once again Marigold cut him off. He was beginning to hate that so much he thought for a brief moment. “Why are we doing this? Easy, we hate you. Well, not you exactly. I think you’re kind of cute for a monster. We hate your kind.” There was that tone, sweet as ever as she spoke. As if she kept that nice tone just to twist the knife in him a little more. He was played from the beginning, wasn’t he? He brought this on himself, he should have listened to people when they said not to trust her so quickly. He should have listened to Andy.. Andy... would she know what happened to him? Would anyone for that matter?

“What did I ever do to you, what did magical people ever do to you?” Phil asked, his voice cracked as he finally realized just how thirsty he was. He had been here for some time he could only guess. “You didn’t do anything, that’s the problem. None of you did anything for us!” One of the men finally spoke up pushing past Marigold. “All you magical people have all these gifts, you could have made everyone’s life a better place but no!” With that the man punched Phil in the chest, it hurt like hell but more so it knocked the wind out of him. He gasped for air as the man stood above him. “No, you lot kept your gifts to yourselves while we had to do everything the hard way. Watch loved ones die from illnesses that magic could cure in a second. You don’t deserve the gifts you were given. Not a single one.”

Marigold finally stepped up and spoke. “It’s no use beating him up, the doctor will be here in a few days and we don’t want to risk messing up his work.” The tone was gone now, it was cold and uncaring. She finally dropped the act and that hurt even more. “Doc-“ Phil got out between gasps, Marigold cut him off one last time. “Yes, we have a specialist coming in that we work with. Think of it like taking something apart to see just how it works. Only he’ll be taking you apart." Marigold took a step back, the cold look on her face plain to see. "We’ll get you some food and water in the meantime. So get comfy, cutie.” They all turned away and for a moment Phil was relieved. Till they turned the lights out once more. Phil had to think of a way out of here but no magic he had tried had worked so far and his hands and feet were tightly bound. He wasn’t getting out here easily if he got out at all. With only days to spare and no one knowing where he was, the hopelessness started to set in.