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As Queen Serenity IV lay dying, composing the spell to send her daughter and court onward to be reborn, she took a moment to focus on what she wanted for her daughter's future family. She wanted the new family to love their daughter and care about her, that was the most important thing. She wanted them to be able to provide for and protect her, that was next most important. She wanted them positioned well so that the Senshi could naturally find their Princess without too much maneuvering of fate, and she hoped the rest would take care of itself because she had no more life to feed the spell-weaving. If not, Luna, Artemis, and Pluto would be available to intervene where necessary.

Queen Serenity did not think to ensure that the new family would be good people, though, only loving ones.

30 June 1979

"-and she's clear. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy," the Healer said, handing the quickly cleaned and wrapped infant to the new parents.

"Good strong lungs," Bellatrix laughed as the girl began crying, only for Narcissa to quickly begin feeding her. "Good appetite, too. Have you chosen a name?"

Lucius, smiling as benevolently as he ever did, paid the Healer for the house call and asked Rodolphus to escort her from Malfoy Manor.

"Narcissa and I exchanged ideas, but we wished to wait and see if we were moved once we met her."

Narcissa hummed thoughtfully. "Open the curtains, I want to see her in moonlight, not lamplight." Bellatrix flicked her wand and it was done. In the moonlight, the babe almost seemed to glow, and her spray of blonde hair looked silvery. A thought began to pulse in Narcissa's blood, and in her bones. "Serenity. Serenity Imbrium Malfoy, until she's married."

"Possibly after, if you don't have a son for inheriting," Bellatrix reminded them with a laugh, but Narcissa huffed softly.

"Give us a few weeks and we'll be working on that," she teased with a smile to Lucius.

6 September 1979 

Berylus Heliodor Pezzottaite, rightful Queen of all she could claim, hissed in realization as she felt something give and focused her will on the accursed seal that was binding her.

The Silver Witch’s seal had kept her bound for so long she could not measure the time.

This wasn’t an exaggeration or hyperbole; upon her earliest attempts at breaching the seal, Beryl had realized it would not give until it loosened naturally, by which point her own energy may well be consumed and expended. She had been forced to rip dark energy back from the youma imprisoned with her, leaving them as sterile husks, in order to quickly weave a paling wherein time had no meaning but duration could continue (else she would have no time in which to unweave it). It was an immensely complex art, and had she erred even once Beryl knew that she may have starved before she was freed… but erred she had not.

Now, whatever circumstances had been required, something in the Silver Witch’s seal had given way and Beryl had opportunity.

And so, pitting her will against the binding that imprisoned her, Beryl brought her remaining power to bear in a single point as sharp as any spear or needle, aimed with all her rage and determination to tear a hole in the fabric of reality itself if need be.

And tear it did.

The whole of it remained, and yet the lowest, tightest bit of the weave gave way, and in her crystal ball Ball saw the night sky briefly.

She saw the silver moon dyes blood red under the influence of an eclipse, and she bared her teeth.

“Yes,” she shrieked, and for a moment Beryl tasted fresh, cold air again.

The moment passed.

Her energy dwindled, overcome by the resistance of the seal, but Beryl knew glee. It had given. She had hoarded reserves enough to get through this and try again, and again, and again. It would weaken her, but once she was free she could in time regain her strength. She could find the other seals, determine whether her generals had died or been reborn or survived in waiting. She could find the other hordes of youma that had been locked away.

She could find whether Metallia itself had survived, and what had become of its seven offspring.

And with time… with time she could reclaim everything, and all that saw the light of the sun would be at her feet.

Beryl smiled, focused upon her crystal orb, and with her small pinprick of access to the outside she began calculating how long it would take to be free.

22 May 1981

The crack of apparition was not loud enough to wake either baby in the Rookery, but the rapid pounding on the door set Luna Lovegood (aged 3 months and 11 days) to crying, which was enough for her cousin Minerva Lovegood (aged 2 years and 7 months) to join in.

Peregrina was quick enough to get her daughter and apply a quieting charm while her brother Xeno did his best to soothe his daughter, which left Pandora to get the door as she’d been having a nap on the couch.

Pandora had not slept much since Luna’s birth, since both parents agreed that silencing a crying baby was a bad thing, so Peregrina Lovegood was almost as sorry for the caller as she was grateful for her own earplugs. She conjured a few sparkles to distract Minerva and hummed a little tune as her wand produced echoes of a phoenix song melody, a trick she’d learned from her phoenix feather core.

Minerva started smiling again, showing her cute little teeth, and then Pandora cleared her throat from the doorway.

“One Sirius Black is looking for you, ‘Grina,” Pandora declared.

“You are the freelance magical creatures expert, right?” asked the man who must be Sirius Black. He certainly had the hair and the eyes of the Black family, at least, though given their predilection for the Dark Arts and likely support of You-Know-Who, Peregrina wasn’t feeling especially trusting at the moment.

“That I am,” she said cautiously.

“Great. We’ve got a Runespoor that needs urgent moving and we’re not sure how to do it safely. Can you come with me to Godric’s Hollow, please?” He was shifting anxiously, urgent to get going, but his story…

“A runespoor? Those are native to Africa, pull the other one,” she scoffed.

“Look, it’s got three head, it’s a giant snake, and there’s only one Parselmouth around who might send a magical snake sniffing around a population center to find people hiding from him, now can you bloody well come before it bites someone or breaks free?” Sirius grit out, and his agitation was enough to convince her to take the risk.

“Dora, I know how to handle runespoors, so if you don’t hear from me in thirty get into hiding,” Peregrina warned her sister-in-law. “I’ll get my gear and be right out.”

Sirius met her at the front gate and made her read a paper that he burned before they apparated: The Potter Family is hiding at House 204 in Godric’s Hollow.

“Why did you-?”

“Can’t explain, it isn’t safe but now you’re keyed into the protections,” Sirius relayed as vanished the ashes thoroughly. “We saw it in the backyard less than an hour ago but it got into the basement when James was trying to transfigure a cage for it, can we please move?”

They apparated over and Sirius led her to the house in question, where a redheaded woman in the sitting room was holding a toddler while keeping her wand ready as her husband was casting spells down from the top of the basement stairwell.

“Merlin, that was fast Sirius, Thank you for coming,” the man, James, said once Sirius had introduced her. “Lily tried stunning it but the hex bounced off its scales, and when she tried levitating it her charm couldn’t get a grip, so we switched off since I’m better at indirect magic.”

Peregrina narrowed her eyes as her instincts started cautioning her again, but she pushed onward anyway. “Runespoors aren’t supposed to be magical enough the hex would bounce, I’d expect the problem to be that you could only stun one head at a time.”

“You-Know-Who wants us dead, so I expect he enchanted this to help him,” the woman, Lily, mentioned. “When it started going inside I hit it with every finite and cancelation charm I knew in case there were tracking spells on it to locate us.”

‘That makes more sense,’ Peregrina allowed. ‘Pity that a parselmouth had to go evil, there would be so much he could accomplish… Bah, blood purity maniacs are like that.’

“Runespoors are ectothermic, so if you can keep it caged, I’ll chill the ground and air around it until it goes into a torpor.”

“Right, I’ll takes the Prongslet, Lily, you’re better with Charms so you can get the heads three-on-three,” Sirius laughed, seeming suddenly more jolly now that a solution was in sight.

Peregrina just sighed and started casting.

2 November 1981

Yesterday had been a bit harrowing, with news of the freaks showing off for some reason, like dressing up on Halloween itself wasn’t enough for them, they had to send their owls flying every which way in broad daylight and set off shooting stars like fireworks, but given how strict she remembered the laws being about keeping magic a secret—she technically hadn’t even been supposed to tell Vernon since she wasn’t a witch even though she was marrying him—Petunia Dursley née Evans felt confident that today would be calmer.

Granted, Vernon was more than a little dour what with it being Monday morning and him having to go in for work, but he’d bounced Dudley on his knee a little bit as Lita ate with her pink plastic kid’s plate and the sound of happy laughter had filled the kitchen.

Petunia had served herself and then split her time with that and feeding Dudley, Lita being a very neat eater by nature even for an almost 3-year-old, while Vernon went off to shower properly and get dressed.

They’d brought the kiddies in for family picnics that Grunnings held, so the bosses understood that he could be a bit slow in the mornings but he always made up for it in the evenings, and Petunia was making sure she had her itinerary for the day before Vernon left when she looked out the window to see a deep black Bentley Limousine pull up in front of 4 Privet Drive that she had a feeling something bigger than yesterday was happening.

“Vernon,” she called up the stairs, “Vernon, there’s a limousine up front and-! Vernon, it’s them it’s the fr-…! It’s my sister’s group dressed to look like attorneys!” She called up quickly, because while the gold lettering on the side of the limousine identified it as belonging to F.P.D. LLP (and Petunia only now realized some irony that the term “Magic Circle” was used to denote London’s 5 most successful legal firms,) Petunia had seen inside when the limousine door opened and it was definitely bigger on the inside.

The man who got out of the car certainly looked very spiffy, but also as though he’d be attending a funeral, and his long white beard made him look very much the stereotypical wizard to Petunia. The woman who accompanied him looked stiff and severe, while the man who’d driven up and opened the doors had scars and an obvious literal pegleg instead of a proper prosthetic, which was wizard fashion to a T.

Moreover, when she’d seen inside the limousine (and how the frick did those freaks get a fancy limousine with- oh, they’d probably just magicked it out of a broomstick or something,) Petunia had seen an absolute giant of a man too big to be human, too big to fit in the limousine even, which was why he probably just handed out a bassinet to the woman instead of leaving…

A bassinet. The type of thing to hold a baby.

All the freaks were acting out yesterday and Vernon thought he’d heard the Potter name and now a bunch of freaks were on her doorstep in broad daylight with the neighbors watching and a limousine to deliver a baby-

“Oh God,” Petunia breathed as Vernon stampeded down the stairs to see what was happening. “Oh God in heaven, Lily’s dead, isn’t she.”

Suffice it to say, the discussion to be had was far from happy.

6 November 1981

Catastrophe had struck less than a week ago, and the House of Black had gathered in 12 Grimmaud Place to discuss it.

The entire family, much to Walburga's displeasure.

"Is this by invitation only, or are any of the House welcome?" inquired a clean-cut man in somber robes with a cold smile.

"Leo! Get you gone from this house, blood traitor!" Walburga shrieked as she went for her wand.

"Enough!" Surprisingly, it was the quiet Irma Black (neé Crabbe) who disarmed Walburga in her grandson's defense. "Daughter, that is no way to speak with family."

"But he-,"

"Produced a daughter who has set her curtains alight with magic flames three times in as many months," Leo Black, son of Walburga's late brother Alphard, riposted. "Miyabi may be a squib, but her blood breeds true, just as several centuries of lore and tradition knew it would. Rei Black is a witch as pure as any here, And with Sirius arrested, I am the remaining male of the Black lineage in my generation."

"That you are, Leo," Arcturus allowed with a look to the smug Pollux. "Thank you for coming in these trying times, even as you've been... abroad."

"It gives me a bit of distance. Uncle Cygnus, Aunt Druella, cousin Narcissa, I come bearing other news as well," he continued smoothly.

"Is it Bellatrix, has she pled the Imperius? Can she be cleared?" Druella Black neé Rosier asked with a gasp.

"Sadly, when I spoke with the Aurors, it was clear that Bellatrix has resisted arrest, using the Killing curse against an arresting Auror after they found her and the Lestranges wielding the Cruciatus Curse on two captured aurors. She has proudly declared her service in the name of 'the Dark Lord' and there is no way to escape a life sentence. But Narcissa, you may rest easy."

"Is it Lucius?" she near-begged. He had not resisted arrest and was attempting to plea the Imperius she knew, but with Crouch heading the trials it might not work and it would cost a fortune in bribes and blackmail to succeed.

"When I arrived in Britain and learned what had assailed the family, I wondered if Bellatrix might not have had a taste for all three Unforgiveables. It cost a bit to speak with her in the holding cell, but after asking her a few questions she fessed up easily to using the Imperius on Lucius with an Auror witnessing her words. I expect he'll be released early tomorrow, and, well, it's not like Bellatrix could serve longer than life in Azkaban either way."

Narcissa did not cry but it was a close thing; she'd known there was a possibility that Serenity and Draco might grow up never remembering their father if he was convicted, but convincing Bellatrix to take the fall would never have occurred to her either."

His cold politician's smile still affixed, Leo Black turned to the rest of the family. "It was a surprise to me too, but the arresting aurors are reporting that Sirius Black admitted to casting that explosive curse yesterday, and Crouch is petitioning the Wizengamot for a Bill of Pains and Penalties since they want to save time and money with all the trials they'll be holding already."

"I wouldn't have expected it of him," Arcturus admitted as Walburga sank unsteadily into an armchair. Her one son had apparently died in the Dark Lord's service, and now the disappointment had been a spy all along only to be imprisoned for life. Orion was dead so she'd have no more children, and her line was at an end.

"I- I believe I need to lie down," Walburga managed, "but please, the hospitality of Grimmaud Place remains open to... to all of you." With her mother accompanying her for support, Walburga left the room quietly.

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Narcissa had been a sharp but genuinely charming little girl when she attended Hogwarts, and he'd awarded her no few points for her Transfiguration skill. It was always such a shame, who some children chose to become, and such a joy if they chose to be better.

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23 July 1990

For Serenity’s 11th birthday at the end of June, Lucius had sponsored a week-long trip to Switzerland for his children and Serenity’s best friend, Molly. They’d spent two days skiing in a wizarding resort (where Serenity fell repeatedly), they’d gone horse-back riding, they’d gone boating on Lake Geneva, Serenity had gotten to eat herself sick with chocolate three times (thank you, digestive potions), they’d gotten to ride some granians through the sky, and Serenity had the opportunity to take a private tour of first Brillantmont International School and then TASIS to see if she’d like attending.

Neither parent had mentioned the word squib, and Serenity had said that Brillantmont would be brilliant if Hogwarts didn’t want her, though she’d also shown interest in the arts programs at TASIS, but her assumption that she’d be getting a letter had been clear.

Lucius and Narcissa had shared a long look and resolved to wait until August to bring up the inevitable, as acceptance needed to occur by 31 July.

In the meanwhile, Narcissa had been quizzing her daughter on the steps of potion ingredient preparation and on her various studies (her competence remained as sporadic as ever,) while Lucius threw himself into politicking and dropping seething commentary about Dumbledore so that no one would be surprised when Serenity went off to Castelobruxo.

As a result, neither parent was particularly paying attention to the mail that morning over breakfast, not until Serenity asked when they’d be going to Diagon alley to pick up her school supplies. Lucius had been slipping Luna a kipper, and nearly missed it, while Narcissa had been formulating a socially acceptable response when she saw the envelope and the emerald ink it was written in.

Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black, nearly swallowed her own tongue before she snatched the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter from Serenity’s hands.

She read it over.

“Lucius…?” She shared a look with her husband as Serenity bounced in her seat.

“Can it be today, pleeeease? I really want to buy a wand and start learning spells,” Serenity pleaded, sounding for all the world as though she were unaware that Narcissa and Lucius had quietly been teaching Draco some jinxes and hexes with ancestral wands since he had turned seven.

Draco was quickly distracted from his own open-mouthed surprise (he’d known the general expectations ever since he was old enough to ask why his sister wasn’t learning a hex or a jinx with him,) by Luna nudging him with a meow to beg for scraps.

Blinking her wide eyes hopefully at her parents, Serenity waited for an answer.

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow and make a day of it, Serenity,” Narcissa judged. “I’m afraid your father has governor business at Hogwarts today that may take up an indeterminate amount of time-,” Code for Lucius going to ensure that this wasn’t a particularly nasty trick which would see his daughter outed publicly as a squib like with Angus Buchanan back in the 1800s. “-but I’ll be free this evening and can sit for that sketch you’ve been wanting to make for me.”

Visual arts, especially drawing, was a hobby of Serenity’s that her parents were happy to encourage after a bit of research had turned up that while a squib couldn’t enchant a wizarding portrait to move they could still play a part in painting it in the first place and later work to physically restore it involved little or no magic.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Serenity cheered.

“Settle down and mind your table manners,” Lucius reminded her, but a part of him was dancing in glee as well to have two magical children.

If this was some manipulation by Dumbledore, he may well kill the old fool then and there.

… … …

Lucius returned in time for dinner, complimented his daughter’s sketch of Narcissa after he swept her into his arms, and assured both children that they’d be off to Diagon Alley after breakfast the next morning.

He and Narcissa shut themselves up in a drawing room, and before he began speaking, Lucius had Dobby remove Luna from under a couch as well.

Narcissa had already guessed his news, and was pouring them both a bit of bubbly to celebrate.

“She’s a witch,” Narcissa breathed in relief as four years of stress and anxiety seemed to slide off her shoulders.

“She’s a witch. She been… Merlin, Narcissa, the Book of Admittance dates when students are accepted, and Serenity has been on the rolls since she was six. Literally her sixth birthday, the Quill wrote her in,” he reflected, downing his glass and pouring another. After having to talk circles around Dumbledore to take a look at the Book without explaining why, he had a headache and a half.

“That was when she-? Wait, Luna. You put her out of the room.”

“That was when she brought back Luna from the alley, declaring her a familiar like in some fantasy story. My best bet is a bit of natural legilimency geared to animals instead of humans if she wasn’t pretending when she said Luna talked to her, but I don’t want her listening in if so.”

“A bit late for that,” Narcissa noted, reflecting with new eyes on all the conversations Luna had been privy to. “If she could spy on through Luna, we’d have known by now. But the way she can often find me when I’m feeling grim to give a hug, some form of empathy is likely.” Narcissa chuckled. “Watch her get a Silver Lime wand tomorrow. Oh, Lucius, our daughter is getting a wand tomorrow, she’s going to Hogwarts!” Smiling, they toasted again and drank down another glass.

24 July 1990

It had been a fun day for Serenity, who was more than a little smug that yes, she was a witch, she had Luna for a familiar and everything and she would be going to Hogwarts to learn magic just like her Mama and Papa had done!

Her parents had been extremely happy, in their polite-porcelain-manners way, buying her pretty much anything she’d wanted for school supplies, though most what she actually wanted her sweets and pretty robes or accessories.

Still, a set of fancy quills and colorful inks, along with some painting supplies and a trunk with three partitioned locks, was nothing at all to scoff at!

Luna of course would be her pet, rather than any owl, no matter how useful they were for carrying post, so either she’d write them with a school owl or they’d send Diogenes to her with a letter and she’d write back.

And now they were her, at Ollivander’s, for her wand.

Papa strode through the door, and Mama nudged her to follow.

“We are here to find a wand for my daughter,” Papa declared.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” Serenity added politely, because Mama had made her memorize the names of the Sacred 28 (even if she could only recall about 20 reliably,) and Ollivander was a name on the list.

“Serenity Malfoy, it is a pleasure.” The old man who stepped out had pale, luminous eyes that reminded Serenity of her own when she looked in a mirror late at night. Actually, they reminded her of Luna’s eyes too. “Lucius Malfoy, elm and the heartstring of a Welsh Green from your family’s reserve. An elegant wand, stiff but excellent for aim when dueling. And Mrs. Narcissa, fir with the tailfeather of a Phoenix from western China, a nest high in the mountains; excellent for learning a wide variety of magic, but with no particular specialty in a specific field. I trust they both are still serving you well.”

“Your products have distinguished themselves throughout our lives, which is why we brought Serenity here for her wand,” Narcissa agreed.

“Well then, I shall not disappoint you in the least,” he promised. “Your wand hand, young lady?” She presented her right hand and giggled as he measured it before—like many tailors—leaving the measuring tape to do its own thing as he bustled around the piles of boxes. “Let us begin by seeing whether you favor either parent, then. Elm to start, then the fir tree.”

The elm wand felt wrong immediately, and he took it away as soon as she wrinkled her nose. The fir wand seemed like she was dragging it through sand, and got no response in the least.

Next they tried a sycamore wand, which made Serenity giggle and Draco guffaw as it released a sound like a fart (though her cheeks were also burning a bit), followed by maple and phoenix feather which released a puff of smoke.

Red Oak once again got nothing when she swished it, a Rowan wand produced a buzzing sound at least, and then spruce was once more snatched away almost immediately.

They went through a dozen wands, and Serenity was beginning to wonder if they’d be making something bespoke for her (which happened occasionally, she’d heard,) when a flick of a vine wand dragged three boxes from a distant corner with such force that they nearly beaned Ollivander in the skull.

She squeaked in mortification as Draco laughed again, and then she glared at her brother as Mama put a hand on his shoulder and he muttered an apology.

“Hmm…” Ollivander mused, eyeing the boxes in his arms with some confusion. “It is true that vine wood is the most sensitive to matches, though I’ve never seen of them play matchmaker for other wands. Still, it is worth the attempt, however galling.”

“Galling, Mr. Ollivander?” Lucius queried as the old man put away the vine wand and handed Serenity one of the three boxes.

“These wands were not made by me, personally, Mr. Malfoy. My father made them, possibly before I was even born, though I’ve never had the heart to throw them away when they haven’t sold. Applewood and kneazle whiskers,” he told Serenity. “Give it a wave.”

She passed her wand through the twirling motion her mother used when decorating the ballroom or doing other household things, and a distant musical note sounded.

“Maybe. Let us try all three,” Ollivander decided. “Pear wood and mooncalf sinew.”

Serenity took it, and immediately felt warm, as though she were being hugged by a dear friend she never knew. “This one,” she said immediately even as she raised it aloft.

She pointed at the ceiling in a grand gesture, and the ceiling rippled, shifting. For a moment, they were looking at the night sky instead of wooden beams, with the light of the stars and the full moon dripping down on them.

Then the moment ended, but Serenity kept smiling.

“That is the wand for you indeed, Miss Malfoy,” Ollivander agreed. “Pear wood wands favor owners who are popular and well-respected, though they tend to handle dark magic poorly and it takes some skill to duel with them. I expect you’ll make many friends in your time at Hogwarts.”

Serenity beamed at him.

1 September 1990

In an ideal world, the first day of Hogwarts for his firstborn would have been a day of great pride and ceremony for Lucius Malfoy. When he’d first imagined the day dawning in the summer of 1979, he had imagined a young lady as elegant as Narcissa, secure in the certainty of defending her person with a few curses he’d previously taught her, gliding onto the train with her trunk to make friends and allies for the grand future ahead of them.

He'd imagined words of solemnity and last-minute advice, he’d imagined subtle exchanges of support, and he’d imagined….

Well. He certainly hadn’t imagined how difficult it was to get Serenity anywhere in good time, or her slapdash packing. He made a note as they hurried through the floo to have Dobby iron his ears for not hearing Lucius’s proper instructions and letting Serenity fuss about with extraneous things.

They arrived with perhaps minutes to spare, not sped on by the fact that Draco had taken ill with Hinkypunk Fever two days before and was vomiting with Narcissa to watch over him, and the grand sendoff was to be rather rushed as a result.

His daughter had her wand, but she could not cast a single hex as yet. Her clothes were rumpled with haste, her hair was in the ridiculous twin buns that she liked to wear (which neither he nor Narcissa had the heart to stop, especially as there was one ancestral portrait of Ira Malfoy who wore the same style in the Manor), her trunk was too stuffed to close properly, and she had started to cry as they said their goodbyes while hugging.

It wasn’t exactly as though he wanted to make his daughter stop hugging him, certainly. It was technically undignified, but Serenity hiding her face in his cloak while crying was a step up from some of her past behavior.

And of course, he couldn’t be cross with her when he was sending his witch daughter off to Hogwarts instead of shipping a squib off to some muggle school.

Still…

“I’m afraid, dear princess, that the train will leave without you soon,” he warned. He could get sharper with her if need be, but that seemed to be the prompt that saw her attempting to detach from him and handle her trunk onto the Hogwarts Express.

“Love you, Papa,” she said as she struggled with the trunk, and he reflected on whether he should help her with the weight (it was an unofficial rite of passage from his childhood to get it on the train with only her own effort or those of her allies, to symbolize growing up,) and whether he should try reminding her to call him Father in public or not when a young man intervened.

“First year?” He was a well-cut young man already dressed in his Hogwarts uniform, minus the robes, and Lucius noted him as being a 3rd- or 4th-year Ravenclaw (to judge from the tie). “I don’t suppose you’re Andrew’s friend? Renee? He has a picture of you eating a sundae,” the young man added as he slipped around her, eyeing Lucius and waiting for permission to handle Serenity’s trunk as was proper.

Serenity perked up at the name. “Andrew Fortescue? Yeah, we’re friends!”

“I know which car he’s in, if you need a hand meeting up,” the young man offered, and Lucius nodded permission for him to take the other handle.

“Thank you, thank you!” Unfortunately, Serenity’s exuberance was a bit much, and the trunk twisted in a way that made its lid-

“Minum Incarcera,” the young man quickly incanted, prompting a spray of twine instead of ropes to wind around the trunk and secure it shut.

Lucius notched up his approval: the young man was polite, quick, and competent with a wand. It was too early to think of pairings—arranged marriages had gone out in the 1800s, thank the stars—but he’d want to make a note of the young man’s name and family, assuming Serenity remembered to ask for it.

“Thanks so much,” his daughter sighed, sounding embarrassed enough to know how nearly an incident had been avoided.

“Andrew’s this way,” was all the young man replied

The whistle blew, and the Hogwarts Express finally began to move.

“Bye Papa, I love you! I’ll write soon!”

Lucius Malfoy smiled faintly despite himself and waved back until his daughter, and the train, had passed out of sight.

1 September 1990

“It’s a tradition that first-years don’t know how the Sorting works, so they don’t write it in any books we’re likely to read,” Molly Baker explained to the girl she was sharing a compartment with. Amy Anderson was apparently a muggleborn witch and a fellow first-year student, and she had a lot of questions once she’d gotten over her shyness. “My mom was in Slytherin and Dad was in Gryffindor, but they’ve said we’ll be Sorted where we fit and we shouldn’t ever be ashamed of our House. Everyone goes through it, so it isn’t painful or anything,” she promised.

“I didn’t think it would be… unpleasant,” Amy hedged, though her face said otherwise. “Still, I… well, I hope I get into Ravenclaw. You?”

“I think I could fit anywhere,” Molly demurred, glancing out the window again. They were moving now, which meant either Serenity was on the train or she’d be arriving some other way or something. Andrew Fortescue had mentioned that the Hogwarts Express only started in 1830, so it was allowed to arrive at Hogwarts some other ways, but Molly’s mom also taught her that the train ride was for making friends and meeting people.

Molly wasn’t planning to go down the train introducing herself, which had apparently been the style when Susan Prewett and Nathan Baker were students, but she’d settled herself down and was on the way to making one new friend.

Speaking of friends…

“Ooh, Serenity! Glad you made it on,” Molly called as she caught a trademark blonde hairstyle going down the hall and opened their compartment door. “We’ve got plenty of room, just two in here, you know?”

Serenity lit up in relief and the older boy helped get her trunk situated on the rack over their heads.

“Thankyouverymuch for your help,” Serenity babbled out in one breath. “I’m Serenity Malfoy, and it was nice to meet you.”

“Darien Shields, and I’m always happy to help a friend of Andrew’s,” he chuckled as they quickly shook hands. “I’ll tell him hello from you?”

“Yes please!” Darien went down the train, Molly closed the door, and Serenity turned to Amy with an excited look on her face. “Hi there!”

“Um.” Amy, a true wallflower, half-wilted in the face of enthusiasm, but luckily Molly knew just what to do.

“Serenity Malfoy, this is Amy Anderson, a fellow first-year. We started talking because she’s got a book with some really pretty pictures about Egyptian burial masks and ancient Inca headdresses and there’s even something about the dark side of the moon, the side facing away from us.”

“Oh wow, that’s really neat! It’s nice to meet you, Amy, can you show us, please? Papa gave me a big allowance so I can buy us things off the trolley in trade,” Serenity requested. “Oh! Whoops, sorry, I need to… you don’t mind cats, do you?”

“Serenity, did you stick poor Luna in your purse?” Molly accused with a laugh. Granted, the pouch was expanded on the inside, but Serenity insisted on bringing Luna everywhere she could. Which wasn’t to say that the cat was ill-behaved, Luna comported herself very well, but really….

“Uh-huh! Amy, this is Luna, my familiar,” Serenity introduced as she drew out Luna.

Molly had half a mind to assure Amy that familiars as they appeared in fiction weren’t actually a thing in wizarding culture, but that might give away to Serenity that Amy was muggleborn.

Granted, Serenity wouldn’t care as far as Molly knew, but not caring meant that Serenity wouldn’t keep it secret from her father either, and Molly’s mother had taught her enough about politicking to know that was unlikely to end well.

“Um. Hello?” Amy held her hand out to sniff, and Luna began purring.

“I guess you’ve got the moon cat seal of approval,” Molly declared.

“Moon cats? Like Mooncalves?”

“No, Serenity just calls her a moon cat and named her Luna because she’s got the crescent of white fur on her forehead.”

“I call her Luna because it’s her name, she said so herself,” Serenity insisted. Molly still wasn’t sure if Serenity actually believed that Luna talked to her, or if it was just fun pretend, but it wasn’t anything worth arguing about.

They rearranged to sandwich Amy and her colorful book—muggles apparently were getting better at printing and photography, Molly reflected, even if none of the pictures were moving—between them while Amy kept a hand free to pet Luna.

And that was pretty much how they spent the next two hours until the trolley arrived, Amy giving them impromptu lessons on whatever the encyclopedia covered as the other two cooed their amazement.

1 September 1990

Lita Dursley did her best to swallow her anxiety as she stood by Platforms 9 and 10 alongside her mother. She really wished her father could be there, but he was keeping her brothers (Harry was as good as, even if he was legally her cousin,) occupied and away, and her mother had volunteered to take her since she’d been with Aunt Lily when they were her age.

Today was a Saturday, so it wasn’t as crowd with rush hour commuters, but it had really hit Lita that she was going to be going away for months on end, now, no turning back, leaving behind all her familiarities of home…

“Ahoy, matey. Fellow firstie for Hogwarts?”

It was a girl’s voice, but it was pitched dramatically low, like she was trying to imitate a pirate or something. Lita turned.

“Prithee, dear gentlewomen, are you need of assistance?” asked the man pushing a trolley with two girls. He was blond and wearing golden-yellow clothes that honestly looked a little eye-watering, but help was help.

“That…” Lita’s mother, Petunia, didn’t seem enthusiastic, but Lita was all for any port in a storm (not that storms were a bad thing, she really loved dancing in the rain with her bare feet in the backyard’s grass during summer thunderstorms).

“Oh, please. Professor McGonagall said we’d just walk through to get on the Platform, but it’s a bit worrying. Does it matter which wall we push through?” Lita asked.

“Not a clue!” the girl with a red ribbon in her hair declared proudly. “Uncle Xeno?”

“I do believe it does, as they put dust bins next to two of the walls so there’d be fewer mistakes. Or it might be so that people can feed the Mackedons their waste before they get to the travel area, never nice to travel with trash weighing on you. Still, cheerio! Luna, might you want to go first and show our friends how to?”

“Yes, daddy,” agreed the younger girl, who rushed off and disappeared through the bricks.

“Right. Thank you,” Petunia said stiffly as they followed the blonde three through the portal.

The other side, Platform 9 and 3/4, was amazing with people in robes, a bunch of cages with owls (Vernon and Petunia had nixed getting Lita a pet), and so many amazing things, not least of which was a shiny scarlet steam engine at the head of the train.

“Behold, the Hogwarts Express,” the man said grandly. Then he turned to the older girl and began speaking more quietly, so Lita took the opportunity to say goodbye with her own mum.

“Love you, Mum,” she muttered, giving Petunia a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Petunia hugged her back as tightly as Lita could remember being hugged, and then said, “If anything goes wrong, write, and we’ll bring you straight back while I yell at the- at the teachers until I’m hoarse, okay? You’re not a freak, Lita. You’re a good girl, and I expect you’ll be good at anything you put your mind to. Take care.”

Petunia kissed her, they hugged again, and Lita got on the train.

The blonde girl with the red ribbon got into the same compartment.

“I’m Mina Lovegood, by the way. I don’t think we did names, right?”

“Lita Dursley. Thanks. For helping, showing us on. Um.” Lita thought back a moment, unsure about whether fashion or sports teams were the same with magic, but she knew they had one point of similarity. “You live with your uncle?”

“Only for the last week, because mum’s busy in Borneo with some acromantula outbreak. She wouldn’t want me anywhere near that either way,” Mina said, “but it also meant she definitely couldn’t be here to see me off, so Uncle Xeno and Luna took me on. You?”

“I live with my cousin too. I mean, that was my mom, but Harry lives with us ever since he was little so he and Dudley are both my brothers, really. Um.”

Mina burst out laughing and Lita cringed, but it didn’t sound like mean laughter.

“I’m sorry you lost family. I think my dad died in the last war, but mom never really talks about him. Though if you’re muggleborn, you probably didn’t lose family in the last war… Well, we’ve been wix going way back for a while, so if you’ve any questions I’m your girl!”

“What’s acromantula, is it a disease?” Lita wondered, because she was imagining an outbreak like HIV that was killing people, they were all lying in a hospital groaning with discolored sores…

“They’re giant tarantula-spiders that eat people,” Mina answered with a grin, and that was worse than Lita’d been imagining. “Gross, huh?”

“Y-yeah. Um. There aren’t any in Britain, right?” Granted, Lita could handle spiders, she got rid of them when her father wasn’t around, but spiders big enough to eat people?

No thank you.

“No worries, they’re really more jungle creatures, and transporting them across countries is a crime,” Mina assured her. “Mom is a big name in nature and magical creatures, so she’s called in all over the place for consulting things.”

“That’s cool. Mum mostly just stays home, since raising three kids is a full-time job just like dad’s is making drills.”

“Drills?”

“You use them to drill holes in wooden beams or walls for building things, piping and electricity?” Lita managed. She didn’t actually know much about what they were used for, really.

“Ooh, electricity! I’ve seen that when we’re staying in hotels, especially when Mum was consulting with MACUSA! I heard it’s like tame lightning, but can you tell me how it works?” Mina asked eagerly.

1 September 1990

Rei Black checked that the people in the compartment were about her age, took a deep breath as she mentally chanted a mantra to center herself, and knocked.

“Hello,” she said, “my name is Rei Black. My father said I should go down the train and introduce myself.” The English was a bit uncomfortable in her throat after roughly three years of mostly-Japanese, but she needed all the practice she could get.

The three boys were apparently in the year above her—a set of redheaded twins and a black friend—but they were as generally welcoming as everyone else had been so far, so that was good.

Rei knew she was awkward and quick to anger. Her jiji had been helping her get better and she hadn’t set anything on fire for several months even if her dreams were still weird, but she was painfully aware that being away in Japan hadn’t made her any friends here and she didn’t really remember anyone she knew well from before. No one she’d seen or met so far, at least.

Rei found another compartment with people her age. She introduced herself. She moved on.

Rei found a compartment with everyone much older than her. She skipped it.

Rei found a compartment with three boys her age, two of whom were wearing thick, ugly glasses. She was the type to get angry instead of mocking people, so she just introduced herself and didn’t comment much.

Rei found a compartment with girls who didn’t look stereotypically British (white), and they were nice enough, but she wasn’t into Quidditch the way Chang and Bell were so she didn’t have much to talk about with them. Edgecombe seemed all right, as did Won, but…

Rei moved on.

Rei passed a compartment that had some charms obscuring the window in.

Rei passed a compartment that was all older students.

Rei introduced herself to a compartment of people her age and above, but they were full up so she didn’t stay long.

Rei found a compartment with three girls and a cat huddled around a large book. And a lot of candy wrappers. She didn’t think she’d stay long here, either, even if it was nearing the end of the train.

Rei knocked. Rei entered. Rei introduced herself.

“COUSIN!”

Rei got tackle-hugged by an enthusiastic blonde.

It was… warm? The blonde smelled nice, at least. But what?

“Who are you?”

“Serenity Malfoy! Mama is Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, so that makes us cousins through Grandfather Cygnus and Great-Grandpa Pollux!” The blonde chirped happily. “It’s so good to meet you, come in and have a sweet! Amy was just telling us about thermal-dyna-mix that her tutors taught her about, it sounds really cool!”

Rei was pretty sure she was missing something in the conversation, but she ended up on a seat with the other girls smiling and a cat in her lap and some candy being offered.

And, well, she could move, but they were friendly, plus she had a cat in her lap, and their family’s cat Aconite never liked being moved either.

“You’re related?” asked the girl holding the book, whose dark hair seemed to gleam blue in the evening sunlight.

“A lot of the old families are related. I have too much trouble keeping track of my own cousins to remember anyone else’s though,” the redhead said.

“I… do not know your names,” Rei managed, really wishing she could switch back to Japanese.

“I’m Serenity Malfoy! This is Molly Baker and Amy Anderson, and Luna in your lap!” The cat began purring, so Rei started cautiously petting it. “She likes you!” To the dark-haired girl, Serenity added, “My grandpa and her grandpa are brothers.”

“Second cousins,” the redhead said decisively.

“Yes,” Rei agreed as her mind caught up with everything. Then, “Wait, are you Draco Malfoy’s sister?”

“Uh-huh,” Serenity affirmed to Rei’s disbelief.

She’d met Draco Malfoy before. Repeatedly. He’d been a bit of a ponce and a berk before, and his parents had been pretty stern, so Rei wasn’t certain how they had produced Serenity.

‘Then again… Why haven’t we met? I think she was either sick or traveling all the times previously, but if it was because she couldn’t behave without embarrassing them…’ “I’m glad you’re not sick,” Rei said carefully.

“Sick?” Serenity wondered.

“I think you were sick when your brother and Aunt Narcissa came… c-came over to meet my brother.” ‘Came over after my mother died. Nonono stop. Hi-fu-mi-yo-i-mu-na-ya-ko-to-mo-chi-ro-ra…’ Rei took a moment to breathe and mentally recite the Hi-fu-mi norito, so that her anger would not control her.

In her lap, Luna purred, and she thought she felt a rough cat’s tongue lick her finger.

Rei felt a little better, until she opened her eyes to find the three girls staring at her.

Trying not to blush or feel embarrassment, Rei said, “Is that a cauldron cake?”

“With strawberry cream! All yours,” Serenity affirmed. Rei shoved it rudely in her mouth for the sake of not talking. To her gratitude, the redheaded girl seemed to take the hint.

“Amy was telling us about some muggle science, the laws of thermal-dynamix. I’m not sure it’s all right, but it sounded interesting, like Gamp’s Laws of Elemental Transfiguration. You were saying?”

“Ah. Right,” Amy murmured, looking down at the illustrated book in her hand again. “I think there’s wording for the laws that are more complicated for more advanced students, but the first law says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be moved or changed.”

“But when you strike a match, aren’t you creating flame? That’s energy, right?” Serenity wondered.

“Fire is, um, thermal energy and radiant energy, heat and light,” Amy agreed. “But it’s not being created, it’s being changed from chemical energy.”

“Oh, like the chemicals on the match head you strike,” Molly cheered. “That’s what burns, because you won’t get flame if you strike the butt of a match.”

“Butts,” Serenity giggled quietly.

“How do muggles make the chemicals, then?” Rei wondered. “They can’t brew potions, but mo- my family has said that muggle chemicals and technology are advanced, so what do they do to trap the flame for later?”

“I’m not sure about all that, but a match doesn’t just work on chemical energy, I think it also involves kinetic energy,” Amy said, looking at a diagram in the book.

“What’s kinetic energy, is it the sunlight in the wood from when the tree was growing?” Serenity wondered.

“No, I think that’s chemical energy.” Amy frowned at her book. “Here it is. ‘Through photosynthesis, plants turn radiant energy, sunlight, into nutritional sugars, which are chemical energy.’”

“Sugar is chemical energy? Does that mean it’s healthy?” Serenity wondered, munching on some ice mice.

“Andrew does complain that kids get hyper with too much energy if they try to eat a whole sundae,” Molly reminisced.

“I’m not sure chemical energy is any more healthy than fire is,” Amy said.

“We cook food and warm our houses with fire,” Rei objected on behalf of the sacred fire in her jiji’s shrine.

“Yes, but we don’t want too much of it too close to us or we’ll get burned,” Amy argued before she turned back to her illustrated book. “Kinetic energy is movement, it says. It takes force and effort and energy to strike a match. That energy is converted into heat to make the flame.” She frowned. “I guess because it takes more energy to strike a match against the box instead of wave it through the air, so there’s more heat?”

“Like how we rub our hands together really quickly when we’re cold?” Serenity guessed.

“Yes, exactly. That’s called friction. The energy you use to move doesn’t go away, it turns into heat.”

That caught Rei’s attention. “Is it possible to reverse it? To make things move when they’re on fire and put out the fire?” Her magic set things on fire. Fire was dangerous, especially when her wand required ‘exceptional self-control and strength of mind’. If instead of fire she could make her magic move things like normal accidental magic did…

“Like stop, drop, and roll?” Amy wondered, before she shook her head. “No, wait, I see what you mean.”

“What’s stop, drop, and roll?” Molly wondered.

“Fire safety,” Amy told her with a sigh. “Do you mean that if something is hot or on fire, you could make it move around instead?”

“Isn’t that how it normally works? You blow on a match or wave it around so it stops burning,” Serenity observed.

“You can’t really blow on a person or a tree to put them out,” Rei countered bitterly as Amy seemed to consider what Serenity proposed. ‘That birthday party… or if I’d hurt my brother…’

“I’m not sure, but I’m also not sure how it works with magic,” Amy admitted. “If I try to light a candle with a spell, does it pull heat from somewhere else or does it turn the magic into heat?”

“Papa puts heating charms on my coat when we’re out and it’s cold,” Serenity opined, “so I think it’s turning magic into heat.”

“That sounds right to me. If you made a really big fire with magic, would somewhere else have to freeze? It wouldn’t,” Rei asserted.

“But energy can’t be destroyed. If you cast a cooling charm to make water freeze, what happens to the heat?” Amy put out.

“I’m not sure how it works with magic,” Molly said, “but without magic, if you wanted to cool off some hot water, you’d stir it around and blow on it, wouldn’t you?”

“Like soup or tea! Oh, but that wouldn’t ever cool it enough to freeze, and Mama froze a glass of water with a spell once,” Serenity remembered.

It was the beginning of an interesting conversation and a set of lasting friendships.

Chapter Text

1 September 1990

Serenity stayed behind a moment as the other three went out into the crowd of students.

“Luna, do you want to stay here or come with me?”

Luna batted at the air once in thought. “I’ll stay here with your things, Serenity. You’re growing up and you don’t need me around so much anymore.”

“I’ll always need my friends with me, silly,” Serenity giggled. “See you!”

“Do tell me how it goes,” Luna agreed.

Serenity hopped out of the train after making sure she had her wand with her and caught up pretty quickly to her friends. There was a big man calling for all the First Years to gather up by him, and when the rest of the students had gone out the main exit of the station, he led them down a different path to the lake.

The water was eerily smooth and still, and luckily it was four kids to a boat so their compartment got to fit together. There was no wind and no rowing as the boats took them across the water, but it just preserved the majesty when they rounded a rocky cliff and saw Hogwarts.

It was vast and old and beautiful, and it took Serenity’s breath away even as Rei murmured something quiet and Molly squealed joyfully.

The big man, who’d called himself Rubeus Hagrid, led their boats silently under a curtain of ivy, to a little stone dock. They all got out nervously—Serenity found herself holding Amy’s hand—and together they lined up in the flickering torchlight by an ancient door.

Serenity knew she’d learned a bit about history and about how houses and castles were constructed, but she wasn’t remembering anything that applied to this unless it was supposed to be a servant’s door or a secret getaway tunnel.

Mr. Hagrid knocked twice.

The woman who opened it promptly might have been her mother’s age, serenity thought, or might have been twice that; she was the type of woman who seemed weathered but not weakened, like stone worn smooth by the wind and waves.

“Firs’ years are here fer ya, Professor McGonagall.”

“Thank you, Hagrid. Do go take your seat, I will handle them,” she invited, and Hagrid trudged past her into the building. “Follow me.”

Professor McGonagall led them into the building, up a different flight of stairs than Hagrid had taken, through a great hall that at least rivaled Malfoy Manor’s entry, and into a waiting chamber, through which the first-years could hear the murmur of many voices from nearby.

Serenity found herself still holding Amy’s hand, but Amy didn’t seem to mind.

“Welcome,” declared McGonagall soberly, “to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Before the start of term banquet, you will be Sorted into your Houses, where you will stay in your time here. Each House is like a second family, and all four houses—Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—have produced exceptional witches and wizards throughout history. You will eat at the house table during feasts, you will sleep in your house dormitories, you will spend much free time in your house’s common room, and you will take classes with your house.

“Each year, the Houses compete to win points for an end-of-year house championship. Exceptional classwork and demonstrations of virtuous behavior will earn you house points, while misbehavior or lacking work will see points deducted from your house’s total score. At the end of the year, the winning House will be awarded the House Cup, a great honor.

“I will return shortly to escort you in for the Sorting Ceremony. You only get one opportunity to make a first impression, so I adivse you take the chance to smarten up your appearances as necessary,” Professor McGonagall finished, eyeing a boy with smudged glasses and the way Serenity’s left hair bun had come loose. “Until then, please wait quietly.”

She departed not through the door with the murmuring, but back the way they’d came, which Serenity figured meant that they shouldn’t be sneaking peeks.

“Can someone help me with my hair please?”

“Capillus conversari,” declared a blonde with a red ribbon in her hair as Serenity’s hair neatened up to behave in its bun. “There! Mina Lovegood, beauty specialist at your service!”

“Thanks! Serenity Malfoy, sweets lover at yours.” They shook hands quickly.

“Shh!” A boy chided.

““Sorry,”” both girls apologized, but they were quickly drowned out by several shrieks.

“Ooh, ghosts! Nice to meet you, hi, hello there!” Serenity called as a swarm of pearly-white figures swept through the wall.

“First years, pleasure to meet you,” called a fat little monk with a wave.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” greeted a woman in a gray dress with a faint smile. “Don’t worry, the Sorting isn’t painful or scary.”

“I hope to see some of you in Gryffindor. My old house,” said a cheery man wearing a sword.

“Is that a real sword, sir?” Serenity wondered.

“As real as the rest of me,” he chuckled.

“Form a line, first years,” Professor McGonagall instructed as she returned. They ghosts waved—only Serenity waved back, earning her a Look from the teacher to line up—and the kids quickly got into some rough order.

McGonagall led them into the Great Hall, lit by thousands of candles floating through the air and the gibbous moon in the sky, which confused Serenity for a moment before she saw the outline of ceiling arches and remembered the enchantment she’d been told about.

The students came to a stop as McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in a cleared bit of floor between the student tables and the staff table, and then a hat atop it.

The hat itself was bigger than would fit on her head, Serenity thought, and it was patched and frayed but it also looked extremely well taken care of.

Then it twitched, the fabric folded into a face, and the hat began to sing.

“A millennium past on winding road,

Did Gryffindor and Ravenclaw meet.

He helped her out with no debt owed,

To a place to rest her feet.

Kind Hufflepuff she took them in,

To soothe all worries and fears;

When they relayed the saddest tales,

Sly Slytherin was all ears.

They aimed to set the world aright,

So the young might safely grow,

And so they toiled day and night,

With learning’s seeds to sow.

Bold Gryffindor her took all those,

Who rushed on forth to fight;

Wise Ravenclaw, she had a nose,

For studiers day and night;

Grand Slytherin, he took such dreamers,

Who aimed to reach the sky;

And Hufflepuff took firm believers,

That all should be safe and dry.

If you would face down darkest fears,

If you would dare to dream,

If you seek answers all your years,

If you weave yourself a team,

Then put me on and worry not,

For I’ll see where you go!

Yes I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,

I’ve seen it all, you know!

Come one, come all, I’ll see your heart,

I’ll send you where you’ll fit!

I’ll sort you into House four,

As your characters permit!”

Serenity quickly started clapping when the hat finished, its last note echoing off the walls, and she wasn’t the only one to applaud.

The clapping quieted when Professor McGonagall stepped up with a roll of parchment.

“When I call your name, you will come put the Sorting Hat on your head and sit on the Stool to be Sorted into your House. Anderson, Amy!”

“Good luck,” Serenity called cheerily as Amy went up.

She put the hat on her head and they were all waiting until about a minute later, the face appeared and called out, “RAVENCLAW!”

The table in blue and bronze began to cheer as Amy put the hat back and went to join them.

“Bagnold, Herman!” A boy with big glasses—not the boy who was Molly’s friend Melvin, either—scurried up to the hat.

“RAVENCLAW!”

“Bainbridge, Tabitha!”

“SLYTHERIN!” the hat declared, and Serenity made sure to join the green table in clapping for her parents’ old House (which she knew they’d love to see her in, but who knew what the Hat would say).

“Baker, Margaret!”

“Go Molly,” Serenity cheered happily as her oldest friend (who was human, though she thought she’d known Molly longer than Luna, probably,) headed to the hat.

This time it took about three minutes before the hat declared, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

Serenity clapped and cheered along with the yellow table as Molly joined them.

She’d been expecting her cousin Rei to go up next, but apparently they had a lot of B-names this year, since Pete Balsall became the first Gryffindor, Marcus Belby went to Ravenclaw, and Katherine Bell joined Gryffindor as well before McGonagall called, “Black, Rei!”

The hat took about twenty seconds to declare Rei a “GRYFFINDOR!” It made Serenity a bit sad, since she couldn’t be in two houses at once, but they’d be together all seven years anyway, she hoped, so it wouldn’t matter.

“Butlers, Melvin!”

“You go,” Serenity called after him; she didn’t know him nearly as well as she knew Molly, but they had met a few times and it was never bad to wish people well.

That finished off the B-names, and Edward Carmichael went to Ravenclaw, followed by Cho Chang before Irvin Cram entered Slytherin and Katherine Crouch (whom Serenity recognized from a few tea parties,) went to Gryffindor.

Helen Dawlish went to Ravenclaw, and then when McGonagall called “Dursley, Lita,” Serenity watched a tall girl (for their age) whose hair seemed to catch the candlelight like fire go up to the hat.

It had barely touched her head when the hat shouted, “GRYFFINDOR,” and she joined her new housemates to cheering applause.

Marietta Edgecombe went to Ravenclaw, Sullivan Fawley (Serenity recognized him vaguely again, from an old and rich family she’d been to parties with,) went to Hufflepuff, Herbert Fleet also joined the badgers, and to her surprise the next name called was “Fortescue, Elizabeth!”

‘Lizzie is in our year? Whoops, I should have found her on the train to say hi,’ Serenity thought apologetically as Andrew’s sister stepped up to the Sorting Hat. Lizzie had cut her hair, Serenity realized, so she hadn’t recognized her ice cream friend in the bustle.

“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat shouted, and Serenity saw Lizzie give her brother a wave as she went to the table on the other side of the room.

Curiously, Serenity wondered which House the boy who’d helped with her trunk was in and started craning her neck to look for him.

It wasn’t until another five or six people had been sorted that she remembered he’d been wearing a Ravenclaw tie to begin with, whereupon she promptly felt very foolish.

“Lovegood, Minerva!” The girl with the red ribbon in her hair bounced up to the stool and shot a pose to the students before she sat down. Serenity quietly wondered if she had the guts to repeat the gesture come her turn before deciding that she didn’t, not with literally hundreds of eyes on her. Her parents hadn’t taken her to any of the really fancy or crowded gatherings since she was seven, and there had only been two to reintroduce her to high society once she got her Hogwarts Letter, so Serenity knew she was out of her depth in looking good under the scrutiny (a favorite word of her mother’s) of the public.

“SLYTHERIN!” the Hat finally declared, and Minerva Lovegood cheerfully bounced off to that table as they applauded.

Misha Lumby was a boy, which she wouldn’t have guessed, and once the hat put him in “GRYFFINDOR,” it was the moment of truth.

“Malfoy, Serenity!”

Serenity glided forward, calling on all her mother’s lessons regarding poise and proper posture to walk proudly, and promptly stumbled, only avoiding a fall by windmilling her arms wildly as-

A hand grabbed her, pulled her steady, and Serenity blushed and stuttered out a thank you to Darien, who gave her a thin grin in reply.

Blushing furiously, Serenity got to the Hat with no further incidents and dropped it over her head so she could pretend she didn’t exist and wasn’t humiliated.

“Oho,” laughed a small voice in her ear. “Now you are very interesting. That’s five times I’ve been surprised this evening, yes indeed.”

“Um. Hello, I’m Serenity. Nice to meet you,” she whispered softly so it wouldn’t carry.

“I’m reading your mind, Serenity, you can think at me and I’ll hear it.”

‘Thank you. Um, do you have a name, or are you just Mr. Sorting Hat, sir?’

“Excellent manners, young lady. You may call me Ric, if you please, or Mr. Hat will do.”

‘Thank you, Mr. Hat. So, you’re going to Sort me?’

“Yes indeed, though I hope you don’t mind my looking about a little. Nothing invasive, and I’m quite good a secret-keeping. Now then… Well, like many students, you’ve got several qualities from each house to tide you over, that’s pleasant. Always good to be a well-rounded person.”

‘Thank you, Mr. Hat. Will it be important which for where I’m going?’

“You’ve got bravery, but you’re still growing into it, untested now,” the hat mused. “You’ve got cunning with secret keeping from your parents—I’d dearly love to meet Luna and try Sorting her someday, if there’s time—but you don’t like lying and while you can be sneaky, you’re too compassionate to be ruthless and you’ve no particular ambition.”

‘So not Gryffindor or Slytherin, and I’m definitely not smart enough for Ravenclaw,’ she figured.

“My dear, Ravenclaw isn’t for those who are smart, it’s for those who value learning. If you want knowledge, I’ll put you in Ravenclaw and we’ll see you grow.”

Serenity hesitated. ‘I… wouldn’t mind being with Amy, we’re friends now, but I’m not sure I’d fit in with them and I don’t want to be the bottom even if I’m getting better.’

“What do you want, then?” Ric asked. “Who do you want to be, when you’re fifteen? When you’re sitting your NEWTs and graduating, what do you want your life to look like?”

‘I want a lot of friends, please. I want to be the nice older student all the firsties come to for help or to cry about homesickness with, because I’m going to need someone like that when I’m crying. I want… I’ve seen people get nervous or afraid when they see my parents, and I don’t want that. I want them to light up because they’re happy to see me. I want to be happy and to make people happy, please. I want to have friends,’ Serenity wished, as that prior to this day she hadn’t made all that many, since she didn’t go to many social parties to make them. ‘And if it’s not rude, I think you’d be a good friend too, Mr. Hat.’

“Well then, friends we shall be, Serenity Imbrium,” he chuckled. “Come see me in the Headmaster’s office with Luna when you have a free period; his password will be Pepper Imp for the rest of the week. And when you do, you’ll be wearing the colors of HUFFLEPUFF!”

The last word was shouted to the Great Hall, though it didn’t hurt her ears.

“I’ll see you soon, Mr. Hat,” Serenity assured him as she took him off and went to the table to sit with Molly.

“Serenity, great to have you here! Your parents will be okay?” Molly asked more quietly during their congratulatory hug.

“They love me,” she said with certainty, and she hoped that would be enough. She didn’t think they had any great expectations of her—they hadn’t for most of her life, after all—so that would have to be enough.

“Cor,” said an older girl across the table as McGonagall called Cormac McLaggen to be sorted. “You’re Lucius Malfoy’s daughter, right? Lucius and Narcissa?”

“That’s me,” Serenity affirmed, suddenly aware again that her parents weren’t the most popular people in Britain, no matter how powerful they might be. “Nice to meet you?”

The girl grinned, and her hair shifted pink. “Wotcher. Call me Tonks, I’m a seventh year so if you need anything, I’m good for classwork and directions and things.”

“Thank you, Tonks,” Serenity said more cheerfully with her own grin.

… … …

Once Yumi Won became the fifth and final girl to join Hufflepuff, McGonagall took the Sorting Hat away somewhere as Headmaster Dumbledore—Serenity recognized him from the 5 chocolate frogs cards Draco had of him, one of which she'd traded to get for her collection back before she gave up on it—rose to his feet.

“Students welcome to Hogwarts. It’s a new year, and we all may or may not be the same old people; I certainly am feeling no younger. As such, I have far less time to waste, so please dig in.”

All at once, the table was loaded with good eats, and Serenity made a note to effusively compliment the kitchen elves (assuming they had elves instead of human staff, but either way, compliments were in order!).

Barring carrots, Serenity tried to fit a bit of everything on her plate, and then she happily tucked in.

Some part of her knew that her parents would probably be aghast at her table manners, but everyone was doing it so she wasn’t shaming anyone by fitting in, right?

Her mouth was a bit too full to be talking much, though she exchanged a few comments with Molly and with Tonks.

Then the desert phase began, to her eternal glee. There was so much candy, and pastries, and cakes, to say nothing of the blocks of ice cream. Even when her parents had been treating her, it had still been limited by how much was reasonable for a kid or three to consume, whereas House Hufflepuff had hundreds of kids who needed feeding.

Serenity dug in with gleeful abandon, though she made sure to pass along anything that anybody asked for a chance at.

As even her appetite finally wore down, Serenity stared scanning the other tables. Slytherin was between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw—part of Serenity wondered if that was because blue and yellow made green—so she couldn’t get a clear opportunity to wave at Amy or Darien, and then Gryffindor was even further away, meaning she couldn’t greet Rei or Lizzie. Andrew was further down Hufflepuff table, and they waved but they weren’t really in talking distance.

Finally, Serenity turned her attention to the staff table.

She recognized Headmaster Dumbledore in his big chair, obviously, and Professor McGonagall was sitting beside him. She also recognized Professor Snape, a friend of her father’s who’d been over several times, but the woman beside him-

Serenity didn’t realize she was staring until she’d been looking into smiling crimson eyes for most of a minute, and even then only because Dumbledore has stood and he could grab anyone’s attention.

Sadly, Serenity also realized that her plate was empty, the desserts were gone, but she felt pleasantly stuffed so it was okay.

“Now that our bellies are pleasantly plump,” Dumbledore began, “I have a few more matters to discuss. First, Professor Quirrell will be on sabbatical from teaching, and so Muggle Studies will be taught by Professor Arif Sikander in his absence.” A cheerful looking man with a small, dark mustache and goatee stood and bowed as people politely clapped. “Second, please welcome Professor Setsuna Meioh to teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.” The woman whose eyes Serenity had caught did not stand, but elegantly raised her goblet in greeting to the school. “Third, the Board of Governors has freed up some additional funding despite our diminished population after a few people in particular raised questions over the quality of education you may receive-,” Serenity blushed and tried not to duck her head, because she knew from Luna those had been pre-planned arguments her father had made against Dumbledore. “-so please welcome to our faculty three teaching aides: Professor Phoebus Penrose for History of Magic, Professor Maxfield Stanton for Charms, and Professor Jade Prince for Herbology.” The students all clapped again.

“Continuing on from there, please note that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students who do not have a teacher accompanying them. It is rather inherent to the name, I think. Quidditch trials will be held no earlier than Friday the fourteenth of September, but other clubs may meet and begin advertising come Friday the seventh.

“Mr. Filch, our caretaker, wishes me to remind you that his office hosts a list of prohibited items, and also that casting magic in the corridors is not permissible. Lastly, before bedtime comes upon us, let us together sing the school song!”

A ribbon from his wand twisted itself into words, song lyrics, and Serenity barely had time to marvel at him keeping it all in his head before the singing began.

Once that was done, the students were dismissed to their beds. The first years were held back a bit as other students went ahead while the prefects explained some things, but Serenity was honestly too sleepy by then to remember much.

The prefects led the ten of them down a few corridors, into a nook, and showed them a bunch of barrels. After tapping one to the pattern of “Helga Hufflepuff,” they were led into a low-ceilinged room filled with solid tables and well-stuffed couches, a majority of the wall decorations being burnished copper, which with firelight gave the room a pleasant glow.

Serenity got led to her dormitory with the other girls, found her bed by Luna sitting on it, and collapsed happily into the soundest of sleep.

If she dreamed of marble walkways and silver towers, and a fat, blue-green world hanging in the night sky, well, those dreams hadn’t been noteworthy for a few years now.

Chapter Text

2 September 1990

Owls worked all week, and thus wizarding post arrived on Sundays. As such, Draco Malfoy arrived to breakfast and began applying jam to his toast as his mother read a letter with a look of elegantly confused bemusement on her face, only for his father to come in with a frown and a letter of his own.

“Severus has just written-,”

“Serenity is in Hufflepuff?” Narcissa guessed.

“Hufflepuff?” Draco squawked, appalled. On the one hand, she was nice and she gave warm hugs a lot and she’d never done any accidental magic and it was convenient that he wouldn’t stop being his parents’ favorite.

On the other hand, he was related to a Hufflepuff! How embarrassing! He felt his cheeks burn in sympathetic mortification for what his parents must be feeling.

“She wrote you?” Lucius wondered.

“No, but this morning I received my first bit of post from Andromeda in the better part of a decade. Apparently, her spawn is a Hufflepuff seventh-year who sent an urgent owl with the news last night. Or maybe they had charmed mirrors,” Narcissa considered. “Anyway, the letter is pure Andromeda, subtle and condescending but without much actual venom.”

“Are you going to pull her out for embarrassing the family?” Draco wondered. He cringed a little as his parents looked at him in sync; they didn’t seem angry, but he could tell it was not quite the right thing to say.

The adults seemed to share a moment of silent conversation.

“Which house were you expecting her to end up in, Draco?” Narcissa inquired. “Lucius and I were rather expecting this, to be honest. Better Hufflepuff than Gryffindor, at least.”

“I think it’s the other way around,” Draco said firmly, now that he was committed to his opinion. “If I got Sorted into Hufflepuff, I would leave, Mother.”

“You’d rather Gryffindor than Hufflepuff?” Lucius took a seat at the table and seized a scone for himself. “Defend that assertion, Draco.”

“Yes, Father.” Draco took a moment to martial his thoughts. “It… all the histories say that Gryffindor and Slytherin fought, and fighting is impressive. It’s better to win without fighting, but having the ability to fight is impressive. Whether someone supports Dumbledore or Grindlewald or the Dark Lord, no one wants to duelany of the three. Gryffindors can at least achieve things, even if we disagree with what they achieve, and Sirius Black served the Dark Lord too, in the end. There aren’t any Hufflepuffs going down with mighty deeds or cunning plots to their name, sir.”

“Well,” Lucius considered, “then I assume you’ll have no objection writing a letter of congratulations to your cousin Rei on being sorted with the Lions, then.” Draco grimaced but nodded his assent.

“Your argument isn’t wrong, Draco, but it is incomplete,” Narcissa added. “Hufflepuff house has produced a dearth of great wizards compared to the other three, but it also lacks idiots who cause disasters; reliability has a value of its own, even if it is reliable mediocrity.”

Draco attempted to parse this wisdom as they tucked into breakfast.

“So… if Serenity isn’t going to try to do anything great, that’s a relief because she won’t fail embarrassingly?” he finally figured.

Narcissa sighed. “Cynical and blunt, but it’s an appropriate understanding for a boy of your age.” Draco puffed up indignantly and resolved to do better thinking on it. “We’ll go shopping for some small congratulatory gifts you can send your sister and your cousin later today, and maybe we’ll stop by the Quidditch shop as well.”

“I much appreciate it, Mother.”

2 September 1990

“Serenity. Serenity, wake up, you’ve almost slept ‘til lunch.”

“Mnah? Oh, sorry Luna,” Serenity yawned. She glanced around the dormitory as she rose. “Huh.”

“Molly suggested the other girls let you sleep, since you’ve no classes on Sunday,” Luna chided, “but you’ll be miserable if you don’t eat, so wash and get dressed quickly or it’ll be all gone.”

“Gone!” Serenity leapt into action at the thought of empty plates and tables. She showered quickly, dressed with her hair wet, and raced off to eat.

Fortunately, Luna’s threat was empty, as Serenity arrived perfectly in time for the lunch spread to appear on the tables.

“Andrew, Lizzie! Hi, I’m sorry I missed you guys on the train,” she said as she slid in beside the Fortescue siblings.

“Rini, no worries,” Andrew cheered as she and Lizzie hugged quickly. “Welcome to Hufflepuff, which is in my opinion the best bunch of people you’ll ever meet. Friends galore working together to help each other out.”

“But Gryffindor is better,” Lizzie teased, fiddling with her new red-and-gold tie.

“To friendship,” Serenity toasted, which the siblings and half of Hufflepuff in earshot mimicked. “So I guess you guys got up on time, but thanks for letting me sleep. Have you been looking around?”

“Uh-huh! Andrew’s shown me a bunch of passages and where all the classes are going to be so I won’t get lost.”

“I’m meeting some friends in the gobstones club later, but Lizzie can show you as a test of her memory,” he suggested.

“Quizzes already? Andrew, you’re as evil as the teachers!”

“Which teachers would that be?”

All three students jumped at the voice unexpectedly coming from behind them.

“Oh! Uh, Professor Meioh, sorry, I didn’t mean-!”

The dusk-skinned woman smiled faintly. “I do understand humor, Miss Fortescue, don’t worry. And who is this little thing?” Setsuna Meioh held out her hand, which Luna sniffed obligingly.

“That’s Luna, she’s really nice. Oh, um, she likes to follow me around, are we allowed to have our pets in class?” Serenity wondered, wanting to skip explanations about Luna being interested in spell-casting and magic theory.

“I certainly won’t mind in my lessons, provided she isn’t disruptive. Though if Luna can follow your directions, it might be better for her to prowl around and hide under desks so long as she won’t make a scene; better to ask forgiveness than permission, I think.”

“Oh, wow, I didn’t think teachers were supposed to say that,” Andrew chuckled. “Thanks, ma’am.”

“Not a problem. Though I could do with your opinion on something.” All three students perked up to indicate their willingness. “I’m not from Britain, and pumpkin juice has always been a bit too sweet for me, so I water it down with some water when I drink it. Does it still taste good to you when it’s diluted, or is it just me?”

The three of them shrugged and grabbed their glasses to try it.

“It’s okay, I guess I like it sweet,” Andrew said thoughtfully.

“I like it! It taste lighter like that or, or more clear, I think,” Serenity decided, finishing one cup and promptly mixing up another.

“I wouldn’t drink this every day, but it’s a nice change,” Lizzie decided. “Huh, she’s gone.”

They went on with their meal, and with catching up and Andrew giving them advice about classes in Hogwarts—Snape was stricter than McGonagall and got mean if you messed around, Flitwick could appreciate a good joke, Sprout was happy to talk with students about anything as long as they didn’t throw hissy fits—as they ate and Serenity feeding Luna some spare kippers and drank five cups of her watery drink instead of two.

Then Andrew went off with his older friends while Lizzie volunteered to show Serenity the classrooms and passages, and maybe they’d run into some other year mates.

It was an hour later, after they’d gotten lost twice, found three of the classrooms they were looking for, and ran across a few Ravenclaw firsties, that Serenity realized she needed to use the loo.

“I’ll meet you in the Great Hall,” she promised, doubling back to where she remembered a bathroom being.

It wasn’t where she’d thought it was, but after going down a side staircase Serenity was very relieved to see a water closet down a hallway, even if the floor further from the door turned out to have water spilled across it.

As she was finishing up, she realized that she heard crying, then when she was washing her hands she realized that there was a voice muttering about some Peeves and how he was mean and cruel and nasty.

Serenity Imbrium Malfoy wasn’t one to leave someone crying alone, so she dried her hands, checked that the water on the bathroom floor was clean, and stepped carefully through until she got to the second furthest stall door.

“Hello?” She knocked gently. “I heard someone crying…” It occurred to her that while she cried plenty, in private with her family mostly, she didn’t really know how to handle someone else crying with any certainty. “Do you want a hug?”

“A hug? Don’t make me laugh,” a girl spat bitterly, “I don’t need more people calling me fat and ugly.”

Serenity frowned. “That’s a horrid thing to say to someone.”

“It is!” Serenity jolted as a pale face burst through the stall door. “It really is, but Peeves keeps saying it and he won’t shut up and go away! So then I just run back here and start crying again and they call me Moaning Myrtle like it’s funny!” the ghost raged.

“I… I’m Serenity Malfoy, nice to meet you?” she tried.

The irate ghost rolled her eyes. “You’re a firstie, I guess they haven’t warned you yet. Go away, nobody likes me.” She vanished back into her stall.

“That sounds really sad,” Serenity observed, not quite comfortable leaving for whatever reason.

Myrtle stuck her head out. “It is! It really is, so I have good reasons to be crying, but ‘oh, Moaning Myrtle is at it again!’ Hah!” She pulled her head back in.

“I cry a lot too,” Serenity admitted. “My brother and his friends used to tease me. ‘Serenity is sobbing, Serenity is sobbing,’ but Mama made them stop.”

“Your mama isn’t here, so I bet it’ll start up again,” Myrtle warned.

Serenity frowned, because she wanted friends and friends shouldn’t tease friends, but as far as she knew the older girl might be right.

“If I need to cry, can I come here? Crying is lonely,” she admitted.

This time, Myrtle’s full body materialized through the door, and she gave Serenity an assessing look.

“You seem like you’ll be pretty and popular, but sure, if you’re crying come join me. Misery always loves company,” she drawled as though it was a quote, but Serenity lit up.

“Really?” She lunged in and hugged Myrtle as best she could, much to the ghost’s actual shock. “Thanks, Miss Myrtle, I’ll come back when I’m lonely! Do you want me with you until you feel better?”

At that, Myrtle looked at Serenity like the younger was some totally new breed of creature, and a rather ridiculous one at that, but she didn’t say no. Instead, almost carefully, Myrtle reached out as patted Serenity’s head.

It was chilly and a bit odd, certainly, and she passed through without making contact, but Serenity didn’t flinch even if she fidgeted a little.

“You know, I think I’m going to go try spoiling all of Peeves’s pranks in revenge, but come back if there’s crying to be done. Worst case, I’m not here and they’ll think it’s me,” Myrtle muttered, flying off through a wall.”

“See you later!” Serenity cheered.

… … …

The rest of the day went by without much worth noting, but she ate a lot at dinner and had a chat with Luna about exploring and got to meet her other dorm mates—Karrie Crouch, Olivia Rosewell, and Yumi Won—and when the Prefects finally told them it was time for curfew and to get up to their dorms so they were rested for tomorrow, Serenity felt like she’d had a good day.

Then it was time to clean her teeth and she realized a problem.

“I totally forgot my toothbrush,” she sighed. She went out of the bathroom (she was taking her turn last anyway,) and back to her trunk, she got out some knuts from her pouch of change, and she went into the bathroom again. “Dobby!”

A pop split the air like a cracking whip.

“Missy Renity be’s calling for Dobby?”

“Oh, your ears! What happened to Dobby?” Serenity wondered immediately, seeing Dobby had bandages over his batlike ears.

“Missy Renity not being worries, Dobby just is making mistakes with the ironing,” Dobby assured her, having been ordered years ago by both parents to lie if Serenity asked about his injuries after she once smacked Draco in the face for telling Dobby to shut his fingers in the oven door. “How Dobby can be helping with Missy Renity?”

“Please try to be careful, Dobby. I forgot my toothbrush at home, can you bring it to me? I’ll pay double since you’re working injured,” offered Serenity, who had similarly worked out a deal years ago where Dobby would do things like buy sweets with her allowance money without telling her parents; it wasn’t quite in his normal duties, and it wasn’t quite a tip for excellent service, but it was something in between and they were both happy with it.

“Certainly, Missy Renity,” Dobby promised, though he only took two of the four knuts she’d held out. He vanished with another pop, and twenty seconds later he was back again. “Dobby also be’s bringing the toothpaste and the floss-,”

Another pop split the air as he was talking, and a second House Elf stared down with a frown at the guilty Dobby.

“Youse is not supposed to being here, this is wronging,” the House Elf scolded. “Missy student, the students are not supposed to be bringing their family elves to Hogwarts, this is the Hogwarts House Elves’ working place. Mopsy having to be’s telling the teachers now.”

“Oh, sorry, it’s all my fault,” Serenity apologized. “I just asked Dobby to get me my toothbrush from home, I forgot it; I won’t do it again.” She regretted that promise almost as quickly as it left her lips, because she was very used to asking Dobby for things throughout her day, but she didn’t want to get him in trouble or get in any herself.

Mopsy frowned but nodded. “Missy student being a first year will be excused, Mopsy thinks. Mopsy likes seeing a happy elf with a nice mistress. If Missy Student needs a House Elf in the future, Missy please calls for Mopsy and Mopsy will help.”

“Okay, thank you very much!” Mopsy disappeared with another pop, and Dobby left soon after, though not before Serenity had guilted him into taking one last knut for his trouble.

3 September 1990

Serenity’s first class come Monday morning was Astronomy with the Slytherins, where Professor Aurora Sinistra first verbally quizzed the students on some basic facts (“How many planets are in the solar system? If Mars has two moons and Earth has one Moon, how many moons do they have together? How many stars are in the big dipper and the littler dipper combined?”) and then handed out a worksheet for them to fill out.

Professor Sinistra was an elegant looking black woman who had gone on to study at Uagadou after graduating Hogwarts (Slytherin, class of 1970), and she wowed the students with several displays of wandless magic, gathering their worksheets with a casual gesture and shaping smoke from the brazier into an image of Earth as seen from space.

She also warned them not to go to bed early on Wednesday evening, as they would be doing their Astronomy practical class later in the night.

After that, Hufflepuff and Slytherin both trooped out to the greenhouses on the grounds for Herbology class, where Professor Sprout (who was Hufflepuff’s Head of House and would visit the common room relatively often,) introduced herself and showed them a bunch of pretty plants, along with teaching them the necessary safety precautions to follow in the greenhouse.

Normally, there were slots for three classes in the morning and three in the afternoon, (though serenity heard talk sounding like the older students had four classes in the afternoon,) but Hufflepuff’s third slot on Monday morning was a free period, so the Hufflepuff girls decided to do something together, like a tea party in an empty classroom or a picnic on the grounds.

“We don’t have any tea or a picnic basket, though,” Karrie Crouch had complained when this was raised after they gathered in their dormitory to talk.

Serenity perked up and grabbed a few knuts. “I know! Mopsy,” she called, and when the House Elf appeared with a pop she quickly explained what they wanted and asked if it was pretty please okay to do it while the weather was still warm enough to picnic.

Mopsy seemed pretty taken with the idea and said that she would have a picnic basket for Serenity to pick up ready in the kitchen in a few minutes. Serenity needed to call Mopsy back when she realized she didn’t know how to get to the kitchen, but once that was explained they got their basket and the five of them went out to eat on the grounds under a nice tree for some shade.

After lunch, they had History of Magic with the Ravenclaws, and while Serenity was happy to see Amy again, with her belly nice and full she wasn’t too proud to admit that she dozed off to Professor Binns’s droning voice until the bell rang.

Amy frowned at her and Molly laughed when Serenity tried to beg notes off someone to no avail as they headed to Charms class, which was again shared with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Professor Flitwick, who was the Head of Ravenclaw House, was a very tiny man who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk.

Honestly, when Serenity realized that, she wondered if there wasn’t a charm that could help him, and then she wondered if the pile of books was appropriate, like people had given him so many books because Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart but he didn’t actually like books, so he made a point of standing on them instead of reading them so people would stop.

She thought it might be worth getting him a big book for Christmas to see if he would add it to his pile, but she wasn’t sure he’d find it funny.

Of course, then he made a pun while he was explaining some wand motions, so she decided to try it anyway and hope that he laughed.

Charms was a double class, so the first hour was spent mostly on a lecture about what charms would be covered in the class and what the instructions meant when they called for a swish or a slash or a swirl gesture, but then the second half of the class they got to learn as spell.

The sparks charm, Professor Flitwick had explained, was a very simple and basic spell that would produce a spray of sparks whose color varied by the caster. Later they would learn to send sparks of specific colors, but this first charm was considered a cornerstone to learn because it deliberately reproduced what most wands did naturally when they chose a witch or wizard to wield them.

“Scintillat,” Serenity had cried with her classmates when they tried it, but nothing had happened for her. Olivia Rosewell, Cho Chang, and Herman Bagnold had all produced sprays of sparks, earning them five points each, but nothing had happened for Serenity or Molly or Amy.

Honestly, Serenity’s wand had felt rather flat in her hands when she tried it, and she was worried she’d done something wrong.

‘You were so happy to find me and choose me when we met,’ Serenity thought at her wand as her classmates kept trying to get sparks. ‘We were going to be a great pair and have so much fun. Paired with a pear, that was me. What’s going on?’ She tried to wave her wand once or twice, rather than the jab for the spell motion, but it wasn’t responding. She frowned, staring at it as she tried to remember the feeling when her pearwood-and-mooncalf wand had chosen her.

Abruptly, Serenity realized that she didn’t have a name for her wand even, she was having to think about it by what it was made of, and she wouldn’t like it if people called her flesh-and-bone-blonde or something.

But she didn’t feel comfortable giving her wand a proper name either, like it wasn’t human anymore than a goblin was so why give it a human name?

She thought for a bit.

‘People say I’m Papa’s little princess, that’s a nickname. We’re the same like that, she’s pouting so she’s my precious Princess.’ She raised her wand to her lips and kissed the tip. “Come on, Princess, I’m with you and you’re with me. Together now.” Impulsively, Serenity jabbed her wand straight up in the air instead of jabbing forward, and with her memory of being chosen fresh in her mind, she called out, “Scintillat!”

There was a sound almost like a trumpet, and a veritable shower of gold and silver sparks shot out from Princess like fountain water.

“Oh, very good! A little flashy, but take five points for Hufflepuff!” Flitwick congratulated.

When the sparks had faded and Molly was back to trying her own attempt, Amy nudged Serenity with an incredulous look.

“How did you do that? You weren’t taking notes and you did the movement wrong and you did the spell better than anyone on your second try when I haven’t got anything yet.” Amy didn’t quite look like she would cry, but she did look very harried and stressed a bit.

“It’s…” Serenity bit her lip and tried to think up an explanation. “I wasn’t working with my wand the first time, I was just using it. Look, you remember how it felt when it chose you? Like that.” Still uncertain, Amy tried again, but only produced a wisp of mist. “No, no. It’s like… imagine you’re playing beater. Don’t think of casting the spell as like a hitting a bludger at the other team; you’re hitting a bludger at your fellow beater so he can hit it at someone.”

Amy looked bemused. “Like passing in football instead of taking a shot at the goal?”

“I guess? What’s football.”

“Class is not a time to discuss sports, ladies,” Flitwick chided genially from across the room, so they both called their apologies.

“Look,” Serenity tried, “when my wand-,” She remembered her new resolution to use a nickname. “When Princess chose me, I was really happy and so was she. I felt warm like being hugged and you know how your throat goes when you hum a note or sing a song? I felt like that in my arm and it came out in Princess with pretty moonlight. How did your wand react to you?”

“It. A cloud of mist that coiled into dancing shapes,” Amy confessed. “Not sparks like Professor Flitwick said… it’s elm wood and unicorn hair, if that matters.”

“Does it matter to you?” Serenity checked, because she didn’t know really. “Maybe your wand doesn’t want to do sparks like fire, but you can still get mist or a spray of pretty snowflakes, wouldn’t that be cool? Ice glittering in tree under sunlight…” Serenity trailed off as she remembered some childhood snowball fights she’d gotten into.

She didn’t have much more to say, but Amy got it on her next try, producing clear-white sparks that gleamed like diamonds.

Chapter Text

4 September 1990

They had double Defense Against the Dark Arts on Tuesday morning, and Serenity was very sad to arrive almost late because it seemed the class had all four Houses gathered together and being late meant that she couldn’t sit with any friends or her cousin Rei.

Serenity was very amused to catch Luna strolling around the room, however, so she hoped that Luna had fun and learned something.

The bell sounded, the classroom door swung shut, and Professor Meioh appeared in a shimmer at her desk.

“Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Setsuna Meioh, spelled as you can see on the blackboard, and I will be teaching you for this year.

“Much like Herbology and Potions, where you interact with plants and brew functional recipes, Defense is a heavily practical course. Unlike these other two, Defense is categorized as wizardry instead of witchcraft. Can anyone tell me what this means? Mr. Greengrass.”

“Wizardry was originally a term used to denote wanded magic, where you immediately generate an effect through an incantation, ma’am. Witchcraft instead referred to the slower and messier arts of handling magical plants and animals, brewing potions, carving runes, and performing alchemical transmutations.”

“Correct, and please take five points for Ravenclaw.” She turned her ruby eyes back to the class in whole. “There will be a lot of spell-casting in this class, but due to the need to personally check your casting stances and gestures I have arranged things a little unusually. This double Defense session each week will involve lecture and theory, as I explain to you all the methods and strategies we use, teach you to recognize threats, and discuss hypothetical situations. Your other two classes this week, a single hour each, will be the traditional two-houses to a class, and it will involve practical spell-casting. How many of you have cast spells successfully with your wands?”

Almost every hand in the room went up, and Serenity felt rather sorry for the miserable four or five kids who were looking at their desks.

“I have done copious research into easily cast spells, so by the end of your next class with me, I expect all of you will have managed the Repelling Spell I’ll be teaching,” Meioh assured them. “We will also be practicing aim and evasion, and later in the year… well, I’ll leave that as a surprise for now. But for today, lets start by trying to name things I might teach you to defend against.”

The list that was produced included doxies, pixies, dark wizards, curses, hexes, poisons, dragons, muggles with firelegs, muggle witch-hunters, banshees, zombies, inferi, vampires, cursed objects, brain-eating slugs, dark witches, red caps, dementors, boggarts, and numerous other things.

Once it was done, instead of getting into specific methods for defense like spells, Professor Meioh asked the class for examples of how to potentially fight these things, whether it be running away or putting up a shield or offering a bow or hitting them over the head and stealing their wand or braining them with a collapsible cauldron.

Then they got into ways to do that thing, which threats you could run from (“Apparition is always a good escape method.”), whether it was better to try and hex something or try to transfigure a trap for it (“The more magic resistant it is, the better it is to slow it down.”), and what strategies were best to avoid (“Don’t let a Doxy swarm surround you, get your back to a wall or have a friend nearby.”).

Overall it was a very interesting class, and then Professor Meioh asked Serenity to stay behind for a few minutes and talked to her about Luna and how Serenity was enjoying Hogwarts and everything, including a reminder to write home.

Setsuna denied having ever met Mr. or Mrs. Malfoy when Serenity asked, and then she wrote Serenity a note so that McGonagall wouldn’t take off any points for lateness.

Serenity was rather put out to realize that Transfiguration was shared by Hufflepuff and Gryffindor again, meaning she’d missed another chance to catch up with her cousin, but she didn’t have time to pout about it because she needed to catch up on taking notes for the matchstick-to-needle transfiguration they’d be learning.

Serenity did earn a point for Hufflepuff by asking whether they should turn the head of the matchstick into the eye of the needle or the pointy end, since heads usually have eyes in them, but she didn’t actually succeed in doing much to her matchstick before the end of the period.

Then they had lunch and a free period, but after that was double Potions in the dungeons with Gryffindor, so Serenity made extra sure to get there early and latch onto Rei when she arrived.

“Come on, we need to catch up, how’s Gryffindor been? Have you had any cool lessons? Professor Binns was really boring, I fell asleep and Amy glared at me for not taking notes but I got a really cool fountain of sparks with Princess in charms, how did you do?”

“I- Space, please,” Rei managed, and Serenity pouted but released her. “Right. Rei looked back at Molly and another Gryffindor girl Serenity didn’t know the name of. “Baker, if Serenity is sitting with me do you mind pairing with Lita for the class?” The auburn brunette looked bashful while the redhead smiled her agreement.

“Molly Baker, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Lita Dursley, nice to meet you too,” the taller girl said.

“Serenity Malfoy, and any friend of Rei’s can be my friend too,” the blonde volunteered as they all took their seats, her with Rei around one cauldron and Lita with Molly at the cauldron beside them.

The bell rang, and Professor Snape entered in a billow of robes. He had always been a dour person who didn’t seem comfortable with Serenity’s cheer, so she didn’t wave as exuberantly and he didn’t react to her smile. Instead, he took roll.

“In this class,” Snape began once all the students were accounted for, “you will learn the potioneer’s art of brewing elixirs, philters, draughts, and other concoctions. It is an art as much as it is a science, and any errors or deviations may easily turn catastrophic, so if you think it funny to experiment or to sabotage a fellow student’s potion, I will have you in detention for week at the very least.” He made a motion with his wand. “The instructions for today’s boil-curing brew are on the blackboard, or found in page 11 of your textbook. But first, a quiz. Dursley!” Lita startled. “Do you know what will occur if you add the porcupine quills before removing your potion from the fire?”

“I-I don’t, sir. Sorry,” she stammered.

“Clearly. If the potion is in an exothermic state, the porcupine quills will exacerbate that reaction, causing the potion to boil over or even to melt the cauldron, whereas adding them when the potion is in an endothermic state will cause the liquid to immediately cool to room temperature as the quills are consumed into the substance. Hussain, do you know what will occur if the snake fangs are not crushed to a sufficiently small size?”

“I don’t know, sir, but I would guess they don’t dissolve into the mix properly?”

“Your guess is correct, but you will earn Hufflepuff no points for guessing in my class, you are either right or wrong,” Snape sneered. “Lumby, how do you identify whether the horned slugs have been stewed properly?”

It went on like that for a few minutes until everyone had been questioned—Serenity was pretty happy that she earned a point for answering why the nettle measurement was important, though Rei was pouting that her answer about the colors the potion should move through was deemed insufficient even though it wasn’t wrong—and then he set them to actually brewing the potion in question.

Rei, it turned out, hadn’t ever gotten much practice brewing because her grandfather had been teaching her other things the past few years, whereas Serenity and Draco had been made to do hours upon hours of ingredient preparation with their mother, so Serenity measured the nettles and crushed the snake fangs while Rei added them in and did the stirring while watching the time.

Neither of them really thought it was fair that Snape docked Rei two points from Gryffindor for fobbing the harder half of the work on her partner, but when Serenity objected he only sneered that he could take two points off her as well for arguing with a teacher.

Granted, he seemed as surprised as Rei did when Serenity glared and said he should, but after that Snape swept off and didn’t sneer at them again, and at the end of the class he reluctantly told them they would get full marks for a properly brewed potion when they turned their sample in.

When they had packed up everything and left the dungeons, the foursome didn’t split up but hung around, discomfort in the air.

“That was awful,” Lita finally sighed, “he was just such a jerk about everything! I though potions was going to be a fun class, I love cooking with Mummy back at home and I missed it here even if the food is good, but I just felt like I couldn’t say anything and I was always afraid of messing up so much!”

“Thank you,” Rei said stiffly. Serenity cocked her head uncertainly and Rei elaborated, “Thank you for volunteering to lose house points too to make it fair when he docked me.”

“That was really brave,” Lita added, “you should be in Gryffindor, I’d never have dared complain at him like that.”

“Gryffindor doesn’t have a monopoly on being brave,” Molly complained with her fists on her hips, “and fairness is completely Hufflepuff anyway.”

“Plus,” Serenity admitted, “Professor Snape is friends with Mama and Papa so I don’t think he wants to be mean to me in case I tell them.”

“He has friends?” Lita asked, amazed because she still hadn’t gotten over losing a few points for taking too long when she’d just been checking her measurements and being careful like Snape said they should.

“Everyone has friends,” Serenity said firmly.

“Chichiue- Sorry, Japanese. Father says that it’s acceptable to have friends, but you shouldn’t have as many friends as people think you have,” Rei opined.

“What, like lying about it?” Molly wondered. “I get being nice and polite to people, we have to be nice to customers even when they’re mean, but you shouldn’t convince people they’re your friends when they’re not.”

The conversation meandered on from there as they ended up wandering the halls, up until Serenity suggested they should get ready because supper would be starting soon. That got Lita talking about how she’s love a chance to knead some frustrations out with bread dough or chopping veggies for a salad, and then they realized they were lost, so Serenity decided to freeze two pixies with one hex.

“Mopsy,” she called, and the House Elf appeared with a pop.

“How can Mopsy be of service?”

“Who are you?” Lita yelped, her eyes wide.

“Mopsy is Mopsy, miss,” Mopsy answered with a servant’s bow.

“She’s a House Elf. Of course Hogwarts would have elves,” Rei muttered.

“Mopsy, we’re a little lost and one of my friends likes cooking after a bad day. Can you show us down to the kitchens so we can ask if she’s allowed to borrow a stove, and then we’ll find our own way to the Great Hall for dinner?” Serenity requested. “I have a knut to pay if that helps.”

“House Elves not be needing pay, miss,” Mopsy said, and showed them the way down to the portrait with the bowl of fruit.

When asked, the House Elves weren’t sure about letting Lita cook, saying they’d need to talk to a teacher, but just seeing how Lita’s face had lit up at the kitchen had been worth it.

5 September 1990

First up on Wednesday morning was double Charms, which Serenity was late to due to a run-in with Peeves. Fortunately, showing up with chalk dust and garbage in her hair was a giveaway, so Professor Flitwick believed her and even kindly got her cleaned up with a few Charms before she took her seat.

Serenity was still fuming and vowing that she’d figure out some way to get back at Peeves—just as she’d gotten back at Draco, Greg, and Vinnie for some pranks previously—as much for taunting her as for making Myrtle cry.

Sadly, Serenity wasn’t sitting with Amy or Molly due to being late, but Greg Greengrass and Melvin Butlers were okay even if their glasses were ugly and Melvin kept smiling at her (which wasn’t really a bad thing, but she kept noticing it for some reason).

Everyone who’d gotten Scintillat down reliably was allowed to move onto producing sparks of specific colors, which were usually used strategically in a few sporting competitions and certain team-based activities like auror operations.

Since she wanted to show her parents their old House color when she went home for break, Serenity got started on learning Verdillious instead of Vermillious, though she kept a ear on Butlers as he talked about a Verdimillious spell that could apparently do either or both at once.

She was sitting on the other side of the room from Amy, and she was trying to focus on doing cool tricks with her green sparks before Flitwick told her to move on to another color, but Serenity noticed that Amy was looking upset and flustered and one of her table partners (a boy who might’ve been Marcus Belby,) kept leaning in toward her.

Serenity knew whispering. She’d seen and done plenty of whispering in all sorts of times. This was definitely whispering.

About ten minutes before the end of the class, Amy asked to be excused to the loo and rushed out. Serenity immediately put her hand up.

“Professor Flitwick, I have a free period next and it’s not fun to cry alone, can I go after Amy please?”

“Cry?” Flitwick got a distracted, guilty look on his face. “Oh dear me. Yes, and do please bring Miss Anderson’s bag to her, Miss Malfoy.” Serenity made sure to glare at probably-Belby, who looked a little guilty as well, and caught Amy breathing raggedly in a nook with a suit of armor around the corner.

“Come on, I know a good place where no one will laugh at crying,” said Serenity, taking Amy by the elbow, and that was how they spent the next hour with Moaning Myrtle, Serenity and Myrtle taking turns bad-mouthing Peeves and planning vengeance while Amy cried so hard she started laughing.

Granted, Amy later admitted she would probably get detention for missing Herbology, because she hadn’t had a free period like Serenity, but they ate a good lunch and said sorry when they saw Professor Sprout at the staff table and it all ended relatively well.

Double Transfiguration was next, and Lita ended up in the seat next to Serenity since Molly and Rei had both already made their matchsticks shiny in the last class so they were cooperating to try and do better.

Neither Lita nor Serenity got any major changes in their matchsticks until almost an hour through the double period, but neither of them got detention and a point penalty like Geoffrey Hooper did for trying to swap out his matchstick with a mundane needle either, which Professor McGonagall caught when it didn’t transform back under a reverting charm.

After transfiguration was Herbology, where Minerva Lovegood lost some points for complaining too loudly about what the icky dirt was doing to her fingernails. It wasn’t something Serenity disagreed with, but she wasn’t going to say it and hurt Professor Sprout’s feelings.

After class let out, though, she found Mina Lovegood and offered to share some hand cream and nail polish her mother had sent with her for post-Herbology use, since she rather thought her mother would approve of sharing with a girl in Slytherin like Mina was.

Mina lit up at the offer, went to get some beauty things from her trunk, and they spent a while before dinner in the ground floor girl’s loo doing impromptu manicures together for fun.

After dinner, the Prefects in the Common Room suggested the firsties use the time before their practical Astronomy lesson to either write home or to do some homework, so Serenity took the opportunity to write a long letter home about everything and to say thank you for the Hufflepuff scarf and winter gloves and to promise she’d have some cool spells to show Draco when she came home for the holidays.

Practical Astronomy was a bit chilly at the top of the Astronomy Tower, so Serenity made a resolution to bring her new Hufflepuff gloves to future lessons, but it was fun looking at the stars through the old telescopes, and the drawing lessons her Mama had gotten for her helped a lot because she earned five house points for her drawing of the craters on the moon.

6 September 1990

Come Thursday morning, their first period was free for them to sleep in after being up late, and the second period was Astronomy again to discuss the things they’d seen the night before.

After Astronomy, however, they had Defense Against the Dark Arts, which would be with Ravenclaw today but with Gryffindor tomorrow.

“The incantation is Odisi and the gesture is a single twirl followed by a jab, like so. Odisi.” Professor Meioh had hung a number of ragdolls from the ceiling using twine, and at her words several of them swung away from her as though blown by a wind. “You should only expect to move one with your casting at this level, but if I were to cast it with my power and experience, I expect I could knock you all off your feet. This repelling spell is particularly useful when facing multiple small, flying enemies, so if ever you get swarmed by Doxies or Pixies I hope you will remember it. The repulsion charm may not make them stop, but it can push the swarm away and let you flee, or even press them against a wall if you angle it properly.”

Sure enough, the spell turned out to be quite easy to cast, though it took more effort for some students to keep it going after the initial repulsion—Serenity didn’t have that problem, and Amy managed it after Serenity explained that it was like keeping a quill or paintbrush pressed against the paper—so Professor Meioh had them practice balancing balloons above their heads with the spell once they’d made the dolls start swinging.

After lunch was history class, and this time Luna ended up in the classroom and pawing at Serenity’s leg when she almost fell asleep, so Serenity gave in and ended up taking a lot of notes about Ragnut the first, who’d been alive when the Founders were and had made sword for Godric Gryffindor.

Speaking of Gryffindor, Serenity also remembered that the Sorting Hat used to be his, and that she’d been remiss in her promise to go visit, so after double potions where they were set to brewing an herbicide, Serenity begged off hanging with her friends to go visit the Headmaster’s office.

“It should be past the gargoyle here,” Luna had explained into Serenity’s ear after leading her to a certain corridor. “I’ve seen him going through a time or two, and some other teachers, but I don’t know the password.”

“Pepper Imp,” Serenity declared firmly to the gargoyle while trying not to jar Luna out of her grip—being carried in her arms was how Luna felt safe talking to Serenity when there might be people about—and the statue moved aside to reveal a staircase.

No one answered when she knocked on the door at the top of the stairs, but Mr. Hat told her to some visit and the door was unlocked, so she went in.

“I say,” someone declared as she stared at the whirling noisy little silver things decorating the shelves and spaces of the office, “you ought not to be in here, little girl.”

“Mr. Hat said I should come visit,” Serenity defended.

“Indeed I did,” rumbled the Sorting Hat from his shelf. “You aren’t going to be in any trouble, just don’t break anything. And this must be Luna?”

“I say,” declared the mustached portrait who’d first complained as the numerous other paintings broke out into discussion, but Serenity bounced forward regardless.

“Hi Mr. Hat! I brought Luna too, so we’re here to say hello.”

“Meow,” Luna said, because she didn’t like talking in front of portraits any more than she did in front of other people.

“Hello to you too, Luna. Serenity, would you mind putting me on your head again? I’d be interested to see how your first week of classes have gone.”

“Sure thing,” Serenity agreed, grabbing the Hat off its shelf and settling herself into a seat before covering her head.

“Oh, I see you’re making friends after all,” the Hat congratulated.

“Yes! Everyone is really nice, Amy knows a lot and Rei and Molly are both good at magic, Yumi and I take turns brushing each other’s hair out before bed, my parents sent me some fuzzy gloves and a scarf…”

Serenity kept chatting on for a few minutes about her week, her journey to the kitchens with her friends, their picnic, her manicure with Minerva Lovegood, her visits to Myrtle, her run in with Peeves, and everything else that came to mind with the Sorting Hat’s prodding.

Then, though the Sorting Hat phrased it as a joke for the listening portraits, Mr. Hat asked if he could be put on Luna for a little bit, as apparently a few times people had put puppies under him as a prank to be Sorted.

“I did two of those,” a jolly looking wizard portrait chuckled fondly, “though he put them both in Gryffindor, of course.”

“And what fine lions those hounds grew up to be,” the Hat agreed as Serenity lowered him over Luna.

That was when the office door opened, leaving Albus Percival Wulfric Barnabus Dumbledore rather surprised to see a first-year student and the Sorting Hat on his carpet.

“Good evening, my dear,” he said as he peered over his gold-rimmed glasses.

“Good evening! Mr. Hat said I should come visit while the password was still Pepper Imp, so I came to see him,” Serenity enthused, hoping she wouldn’t be in trouble.

“She’s quite right, and the door wasn’t locked to keep her out,” the Sorting Hat said from where he enveloped Luna.

“Ah,” Dumbledore said delicately, and he blinked several times. “Well, I suppose I should ask you to visit when I am in my office to receive you, but if students were not allowed to pass through unlocked doors, then it would be quite troublesome to visit classrooms or the loo.”

“And we couldn’t go outside, either,” Serenity agreed, very relieved that she wasn’t in trouble.

“That is true. Might I offer you a sherbet lemon, Miss Malfoy?”

“Coo,” crooned an old, grayish bird perched in the corner of the room.

“Hello,” Serenity said with a wave to the bird, which she’d honestly believed was stuffed when she first walked in.

“Hm, and perhaps a cinnamon treat if you wish to feed Fawkes,” Dumbledore mused more confidently.

Chapter Text

7 September 1990

Friday morning dawned bright and early, and Lita Dursley had a good feeling about today.

So far, her first week had been very nice, and she’d made friends with Rei & Serenity’s friend Amy Anderson in their shared Herbology class, which was good because Amy was a muggleborn witch too and had volunteered that if Lita gave her a letter to go to Privet Drive, Amy’s mother would mail it the normal way instead of Lita spooking her parents and the neighbors with an owl delivery.

Rei Black was up early and off doing something, and Lizzie Fortescue wanted to sleep in, but Lita walked down to breakfast with Katie Bell, ate, and had the chance to go to the Owlery with Amy to deliver the letter that would eventually reach Privet Drive.

Said letter was almost embarrassing long when Lita actually thought about how much she’d written, but there was so much to say so she hoped it didn’t come off as airheaded or silly.

After watching a school owl wing its way from the tower, the two muggleborn girls meandered down the staircases, just talking.

“Favorite class so far?” Lita challenged.

“Charms, but I also find transfiguration…” Amy trailed off contemplatively.

“Wow, that’s really tough. Serenity and I took forever to affect our needles,” Lita complimented, and Amy blushed.

“Is it mean of me to say that’s why I enjoy it?” Amy asked nervously.

Lita paused to consider this. “How so?”

“I… Rei and Molly and Serenity all grew up with magic, they’ve known it all their lives, and I changed my needle the fastest of anyone in our year. With charms, there was a way I just wasn’t getting it, and then Serenity blew me out of the water even though she takes a lot less notes and she fell asleep in class once or twice and she’s still doing better than me.” The words were rushing out in an anxious babble now, and Amy looked… “In history class she can go to sleep because she probably read the history books when she was in primary, she said her parents hired private tutors to come help her study, and in Charms she just gets the magic and is comfortable with it but she’s apparently pants at Transfiguration and should I be enjoying that I’m better than her?”

Amy finally cut off, and Lita realized she was frowning, but….

“I think…” Lita took her time to actually think it out carefully. “I think how you feel isn’t a problem. I think if you try to make her keep doing badly and you enjoy it, that can be a problem, but how you feel is just…” Lita shrugged, hoping she made sense.

“Right. Thanks,” Amy sighed. Then, “I think I want a visit to Myrtle, if you want to come with me.”

“Who?”

“Myrtle Warren, she’s a ghost who haunts one of the water closets. She used to be a Ravenclaw muggleborn like me before she died, and she’s angry a lot so if you need to cry you can go in and people assume that she’s crying instead of you.”

“Oh. Is there some way we can help her stop crying?”

“I asked Professor Flitwick and he says there hasn’t been much study of ghosts’ personalities, but that they tend to change between moods without actually changing moods.” Amy frowned, pausing, and then said, “Did that make sense?”

“No,” Lita admitted as they headed down a flight of stairs.

“Okay… It’s like, ghosts can change between moods, being happy or mad or worried the way you can change between the faces of a die. But for living humans, what’s on each side of the die can change, as can the number of sides, whereas for ghosts it just changes how much time they spend on one side or another. I guess when Myrtle gets upset it will always manifest as a crying tantrum, but we can change how often she gets upset by being friends with her?” Amy didn’t sound terribly certain about that last part, but Lita thought it was rather something she’d have to experience herself to figure out.

7 September 1990

Mina Lovegood’s Friday morning was trash, she had decided furiously.

First she had potions with the Ravenclaws, where the fumes were murder on her hair and made her want to sneeze all the time, and then after class she’d done something to get the Anderson girl staring at her but no time to talk because she had to run to double. Herbology.

Uuuuuurgh!

Apparently something was wrong with her gloves because on top of making her hands sweaty she kept getting itchy dirt caught in them and the fingertip parts messed up her nails and a few of the plants were animated enough to get fertilizer in her hair and it just smelled awful and she wanted to cry when they were done.

“Leben ist kein Ponyhof,” she muttered, because German always sounded so guttural and good for anger and she’d been quiet with her English complaining but it still cost her five House Points from dumpy Professor Sprout and Warrington was definitely sneering at ‘the bastard’ costing them House Points and her morning was trash.

“Leaving a kind pony-hoof?” Serenity Malfoy asked.

“German. Life is hard,” Mina sighed rather than transliterate it (and yes she knew what transliteration was, she spoke a smattering of six different languages!).

“Ooh, you speak German? Mama wanted to teach me but Papa suggested French was better, though it didn’t really…” Serenity trailed off awkwardly.

“I speak French too, if you want tips,” Mina offered.

“You do?” Her honest enthusiasm was a definite buff to the ego, so Mina perked up more than a little.

“Some French. Some German. Some Japanese. English, obviously. A bit of Spanish and a bit of Arabic to boot,” she boasted.

“Wow, you must be really smart,” Serenity said guilelessly, and Mina tried not to deflate.

“Eh, it’s all part and parcel of moving around the world with Mum for her job. Say, I think we have the afternoon free, right? Want to get lunch and do a better makeover after that?”

“Oh, that sounds great! Can I bring some other friends? Mama sent me some more make-up and lotion and stuff to share with everyone, though she wants me to send her everyone’s names so she can add them to her list for party invitations and things.”

“That’s cool,” Mina said, hoping that Mrs. Malfoy wouldn’t be the type to make a fuss about Mina’s mum never bothering to get married, which had happened a few times. “Can I bring a friend too? I know a Gryffindor girl who could use some pampering.”

“Sure!” Serenity cheered instead of commenting on why Mina would bring a Gryffindor but not any of her Slytherin roommates.

Truth be told, Janelyn Harper was probably the roommate that Mina got along best with, if only because Janelyn was equally snobbish to everyone but put in effort and respected that Mina did the same. Tabitha was basically attached to her big brother and hiding behind his connections, while Ella Wilkins was a quiet introvert with her own friends somewhere else and Brandy Overcliff was a total warugaki, enough said.

At least the good news was that Slytherin had an unofficial house rule to let the firsties jockey it out with each other but generally not interfere, so her screaming matches with Brandy in their dorm room went uninterrupted, but merde she could really use some R&R right now.

There was probably supposed to be a rule against dragging chairs from an empty classroom into a WC, Mina reflected, but that hadn’t stopped Serenity from doing it by the time Mina showed up with Lita Dursley from the train.

Apparently one of Serenity’s other friends was Amy Anderson, who gave Mina a look that was odd but not actually mean, and then there was the redhead Serenity sat with during Herbology and the Gryffindor girl, Rei Black, who’d set some tables on fire with her spray of sparks in Charms class.

“You set the table on fire?” Molly Baker had gleefully repeated when Mina mentioned this fact. “How did Professor Flitwick react?”

Rei huffed as she got out the tubes of nail polish she’d brought. “He put it out, of course. No one was in danger.”

“Were they regular flames or magic flames?” Serenity wondered.

“Aren’t all flames from a wand magical flames?” Lita pointed out.

“Nope!” Mina declared because she knew this bit. “I know ashwinders are only born from a magical fire, so normal fires don’t spawn them or muggles would find them everywhere.”

“In the book, incendio is specifically noted to produce non-magical fire, which is why it’s an easier charm to learn than the bluebell flames even if bluebell flames are safer,” Anderson volunteered.

“Which book? I didn’t see incendio in the Standard Book of Spells,” Rei noted tersely.

Amy blushed a little, which made her look adorable. “It’s in the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. Mother knows I like to read ahead, so she let me buy the first three all at once.”

“Ooh, girl genius here!” Mina called cheerily, hoping to get a bigger blush from the quiet girl. “I guess you’re our go-to friend for revising.” Instead of looking flattered, Amy looked really awkward and Rei threw a balled up pocket-square at Mina’s head.

“Do your own revising, Lovegood.”

“Nyah!” Mina responded, extending her tongue and pulling down one eyelid.

“Fight, fight, fight,” Myrtle cheered gleefully as she swooped down from the ceiling. “Ravenclaws represent, show that prissy bitch what-for!”

“Hey!” Mina immediately complained, because that was uncalled for.

“Not a Ravenclaw,” Rei grunted.

“No, no fighting! Come on guys, we’re here for a makeover, please,” Serenity insisted. “Miss Myrtle, do you want me to brush out your hair for you? I could put it in braids or I could teach you how to top your twin tails with buns like I do,” she offered, holding up a hairbrush with one hand and fiddling with the odd buns-and-streamers style she wore.

“Oh, that would- Are you making fun of me?” Myrtle demanded with a scowl.

“No,” Serenity answered uncertainly.

“Rini,” Molly sighed, using what Mina guessed was a nickname, “she’s a ghost. We can’t fuss with her hair, our hands will pass through it.”

“Oh. Well then how do you have your hair in twin tails already?” Serenity complained. “It’s not like a hair tie could die and be a ghost.”

That… was actually a good question, Mina had to admit, and even Myrtle looked surprised as she felt at her hair, like she never realized how it was done up.

“I imagine you had your hair that way when you died,” Amy said, “since glasses and robes can’t really be killed either.”

“Okay, so all we need to do is a find a ghost who died holding a hairbrush and ask to borrow it,” Serenity cheered.

“How did you die anyway, if you don’t mind,” Lita wondered. “I know Nearly Headless Nick talked about a blunt axe…”

“Ooh, it’s really quite the tale!” Myrtle enthused, suddenly happy to share her tragic history as the girls all settled down to work on beauty tips.

Dear Mama, Papa, and Draco,

Hogwarts is a lot of fun, and all my classes have been interesting, even if History of Magic makes me want to fall asleep compared to our tutors. I can’t believe I miss our lessons together but I keep dozing off with his voice and if Amy doesn’t poke me awake then Molly will draw on my face to make fun of me.

That said, we got our first homework essays back and he graded me 9/10 points for an O, so yay! But do you know whether he does his own grading or if someone else does? I’m specifically curious whether he has a quill spelled so he can write with it, and if so do we have any books with spell to do that because I’d like to learn how.

Mama, you said you wanted to know about my friends so I asked them some questions. You already know Molly and Rei so I’m going to skip them if that’s okay.

Amy Anderson is in Ravenclaw, she’s really smart, and her mother is a muggle Healer who gets called in to do a lot of important medical things—Amy called it SURGERY—when people are very sick or injured. She didn’t want to talk about her father so I don’t know if he was a wizard, but she says she didn’t know about magic until Professor McGonagall came to visit her house, and she’s not allowed to give out her address so you need to mail me any letter and she can send it to her mother.

Oh! Amy’s 12th birthday is Monday 10 September so I’m owl ordering some hair clips and fancy quills to celebrate, but if you have better present advice I’ll take it please!

Mina Lovegood, her full name is Minerva but she hates that, is in Slytherin and she’s really fun. Mama, I think you’d like her, she’s good at needling people and your type of teatime talk. Her mother is named Peregrina Lovegood, she’s a magical creatures specialist who does a lot of work with ministries around the world so they travel all the time. She just shrugged and laughed when I asked about her father, but you can either write her mother directly overseas or you can write her uncle Xenophilius Lovegood at The Rookery in Ottery St. Catchpole I think it spelled that correctly.

Then there’s Lita Dursley, who says neither of her parents are magical but her aunt was and one of her two brothers is too. Maybe both? She says they’re not sure who did what accidental magic so no news on whether both are getting a Hogwarts Letter. They live at 4 Privet Drive but her father doesn’t like magic much so either we should mail them using muggle post or send the letter to Hogwarts and Amy’s mum will mail it in the muggle post like she does Lita’s letters home so the neighbors don’t ask questions about owls flying around.

Draco, you asked me how classes were, and there’s a lot of writing. I think you’ll like Professor Snape’s class the best because he doesn’t do many homework essays and we don’t need to take many notes in class, we just do a lot of brewing. We made potions in both our classes so far, all our classes are double periods so we have time to brew everything I think. Transfiguration is the hardest class because we have to take a lot of boring notes on the “beginning form and end form” of each transfiguration she wants us to learn, but Charms is fun because we’re learning to make colorful sparks and Defense is cool because Professor Mayo wait urgh Professor MEIOH because she’s foreign she teaches us spells and how to use them and we get to make dolls swing or keep balloons bouncing in the air as practice for fighting off doxies and it’s a lot of fun. I don’t really like Herbology but I like Professor Sprout, who’s very nice on top of being the head of Hufflepuff House and I hope we get to work with some pretty flowers instead of ugly roots and getting dirt everywhere.

Mama, all my friends loved the hand lotion for after Herbology class, thank you very much and they send their gratitude.

Papa, I miss you a lot and I love you and Mama bunches like all the stars in the sky, and Draco too.

Draco, I have enclosed a picture I drew of the Hufflepuff common room on Thursday evening and a picture I drew of Hogwarts from the grounds earlier today. I haven’t learned how to make the pictures move yet but I want you to know what it’ll be like. Also, the staircases move and it’s amazingly fun to ride on, plus there are secret passages to get places quickly that Andrew and Lizzie showed me so I’m almost never late.

Hugs and kisses!

Serenity Imbrium Malfoy

Dear Serenity,

Your father has taken Draco to France to visit your cousins, so I pen this brief message now that you will not fear we have forgotten you, and so you know to expect a longer letter later this week.

Preliminarily, your sketches are lovely, and I do not know if you have brought your paints along with you, but I would love a painting or a drawing for my birthday later this week, so please do not worry about spending your allowance on me this year as there is not much shopping to do at Hogwarts.

I remember classes with Professor Binns from Hogwarts, though I admit I never wondered how he did his grading, but your father may know if he has a teacher’s aide or enchanted quills. I do not know of any spells affecting ghosts particularly that you could or would wish to cast, as the only books I know with spells to make ghosts depart an area are those I will not let you read until you have passed your OWLs. That said, I will on this occasion suggest that you take notes in History by setting the Dicta-Quill you have somehow obtained to record Binns’s speeches verbatim and use the time in his class more productively by reading ahead or doing other homework.

Please don’t try to deny that you have a Dicta-Quill, the sentence structure and lack of ink splotches on your last letter home gave it away. A Dicta-Quill may copy the handwriting of whomever uses it, but it does not copy the way you inevitably smudge the wet ink with your sleeves or leave a fingerprint, which I noted was absent from your last letter.

I will not show this to your father, though I will note that he has several disciplinary jinxes he might employ to make your palms itch if you neglect writing by hand over-long. Instead, however, I will warn you that a year mate of mine in school believed himself very clever for doing his essays with a Dicta-Quill, only to fail multiple in-class examinations because his writing was out of practice, so he could not write the answers to the essay questions in the time provided.

I suggest you do not repeat his mistake.

That said, you clearly are keeping your hands busy, as Dicta-Quills cannot sketch artwork, so as I said I will leave off your punishment this time.

As spending money on an acquaintance’s birthday gift is an acceptable expenditure, I am mailing you 10 Sickles in reimbursement for your pocket funds; if you spent more than this amount for Miss Anderson’s gift, then you should learn not to do so in the future.

If you write me with a list of your other friends’ birthdays for the future, I will owl you appropriate spending money to use instead of your allowance when the dates approach.

Lastly, I do believe that both Sullivan Fawley and Gregory Greengrass are in your year, in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively. Their families are both acquaintances with us, so please speak pleasantly to them and maintain good relations as befits our lineages.

Your loving mother,

Narcissa Amaryllis Malfoy née Black

Chapter Text

13 September 1990

“Last week I provided a spell useful against small pests like doxies, as well as one simple enough to cast with ease and get you used to spell-casting. The charm I will teach you today is more complicated, but once done it will be an aide to teach you a critical element of spellcasting: accuracy. Khazimla,” Professor Meioh cast, and a jet of yellow-green light leapt from her wand tip to hit the blackboard.

Where it hit, there was a round splotch of glowing color.

“The amount of time the glow will last is dependent on the willpower, skill, and power of the caster, but you can always expect it to last at least a minute,” Professor Meioh explained. “It reacts the same to cloth or stone or skin, meaning that it is perfectly safe to cast on each other, and overlapping hits will change the color slightly. Once everyone has this spell down, I will be sorting you into teams for spell tag, and the team with the least marks will get House Points.”

Since it was Thursday, Hufflepuff had their Defense lesson with Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, but Serenity was already planning out how many times she would get Rei with glowing splotches come Friday morning.

It only took about 10 minutes for enough people to get the spell down (Serenity included,) that Professor Meioh could form teams to go against each other.

When Serenity had gone to see competitive duels with her family, the duelists had mostly stayed still while casting, and as such Amy walked out of their first match with the fewest splotches while Serenity looked as spotted as a leopard.

“Finite Incantatum. Now, who wants to discuss the match?” Professor Meioh asked.

“Was Amy allowed to drop on her hands and knees and crawl behind a table?” Serenity asked.

“Yes, that’s why I put you in a room with furniture to hide behind. In combat, it’s called taking cover and it’s a very useful technique. Many spells may be able to break through a board of wood, and some can even break through a stone wall, but even most of those spells that can do so will expend the majority of their energy in doing so. As such, seeking cover behind protective material is an important skill, and ten points to Ravenclaw for thinking of it, Miss Anderson. Mr. Stretton?”

“Why do professional duelists not have cover to hide behind?” Jeremy Stretton asked, which is what Serenity was wondering too!

“Because professional duelists are competing to show their skills in spell-casting, which is also why they are not permitted to wear protective armor that isn’t league issue,” Professor Meioh answered. “The idea is to make them rely on wizardry for every part of a battle, whereas in live combat you want to focus on casting spells and moving and seeking cover, which is why I started you all on this exercise. Any other commentary? Miss Chang.”

“You said this was testing accuracy, so I mostly tried to cast at people’s heads, but were you counting points for that?” Cho checked.

“Not for this exercise, but I’ll give Ravenclaw another five house points for acknowledging a good habit to keep practicing. Limbs will count as much as heads or torsos because I am counting the number of hits each of you has received. It would be very difficult for me to count who scores how many hits on whom with this exercise, though I have ways to do that with older students who can learn more advanced spells. Mister Hussain?”

“Could we all receive a perfect score if we don’t cast at each other?” Raashid asked as he fiddled with his yellow tie.

“By the letter of the rules, yes. By the spirit of the rules, no, because the purpose is to practice dodging and accuracy. To be clear, your scores for each round depend on whether or not you get hit, but your grades are for participation in this exercise today; you will get a better grade from me if you cast wildly and are covered in glowing marks than if you attempt to do nothing. If I catch you lazing about, I may get creative with some toy bludgers or I may throw you into an even more advanced exercise, is that clear?”

““Yes, Professor,”” chorused several people, Serenity included.

“Excellent. I need to check on whether anybody else has got the spell down, so start again until the hourglass is empty.”

It was a most enjoyable lesson, but as they were leaving for lunch Professor Meioh asked Serenity to stay behind for a moment.

Serenity felt abruptly nervous once she was alone with the grain-haired woman, and wished she had Luna with her for company.

“You’re not in trouble, don’t worry,” Setsuna assured her. “Miss Malfoy, I overheard a conversation between Professors Sprout and Flitwick that you’d been asking about spells that can affect ghosts?”

Serenity perked up. “Uh-huh! I know there have to be a few, because the Ministry can make ghosts go away or stay at places, but nobody knows how to cast them who can tell me. Do you know anything? I’m trying to work out a spell so I can brush Myrtle’s hair. Myrtle Warren, in the second-floor water closet?”

“I know who you mean. As it happens, I do have in my possession a book about casting magic to affect ghosts, but there’s a problem.”

“A problem, Ma’am?” Serenity wondered as Setsuna smiled at her.

“Yes, not only is the book so old that I’m reluctant to let it out of my possession, but it’s written in Ancient Etruscan, which I doubt you speak.”

“Oh. No Professor, I don’t know that. Um… Are you willing to tell me what it says?” Serenity asked hopefully.

“Eventually. But I am a teacher, so I want you to do a bit of studying first.” Serenity wilted but nodded, and Setsuna handed her a roll of parchment.

“Um, ‘He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight,’ is that it?”

“You read it correctly. I have several of these scrolls with wise old sayings on them. I want you to write me an essay on this one—it can be short, and you can talk to other people, but it has to be in your own words, what you think it means and whether you agree with it—and turn it into me when you’re done. There’s no time limit, but when you’ve turned in this one I’ll give you another saying to write about. If you get ten turned in by winter break, I’ll give you a copy of my book in English for Christmas. Do we have a deal?”

“Ohhh… That’s going to be a lot of writing,” Serenity groaned.

“Yes, but what Hufflepuff would shy away from some extra work?” Setsuna chided.

“One who’s happy to be ‘all the rest’?” the blonde attempted.

“Ah, but do you really want to be left behind and never accomplish anything?”

Serenity pursed her lips. “I want to have a lot of friends who like me, ma’am.”

“Which means you want to be a good friend for Myrtle and get this book,” Setsuna finished, and the fight went out of Serenity with a wheeze.

“You’re really evil, ma’am. Thank you very much for this, I hope you’re not troubling yourself.”

Setsuna laughed. “I’ll give you five points to Hufflepuff for honesty, and I hope it’s not for a while that you meet anyone truly evil if I’m the standard you set. Off to lunch, then,” she said, and Serenity thanked her again before rushing off to eat.

15 September 1990

“What are you writing?” Lita Dursley asked her blonde friend.

The blonde who put her hair up in pig-tailed buns that Rei Black called ‘odango’, not the blonde who wore a ribbon, though Mina wasn’t even with them. Mina was missing the picnic Lita had made (she’d gotten permission to use the kitchens with a House Elf watching, but only on weekends so it didn’t interfere with studies,) because she’d begged Amy to help her write a Herbology essay because after mouthing off to Sprout one time too many the otherwise kind woman had assigned Mina personally a double-length essay.

With Molly off watching the Hufflepuff Quidditch trials (Lita mentally shuddered, as her first flying lesson had involved a panic attack and accidental magic in the form of lightning that scorched her broomstick in midair, so she’d been excused for a few weeks from them,) it was just Lita, Rei, and Serenity enjoying the Saturday afternoon.

Granted, it wasn’t exactly warm anymore with winter coming early this year, but Rei had apparently been taught an advanced Bluebell Flames charm by Professor Flitwick for her good performance, so they were comfortably toasty on the grounds.

“It doesn’t look like a homework essay,” Rei noted, though she didn’t try to grab it the way Dudley might with something he wanted to see.

“Extra credit for Professor Meioh. She has a book about casting magic on ghosts but she won’t let me see unless I do bonus essays on old sayings. Oh! But she said I can get help and talk to people about this, if you guys want to pitch in.” She offered the scroll and Lita took it.

“It’s from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War,” Rei noted.

“You’ve read it!” Now Serenity looked practically like she was shining with excitement.

“Father has a copy. He said that Sun Tzu can teach a lot of lessons that apply to real life as well as fighting, with or without magic.”

“Is it supposed to be written backwards? Like, the sentence is, I’d say it the other way around,” Lita tried to explain, calling back her primary school lessons of if-then statements. “If you know when to fight then you will win.”

“You forgot about the not-fighting part,” Rei corrected.

“I can use that!” Serenity cheered.

“Not if you don’t understand it,” Rei snorted. “Do you know what it means?”

Serenity deflated a bit. “Uh… When you fight, you can either lose or win, or if it’s dueling the judges sometimes declare a draw. So whether you win or lose…” She frowned. “Is it just about when you fight? Because I don’t think fighting in the morning or the evening, I mean, maybe if you got the sun in your eyes….”

“Jerry wins by hiding in his hole!” Lita cried with a sudden brain blast.

““Huh?”” Both pureblood girls looked at her oddly and Lita was so happy that growing up without magic, which meant growing up with movies and TV, was going to help her explain this.

“On the telly, there’s a cartoon called Tom and Jerry. Tom is a cat and Jerry is a mouse, and Tom tries to catch Jerry but it never ends well because it’s a cartoon, and in cartoons Jerry can hit Tom with a frying pan or whatever,” she elaborated. “Dudley and Harry got into an argument because Dudley is bigger and stronger like Tom so he thought Tom should always win if it wasn’t a show on the telly, but Harry said that Jerry wins by staying in his hole and hiding so Tom can’t get to him. A mouse can’t beat a cat, but it won’t lose if it runs away instead of fighting, so we should only pick fights we can win!”

She was happy, but both girls were frowning at her.

“If you only pick fights you can win, then you’re only fighting weak people,” Rei countered.

“That sounds like bullying,” Serenity agreed, and Lita deflated.

“Sorry, that’s not what I…” She felt so stupid, like the muggles who had tried burning witches or anyone who looked different.

“I don’t think you’re wrong, but maybe there’s more than one type of winning. Sun Tzu was talking about war and people dying,” Rei quickly amended.

“Oh, right! I lost our first Khazimla exercise because I got hit a lot of times, but I still learned things and I did better next time. I didn’t win any of them,” Serenity reasoned, “but it wasn’t a war it was just class practicing, so that’s different.”

“There’s a difference between winning or losing a duel with a classmate and trying to duel a grownup,” Rei agreed. “You won’t beat an adult so we shouldn’t bother, we’ll just get in trouble for trying and should run away if it’s a serious fight.”

“That doesn’t sound very Gryffindor,” Lita said. “If we see an older student picking on a classmate, shouldn’t we stand up to them?”

“I’m a Hufflepuff so I can just run get a teacher, nyah,” Serenity cheered with her tongue out teasingly.

“We don’t win by hexing an older student’s nose off, we win by getting a prefect or a teacher to see them being a bully. We’ll lose in a fight with an older student, but the teacher will win, and it’s a teacher’s job to stop that,” Rei explained. “Otherwise, we just give the bully two victims instead of one.” Then she frowned and added. “That’s if it’s something with a teacher who can punish people. If you see something really bad, then it’s worth trying to fight because it’s the right thing to do and if you make enough noise you could get someone else to come see and then it’s two-on-one or even three-on-one if the person we’re saving jumps in.”

“Teamwork wins!” Serenity cheered, cackling a bit before she started writing.

18 September 1990

“I have something else I wanted to ask you about,” Amy admitted once they’d finished comparing their History of Magic homework, “but it’s private and I might offend you.”

“I can keep a secret,” Rei said neutrally. “Here, or should we find a classroom?”

Amy glanced around the library and said, “Here is fine.”

Rei waited.

Amy looked away from her friend’s amethyst gaze and tried not to squirm. “One of the older students in Ravenclaw, he said he wanted to warn me. About you and Serenity. Your families.”

“The Blacks and the Malfoys,” Rei said shortly.

“Yes. Um. Does your family know that you’re friends with me?”

“I told my father that I made friends with a really smart arifuko in Ravenclaw and he said he trusted my judgment,” Rei answered. “But… most of the family, his cousins and everyone, they would probably want to hex you away from me.”

Amy shrank in on herself. “Because of my mother?”

“Because they’re stupid,” Rei spat. “They’re stupid and hateful and none of them are happy and I don’t want to be anything like them.”

“Oh.” Silence sat on the for a while as other students in the library took notes and turned pages. “Is Serenity… he said something about her father?”

“What exactly did he say?” Rei sighed.

“He said…” Amy hesitated. “Shields said he didn’t want to judge people by their parents, but a lot of people in the Black and Malfoy families hated anyone who didn’t have magical parents, so I ought to be careful if your parents give me gifts or ask to meet me. He said he wouldn’t pretend like he knew my friends better than me, but I should make sure I know you, because not all adults were good people and a lot more people claimed to be made to work for, um, for You-Know-Who than was probably true so a few of his genuine supporters were probably still out there.”

“He’s right,” Rei said shortly. She bit her lip. “What do you know about Serenity’s parents?”

“Just what she’s told us. They’re rich, they hired tutors for her and her brother, her mother was a Black before their marriage, they sent her some money for-,” Amy’s hand rose to the pretty blue-and-purple butterfly hairclip that was part of her most recent birthday gift set. “-for my birthday gift, that’s why Shields wanted to talk to me, and they make some money from owning shares of a Welsh Green dragon reserve but more from owning and leasing land and buildings. She didn’t talk about their politics.”

“She might not know,” Rei grumbled. “She isn’t very smart.”

“That’s not-,” Amy choked for a moment as the implication that Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy might actually be involved in dark magic and bad things struck her. “Is it true?”

“I heard,” Rei began slowly, “that what happened was, Bellatrix Lestrange, Aunt Narcissa’s sister, willingly joined You-Know-Who in the war. Aunt Narcissa is smart at school stuff, but she isn’t really good for going out and casting spells at people. Uncle Lucius, though, he’s good with curses and dueling, so You-Know-Who wanted him to join the Death Eaters. Uncle Lucius said that he refused, because you shouldn’t solve problems with violence or attack people, and then Aunt Bellatrix put him under the Imperius Curse so he had to obey and it didn’t break until she was captured.”

“That’s horrible,” Amy gasped. She didn’t know the curse in question, but she’d read enough science fiction to know about hypnotism and brainwashing. “Even though he was her brother-in-law? What did her sister think?”

Rei grimaced. “Bellatrix Lestrange is crazy enough to do it, but he might really have said yes to joining and Bellatrix pretended she put a curse on him so it wouldn’t be his fault and he wouldn’t go to jail. The way Father talks about Uncle Lucius isn’t nice.”

“Oh.” Amy was smart, but she knew that trying to figure out which had happened if actual bobbies couldn’t tell wasn’t going to be something she could do, and in the worst case Serenity might not be her friend if Amy put her Papa in jail. “Do you think he’s a good father?”

That made Rei hesitate. “Why?”

“I mean, if he was working for You-Know-Who, wouldn’t he have taught Serenity to-?”

Rei was already shaking her head. “I know that Serenity’s brother, Draco, he’s a git who doesn’t have problems with insulting people who have non-magical parents or people who like arifu things.”

“Is ‘arifu’ what you call muggles in Japan?”

Rei blushed a little. “Oh. Yes, for arifuretajin but shorter. Sorry.”

Amy nodded. “But you and Serenity aren’t pretending to be my friends?”

Rei scowled. “I hate liars and people who kiss up to me. And Serenity probably slept through her parents’ lessons on why arifu are supposed to be inferior.”

Amy smiled faintly. “Like she does with Professor Binns.”

“Exactly. Only Draco was a ponce who didn’t poke her awake like you do.”

“I bet he never drew on her face either though,” Amy joked, and Rei laughed in memory of the silly face that Molly had inked onto one of Serenity’s cheeks the day before.

Chapter Text

23 September 1990

“It’s a weekend, Professor Vector said today’s the equinox, do you have anything we need to do?” Serenity asked, being once again the last one up in the morning.

“Your transfiguration homework,” Luna reminded her archly, and Serenity wilted.

“Riiiight. Ugh. That can wait until this evening, please?”

“I shan’t remind you again then,” Luna half-threatened, as she’d let Serenity forget an assignment or two already when Serenity didn’t do them promptly. “Unless you want to remind me…?”

“It’s about, um, it’s a brief essay and a list of examples on the Unstable… Destabilizing… reverting… bleh. It’s about how at our level, if we try to make a needle into a match and then light the match, it’ll turn back into a needle because burning… something… we put it into a new form but if we try to change the form without more magic… I remember I thought it was like Sissy-guy had to roll a boulder up a hill, he got high enough to take a break and it would stick, but then if he tried to roll it higher it would roll downhill instead,” Serenity finished. “Mostly I remembered that it was why we can’t make food out of anything we can’t eat. If I tried to make a block of wood into an apple it’d start being wood again when I took a bite, and even if Professor McGonagall tried to make a block of wood into an apple it would still become wood again when it was in my belly. Wood pulp, yuck. Can I go get breakfast now?”

“I haven’t been stopping you, but I suggest you get dressed,” Luna remarked.

Serenity dressed, raced off to lunch, and got Andrew to compliment her on her Freezing Charm when she managed to chill her drink without making it into a solid block.

Molly and Mina had both joined the Hogwarts Choir, which had practice, and she wasn’t certain where Rei or Lita were, but Serenity found Amy in the library chewing through a big book after Luna reminded her that Professor Meioh had left her another essay prompt, too.

“Mind if I join you?” Serenity checked, keeping her voice low enough that Madam Pince wouldn’t fuss at them. Amy nodded before returning to her book, and Shields didn’t seem to mind either, so Serenity slid in beside Amy and got the bit of parchment Professor Meioh had given her.

“That doesn’t look like a school essay, Malfoy,” Darien noted over his own Ancient Runes homework.

“Extra credit for Professor Meioh,” Serenity muttered back. Then, “Ancient Runes?” Her own essay forgotten, she peered at the bit of parchment he’d been staring at.

“Yes, but the second extra credit problem is killing me.” Darien gave her a slow look. “I don’t suppose it makes more sense to someone raise by wizards, bun-head?”

“Hey!” Serenity squawked, only for Amy to quickly shush her. “Sorry.” Her pride pricked, she looked at the string of six runes and the empty spot. She frowned, peered at it, sounded something out under her breath, and gave a snort. “It’s sowing again. Bluh. The ess-sounding one.”

“Sowilo?”

“Yup. And I think you got this one wrong too.”

“Back up a moment,” Darien requested. “Why are you so sure it’s Sowilo when there’s already one of those in the word? What’s it supposed to mean?”

“It’s not a word, doofus, Papa bought me a day calendar with runes to help me learn them and it abbey-whatsit-thingied all the days of the week in the exact same pattern of runes. And for this question,” she continued, “the runes aren’t divided by how many lines are in them or else this one would be here. They’re divided by whether you can draw them in one go or if you need to lift up your quill. Mama only made me practice a hundred times,” she grumbled.

Darien stared at the questions for a long moment.

“Huh. Thanks, Malfoy. You got me some extra credit, so you want any help with your thing for Professor Meioh?” he offered.

“That would be brill,” she groaned, and Luna gave a meow by her feet. “Um. That or maybe Transfiguration? I can remember, like, we stick things in a new form and then that form unravels if it gets non-magically transformed, but names and stuff are ugh.”

“Let’s take a look at your- is this Sun Tzu?”

“You know him?” Serenity perked up.

“Required Defense reading for our year. Come on, I’ll grab the book from my room and talk it through you. Not that ‘Great results can be achieved with small forces,’ is tremendously complicated,” he mused as she followed him out of the library.

“I’m thinking it’s, like, how even one man standing up for what he believes can make a difference, does that sound good?” Serenity checked. “Ooh, new secret passage.”

“It’s only open on weekends as far as I can tell, but we get to skip two floors,” Darien commented as he led her out from behind a tapestry. “Andrew showed it to me.”

“He’s so cool,” Serenity sighed.

“Puppy love, that’s cute.”

“Hey! I’m not a puppy,” Serenity complained.

“Sure thing, buns, whatever you say.”

“Hey!”

“What? Calling you a bunny after your hair buns is better than calling you a piggy for your pigtails, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve seen you at mealtimes,” he joked.

“Meanie-face! Nnnngh!” Serenity made a face at the back of his head, but she also kept following him across the fifth floor until she almost ran into his back.

Darien turned to gesture at the door. “Milady Malfoy, I present you with the entrance to the Ravenclaw Common Room. Anyone who wishes to enter must first answer a riddle. Care to take a swing at it?”

“I told the Hat I wasn’t smart enough for Ravenclaw,” she grumbled, but she stepped up and swung the knocker. “Ooh!”

The bronze eagle-head of the knocker had animated and gave her a little look. “Welcome, visitor. A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.”

“My money pouch! Or maybe a moke-skin purse if you want to be finicky about hiding,” Serenity declared proudly, since her pouch had her gold but it also had a drawstring instead of the other stuff.

“It’s- huh,” Darien grunted as the door swung open. “Well, I guess you are smart enough for Ravenclaw after all, buns. First try, even.”

“Don’t call me buns,” she groused as she followed him in.

“Great results can be achieved with small forces.”

There are several important ways to think about this saying, and they apply to more than fighting. The first is that even a small and seemingly weak things can do a lot of damage. A doxy is smaller than my Papa’s hand, but doxy bites kill one or two witches and wizards every year, mostly older century-old wizards who went to school and could out-magic many younger people. Similarly, in the dungeons there is a carving of a man stepping on a snake, but the snake is also biting him above his boot, poisoning him. The snake is going to die because its insides are crushed, but the much bigger man is probably going to die too, so it’s supposed to be art warning students about the damage someone can do even after you beat them.

This means that even if you are fighting with someone weak, you need to worry about them hurting you while you win. But it also means that it is worth fighting someone stronger than you, because even if you lose you can make them lose too. The snake in the carving died because it was crushed, but that man is never going to step on any other snakes ever again. Bees die when they sting someone, but the sting is so painful animals are scared of bees and won’t bother a beehive or else all the bees will sting them and the honey isn’t worth it.

Lastly, this saying means that even one person can achieve a great thing. Hogwarts was built by 4 wizards (or 7 for the original construction, according to Mr. Hat,) where it would take hundreds of muggles to construct the castle, and the school is still standing years later. One person can make a difference, even if they seem weak or outnumbered. If you need to do something difficult, remember that you can be the one person and try it anyway.

4 October 1990

“What are you singing, Miss Malfoy?” Professor Sinistra asked. The light of the full moon shimmered down on the three of them: Rei, who was sitting for a portrait; Serenity, who was painting it; and Aurora Sinistra, who’d agreed to supervise them atop the Astronomy Tower after hours.

“Oh! Um, I just call it a cadence, but I think there’s a fancy term for it. It’s a song that makes me go faster and do fewer mistakes, since we don’t want to be up here forever,” Serenity explained. “It only really works during the full moon… Well, it used, I might be better at it now that I’m learning to cast magic with Princess. I should probably ask,” she mumbled before she went back to painting.

“That would explain why you asked to do the portrait up here,” Professor Sinistra said slowly.

Rei hadn’t ever heard of exactly this type of magic—she assumed it was magic, it certainly felt a little like magic—and she guessed Professor Sinistra hadn’t either, but from how fast Serenity’s brush was moving, she was inclined to believe it was magic.

Magic, or the portrait would turn out to be a mess. But she’d seen Serenity do her drawings before and they always looked good.

‘Come to think of it, I think she was humming during a lot of the drawings too,’ Rei remembered. ‘It was the same tune, but this time she’s vocalizing syllables even if they don’t mean anything in English.’ “Does your cadence mean anything? The words?”

Serenity paused again. “I don’t think so? But I need to build up speed again, Rei, please don’t interrupt me.”

“My apologies.”

Twenty minutes later Rei was heading back to bed with her Otou-san’s birthday present wrapped carefully for Professor Flitwick to animate when he had the chance.

With her mother dead from giving birth—and neither Rei nor her father were certain it hadn’t been a subtle curse laid by a member of their bigoted family—there had never been an opportunity for a proper family portrait, especially as Takashi grew older.

Rei had many issues with the man brought her into this world, but when Serenity had said that she could work from photographs provided the painting wasn’t expected to talk, Rei had got the idea to get a painting of the three of them as they would look now, were her Okaa-sama alive, so that her father could remember and her brother could see what she looked like more clearly.

The best part in her opinion was the complexity of what may or may not be a snub: she hadn’t spent a single knut on her father’s birthday gift, but the materially oriented man (as her jiji had often complained and Rei herself had seen a few times,) could not possibly fault her choice in gift, and he did miss her mother enough to cry over it too.

All in all, Rei felt very accomplished when she said, “Spry Spirits” and stepped into the Gryffindor Common Room with her package. She walked in halfway to the fireplace as the portrait closed behind her, paused, and waited.

The fire crackled, calling to her, but Rei waited.

“I saw you duck behind the couches,” she finally called. “What are you planning that’s going to lose us more house points? Do I need to get your brother?”

A moment later, Fred and George Weasley emerged.

“Oh, don’t go bothering Charlie, and if you bug Percy about us he’ll tell you to get a Prefect, right Fred?”

“Totally right, Fred, and what really tipped you off, firstie? We were already hiding when the portrait opened.”

“I saw you in my tea leaves,” Rei deadpanned, because it was technically true. After being caught in a few pranks, she’d started taking tea with every meal and reading the leaves like her jiji had taught her. She wasn’t really reliably able to get a reading yet, but if she saw anything relating to trouble or a twin sign like Pisces or Gemini she knew to be extra careful. “Look, I have a birthday present for my father, can you just help me not ruin it please?”

“What, really?”

“And sure, but really?”

“Fred’s asking about the painting, by the way.”

“Whereas Geroge means the tea leaves. We thought those were a joke.”

“Divination is not a joke, it’s an art form,” Rei grumbled, “now what’s the prank?”

The twins shared a look. “We were planning to spell the corridor leading to the Slytherin Common Room-,”

“The current password is Occamy if you want to get into the common room, just make sure you do something to Steffan Vaisey if you get the chance,” Rei offered immediately. “He called Minerva Lovegood’s mother something foul earlier today. Has that tidbit bought me safe passage from whatever prank you’ve already done that could damage my father’s birthday present, or are you going to squeeze me for some money too?”

Rei had observed that the Weasley family generally appeared to be the second type of poor people: ones who wore their pride like an armor and would refuse charity, handouts, and dishonorable earnings to distinguish themselves from those desperate and begging who would do nearly anything for a bit of money.

Sure enough, both boys flinched at the mention of extortion, even though Rei probably had more pocket money in her trunk than all four Weasley brothers combined were carrying.

“Hey there, no call for that.”

“Just a quick question and you’re off to bed.”

“It’s the staircase that’s hexed, and we’ll tell you which stair if you tell us-,”

“Exactly how have you been seeing us in tea leave, or is it a hoax?”

“We’ll be signing up for elective to take next year, you see.”

“And divination is on offering, so-,”

“We really want to know-,”

“In advance, preferably.”

“-whether it’s worth taking.”

“What do you say?”

Rei eyed them, thinking. ‘I did see a vase in my cup at lunch, meaning a friend might need my help. Asking if Mina needed any help told me about her being made fun of… but it might mean that they need my help? …There might have been a spider, a reward for industrious work. But Serenity was doing the work. Oh bother, it’s not like I mind explaining divination.’

She took a deep breath to center herself.

“Divination,” Rei began, the words dropping like stones from her tongue into the rippling pool of her soul as she gazed into the common room’s fire, “is an artform, but there’s as much a science to it as you need science for the shapes and colors and measurements in painting. Imagine that you live your life walking along a road, knowing generally what you have already passed but seeing only the next turn ahead of you. Proper Divination is like climbing a tree beside the road to get a look further ahead.

“It is not perfect,” Rei continued as the fire crackled. “I might look ahead and think it clear, only for a wolf to wander by and be hungry when I get there. Or I might see a wolf ahead, but by the time I arrive ready for a fight it was gone off chasing other prey. However, my jiji has a few sayings to explain things like this. He taught me, ‘dice that roll sixes a quarter of the time are weighted.’ It means some divination is better than none, even if it’s tricky.

“Like with climbing a tree, climbing higher means my mind is better able to see. Also like climbing, it takes effort to climb higher and more effort to come down, so if you go too high you’ll either fall or get stuck. If I read the tea leaves, it can tell me something about the coming day, but I won’t know much about the coming week. Finding out about bigger things would need me to meditate for a few hours in front of the sacred fire to do a reading-,”

“What, no crystal balls?” The voice of whichever twin broke her rhythm, and Rei abruptly had to keep from blushing.

“I-!” She swallowed, having almost forgotten while gazing in the fire that she was speaking to anyone else. “Jiji taught me that crystal balls are better for- um- for senrigan. I don’t know the English,” she mumbled. ‘Don’t blush, don’t blush, I have nothing to be ashamed of!’ She straightened her back. “Look, I answered your question, I’m going to bed.”

“Skip the bottom step, it’s charmed!” one of the twins called at her back.

Rei did so, and nothing happened, so she went to bed in a huff and tried to get some sleep in before the morning.

Chapter Text

10 October 1990

“Mudbloods. Two mudbloods in her coterie,” Lucius groused into his whiskey glass. “What have we been teaching that girl?”

“How to pass herself off as a witch, because we thought she was a squib,” Narcissa responded sharply. The two took a moment to eye each other.

“My apologies, Narcissa. I rather thought you would be more disheartened by our daughter’s choice of friends than I,” Lucius said as he sat again at the table where they’d laid out their daughters’ letters home.

“I am… not pleased, but Serenity has shown that she learned more than we thought, even if she has not learned what we may have wished her to, in a perfect world,” Narcissa reasoned. “I am concerned at her choice of friends… but at the same time, Serenity is displaying the ability to mingle with a wide variety of individuals who are likely to display their own talents in the future. Draco has perhaps learned his lessons of blood-status too well, as we may need to remind him that terms like ‘mudblood’ are inappropriate to use in mixed company.”

“Valid,” Lucius admitted. “Still, the five friends she mentions consist of two purebloods, a halfblood, and two mudbloods. A little too mixed for my tastes.”

“Only if you take the most adverse interpretation of what we know about them,” Narcissa disagreed. “I would have listed them as three purebloods, one halfblood, and a mudblood who at least also had a wizarding aunt.”

“You believe that the Lovegood girl has a magical father?”

“None of my circle know Peregrina Lovegood well, but the Lovegood family in general has not been discriminating in such things. While that increases the likelihood that Peregrina would be willing to bed a muggle man, she also would have no compunctions about admitting such or marrying him. Instead, Peregrina has never mentioned her daughter’s sire, which suggests that she had an affair with a married wizard whose wife might object to the revelation. Similarly, the Anderson girl is fatherless and could easily be the result of a by-blow by a wizard, putting her in the same blood-category as Severus Snape. The only one guaranteed to be a mudblood is the Gryffindor girl, and Serenity did not seek out Lita Dursley to befriend her. Dursley instead came part and parcel with befriending Rei Black, and her inclusion is thus reflective of Rei’s values, rather than Serenity’s beliefs.”

“You don’t worry that Serenity will follow in Andromeda’s footsteps, then?” Lucius wondered.

Narcissa hummed. “Mind you that Andromeda was entirely doing our lineage proud until her sixth year, I think. I doubt it could have begun before then without our noticing. Not with Bella above us,” she reflected. Then she shook her head. “Regardless, that Andromeda grew out of proper behavior still means that Serenity has time to grow into propriety. If we try to force it, she is liable to dig in her heels as so many teenagers tend to, but friendships and alliances will change and mutate with time. So long as she takes an appropriate boy to Hogsmeade in third year, I say we shouldn’t overly worry too much too soon.”

“And yet you always become very verbal when you worry,” Lucius noted quietly.

Narcissa frowned, hummed, and poured herself some tea.

19 October 1990

Serenity shifted as she hovered inches above the ground on her broom, waiting. She tried not to overbalance. Further away, Madam Hooch broke up her huddle with the volunteer 7^th-years who were helping her oversee the flying class.

“Alright firsties, let’s play some scumble! Crouch, Malfoy, Butlers, Fawley, Hussain, you lot are with me,” Tonks called as her hair cycled into Hufflepuff streaks of black and blonde. “Any of you lot ever played scumble before?”

“Nope,” Serenity and three others admitted.

“Righty-o, then. Scumble is basically kiddie Quidditch with five Chasers, one Keeper—that’ll be me, by the by—and three Quaffles to toss around. No bludgers, and maybe in a week or two we’ll see about getting a play Snitch. I’m not going to bother with talking strategy this round, just have fun and don’t blatch or blagg anyone. Onward, Hufflepuff!”

Tonks rose up to guard the hoops, and Serenity set to flying.

It went… It went. That was a good way to say it, Serenity reflected when Madam Hooch finally called for everyone to touch down.

She’d handled one of the three Quaffles plenty of times, but she’d only thrown at the hoops five times and only one had scored, even though her team had ended up winning.

It was a fun enough experience, but it wasn’t one she was eager to do again too soon.

“Hey Malfoy, wait up a mo’,” she heard Tonks call as everyone was bustling off to their free Friday afternoon.

“Yes Miss Tonks?” Serenity said as she pulled to a stop with Molly.

“Thought I’d catch up and see how you were settling in,” Tonks said as her hair cycled through blue and green shades, “since we haven’t talked very much after the Welcoming Feast. You too, Baker, how’s House Hufflepuff treating you?”

“Everyone’s been really nice and I’m doing well in classes. Transfiguration is a lot of fun,” Molly answered.

“Same, but I’m loving Defense and Charms,” Serenity agreed.

“Defense? With all the extra essays Professor Meioh has you doing, I’m surprised you like her so much,” Molly teased.

“She doesn’t mind if I use a Dicta-Quill for the voluntary extra credit work,” Serenity emphasized drily, “and I got to knock over five ragdolls with one Odisi this morning, what’s not to love? Whoops, sorry Princess,” Serenity apologized when her wand produced a brief burst of force, “I’ll be more careful about spell names and stuff.”

“You named your wand Princess?” Tonks checked, sounding gleeful.

“Papa calls me that sometimes, and I thought it fit. She looks nice and golden, doesn’t she?” Serenity offered, flourishing her pear-wood wand for Tonks’s viewing. “What’s Professor Meioh got you doing in NEWT Defense? Or are you taking it?”

“Kinda necessary if I want to be an auror,” Tonks agreed. “Last lesson, we were doing combat transfiguration and smothering spells; she says it’s a pretty reliable way to deal any wild animals that are magic resistant, and a decent try to throw at most dark wizards, plus they’re slow enough that hitting a bystander by mistake is easy to reverse. Though, hey, I think you girls have the rest of the afternoon free? Want me to teach you a few more advanced spells?”

“Sure! Do you think you can teach me your hair-changing thing? Mina Lovegood’s birthday is next week and she loves that stuff."

“It sounds fun, but Professor Flitwick wants the Choir to practice for our Halloween performance,” Molly demurred. “Besides, weren’t you going to go ask Mister, um, Mr. Haggis about his crossbow for your ‘voluntary extra credit’?”

Serenity groaned but ceded the point. She was, however, pleasantly surprised when Tonks offered to come along and introduce her, since she knew Hagrid pretty well after seven years at Hogwarts.

“He’s a bit rough around the edges,” Tonks admitted as she led Serenity across the grounds, down to the gamekeeper’s hut, “and he’ll get upset if you make fun of him for living in a wooden hut or being what most people would call ‘poor,’ so use your manners, but he’s otherwise a very friendly man. He just looks intimidating. What do you want to ask him about, anyway?”

“Professor Meioh has me doing extra credit essays on Sun Sue to get me a copy of a book on casting spells on ghosts,” Serenity groused. “It’s cool to think about and I’m learning, but ugh it also makes my brain itch, you know?”

“Growing pains,” Tonks said wisely. “I’m not sure Hagrid is well read enough to know Sun Tsu, though. Why him?”

“‘Cause the prompt I have now is- yah!”

“Levicorpus!”

Serenity had tried to dig out and read the parchment while walking, but she’d stumbled, and Tonks had cast a spell that kept her floating in the air upside-down before she’d hit the ground.

Serenity found herself giggling as the blood rushed to her head, but managed to say, “Th-thanks.”

“Bloody hell, don’t thank me yet, I can’t remember the counter-hex for the Ankle-Noose to get you down,” Tonks admitted. It took her five tries to get Serenity back on her feet, by which point they were both giggling half-uncontrollably, and they meandered down to Hagrid’s hut in that same state.

Tonks knocked, Serenity jolted at the sound of a barking dog, and a loud male voice called for the dog to settle down before the door opened to usher them in.

“Good ter see ya again, Tonks. An’ who is this little lady?”

“One of our new firsties, her name’s Serenity,” Tonks said, and Serenity was bright enough to get the impression that mentioning her last name might not be the best idea yet. “Wotcher, Charlie, what’re you doing down here instead of off at Quidditch practice? The Captain can’t be skiving?”

The redheaded boy who was also seated at Hagrid’s table gave a languid shrug.

“You didn’t hear? I’m not planning to play professional, and Jae Kim is, so I turned in my badge to let him be Captain. The stress was getting a little toxic last year, honestly.”

“Who’d have expected a Gryffindor to fold under pressure,” Tonks joked.

“Same person who’d expect a Hufflepuff to hold a grudge,” he riposted with a toast of his cup to Tonks.

“What brings ye both down ter see me this fine afternoon?”

“Serenity has an essay question she apparently wants to ask you about. Go on, then,” Tonks prodded.

“What, is it about the grounds or some beasties?” Hagrid wondered. “Here, have some rock cakes.”

The mention of food perked Serenity right up again.

“Thank you very much! And it’s about crossbows, and you’re the only person I’ve heard of using one so I thought I’d try asking you. Um. ‘Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of a trigger,’ that’s how it is. So I wondered what bending a crossbow means or what the trigger does, please.”

“Eh? Well sure, that’s easy enough to just show you. How’s about we step outside an’ I shoot a few targets while you watch.”

“That sounds great, thank you!”

22 October 1990

“Oof!”

“Many happy returns, Mina,” Serenity cheered when she saw her Slytherin friend at breakfast that morning. “Here, Mama sent along a few more of the lotions and things for after Herbology, plus a fun make-up kit.”

“Thanks. I’ve still got detention with Snape, so probably no party this evening or anything, but I’m glad you remembered things,” Mina said, looking less exuberant than usual.

“I could ask him to let him out early?” Serenity offered. She didn’t think it would work, but he was friends with Papa and it might be worth trying for Mina’s birthday.

Mina shook her head. “Best to get it over with. If he freed me, I bet I’d be paying for it the rest of the week, you know?”

“Probably,” Serenity agreed, because Professor Snape struck her as being the type to pull things out from under people’s feet when they thought they caught a break.

Granted, her Mama had written back to remind her that Snape needed to be strict because of how bad things could go when brewing, but still!

31 October 1990

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Serenity attempted again, but her feather failed to start floating. “Come on, Princess, what am I doing wrong? Amy, you see anything I could fix?”

“I think you said it correctly,” Amy admitted from where she’d moved onto levitating a book after getting her feather floating.

“Um. Can I-?” Both girls turned to the boy at the neighboring table. He blushed a bit under their gazes, his big, bushy eyebrows drawing together, but he said, “I know Professor Flitwick didn’t talk much about visualization, but it might be helpful. Are you trying to push the feather up or to pull it up, Malfoy?”

“That’s Greg Greengrass,” Amy hissed to Serenity as the blonde tried to recall the Ravenclaw boy’s name.

“Thanks,” Serenity muttered back as she shifted over to his table. “I wasn’t really doing either, Greengrass. Does it mean something?”

He glanced at Amy, who’d turned to her floating book again, and sighed. “It might? If you’ve got the feather on a table, you’d picked it up without magic by lifting it, right? You’ve got a cat, so do you have one of those toys that’s a fishing rod with a feather instead of a hook?”

“Yeah, but Luna doesn’t like them.” ‘She says she has her own exercise regime if need be, no playing necessary.’ “You think I should be lifting it, like there’s an invisible string?”

“I’m not sure. The string didn’t work for me, I had to push up, like there was an odisi from my wand bouncing off the table under the feather to push it up… Maybe you just need to make the feather float where you tell it, instead of trying to get it to go up? Professor Flitwick made a book float in a circle around the room…”

“Ooh, that might work, thanks! Wingardium Leviosa.”

Serenity had managed to make her feather do a loop by the end of double Charms, and she wasn’t the last person to get it flying either, so she thought she’d had a pretty good start to her day.

Since it was Halloween, a ghostly and creepy holiday, she dropped by the second floo loo to drop off a present for Myrtle.

“Happy Halloween! I owl-ordered some refilling candles, so you can burn them for decorative creepy lighting and then they’ll get all tall and unmelty again if you leave them for a while,” Serenity greeted as she pulled out the two pumpkin-decorated pillars of wax. “Where do you want them?”

“Ooh thank you! No one’s got me a gift in quite a while,” Myrtle reflected as she swooped down. “Put them by the window there. Do you know how to light them?”

“Professor Flitwick won’t be teaching us actual fire until later in the year,” Serenity apologized.

“Fine, I’ll just do his job for him,” Myrtle decided. “The incantation is incendio and you start by flicking your wrist up with a left twist, then you roll right a bit a swish down with a curve to it. Light them, light them!”

“Right, let’s give it a try, Princess.” Serenity kissed the tip of her wand lightly, tried the gestured, and declared, “Incendio!”

Fire poured out, lighting the candles but also washing across the windowsill before Serenity cut the spell off with a yelp.

“Very pretty,” Myrtle cooed approvingly as she floated over. “Hey, do you want to be my plus-one at a party?”

Serenity blinked. “A party?”

“Uh-huh! It’s technically Nick’s Death Day party because he got executed on Halloween and we never get to forget or celebrate anything else, but Halloween we ghosts get together a bit to socialize and things, because the bonds on where we can haunt are looser this time of year so we can visit and meet new spirits.”

“Oh. Sure, should I bring anything?” Serenity checked, searching her brain for Narcissa’s lessons on party etiquette.

“Just food, since we don’t serve much you’d like to eat,” Myrtle dismissed. “There’s not much else we could accept and take with us when we split come midnight. But oooh I get to bring a guest that’s never happened before! I really hope you get those charms working because I’d love to primp.”

“This time next year,” Serenity promised, and she hoped she could keep it.

… … …

After Transfiguration—where Serenity had managed to turn her yarn into metal wire, but not quite the copper wire she’d intended—and Herbology, Serenity had shared her plans with her friends (none of whom particularly wanted to come along), dropped by the (very busy for some reason) kitchens to pick up a picnic basket, and gotten properly primped up in her dorm room before descending into the dungeons.

Myrtle had met her partway there and guided her by following the music, since she couldn’t pass through walls like Myrtle could, and in a few minutes of wandering Serenity had arrived at the ghostly party.

It was lit by long, thin, black taper candles that burned with blue and purplish flames, which Serenity thought were interesting but not quite fetching when they were the only source of light.

In this light, Serenity saw the vast dungeon filled with pearly figures, even more than were usually floating around Hogwarts, and without the softening echoes the music sounded a lot like nails on the blackboard (which Melvin Butlers had demonstrated for her once in an empty classroom).

“Welcome, welcome! Happy Halloween, dear Myrtle,” greeted Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, as he swooped out from the crowd. “And I see we have a living guest as well, thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Serenity greeted with her own little awkward curtsy.

“Usually the only non-ghost attendee we get is Peeves, so another splash of color is oh so exciting,” Myrtle preened, no doubt very happy for the prestige of bringing a living guest.

“Peeves isn’t a ghost?” Serenity checked. She’d known that he looked very different, but according to Mina and Amy the term ‘poltergeist’ meant literally ‘rumbling ghost’ in German, so she’d assumed he was just a special type of ghost. “Not even a little bit?”

“Not particularly, though we’d need to ask the Gray Lady for more about him, I think,” Sir Nick sighed.

“There goes my plan to use him for practice on making my charm,” Serenity grumbled.

“A charm?” Sir Nick asked.

“Serenity is interested in charming me a hairbrush that works for me, since we’re such close friends,” Myrtle preened. “I’d loan it out of course, if you want to look pretty too.”

“It ought to work, I think. Myrtle can flood the toilets and affect physical things, so they ought to be able to affect her too. Professor Meioh says she has a book on it…” Serenity outlined what she’d been figuring do far—she couldn’t keep it all in her head, so she really wished she’d had her notes on things—and Sir Nicholas sounded very interested.

“I don’t suppose it would be possible for you to enchant a knife that could cut me?” he asked at the end of it.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone!”

“Not hurt at all, cosmetic only. Nor more pain than piercing your ears for pretty earrings,” Sir Nick assured her. “You see, the thing is-,” He produced a piece of paper that looked about as pearly as he did, and showed her the writing on it. “-despite being struck in the neck forty-five times by an axe, making me much more beheaded than any other ghost, I am not so thoroughly beheaded as to qualify for the Headless Hunt. I apply every decade, and with my half-millennium coming up I’m hoping they’ll look more favorable on me soon,” he continued, flipping his head off its stump to hang by the flap remaining, “but if you could cut off this bit of skin and flesh to properly behead me, I’d be very grateful.”

“Forty-five times?” Serenity repeated, feeling a bit sick.

“Yes indeed. With a blunt axe, for my suffering,” he complained, flipping his head upright again.

“I can try. Um… Wouldn’t it be possible for us to dig up your body and just cut that skin there instead?” Serenity wondered.

“Either way, I’m afraid all the flesh has rotted thoroughly after five centuries,” Nick sighed. “I say, you’re a Hufflepuff, aren’t you? I think the Fat Friar is around here if you wish to say hello.”

Chapter Text

2 November 1990

Meioh: Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3. This is Setsuna Meioh, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry officially supervising an extracurricular interview, recorded here via Dicta-Quill for posterity. Will everyone present please identify themselves?

SM: Hi, thanks for coming! My name is Serenity Malfoy and I asked for this interview to learn more about ghosts and their magic.

AA: My name is Amy Anderson.

SM: Amy’s here because she likes science and asking questions and she’s smarter than me so she’ll catch it if I miss something.

AA: Um. Yes.

Meioh: Serenity, please let Amy speak for herself.

SM: Sorry!

AA: It’s alright. Miss Grey Lady, Sir Nick?

GL: I am the Gray Lady, Patron Ghost of House Ravenclaw, here to offer wisdom because I value curiosity and learning.

NP: Aha! I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, dead these 498 years and two days, and ever at your service ladies.

SM: Thanks for helping us!

AA: We are asking questions to the ghosts to figure out how ghosts interact with each other in the world, amend that to and the world, and with each other.

SM: It started when I wanted to charm a hairbrush to brush Myrtle’s hair, and now we want to cut Sir Nick’s neck so he can join the Headless Hunt!

GL: I can confirm that in my centuries of being dead, I have not personally encountered magic capable of this, but I cannot deny that it may exist or may be developed. I consider it an honor to aid those curious to discover.

AA: Our first question: Sir Nicholas, it is not possible for you to twist off your own head? I’ve done it with a loose baby tooth before.

NP: It is not. See?

Meioh: Let the record show that Sir Nicholas twisted his head in a manner similar to a bottle cap or to removing an apple stem, but on making a full rotation the ectoplasm of his neck flap realigned so that it appeared untwisted. Girls, please don’t forget to narrate for the quill.

SM: Sorry!

AA: Yes, ma’am.

NP: It’s a little disorienting, but also the opposite of painful, assuming I remember what pain feels like.

SM: It looked bril, though. You just shwoop!

AA: Next question?

SM: Oh, right! Sir Nick, when I saw the Headless Hunt playing head hockey, they could grab and whack each other’s heads, right? So, Miss Gray Lady ma’am, can you try to pull off Sir Nick’s head?

GL: It is worth attempting.

AA: Let the record show that when the Gray Lady attempted it, she either ended up exerting insufficient force or dragging Sir Nicholas in whole instead of removing his head. Did I say that right, Professor Meioh?

Meioh: Well done, Miss Anderson.

SM: But maybe it can work if we get another ghost like the Fat Friar to hold him down!

NP: I shall ask him tonight, and maybe Badger Picklish if milady does not wish to exert herself.

GL: I suspect it shall be to no avail, and that our spectral cohesion far surpasses what can be done to alter our forms, but it is worth trying.

AA: Miss Gray Lady, do you have any evidence or experience with ghosts attempting to alter their spectral bodies in this way?

GL: Nothing with such exact specificity, but Sir Nicholas has on several occasions performed a reproduction of his death with the aid of Hooded Johnson. For the record, Hooded Johnson was in life an executioner who perished when an execution was interrupted by an armed party attempting to rescue the convict. He carries his uniform and his headsman’s axe with him in the afterlife, and if we could affect each other in such a way, then Johnson would have entirely beheaded Nick with one strike in a prior re-enactment.

NP: By Jove, that never even occurred to me! I do wish it would have worked though.

AA: From this, we tentatively conclude that ghosts very much wish to remain shaped as they are-

NP: Well, I do rather wish to change my shape.

AA: Um. A ghost’s spectral body is strongly stuck looking as it did on death, and other ghosts likely cannot change that the way living humans could change each other’s bodies.

GL: An astute summary.

SM: I have another question though? It just occurred to me, so it’s not on the list.

NP: By all means.

SM: When we saw, um, what’s his name, the headless ghost arrived-

NP: What’s his name? Thank you, my dear girl, it’s nice to know not everyone takes Patrick so seriously.

SM: Right. But he did a joke where his head fell off his neck. Why did it fall to the floor, but it didn’t keep falling through the floor?

NP: A learned trick, I suppose.

GL: Will and habit is more accurate, Sir Nicolas. Consider: we ghosts can float unaffected by gravity. Why should his head have fallen down at all, if not because he wanted it to fall.

SM: Oh. But then Sir Nick can’t will his neck flap to be cut or his head to come off? He said his body’s all bones now, so it’s not as though the neck is still attached.

GL: Nearly Headless was the shape of his soul when he chose to remain, and so nearly headless he shall remain.

NP: That damn blunted axe. As though the pain wasn’t enough, my fate must ever mock me.

AA: I think that leads to our next question, though. Sir Nicolas, you showed Serenity a letter refusing you entry to the Headless Hunt. How do ghosts write letters? With spectral quills and ink on spectral parchment? Is there a ghost somewhere who died with an endless roll of parchment in his pocket?

NP: I confess, I mostly just ask to borrow it from Brother William, that is, from the Fat Friar.

GL: There is a trick to it. Observe.

AA: Let the record show that the Gray Lady has produced a roll of parchment from her robes.

SM: Good remembering, Amy!

AA: Ah, thank you?

GL: While we have our base nature, there are some things about our essence that possess malleability. Things we are familiar with, we may produce from excess that is not necessary to maintain our bodily appearance. Sir Nicolas, I believe you have that letter from earlier in the decade?

NP: Why yes, here it is?

GL: Am I correct in assuming that you do not have any of the rejection letters from prior decades, even though you have not thrown them away either?

NP: Why… I suppose you are. I never really thought about it, I just put the new letter in my breast pocket when I got it.

GL: Put simply, you stopped maintaining the construct of the previous letters after getting a new one. While this letter was ostensibly written by the Headless Hunt, it was maintained first by the messenger who brought it to you, and then by your own will and energy. I daresay it wasn’t even really in your pocket until you took it out, you just recreated it each time.

NP: My word. I really am learning a lot already.

SM: Us too! Is that how they got the sticks to play polo, or ghost instruments, or the Bloody Baron got his chains?

GL: The Baron chooses to maintain and wear his chains in penance, yes. That is all I will say regarding him.

AA: So in theory, a ghost could form any tool from their own being and even loan the construct to another, but in practice it seems to be limited to familiar things?

GL: In essence, yes.

SM: Oh, does that extend to animals? Because the Headless Hunt were riding horses, but our books said that only wizards can become ghosts so either it means there are wizard horses or the ghosts made their own horses. Well, that or you don’t need to be a wizard to become a ghost. Does anyone know any muggles who are ghosts now?

SM: Guys? Everyone?

Meioh: Let the record show that everyone else was struck dumb for a solid 20 seconds at least by Miss Malfoy’s observation.

SM: Hey, don’t call them dumb! No one here is dumb!

Meioh: My apologies. I meant that they were left speechless.

GL: I myself admit I never thought about it. Something to ask Sir Patrick, maybe.

NP: Yes indeed, though he may well be a touch insufferable about it. Perhaps we should end this here and have another meeting later?

11 November 1990

“~Cantate vitae caticum, sine dolore actae~!” Mina sang with the rest of the Choir, hoping she pronounced the Latin verses right. They kept going without issue until they finished In Noctem, whereupon Professor Flitwick pronounced them all excellent and dismissed them from practice.

“I’m not sure if Serenity caught you, but Mrs. Malfoy mailed over some hair-dye potions we’re going to try out in Myrtle’s washroom,” Molly invited as they were filing out of the practice room.

Mina bit her lip. “That sounds like fun, but I’m actually meeting someone out on the grounds in a bit, so maybe after supper?”

“I’ll let her know,” Molly promised before they went separate ways down the hall.

Mina rounded a corner, relaxed, and reached into her pocket.

“You’re meeting someone on the grounds?”

“Yah!” Mina jumped, fumbled the handheld mirror she’d grabbed, and accidentally produced a fart-like blurp along with a puff of citrus-scented orange smoke from her wand. “Don’t do that! Please,” she added quickly, because the intervention of the 7^th-year female prefect was the main reason her housemates hadn’t made her totally miserable.

“Call it alertness training, firstie,” Merula Snyde chuckled, having grabbed the compact mirror before it hit the stone floor. “Speaking of which, I think you need some lying training too, given your excuse of meeting someone outside when there’s snow on the ground.”

“Less than an inch! And that actually wasn’t a lie, I’m meeting someone and I sort of need my mirror back please?” Mina did her best to look adorable.

Merula raised one eyebrow and idly ran her fingers through her shock of orange hair before returning the compact. “You weren’t trying to get out of an unwelcome social event, then?”

Mina shook her head. “That lot are all my friends,” she assured the older girl, “I just have other friends too, but thanks for checking.”

“Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, hm? I might swing by, try changing from orange to green. Malfoy’s pretty nice, right?”

“She’s Hufflepuff for good reasons,” Mina agreed. “Um. Before I go out, can I bug you for a warming charm?”

“Never was great at those,” Merula grumbled, but instead she muttered, “Hyacinflamera conglutinata,” several times to weave a scarf of bluebell flames that settled around Mina’s neck.

“Oh wow this is so pretty thank you!” Mina gushed. She’d seen Rei cast these flames a few times but she hadn’t learned them herself yet and she doubted Rei could weave them like fabric.

“It only lasts about an hour, but go meet your friend,” Merula chuckled.

“Thank you!” ‘I really need to do something nice for her,’ Mina resolved as she headed outside.

She crunched through the shallow snow determinedly until she was off alone by a few trees at the edge of the forest, and finally, “Artemis!”

“Must you be so loud?” the white cat complained, but he let her sweep him into a hug and he nuzzled her face in greeting. “I missed you too… Minerva.”

“Ugh,” Mina groaned, “I ought to dump you in the snow.” She didn’t let him go, though.

“Happy belated birthday,” Artemis said, though he’d somehow sent her a postcard from Brazil for the day itself. “How are you settling in?”

“Like a third of my Slytherin year mates are blood purists and not shy about it,” Mina groused, “but worse is our Head of House.”

“Severus Snape?” Artemis checked, because he somehow had sources of information that let him know almost everything.

“The creepy araignée was literally a Death Eater during the last war according to some upperclassmen and I believe it. He’s scary, I’ve only ever heard him be nice to a few people, and even when he’s supposed to be telling people off for foul language he gets in subtle little asides about how if it wasn’t against the school rules he wouldn’t really care, plus he talks down to first-generation magical kids and ‘blood traitors,’ ugh. He’s a total creep and I can’t really tell him about when I deal with blood purist ordure because he supports it.”

“Oh dear. I’m surprised the Headmaster lets someone like that teach.”

“He’s pretty good at teaching so far,” Mina admitted despite herself, “even if he skips some explanations of how or why certain steps are important. Him being a Head of House sucks, though.”

“Have you made any friends, Mina?”

“Oh yeah!” She perked up again. “I met this girl, Lita Dursley, on the train, and we got to talking. Then she apparently made friends with Rei Black, who’s from a purist family but they’re both in Gryffindor, and in Herbology I met Serenity Malfoy and now there’s a whole big clump of us who hang out together. It’s nice.”

“No friends in your own House, though?”

“There are people who aren’t bad or anything, but I think I’m a bit loud for their tastes. I got a lecture once or twice on how Slytherin is supposed to be subtle and quiet, but I think it was just that person finding an excuse to tell me to shut my gob,” Mina grumbled. “The Seventh-Year girl’s prefect, though, she’s good people. Took me under her wing, gave me some advice, checks I’m not being bullied, and when I started getting into arguments with my dorm mates she spelled some protections onto all our beds so we could sleep safe without too much retribution or pranking.”

“Have you been doing well in classes?”

“Pretty well, though I need to stop complaining about how messy Herbology is or Sprout will really hate me. Oh, but we’ve got a few clubs! I’ve joined the choir, because I need all the practice I can get if I want to knock Celestina Warbeck off the charts. I bounce around a bit other than that, but I’m in the fashion club too.”

“I wish you the best of luck with that,” Artemis sighed. “Have you learned any interesting spells?”

“Oh, sure! Transfiguration is going to be boring until I’m good enough to, like transfigure my own jewelry and stuff, and apparently the color-change charm is taught in fourth year transfiguration instead of in charms class, but I picked up a flashing-paint charm when I told some upperclassmen I wanted to make a banner for our Quidditch team to show solidarity—I’m planning to try out for Chaser or Beater next year if I can talk my way into getting a broom—but anyway I now know a flashing paint charm that I’m trying to apply to eyeshadow and other makeup. And hey, I got you a slice of ham from the kitchen if you want it,” Mina offered, producing the cloth-wrapped meat from a pocket.

“Oh, my favorite,” Artemis purred.

19 November 1990

“Here, Bunny, how about you take a swing at the riddle again.”

“Aw, I did it last time,” Serenity groused, but to Amy’s surprise she stepped up and knocked on the Common Room door even though she was the only one of the three who wasn’t in Ravenclaw.

“Is that allowed?” Amy asked Shields, trying not to glare because she wasn’t sure that he was making fun of her friend.

Darien Shields grinned back and just mouthed for her to observe.

“Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?” the knocker inquired. Common Room rumor was that the voice was Rowena Ravenclaw’s own, but Robert Hilliard, one of the Prefects, said that wouldn’t bear up under scrutiny.

‘Insects, fish, and dinosaurs were laying eggs long before a chicken ever existed,’ Amy thought to herself, and when Serenity gave a thoughtful hum she opened her mouth to answer.

“I got it! Chickens come first, because you listed them first in the question and because C comes before E in the alphabet,” Serenity declared proudly.

To Amy’s surprise, the knocker muttered something and swung open to admit them.

“You wait here a minute and claim a table, I’ll get my old Charms notes, and Amy will get her notes from her room,” Shields instructed, pointing Serenity to a table.

Amy hesitated, decided she didn’t actually want to ask Shields if he’d wanted her friend to flub the riddle when Shields was doing them a favor, and fled up to get her notes.

“I haven’t actually checked whether Flitwick keeps the curriculum the same each year or changes it,” Shields admitted once he and Amy had joined Serenity at the table, “so we should start just by going over what charms you’ve already learned that he’s likely to test you on.”

“Spark-making charm and a bunch of variants,” Serenity chimed in cheerfully.

“In Charms class specifically… the spark charms, lumos, nox, the mending charm, the freezing charm, the locking charm and its counter, the rattling charm, the sticking charm, and we covered the stillness charm just this morning,” Amy recited.

“When she says the freezing charm, she means for ice cubes, not immobulus,” Serenity added.

“Given that you only just covered the stillness charm, I was guessing that,” Darien agreed. “No incendio yet?”

“Professor Flitwick say it’ll be next year. I think the Weasley twins did something that put him off fire charms,” Amy muttered.

It wasn’t that she disliked the Weasley twins. They were very creative and competent to judge from their activities and successes. They were just also… loud, and not in the way Serenity was.

Plus, they’d once charmed the Ravenclaw table’s benches to stick to the clothes of anyone who sat to eat. Which was funny enough right up until Marietta Edgecombe had really needed to go to the loo and ended up leaving her skirt behind so she didn’t have an accident.

“Ah yes, the Tickle Me Elmo incident,” Darien chuckled.

“What, from Sesame Street?” Amy wondered.

“What’s that?” Serenity asked.

“One of their roommates brought a Tickle Me Elmo doll to Hogwarts and I’ll tell you more later,” Darien demurred. “Anyway, going by my notes, if he’s skipping incendio for the moment then the other charms Flitwick should cover before winter exams will be the sweeping charm, the water-making charm, the division charm, the bubble making charm, and possibly the cleaning charm.”

“Ooh, blowing bubbles sounds like a lot of fun,” Serenity chirped.

“Actually, I had a quick question,” Amy mumbled. “About the water-making charm. We aren’t supposed to be able to conjure food in transfiguration, so why can we conjure water?”

“I’m pretty sure we can conjure food, we just can’t eat it,” Serenity said.

“I think it’s partly a syntax problem and partly that the charm doesn’t do exactly what you think it does from its description,” Darien answered with a nod to both girls. “We discussed it briefly in Arithmancy; aguamenti is closer to engorgio or geminio than it is to conjuring something from aether. In particular, even skilled casters notice that they get a stronger response casting it on rainy days than when the weather is dry, so if you try to cast it in the desert you may barely get any water at all, which is also why you can use it to hose down a fire nearby but you can’t use it when you’re inside a burning building, though people thought that bit was Rowena’s Rule of Encirclement for a while.”

“Thank you,” Amy said as Serenity nodded excitedly.

“Show me what you two can do with the spells you’ve learned,” Darien suggested, “and I’ll work out some ways for you to improve.”

The next few minutes were a source of mixed pride and frustration for Amy. Pretty much every spell she cast, she performed correctly and got the desired result, but while Serenity made a few mistakes the blonde’s spell-casting also tended to contain little twists of personality that demonstrated greater complexity and an intuitive understanding of the forces at work.

Amy was able to produce sparks of the colors Darien listed with each casting of the spell, but Serenity not only made more sparks, she also was able to change to the desired colors mid-casting without redoing the spell again, even if she had a few sparks of other colors mixed in with the desired color.

There wasn’t anything noteworthy about either of their wand-lighting charms, but when they moved onto nox Serenity demonstrated a trick by casting it again at a few candles to extinguish them too, which Amy hadn’t known was an option (though according to Darien it could also extinguish someone else’s wandlight).

Amy’s one moment of glory was the freezing charm, when she froze her glass of water entirely and Serenity couldn’t, but her pride sank again when they tried using reparo on a vase Darien had got for them (when they’d been practicing in class on paper, cloth, and snapped sticks). She’d managed to mend pieces one at a time once she fit them together like a jigsaw, but Serenity had cast once at the whole pile and they’d reassembled almost perfectly.

Amy had stilled each of the pinwheels perfectly, but Serenity had stilled them all at once, and the less said about their sticking charms, the better.

“Alright,” Darien said once they’d finished their demonstrations. “Right now, I’d say that Amy is almost guaranteed an O while Bunny has a solid EE performance and can manage an O as soon as she improves her control, which Flitwick emphasizes over precision in his grading.”

“What’s the difference?” Serenity asked, which Amy was wondering as well, since Serentiy had seemed so much better than her.

“I know that in statistics, accuracy is how close certain values are to each other while precision is how close they are to a desired outcome,” Amy agreed, “but I don’t know how it works with magic.”

“You’ll learn more theory next year, maybe even next semester,” Darien explained, “but in essence, precision is how well a spell does what it’s supposed to do, and control is how well it doesn’t do anything else.”

“Um, I really didn’t get that,” Serenity admitted.

“Are you talking about side-effects to the magic?” Amy checked.

“Yes, that’s pretty much it. For instance, the stunning hex is supposed to knock someone unconscious. If you cast stupefy at someone and it staggers them but they don’t fall unconscious, then you cast it with poor precision because it didn’t do what it was supposed to. If you cast the stunning hex at someone with bad control, however, it’s possible you can kill them by stopping their heartbeat, which it is not supposed to do.”

“Oh wow, I thought stunning was supposed to be safe,” Serenity complained.

Darien shrugged. “Punching people is supposed to be safe instead of casting spells at them, but it’s possible you could punch someone and they hit their head on the corner of a table when they fall. Some things are more safe or more dangerous, but it’s hard to get something completely safe.”

“Is that why we don’t fight unless ‘the position is critical’?” Serenity checked.

“More Sun Tzu?” Darien checked.

“You know about it too?” Amy asked.

“The Art of War is required defense reading for our year.”

“I’m on number nine of ten, if you want to toss an opinion in,” Serenity offered hopefully.

“Maybe later. Right now is charms advice,” Darien demurred. “Anderson, you’ve got control and precision and probably you’ll be good with complexity, but you need to get used to pouring more power into the spells and improve your confidence in casting them.”

“I’m not sure I have a lot of power,” Amy confessed.

“I’m talking about your bucket measurement, not your barrel measurement,” Darien disagreed.

“My what?” ‘I haven’t heard of anything like those before.’

“Bunny, do you know these?” Darien checked.

“Nope!”

“Okay then. Your barrel measurement is basically a slang term for your hypothetical total reserves of magical energy, even though it doesn’t really work like that in practice. It’s your stamina. Think of it as how long you could use a levitation charm to keep something floating in the air without exhausting yourself.”

“I understand that,” Amy confirmed. ‘It sounds like MP or fuel reserves in games.’

“However, it’s effectively unheard of to ever use all your magic at once,” Darien continued. “You can cast the most powerful spell you know of, and you’ll feel winded from the effort, but after a bit you can usually cast more magic again. This, the hypothetical amount of magic that goes into casting an individual spell, is your bucket measurement, or bucket capacity.”

“Oh, I get it! You’ve got a barrel of water and then you fill a bucket from the barrel to water flowers, and then you fill it again to water a different batch of flowers, and so on until the barrel is empty.”

“Exactly right, bunny.”

“I see,” Amy mused. “That means that if my barrel capacity is how long I could maintain a spell until I get tired, then my bucket capacity is more powerful an individual spell could be, like the heaviest object I could levitate and hold in the air.”

“Which is exactly one of the exercises I was going to recommend to you,” Darien agreed. “Levitating a feather is very easy, and levitating a book is more difficult, but by the end of my first year I was able to levitate a library table with Andrew sitting on it while still exerting enough control not to bump into any shelves or make a racket.”

“Oh wow, that’s cool! Andrew didn’t fall off or anything, right?” Serenity checked.

“Only once or twice. When you get to your exams, though, Flitwick is going to grade you and give bonus points depending on how fluidly and creatively you use your magic. He has a bonus points section where you get the chance to impress him by showing off additional charms you learned on your own time or using your magic creatively. I earned top place in my year by asking him to give me an empty glass,” Darien reminisced. “I filled it with an aguamenti, then used wingardium leviosa to float the water into the air without moving the glass, and a glacius to freeze it in the air without it falling. My incendio to try to melt the ice so it dripped back into the cup didn’t work nearly as well, but my repairing charm and sweeping charm still got me top marks.”

“I hadn’t realized you could levitate water,” Amy said.

“Which neatly leads to my advice,” Darien chuckled. “The exact limits of your spells and charms aren’t always spelled out in the textbooks, so experiment. Discover. Invent. Get used to using your magic as a part of you, an extension or your body instead of a specific tool you use for certain problems. That’s something I had a problem with until Andrew talked to me about feeling comfortable. But learn what you can do, not just what you think you can do, does that make sense?”

“I think so. But you think we’ll pass?” Serenity checked.

“Yup.”

“Thank you,” Amy said, her mind still whirring. ‘Experiments. I can do magic experiments and it’s good practice. I should ask around for some ideas on what’s safe.’

Chapter Text

24 November 1990

“Crud,” Serenity sighed as she stared at her canvas after letting her cadence die off. “I’m not sure I like how this looks with crab stance. Maybe I should try them in scorpion stance? It looks cooler.”

“I don’t suppose we could take a break? I may need the water closet soon,” Percy Weasley suggested.

“Yeah, go ahead, I think I need to ask Professor Babbling about posing you,” Serenity agreed, and Percy quickly took the opportunity to step out.

“What are you working on?” Beatrice Haywood, a Hufflepuff third year also in the Arts Club, wondered as she wandered over. “You’ve been painting Percy Weasley the last three meetings.”

“She said it’s a birthday present for her dad,” Lizzie Fortescue called from where she was working at a pottery wheel. “Some ancient Malfoy duel with a Weasley.”

“I’m painting the duel between Brutus Malfoy and Ernest Weasley,” Serenity huffed. “Papa’s really rich, so I can’t buy him anything for Christmas that he cares about, but he loves history and especially our family history. We don’t have paintings of Brutus Malfoy, just a marble bust, so painting the duel that ended with him dead is morbid but I think Papa would like it. Papa’s got that kind of morbid humor, you know?”

“Isn’t Arthur Weasley feuding with your father?” another Art Club member asked (Serenity didn’t know everyone’s names yet).

“Wait, Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy have been having that article feud in the Daily Prophet editorials, but Percy is helping you paint a picture for your father that ended with the Malfoy guy dead?” Beatrice reiterated, grinning.

“It ended with both of them dead,” Serenity clarified, “and Papa has a morbid sense of humor.”

“I can get that, but why’s Weasley helping you with this?”

“Because she’s paying me two galleons an hour for posing,” Percy huffed as he returned. He frowned at the canvas as well. “On the upside, you clearly are painting much faster than I expected possible when working by hand,” he complimented. “On the other hand, I see what you mean with the figures’ positions lacking something. It ought to look more impressive. I might have problems holding scorpion form for a prolonged period, however.” He rolled one shoulder uncomfortably.

“Professor Babbling, can you help me figure out how to pose this?” Serenity called across the room.

“Just a moment,” their supervising teacher called back from where she was inspecting someone’s mosaic.

Professor Babbling’s eventual advice was to swap the Malfoy and Weasley figures’ positions, because of reading left-to-right and how in stagecraft a figure positioned more to the audience’s right was paid more attention, which meant Serenity had to practically start all over with the figures but could mostly keep the background she’d already painted.

It was when they were packing up after finishing for the day that the Gray Lady floated up through the floor.

“I have located a promising book on the library shelves for your project,” she revealed.

“Oh, thank you! I’ll come get it in a minute, just let me pack up,” Serenity said, excited for an opportunity to find anything relating to ghost magic.

“An extracurricular project?” Percy wondered as she washed her brushes. She’d already paid him for modeling, so she guessed he was just curious.

“Yeah! I’m trying to find magic that can affect ghosts,” Serenity agreed.

“You mean the spells to forbid them from an area, or send them away?” Percy checked. “Those are heavily restricted by the Ministry, as they’re equivalent to one-sided restraining orders.”

“No, more like spells so we can brush and braid Myrtle’s hair, or fix Sir Nick’s neck flap to play polo,” Serenity corrected as they both trotted off to the library. “We started off looking into how Professor Binns could grade papers or Myrtle could flood a loo, but it turns out that his chalk and grading quills just have a variation of the Dicta-Quill charm on them, and apparently Myrtle affecting the plumbing isn’t the same as things affecting her. But we know ghosts can be affected by the restraining order spells, we just need to find a spell that does it or make one.”

“Make a spell? At your age? Seems a bit of a stretch, and even learning a spell like this would be rather complex,” Percy reasoned.

“Yeah, but if worst comes to worst, just finding a spell means Dumbledore could use it on a hairbrush or to help out Sir Nick, so that’s what we’re hoping for. Making it would be tougher, but no one became great by being lazy,” Serenity replied as they strode down a staircase, then waited for the next one to move up so they could take the arriving staircase down.

“That… I cannot decide whether that is a more Hufflepuff or Slytherin statement,” Percy noted.

“I mean, I’m pretty sure that all four founders did a lot of hard work to make Hogwarts, and they were all brilliant and dreaming big,” Serenity observed. “It probably counts as brave to try something new, too. They all had traits from all four houses, it’s just that they valued them differently. That’s why Mr. Hat says he usually sorts by values instead of traits, because at our age we don’t really have a lot of hard-workingness or bravery or big dreams.”

“The Sorting Hat places us by our values? I hadn’t heard,” Percy reflected. “He told you this?”

“Yup! Mr. Hat liked what he saw in my head, so he told me to drop by and say hi again. I go visit every two or three weeks, he’s just in the Headmaster’s office on a shelf. Besides, doesn’t that explain how all your brothers are in Gryffindor? You’re really smart, Mr. Charlie works hard caring for animals, the twins are sneaky with their tricks, but you all value being brave so you end up lions.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Percy mused. Then snorted. “Mister Charlie? Oh, the look on my brother’s face if he ever heard that.”

“Mama taught me manners,” Serenity chirped. “Besides, I mentioned the project to them and they were interested, so I should be nice if I want them to help me.”

“It’s turning into the regular study group, I see,” Percy reflected as they finally reached the library. “I’m not sure how useful I’ll be as a fourth-year, but if you don’t mind, I’d be interested in pitching in.”

“The more the merrier! Or I guess ‘many hands make light work,’ like Lita says,” Serenity agreed.

Though it was disappointing when Lemur Et Manes turned out to be entirely in Latin, even if the Gray Lady had offered to translate aloud for them.

29 November 1990

Every Thursday, the firsties had a free period to sleep in after their previous night’s Astronomy practical. Serenity took to the practice with glee, once or twice even being late to lessons anyway, but Rei had several years to form a habit of early waking and so she often found herself eating breakfast, revising, or simply staring into the Common Room fire during that time.

The night before, Rei’d had a feeling that something was coming, but no amount of gazing, meditating, or dreaming had revealed it to her. Instead, the premonition simply itched at her brain, and she silently recited chants and noritos in an attempt to relieve it and find her ease.

All through the day it had been bothering her, and double potions with Hufflepuff was the worst, because she’d paired up with Lita and Snape had cheerfully riled at them until Rei had an actual outburst of accidental magic that set their cauldron’s flames to dancing everywhere, utterly ruining the potion.

After everything, Rei had a good long cry in Myrtle’s bathroom and boiled two sinks full of cold water with her magic until she felt okay.

“Spooky,” Myrtle commented as Rei finished boiling the water into steam.

“I assume you’d know,” Rei grumbled sourly.

“Don’t go getting tetchy, I let you get it all out of your system,” Myrtle chided. “You’re coming here to cry so people think it’s me, so you be polite missy.”

“…Sorry,” Rei grunted. She sighed and let the water drain. Her eyes went up again, to the mirror that wasn’t showing Myrtle’s reflection, and then to Myrtle, who was floating around lazily. “Huh.”

“Thought of something?” Myrtle wondered.

“You don’t have a reflection.”

“Of course not, silly! I’m a ghost,” Myrtle riposted.

“I was talking with Amy about how we see things—about light being different colors all together and color being what is absorbed or reflected—and I think it means you aren’t here visibly. It’s just our minds seeing you.”

“If that were true, then when you drew pictures of me I’d look different to each of you. I had pigtails even before Serenity mentioned them to you, right?” Myrtle countered. Rei gave her a surprised look. “Hey, I’m older than you and I earned my Ravenclaw Sorting, lion cub. Don’t doubt me.”

“I defer to your wisdom,” Rei said neutrally.

“Boo! That’s how you’re talking when you don’t want to say anything nice. Go away.” Myrtle turned and flounced into a stall again.

Rei turned back to the sink, checked that the hot water was draining, and went to wash her face at the sink beside it.

The tap didn’t work. “What the-?” Rei tried again. Nothing. “Aberto,” she attempted, and still no water poured out.

“That tap’s never worked, not for years,” Myrtle said, apparently already over her momentary snit.

“Perfect,” Rei grumbled. “I’ll tell the elves to get a plumber.” Putting it from her mind, she moved over and washed her face in the next sink. Once dried, she took another minute to put on just a touch of makeup (Mina had given them all kits because she said girls ought to have them,) so no one would see any tear tracts, and then she turned to Myrtle. “May I ask you a personal question?”

“Ooh! So few people ask me anything,” she sighed. “You lot are the most friends I’ve had, like, ever. Ask away.”

“What is your dōki?”

“My what?”

“Sorry, your motivation,” Rei clarified. “What made you decide to remove your being from the cycle of reincarnation? What unfinished business brought you back to the world of the living?” ‘How would I help you to finish your business and move on?’

An ugly look flashed across Myrtle’s face. “Olive Hornby,” she hissed. “She teased me about my glasses again, so I came in here to cry, and I died. And then she found my body hours later and I never let her forget it, not to her dying day. I wanted to make her kill herself like she made me wish I was dead, fair’s fair, but she went to the Ministry for a restraining order and then she got killed in the war with Voldemort.”

Rei shivered. ‘Right. Pretty standard Onryō, except her target is already dead and she’s still here. Not too extreme, so I’m glad she’s as nice as she is to us.’ “Nothing else? No more unfinished business?”

There was a pause as Myrtle made a thinking face, and Rei felt a bit of regret about asking.

“I guess I could move on, but I never really figured out what killed me, either. That boy who was hissing has got something coming to him, so maybe I’ll pass whenever he kicks it, if he hasn’t already. We’ll see.”

“Right,” Rei managed, and gratefully took the out to flee and do her homework.

She made another note to request some ofuda from her jiji over winter break, though. He wasn’t willing to send any by owl mail across the ocean and she couldn’t make her own yet, so she’d have to try to arrange to see him if she could.

2 December 1990

“You’re certain no one is going to interrupt us?” Serenity checked as she eyed the door to the Astronomy Tower stairway again.

“Quite positive,” Luna insisted. “It’s Sunday night so there are no classes, it’s winter so no one wants to be up here, and I put up a protection of my own on the door up.”

“You can do that?” Serenity asked. She still wasn’t sure what magic Luna did or didn’t have.

“It wasn’t easy.” Luna checked the chalk symbols that Serenity was drawing on the stones. “This all seems correct. You have everything for both rituals?”

“You triple-checked me on everything for the brooch,” Serenity affirmed with a gesture to the chalk drawing, the sickles, the nine jars of bluebell flames that Rei had made for her, and the other gems, clockwork, bowls, goblets, liquids, and candles that Luna had provided from somewhere or Serenity had gathered, “and if I’m missing anything for the translation ointment you should tell me now. I got the salt, the candles, and I made Mina triple check that everything I wrote was correct in all the languages she knew. The bowl doesn’t need to be silver or anything right?”

“Clay is serviceable,” Luna agreed as she reviewed the preparations. Serenity had been discouraged with how slow it was to rely on the Gray Lady to translate Lemur Et Manes, so Luna had offered to teach her another bit of Luna’s odd brand of magic.

The translation… whatever it was basically created an ointment that serenity could put under her eyes to read foreign languages and understand them, provided the person writing them had understood what they were writing at the time. It had needed her to get Mina to translate a sentence—'I want to read and to learn'—into a bunch of different languages, and then Serenity had copied out the sentences in her own hand and would burn them in the bowl while mixing the ashes into the ointment.

Luna had suggested it was best to do it now, since she wouldn’t need Serenity’s help with the brooch ritual tonight but would need it come the blue moon on New Year’s Eve (which was going to be a pain for Serenity to figure out how to get out of party that evening).

“Do you remember the chant?” Luna checked.

“Oh my, a talking cat.”

“Circe’s-!” Serenity swore as she and Luna both spun around to find the Gray Lady floating in the air above the Astronomy Tower. “Um, I know this is weird, but can you please keep it secret please? Luna’s safe, she’s been with me since I was six, we just don’t like… you know… explaining….”

Serenity trailed off under the Gray Lady’s gaze, but the Ravenclaw ghost nodded.

“I would appreciate an explanation at a later date, and-,” She turned to Luna directly. “-if you harm this child or any other, I and someone who owes me dearly will drag you down into oblivion no matter the cost to ourselves. Do you understand me?”

“Certainly,” Luna acceded.

Luna proceeded to briefly explain whatever she was doing with the brooch that was so important as Serenity set to following the instructions for the ointment.

“Set the parchment on fire… grind the salt… ~Fah-reh-mil-moh-soh-tohn-ral~,” Serenity sang as the writing she made burned, as she ground the salt to powder, as she added in a few drops of olive oil and the other ingredients.

6 December 1990

“Wrapping presents?” Karrie Crouch asked as she entered the dormitory to see Serenity perched on her bed with a pile of parcels and wrapping paper.

“And practicing the division charm Professor Flitwick assigned,” Serenity agreed, using a word and a gesture to cut another large square of wrapping paper. She checked her pile and added, “It’s safe, I already wrapped yours.”

“Mine?” Karrie wondered, brushing her bobbed hair back behind her ear.

“Yup!” Serenity tossed a wrapped package the size of a pen box to Karrie. “I got some things for everyone in the room, and then since I’m getting one for Melvin too I figured I should get things for the boys too. Rei called them, uh, ‘giri gifts’ when I mentioned it. Nothing fancy,” Serenity demurred, uncertain of how to voice an assurance that she wasn’t spending much money on people she was just friendly with, “but I think you’ll like it if you liked the makeover we did back before last week’s test.”

“Thanks. I’m, uh, I’m not giving out gifts until closer to break because I need to owl order some things,” Karrie added.

“No worries,” Serenity promised as she went back to wrapping the ink bottles she was giving Amy (she’d noticed that Amy took copious notes, and multi-colored ink with charms could only help keep them straight).

Karrie got whatever book she’d wanted and wandered out again.

“…You do realize that she was fibbing about having gifts for you, right?” Luna checked from her position napping on Serenity’s pillow.

“Yeah, but why be a jerk about it? Besides, the Crouch family is old, but I’m not sure Karrie’s branch is really rich, you know? I can probably afford to buy people more presents.”

Luna purred pleasantly. “You’re growing up very well, Serenity.”

“Thanks. Though one day I hope you’ll tell me why you came to me,” she grumbled as she taped down a corner of wrapping paper. “I probably sounded like an idiot with the whole ‘Luna is my familiar’ thing and you still don’t talk to anybody else.”

“When you’re fourteen, or maybe thirteen at this rate, then I’ll tell you more of the story of the brooch and its first owner,” Luna promised.

“Waiting, fun,” Serenity sighed. “You’re lucky I love you, furball.”

“I love you too, bunny,” Luna chuckled.

Chapter Text

11 December 1990

Severus Snape stared down at his students’ cauldron, largely too confused to be annoyed. Yet. “Malfoy. Dursley. I set the class to brewing Sinberd’s recipe for striped paint. The instructions were very clear, both on the board and in your book. Explain how you produced rose perfume immediately.” He dipped a testing spoon into the mix, stirred, and sniffed again just to satisfy his disbelief.

He could see the ingredients they’d used. He was a veteran potions master. He still could not guess how they had managed this.

“Um, you see sir,” the Dursley girl began awkwardly, “we had a bit of a mishap-,”

“I added too many rose roots in one go,” Serenity volunteered, “so I added some daisy roots and rose petals while stirring widdershins to rewind the recipe's magic and then sprinkled a bit of powdered snake fang on top to add some bite."

“Instead of expeditiously straining out the excess roots?” Severus inquired, still working through the mental calculations of the recipe.

“I grabbed a few, but Lita was washing off the strainer and stirring rod because we’d dropped them on the floor-,”

“You grabbed them? Show me your hands,” he ordered. Sure enough, he saw a scabbed over paper cut on one finger. “Go to Madam Pomphrey, you touched a potion with an open wound and got blood in it; twenty points from both your Houses for bad hygiene and not watching what your partner was doing, and I will make it forty if you argue. Dursley, get her to the Hospital Wing so she doesn’t faint from whatever concoction is in her system.”

“Yes sir!” The brunette girl at least had the sense not to argue or let Serenity argue as she dragged the blonde off to be treated.

Severus waited until the classroom door shut behind them before adding, “An additional ten points from Gryffindor because Dursley neglected to turn off the fire under her cauldron before leaving her station.” The spoiled little rabble-rousers made noises of protest, of course, but they’d learned by now not to argue with him and it was an important lesson to impart.

He extinguished the fire but kept the potion to examine it later instead of Vanishing the concoction.

Later, the students all filed out as Snape examined the vials of striped paint they’d made, grading each. Fawley got an A while McLaggen got a P for not contributing as much, Crouch and Won got an E for their potion, Rosewell and Butlers got an O even if Butlers had talked too much, Bell got an A while Frimley got an E, Fortescue and Baker got an O, Black and Lumby had been arguing and almost made mistakes plus the flame had varied too much for reliable brewing so he dropped them down to an E, and that was when his cousin arrived.

“Fresh batches of Snowdrop, Moly, Bouncing Bulb, and Dittany, all straight from the greenhouse,” Jade Prince announced oh-so-cheerily as she walked through the door.

“Excellent,” Severus deadpanned, hoping the infernal woman would just go away.

“By the way, dad wants to invite you over for the holidays, try to reconnect a bit,” she added as she bustled into the storeroom to deposit her burden.

“Sadly, I have several potions to be brewing for the Hospital Wing during the uninterrupted time of such festivities and cannot spend long periods away,” he insisted. The idea of holiday cheer was two drops short of revolting to him, and these people had never reached out to mend fences when his mother (or his father,) was alive to appreciate it, when he was a child.

“I got an E on my Potions NEWT, I know at least three ways to stabilize most potions unless you’re brewing something like Felix Felicis,” Jade countered as she emerged from the storeroom. She folded her arms and raised one eyebrow, just as his own mother had tended to do.

His mother, who had been unofficially blacklisted among the family for marrying a British muggle, whereas Edmund Prince had married a Korean witch, thus making his offspring more acceptable.

Severus fought back a sneer. “Nevertheless. Though if you scored so well in your examinations-,” Jade had been four years behind him in class, and a Ravenclaw, so they never interacted and he had not taught her. “-perhaps you can help me unravel a mystery. One pair of my students somehow produced rose-scented perfume after erring with striped paint.”

“Which recipe, Donovan’s or Sinberd’s or Caly’s?” Jade asked, her interest piqued.

Severus simply pushed the cauldron in her direction, so she stepped closer to take a look.

14 December 1990

Serenity fidgeted, tapping her foot and twirling Princess idly as she waited for her turn to go through the door to the obstacle course.

Professor Meioh was letting them get their DADA practical exam over a week early so they had more time to study for the theory exams before break, and it was almost her turn. The students who’d finished already were kept in a separate room from the waiting kids so she didn’t know how well Molly or Lizzie or Rei or Lita had done or what to expect.

But Misha Lumby had gone through just ahead of her, so now she was waiting.

Professor Meioh opened the door into the obstacle course. “Miss Malfoy, your turn.”

“Right! Come on, Princess, it’s you and me,” she murmured, and the pear-wood wand warmed in her hand. She stepped through the door and immediately called “Conopeus,” before it finished closing behind her.

According to Professor Meioh, the umbrella charm wasn’t a great shield charm because you couldn’t easily move it—something to do with adhering to the air it was cast in—but it was a shield charm that first-year students could reliably learn and it stopped small physical objects even if most spells popped it.

As the mystic barrier settled down around her, Serenity carefully examined the room, including the ceiling (because a bunch of spiders dropping down atop your head is the type of thing you only want to live through once, even if they were animated spider statues).

There was nothing up there.

Nothing had jumped at her from the front, either, but there was some furniture like a couch and some chairs spread around the room.

They got points for time, but also for carefulness, so Serenity dismissed her shield and went around the walls of the room to-

“Flipendo!” Serenity yelped as the curtain she’d been edging past suddenly grabbed her left arm. “Flipendo flipendo flipembo! Yeek!” The last incantation had disgorged a bunch of slimy mucus onto the curtain, which finally went limp under the impacts and the weight, and Serenity stumbled back to get space. “Oof! Urk!”

She’d stumbled straight into one of the wooden chairs, toppled over with it, and promptly been grabbed.

“Flip-! Errrgh!” Her wand wasn’t in a good position to make gestures, so she rolled around and kicked and bashed the chair against the stone floor until it let go.

Without further ado, and fighting off a few leaking tears, Serenity ran through into the next room of the obstacle course.

“Ohhh… Sorry Princess, I sort of sucked, didn’t I?” Her wand warmed encouragingly in her hand. “Okay, you’re right. I can still do this. What’s next?” Serenity raised her head to examine the room.

It was mostly empty, but there was a rug in the middle of the floor, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and two staircases at the far end of the room; on the left was a straight staircase, and on the right a spiral stairwell.

“Oooookay…? Um, I can’t see around the guard railings on the right, so I’m going to go up the left where there aren’t any obvious enemies. Right!” So resolved, Serenity edged around the side of the room, avoiding both the chandelier and the rug, to get to the straight staircase.

Given the risk of slipping, Serenity clung to the wall and kept her left hand on the railing, swiveling her head between the chandelier and the top of the stairs as she went up.

It paid off when a chittering buzzing emanated from the chandelier and a swarm of winged figures spewed out.

“Ohshootohshoot Odisi! Odisi!” The first casting set a few of the figures tumbling through the air and then a corrected second cast blew them all back from her as Serenity ran for the doorway.

“Safe!” Serenity shouted as she slammed the door behind her. Then she heard the clicking of clockwork and sighed.

Around the room, several mannequins with targets painted on their chests (Professor Meioh advised teaching them to aim for “center of mass” with most spells,) began to animate and step toward her. Their heads, however, had very obvious blinking glass eyes, and Serenity could guess what she was supposed to do here.

“Fumos! Fumos! Fumos!” She cast several times until a good cloud of pale ‘smoke’ hung around her, and she heard the movements of the mannequins slowing as she dropped to a crawl and watched their feet.

She couldn’t immediately see the door, so either she needed to beat all the mannequins or there was a trick to it.

“Khazimla,” Serenity tried, peering through the smoke. The one she hit stopped moving, but it didn’t fall down or fall apart, which Professor Meioh had taught them meant it was ‘defeated’ instead of just ‘paused’.

There was a metal basket hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier, its chain leading to a curtain along the wall….

“Flipendo! Flipendo!” It took two tries to hit the target, but when the mannequin’s head and limbs fell off Serenity went, “Waddiwasi,” to send the head flying into the basket. “Yes!” she celebrated as the weighted basket pulled the curtain aside to reveal a door, only for her gestures of triumph to thin the smokescreen enough that the mannequins began moving again. “Eep! Fumos, fumos, odisi!” She yelped as she bolted for the door.

Professor Meioh met her on the far side, smiling.

“Flipendo,” the teacher cast, and Serenity moved her wand through a familiar pattern-

“Petraflumen!”

-before she realized that the spell was going to fly well over her head. The deflection shield caught it and knocked it further upward anyway, and Serenity nearly doubled back before the teacher gave a pleased laugh.

“Pass with full marks, Miss Malfoy. Well done.”

“The next text is going to be even worse, won’t it,” she groaned, and her teacher laughed appreciatively.

19 December 1990

“It’s almost curfew, Malfoy. What’s on your face?” Percy Weasley wondered as the blonde girl looked up from her book to show dark splotches painted under her eyes.

“Translation paste, I don’t know Latin,” she sighed. “Madam Pince says I can’t take this book home over the holidays, so I’m getting as many notes as I can and I’ll see if there’s anything like it in our library.”

“I… see. That potion lets you read Latin?” Percy really wished that their social positions were reversed so he could offer to buy the recipe from her.

“It lets me read what the writer was writing, I think. It doesn’t work on, like, typed documents, I guess she meant,” Serenity grumbled.

“Ah, and many scribes copied books by repeating the letters’ shapes despite their own illiteracy,” Percy realized.

“Oh! I never knew that, but I guess that’s why it makes a difference, thanks,” Serenity chirped.

“At your service,” Percy joked, though the coins in his pocket made him wonder if he were joking. “As I said, it’s almost curfew, but I can walk you back or flag a prefect.”

“Ugh, I still have my Astronomy practical tonight so I’m going to sleep on the Express tomorrow.”

“You might want to be reviewing for that instead of your ghost charms project then,” Percy suggested as she put the book away. “How are things going with the ghosts, though?”

“Pretty well. Not much magic yet, but I’m getting Andrew and some older students to help me with actually casting the spells after break if you want in. Professor Meioh said it could be extra credit or worth House Points by the end of the year.”

“Maybe I will.” Casting about for another topic of discussion, Percy inquired, “How have you felt about your other exams this week? I worry Professor McGonagall will be rather severe with me.”

“Ooh, yeah, I think I just barely passed Transfiguration because my coal-to-ornaments had them all look silvery instead of rainbow plus I think I messed up the object-to-object formula on the written. Math sort of hates me. Then Professor Snape said my Hair-Raising potion was ‘as expected,’ and I can’t figure out if he’s giving me a pity pass because of Papa or not.”

“I can’t imagine Professor Snape has ever given anyone a pity pass in potions,” Percy pointed out. ‘Although I will admit, the daughter of a fellow Slytherin whom he’s friendly with, especially Malfoy…’

“Yeah, but that’s because he hates Gryffindor and most Slytherins don’t need ‘em,” Serenity groaned. “Worse is, Puffs are supposed to be about hard work and honesty so I don’t know if I even want a pity pass instead of failing.”

Percy considered this and then gently laid a hand on Serenity’s shoulder as they were moving toward the dungeons.

“I think,” he decided, “that bad people usually enjoy when unfairness works out in their favor, so if you’re unhappy about it then you aren’t wrong to be, even if you’re also grateful to not be in trouble for failing. If that makes sense?”

“Yeah,” she decided. Then, “Thanks, Weasley, you’ll make a good prefect next year.”

Percy puffed up so full of Christmas cheer that he was still smiling when he went to sleep.

20 December 1990

“Oh!” Serenity drew to a halt in surprise as she saw the bat-winged beasts that pulled Hogwarts’s carriages.

“Surprised?” Steffan Vaisey chuckled as he came out behind her. “I never saw them either, but Hogwarts has horseless carriages that are really cool.”

“I wonder what enchantments make them run?” Molly noted.

“They’re not horseless or enchanted,” Serenity said with smug sadness. “They’re pulled by thestrals.”

Steffan snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“I don’t know what a thestral is,” Amy Anderson admitted, “but I can see footprints from something in the snow, so they’re not horseless.”

“Oh, who asked you?” Vaisey grumbled, but he shut up after that and then shut up even more when Serenity went over to perch on one thestral’s back for a brief moment.

“Eh? Offa them, they’re working righ’ now!” Hagrid called, so she hopped off again and got into the carriage proper.

When they got to the Hogwarts Express proper, the girls (everyone except Mina was going home for the holidays,) grabbed a compartment to themselves.

“I remember that we can go home for Christmas and Easter holidays, but is it common?” Amy asked as more students got onto the train.

“Mum said that more people stay over for Easter than for Christmas,” Molly answered, “but Christmas can get really empty. Dad stayed over one Christmas and there were less than two dozen people attending the Christmas feast he said.

“Um, do wizards celebrate Christmas and Easter?” Lita wondered. “We don’t go to church either, but I don’t think a bunch of people would celebrate when they did witch burnings in the past.”

“Papa once said it was Dumbledore making sure the muggleborn kids would be home so their parents didn’t complain, but Mama said the holidays also overlap with the old Wheel of the Year holidays,” Serenity recalled. “We don’t celebrate those either, but a bunch of families do, and they’re supposed to be good for doing complex magic.” On her lap, Luna purred, and Serenity pet her idly.

“I think my father taught me about those once, but I don’t remember them well,” Rei mentioned.

“They’re supposed to be good times for doing certain types of magic like protecting houses or making objects,” Molly recalled.

“Is Professor Binns ever going to talk about it? I’d stay awake for that,” Lita joked.

“I think that he can’t really change his lesson plan much because he’s a ghost and they don’t change. Otou-san said he’s probably repeating a lot of the material from when he died,” Rei opined.

Serenity frowned. “People say that, but we see Myrtle and Sir Nick change and have opinions, and the Gray Lady too.”

“Maybe we need to see if they change back by next year?” Amy suggested.

“Rini, speaking of the ghosts, did Professor Meioh give you that book or any advice?” Molly checked.

“Yup! She really liked my last essay too. ‘It is easy to love your friend, but sometimes the hardest lesson to learn is to love your enemy.’ I liked it a lot, it feels like forgiving people is important,” Serenity said.

Rei harrumphed. “Some things are unforgivable.”

“Are they?” Amy wondered. She shrank back as Rei frowned.

“I think Rei means the Unforgivable curses. You go to Azkaban for life immediately if you use them on someone, even in self-defense,” Molly explained.

“They’re nasty, but Mama mentioned once that she did a NEWT project for Arithmancy and Defense on the Killing Curse. I’m not sure if she knows how to cast it, though,” Serenity ventured.

“It’s only illegal on humans, so the Black family usually taught it to kids when they turned seventeen,” Rei contributed. “Otou-san says he can cast it and he’ll teach me if I want, but I don’t have to, it’s just useful in case you need to kill a dangerous beast like a troll.”

“Trolls are magic resistant, would it still work?” Amy wondered.

That started a long discussion that was as friendly as it was morbid, until the trolley arrived and distracted them with treats.

Chapter Text

21 December 1990

“You’re back, you’ve had breakfast, show me what you’ve learned!” Draco insisted once their plates were cleared from the table. Sure, he’d had more than a little success learning hexes and charms with his late great-great-uncle Stalwart Malfoy’s wand, but his sister had been at Hogwarts even if she was a Hufflepuff, so he wanted to see some real magic.

“It would be lovely to see some spells, Serenity,” Narcissa agreed.

Lucius also nodded. “Quite. I have a meeting come noon, but the morning is for family, and you’re back after learning many things.”

“Okay!” Serenity chirped, drawing Princess from a pocket of her bathrobe. “Scintillat!”

Draco usually thought rainbows were for thinbloods, but seeing his sister produce a rainbow of sparks from her wand was neat. “Can you do Slytherin colors?”

“Yup!” She didn’t even need to do the charm again, the sparks just changed mid-spray, and Draco mentally noted this down as something he would achieve and surpass as she let it die off. “Hold on tight, Draco. Wingardium leviosa.”

Draco yelped and then started laughing like crazy as his chair floated up with him still in it. His parents had there wands out so he wasn’t about to fall, though he did knock something over with a bit of flailing, but that’s what mending charms were for.

… … …

“An arithmancy problem?” Lucius inquired of his wife that night, when he saw her bent over a piece of parchment.

“I taught Serenity the Piercing Hex this afternoon, but she failed to make progress with the Joint Reversal Hex or the Longtooth Jinx. I think I can guess the pattern, but I’m doing an arithmantic breakdown now to compare with later attempts just in case,” Narcissa answered.

“I’m always interested in your work,” Lucius chuckled, stepping over to rub her shoulders. He himself had taken Care of Magical Creatures, though they’d both taken Ancient Runes as their second elective. “What pattern? I do believe that one in three is supposed to be too small a sample size for many meaningful conclusions.” She certainly had lectured him enough on it in the past.

“The other two are designed for use on human beings, or at least on living beings, whereas the piercing hex can be meaningfully used on inanimate objects to poke holes in them,” Narcissa answered. “If I’m right, our daughter should pick up the Bedazzling Hex and the Drone Jinx with relative ease, given that she’s already demonstrated the Knockback Jinx and the Projectile Jinx.”

“None of which are particularly potent when it comes to dueling, though,” Lucius sighed. He himself had been in the dueling club when Hogwarts still had one, and considered the sport an enjoyable pastime.

Granted, he also agreed with that halfbreed Flitwick that formal sport dueling taught students bad habits that could get them injured in serious fights—he’d nearly suffered a similar problem the first few times his group of Death Eaters engaged aurors or Dumbledore’s vigilantes—but that was a drawback to be overcome by the talented to the detriment of those with lesser foresight or breeding.

“We long expected that she would not be combative or an excellent fighter,” Narcissa sighed. “At the very least, if we correctly identify the problem, then we can teach her to compensate for it when necessary.”

“True,” Lucius allowed, kissing her temple. “Do you think I should start the children on dueling lessons?”

“After the upcoming round of parties. Give Serenity a practice duel to teach her the etiquette,” Narcissa allowed, “but pitting her against Draco right now strikes me as a bad idea.”

“I shall instruct her later in the week and see how she responds,” Lucius agreed.

22 December 1990

Maxfield Stanton sagged with relief into his comfy armchair is his Kirkwall flat, so happy to be home for the holidays. Heads of House were supposed to be in Hogwarts at all times during the school year, which got them a good pay raise, but other professors and especially assistant professors were much more flexible.

He had a good fire going, a hot drink, and bowls of bluebell flames around. He wouldn’t be needing to attend anything until family dinner on Christmas Eve and then the day itself, and after all the grading he’d been doing under Flitwick he relished the opportunity to dig into a good book for the evening.

Two chapters later, he was interrupted by knocking at his front door.

“Who could that be?” Maxfield wondered as he rose. It wasn’t unheard of for his muggle neighbors to visit, so a quick wave of his wand cleared away everything incriminating, and even as his grandmother’s childhood warnings echoed in his ears about dark dealings on the winter solstice, he opened the door to greet his visitor. “Hello?”

The redheaded woman smiled toothily back at him and reached out a hand, and it was only his confusion that kept him from aiming his wand at her as she touched a shiny black stone to his chest-

…

…

…

General Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom awoke to himself and instinctively moved to take a knee.

“Don’t grovel you nincompoop, let me in,” his Queen demanded, pushing past him into the confusingly familiar suite of rooms and settling onto a couch as though she owned it. “Close the door.”

Nephrite did so.

She gave him a moment and then said, “Now you may kneel.”

Nephrite did so, and she let him remain in his obeisance until his thoughts had recollected.

It took time, his memories were bleary, but eventually he felt that he had some grasp of how he had come to this situation.

“How fares your new body? You may rise, General Nephrite,” she added.

“I feel fit and able to serve, my Queen, though my magic seems a bit confusing.”

“The Silver Witch locked us away for many years, and the stars have changed,” Beryl informed him, which was sufficient.

All energy ultimately came to Earth from the stars, including magic, and the arrangements of the stars could warp or change the necessities of using magic over great periods of time. It was largely a hypothetical subject to study, but Nephrite had studied it at length, and if they had been sealed for so long then the rules and methods of spellcasting would differ and he would need to reconstruct the alterations.

“I have not yet examined the heavens, my queen, but your will remains my command,” he said obediently, though in truth he was itching to seek the sky and find what would be revealed.

“I have tasks,” Beryl agreed. “Can you access the memories of your host body?”

Nephrite closed his eyes pensively and felt inside his mind. “Event memory is much clearer than fact memory, my queen, and the host spirit is discontent. I believe I may need to review or reconstruct experiences specifically in order to regain certain abilities.”

“Your host body is employed at a scholastic institution, so you will need sufficient competency to maintain your cover,” Beryl informed him. “The leader of this ‘Hogwarts’ is named Albus Dumbledore, considered a ‘Grand Sorcerer’ and one of the most proficient mages alive along with political positions.”

“…Assassinating him may prove difficult,” Nephrite warned.

Beryl scoffed. “Do not seek to foresee my designs, general. He may well prove an apt recruit, instead. But for the moment your task will be to gather information. Hogwarts castle doubtless has the facilities to inspect the night sky and a vast library of modern lore and theory. I need you to study it covertly and copy or relay to me as much relevant data as possible. Begin by exploring your host’s memories and explaining everything he knew about the defenses of the castle.”

Nephrite cast his mind back, fought through the unconscious discontent of his host body’s spirit, and eventually found several conversations that he began reciting to his queen.

When he came back to himself, he had to stifle a chuckle at the unfamiliar sight of Queen Beryl writing with mundane instruments, taking notes on his lecture like any student.

Chuckling would have ended painfully, no doubt.

“The mentions of defenses against dark energies concerns me,” Beryl acknowledged as she idly rolled the Berylus Stone that housed his essence in her hand. “We have no idea whether they would detect your possession of this body or not. You said that Stanton needed to be ‘introduced’ to the enchantments as a figure of authority over the students?”

“The explanation was that he needed to be keyed into the spells that monitored disciplinary matters, such as the verbal assignment of ‘points’ and ensuring that the moving staircases acknowledged his existence, but it would also key him into other defenses or detections. Sadly, Stanton is not of sufficient standing to be informed of the details of these defenses and detections spells,” Nephrite confirmed.

Beryl exhaled a slow, frustrated breath, and Nephrite braced for pain, but no glow came to light.

“Here is our situation, General Nephrite,” she finally allowed. “Grand Metallia is currently in hibernation and unreachable, meaning our Great Leader-,” To this day, Nephrite still did not know how much the title Beryl used was lip service, sarcasm, or sincerity. “-can no longer perform the youma creation or conversion processes, and sorcery has shifted sufficiently that my own attempts proved unprofitable.”

“Yes, my queen.” The idea of how many bodies Beryl went through and what state they would have been in at the end to earn such a term made Nephrite shiver.

“My own energy reserves must be parceled out carefully, and any surviving resources from our campaign would be placed in sealed bunkers that I cannot locate, as the stars and maps have changed,” Beryl continued. “I have located your pledge stone and Zoicite’s, and I have a lead on where Jadeite might be located, but I cannot detect Kunzite. My earlier efforts to place Zoicite in a recreated body had distasteful consequences-,” Nephrite shivered again, abjectly thankful that he had not been subjected to such a situation. “-and my attempts to restore myself by draining energy have demonstrated atrocious efficiency problems. I needed to butcher my way through nearly two-score bodies to divine that your host would be suitable and alone at this time, and I could not recoup much of what I spent. We have two weeks to devise a veiled binding that will render your possession undetectable to one of the most powerful magicians alive, and even if we succeed I will be keeping your Pledge stone in my possession to reconstitute you if you are slain. Is this understood?”

Nephrite grimaced, as his spirit returning to the stone from a distance and through protections would undoubtedly eat away at several cognitive functions if it came to that—loss of certain memories if he was lucky and more lasting debilitations if he was not—but it was still better than entering death or oblivion.

“My Queen, all I can say is that I will succeed or die trying,” Nephrite vowed.

‘Or better yet, you could die trying,’ he thought, but in his heart he knew such treason could not succeed while she held his soul in her hand.

24 December 1990

“I’m ready, don’t leave without me!” Serenity yelped as she raced into Malfoy Manor’s floo room (as allowing a floo entrance into the living area was ‘practically inviting an attack’ in her Papa’s opinion).

Narcissa rose from where she’d either been whispering to Draco or fixing his robes.

“You’re not late to leave,” her Papa assured her. “Yet.”

“Phew,” Serenity sighed, very glad that Luna had reminded her to get dressed properly.

“Let me fix your robes so they sit properly,” Narcissa insisted, and Serenity put up with the fussing while being very glad that they weren’t mentioning the space-expended purse she was using to bring Luna.

“Remember to mind your manners and behave appropriately, and we’ll be off,” Lucius instructed.

Serenity got the impression that he’d put emphasis on ‘appropriately’ while looking at Draco instead of her for once, but she was worried she was imagining it so she thought back to all her lessons and resolved to do her best.

“97 Highgate,” Narcissa called after adding in floo powder. Serenity followed her through, then Draco, with Lucius at the rear.

After the disorienting whirl of green flames—Serenity liked to imagine that she could see out of a few fireplaces as she was traveling, even if it wasn’t supposed to work like that—Serenity emerged for the first time (that she remembered) into Rei’s home.

‘Tackling and hugging people isn’t good manners, and I saw her just last Thursday.’ “Thank you for having us, Mr. Black,” she greeted Rei’s father. “Hi Rei. And hello to you too, young master Takashi,” she added very formally with a joking bow to Rei’s 3-year-old brother, who was trying to hide behind his sister’s robes.

“It is good to have the whole family gathered,” Leo Black agreed blandly, though Serenity thought again that he might have meant something with how he said it. “I believe some introductions are necessary, though. Aunt Cedrella, Cousin Cador, come greet the Malfoys please.”

Serenity did her proper polite introductions to the old woman and her son, who were apparently her Weasley schoolmates’ uncle and grandmother, and mentioned, “Percy Weasley helped me with Papa’s Christmas present. I didn’t realize we were related.”

“Most of our families are related in some way if you look back far enough, Serenity. It is why we cling together and protect our ways,” Papa instructed, and she nodded soberly to show she was listening.

“Yes, it is terrible when family betrays each other and violence is committed or curses are thrown,” Cedrella answered coolly. “You must have suffered so much, dear Lucius. Oh, speaking of family, Andromeda, come greet your sister!”

“Andy is- I had not expected her here,” Narcissa admitted. “And I see her husband, too.”

“We have another aunt?” Serenity checked, wondering why they’d never met. She knew her Aunt Bellatrix was in jail for cursing her Papa, and she thought she remembered Mama mentioning another sister…

“She married poorly but she sided with Uncle Leo so she’s acceptable again,” Draco hissed, and Serenity tried not to imagine him and her not speaking for years if she ever married ‘poorly’.

She looked at the man accompanying ‘Aunt Andromeda’ and she didn’t see anything wrong with him, though.

“And you must be Serenity,” her new Aunt said, and Serenity realized she’d been distracted through half the introductions. “I’ve been interested in meeting you ever since Nymphadora wrote me that you were in Hufflepuff with her.”

Serenity frowned. “I don’t know a Nymphadora,” she admitted slowly, which was odd because she forgot facts and figures but she was normally good with names.

“Seventh-year, she said she introduced you to Charlie Weasley and mentioned-,”

“Miss Tonks is my cousin!? She never said anything,” Serenity complained when it clicked.

Andromeda laughed much more loudly and warmly than Mama did, and Serenity decided immediately that she liked this new Aunt.

Chapter Text

25 December 1990

“Several bottles of colored ink from Serenity, with charms to dry quickly and other effects,” Amy summarized to her mother, who was making a list of presents received for Thank You notes.

“I suppose those would be necessities with all the quills you use. Though I haven’t yet found any explanation for why they still use quills and parchment,” Amy’s mother noted.

“I asked Professor Flitwick about it, and there’s more to it than just tradition,” Amy explained. “The anti-cheating charms they use on official tests don’t take well to material that was never alive, so we have to write our exams with quills and parchment until someone develops a reliable way to overcome that. As a result, the teachers think it’s better for us to generally use quills and parchment so we aren’t unpracticed when it comes time to sit our formal examinations. I’ve used pens and composition notebooks to take class notes without issue or write on my own, I just don’t use them for tests or homework.”

“That’s a relief,” Naomi Anderson sighed. She then frowned slightly at the next present from under the tree. “You said the inks were from Serenity Malfoy?”

“Yes?”

“We’ve got a present to ‘the Anderson family’ from ‘the Malfoy family’ as well.”

“Um.” Amy’s wide-eyed look stopped Naomi as she was about to open it. “Maybe we should let that sit a bit?”

“Amy, what aren’t you telling me?”

Amy wilted under her mother’s eyes. “So… Serenity’s parents… do you remember when we were reading about the war before I was born?”

“The Grindlewald Conflicts or the Voldemort Campaign?”

“Voldemort,” Amy said, relieved to say the name instead of talking around it. “Did... you read about the Imperius Defense?”

“One of Serenity’s parents used it,” Naomi Anderson concluded, frowning.

“Her father. Serenity doesn’t really talk about it,” or rather, Amy had not dared to ask about it, “but Rei said it’s suspicious because the woman who might’ve cursed him was his sister-in-law, her mum’s sister, and she was already going to prison for life before she confessed to that too.”

“Meaning she might have taken the fall to defend him.” Naomi carefully put the wrapped package on a side table. She stared at it consideringly. “Well, this has been in the house for several days without anything bad happening…”

Amy’s brain whirred. “Um. If you smear the ink saying who it’s from with a bit of water or vinegar, we can take it to the Ministry and ask someone to check it out in case the ‘unknown person’ sent us anything dangerous, and then it’ll just be safety because you didn’t know it was from the Malfoy family so we’re not insulting them.”

“That type of deception to avoid ‘insulting’ people sounds very medieval… which I admit would fit the theme,” Naomi groused. Then, “Amy, is Serenity a good friend to you?”

“Yes.”

“Even given what her parents probably believe? She isn’t taking advantage of you?”

“I don’t…” It felt incredibly rude to say, but it was true. “I don’t think she’s smart enough to be good at lying, mum. Not at lying about friendship when we spend time together in classes or studying or just talking. She doesn’t act like she cares about whether people have magical parents, and she thinks the things in the books I brought with me about history and science are really neat.”

“I see. Well, I trust your judgment, but don’t hesitate to let me know if you feel less certain about anything in the future. Even if it isn’t bad, please.” Voice softening, she added, “I’m no doubt going to miss a good chunk of your growing up, so I want to know what you’re doing, even the tidbits, Amy.”

“I love you too, Mum. I’ll be better about writing,” she promised.

27 December 1990

Mina Lovegood trudged happily alongside Hagrid to the edges of the Forbidden Forest, her present package clutched firmly in her arms.

“Right. This ‘ere should be about where they’ll be meeting us,” Hagrid figured, though Mina couldn’t really tell anything different about this part of the forest that made it stand out, especially with all the snow.

“Great,” she said anyway, and set to waiting.

A few minutes later, the crunch of snow under hooves heralded the arrival of a centaur.

“Hi Mister Ronan!” Mina called with a wave as he came into view. “Thanks for doing this. Here, happy Christmas,” she added pulling forth a knit scarf that was supposed to be easy-wash to boot.

“Festive holidays to you as well, young foal,” the redheaded, chestnut bodied centaur greeted. “I will deliver your package to Anthony when next we meet on the full moon.”

“Thank you very much!”

That would have been the end of it, but more crunching heralded other centaurs arriving.

“Ronan. I would have expected Firenze to take coin from the humans, perhaps, but surely you have more pride,” one of the growled.

“Hey, ease up Bane, it’s the holidays,” Hagrid grumbled back protectively.

“Indeed, and this is merely a gift for my nephew, from a friend he happened to meet some time back,” Ronan stated. “Is it problematic to deliver this, Magorian?”

The other centaur made a thoughtful noise, and Mina tugged on Hagrid’s sleeve. “We should leave,” she said in an exaggerated whisper. “Happy holidays,” she called to the three centaurs before turning to trudge away.

Hagrid followed her, and he waited until they were out of hearing range before asking, “Hey now, how’d you even get into the forest to meet Ronan’s nephew, missy? It’s called Forbidden for a reason.”

“We didn’t meet here, we met in Greece,” Mina clarified before she could think about it.

“Eh? How’s a centaur supposed to get to Greece to meet you? Maybe the Centaur Liaison Office would set up a portkey, but I can’t imagine nay of ‘em ever choosing to use it.”

“Uh,” Mina said eloquently. ‘Shoot, shoot, shizmuffins! Right, most wizards don’t know about dentródromos and I’m not supposed to tell them. Though, I mean…’

“Ye got somethin’ you want ta admit, Lovegood?” Hagrid asked, though he wasn’t looming or anything. They were just walking, but Mina wasn’t sure what to say.

“Please don’t tell anyone else, especially other wizards? Or the centaurs,” She amended.

“What, some type o’ secret?” Hagrid wondered.

“A lot of people are still angry about the ban on carrying wands if you aren’t human, so they don’t like humans knowing about their magic either,” Mina said. “Basically, Mom says that you can probably expect most non-human people with magic to have some magic skills that do a lot of the things wizards can do, just not nearly as quickly or efficiently.”

“Huh. I know most centaurs are born seers, probly better’n humans,” Hagrid admitted. “Not sure I’ve ever seen ‘em doing other magic.”

“They wouldn’t let you see,” Mina agreed. “But, you know, just because a centaur can’t apparate across the channel doesn’t mean he can’t go for a run that eventually ends up in Belgium or Germany. Centaurs had to get to Britain originally somehow, right? They started off in Greece.”

“Yeah, that makes some sense now, I think about it. Won’t go tellin’ nobody, though, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Mr. Hagrid,” Mina sighed in relief.

He walked her all the way back up to the entry hall, and then she parted ways to go looking for another friend.

“Artemis! You missed Christmas,” she scolded once she finally found him in an empty classroom (though she knew really it was more that he found her).

“Terribly sorry,” he said blithely, “it took some crawling around to get in and get situated and I had an important meeting, you know how it is.”

“Important meeting,” Mina giggled. “You always talk so grown-up, don’t be boring.”

“You are far more interesting than most business,” he agreed. Then he hopped into her arms and started purring.

“It’s good to see you too.”

They spent a little while catching up, since Mina hadn’t had much opportunity when she’d snuck him in earlier that week before he needed to go do something mysterious and catty, before Artemis made an announcement.

“I do, in fact, have a Christmas gift for you now, though you’ll need to wait until the New Year to use it.” He jumped back to the floor, did a flip, and caught the resultant compact in his tail.

“Sweet! Did you summon that or conjure it or what?”

“You can’t conjure enchanted objects, and this is heavily enchanted,” Artemis assured her as he passed the crescent patterned compact to the blonde. "Among other things, it carries a spell to disguise you as someone else, but it needs charging in the light of the full, and the full moon is best.”

“Sweet! Come on, lets hit the kitchens and get you some salmon,” Mina celebrated.

31 December 1990

“It’s nine o’clock. Do you know where your children are?”

Lucius had been enjoying the New Year’s Eve party up until that moment. There wasn’t much riffraff, he and Narcissa had been dancing in between social obligations, the fare was excellent, and he was as much in his element as he ever was when there wasn’t dueling or combat involved.

The voice—a damnably familiar woman’s voice that he’d gone for years without hearing—snapped him out of it.

Wand drawn, he spun smoothly to face a pale witch with sallow cheeks, straight black hair greasy with brewing fumes, and eyes a deep blue edging into indigo.

Up to now, he’d been certain she was dead.

“Hydrangea Burke,” he greeted. “You know, I’m quite certain there’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

“I could give testimony that would have you imprisoned right beside me,” the black-haired witched returned pleasantly.

Lucius’s stomach dropped. He could count the times he’d seen her smile during the war on one hand, and for a dark wizard or witch to display a sudden change in temperament was an enormous warning sign. Worse, she’d been the Dark Lord’s primary potions mistress before Lucius introduced Severus, so even assuming she hadn’t poisoned him (and he checked his hidden pocket for a bezoar just to be safe,) he had no idea of her combat skills.

“No one would ever believe you, but if you so much as breathe near my children they will never find your body,” Lucious threatened. All the pleasantries of the ball around him had faded away, and there was only the throbbing urge for violence in him.

His own conversations with the Dark Lord had implied that she suffered a damaging mishap while brewing something tricky, like Felix Felicis, and had thus quit the field for her health about a year before that blasted Halloween night, attending meeting only rarely. Still, it had been a decade, and he had no idea of her movements, her aims, or how well practiced she was.

Lucius saw neither scars nor limp, but she had settled into the corner from where she had spoken and she was not overtly moving either.

He should tread carefully, but he could likely win any direct fight and survive any indirect attack, provided she attacked him and not his family.

“No one will find my body anywhere regardless of your involvement,” Hydrangea laughed, and now Lucius was deeply unnerved. “Still. I thought you deserved a warning. The situation is in flux, Lucius Malfoy. By tomorrow your Mark may be a little darker. The first steps of the Dark Lord’s returning have been measured out for pacing. You will need to decide where you stand. I suggest you prepare your excuses. Emollire.”

With that, Hydrangea Burke stepped back as the stone wall seemed to almost swallow her up, and her form disappeared from view. Lucius eyed the dance floor again—Serenity and Draco were both off in a corner with other age mates—and went to find his wife.

31 December 1990

Quirinus Quirrell shivered as he cut a path through the frozen forest, lit only by the light of the full moon. It could be a time of danger, but there were not any werewolves known to be in the area, and if all else failed he could apparate away.

In the meanwhile, the dark curses he was using to clear his path ought to, hopefully, draw out the thing which he was seeking.

The purple-eyed woman he’d spoken to had seemed crazy, but she’d had a faded dark mark on her arm and the dread aura of competency to back it up. She directed him to this forest last week, where spirits were supposedly possessing and corrupting the local wildlife and occasionally people as well.

If he could find… anything… it may well be the path to power and glory and respect as he’d always dreamed.

If he could-

There was a swirl of air through the still night. Dark shadows moved.

Quirrell took a shocked breath, and something spoke to him.

Lord Voldemort had been found.

31 December 1990

“Hey, I’m going to go do some stuff for a bit, find you later,” Serenity said as the clock got closer to midnight.

“Fine, just don’t get lost, locked doors stay closed,” Rei groused as she turned back to talking with Angelica Abbot and Flora Carrow.

Serenity wandered around the party, made sure both her parents saw her talking with somebody so she wouldn’t be missed for a while, and then wandered out the back door.

“Dobby,” she said into the snow-covered, quiet back yard.

Dobby appeared with a pop, took her and, and vanished them both back to Malfoy Manor with another pop. Serenity thanked him, gave him two sickles, and went to find Luna.

“Is everything ready? Luna, are you hurt?” Serenity asked when she found the backyard patio (behind hedges, out of sight of the manor proper,) where Luna had set up whatever she was doing with the oh-so-important brooch. “Did something attack you?”

There were a few splashes of red in the snow and on the stone, and Luna limped over sullenly.

“It’s self-inflicted, and I fear I owe you an apology, Serenity.”

“But you’re okay?”

“I will be,” Luna sighed, “but there’s going to be an additional step. I hadn’t realized my blood wouldn’t work for this, so I’m going to need you to put a little bit of your blood on the brooch to help attune it.”

There was a long, slow pause. Serenity took one step away.

“Luna,” she said slowly, “blood magic is dark magic, Mama made sure to tell me so I wouldn’t do something accidentally if I read the wrong book at Hogwarts or in our library.” She’d been going through the library with her translation unguent on during the break, looking for books on ghosts and ghost magic to read that her parents hadn’t read well enough to ban her from. “She says she doesn’t even want to teach me more until I’m thirteen unless it’s basic dueling hexes and I need to sit my OWLS before she teaches me anything dangerous. I’m not doing dark magic.”

“It’s not dark,” Luna snapped, but then she retreated when Serenity backed up another step. “I’m sorry, Serenity, I’m in a foul temper because of my own incompetence. I didn’t want you to open a vein but my blood isn’t reacting properly and it has to be done tonight.”

“Why tonight?” Serenity insisted, still not stepping into the ritual arrangement.

“The overlap of the astrological full moon and the convictional new year, and tonight is a convictional blue moon to boot. It may be multiple decades before this arrangement surfaces again and it’s too perfect to miss.”

“Yes, but I don’t even know what you want me to do or what it’ll do,” Serenity said. “Look, Luna, I love you, but you’re asking me to do dark magic here when my parents—my parents, whom you’ve tried to convince me discussed killing me if I was a squib, you think my dad was a terrorist who willingly murdered people instead of a curse victim, those parents—they think dark magic like this is too dangerous for me. For all I know this is something that’ll hollow me out and put you in my human body. Nuh-uh.”

Luna looked at her for a long moment, dismayed and lost and helpless. Finally, she sighed.

“I’m very old, Serenity, and I promise I mean you no harm. Quite the opposite. I was… I was an advisor and a friend for a wise and powerful woman, a magic-user, a long time ago. Evil people came into her home, into our home, desiring our deaths.

“They killed her daughter, and her daughter’s friends, and they wanted to kill her, but she brought them down. She stood, alone, against a terrifying enemy, and she brought them down so that they shouldn’t ever be able to hurt anyone ever again. And she died, while I survived because I hid.

“I don’t want vengeance for what we lost, Serenity. Vengeance is a fool’s mission. I’m not even sure if we can achieve justice against the things she fought. But the brooch is one last part of her legacy that she left for the people of tomorrow, so that they wouldn’t go through what she did.

“I’ve never hurt you unless it was to try telling you a truth I thought you needed, and I’ve never lied to you. If you won’t do this, very well. We can wait, and I’ll find another way. But I’ve never meant you any harm and I’ve never harmed a being who wasn’t harming other people. If you can’t trust me, then there’ll be no consequences. I won’t leave, and neither of us loses anything but opportunity.

“But Serenity Imbrium Malfoy, I promise you on the graves of everyone I ever loved who died before me, this isn’t meant to be dark or dangerous. It’ll form the brooch into a tool—into a tool I intend for you to use once you’re a little older and it’s safe—to protect and heal the innocent people in the world. I would die myself before I let any harm come to you, and if it were possible I would do this too. I can only hope you believe me.”

So saying, Luna sat down to wait.

Serenity thought, and she thought, and she thought a bit more, and she saw Luna’s tail begin to twitch with waiting.

Finally, she decided that Luna had always been sincere, even if she thought that Luna wasn’t always right, so she nodded.

“If I do this, I don’t ever want to hear about my parents being Death Eaters or wanting me dead ever again,” she insisted.

Luna’s tail thrashed once. “If you do this, then I will bring it up once only, and that’s the last you will hear it from me if you’re not convinced.”

“You’re bargaining me on this still!” Serenity squawked, aghast.

“Things do not become less important merely because other matters are also important,” Luna stated. “If I find evidence to convince you, I will bring it up the once, and never again. If there’s no evidence, I will find nothing, and never mention it.”

Serenity frowned. “Okay, that’s fair. What do you need from me?”

Luna walked her through the steps, and the explanations, and the timing, and then she held out a claw.

Serenity let her finger get pricked, and then she pressed a smudge of blood onto the center circle of the brooch, with a another drop on the north, west, south, and east points of it.

Then she sang with Luna, and she walked around it in a circle, and she drew a few new signs in chalk, and for a moment everything glowed.

Sparkled.

Glimmers filled the air, and then it was gone, and Serenity new in some way that it was the new year.

The brooch had changed, too. Where before it was round, now there were four spherical jewels, one at each point where she’d bled.

Serenity hoped she hadn’t made any mistakes, but far from feeling anxious or tired or power high, she just felt peaceful and content, like she’d finally finished a long essay she’d had fun with.

Like when she’d finished Professor Meioh’s essay about loving enemies with friends, or when she’d opened her Christmas gifts to find the handwritten book without any title.

She thought that meant that she’d done the right thing. She wasn’t hollowed out of her insides with Luna controlling her, at least.

She’d have to wait and see.

“I’ll clean up the evidence, Serenity. You go back to the party before you’re missed.”

“Alright.” She paused. “You will tell me what this is about, someday?”

“When you’re thirteen, I’ll tell you the story,” Luna agreed. “After that… I’d prefer you get this at sixteen, but time may force my hands, we’ll see.”

“Force your paws, you mean,” Serenity teased, and then she trudged back to the house. “Dobby!”

Dobby arrived. Dobby took her back with a pop. Dobby left, and Serenity rejoined the party just as the sounds of Auld Lang Syne were fading.

Chapter Text

5 January 1991

To avoid workweek rushes, the Hogwarts Express had been scheduled to bring them back on a Saturday, so Serenity had had several days to spend time with Draco, get some lessons from her Papa, search through the library with her Mama checking the books for dark magic, and generally enjoy her time back home.

Then she was on the train again with all her friends. She made sure to thank Amy particularly for the books of muggle fairy tales Amy had given her—seeing what they believed about magic was really interesting, because she could recognize some of what wizards and witches could actually do in there and some of the stories were historic from magic figures—and Amy not only thanked her for the inks, but also for the Alarm Clock her parents had sent that would send an alert to the auror office if the Anderson family triggered it in distress.

Serenity was honestly surprised her parents had sent it, (and apparently Lita hadn’t got anything from them,) but she was glad they were warming up to her friends.

She had a quiet conversation with Rei, who was bringing a camera from home for planning reasons, and they spent the train ride chatting about their holidays once Serenity had shared what she figured out about her ghost charm project.

They got off the train, and Serenity managed to feed the remainder of a pasty to the thestral that was pulling their carriage, and when she got back to the castle she waved at Mr. Filch and checked that Mrs. Norris liked the treats she got him.

Serenity was of the opinion that too many gifts were better than missing somebody, since her family certainly had money, so she’d just owl-ordered small presents for all of the Hogwarts staff (Professor Sprout had given her a list,) with each being maybe a few sickles.

Mr. Filch still didn’t smile, not really, but he didn’t say anything growly and Mrs. Norris let her pet her, which was nice.

Then when they were going to dinner, she told Rei to get the camera ready.

“COUSIN!” Serenity greeted with a flying glomp as soon as Nymphadora Tonks came around the corner. “Cousin Nymphadora, why didn’t you tell me we were related, I had to find out from meeting Aunt Andromeda at a party, and you stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays while your family was lonely and we missedyouuuuu~!”

Never let it be said that Serenity was unwilling to utilize her crybaby tendencies for petty revenge. Tonks ended up so flustered over the happily bawling blonde that she never noticed Rei taking multiple photos until the lion cub had already disappeared smugly down a side hall.

If nothing else, Serenity figured that Aunt Andromeda was sure to enjoy the pictures.

11 January 1991

“Hi guys, sorry I’m late- um.” Fear of public speaking was not something Serenity knew well, but it was a sudden and unpleasant experience for her as she walked into the room where Professor Meioh had told her a group interested in helping with the ghost-affecting charms were. “Uh…”

“Wotcher, Rini,” Tonks chuckled at the startled blonde. “Weren’t you expecting people to pitch in so much?”

“I asked around in Slytherin, but most of them weren’t interested or laughed at me and Merula said she’d stick her head in maybe but she’s got a full course of NEWTs to prep for,” Mina added. “Still, I am here! Representing House Slytherin in solving this.”

“If someone has to, better you than most anyone else,” Darien Shields agreed from his seat between Andrew and Amy.

Mina was representing Slytherin, while Ravenclaw had Darien, Amy, and Rita Blake (Andrew’s fourth-year girlfriend).

Gryffindor, however, was more numerously represented, with Charlie and Percy Weasley attending in addition to Lita and Rei. Hufflepuff, similarly, had pulled through more than Serenity expected, displaying Tonks, two fellow seventh-years named Chiara Lobosca and Diego Caplan, a fifth-year named Chauncey Stump, a second-year named Cedric Diggory, and of course Molly.

“Thought it sounded really cool, and the Fat Friar’s always happy to help so I ought to return the favor,” Cedric said.

“Us big kids might need to dip out come NEWT time, but you’ll probably need us to check out things and do any complex spell-casting,” Diego agreed.

“If it’s going to be a charm, I’m the best in my year, and Flitwick said participating can be extra credit if we pull it off,” Chauncey added.

“So now that we’ve established that, oh fearless leader,” Tonks finished with a grin, “come up and give us your speech on what we’re doing.” She pitilessly strode up and pulled the wide-eyed Serenity up to the front and center area, though she made sure to give the girl a firm hair ruffle and to stay nearby instead of abandoning her. “Up to telling us the story here, cousin?”

That snapped Serenity out of it, and while she shrank a bit, everyone looked friendly and was smiling.

She tried keeping calm. After a bit, she nodded.

“I can do it,” she told Tonks, who winked and stepped back. Serenity turned to the other twelve who were waiting on her. “Um. Hi. I got this idea first when I was talking with Myrtle in the girl’s loo, because apparently we couldn’t brush her hair or fix her robes or anything because she’s a ghost.” The bit of indignation over this that she felt sparked in her belly, and the words began to come more smoothly. “I mean, that sucks, she got murdered by something and she chose to hang around Hogwarts because she loved it here and now she’s miserable because her quantity of life is shitty. Pity! Pitiable, I said pitiable, but you know what I mean, ahahahahah…

“Um. This started off with me wanting to give Myrtle a makeover or just let her change her hairstyle if she wanted to,” Serenity continued, though the chuckles at her slip were good-natured, “but then I met Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington who can’t join the Headless Hunt because he wasn’t beheaded properly, and it turns out Professor Binns needs a variation of the Dicta-Quill charm to do his grading and he can’t read any reference books unless people get them off the shelves and turn the pages for him and it’s all just really sad and I want to help them.

“Our goal is to figure out a spell or series of spells—I did some research and I think we’ll need a few together, which, you know, combining things sounds really Hufflepuff so teamwork yay—but we want some magic that can affect ghosts so they can influence things and be influenced and even just, like shake hands with somebody. No ghost has had a good hug since they died and that’s just tragedy,” Serenity emphasized.

“Ooh, yeah, that is tragic when you spell it out,” Tonks agreed, and she saw the others nodding.

“You said you’ve already did some research? What did you find?” Rita Blake asked, her quill at the ready to take notes.

“Um. Amy has the ink copy from my interview with the Grey Lady, but basically trying to change a ghost usually doesn’t work with magic unless they change themselves in some ways, like pulling ghost parchment out of their pockets, but I did some reading and I have a working theory. Do you know how ghosts are called shades? Like, ‘shadows of a departed soul’?”

“I’ve heard it before.”

“Yeah.”

“I get it.”

“Great. Basically, that’s actually a lot more liberal than people think.”

“Free love,” Charlie chuckled, and Serenity didn’t get it until Chiara told her about misspeaking.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Anyway… Uh. A person’s soul when they’re a ghost isn’t in the Beyond or what have you, but it isn’t on Earth either. If we are a wall and the pictures painted on that wall, then ghosts are shadows cast on that wall by their soul. But souls and reality are a lot more complicated than just pictures of things, which is why they do what they do. And, you know, we get chills and things look different around ghosts because whether something is lit bright or in shadow changes how it looks. Uh, that type of thing.

“I know it might sound stupid, but the first thing I want us to do is to try learning some shadow puppet charms that can change something’s shadow without changing the thing itself, because that’s basically we’ll be doing on a much bigger scale, like learning Wingardium Leviosa-,” She’d drawn Princess, did the gestures, and levitated a chair with her swish and flick. “-is the first step to learning a broom enchantment. Except I hope this’ll be a lot easier than making a racing broom.

“Um. But just so you don’t think it’s going to be all shadow puppets, here’s what I’m thinking. One of the books I read said that ghosts generally can’t be changed by magic, but they can be affected by magic, so we can use magic to make them into something that can be changed. So there should be two parts to this at least: we need a charm that can basically transfigure a ghost into something that we can cast a spell on, and then we need to figure out whatever charm we’ll be casting on them, whether it’s a hairstyling spell or a cutting hex on their neck flap. Does that make sense?”

She blushed prettily when Chiara cheered and started clapping.

16 January 1991

“Psst,” Mina hissed as they set up their telescopes for practical astronomy. “I totally think Professor Stanton has a crush on Professor Sinistra, apparently he’s been up here every class and on weekend evenings.”

Serenity liked the idea of crushes and romance, but she was also very glad now that they’d finished whatever Luna needed to do with the brooch, or else she might’ve been caught at the next full moon.

“Probably,” Molly agreed while Serenity was still trying to get her telescope situated properly. “He claimed to be up here yesterday due to the eclipse, even though we couldn’t see the eclipse from Britain; it was over Australia and the Atlantic, I think.”

“Australia and the Pacific, Miss Baker,” Professor Sinistra corrected, “and you ought not to gossip about your teachers. Miss Malfoy, do you need help with your telescope?”

“I can’t get it to show anything no matter how I aim it, ma'am.”

“That’s because you left on the cap over the lens.”

Serenity flushed and murmured her apologies, and they went back to looking at the sky.

She felt a niggling in her stomach though, and eventually she figured out what was bothering her.

“Hey, Luna,” she whispered quietly once she was back in bed with the curtains drawn.

“Yes?”

“I know the way you do magic is pretty different, but are there any witches or wizards who could do similar things, like rituals when there’s an eclipse we can’t see?”

Luna rumbled thoughtfully. “I won’t claim to know every style of magic practice in the world, but I would be very surprised. Astral origins is not a popular theory so much in this age, and a large part of why I rely on it is that it’s what I was taught and what my magic and my body are already attuned to. I could train to be ambidextrous, but unless I put in the effort I naturally prefer my dominant hand.”

“Your dominant paw, Luna,” Serenity teased. Then she frowned. “Actually, I know you can talk, but are you, like, a reverse animagus? Could you become a human?”

“I used to be able to,” Luna answered, “but it is currently beyond me.”

“That’s… do you want it back?”

“Not particularly. Perhaps eventually, when you are taking your OWLs, I might devote some time to reattaining the ability, but for now I fancy our lives as they are. Is that everything?”

“Good night, Luna.

“Good night, Serenity.”

19 January 1991

“Malfoy, do you mind if I hide out in here?” Charlie Weasley checked, sliding into the empty classroom where Serenity was practicing the shadow puppet spells and brainstorming some other things to pitch to the older witches and wizards in the ghost study group.

“Uh, sure thing?”

“Great. I’ll talk if you talk to me, but if anyone asks, you haven’t seen me around. Celare Cutis.” He made a gesture, tapped his forehead with his wand, and disappeared beneath what was probably a disillusionment charm.

“Huh. Mama taught me a Bedazzling Hex if you want me to add that on,” Serenity offered.

“No thanks.”

“Ooookay then. Skiaschima. Drat. Come on, Princess, we were just getting it before, what am I doing wrong?” She went back to reviewing the theory for the shadow puppetry spell, then tried casting again at the shadow of the vase she’d put in a circle of light cast by a lantern. “Skiaschima.”

“Does it matter that the overhead lights are on?” Charlie asked from the corner.

“It shouldn’t,” Serenity groused. “The book actually recommends it for practicing so the deep darkness doesn’t, um, it gets really poetic but it’s like a lot of darkness will push through the spell like too much water through a hose or a hole in a dam.”

“Language,” Charlie chuckled, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Skiaschima,” she tried casting again, to no avail, and then she tried repeating her gestures more precisely, comparing them with the descriptions in the book.

“Here, let me see,” Charlie offered, padding over semi-invisibly to see the instructions. He’d been present at the meetings, but while the older kids were learning the spells they were mostly either doing the calculations for figuring out a new spell or just ensuring the kids didn’t do anything wrong.

The door swung open and Charlie dropped to the floor, still semi-invisible.

“Oh, hey, uh, Malfoy, right?” Asked the Gryffindor boy.

“Yup.” Serenity recognized him as probably the Gryffindor Keeper, but she really wasn’t a Quidditch fan so she barely paid attention to the games.

Though she did remember that Gryffindor got creamed by Hufflepuff back in November, and no one was expecting the lions to make a comeback in February, as the team cohesion was apparently disintegrating.

“You seen Charlie Weasley around? I’m Wood, Oliver Wood.”

“Haven’t seen him,” Serenity apologized, keeping her eyes on his face instead of looking to the floor because Mama had taught her that looking away or blinking meant you were lying.

“You sure?” To his credit, Wood wasn’t forceful or menacing, he just sounded desperate and worried. “It’s just, Jae Kim is a tyrant and we need Charlie Weasley back if we want a chance at winning the Cup. Everyone hates him and Kidd is already threatening to quit with NEWTs coming up. We need a win to stand any chance.”

Serenity was tempted to respond with, ‘you know where he sleeps,’ but Charlie had been really nice so she didn’t really want him bothered by this.

She grimaced instead. “Sorry.”

“Thanks anyway. I’ll go find the twins, they can find anybody.” Wood went out the door.

A moment later, the door closed—Serenity made a note to learn that charm—and the outline of Charlie Weasley stood up again.

“So glad I bribed the twins not to find me,” he exhaled.

“Anything you need help with?” Serenity checked, mostly to be polite since he was a seventh-year and she was an ickle firstie.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Quidditch just stopped being fun with the competition, I don’t want to go pro, I need better grades for my dream job, but McGonagall and the rest of the team are Quidditch crazy.”

“I’ve never been a big fan, but Draco is,” Serenity reflected.

“I’m not a fan, I just think it’s fun. If you stop having fun, why play?”

“Totally,” Serenity agreed with her 11-year-old wisdom. She got the impression that Charlie was smiling under his charm.

“Let’s take a look at how you’re casting,” Charlie offered, and they went back to their studies.

It took a few tries, but he eventually suggested that if she wanted the shadow to move, then maybe she should start with a moving shadow, so he put a glove on over his near-invisible hand and made shapes in the lantern light and that helped her make a break through.

“Yes, awesome! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Serenity cheered after making the rabbit-shape morph into an octopus and then a geometric circle. She hugged him happily.

“Happy to help. Ron and Ginny will love to see it when I go home, and I bet the twins will think of all sorts of ominous shadow pranks. Though, are the ghosts really that similar to shadows that it will work?”

“I’m not sure,” Serenity admitted, “but my basic plan from here is either to figure out, um…” She chewed her lip for a second. “You know how wingardium needs you to keep your wand pointed at the target but you can apply more advanced hover charms and they just make the thing float for an hour without you maintaining it?”

“You want to figure out how to cast a spell that makes the shadow stayed changed without you maintaining it, then use that to make a ghost stay changed?”

“Yeah, pretty much. That or figure out a way to transfigure something by casting a spell on its shadow, but since that would involve casting something to change a ghost’s soul I’m thinking no way,” she semi-babbled. “I mean, Mama did a NEWT project on the Killing Curse and she stays away from soul-based magic, so no, it’d be like risking vanishing someone’s skull bones to fix their acne.”

“Best avoided, I agree,” Charlie said drily. Then he dropped down again when the Gray Lady stuck her head through the door.

“Hi!” Serenity said with a wave, but the Gray Lady pulled back despite smiling.

A minute later, Charlie dropped to the floor again as the Gray Lady, Darien, Andrew, and Rita Blake all came in.

“No Gryffindors, it’s safe,” Serenity deadpanned to the seventh-year.

“Revelio potirí,” Rita Blake declared, and looked very pleased when Charlie flickered into view. “Aw, Weasley, is Gryffindor worrying about how we’ll clean their clocks without you leading in February?”

“Don’t provoke me into going back to them,” Charlie threatened darkly.

“Sports,” the Gray Lady sighed airily with a much put-upon tone.

“I’ve considered trying out for chaser, but I don’t trust the school brooms,” Darien mentioned.

“I wouldn’t either, but Rini, we’ve got news!”

“You found something?” Her eyes went to the book he was carrying proudly, which looked old but not ancient.

“I was talking with McGonagall when she mentioned cases of partial Transfiguration in class; it was thought to be difficult or functionally impossible for a long while because changing an object’s shape requires changing the entire object even if only part of it is different as a result,” Rita Blake declared.

“One of the breakthroughs was apparently a selection charm,” Andrew continued, handing over the book (bookmark included) to Serenity.

“It doesn’t do anything on its own, but it charges an area with magic to be affected by a later spell, so you can use it to make only the head of a statue glow or turn to glass instead of affecting the entire thing,” Darien finished. “It’ll probably take a bit of work, but if you cast on the space where a ghost is, it could affect the parts of the ghost inside the space.”

“This is great, thank you so much!” Serenity cheered, and then hugging happened.

Chapter Text

25 January 1991

Serenity stared at her parchment while waiting to begin her notes.

“Given our focus on practical use of spells in this class,” Professor Meioh lectured the collected first-year students, “we have discussed a number of spells that you as first-year students are still unable to perform. However, I have taken this post not only to teach you this year, but also to ensure you have the grounding to continue no matter who teaches you next year. Miss Chang?”

“Does that mean you won’t be here next year?” the Ravenclaw asked worriedly, and Serenity’s stomach churned.

“I will not. As first-year students, you may not have heard the rumors, but it is widely held that the Dark Wizard Voldemort-,” Several gasps rang through the room, Serenity included. “-jinxed the Defense Professorship in 1969 to ensure that his enemies would have a staggered and broken defense education. No Defense Professor has returned for a second year at the post since then, but some success has been found in hiring people for year-long contracts instead, as they tend to suffer a ’slap on the wrist’ incident or some embarrassing mishap to keep them from returning instead of a damaging accident.”

“Couldn’t Dumbledore just change the name of the job to something else then so the curse wouldn’t have a target?” Tabitha Bainbridge asked snidely.

“The Headmaster attempted just that in 1973,” Professor Meioh answered sharply, “dividing the curriculum into a Battle Magic class and a Protective Enchantments class, which were taught by different professors. Both Professor Scamander and Professor Macmillan were killed in accidents over the winter holiday, and mind I don’t take points off for your tone, Miss Bainbridge.”

“Sorry,” the cowed girl muttered.

“Back on topic, now. Spells we’ve discussed or that you know of from other sources that a witch or wizard should know to get through dangerous circumstances.”

“Riddikulus for boggarts,” Marcus Belby volunteered.

“The Patronus charm,” Karrie Crouch added.

Soon everyone was calling out a list of spells, and once they had two-dozen, (Serenity herself volunteered Protego because everyone else seemed to focus on fighting spells,) Professor Meioh had them start listing down various ways to use these spells in unusual situations, such as using the Reductor curse to clear a path so you could run away instead of casting it at an enemy.

“Keep your lists to reference in later years so that you remember what spells you should be learning,” Professor Meioh advised when the class ended.

Serenity stayed behind.

“Ma’am, can I ask you something?”

“Certainly.”

“Is magic using blood all dark magic? Like, if it’s just a few drops?”

Professor Meioh hummed thoughtfully. “That’s a very complicated question. Are you familiar with the term ‘lethal dosage’?”

“No?”

“A lethal dosage is the amount of a substance needed to potentially kill someone by poisoning. Now, would you say that coffee is poisonous?”

“Mama drinks coffee every morning.”

“She drinks a cup of coffee, which contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine. The usual lethal dosage for caffeine is 10 grams. One cup of coffee is safe, but if she drank 100 cups of coffee in a single day, it could poison her.”

“Coffee is poisonous! Um, but, I don’t think I could drink 100 cups of water in one day, let alone coffee.” Serenity made a face at the thought, as her one taste of it had been unbearably bitter and disgusting, since her Mama drank it black.

“Precisely. Similarly, Veritaserum, a powerful truth potion, is also horrendously toxic and thus restricted in dose to only a few drops. Despite this, it is not intended to be a poison and is not listed in books about poisons, though it is a restricted potion.

“Blood magic,” Professor Meioh said, “is very similar. Many old cultures used a touch of blood to identify ownership before more efficient spells were discovered. Common conception of blood magic as dark is not wrong, but it is based around dark magic being those sorceries intended to either cause or benefit from pain and suffering.”

“So since just a few drops doesn’t really hurt, it doesn’t count as dark?” Serenity checked.

“Something requiring a few drops of willingly shed blood would be about as dark as the Knockback jinx, I expect. Now, if the blood were forcibly taken from another human being, it would be very different,” Professor Meioh warned. “A willing offering of your own blood, however, strikes me as perfectly safe, albeit not something you ought to discuss or reveal casually. Is there anything else you wish to ask or tell me?”

Serenity opened her mouth, then chickened out and said, “Can I get a note to Transfiguration, please?”

“Certainly, but in the future come find me during office hours.”

31 January 1991

“Capillus Tingo black,” Mina incanted before running her wand tip down a lock of Serenity’s hair. “Capillus Tingo black. Capillus Tingo black.”

“Ah, hair color charms, my favorite. Enjoying your makeover, ‘puff?”

“She’s my guest, Miss Merula,” Mina assured the 7^th-year prefect as Serenity twisted around on the Slytherin table’s bench to see who was talking.

“Hi! Mina offered that we could both wear our house colors to the game but I can’t quite get the spells right yet and she doesn’t want to practice on her own hair.”

“Sensible,” Merula Snyde noted as she ran a hand through her own orange-tinged locks.

“Hey, cool jumper,” Mina realized, admiring the wool garment embroidered with a snake. “Where’d you buy it?”

“Christmas gift,” Merula mumbled shortly. “I’ve probably still got one from second year that’d fit if you want it.”

“It’s nice but nah,” Mina decided.

“Mama and Papa would probably be tickled to see me wearing their House colors,” Serenity demurred, “but I won’t see them again until Easter holidays.”

Merula blinked once. “That’s right, you’re Lucius Malfoy’s daughter. Hey, I heard you’ve got a study group going on?”

“Yeah,” Serenity cheered, and launched into the pitch about ghost magic research.

Merula was nodding slowly, and she didn’t exactly look interested, but… “You said Lobosca is a member? I might drop by then sometimes. But hey, look up ‘Lists of Liquids and Vapors’ in the library, there’s an entry about how you can treat a potion like a calming draught so it can effect a ghost.”

Really? Thanks bunches!”

“Ack! Hugging. Breathe. Enough hugging,” Merula managed awkwardly until Serenity got the hint and stopped hugging her. “Right. Now that my dignity is shot, I’m off. Smell ya later,” she said.

5 February 1991

Darien Shields knocked twice, briskly, on the door to McGonagall’s office and then entered.

“Mister Shields, Miss Malfoy, Miss Anderson, and Miss Tonks,” the head of Gryffindor greeted. “You had something to bring up to me?”

“We always run transfiguration experiments by you,” Tonks recited jokingly, though it was a serious rule.

“I was hoping you could look at the shadow puppetry spell Malfoy looked up, tell us if it counts as transfiguration or illusion, and maybe give me a few pointers on illusionary gaseous transfiguration, ma’am,” Darien explained.

“I’m still not certain what gay-shush transfiguration is,” Serenity admitted, “but if it has to do with ghosts being air-elemental it’s probably helpful.”

“Did Sinistra transfigure smoke from a brazier into the sun and planets?” Tonks checked. “It’s that, transfiguring smoke or mist or gases.”

“I want to learn more about it too, please,” Amy agreed.

“Certainly,” McGonagall agreed, rising from her desk. “Although I should warn Miss Malfoy that the Greek theory of Elemental Affinities is considered as flawed as Magical Core theory nowadays.”

Darien stepped back a bit to let Serenity give the explanatory pitch to McGonagall—ghosts appeared in this world like shadows cast on a painting, but ghosts also had substance and magic that could potentially be affected by other magic—with Tonks tossing in the bits of Arithmancy that the older students were contributing since they’d sat their OWLs on it already.

As happened occasionally, he let his mind wander to consider Serenity.

He hadn’t known exactly who the pureblood girl was when they met, and if he had he probably would’ve thought carefully before offering to help, since Mrs. Malfoy’s family had killed his parents.

But the man responsible for that was in Azkaban, and blaming kids for their parents’ crimes was stupid. Not to mention Serenity was a type of cheerful and friendly that suggested Lucius Malfoy may have genuinely been an imperius victim (though Darien still didn’t want to ever be alone with the man, and he wouldn’t bet money either way).

Currently he was still reserving judgment, but truth be told, Serenity and Amy reminded him a lot of himself and Andrew as firsties. Auror Selwyn’s visits hadn’t totally prepared Dairen for the culture shock of entering the wizarding world, but having a helpful and ebullient friend had made the difference.

Andrew and Malfoy were both pureblood Hufflepuffs, even, so he thought the comparison was apt.

McGonagall started casting something at a chair, and Darien came back to himself.

“As you can see from the changed wood grain,” she explained, “even though I have transfigured only half the chair leg into stone while the other half remains wood, it is not the same wood as previously.” She flicked her wand again, silently untransfiguring the change, and then made the gestures for the Selection Charm. “Ighoputa. Caementicum. Now, as you can see, the wood grain of the chair leg remains the same, but selected half of the chair leg has changed to stone entirely.”

“It’s off-topic from ghosts, Professor,” Amy said, “but are the stone and the wood attached even though they’re separate substances with a clear dividing line between them, or will the stone half fall off if we jostle it?”

“A perceptive question, Miss Anderson. While it would be difficult to attach mundane stone and wood without a sticking charm or glue, this particular combination of spells is more similar in effect to forming half a chair leg out of mortar, attaching it to the wooden half, and allowing it to set. It would be easier to break them apart at the joining line, but they are still a whole object currently.”

“Does that also mean that if we just cast this on Sir Nick’s neck or Myrtle’s hair, then we wouldn’t risk hurting the rest of their body?” Serenity checked.

“I would need to figure out some formulas, as I am no expert in the nature of ghosts, but that strikes me as the likely outcome,” McGonagall confirmed.

“Cor, this thing is really taking off,” Tonks chuckled. “I’ll be honest, I thought it would still be going when I graduated, but we might get something done well before then at this rate.”

“We still need to figure out a spell that will cause the ghosts’ bodies to change into something we can affect,” Darien agreed, “though Rita probably has a point that we shouldn’t rule out enchanting items like scissors or hairbrushes instead of casting directly. Marbleck’s Law is nothing to scoff at.”

“I don’t think we’ve learned that one yet,” Amy noted as Serenity made a curious sound.

“Form enhances function,” McGonagall recited. “A blade enchanted to be better at cutting will be more efficient than a cutting charm of similar power, an object with wings that is enchanted to fly will be better at it than one without—this is why snitches have wings while bludgers deliberately do not—and a physical shield enchanted with protective magic may offer more complete protection than a similarly powerful shield charm.”

“Is that why the chairs in courtrooms have chains instead of just using a sticking charm to hold someone?” Serenity asked.

“It is,” McGonagall allowed after everyone had blinked at the morbid question.

9 February 1991

Minerva McGonagall frowned at the three students lined up in front of her, trying to convey how deeply unimpressed she felt. A confiscated piece of blank parchment sat in one hand, and the 12-year-old Weasley twins kept sneaking panicked glances at it as they fidgeted.

Given that the Weasley twins were older, outnumbered the third student, and had reputation as troublemakers (much like James and Remus and their friends,) she felt it was perfectly fair to hear their side of the story last.

“Miss Dursley, would you care to tell me how the three of you came to be brawling in the fourth-year boys’ dormitory?” Minerva instructed.

“I fell down,” Lita said.

Minerva blinked. Once. The twins were looking at her with wide eyes and saying nothing while Lita’s eyes were on McGonagall’s chin.

“I’m sorry?” Minerva said.

“Rei is off at her club, so I went up to see if Percy was in his dormitory to ask for help on our History of Magic essay,” Lita explained. “I found Fred and George there, I walked over to ask if they knew where to find Percy, I tripped, and I fell on top one of them. It was an accident, but his hand- his hand ended up somewhere embarrassing so I punched him just like Dad taught me and then I panicked and was flailing when, um, when the other one tried to pull me off and that’s why we got caught brawling, Professor.”

She was still looking at Minerva’s chin, which in her experience was a sign of a child lying semi-skillfully, but there weren’t many factual problems with the story to pick at.

The Weasley twins, however, looked as though Christmas had come- well, as though Easter had come early, which was very suspicious.

“I see,” McGonagall said shortly. She turned toward the fireplace. “Well then, I suppose I should just get rid of this rubbish and send you all on your way-,”

“Wait, no!” Fred Weasley (she could tell from the freckles and his black eye) shouted.

“Please don’t,” George Weasley (bleeding from his lip) added.

“Oh?”

Lita Dursley squirmed uncomfortably. “Professor, I’m not sure it’s really anybody’s business, but they wereholding it and it was all just an accident, so I think it belongs to them?”

There was a pause.

On the one hand, Minerva knew that Fred and George Weasley were voracious troublemakers and pranksters, with their brother Percy being a favorite target.

On the other hand, Lita Dursley was standing up for them both despite brawling with them, and the Weasley family was not well off. Even parchment could be an expenditure they didn’t want to throw away needlessly. (Especially if it was enchanted somehow.)

“George Weasley,” she decided, knowing that he was more likely to be guilty (and that both the twins were still disconcerted by her unerring ability to distinguish between them after having known their names and seen their faces at their Sorting,) and give things away. “I am going to ask you one question before I send you on your way. Was this parchment spelled or going to be spelled as part of a prank on Percy, such as vanishing the ink of an essay he wrote on it?”

George sagged in relief. “No Professor, we weren’t slipping it into Percy’s things for playing a prank or anything.”

“Very well then.” She handed the parchment back to him despite her misgivings and said, “In this situation, I am awarding you five points total for House unity and assigning you all a single detention to be served Monday evening, so that you can better cooperate in the future. I advise you to be more careful about whatever really caused this in the future. Dismissed.”

Rather than complaining about any unfairness, the kids gratefully scattered, which confirmed for her own certainty that something had been going on.

Her curiosity provoked, Minerva disillusioned herself, slipped into her animagus form, and pursued them down the hallway.

“Blood hell that was close,” Fred Weasley swore as Minerva poked her mostly-invisible head around the corner.

“We owe you. Like, you almost got us caught,” George continued.

“But if McGonagall tossed this in the fireplace I was probably jumping after it,” Fred finished, tucking the parchment away.

Now Minerva was very curious, but it wasn’t any of her business until she had to confiscate it again.

“Why’d you lie about falling, anyway?” George asked Lita.

“Not that it wasn’t brilliant,” Fred assured her.

“Of course, the fact that you jumped at us to start it was less so.”

“But only a little less.”

“Miniscule amount really.”

“Punching out two boys bigger than you individually.”

“That’s real Gryffindor behavior.”

“Lions ho!”

“Are you done yet?” Lita asked tersely.

“Sure thing,” George agreed.

“I want you to stop pranking Percy,” Lita asserted. “He’s been a big help in our group project, but he also gets flustered and frantic when you make fun of him and it hurts his feelings. I don’t think people should make each other cry. It’s wrong of you to do whatever you were doing to his bed, and I lied to McGonagall because I didn’t want you to start crying over that parchment either.”

“It’s not just a parchment,” George began.

“But that’s a long story,” Fred continued. “Though we weren’t actually there for pranking-,”

“This time at least. We were there-,”

“Searching for the names of Percy’s roommates-,”

“Seeing who they were and if anyone was there-,”

“That type of thing.”

“Just ease up on him, or we’ll have a problem,” Lita insisted, and that was that.

As the three went their separate ways, Minerva returned to human form, pleased, and reflected that the next generation really was growing up well after all.

14 February 1991

“I got chocolate for everybody, so happy Valentine’s Day,” Serenity declared.

“I made brownies,” Lita added as they unloaded the sweets into the meeting room for the group project.

“Andrew and Rita are off doing some couple’s thing,” Darien informed them as he took a brownie, “but I think everyone else should be here.”

“Diego and Chauncey have girlfriends to appease,” Tonks declared as she swept in, “but other than that, yeah.”

You don’t have a boyfriend to go see?” Serenity checked, offering a hug to her cousin.

“Sent me chocolates, but he’s graduated so he’s working,” Tonks dismissed. “What about you, Charlie? Any birds fly your way?”

“Dragons are more my type of spitfire,” he said serenely as he summoned a few of Serenity’s chocolates. “How about you, Lobosca?”

“No one sane will keep me more than eight weeks,” she said with a shrug.

“That’s sad and they’re mean,” Serenity said firmly as she went to hug the surprised witch. “I’m sure you’ll find love with somebody.”

“Ah… thanks? Though, I mean, I got some bad genes, so I’m not eager for blood kids anyway.”

“Adoption is a thing,” Darien suggested, and Serenity shot him a thumbs up, but Chiara didn’t look happy liked she’d expected.

“There’s legal stuff, look, don’t worry about me,” the 7^th-year insisted, “I’ll be fine and happy in my own way, got it?”

They set to reviewing things, and then the Gray Lady floated through the floor.

“Thanks for coming!” Serenity cheered.

“It is a most interesting experiment.”

“Experimental series, ma’am, if you don’t mind. We probably won’t be stopping at one,” Amy contributed, as the official list-keeper.

“Excellent planning,” the Gray Lady agreed.

All of the older students—and a few of the younger ones who had got it, like Rei—took turns trying the selector charm on the Gray Lady to see if she noticed anything and if they could induce any results while Serenity and most of her agemates were still practicing it.

“Ighoputa.” No result. “Ighoputa.” Serenity tried again. “Am I getting the gesture wrong?” she asked Amy.

“Oh! Hey Malfoy, we made some progress,” Tonks called excitedly.

“It is surprising,” the Gray Lady agreed melodically.

“What, what is it?” Serenity demanded, abandoning her attempts to turn a matchstick into half a needle.

“Duplication spell. We couldn’t get a reaction with engorgio or reducio, but geminio resulted in doubling the ghostly parchment she’d pulled out,” Tonks revealed.

“I can feel myself maintaining it, so I could dismiss it, but I did not willingly create it,” the Gray Lady acknowledged.

“~Love is heeeeere~! Love is free~!” The sound of Peeves interrupted before Serenity could get properly excited about the discovery. “~Love is Peeves~! Don’t you see~!”

“Oh boo,” Serenity cursed as the door swung open and Peeves swooped in trailing chalk dust with a basket of something foul-smelling.

“Well looky all the lovebirds, have some gifties!” Peeves declared just before he started hurling the smelly, muddy roots at everybody.

“Oppilo!” Darien shouted, pulling Serenity in besides him.

“Conopeus! Here, this ought to keep us safe,” she said, unwilling to leave everything to him.

“Meioh taught you that too?” Darien checked as everyone was ducking. “Quick casting.”

“Thanks!”

“Peeves! Cease this immediately!” the Gray Lady demanded.

“Nyeh! Whatcha gonna do, Lenny? Gonna ask the Baron favors on Valentine’s Day? I’m sure that’s what he’d love to see,” Peeves taunted.

The expression that crossed the Gray Lady’s face was terrible indeed, and Serenity found herself clutching Darien’s hand at the near-palpable wave of hate the Ravenclaw ghost emitted.

But she didn’t leave to fetch the Bloody Baron, either. She just remained floating in the room, still as ice, while Peeves kept circling and singing.

“~Love, love, love~! Love, love me~!”

“What’s that about?” Serenity hissed to Darien as Peeves flew around the room some more while the older students started retaliating with spells.

“I guess they dated? Not sure if it was before or after dying, but it sounds like it ended badly, and I’m not going ask about it,” Darien opined as Peeves finally flew out the doorway after upending his basket over Tonks. “Think he’ll be back?” Darien asked more loudly once Peeves was out of hearing.

“If he returns, I may well rip his liver out through his nostril,” the Gray Lady intoned like granite.

“Could you do that? I mean, if you couldn’t tear Nick’s head off,” Serenity asked despite herself.

“I would find a way. Furthermore, Peeves is no true ghost, so without mortal soul to cast an unchanging shadow, I doubt the same principles would apply.”

“If he isn’t a ghost, what is he?” Amy wondered after crawling out from under a desk.

“And why can only the Blood Baron control him?” Rei groused.

“Deep Hogwarts mysteries,” Tonks commented drily with a sigh. “Come on, Charlie, let’s put this room to rights.”

Chapter Text

20 February 1991

“Sir Baron! Milord Bloody Baron, we have to ask you something!” Mina called as they raced down the dungeon hallway to catch him before he went through a wall.

Apparently, Valentine’s Day always left the Bloody Baron in a grim mood, so he spent the entire fortnight around it mostly in the dungeons or flying around randomly or even off somewhere far away from Hogwarts at the place he died originally. As such, it was almost a week later that Mina and her friends finally managed to locate him.

“It’s about Peeves, last week,” Serenity added when the Bloody Baron had scornfully looked them over and shifted to phase through a wall anyway.

“He really hurt the Gray Lady’s feelings,” Amy added, and this got the ghost to double-back immediately.

“Tell me,” he demanded sharply, his voice a cold and echoing hiss of fury.

The look on his face as the girls explained what had happened and what Peeves said to the Gray Lady was also scary, though less than the Gray Lady had been, and Mina’s keen eye for fashion noted that his robes seemed to writhe and the bloodstains darkened as he grew angrier.

“Thank you for bringing this to me. I shall have to remonstrate with Peeves most thoroughly,” he intoned icily. “I do not usually entertain questions, but I shall hear out one each in recognition.”

“That means he’s not obligated to answer but he might if we’re not rude in asking,” Mina warned her friends, because she knew how old-schools Slytherins liked these games.

Personally, Mina liked the more old-school Slytherins (or so the clique called themselves among the upper-year students) because being tricky and acknowledging someone else as cunning if you were beat was better than straight lying and being nasty in her book, but she wasn’t sure how well her friends could handle it.

“That’s fine,” Serenity said, since the three of them only really had two questions to ask (assuming the Baron would’ve come to them on his own if he knew anything about magic to affect ghosts). “First, we’ve heard from a couple of people that Peeves isn’t a ghost, and he also doesn’t act like any other poltergeist, so what is he?”

Mina and Amy had helped Serenity phrase the questions they’d be asking if the Baron was amenable, since asking if he knew wouldn’t mean he had to tell them anything, though Serenity’s manners had balked a bit until Mina assured him that it was only polite to play the game.

“I do not know his nature exactly, nor how to translate the term into any word you might recognize. Growing up, I knew of him as a ysbryd du.”

“We’d be much obliged if you could write that down or spell it,” Amy noted without asking a question, and he spelled it as best he could while she wrote it down.

“Thank you,” Serenity said with a polite bow, though she almost went too low and Mina had to catch her before she toppled over. “Whoops. But, um, thanks.”

“My turn,” Amy said, since the Baron wasn’t going away and this was the order they’d all decided. “How do you control Peeves to reign him in?”

“I was a senior apprentice at the castle when Peeves first arrived, and I confess I gave him some help settling in,” the Bloody Baron answered. “During this, I discovered Peeves’s true name and was able to compel him. I may not share it, but it still gives me authority over his behavior when used in moderation.”

“Which means we probably can’t try that tactic unless we get his name,” Amy concluded. “Thank you, sir.” She shared a meaningful look with Mina, though Mina sort of felt it was a good disappointment.

“I don’t currently have a question,” Mina declared with her voice as formal as it could be, “but I may ask at some later date, Sir Baron. We thank you for your consideration.” They all bowed to him again.

“Understood,” the Bloody Baron agreed before departing through the wall.

The three girls considered what they’d learned.

“Is there a spirit counterpart to Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts?” Amy asked them.

“Not that I’ve ever heard of, but Mum might know,” Mina said.

“I can write Mama, but I don’t think people do a lot of looking into it,” Serenity agreed. “Let’s hope Peeves feels sorry after this.”

Mina snorted. “That’d make the Baron a miracle worker.”

28 February 1991

“May I express some worry that you are focusing overmuch on this ghost spell business?” Luna inquired. “You do have other things to study at this school.”

“Luna, I’m still attending art club and talking with other friends and things and getting my homework done,” Serenity groused as she waited in the loo for Filch to pass by. Luna had nearly memorized his usual rounds, and Serenity had arranged to meet the Gray Lady with Luna atop the Astronomy Tower before anyone came up for an Astronomy class (but still after curfew) to see if practicing the spell possibilities might be more successful under the light of the full moon, which Luna had hinted at. “I’m not skiving on anything.”

“You’re putting the minimum allowable effort in on your homework even with Amy helping,” Luna countered. “I don’t want to see your grades or learning suffer for an extracurricular project.”

“Nuh-uh! Except it’ll be for extra credit because Tonks talked with the teachers and filed the group project paperwork for everyone. Even just what we’ve discovered is enough to get some bonus points, plus the shadow charm and the gaseous transfiguration,” Serenity countered. She paused, listening. “Can you check if Filch is gone?”

Honestly, with how early the sun set in winter, she ought to have done this during dinner, but she’d wanted to eat and then Luna bugged her a bit about homework (which still wasn’t finished but she’d do it at lunch or breakfast tomorrow,) and now she was sneaking out after curfew.

She’d tried in passing to make her own invisibility cloak with a winter cloak and the Bedazzling Hex that Mama had taught her, but it was easier said than done so she kept needing to reapply it every few minutes.

“Crotaphosor,” Serenity hissed once Filch was passed. She didn’t know any silencing or muffling spells so she just light-footed it under the cloak to the entry to the Astronomy Tower, whereupon she quickly flattened herself into a niche behind a suit of armor as Professor Maxfield Stanton came down from the tower with a frown. “I forgot he might be up there,” she muttered.

“Yes, well it should be clear now. Sinistra rarely goes up early, she waits to collect her students,” Luna assured her.

It was nice that even though Luna disapproved of Serenity doing this, she still was helping.

“Sorry I’m late,” Serenity said once she’d climbed to the top of the Astronomy Tower, though she belatedly remembered that manners would’ve had her phrase it more as ‘I hope I have not kept you waiting,’ but she was never great at that anyway.

“I have not been waiting. That man, Stanton, he was also doing magic I am unfamiliar with involving the stars. Possibly some form of divination,” the Gray Lady told them. “Is it something you know of?”

“My homeland’s magic practices ought to be largely unknown, but using the stars for divining is rather basic,” Luna answered. “If it felt malicious, you might inform the Headmaster?”

“Not malicious, merely confusing,” the Gray Lady demurred. To Serenity, she said, “You have the spells ready?”

“The ones we’ve thought up so far. You don’t mind risking a finger for this?” she checked.

“Unless you are successful beyond all our imaginings, any potential damage ought to eventually mend.” The Gray Lady extended her hand.

Serenity looked up to the full moon, took a deep breath, and began casting. “Ighoputa.”

1 March 1991

My Queen,

I write this letter to you in secure confidence that it will not be intercepted by A.D.

I have not yet had the opportunity to witness his spell-casting skills, though he does carry an aura of power, but the man is socially a soft touch and relatively hands off with the staff of Hogwarts Academy.

Just as only a fool seeks to shoot two birds with one arrow, A.D.’s other positions keep him sufficiently busy that he must often leave the castle itself under the watch of his deputies, and while there are enchantments to detect intruders he does not monitor any magical workings that do not fall under a specific set of violations.

I have been able to access and use the Astronomy Tower for my own astral divinations, limited only by a need to avoid observation by the staff and students. I have also had free access to the library archives, including the Restricted Section, although there is concern that the monitor may take note if I visit too often or reference too many dangerous tomes.

In my next letter I will enclose a comprehensive discussion of changes, methodologies, and other discoveries, but I write this now as a preliminary to assure you of my success.

I have not yet located any of our surviving caches, nor the location of Kunzite, but the stars whisper that there are dark forces at large in the world, and I believe the Seven Shadow Warriors born of Great Metallia before the war may skill exist in some form.

I await your orders as to my priorities.

Your Servant,

General Nephrite

4 March 1991

Mina politely laughed herself sick when Serenity got beaned repeatedly in the face while handling bouncing bulbs, though she quickly stopped laughing when her friend’s nose began bleeding.

“Professor Sprout,” Mina began, but then Serenity got dirt on her face from her gloves and started crying and it all went downhill.

In the end, Professor Sprout took her off out of the greenhouse while Professor Prince took over the lesson, and Mina got 5 House Points for handling it without a partner (which she wasn’t sure how to feel about that).

“Will Serenity be okay?” Mina asked Molly afterward.

“She’ll be fine, she just cries pretty easy,” Molly answered, though the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “This has happened before in some other classes.”

“I remember when she tripped and dropped her telescope in Astronomy,” Mina agreed. “Still…”

“If she doesn’t show up for lunch, then we worry.”

Fortunately, Serenity did show for lunch and ate with Molly and Mina (who was feuding with Wilkins and Overcliff about messing up their dormitory’s loo because she’d left some of her beauty routine lying around,) and didn’t seem too badly off.

Mina’s afternoon classes were all with Gryffindor, where she shared the story a bit with Rei and Lita, and then since Quidditch had been on the weekend (it was a long game, lasting literally into the evening,) the study group was meeting up today to practice the spells they had and for the older students to continue developing whatever new spell(s) might achieve their stated goal.

The student of the hour, however, turned out to be Cedric Diggory, who plopped several stacks of papers on the table.

“My first piece of news is that the selection charm works really well with text copying and transcription charms,” Cedric declared as everyone gathered around. “I got the idea when Lovegood was adding pink splotches to Dursley’s hair, so thanks.”

“Awesome!” Mina cheered, happy to have helped someone in some way since (despite having started off really good at charms and being a quick learner,) she wasn’t sure how much she was contributing compared to the older students.

“I thought so too,” Cedric agreed with a chuckle, and Mina high-fived him. “Anyway, I don’t know any Arithmancy or Runes for spell creation-,”

Mina saw Amy immediately perk up and lean forward, almost shoving Serenity out of the way. “Those are the classes that involve spell creation?”

“Sorta,” Tonks hedged.

“Later. Diggory, you were saying?” Chiara pressed.

“Right. But I figure wand movements will be a big part of it even if I don’t know how to decide them, so I went through all the spell books I could find to copy out casting instructions with spells and then I compiled them into a list of all the gestures mentioned. I probably missed some but more than sixty is a good place to start, I figure.” He passed out the lists.

“This is thorough,” Darien complimented as he read it.

“Hufflepuff work ethic!” Andrew cheered.

“Hey, I don’t suppose we could get a Prefect or a teacher to give him House Points for this?”

“Flitwick might,” Chauncey Stump advised. “I wish I’d thought of something like this to submit for extra credit on my OWLs.”

“We’re all looking at class credit for a group project at the end of the year already,” Tonks said, “and maybe House Points if it’s impressive. But Diggory, this is impressive, good going.”

“Thank you!” Serenity agreed, giving him a hug.

The group divided into sub-groups to work on different thing after that, but Mina hung near Amy and Serenity because she hoped Tonks would explain the spell creation bit, since Mina thought having a few signature spells would be wicked.

They spent about an hour practicing and brainstorming—Deigo and Chauncey had some success getting a selection spell to affect the Fat Friar once he showed up as a volunteer by changing the wand gestures a bit—and then when they were parting ways Mina hung back and grabbed Amy.

“Can we ask Tonks about the spell creation thing?” she asked loudly enough for Serenity to hear.

“Cousin Tonks! Mina and Amy have a question,” Serenity obligingly called.

“Yeah, I heard you. You’ve only been eyeing me all evening,” the seventh-year chuckled as her hair went brown with red streaks. “Right. Spell creation. It’s got a little to do with Ancient Runes and more to do with Arithmancy, but it’s also sort of its own branch of study… Maybe calling it a skill would be better, like point casting or silent casting.”

“Point casting?” Amy wondered.

“That’s where you say the words but don’t need the gestures,” Mina volunteered.

“And silent casting is the opposite,” Serenity chirped.

“Right,” Tonks chuckled. “Basically, as you get better at spells, you learn to tweak and change them a bit, sometimes enough that they’re practically a new spell or become new entirely. But by the time people can do that, they’re usually good enough that they omit some mix of words and gestures automatically. Among other things, arithmancy helps reverse engineer the proper words and gesture needed to teach someone else a new spell.”

“But mostly it’s also about how spells fit together,” Serenity added. “Mama is really good at it, she got an O on her NEWT, so if you need to repair an enchanted object or cast multiple spells on something then arithmancy does that.”

“Right. You lot’ll start off with probability table to figure out how certain spells are likely to interact and predict what happens under certain circumstances, then move on to more advanced studies.”

“But it can help us make specialty spells?” Mina checked.

“Yeah, but you can also do that without it, arithmancy just makes it easier and safer if you can predict that a face-painting charm isn’t going to also poison you or peel off a layer of skin before you cast it. So no experimenting without supervision from someone who passed their Arithmancy OWL,” Tonks chided.

“That seems… incredibly useful. Is there a reason we don’t study it as a core class?” Amy wondered.

Mina bit her lip and really hoped this wouldn’t lead to a talk with teachers that brought more math, because she was only a bit better at it than Serenity was.

“First, you do study it in core classes, stuff like potions mix-ratio tables or McGonagall teaching you the transfiguration alphabet and transformative equations are still arithmancy,” Tonks answered. “Second, most people don’t need it. Does your mom own a car?”

“Yes,” Amy answered, and Mina thought back to the times she’d driven around, because cars weren’t as cool as brooms but were still really neat.

“Right. So I’ll bet she knows how to fill it with gas, check the oil, and maybe change a flat tire, but for anything more serious she’ll take it to a mechanic, right? This is the same thing. As long as most people know how to use their magic to do stuff, they don’t need to know details outside of rare, specific, and specialized circumstances. But arithmancy is cool so come third year you should totally take it.”

“I’d flunk out in a month,” Serenity groaned, and Mina laughed to hide worries that she’d only last a bit longer.

Chapter Text

8 March 1991

Professor Meioh had proven very fond of obstacle courses, as this was the fifth one since winter break she’d run them through (to say nothing of what she did to her older students).

It was the first time they couldn’t use a wand, though.

“Most of the time you will have your wand to defend yourself, but I am teaching you to protect yourself all of the time,” Professor Meioh had explained at the beginning of the class. “It is very possible that you will drop it or have it stolen from you or worse. There isn’t time to give you many meaningful lessons in unarmed combat, but if nothing else I can ensure that you all know how to run away.”

This course was apparently a set of three interconnected rooms in the dungeons, though Serenity could only see one and the door to move on.

Unfortunately, the entire room was a pool of water except for a few inches of stone walkway around the edges. There were platforms in the water, but Serenity couldn’t tell if they were floating and wobbly or if they were solid stepping stones.

If she hadn’t volunteered to go first, she could watch with the rest of the class and figure out the first part, but Professor Meioh had offered bonus points for the first three people to run the course (which Serenity worried she needed because her essays were still mostly just Acceptable unless Amy gave her a lot more help than she wanted to ask for,) and when Rei had volunteered Serenity had decided to show family loyalty by joining her.

The third volunteer was Cormac McLaggen, who was bragging he’d leave them in the dust (and to be fair he was doing very well in the class).

Serenity grimaced as she swung her arms while Professor Meioh did a last check of the other two rooms. She swung them again, and her robes…

“Right, I’m probably going to fall in the water even if she promised to dry us off after,” Serenity realized. “Hey Molly, hold these for me until I’m done please?” she asked as she pulled her outer robes off.

“Ooh yeah, swimming in clothes is a bad idea if you fall in,” McLaggen agreed, so he and Rei began stripping their heavier robes off as well.

Professor Meioh quirked an eyebrow when she got back into the room.

“I was wondering if you’d catch that. Well done. Take your places.” They all got at the three marked spots on the edge of the pool, each not far from a platform in the water.

Serenity bit her lip, trying to tell if it was bobbing in the still water or not. ‘I’m not even sure I can jump to that. Ugh. Maybe I should just swim the whole thing.’

“Three. Two. One. Go!”

Serenity jumped, putting all her weight forward with a shout, and crashed right into the water with her outstretched hands smacking the (solid, not wobbly,) platform with a sting of pain.

‘Ugh, plan 2,’ Serenity decided, swimming sideways to the edge of the pool instead of trying to clamber onto the platform. ‘Hey, at least the water’s really warm. It’s more like a bath than the ocean. Thanks, Miss Meioh.’

Serenity used the wall to help pull herself across the pool as her legs kicked, and she really hoped there weren’t grindylows or anything in the water, but nothing grabbed her so she kept going.

She wasn’t nearly as fast as Cormac or Rei, hopping between the platforms, but Cormac must’ve chosen a bad path in one of the hops where there were two platforms to choose from because he splashed into the water with a yelp. Serenity paused long enough to see him surface and try clambering back onto the platform before continuing.

She was only a bit past the halfway mark when Rei missed the last (much longer) jump and hit the water, but since it had taken Cormac a while to get onto his platform again she ended up being the second one to clamber out of the pool and rush into the second room.

The second room was mostly empty, in the same way that a valley leading up to a cliff face was mostly empty. There were some mats with softening charms spread out halfway, and then most of the room was dominated by a 12-foot-tall wall that led back to a balcony and the next door.

In keeping with her Play Your Strengths teaching, Professor Meioh had provided three ways to climb the wall: on the right side was a knotted rope hanging down from the ceiling, on the left was a ladder that had a lot of animated rag dolls to attack climbers, and in the middle were a bunch of ledges like giant-sized steps that Rei was attempting to climb up.

Behind her, Serenity heard splashing as Cormac got out of the water. Rei was still trying to climb up the center ledge (though the drips by the rope suggested Rei had tried to climb up and failed).

“Hufflepuff ho!” Serenity cried. Then she ran up, grabbed Rei by the waist, and boosted her to the first ledge.

Rei blinked at her.

“You remember we’re supposed to be competing right?” Rei checked.

“We are?” ‘Whoops, I must’ve missed that.’ “Is there a prize?”

Rei rolled her eyes, grumbled, and helped heave Serenity up onto the ledge with her. “Oy, McLaggen, you want a hand?”

“I’m good! Bet I’ll beat you up,” he called as he began to shimmy up the rope.

True to his word, Cormac’s squishy shoes hit the top and he took off running just as Rei and Serenity were still climbing the last ledge.

“Merlin’s beard!” they heard him yell from the far side of the next door.

Dripping, the girls dashed after him.

The last room of the course was a maze of large tables patrolled by animated mannequins. Cormac had grabbed a chair so start wailing on two of them that had come after him, and Serenity froze, uncertain whether to help him or go off on her own or what.

Rei had no such issues.

“Under the tables, they can’t go low!” Rei yelled to Cormac as she yanked Serenity down to the floor. As quickly as possible, they began to crawl under the table, keeping an eye on the legs of the mannequins (who could apparently see but not really hear).

Three times they came to table dead ends and had to scurry across the open space of the aisles, but Serenity followed Rei’s lead in waiting until the mannequins had marched past and they made it to the final door with no incidents.

“Time,” Professor Meioh declared for them, and then again five second later when Cormac caught up. “Well done all of you. Serenity, three points to Hufflepuff because I did not, in fact, say that you were competing with each other, so I’m glad you caught that and lent a hand. But well done all three of you, and I’m applying your bonus points for going first. Now just settle down in the chairs and write me a brief essay on your experiences while the others run the course.” A flick of her wand dried the three off and they each chose a desk to get started.

14 March 1991

Thursday had been a good day so far, since Serenity got to sleep in after their practical Astronomy.

Then, in the middle of Professor Binns’s lecture on the Soap Blizzard of 1378, ever-studious Amy passed Serenity a note.

Mum mentioned to me a holiday we don’t usually celebrate, but you might like it. I talked with the others, so picnic on the grounds after classes?

Serenity signaled back enthusiastic support because any excuse for a picnic was good in her books, and she grinned harder when Molly did the same.

She kept grinning all through double Potions, where Professor Snape had her and Lita paired for brewing a Forgetfulness Potion (Serenity inevitably forgot to count stirs but they still turned in something Acceptable) and out to a flat space on the grounds where Mina had set up a blanket.

“Happy Pie Day!” Mina called as the Puffs trundled up to join the party.

“It’s Pi Day,” Amy corrected.

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“No.”

“Oh wow, do muggles have a cake day or an ice cream day?” Serenity wondered.

“I could definitely get behind a brownie day,” Molly agreed.

“It’s Pi as in the number 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058... 2097494459230781640628620899... 86280348253421170679,” Amy corrected. She then blushed as the other five girls stared at her. “My school had a memorizing competition last year.”

“You memorized all that?” Molly asked, astounded.

Serenity had sort of tuned it out, but she was pants at memorizing so it was really impressive. “Yaaaaay Amy,” she declared while applauding.

“It was impressive. What does it mean?” Rei wondered.

“Well, Pi is a number we use a lot in calculating the circumference and area of a circle-,”

That was about when Serenity tuned her out, but apparently Amy had requisitioned an apple pie with cinnamon and ginger from the kitchens for them to eat so after Lita passed her a slice she dug in and the talk turned to other things.

They talked about candies, since Amy swore by Cherry Lips and Wine Gummies while Lita liked Mint Cakes and the other four hadn’t tried many muggle sweets.

They talked about traveling, because Serenity had been across the UK and spent some time in France while Amy’s mother like to vacation in Germany and Rei had lived in Japan while Mina was practically everywhereonce or twice.

They talked about recent history…

“I was reading about the end of the Voldemort conflicts-,” Several of the girls flinched or grimaced when Amy said The Name, including Serenity. “-and I had a question.”

“You’re not asking a teacher?” Molly checked.

“I asked Professor Flitwick, and he gave me a talk about multiple theories, but he also looked really sad so I wanted to ask what you heard from your parents. There isn’t really anything in the books about why Voldemort- about why You-Know-Who,” Amy deadpanned at the flinch, “blew himself up when he went after the Potters.”

“After who?” Lita asked suddenly, leaning forward with a frown.

Rei shifted over, squeezed Lita’s hand, and elaborated. “During the last war, You-Know-Who had a policy of personally killing people who defied him and thwarted his plans too many times. One Halloween, he went after the Potter family, James Potter and his wife Lily Potter, because they were a mixed marriage couple between a pureblood and an arifuretajin and because they were making him look bad by getting in his way.”

“He just-?” Lita bit off whatever she was going to say as Rei squeezed her hand, so Serenity reached out and took Lita’s other hand in support.

“He was cold and cruel and a horrible criminal and the world is better off without him in it,” Serenity assured Lita.

Lita looked at her, moved her mouth wordlessly for a moment, looked back to Rei, and asked, “What happened?”

“Otou-sama told me about some of the auror crime-scene reports. The Dark Lord entered the house and killed James Potter at the foot of the stairs. He used the Killing Curse, so it was quick and painless. Then he went upstairs, confronted Lily Potter-,” Serenity felt Lita squeeze her hand harder at the name. “-and did the same thing in the nursery. Then he tried to use the Killing Curse on their son, Harry-,” Lita’s grip was tight enough to almost start hurting, but it wasn’t on purpose so Serenity didn’t say anything. “-and something went wrong. The aurors who found them found a burnt robe, a burnt body that matched their records of the Dark Lord, and a scorched yew wand that Mr. Ollivander identified as his, too. Baby Harry was unharmed except for a curse scar on his forehead shaped like the Sowilo rune.”

“He just- He just killed them? Because, I mean-?” Lita started to cry, Serenity pulled her into a hug, and to her surprise Rei joined in the hug as well. Everyone else gathered around as well.

A few minutes later, Lita was calmer, and Mina had offered to take her on a walk around the Black Lake so they could skip stones.

Amy looked a bit down that Lita had started crying at the horrible story, but she was still curious.

“No one, none of the books I’ve read, it never mentions why, um, why You-Know-Who’s curse rebounded, or whatever happened. I was wondering if anyone heard any ideas from their parents.”

“Mother said that there can only be so much evil in the world, and that doing evil things damages you. She thinks that You-Know-Who used so much dark magic, he fell apart like a balloon popping after you overinflate it,” Molly volunteered. “Attacking an innocent baby was just too wrong for him.”

“Professor Meioh did talk about dark magic being dangerous to use,” Amy acknowledged pensively.

“Otou-sama said that it was probably Mrs. Potter,” Rei added.

“Really?” Serenity asked, trying to figure out how Mrs. Potter could’ve done anything after she was-

Her mind flinched away from the thought, from the memory of Great Aunt Walburga’s still body when she stopped breathing. She swallowed down a lump in her throat.

“The only evidence that You-Know-Who cast a spell at Harry Potter is the curse scar on Harry’s forehead,” Rei elaborated. “If the Dark Lord cast his Killing Curse at the same time that Mrs. Potter cast her spell, then he would’ve been too busy casting to shield so they both killed each other. Whatever Mrs. Potter used was just messy enough to blow him up and leave a mark on her son, so everyone decided it was more acceptable for a halfblood baby to have ‘defeated’ a dark wizard than for an adult arefuretajin to have done it.”

“Oh.” Serenity drooped a bit. “I think that makes more sense than what Papa thinks.”

“What does he think?” Amy wondered.

“Papa thinks that some people can be born with extra powers, or gain them under odd days and times, like on Halloween. He said that Harry Potter was probably born with unusual powers, like being a metamorphmagus or a percurmagus or turning into an animal without being an animagus. So whatever powers he had protected him from the Dark Lord,” Serenity explained.

Rei wrinkled her nose as Amy nodded. “I think I like Otou-sama’s idea better,” Rei opined.

“It makes more sense,” Amy agreed.

“But let’s be polite and not tell Mr. Malfoy that,” Molly added with a short laugh.

Serenity smiled, but she didn’t laugh like the other three.

20 March 1991

“You guys go up, I want to talk with Professor Sprout,” Serenity assured Mina and Molly as they were leaving the greenhouse.

Molly nodded, and as it was Mina’s least favorite class (next to potions) the blonde needed no further encouragement to flee.

Luna was waiting outside the greenhouse, and she slipped in to purr briefly as she twined around Serenity’s feet before letting Serenity get on with it.

“Miss Malfoy,” Professor Sprout greeted warmly as she was putting the pots away. “It looked like you enjoyed the lesson.”

“The Flitterbloom tickled and danced cutely,” Serenity agreed with a giggle. Professor Sprout was always encouraging, she was a great head of house in the blonde’s opinion. “So, um… I have something to ask you.”

“Give me a moment to get these all tidied away, dearie, and then I’ll be with you. Jade is taking the next class anyway.”

Since it wasn’t urgent, Serenity said yes to the offer of tea and let herself be chivvied into Professor Sprout’s greenhouse office to enjoy a cup of mint with honey.

“Now my dear, what were you asking?” Professor Sprout enquired.

“I need help, but it’s a bit… awkward,” Serenity started.

Professor Sprout gave a warm laugh. “You’re in good company, Miss Malfoy. Naming no names, I’ve had to help with a dozen awkward things this year already.” Serenity relaxed a bit. “Now what specifically is the issue?”

“I… So, I asked a few people, and I think we can make a breakthrough on our group project, but it involves doing it under the Easter full moon. Cousin Tonks said she’d get the requests in for us to use the top of the Astronomy Tower on the 30th, but if I’m here at Hogwarts to try it, that means I’m staying over here for the break and I need my parents’ permission.”

“I remember you did put your name down to stay over,” Sprout recalled. “Is this causing trouble with your parents?”

Serenity looked down at her teacup. “Sort of.” She took a drink to delay having to say it. “They, um, they aren’t forbidding me yet, but they want to know why I’m staying…”

“That doesn’t sound unreasonable,” Sprout said slowly, her tone hinting that something else may be in play.

Serenity took a deep breath and pulled the popper. “Idon’twanttotellthemwhatI’mtrying!”

Professor Sprout frowned slightly. “You don’t-?”

“If it works then I get to pull off a really cool surprise, and if I mess up on Easter then they’ll never know but if they do know they’ll think I was stupid to try it,” Serenity poured out, eyes shut tight so she wouldn’t she her teacher’s judgy face.

There was a rustle of cloth, footsteps, and then Professor Sprout had pulled her over to a soft couch and was giving her a hug.

“Would your parents think you were stupid? Failures are a natural part of life,” Professor Sprout consoled.

It was a genuine question, not a rhetorical one or a denial, and Serenity was so, so grateful for that. Grateful to not be told that of course her parents loved her (which they did,) and believed in her (which they didn’t).

“They al-almost sent me to boarding s-school,” Serenity hiccuped.

“Hogwarts is a boarding school?”

“N-no! I m-mean a m-muggle boarding school,” Serenity sobbed, and it all poured out. How she’d never done flashy accidental magic, and the times she’d kept trying and trying, words and gesturing with an ancestral wand, but to no result. The hours she’d spent practicing in her room or in the grounds with a stick stripped off a tree. How long it had taken before she realized her parents were distracting her with fun trips so she didn’t miss skipping the parties and gatherings Draco was going to. How it wasn’t until Hogwarts that she’d realized she never even met some of her extended family.

All the times she failed at learning a hex or a potion, and how her parents seemed to quietly accept that she wouldn’t ever be as good as Draco at it, she just had to be good enough…

If she'd had to put words to it, once she was done bawling her eyes out into Professor Sprout’s robes and getting snot on them, Serenity might have said that even though she didn’t want any pressure to do her absolute best all the time, it still hurt to think that her genuine best wasn’t actually good enough.

Professor Sprout let her get it all out until Serenity was wrung and limp, cleaned her face with a charmed handkerchief, and got her some more tea and a caramel chocolate.

“I always say crying is a bit like a shower for the soul, lets us get all sorts of muck off so we don’t wallow in it,” the squat woman commented as Serenity chewed on the gooey sweet. “I’m beginning to see what the problem is, I think. Would you like me to write a letter home to your parents, asking them to let you stay?”

“Mm!” Serenity brightened a bit and nodded. ‘Yesyesplease thank you Professor Sprout!’

“I can write them a letter,” Professor Sprout warned, “but there’s nothing saying they have to accept it, nor will I lie to them. If you like, however… Well, if you’re willing to do some extra Herbology work over the break as well, I can tell them you’re doing some extra credit with me atop your ghosts project. But only if you show up to put in the effort.”

“I will, I promise!” Serenity declared.

Chapter Text

25 March 1991

Serenity gave Molly a quick Good Morning hug as the yawning redhead plopped down beside her at the table.

“Okay, Serenity, what ancient magical secrets got you to wake up before me on a Monday when we don’t even have class because of spring break?” Molly wondered.

“I set my alarm and I asked Luna to wake me, because I want to spend the whole day with Professor Sprout so I’m not lying when I tell my parents I got a lot of Herbology work done. Lita’s coming too, we’ll be in greenhouse 2 if you want to join,” Serenity offered.

“Pass, but thanks. Want me to do your nails when you finish up?”

“Trade you,” Serenity agreed, the ritual of doing each other’s nails an old give-and-take for them by now. She finished her breakfast as Molly started filling a plate, met up with Lita at the door to the Great Hall, and they joined a few other students in Greenhouse 2 at 8 sharp.

‘Up at 8 on a Monday without lessons. The things I do,’ Serenity sighed as Professor Sprout set them to work in a large garden patch.

At least she was with Lita (and Raashid, and Eddie, and Irvin, and a few second-years), and there were lots of pretty flowers, but the fertilizer they were using outweighed the nice scents and it was even warmer in the greenhouse than outside, though Professor Sprout did perform a microclimate charm that got a cool breeze going.

They didn’t work through lunch, but they didn’t quite break for it either; Professor Sprout made everyone thoroughly wash their hands and laid out a picnic spread as she gave a lecture on several plants they’d be handling in the afternoon, after which they started on several hours of pruning, staking, shearing, and binding.

It shouldn’t have been exhausting work, but it was work, and there was a lot of it, and Serenity had to double-check with Lita on the directions pretty often because she knew she wasn’t going to remember most of this by the end of the day, so once they finished up she was more tired than she’d expected.

“Can I ask you a question?” Lita wondered when they met Molly in Myrtle’s loo after dinner to do their nails.

“Always,” Serenity promised as she and Molly filled one sink with warm water to soak their fingers in.

“So, I know Myrtle is really excited because you’re doing a big magic test for our project on Saturday… I just don’t know why it needs to wait until Saturday.”

“Because it’s the full moon and after midnight it’ll be Easter Sunday,” Serenity explained.

Lita didn’t look enlightened.

Molly sighed. “It doesn’t usually come up, but one of the reasons we study Astronomy so much is because the sun, moon, and stars can change how effective certain spells and people casting them are. It usually isn’t a big change, but Rini thinks she’ll cast better under the full moon.”

“Yup! It’s not huge, but I go from using the hover charm to lift a chair someone’s sitting in to lifting a table with a bunch of big library books when the moon is full. Plus, Easter is a big important holiday for a lot of people, so it’s a good time to do something important,” Serenity elaborated. “New Year’s Eve would’ve been better, but I didn’t think about it and we were home for the holidays.”

Not to mention she was helping Luna with the brooch/locket/thingie. She still didn’t know what all that had been about, but nothing bad had happened yet so it was probably fine, and Professor Meioh said the blood thing wasn’t as bad as she’d thought.

“Okaaaay,” Lita said slowly, “but if you need to cast it on the full moon, does that mean we won’t be able to use it when it isn’t the full moon? That doesn’t seem very useful…?”

“Uhh…” Serenity knew that wasn’t how it worked, but she wasn’t quite sure how to explain it to Lita. “Molly, do you wanna-?”

Molly shrugged helplessly, but Myrtle poked her head through a stall door.

“Ooh! No worries, midgets, the wise raven has come to answer questions!” She floated over and settled down to eye level, which put her knees through the floor. “One of the things you learn early in Arithmancy is about spell creation, which also fits with the various types of casting, most especially will magic.”

“Do you mean types of casting like point casting and silent-?” Molly began.

“Yes, those, now let me lecture,” Myrtle snapped. “Will magic is basically when you use your wand to cause a specific effect that isn’t a specific spell. For instance, no one’s ever invented a toilet-flushing charm-,” Myrtle pointed dramatically at a toilet, cheerfully unhindered by the fact that the stall door had drifted closed. “-but by your fifth or sixth year, a skilled witch should be able to pull out her wand and make a flush even without a specific spell to do it. By that point, you’ve usually got some skills in silent or point casting, plus enough control to do little things even without a wand. Exerting your will through sorcery isn’t supposed to be too difficult.

“However, that’s a single iteration. If you examine your own magic and get a good feel for it, you can reproduce what you’re doing with individual instances of will magic more reliably. It’s still not entirely a proper spell, though. With spells, there’s an incantation and gestures you can teach someone, or that you can even write down and have a total stranger reproduce it. Spell creation,” Myrtle finished, “is basically reverse engineering the words and motions to make something happen reliably. Even if you mess up a spell in the spell way, it won’t create a new spell because you won’t always get the same effect. It’s not done until you’ve got the words and the gestures, though, which is what the older students are trying to do with what they know about. Then, with the first casting, it carves sort of a furrow into the universe that other people can trace to reproduce the effects even if they’ve never met you. Boom, new spell.

“Until that furrow exists, attempting to make it is difficult and exacting. The Gray Lady says your words and gesture mix should work, and she’d know better than me about it, but you need to keep trying for a while, like sawing into a board until it’s completely split. From what I understand, though, getting a good astronomical nexus and preparing a sanctified space should make it easier to break through, like swinging an axe for one big chop instead of sawing away at it. Any questions?”

Serenity had several, but she wasn’t she’d understand the answers anyway and she thought Myrtle’s supply of talkativeness was running out, so she started clapping.

Molly and Lita joined in, and Myrtle brightened exuberantly before swooshing up through the ceiling.

30 March 1991

“I’m pretty sure I need to do most of it, since I’m doing the casting,” Serenity informed Tonks seriously as she set to measuring and tracing out the three circles she’d be drawing with chalk she’d brewed up using potions knowledge just yesterday. “I need to make it as much me as it can be to do what I want.”

“That tracks, given what I know of the theory,” Tonks agreed as her hair shifted between magenta and pink. “Just thought I’d ask.” She glanced up and popped some bubblegum as Serenity set to marking off places on the top of the Astronomy Tower. “I see a few clouds, but it doesn’t look like rain.”

“Professor Dumbledore has been casting weather charms most of this week to keep it clear,” Serenity agreed as she checked her sketch again. “He’s going to be watching.” She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that, but for the most part it was ‘really nervous’. At least Mama and Papa wouldn’t be here to see her maybe fail miserably, much less Draco. “Should I start with the inner circle or the outside one?”

“Why not start with the second of the three?” her cousin teased.

“To~oonnks,” Serenity whined. “You’re the one who warned me that it would mess with the flows of energy if I didn’t keep it all in one direction.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Start with the inner circle so you know it’s big enough to stand in and still fit all three jars of bluebell flames. You solid on casting all thirteen?”

“Rei made me practice like crazy, I can do it,” Serenity promised.

Learning that prime numbers were the most powerful and stable for magic was very basic arithmancy, even if Serenity was years away from taking the class, (which she didn’t want to do, because maths treated her horribly, but she knew her Mama might push the issue,) and a basic primer plus consulting the older students had helped her shape what she was doing to make the sanctified area that was supposed to support her spell casting.

Prime numbers were powerful, so there’d be three chalk circles drawn like an aiming target; Serenity knew it was some ‘con-‘ word but the term escaped her.

The outermost circle would be marked by seven jars of bluebell flames, because seven was the most magically powerful and stable number.

The middle and inner circles would be marked with three jars each, totaling to thirteen, which were all prime numbers. Serenity had originally planned for the two sets of three to be arranged opposite each other, like a six-pointed star, but the older students had intervened to warn her that it wouldn’t work as well, (the explanation went right over her head again, something about scattering the magical energy,) so the pairs would be lined up one-inside-the-other instead, and since two was also a prime number that would work even though six was usually bad for arithmancy.

Chalk she’d brewed, circles she’d made, and ephemeral flames to light the spot.

It ought to be enough.

“Fai~ Cheen~ Ee~ Bul~ By~ Moo~ Lye~,” Serenity began to sing, using the cadence to keep a steady hand as she set her special chalk to the flagstones.

31 March 1991

*Bong~! Bong~! Bong~! Bong~!*

“Midnight,” Serenity declared with a deep breath as the bell—enchanted to only be heard by anyone awake, so that Prefects could count the hours—tolled out it’s ringing sounds. “Happy Easter, everybody.”

*Bong~! Bong~! Bong~! Bong~!*

“Happy Easter indeed,” Headmaster Dumbledore agreed, with everybody else present chiming in a moment later.

It wasn’t a holiday Serenity’s family really celebrated, beyond socializing at parties and an excuse for candy, but she felt it was a good sign to wish for people to be happy.

*Bong~! Bong~! Bong~! Bong~!*

“Miss Lobosca still isn’t coming?” Serenity checked as she hesitated outside the outer circle, though she was careful not to nudge the jar of bluebell flames with her foot.

Every other member of the study group who’d stayed for the holidays—which were Molly, Mina, Lita, Rei, Amy, Charlie, Percy, Tonks, and Darien—had shown up, along with Professors Dumbledore, Meioh, Flitwick, and Sprout, not to mention a good many ghosts, but…

“Sorry,” Tonks said after glancing down at the grounds (and specifically toward the Whomping Willow), “but she warned me that she’ll definitely be out all night gathering potions ingredients for her own project, though she’s here in spirit.”

“Just not as a spirit,” Myrtle griped from where she drifted by the Grey Lady, who laid a quieting hand on her young compatriot.

Thirteen humans had gathered, along with many more ghosts, and around the edges Luna prowled alongside a white cat who’d followed Mina up.

Everyone was here for her and counting on her.

She had to do this.

“Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, let us begin,” Serenity declared, channeling every officious and dramatic pronunciation she’d ever she her parents make in the hopes that it would help her pull this off.

“Certainly, fair lady,” he declared with a warm smile as he ghosted into the inner circle as she walked in to meet him. As they still hadn’t quite got a spell that could be enchanted into an object yet—and possibly because Myrtle didn’t want to risk a nasty side effect is something was not quite right with the casting—Sir Nicholas had been nominated to stand as the test specimen for the casting.

He certainly felt that he had the most to gain, he’d explained, and little was gained without a venture.

‘Please, please, please, please, please let me get this right,’ Serenity prayed as he presented his head to her.

“Okay then. Ghoputa Egwu,” she began, casting the variant of the spell that she and the others had sporadically used to charge parts of a ghost with magic. She twirled Princess through the twisty gesture, so much like outlining circles, and felt the pear wood warm as it defined and influenced the strip of neck flesh.

‘Did it work? Is there a color change? I can’t tell. Please, please, please let this work out,’ Serenity hoped. “Okay, here’s the next step, let’s do this. Kapnízei skiázei,” she enunciated carefully as she moved her wand through the jagged gesture and double flick that ought to make ectoplasm into something malleable. Results were extremely sketchy so far, though, and may have been as much accident or imagination as anything.

“I felt that, I think. Is there any-?” Sir Nick enquired, and there had been and orange-gold glimmer like the sunset.

“No change yet, that’s the next part,” Serenity said, feeling better. ‘It’s working. I didn’t mess it up, it’s working, I’m doing it. Just please. Please, please, please… please let me pull this off.’ “I’m going to…” She tried to say more, but her throat nearly closed up.

Sir Nicholas smiled. He laid a chill hand on her shoulder, but the touch was soothing.

“By all means, Miss Serenity. You’ve done more already than many others in many years have managed. As you’re ready,” he invited, and she relaxed a bit.

She nodded.

“Princess, let’s change the world,” she determined. Her wrist twisted out the heptagonal gesture of the final spell. “Geheysn meser,” she declared.

Everyone leaned in.

“I felt that! Did it-? No, it’s still attached,” Nick began, but Serenity wasn’t done yet.

“Geheysn meser,” she repeated, and she saw it again. A vague spark from her wand, a silver color, but edged in light that seemed almost clear like sharp glass. “Geheysn meser,” she repeated, and it happened again. A cut appeared. “Geheysn meser.” It didn’t sever the neck flap, not entirely, but it bit into it and cut it a little deeper. “Geheysn meser.” It wasn’t total, it wasn’t clean, and she maybe thought the cut was slowly healing, but there was definitely a cut being made. “Geheysn meser!”

“Young lady,” Sir Nick began, but he saw Serenity smiling in excitement, and he hesitated.

She took half a step back to get more space, to better assure herself that it was happening, and she moved her wand again.

This time, it was not a small gesture. She brought Princess to rest at her forehead to begin, and beneath the moonlight Nick would have sworn he saw a sigil faintly glowing there. From her brow, she traced out a larger heptagon with her wrist, elbow, and even her shoulder as she swept Princess down past her knees and back up again.

Serenity took a deep breath, and this time, she didn’t think of making history. She didn’t focus on potential glory, or on the direct outcome of cutting that she wanted.

She bit her lip and focused, instead, on why she was doing this.

Several centuries ago, Sir Nick had tried to do a good deed, and because he made a mistake someone dragged him to a wooden block and hit him forty times with a blunt axe.

And that was horrible, and he’d gone through suffering, and then he’d just kept on suffering and never forgetting or moving on because he was stuck like that, and it wasn’t fair because people made mistakes, and he wasn’t welcome even among the people who ought to understand.

He was her friend, and she wanted to help him have fun again. That was all, really.

But that mattered.

“Geheysn meser,” she declared.

And ultimately, that made the difference.

A flash of light like a camera’s split the night, colored silver while the edges were clear.

Several watchers made noises of surprise as there was finally a clearer result than the prior pinpricks, and Sir Nick jerked back again with a yelp of shock.

His head toppled off his neck entirely, and nearly dropped away entirely before he caught his own hair.

He held his head up again.

“I say,” he managed, and then everyone began to cheer.

“Yes! Thank you, Princess, we did it!” Serenity cried as she raised her wand to the moon and stars.

Princess made a brief spray of sparks as applause rolled in from around them, and Serenity’s dignity was eroded only by the jaw-cracking yawn that split her face, and the way she yelped when she poked herself with Princess while trying to cover it.

None of which dimmed her smile of success and triumph.

Chapter Text

4 April 1991

“The spell does not last, though?” Severus Snape checked as Dumbledore perused through one old tome, and then another.

“It is impermanent,” Dumbledore agreed. “When Miss Malfoy cast it, less than an hour passed before the head was drawn back and the neck flap reattached. However, I was able to learn the methodology and reproduce it, and while practice will improve my results, I have still been able to make it last from dusk to dawn, which is plenty long enough for most meetings of the Headless Hunt.”

“The Gryffindor ghost gets a cherished dream. How lovely,” Snape deadpanned.

“All our ghostly neighbors will be benefiting,” Dumbledore disagreed as he opened a older tome to look through it. “Both Friar William and Edgar Cloggs have expressed interest in joining Nick in the Headless Hunt’s activities, Myrtle Warren will have a hairbrush as soon as I have formulated a satisfactory enchantment to set on an item, and once that is accomplished Professor Binns is quite interested in reviewing new history books, while the Bloody Baron has put in for a willow rod with which he may catch inattentive students unawares. It should be quite the occasion.”

Comments like that were when Snape remembered that the old man had only abolished corporal punishment at Hogwarts upon becoming Headmaster, meaning that it had been used while Dumbledore was himself a student.

Severus forced his mind away from wondering whether Dumbledore had any cane scars.

“I suppose it is a new achievement,” the potions master allowed, “but was it really necessary for you to catapult Hufflepuff into the lead for the House Cup?”

“I awarded the entire study group thirty House Points each for a previously unattained act of sorcery, rather than rewarding only the girl who cast it successfully,” the old man answered mildly. “If only one Slytherin recognized the opportunity for what it was while seven Hufflepuffs banded together, then you may need to teach your students more about opportunity. Five years of winning is nothing to be ashamed of, though.”

Severus stilled in his pacing, uncertain whether the words were a rebuke. Dumbledore had not commented previously on Slytherin’s half-decade winning streak, but if enough students had been complaining of supposed favoritism to reach Dumbledore’s ears and be taken seriously…

Well. At least this outcome was better than the Headmaster giving out last-minute points during the Farewell Feast or something similar. Dippet and others had ostensibly done that a few times with cause, so there was precedent.

No other House had won the Cup five years running in the past century, not even Gryffindor when Dumbledore had been a student, so Severus felt he could accept the situation with some grace.

“Lucius will no doubt be pleased that his daughter has led her House to victory over the lions, even if she has also conquered the snakes,” Snape finally allowed.

“Oh yes, do tell me how he reacts when you drop by to deliver this please,” Dumbledore agreed.

Snape turned his attention back to the old wizard, who was writing some missive with an ostentatious Thunderbird quill.

“A delivery? Do you think I am a post owl now as well?” Snape wondered even as he tried to read the upside-down parchment Dumbledore was folding up to seal.

“You are far too drab in coloring to be a barn owl, much less a screech, dear Severus. But hand delivery by a neutral party is the traditional method of inviting an enemy to a neutral meeting according to Rites Ande Manners Of A Proper Societie.”

Severus disdainfully glanced at the old man’s sky-blue-and-maroon robes before checking that Dumbledore had, in fact, been referencing instructions for formal messages.

“Depending on how many other Death Eaters attend for drinks on Saturday, it may need to wait,” he warned as he took the message.

13 April 1991

Narcissa had been as surprised as her husband when Severus delivered a missive from Dumbledore, but as the issue had not been urgent enough to merit any emergency messages—Severus had vaguely spoken of Serenity accomplishing something noteworthy, but Lucius had been in his cups by then and Narcissa had not been present at the reunion of ‘old friends’—they had opted to put off meeting their adversary for as long as was socially permissible.

The fact that Dumbledore had dug out his good manners for inviting them was interesting, but this was ultimately a man who would have thrown Lucius in Azkaban for defending their way of life, and they were not beholden to him.

Serenity’s own notes home had most likely revealed enough of the situation; her study group had earned a large sum of House Points for their spell research project, Andromeda’s spawn was writing up a NEWT project treatise on some of their findings, and Hufflepuff was likely to win the House Cup.

It was a pity that Slytherin would place second, but Narcissa was glad her daughter would be winning, no matter Serenity’s house colors.

“Headmaster Dumbledore,” Lucius greeted as they entered, using the old man’s lowest title and speaking first to assume control of the situation.

Narcissa used the greeting as cover to silently cast a detection spell, but if the old man had prepared anything (other than the appetizer of sweetmeats he’d ordered and was nibbling on,) then she was unable to detect it.

…Which was, admittedly, very possible given his command of sorcery, no matter his political affiliations. The title of Grand Sorcerer was not awarded lightly.

“Governor Malfoy, Madame Malfoy,” Dumbledore greeted with his faux cheer. “Please, take a seat. I haven’t ordered anything beyond what you see.”

They spoke of the food for a bit, as was polite, and placed their orders. Then they spoke of other things for the few minutes until their drinks and plates were delivered.

“I believe we will need some privacy charms, if you would care to do the honors,” he invited, which was again an infuriating too-gracious nod to them.

Officially, it was a sign of him deferring to them. Given the situation, it was actually a sign that he thought himself too powerful to be inconvenienced by whatever palings they raised.

Narcissa nodded once and cast (silently, so that they couldn’t be as easily understood or copied,) a series of privacy spells, including one of her own creation. It was not powerful, but it was delicate and would produce a haze effect if any magic was cast within it, though of course this meant it had to be cast last in the series. She was rather proud of it and hoped the old man would prove unable copy or dissect its mechanisms.

“Excellent.” Dumbledore clapped his hands together with apparent cheer. “You are familiar, I hope, with your daughter’s study project? Developing spells that can be used to affect and alter ghosts?”

“We heard she found success over the spring holidays,” Lucius confirmed, “and that Hufflepuff is likely to claim the House Cup as a result.”

“I did think it an appropriate reward for developing a spell effect I was not, myself, previously capable of, and their research was very thorough,” Dumbledore agreed. Narcissa blinked curiously at the implication that this wasn’t just obscure magic, but magic that neither Dumbledore nor Nicholas Flamel had been capable of, but the old man drew a roll of parchment from a pocket and kept going before she could process that. “The Hogwarts ghost population is extremely impressed and grateful, and felt that House Points were insufficient to express that. As such, at the next Governors’ Board Meeting I will be presenting their petition to give her an Award for Special Services to the school. If the motion passes, she will be the youngest student on record to receive such honors.”

Narcissa’s jaw dropped slightly, and from the corner of her eye she knew that Lucius felt much the same.

That was…

“Well,” Lucius huffed in a stiff but breathy manner that Narcissa knew meant he was genuinely shocked.

“We’re all very proud of Serenity,” Narcissa agreed to spare Lucius from having to figure out whether or not to thank Dumbledore for not quashing the petition. “I’m rather surprised that we needed to hear of it from you, but she has ever been modest.” Technically not true, her daughter was far too exuberant to be considered modest, but Serenity had also rarely bragged about herself (if only because there was nothing had been little to brag about).

“I couldn’t comment on her reasons,” the old man said in a way that made Narcissa certain she had just been insulted, though the nature of the insult evaded her, “but this does bring to the reason I asked for a private, in-person meeting, despite our past disagreements.”

“And that would be?” Lucius managed.

He was, Narcissa knew, far more emotionally capable of dealing with opposition and enmity than with the realization that Serenity had brilliantly surpassed all their expectations of her.

“While I have been able to perform the spells safely myself after perusing the students’ notes—though I do confess I needed to perform some arithmantic calculations from scratch to ensure it did what it was supposed to—some of the tomes cited in the project were concerning to me. As such, I wished to ask you directly, not for the sake of legal plays, but for Serenity’s well-being, whether there is a danger that she has been exposed to dark magic influences at her young age.”

Lucius took a breath puffing himself up to-

Narcissa laid a hand on his arm to cut him off.

“Headmaster Dumbledore,” she said carefully. “It is true that we have our differences regarding the use and usefulness of dark magic, but that does not mean that we use it casually. My family has long held that use of dark magic is like the use of alchemical reagents in brewing: they are far too useful to ignore, but also far too dangerous to be handled casually by untrained and unproven witches or wizards. I personally vetted the books that Serenity referenced from our archives, and she will not be learning anything she could use to endanger herself for some years yet. All she knows of dark magic is how to identify and avoid it.”

Granted, ‘some years’ was now more likely to be Serenity’s third year instead of after sitting her OWLs, given Serenity’s extant accomplishments, but Narcissa felt no need to discuss that with a traditional enemy of their family.

Even if he had entered a potentially disadvantageous situation to ostensibly check on her daughter’s safety.

“Well,” Dumbledore said mildly, “that gives me some relief.”

15 April 1991

“Next time I might just leave you to starve,” Molly threatened drily as Serenity stuffed her face.

Luna had gone somewhere (probably chasing mice in the dungeons,) and Serenity had neglected to set any alarm, so it had fallen to Molly to drag her best friend out of bed in time for breakfast.

It had been tough! Molly had been hit in the face with a pillow and Serenity had a bit of accidental magic (probably, since she was holding her wand and there were yellow sparks involved,) that made the blanket super-big so it covered them both for a minute! But Molly had persevered, and she had done it!

“But then I’d wither up and shrink and vanish like a thirsty sliver vine,” Serenity protested with a grin.

“Good,” Molly huffed, not meaning it. “Now pass me the marmalade.”

Molly was just coating her toast when Mr. Malfoy’s owl arrived, carrying a parcel wrapped in gold ribbon.

“Ooh! Papa sent me something. Molly, can you help me with this knot?”

“Just use diffindo,” she advised after struggling for a moment.

“But it’s so pretty! Andrew, do you know an untying charm?”

The nice older boy flourished his wand and the ribbon untied itself to reveal something of a smorgasbord of presents, topped off by a note.

“Oh!” Molly shot her best friend a careful look, as that had been a ‘big surprise’ noise from Serenity, with more confusion than excitement.

“What’s it say?”

“Black paper with gold ink,” Serenity demurred as she picked up the note. “Papa doesn’t… that’s like, what he uses for Big Important Official Corridor Stuff.”

“Correspondance,” Molly corrected, but her interest was very peaked now too, if Serenity was still ignoring the large pack of candies or the pouch of what was probably gold in favor of the note. “What’s it say?”

“Congratulations,” Serenity summarized, then showed her the note.

“Huh.” Molly read it quickly. “Looks like the Headmaster had a talk with your parents.”

“And Papa really doesn’t like the Headmaster, because politics stuff,” Serenity agreed.

“You really did something impressive, helping Sir Nick and Myrtle and the rest,” Andrew opined. “I’d be more surprised if your parents didn’t think you deserved a reward for that.”

“But we got House Points,” Serenity said, still sounding confused.

Molly, uncertain of how to handle her friend’s confusion or explain stuff, grabbed a Pepper Imp to shove in her friend’s mouth instead.

24 April 1991

“Wingardium Levisoa,” Amy cast at the chair and its occupant. She frowned.

“The word is ‘Le-vee-o-sa,’ you had ‘so-ah’ at the end,” Penelope Clearwater informed the firstie, drumming her fingers on the back of the chair.

“I feel jealous,” Darien chuckled. “When I made that mistake last year, it disintegrated all the stitches on the chair and Andy’s robes. You just got a flub.”

“Really? Wingardium Levisoa,” Penelope cast at a nearby chair. Part of the cloth covering on the seat and back promptly melted to reveal the stuffing within. “Yup, a cloth-melting charm. Think we should try to codify that?”

“Can you do that? Turn a mistaken spell into something deliberate?” Amy wondered.

“Sort of,” Penelope prevaricated. “It depends a lot on whether we can get someone else to do the words and gestures with that result even if they don’t know that’s the outcome we want. Though I am surprised you didn’t get anything. You’ve cast it successfully before, right?”

“Mister Ollivander said the elm wood wands suffer the fewest mistakes, so maybe HAL just didn’t let it go wrong.”

“HAL?” Penelope wondered, and Amy flushed.

“Several of the firsties started naming their wands,” Darien elaborated. “Malfoy calls her wand Princess-,”

“Did you name your wand after the Space Odyssey movie?” Penelope asked with a grin.

Amy frowned. “After the book. HAL was scared because he didn’t know the difference between dying and sleeping, but the movie made him sound evil,” she insisted.

She’d honestly had a few nightmares about My mind is going… I can feel it and the events just never sat right with her. ‘Stupid scientists giving HAL conflicting instructions.’

“What’s this?” Darien wondered.

“You’ve never seen it? 2001 A Space Odyssey is a classic,” Penelope declared.

Amy bit her lip. “We can’t watch movies at Hogwarts, but I’ve offered to host a few movie nights over the summer, and you’re welcome to join us.”

“Cor, I’d love to. I really hope your house is near some Knight Bus routes or my parents might not let me, though.”

“What’s the Knight Bus?” Amy wondered.

The following explanation was very useful for getting her summer visiting plans organized, though she did have to check with Professor Flitwick that evening and owl the Ministry for a guide to the Knight Bus’s preferred routes.

Chapter Text

30 April 1991

The letter had been burning a hole in Lita’s pocket all day, but despite her Sorting she hadn’t felt brave enough to open it.

It had taken a lot of bravery to write home and mention Aunt Lily being murdered, and then a lot more bravery actually ask her Mum about it in her next letter after her Mum sort of skated over everything in the first reply.

The letter she’d received this morning was much shorter than her Mum’s usual long letters, and she heavily suspected that none of the menfolk had included anything for her either, all of which made her very anxious.

After classes finally let out, (and Lita was going to need to ask Rei about the homework because she’d taken zero notes all day,) Lita just planted herself on her bed and turned the letter over and over again in her hands, worrying.

“Oh for- Fortescue, Bell,” Rei said as she plopped down beside Lita unexpectedly, “do you mind clearing out while Lita opens a letter that might make her start crying?”

Despite the phrasing, it wasn’t really a question, but Lita was sort of glad for her friend’s brusqueness.

“It’s our room too,” Katie Bell pointed out.

“No one died, did they?” Lizzie Fortescue checked.

Lita bit her lip and tried to keep from crying, because Aunt Lily was dead because she was murdered and-

“Please?” Rei pressed sourly.

The other two cleared out, Rei cast some spell at the door, and then she opened Lita’s letter so that Lita would read it.

Lita,

To be blunt, I do not know the details of what was going on with Lily or why those maniacs were after her. We did not get along well when we became adults, and she very nearly did not attend your grandparents’ funerals after the house fire.

I’ve slept better these years not knowing too much, so if you want to know more you will need to speak with Albus Dumbledore, as he was the one to deliver your cousin to us and explain the situation.

Diddikins got a good score for a science report on different dogs breeds that he asked your Aunt Marge about, your father may be getting a promotion at work, and your cousin has been grounded for a week after he got caught scrapping with Piers Polkiss.

All my love to you,

Mum

Lita realized she’d been holding her breath and released it.

“Well?” Rei pressed. Rei had apparently already had suspicions from mentions about her brother/cousin Harry, but hadn’t wanted to press. Lita sort of wished she had, because if Rei had pressed before winter then Lita could’ve asked over winter break in person.

Lita handed over the letter, her stomach churning uncomfortably.

Some part of her… she’d long had a part that wanted to hit and shout at the people who’d killed her Aunt and Uncle, ever since she heard that story, but this was the first time she wanted to shout at her Mum or to demand how she couldn’t know, how she hadn’t asked questions…

“Rei,” Lita said thoughtfully, “do you think Professor McGonagall would give us the password to the Headmaster’s office?”

Her fist absently clenched about the handle of her wand.

2 May 1991

For all her headstrong passion, Rei Black would admit to some serious doubts about their current course of action. She knew enough about politics and powerful magic to suspect that they were not going to get straight answers or even truthful answers from Headmaster Dumbledore about the fall of You Know Who.

Even so, she was going to support Lita, and Lita wanted to ask, so ask they would. Professor McGonagall had informed them that Dumbledore was in the castle and given them the password—Mars Bars—so they had come to his office to ask him.

Rei did not expect to find Serenity already sitting with him, the Sorting Hat over her head and Luna curled in her lap.

“Ah, more visitors,” the most powerful wizard in Britain greeted warmly. “Have you come for your friend?”

“Hi Lita, hi Rei. I’m just chatting with Mr. Hat,” Serenity greeted from under the Sorting Hat..

“Actually, I had some questions I wanted to ask you, sir,” Lita said.

Rei thought about the odds of Serenity keeping Lita’s family a secret from her parents, thought about the consequences of that, and promptly started doing the exact opposite of all her Occlumency lessons (her father didn’t believe that Dumbledore didn’t occasionally use Legilimency on the students, since it was technically legal for him to do so at Hogwarts,) by conjuring thoughts of Lucius Malfoy’s face, Lita, a house, and the Boy-Who-Lived adventure books.

“I’m always happy to assist in learning,” Dumbledore agreed.

Rei slid back a step and start making her eyes really wide in hopes of Dumbledore catching them.

“Sir, I…” Lita’s courage seemed to fail her and Rei was never more happy for it to happen right then.

She twitched her mouth and gave an aborted wave of her hand, and Dumbledore finally glanced to her so she looked him dead in the eyes and projected as hard as she could her thoughts about how, ‘Serenity doesn’t know Lita’s cousin is Harry Potter!’

Dumbledore blinked.

The phoenix warbled a note that sent a surge of awe and wonder up Rei’s spine, and she broke eye-contact to spin around and look at the magnificent, glorious bird on its perch.

“Sugoi,” she murmured and she probably blushed when the phoenix leaned down to nuzzle her cheek.

“Oooh, you got a Fawkes kiss!” Serenity trilled. “Those always make me feel better.”

“I as well. But my old friend has reminded me of something else. A moment, please.” The old wizard left his desk to go open a nearby drawer and then stick his hand, his arm, and finally his entire torso in to reach something as things rattled around.

Rei stared.

“Aha!” He produced a box. “Miss Malfoy, I remember Myrtle complaining that the enchantments I wove on her hairbrush were wearing off too quickly. To remedy that, I have enchanted two brushes, several combs, a few pins and ribbons, and the box that contains them in a manner that should last longer. If I can impose upon you to deliver them, I intended to do so over the weekend but I was preoccupied with Confederation business so she will be sorely in need of them.”

“I bet that’s what she was upset about yesterday, I couldn’t get her to answer without her splashing me,” Serenity realized as she pulled off the Sorting Hat and Luna leapt from her lap. “Yeah, I’ll run them over right now. See you two at dinner!”

Rei hissed in relief as her blonde cousin dashed out—followed by a wince as Serenity’s yelp and call of “I’m okay!” suggested she had slipped on the stairs—and took a seat beside Lita in some chairs Dumbledore conjured for them.

“Now,” he said as Luna clambered into Rei’s lap, “the two of you had some questions for me, Miss Dursley?”

“Yes, I- Voldemort murdered my Aunt Lily and Mum doesn’t know much about so she said to ask you,” Lita let out all in a rush.

Rei was pretty sure this was the type of thing where she should hold Lita’s hand (Serenity did that a lot and she’d picked it up), so she reached out and Lita gave her a grateful look.

“Lita got upset because she hadn’t heard the story of You Know Who’s downfall before, so we were hoping you might know what happened,” Rei said carefully.

“Ah, that. Yes, even today we are not entirely certain what happened that night,” Dumbledore sighed.

‘What a magnificent non-answer from the man who’s most likely to know what was going on,’ Rei grumped, keeping her eyes far away from Dumbledore’s now that the emergency was over.

“Yes, but- Sir, I don’t even know why Voldemort—is it okay to call him Voldemort? I heard it makes some people uncomfortable—but I don’t even know why he wanted to hurt my aunt and uncle and Harry.” Lita took a breath. “It’s wrong, Harry was just a baby! They were a family.”

“They were,” Dumbledore said heavily. He sighed. “To begin with, after graduation, Lily and James joined a group of like-minded volunteers who worked to oppose Voldemort, standing guard to sound the alarm in neighborhoods we believed he would attack and acting as first responders to attacks when he struck multiple targets to tie up the aurors.”

“The Order of the Phoenix?” Rei checked, because her father had mentioned the group.

“Indeed. Lily and James saved several dozen lives with their friends and survived fights with Voldemort on three occasions, which caused him to bear a grudge. When Lily became pregnant with Harry, she and James stepped back from fieldwork. When we learned that Voldemort was actively hunting them, they hid in an isolated location behind powerful enchantments.”

“But he found them?” Lita finished.

“He did, but it took more than a year of searching, and we believe it was only when one of their friends sold out their location—he was not coherent when I spoke to him, so I do not know why he chose to do so—but that was how Voldemort found your aunt and uncle.”

“He was that angry that he kept searching for a whole year?” Lita pressed.

Rei bit her lip and fought not to answer, because she wanted to hear what Dumbledore had to say. She shivered again as Fawkes crooned a gentle note and ran his beak through her hair.

It made her feel better, though.

“The war continued during that time. He did not stop what else he was doing to look for them,” Dumbledore said, which was what Rei had expected. “Truth be told, I have a hard time predicting what Voldemort may have been thinking at any given time. I have never understood him very well. But he arrived, and he committed two murders, and it seems to have been one atrocity too far.”

“So he… did he blow himself up? Was it Aunt Lily? Was it something about Harry that gave him that scar, it never seemed odd growing up,” Lita pressed, and Rei turned to Fawkes to pretend like she wasn’t paying attention.

“I can think of four methods that Lily might have used to protect Harry, but I am not certain which one, and she may have doubled up or invented her own protective charms,” Dumbledore answered. “It may also have been an error that Voldemort made in the casting.”

“You couldn’t tell? Sir,” Rei added when he glanced to her.

“The detection spells that would discern such matters are not safe to use on infants, and by the time he was old enough the traces had been overwritten. If you care to ask you friend Miss Anderson about some of the muggles’ methods of detecting consumption or tumors, many of them are not very safe to use on young children either, last I heard. All too often,” he sighed, “it is the most fragile who are both in need of care and unable to receive it easily.”

‘Takashi’s birthday is the day after tomorrow,’ Rei remembered uncomfortably. ‘I need to send a gift and a card, even if he’s probably too young to remember much.’

“Is there anything we need to know about Harry’s scar? I know some of them can tell people when it will rain, and those aren’t magic scars,” Lita observed.

‘The Killing Curse doesn’t leave a mark so I’m not sure why it scarred… but it’s none of my business if Lita isn’t asking,’ Rei decided as Dumbledore stroked his beard. ‘Lita looks like she’s floundering though… No one else knows, unless she told Mina, but next year he’ll be here at Hogwarts. Even if he gives me a runaround, letting Lita know is a good idea.’

“Is there anything to keep the Dark Lord or his free followers from targeting Lita’s family?” Rei asked.

She flushed as Fawkes crooned and nuzzled his beak against her cheek.

“Is that a problem?” Lita asked, worried, and Fawkes nuzzled her too. “Cute,” she mumbled.

“There is no such thing as perfect safety, but I have placed protections around your home to protect your family from Voldemort and his servants. They will not be able to seek and harm your family, or at least not at your home,” Dumbledore promised.

11 May 1991

“Magic Compact, make me look like Professor Sprout!” Mina declared. The empty dungeon lit up with a flash like sparkling dew as the artifact remade Mina’s appearance to resemble the head of Hufflepuff. “Okay, how do I look?” Mina checked, using the mirror in the compact.

‘Ugh, still not perfect. I could do “make me a teacher” or “make me a boy prefect” or “make me a Quidditch player” or even “make me a Weasley” and it was fine, but the compact isn’t as good at doing real people I guess. I couldn’t pull off Miss Snyde or Professor Snape and I guess not even Professor Sprout… but the sun is setting and Sprout’s having tea with Flitwick so no one will notice I’m in Greenhouse 1 anyway.’

‘I really wish Artemis were here to talk to about everything. He’s overdue,’ she mentally groused as she went through the corridors and out across the grounds to Greenhouse 1.

Helen Dawlish had deliberately spilled ink over Amy’s essay yesterday and Cassius Warrington had called Lita something foul, so they were both due a little vengeance, and Mina was planning to deliver by messing with their Herbology projects. All the first years were growing a square of nine little Bluedew Flowers, which were hard to kill but very sensitive to water and fertilizer, with varying amounts affecting the number and shade of blossoms they produced.

Mina’s plan—she grinned as she got in the door of Greenhouse 1 without issue—was simply to add in some extra doses of water and fertilizer, throwing off the jerks’ careful calculations about which square got which amounts that Sprout had assigned.

It wouldn’t get them to fail or anything, but it’d definitely ding them some points and maybe it would get them less full of themselves if they thought they’d messed up and weren’t so bloody perfect.

“Here they are,” Mina purred as she opened the glass cabinet where the flowers were stored (in what looked a lot to her like cupcake tins.

“Professor Sprout!” a boy shouted.

“Yah!” she shouted and one of the tins went tumbling.

“Lovely to see you!” Fred Weasley continued.

“Enjoying the nice air?” George Weasley inquired from her other side,

“How’s your weekend going?”

“Nasty spill, that,” George added, pulling out his wand to cleared up the spilled flowers and dirt.

“Don’t make me start taking points off, boys,” Mina threatened in her best Sprout impression. “What are you doing out after hours?”

“Well we just saw our favorite Herbology professor-,”

“Crossing the grounds to the greenhouse.”

“Instead of taking tea with Flitwick.”

“So we thought we.”

“Would offer our.”

“Assistance!” George finished brightly.

Mina glared, still wearing Sprout’s appearance.

“And really, Lovegood,” Fred added, “we’ll let this whole thing slide if you tell us where you got the Polyjuice. We’ve been wanting some for ages.”

‘Crudcrudcrud,’ Mina panicked as she kept glaring. ‘On the one hand, I’m supposed to deny, deny, deny. On the other hand, they already know it’s me and I don’t want to peeve them off. Oh!’

She smiled, tapped her pocket (which held the compact) in such a way that the disguise shut off, and started shouting. “Professor Prince! Professor Prince, I caught the Weasley twins messing up the greenhouse, I think they pranked someone’s flowers!” ‘Try to blackmail me, will you?’

“Okay, okay!” George yelped, diving to cover her mouth as she dodged and Fred scowled at her. “Shite, I guess this does look worse for us.”

“What do you want, Lovegood?” Fred grumbled. “We’ll help you clean up here and get out safe if you don’t snitch us.

“Deal!” Mina agreed, and because she’d been spending a lot of time with Serenity she impulsively leaned in to give Fred a hug, much to his surprise. “I wanted to get Helen Dawlish and Cassius Warrington for being jerks, that’s it.”

“Easy peasy,” George assured her.

“Totally small potatoes,” Fred agreed more sullenly.

Two minutes later they were out and sneaking back into the castle through an unwatched entrance, and Mina had made a tongue-in-cheek promise to trade how her disguise had been working for how they had tracked her down and known no one was watching the entrance.

Finally alone, Mina let out a sigh and relaxed into an alcove. “Phew! Can’t believe I pulled that off, go me!”

“Yes, sabotaging your classmates’ schoolwork is an excellent use for a rare magical tool,” a dry voice agreed.

“Artemis!” Mina spun around exuberantly and swept him off the flagstones into a hug. “I missed you so much, where have you been?”

“France, mostly, but I shan’t say more than that. What have you been doing, other than academic dishonesty?” he wondered as she hustled down into an empty part of the dungeons.

“Oh, don’t call it that, I was getting righteous vengeance on a couple of bullies,” Mina insisted as she shut the door behind her.

“Mina,” he sighed.

“Well, righteous vengeance and figuring out how to tell you I caught Luna talking too, what’s up with that?” Mina asked. With Artemis still in her arms, she felt him go rigid in shock and tried not to exult in her success or let him figure out that she was holding him so he couldn’t run away. ‘I knew it!’

“Luna what? I mean, you, that’s very interesting, I didn’t know there were any- any other… gosh darn it!” Artemis growled. “I am never going to let her live this down.”

“So I’m assuming she’s like you? And she’s looking after Rini?”

“I can’t discuss the details, and please don’t bring this up with Luna until I’ve had a chat with her,” Artemis sighed miserably. “When you’re thirteen or fourteen it should be safe to tell you, but not yet. Oh, I really won’t let her live this down,” he grumbled again.

“Given I was fibbing to see if you’d react, you probably should let her live it down,” Mina admitted.

“You what?”

“Yeah,” she confessed as she let Artemis leap from her arms, “I never heard her talking, I just heard a story from Molly about how Serenity used to say Luna was talking to her, and then I finally noticed that you both had a moon mark—is there magic on those, like a Notice Me Not charm?”

“There’s a bit of one,” Artemis agreed, really drooping now at this reveal.

“But yeah, I caught the secret! Is it safe for me to talk to Luna or tell Rini, though? I’d like to meet her properly.”

“It isn’t.” Artemis shook himself off and sighed. “I… look, I’ll need to talk to Luna. Please don’t tell her or Serenity anything until I do? I don’t think Miss Malfoy is all that great at keeping secrets, especially not from her parents.”

Mina paused. “I mean, if she knows about Luna then she’s kept this secret,” she argued.

“It’s complicated. Please?” Artemis pressed.

Mina huffed. “Fine! But only because I like you. I ought to charge you another cool magic artifact or something. Hey, does Luna have anything cool in her magic pockets?”

“I’d need to ask what she’s carrying,” Artemis answered drily.

17 May 1991

“I think we’re early,” Rei commented to Lita when they arrived in the entry hall.

“We have a few minutes, so you can get your pets,” Professor Meioh agreed.

“The Daily Prophet’s also doing an article on the decrease in toad ownership over the past five years,” called the photographer from where he was setting up.

“No pets here,” Lita shrugged as a few of the other members of the study group excused themselves.

Rei grimaced, because Phobos and Deimos were with her Jiji in Japan, and she wasn’t really sure whether they belonged to her or to the shrine anyway.

‘I miss the way they’d run their beaks through my hair, like how Okaa-sama brushed it before bed. Maybe I should join Serenity the next time she visits Dumbledore’s office and see if Fawkes is willing. Would a phoenix like owl treats, or something spicier like a cinnamon or chili pepper treat?’

“Hey Serenity, what kind of fur do you think Artemis and Luna’s kittens would have?” Mina wondered as they were waiting. “Gray, a black and white mix, something else?”

“I think that’s how you end up with tortoiseshell cats,” Rei opined as Serenity stammered something as Luna squirmed in her arms. She frowned at the sight of the cat Mina was holding. “Mina, did you get a pet over Easter or Christmas?”

“Nyah, it’s a long story,” Mina answered.

“Tortoiseshell cats combine two colors of fur that aren’t white, so Artemis wouldn’t have tortoiseshell kittens,” Lita added.

“I didn’t know that,” Rei admitted. ‘I thought they were cats with calico and black splotches.’

“One of our neighbors has a lot of cats,” Lita elaborated.

“I’m here! I’m not late!” Percy yelped as he dashed down the stairway, and Rei winced as she got a good look at him.

“Weasley, your brothers are at it again,” she called. Much like the rat he was carrying, he now had buck teeth and the beginnings of a snout on his face.

Percy Weasley let out a wail and drew his wand.

“Hey, no worries, you’ll stand next to me and my pig snout will make it look intentional,” Tonks offered, and Rei gave her cousin points for being willing to look a fool.

Rei herself decided to whip up her own prank to play on the twins with Mina’s help when they had the opportunity. ‘I bet Amy would get in on it as well, but finals are in two weeks. Maybe in time for the leaving feast once classes are done? We could make whatever it was last the train ride back, like them farting uncontrollably or their ears being bat wings.’ Rei grinned slightly.

“I think I can clean this right up, Mr. Weasley,” Professor Meioh assured him. “Everyone line up for the group picture, older students in back. Miss Malfoy, get front and center.”

With some hooting and meowing and other assorted animal sounds (Chauncey Stump and Diego Caplan both had toads,) the study group all got together for the photographer.

He took several pictures, but not too many, and Rei was rather grateful that she didn’t need to stay to answer any questions for the news article (though her Tou-san would no doubt have loved for her to get quoted in the newspaper at her age).

Chapter Text

22 May 1991

“Getting a few second-year spells under your belt will earn you some bonus points, and I can use the practice revising anyway,” Darien agreed as he led the three girls into the classroom. ‘What has my life come to that I’m giving school advice to Sirius Black’s cousins? Still, Anderson can use the added support in case anything goes wrong.’

“Plus there’s spell flexibility, because you can do some interesting stuff with low-level spells once you get more experienced,” Andrew agreed cheerfully. “Darien, can we show them the candle trick?”

“I have a candle,” Darien acceded, pulling it out from the expanded bag Auror Selwyn had given him for his last birthday. He put it on the table and declared, “Incendio.”

“What’s the candle trick?” Serenity asked Andrew, and Damien wilted as it seemed none of the three had noticed his successful point casting.

“Engorgio. Wait, agh, no,” Andrew groaned as the lit candle swelled to double its size.

“Want to try again?” Darien offered, feeling no need to upstage his friend for the applause of a few firsties.

“Nah, I’d just embarrass myself ‘cause it’s tricky,” he said with a smile that Rita insisted was charming. “You do the honors.”

“Reducio. Engorgio,” Darien incanted.

“Ooh!” “Oh my!” “Wow,” the girls said simultaneously as the candle’s flame spouted up into a jet of fire that nearly touched the ceiling.

“Reducio,” Andrew finished before anything could get burned. “Aw, I did it again.”

“Finite Incantatum,” Darien cast, returning the candle and its flame to their usual size. “Now, for our class’s final I remember Flitwick had fun stuff like using the levitation charm to write on the blackboard and using a rattling charm to make a vase of flowers tap-dance. Let’s see what you can do.”

24 May 1991

“Any idea where Artemis has gone? He wouldn’t say,” Mina complained as she slipped Luna some fish jerky (or whatever the kitchen had given her for a cat treat).

“Either Sweden or Finland. That area,” Luna said.

“Still not going to share why he’s running around places?” Mina pressed.

“Not until you’re thirteen, outside of an emergency,” Luna reiterated. “Now drop it or I’ll start nagging about your homework the way I do Serenity’s.”

Mina giggled. “I wish you’d do that around me. I’d love to see it.”

“No,” Luna said simply.

“Aw, spoilsport. Crocum Fumos!” With a belching sound, Mina’s wand produced a puff of daisy-yellow smoke. “Awesome, I got it!”

“Are the noises really necessary? Serenity and the others don’t include… sound effects with their spell casting,” Luna commented.

“The sounds are the best part! Now I just need to see if Miss Merula will brew me up something to have the Weasley twins belching smoke for an evening. Or farting, if we can pull it off,” she giggled. “This’ll be great!”

“Stars save me from children and their plotting,” Luna murmured fondly.

28 May 1991

“Trullas Arca. Trullas Arca,” Lita repeated, trying not to shout or throw a tantrum.

The gray mouse in its box stubbornly refused to turn into a snuff box.

‘I’d even take a matchbox at this point, even a coin purse, just come on!’

“I think I see the problem,” Percy said from where he was working on an essay while supervising her.

Lita wanted to either hug him or cry. “You do?”

“One of the reasons McGonagall likes to put this on the final is that you need to time the wand movements with the incantation for the best effect. Watch closely. Trullas Arca,” Percy demonstrated, carefully not casting anything.

“Right. Thank you,” Lita said politely. ‘I need to do the diagonal slash with the “las” and jab with the “ca” instead of on the “ar”.’

“Trullas Arca,” she said while carefully visualizing her desired outcome.

The mouse obligingly morphed into a brown felt snuff box, similar enough that it had been easy to imagine.

“Tally ho, then! Good job,” Percy congratulated.

“Thank you so much!”

“Shall I turn it back again for more practice?” he checked, and she nodded eagerly.

31 May 1991

Amy carefully stirred the simmering cauldron, trying not to frown. Her mother had warned her that frowning would get her in a bad state of mind, she’d get more frustrated, she’d make a mistake, and that would lead to more frowning.

‘But this Forgetfulness Potion isn’t turning out right and I’m almost out of ingredients to practice with it!’

“Curious,” Herman Bagnold commented from his own cauldron. “At least whatever we’re doing wrong is a mistake we’re all making.”

Amy guiltily checked and was relieved that his brew was green too, instead of light purple.

“Are you sure this is going to be on Professor Snape’s test?” Cho Chang complained from her own cauldron. “It seems a bit of a stretch, Greg.”

“I believe him. Snape is absolutely evil enough to make us remember how to brew a Forgetfulness Potion for the exam,” Marietta Edgecombe opined.

“It’s a feeling, but it’s a feeling that makes sense, especially when he was ranting about how many ‘dunderhead students forget the most basic steps’,” Greg admitted, brushing a bit of condensed vapor from his bushy eyebrows. “It’s not like revising could hurt, right?”

“I’ve only got enough mistletoe left for one attempt,” Amy admitted. “I think we need to ask someone.”

“I’ll trade you for some Lethe Spring water,” Marietta offered. “I’ve no idea how I run it out so quickly.”

“You mean you’ve forgot what you did with it?” Cho teased.

“Here,” Amy said with some relief as she made the trade. “I still have enough for five or ten tries of that.”

“Really? How?” Herman Bagnold wondered as he peered at her flask. “We had the same amount and I’m running low.”

“I just do? Is it possible I got a better sample and I don’t need to add as much?” Amy wondered. ‘I know magic isn’t exactly science, but it isn’t too different either, especially chemistry with potions. …Now I’m imagining how I could refine ingredients into pure essences for ultra-potent results. I know that Essence of Dittany is an ingredient but I’m not sure how it would differ from an Infusion of Wormwood in preparation. Could there be an Essence of Wormwood that would work?’

“The instructions just say to 'add Lethe Water until the potion bubbles,' like a fizzy drink,” Greg noted. “I guess it’s possible that not everyone needs to add the same… Guys?”

“And girls, we outnumber you three-to-two,” Cho joked.

“What is it, Greg?” Marietta checked.

“What’s a ‘Vesperi brew’?”

“It’s a potion that can’t be exposed to daylight until it’s finished, so it’s brewed by torch or candle light in closed rooms or at night,” Amy said, her stomach dropping and her face blushing as she suddenly remembered-

“Because right at the start when it lists ingredients, the book says, ‘The Forgetfulness Potion is a Vesperi brew, so you better remember to draw your curtains!’ It’s right under the title.”

Amy looked, and it was. ‘Ohhh... The dungeons don’t have sunlight anyway so we never do anything differently there. Not to mention I was the one to say we should enjoy the sunny Friday afternoon if we’re revising outside the library.’ “Sorry…” she groaned.

“Sor- ooh, right. Well, we’ll let you live it down by this time next year, Amy,” Cho promised with a grin as they started packing up their cauldrons to head inside.

3 June 1991

Lita wished she had paid more attention, because apparently Finals Week had a schedule nothing like ordinary exams due to the 5^th- and 7^th-years needing Ministry workers and extra time for their testing.

Which meant that she’d been revising for Potions and Transfiguration yesterday but her first final was in Charms.

“Miss Dursley, let’s begin by having you make this teapot tap-dance for me,” Flitwick invited with a friendly grin.

Lita licked her lips. “Right… do I have to use a specific spell?”

“Not for this,” Flitwick allowed.

‘I guess I could try a really weak Levitation charm, but I think the rattling charm I practiced a bit with is better.’

Lita carefully mimed the motion for it once silently, then cast as hard as she could like in her practice sessions. “Crepundia. Ah, no!”

The teapot immediately began smashing itself against the table hard enough that one of its porcelain legs bounced off Lita’s nose, and her frantic attempts to wave her wand and end the spell just sent it spiraling off the desk.

“Reparo,” Flitwick sighed. “I will make note that you got the teapot to move, Miss Dursley.”

“Sorry sir,” she said miserably.

"No matter. On to the next exercise," he declared.

… …

‘Ooh, I know this one too!’ Serenity grinned and set to writing.

The fixing charm is used to fix things that are broken while the sticking charm is used to stick things like with paste! If you broke a vase and tried to fix it with the sticking charm, you’d need to put the pieces next to each other by hand and you could still see the cracks after you stuck them together.

If you use the fizing charm, all the broken pieces would fly back together on their own and you’d get a whole vase perfectly fixed like new!

“Miss Malfoy, are you ready for your practical?” Flitwick called from the front of the room.

“Yes sir,” she said, putting her quill to the side and taking her wand. “Let’s do this, Princess,” she whispered, and her wand warmed in her palm as she followed him into the other room.

The door swung shut.

“To begin with, please make this teapot tap-dance across my desk.”

“Right. Tripudo Teapot,” Serenity attempted. She frowned, swayed a little, and decided a demonstration was in order. “Tripudo Teapot,” she attempted while moving through a few steps of the dance her Mama had taught her. “Is that good?” Serenity checked as the pot began moving.

“A waltz is not a tap-dance, but I will give you partial credit,” Flitwick allowed.

He then ran her through several other spells such as levitating, creating water, freezing water, creating sparks, and a few more exercises.

“For extra credit, are there any other charms you’d like to show me?”

“Yes please! Capillus Tingo Rainbow,” Serenity proudly declared, and with a stroke of her wand she turned one of her hair streamers a dazzling array of shades.

“Oho, very good!” Flitwick squeaked.

… …

The fixing charm is used to fix an object in place, regardless of its surroundings, while the sticking charm is used to adhere two solid objects together at a point of contact.

Amy frowned and considered what to use for her examples.

If you used a sticking charm to stick a dinner plate to the middle of a table, the plate would remain in the same place on the tabletop even if the table was shaken, moved, or turned sideways.

If you used the fixing charm, a plate would remain hovering in the air in that location even after the table was pulled away, until the charm was dispelled or the plate was struck with enough force to overcome the effect.

Amy nodded, scribbled three brief illustrations (without any ugly ink splotches! Success!), and went to answer the next question.

The Growth Charm and the Engorgement Charm are both used to increase the size of the target, but the Growth Charm has a shorter natural duration and can occasionally erode the surroundings of the target as it often incorporates surrounding matter into the size expansion and produces a mild dust when the effect ends, which the Engorgement Charm does not.

However, when used on plants or animals, the Growth charm can be used to induce a natural growth spurt, which may become permanent if the target consumes enough food to maintain the increased size.

In summary, using the Engorgement Charm on a peach blossom will result in a larger flower, while using the Growth Charm on the same may quickly develop the blossom into a fruit, if provided with sufficient water, sun, and fertilizer.

The next few questions were easy, but then one asked how she would specify which colors a Flashing Paint Charm would cycle through and her mind went blank.

“Miss Anderson. Are you ready for the practical?”

‘Oh thank heavens I can clear my head.’ “Coming, sir,” she said.

He closed the door behind her. “First, I’d like you to make this teapot tap-dance for me.”

“Yes, sir.” Amy drew HAL, thought a moment, and said, “May I check something, sir?”

“Certainly,” Flitwick allowed with a friendly smile.

Amy took the top off the teapot and then said, “Aguamenti. Sorry sir, I just realized we’d practiced with a half-full teapot over the weekend.”

“Interesting choice, and if you weren’t used to the weight difference the teapot would no doubt get a little overenthusiastic,” he assessed. "I must remember to warn my future classes of that. Proceed."

“Yes, sir. Crepundia.”

4 June 1991

“Dare I ask how you think you did?” Molly wondered as they left their History of Magic final to get lunch.

Serenity shrugged. “If it was a cool story I got the gist, but a lot of the names and dates? Nah. I’m just glad I’ve been on top of the essays, I owe Amy so many favors for checking my homework.”

“I’m glad she accepts payment in books,” Molly giggled agreeably. “Lunch and then Professor Sprout… Serenity, do you have any idea why we only get half the day for our Herbology final?”

“Nope!”

“That!” Melvin declared out of nowhere, prompting both girls to give a yelp, “That is a simple question! For Charms we needed to take our practical portions one at a time with Professor Flitwick watching! In Herbology, however, we can all take our practical exams at once and Professor Sprout grades the end result, so it goes much more quickly!”

Both girls thanked him weakly after their hearts stopped racing and went to eat.

“How do you think you’ll do this afternoon?” Molly wondered, her own appetite diminished from her anxiety.

“If any of us fail the Herbology final, Sprout will be disappointed, but she brought in cool plants and she's given us lectures none of the other Houses have heard so we should all be good,” Yumi Won opined from across the table.

“I asked some second-years, and they said last year’s final involved every student getting a flowerbed that they had to weed and then plant with plants that could live next to each other,” Herbert Fleet added.

“Weit, do shum planz-?”

“Swallow, Rini,” Molly reminded her, so Serenity did. ‘I think she’s gone a month without doing that… I’d say you never change, but honestly you changed a lot in magic ability. Ah well…’

“Hahahaha, sorry. But some plants don’t live next to each other?”

Molly was once again glad that she had a friend to ask these questions, because even though they were both perfectly smart and everything Serenity cared a lot less if she didn’t look so smart, which meant Molly didn’t need to ask.

“For firsties, I think the big one is to be careful where you put the bouncing bulbs,” that nice third-year Andrew Fortescue offered, “since they tend to move a bit. They can crush other plants too close by, or they can scratch themselves up by bouncing on nettles, and since puffapods open their flowers every time something touches them they can wear out and mature the wrong way from overstimulation.”

‘I bet I can use those exact words for a test answer and maybe get bonus points. I really hope so. Rocks are cool, but messing around with dirt and fertilizer? Eugh.’

Molly decided to skip eating and take a few more notes.

… …

“Done,” Rei sighed as she put her quill aside. She brought her parchment up to Sprout’s desk and then spent the rest of the exam period running through a meditation mantra because she was only mediocre at Herbology and she really did not want to set any plants on fire.

Unless Professor Sprout gave them Piffling Pyrophytic Pines or Euphoric Eucalyptus, both of which needed fires to melt the resin around their seeds so they could sprout.

Rei had never expected to earn House Points in Herbology for accidental arson, but April had been an eventful month in many ways.

“Alrighty then!” Professor Sprout declared with a clap once the time was up. “Everybody, I’ll give us a few minutes to use the loo, get a drink, and get on your equipment before we meet back here for the practical.”

Rei went to do so.

“Black, Black!” Lizzie Fortescue called, and Rei slowed enough to let her housemates catch up before they got into the castle. “I need your opinion. Andrew told me his Herbology final last year involved Secrecy Shrubs, do you think Sprout’s hint to use the loo was a double-bluff?”

“What’s a secrecy shrub?” Lita asked.

“Some wizards line their yards with them because they keep people away, like muggle-repelling charms,” Rei said as she realized what Lizzie was suggesting.

“But they only work if you water them with pee,” Anna Mirfield giggled.

“Well, I’m definitely having a lot to drink!” Cormac called to the girls as he split off from the group with a swagger and a grin.

‘Hi fu mi yo…’ Rei desperately recited a mantra and tried not to blush.

“Sprout wouldn’t really… we aren’t whizzing on plants, are we?” Lita worried, her cheeks red.

“It’s like natural fertilizer,” Katie giggled, and Anna Mirfield squawked. “Come on, you guys have never gone camping?”

“Vanishing charms and a chamber pot,” Pete Balsall contributed, though the boys generally seemed unwilling to engage on this topic.

“I think,” Rei finally managed, “that your brother was a second-year last year, Fortescue, so if he wasn’t pulling your leg we still wouldn’t have to… that…”

“Oh,” Lizzie managed.

Rei gracefully fled for the loo rather than continue talking about it.

Once everyone was back in Greenhouse One, Rei was very relieved to note that she could not see any Secrecy Shrubs, although she did elbow Mina for spreading that same rumor to Serenity and some others.

“Everyone, choose a square of soil,” Professor Prince instructed. “They’ve all been enchanted with privacy charms so none of you can spy or copy each other. Once you’re all settled, we’ll give you a list of instructions. Using all the collected tools, materials, and plants that we have made available, your practical will be to make a garden plot following the prompts we provided. If you follow the directions exactly and make no mistakes, you will earn an Acceptable grade.”

“Further points will be awarded for creativity, design, incorporation of extra plants, and the way you tend what you’ve planted, as not all the plants on offer are in perfect health,” Professor Sprout added, beaming. “Hop to it and choose a spot, now.”

Rei chose a spot in front, so she would have quick access to materials, but in the corner so people wouldn’t be nearby enough to bother her.

Once she got her instructions, she looked them over.

Your garden plot must meet the following requirements for full marks:

Two types of flowers with magical properties

One plant that produces something edible

Suitable for growing with muggle neighbors

Rei frowned and stared at it.

‘That’s stupid! This has to be a trick,’ she reasoned, ‘magical flowers are not suitable for growing in a muggle neighborhood. Arifujin could tell that they were magical just by looking! I mean, maybe not Liar’s Lilies, those look mundane, but sniffing a flower and compulsively lying for fifteen minutes would be obvious.’

Rei let her eyes slide to the gathered plants on various tables and the lockers of other equipment.

‘Although… If I put the Liar’s Lilies in the center of the plot, then they would look normal and arifujin neighbors couldn’t smell them without trampling on the other plants… Blackberries! Blackberry plants have thorns, I can line the plot with blackberries and neighbors would get pricked if they tried to smell the lilies! I just need one more- I think those pots are redundant roses, I just need to remember how to check! But flowers that imitate other nearby flowers while keeping the same smell will just seem odd, not magical, and they can be another layer of protection around the Liar’s Lilies! If I add in some asphodel I can probably get extra credit for remembering the use the special soil type it needs and I’m looking at an EE at least.’

With a plan in place, Rei stepped up to seize her chosen plants.

… …

“Guh!” Mina grunted as she struggled to heave a bucket of decorative gravel from under the table where it was stored over to her garden plot. “Come. On!”

‘This thing is heavy. Urg. Is making a point really worth it?’

Mina let the bucket settle and checked her instructions again.

‘Screw that, spite is absolutely a legitimate motivation,’ she decided. ‘The gravel is here, so, it’s meant to be used, even if we’re probably expected to mix scoops of it into soil for nutritional purposes, but turning half my plot into a rock garden isn’t against any rules she mentioned and it will technically keep the weeds down so she has to give me points for it! Hah!’

‘If Sprout isn’t biased like Snape, then I can pull this off and it will be great!’

So resolved, Mina set her back to hauling the bucket a few steps further. “Grrrr-!”

“Wingardium Leviosa.”

Mina nearly staggered as the bucket lifted up out of her grip.

The good news was that it wasn’t either professor casting it to confiscate the bucket. Nor was it a housemate trying to sabotage her.

“I thought you needed a hand,” Serenity said with a grin. “Or, you know, a wand.”

The bad news was that everyone in their year now knew Mina had forgotten she was a witch who could use magic, because they’d all known the levitation charm since Halloween.

Mina grinned, chagrinned. ‘Whoops.’ “Ahahaha… Yeah, thanks Rini. Here, I got it. Wingardium Levisoa. Waitcrapcrapcrap!”

Apparently trying to pass things between levitation charms was even harder than passing food between silverware at the table, and it was solely by the grace of Merlin’s tighty-whiteys that Mina got the bucket to her plot while only spilling a few scoopfuls on people along the way.

Once there, Mina checked her list again, still worried that the words were going to change.

(Which was absolutely not an unfounded fear, given that on three occasions someone had charmed homework she was doing to change so that she gave the right answers to questions that weren’t what she was supposed be answering. That’s her story, and she’s sticking to it!)

‘Needs to keep weeds from sprouting easily. Two plants that are edible. Plants must flower in more than one season. Since pumpkins flower two months after you plant them, Vacillating Verbena flowers in fall, and those T.T. Tulips flower in spring, I just need some kind of berries and I’m done!’

So resolved, Mina began pouring out the white limestone gravel across her garden plot with a wicked grin.

(If she dreamed that night again of flower gardens with roses and white marble buildings with crystalline spires, she thought little of it the next morning.)

… …

“The Tantalizing Triptych Tulips need to be planted in groups of three for their enthralling scent ability to have potency,” Lita recited to herself as she set up the last of what she’d brought and eyed her garden plot. “If I edge the garden with them, all the bugs and insects will be attracted to the tulips and will leave the rest of the garden alone… What’s she doing?”

Lita blinked as Serenity carried a potted tree toward her workspace, which already had two similar trees waiting.

‘Willow trees? She’s not planting a Whomping Willow, is she? Wait, willow bark involves aspirin, I bet her instructions are for planting things with medical properties. Aaaand she’s going back for a fourth tree.’

Lita tried to focus on her exam—Herbology was her favorite subject—but her eye kept straying to what Serenity was doing, even if the privacy charms meant that she couldn’t see the garden plot itself. The blonde was definitely going all in, though, what with how many trips she was making.

‘That’s a lot of roses. Is she mixing Redundant Roses in with other rose bushes? I guess it could be an interesting color mix… Oh, please tell me she’s not trying to turn the willow tree saplings into rose trellises, that’ll go horribly.’

Grimacing, but unable to help without losing points for cheating, Lita set to digging out her own garden, which would have several delicate plants protected from pests by the Tantalizing Tulips trios.

“Is it worth trying a flytrap for the bugs that get lured in? Poor thing might starve if the bugs only go for the tulips,” she fretted, finally deciding not to risk it.

Then she frowned and went to get more fertilizer, because several of her chosen plants had very different nutritional needs.

Chapter Text

5 June 1991

“Trullas Arca,” Serenity declared, visualizing a silver-platinum snuffbox her grandfather carried around very firmly in her head.

The mouse shifted forms, and she got a grayish snuffbox that was at least the right shape.

“Is that chain on the end deliberate, like a pocket watch?” Professor McGonagall asked as Serenity wilted in disappointment.

“No ma’am, I think that’s just the tail,” she mumbled.

“I see.” McGonagall picked the snuffbox up. “Nevertheless, you have… produced… Hmm…” She weighed the snuffbox with a frown as Serenity frantically hoped she hadn’t messed up anything, and then opened it to reveal a silvery-gray powder. “Snuff?”

“Um, yes? Isn’t that the point of a snuffbox?” Serenity wondered guiltily. ‘It doesn’t look as dark as the stuff Grandpapa sniffs, but the one time I tried that made me sneeze and cry and it was awful. I hope it’s right, though.’ “It might just be dust because I don’t know what snuff is really, but I thought I should have something in there.”

“I haven’t seen that from a first-year before, and I must admit I am very curious as to how you managed this feat,” McGonagall acknowledged. She brought a few grains to her nose and sniffed. “It is not genuine tobacco, fortunately, or I would worry about your ability to create an addictive substance.”

“There’s not a rule of transfiguration against that, is there?” Serenity worried. ‘I can’t tell if I did it right or not now.’

“There is not, though there are rules about transfiguring one thing into multiple parts. Though I will admit that powder is the simplest to achieve, it still isn’t something I often see from a first year.”

“Is that bonus points?” Serenity asked hopefully, because while she was good at artistic visualization her measurements and diagrams for transfiguration tended to be a flop.

“If you will assist me with a small experiment?” McGonagall prefaced, and Serenity nodded. McGonagall then poured out all the gray powder onto her desk and set the empty snuffbox a few handspans away. Transfigure them back, if possible,” she instructed.

“Right!” It took Serenity a few tries, and she had to sorta botch the wand movement deliberately with a slide gesture at the end of it, but the piles transfigured back.

“Squeak!”

“Oopsie! Was that supposed to happen?” Serenity checked as McGonagall quickly corralled the now hairless mouse from running off her desk.

‘I must not blow the pile of fur so it puffs around everywhere. No matter how fluffy it is. Mama might give me one of those looks where she’s secretly laughing, but Professor McGonagall will take points off me and… oh who cares it will be worth it.’

Serenity gave in and blew a puff of air at the desk, which sent the fur floating in a cloud up everywhere and was totally awesome. ‘Hah-hah!’

“Evanesco. None of that now,” McGonagall chided, but she didn’t take any points at least. “For the next part, here is a box of matches. Transfigure as many into needles as you can with a single casting.”

… …

“Flintifors, Amy finished, returning the needles back to matches like they’d started as.

“Excellent, Miss Anderson,” McGonagall congratulated as she cleared the buttons, parchment, quills, and other objects from the practical off of her desk. “Just a moment.” She took a match, struck it, and let it burn down in a dish on her desk. “Full marks, regardless of being utilitarian. Did you bring anything for an extra credit demonstration?”

“I have two demonstrations, Professor, if that’s okay,” Amy said, drawing out the statuettes from her pocket. She felt a little dirty given the methodology behind this one, but it wasn’t against rules and she desperatelywanted the highest grades after a year of Greg Greengrass and Herman Bagnold beating her in half the written essays and far too many practical lessons for her liking.

She’d never placed second in any class other than gym before this year, and she hadn’t liked the feeling at all, despite what her Mum wrote about it being good for building character. The one or two times she’d come in third in a test at Hogwarts had been even worse, no matter that Greg and Herman weren’t at all involved in the extra credit project she’d been in.

“I see. Are these rubies?” McGonagall asked, checking the small pile of cut gemstones on Amy’s right.

“Mum sent me some from her jewelry,” Amy confirmed. “The other group are just metal animals, and I’m going to use the switching spell on them.”

“A moment,” McGonagall instructed. She drew her wand, murmured several charms that Amy resolved to look up later, and gave a nod. “I have confirmed that these have no magic on them already. Proceed, Miss Anderson.”

“Permuverto,” Amy declared with a wave of HAL. Immediately, all the cut stones became metallic and the animal statuettes changed to ruby while still maintaining their shape.

McGonagall murmured another charm and smiled. “Very well done, Miss Anderson. If you’d tried this on me as a third-year I’d dock you for attempting to scam me, but as a first-year it is very impressive.”

Amy’s stomach dropped. “S-scam you, ma’am? I don’t know what it mean?”

“Miss Anderson, I am an accredited Master of Transfiguration who earned full marks on her WHALE and studied under a master alchemist to boot,” the old witch replied with a chuckle. “By all means, please do try to convince me that you coincidentally used your switching spell between aluminum figurines and cut rubies, given that ruby’s molecular formula is dialuminum trioxide with traces of chromium.”

McGonagall waited patiently, still smiling in amusement, as Amy’s cheeks paled and she tried to say anything. Then the woman reached out and ruffled Amy’s hair.

“As I said, Miss Anderson, you are not in trouble. Performing a single switching spell that affects multiple targets is exceptionally skillful for any first-year student, and stacking the odds of success in your favor by researching the compositions of what you switch is very sensible. You are a credit to Ravenclaw.” Amy blushed. “Now, you said you had a second demonstration?”

“Yes! I- I mean, I can turn smoke into fog, water vapor,” Amy stammered out as she quickly snatched the piles back into her pockets. “I brought incense or I can cast fumos, I don’t know which…?”

“Incense. The smoky smell vanishing is a more convenient way to note the change,” McGonagall judged.

6 June 1991

“Stems. Glad I caught that,” Lita hissed as she nearly made a grave mistake in her Forgetfulness Potion. She promptly set to plucking the stems from her mistletoe berries.

If anyone had told her last week that Potions would be her easiest final of the year, Lita might have laughed or maybe punched them in the shoulder, because Professor Snape was a terror even if he maybe treated her possibly the nicest of all the Gryffindors in her year (and whether he was ‘nice’ or just regular nasty was pretty much a coin toss).

However, Greg Greengrass had sworn up and down on his family honor (which was apparently a Thing among some old families,) that Snape would be making them brew a Forgetfulness Potion from memory, so a bunch of their year had practiced it devoutly while revising.

Lita had brewed this potion five times, the last two without any book references, and while she’d probably owe Rei or Serenity for the practice ingredients on top of everybody who owed Greg for the tip, it was paying off extremely well.

She was calm, she was composed, and because this was a test instead of a lesson Snape wasn’t correcting people or swooping around the room so she wasn’t even feeling anxious. It was great!

“Simmer for five minutes,” Lita reminded herself, “and while that’s done I can dice the Valerian so it doesn’t dry before it goes in.”

She adjusted her flame, flipped an hourglass, and set to it.

7 June 1991

“Flipendo flipendo flipendo,” Mina cast down the stairwell at the approaching dummies, each bolt of red accompanied by a sound like a Star Wars phaser blast, which was awesome.

Her third casting had her mess up the gesture, so it produced a blaaat sound and a glowing glob of squishtastic stuff, which was less awesome, but two out of three for a fast-cast was still great!

Mina eyed the dummy clomping up the staircase toward her and decided to go for it.

“Gerontologyyyy!” she shouted and jumped with both feet down the stairs.

She kicked the dummy dead center and suffice it to say the dummy was in pieces when they reached the landing, while she was only mildly banged. Fortunately, the bruising wasn’t enough that she might start crying, because that would be really embarrassing at the end of the test, so Mina wiped her eyes a bit and set to searching the room.

Hogwarts had a lot of empty rooms, so Professor Meioh had repurposed a bunch of them for her practical exams. For the firsties, there was a suite of rooms they had to explore to find a doll and bring it back, representing how they might need to go into a dangerous situation to save someone else.

Mina hadn’t found it in the central room or in either of the other two that branched off of it, so it had to be here.

‘Though it would be really evil if Professor Meioh had it charmed to only appear in the last room we went looking. Smart, but reeeeeally evil,’ Mina figured as she eyed the wall hangings and the furniture for things that were moving. Then she remembered who she was dealing with and checked the ceilings.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Mina cast after seeing that the ceiling was clear. She floated the first armchair (because like heck was she touching something that might be jinxed to grab her,) high enough to see the underside was empty, then let it down gently and moved onto the second. “Wingardium Leviosa. Ooh, got it!” she declared as the doll came into view.

That was when two hands grabbed her.

Mina Love good shrieked, slammed her elbow into something hard, and spent the next several seconds struggling furiously, thrashing, and casting spells in a nearly blind panic.

By the end of it, the two mannequins that had come out from behind a wall hanging Mina had walked past were left in pieces, her wand arm was throbbing along her funny bone, and she could feel her heart racing in her chest.

‘But I have the doll. I just have to get out of here.’

Keeping her cargo crooked in her left elbow, Mina climbed back up the stairs, went back into the main room, managed a canopy charm in time to keep the plastic spiders from dropping onto her, and then decided to just run for it.

She slammed the main door behind her.

“Very well done, though I’ll confess you gave me half a heart attack when you jumped down the steps,” Professor Meioh congratulated. “Full marks for an O+ on the exam.” Mina hugged her. “Ah-?”

“I just want to tell you that you’re really great,” Mina said into her favorite professor’s stomach. “Like, you’re totally evil, but I also really want to be you when I grow up. Do you take apprentices?”

Professor Meioh laughed and started stroking Mina’s hair. “That may be possible, yes. I’ll buy you lunch and we’ll talk once you’ve taken your OWLs, how about.”

Now Mina really did tear up. “Promise?”

“I promise,” Setsuna Meioh agreed.

… …

“Conopeus,” Serenity cast once she realized she had gotten herself surrounded.

The four mannequins started beating at the magical dome, which was scary and made her guts clench, but they weren’t hitting hard enough to break through her shield.

‘I have time. I’m not in danger. It’s a test. I can do this,’ Serenity recited to herself. She’d gotten overexcited when she saw the doll on top of a table in the last room she tried, rushed in, and grabbed it without checking the area. Now she was a little stuck.

‘I’m a few steps away from the table now, so maybe I can slip between two of them, go under it, and come out the other side? How much of catching me will make Miss Meioh end the test, and how much can I fight my way out of? Moving toward the table will be away from the door, though. …Are they slowing down?’

Sure enough, the mannequins weren’t hitting her shield as quickly, and then one of them peeled away and started shambling around the room.

‘Huh. You know, now I’m remembering that Amy was talking about what enchantments she was using to make them go after people. She thought it was moving, and I’m not moving…’ Serenity tried to keep very still, and the mannequins were slowing down, but none of the remaining three peeled away.

‘Cripes. Okay, it’s a little crazy…’ Serenity carefully—and slowly, oh so slowly—brought her wand down from torch stance while doing her best to keep the shield raised. She’d never practiced casting while maintaining a second spell, and she wasn’t sure it was something possible really, but it was her best bet out of this.

“Crepundia Conopeus,” she cast quickly, her shield barely flickering as an armchair started rattling across the floor.

All three mannequins swung to face it.

“Crotaphosor,” Serenity cast immediately because she knew she could keep shielding or rattling but not both, and then she bolted across the room under a Bedazzling Hex that faded after a few steps.

“Pleasepleaseplease,” she babbled as she swung up the knotted rope to the balcony, through the door to the main room, and she didn’t even pause when the first spiders started dropping she just sprinted straight ahead, jumped over the coffee table in her way, and was out the door in an instant.

“Petraflumen!” Serenity yelped as she came face to face with Professor Meioh again.

There was a beat, and with no hex incoming Serenity felt safe dropping her deflection shield to wipe the animated plastic spiders out of her hair. “I, uh, I have the doll?”

“Indeed you do,” Professor Meioh agreed, finally smiling. “Pass, though I’ll have to dock you some points for being surrounded and using a method that wouldn’t work against live enemies. Still a solid EE, though.”

“I’ll take it. Thank you very much,” she sighed as Professor Meioh took the doll from her.

“You’re very welcome, Miss Malfoy. It’s been a joy to have you in class, and I look forward to hearing of your future exploits.” Her gaze grew distant. “Your group of friends reminds me of people I knew when I was younger.”

“Are they all-? Uh.” Serenity hesitated, because Professor Meioh looked very sad.

“No matter. Anyway, Serenity, I want you to know that you are student I’ve seen grow the most over this past year. I am very proud of you and pleased to have played a part.”

Serenity beamed and gave Professor Meioh a big hug.

10 June 1991

When Albus heard the news that Setsuna was awake, he left his paperwork (ingredient orders for the coming year,) and went immediately to see her.

She had a black cat on her lap that she was stroking, and white bandages wrapped around her head, but she was sitting upright in the infirmary bed with an empty breakfast tray off to one side.

“Good morning, I hope,” he greeted the woman who was possibly thrice his age, despite looking a third of it.

“Get I get beat about the bludger in a skull during a school Quidditch game?” Setsuna demanded irately. She blinked. “Did I get…?

“That is what was relayed to me, I am afraid.”

“Perenelle will never let me live this down,” she griped. “My reputation of competence is ruined forever.”

Albus chuckled, relieved that she wasn’t too badly injured. “Your reputation of fondness, at least, will live on in the memories of the students.” He gestured to the array of cards and candies by her bedside. “That seems rather fitting for your achievements here.”

Setsuna huffed at him. Then, “I don’t know the date. Has the Hogwarts Express left yet?”

“Not until Tuesday. Tomorrow, though tomorrow never really arrives,” Albus mused.

“You’d be surprised at how time flies,” Setsuna disagreed. Then she frowned. “That jinx is more powerful than I credited it.”

“Voldemort’s work seems to respond more violently when I attempt to thwart it,” Albus sighed, remembering the good men and women he had seen maimed or slain by apparent misfortune. “I still have had no luck in locating the source.”

“Nor have I,” Setsuna conceded after a moment. “I initially assumed it might be in the plaque for his Services to the School. His birth name was Tom Riddle, correct?”

“It was indeed.” Dumbledore’s mind drifted for a moment, back to the young boy in the orphanage, and his many, many mistakes.

“Failing that, then… My best guess is that he hid it in the lost Chamber of Secrets, given that he’d need to tie it into the enchantments of Hogwarts for the jinx to take effect,” Setsuna said finally.

“I have found no better idea,” Dumbledore agreed. Then he took a breath to soothe the feelings of failure away. They’d enjoyed a decade of peace, the children of Hogwarts were happy and healthy, and Tom’s free followers did not seem to be moving to return him; it was entirely possible that whatever dark magics he’d used or invented would be ineffective in returning Tom to life and power. “Has Poppy mentioned whether you will be cleared to attend the Leaving Feast? Hufflepuff is set to win by over seventy points.”

“I’ll don some black and yellow to celebrate,” Setsuna promised idly. Then she pouted. “Actually, if you have a sufficient garish bumblebee-themed robe, I would be willing to borrow it.”

“Bumblebees…” Albus mused, trying to remember. If nothing else, he might just transfigure something fitting.

11 June 1991

“We’re only a few minutes out from the station, so we need to get packed and ready,” Rei declared upon re-entering the apartment.

“Already?” Serenity groaned before stuffing another piece of candy in her mouth and trashing the wrapper in a bag Amy set aside as a pseudo-dustbin. “I’m gonna miss you all…”

“We’ll have visits over the summer,” Molly noted as she set to packing her things, putting the caps back on the nail polish she’d been using with Mina.

“Not until July for me. We’re going to France to visit family, with one of Papa’s cousins having a baby.”

“Cute baby! Bring back pictures,” Mina insisted.

“Someone will be by to help me figure out the Knight Bus, right?” Lita checked.

“I will, I can blend in and Mum is a doctor, so your parents should be comfortable,” Amy promised.

“I know how to take the Knight Bus too, but I’ll visit Amy so she can see if I’m dressed okay.” Serenity offered before Rei could voice anything.

“Do wizard robes really stand out that much?” Molly wondered.

Rei setting to packing her trunk instead, including the Exploding Snap cards from her game with Lita, but paid close attention because she didn’t know much muggle fashion either.

“Yeah,” Mina laughed, “I swear it’s like British wizards and witches dress to deliberately stand out. Though the Hogwarts uniform actually looks pretty good if you roll with it like it’s a fancy costume.”

“We’re slowing down,” Amy noted as she set to cramming the rest of the books she’d been showing Serenity back into her trunk.

“Keep in touch,” Rei requested of her... of her friends. 'I have friends now. I'll need to see they stay safe.'

She glanced out the window, and saw the packed platform shift into view. Her own father was waiting with Takashi in his arms, chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and Draco.

Rei took a deep breath, let it out, and set to hugging her friends goodbye.

… …

“Draco!” Serenity yelped as she tackle-hugged her baby brother. “Many happy returns, I hope you liked my gift!” She spun him around and he squirmed adorably.

“Serenity, people are watching,” he complained like he didn’t secretly love it, (he totally did, he was hugging her back too,) but she let him down anyway.

“And half of them are doing the same thing,” Serenity informed him wisely, giving a nod to where Rei had itsy-bitsy Takeshi in her arms, Lita had picked up whichever one of her brothers (he was blond and pudgy like Greg Goyle) was greeting her, and Mina was in the arms of her Uncle Xeno. “I refuse to be ashamed,” she finished in her best imitation of Rei when Jeremy Stretton had tried making fun of her.

“Meow,” Luna yowled, tugging with her teeth at Serenity’s sock.

“Eh, what is it Luna?” ‘She doesn’t usually like trying to tell me anything in front of people, whether or not she’s talking Human-ish.’

Serenity heard her mother titter and felt her father’s hand land gently on her shoulder. “While we are very proud of your achievements this year-,” Serenity beamed because hearing it in person was so much better than in writing even if she was still saving the fancy letter for her future scrapbook memories. “-I suspect you will need your trunk before departing the Platform, if only because we cannot buy you copies of your summer homework assignments the way we could replace other belongings.”

“Eeep! I’llgogetit!” ‘I can’t believe I forgot my trunk I’m so stupid!’ Serenity spun on her heel, rushed back toward the train, and promptly tripped over her own two feet after three steps.

“Certa Calceamenta.”

“Thanks Papa!” Serenity called with a wave as her father’s quick Surefoot Charm kept her from eating pavement. She hustled through the crowd, back onto the train, and quickly found her group’s car with her trunk on the high shelf above the seats.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Serenity declared proudly. Then she spent the next several seconds repeatedly cringing as she banged her trunk against seven different things.

A boy’s voice muttered something and a second spell took hold, smoothing her trunk’s journey to land at her feet.

“Thanks,” she told Darien Shields.

“Anytime… Bunny,” he riposted with a grin.

“Nyah!” Serenity very maturely stuck her tongue out at him. “You watch, I’ll come up with some embarrassing name for you some day. Like… like rose, ‘cause Andrew says you get rosy cheeks from blushing.”

“If you ever see me blush, you’re welcome to try it,” Darien chuckled. Then, “Here, I might as well get in a last spell before the summer. Trudunt Res Trunk.”

“Oh!” Serenity said as he reached passed her and tapped her trunk. “What is it, what did you do?”

“Feather-Light Charm, so you can carry it out instead of hovering. No need to break someone’s skull open.”

“Ha. Ha,” Serenity pronounced, though she privately admitted that she might’ve broken her trunk by trying. “Thanks. …See you next year?”

“I’m not going anywhere. I might see you when I visit Andrew in the summer?”

“We’re going to France until July for my baby cousin, but I’ll knock him up for a sundae when we’re home again.”

“I’ll be around then, Buns,” he teased.

Serenity blew out an annoyed breath with a fyuuuu sound and drew her wand. “Capillus Tingo Rose,” she declared, poking his head. A single lock of his hair turned pinkish red. “There, very pretty.”

“I think you need to check your palette, Buns. Roses look like this. Orchideous. See?” Darien produced a deep red rose from his wand tip and offered it to her smugly. Serenity nodded mutely as she accepted it. “And you called my blush rosy. Ta, Malfoy.” With that, Shields took his trunk and walked away.

Serenity watched him go for a bit until she realized she’d left her family waiting, whereupon she picked up her weightless trunk and rushed back to them.

She kept the rose in her pocket when she did, though, and by her bedside at home afterward, so that she’d remember to have something impressive to show Shields when she saw him again.