Chapter Text
It all started the night Rina was sorted, after the Sorting Hat had a field trip exploring its first non biological mind. Ravenclaw was the best option for someone with her thirst for knowledge, but it also meant she couldn't enter the dorm rooms on either girls or guys side, fortunately they had a third wing where she could enter. She had read about the infamous Gryffindor stairs, but apparently Ravenclaw didn't do half assed jobs with her house.
Her real worry wasn't that she couldn't join the others in their dorm rooms, she preferred the silence her own company gave, but the why. Was it because the only human thing in her body was her soul or was it another thing?
She didn't want to think about it and stored that worry away. She had a lot to read and a half-sister, her own older sister advised to be careful with, who would probably pester her everyday.
Her sister had been right. Eva, or Eve, was a danger for everyone including herself. Not even a week since the start of the classes she came asking how to feed a Cerberus, on the thirty-first of October she had ended up with Eve nursing a very lost troll, before Christmas Hermione Granger came asking about Nicholas Flamel, after Christmas Eva told her friends about Rina's Philosopher's Stone heart. And that was just the first year…
In the second year befriended Slytherin's Basilisk pet, in her third adopted Sirius Black and in the current year ended up registering herself in that stupid wizard competition because Eva thought it would be funny.
But the problem came after the first trial ended, the dragon had handed her the egg and nearly adopted her too. Eve found Rina doing her biweekly potion tutoring class with Neville, she sighed “What do you need?” It wasn't like Eve searched for her only out of interest, Rina was a well of knowledge after all, but Eve had a tendency to not touch her when she did.
“Are you free for the Yule ball?” One thing was for sure her sister didn't know shame.
She looked at her potion pupil for a moment, before answering “Even if Neville didn't ask me before, I would say no. You know that. What do you really want?”
Eve was surprisingly nervous for once “I think I'm broken. Everyone is affected by Fleur on some level, but I'm not”
She was surprised Eve would even think that. The ever happy Eve capable of repelling Dementors with just her presence “You're not broken. Some people aren't just attracted in that way to others” She answered truthfully. She felt the power of the Veela probably better than anyone else in the castle, but that was it. No stuttering, stumbling or attraction when she was close, as she had seen repeatedly the last weeks on other people. It wasn't that dissimilar to Eve's own aura; the only difference was what it tried to evoke.
“I mean girls liking other girls like that isn't that usual” Neville blurted out. Eve looked at her sister in complete confusion. She just sighed “Did I say something wrong?” Neville asked with a frightened look.
“Not exactly wrong. It's just” She sighed again “In our family it is. All five of my stepmoms do, hers” She pointed at Eve “Too, my mom obviously too, the sisters I know of do too… I think you can understand that both of us are the odd ones by our family standard” Neville seemed to want to point something out but refrained from.
“Wait, you too?” Eve asked with a glint of hope in her eyes.
She nodded “I haven't met anyone that made me feel like that, yes”
Eve breathed out returning to her usual self “I once kissed mom because I was worried”
She flinched “Yours I'm guessing”
Eve nodded “I wouldn't do that to mom, but mom I knew wouldn't mind it that much. She even giggled and asked how it felt” Neville gave her a look of confusion. But Eve always refused to call their mother and her mother anything else than mom and Eve always knew who she was referring to, so Eve didn't see a reason to differentiate.
“And?” She asked.
Eve shrugged “Nothing”
Rina, despite herself, hugged her sister “You're not weird for this. Besides romantic relationships are overrated, we have each other and you have friends”
Eve returned the hug tightly as she usually did, it overwhelmed her most of the time but this time she could take it “Thanks sis”
“That said, have you tried asking Potter since you two are champions anyway?”
“I have. He was my first option, but said I felt too much like her sister to”
She sighed “And you thought asking me was the way to go? There's also Weasley, four to choose from even”
Eve stepped away looking at her just like she was loony “Ron is a horrible dancer, I barely know Ginny and Forge and Gred told me who they are going to ask” That sounded just like her sister.
“There's the other champions too” She offered.
“Viktor asked Hermione already, I was there” She felt a ping of pain but decided to ignore it for now.
“And Fleur? She may appreciate someone not under her Veela powers to ask”
Eve frowned as she thought about it “I'll try. If it fails I can ask Severus” Eve said before leaving like the little storm she always was.
Neville and her flinched and looked at each other “I know her way of thinking is rather particular” She said. Unfortunately that little talk about sexuality brought the issue she was hiding upfront in her mind.
Neville quickly noticed. They had become friends after Trevor, his toad, found the top of her head his favorite resting place ever. They hadn't been through much unlike the trio of Gryffindors and her sister, but still he always noticed when something wasn't well with her “What is it? Are you worried about her?”
She snorted “About Eve? As if. If it wasn't me, any of her friends would have done the same”
He gave her a tender look “I know you do worry about her” She glared at him and for someone that was so scared about Professor Snape he stood there without flinching “We can stop and talk, it's not like Amortentia is part of this year curriculum”
She almost forgot that was what they were brewing. She peered over the cauldron, it wasn't like the fumes affected her anyways. It smelled like chips and books mostly, but she could also smell smiles, iron and water. How smiles smelled was a mystery. It had the pearled sheen the book said too “Book perfect I'd say, want to smell it before I banish it?”
Neville reluctantly nodded, it was easy to tell he felt relaxed at the smells “It smells like dirt, flowers, the common room and… books” She didn't understand why he shrank at mentioning books, but refrained from asking, she wasn't someone to push things on others.
She banished the potion, but could still feel the worried face of his friend “It's not Eve, it's just something I've been putting off for a while” She told him “It's best if I show you. Care if I get Hermione on our way to my room?” His eyebrows shot up and she could see the confusion in his eyes “It'll make sense once you see it”
As always the brightest witch of their generation was in the library studying for whatever thing had grabbed her attention this time. She couldn't help but smile at the sight “Need some help?”
The bushy haired girl looked away from her books “I can- Wait, it might concern you too”
She raised an eyebrow “Concern me?”
Hermione nodded “The next trial. They're supposed to take something important from every champion and hid it in the lake”
She instantly got what Hermione was thinking “You think they'll take me for my sister”
Hermione nodded and noticed the lack of worry on her face “Aren't you worried?”
She smiled fondly “I can't drown, Hermione”
“You can't?” Hermione breathed out as if a heavy weight fell from her shoulders “One less worry then” She said to herself and then turned to her “You wouldn't happen to know something we could teach Harry for this”
She chuckled before Neville chimed in “He can always eat Gillyweed. It'll let him breath under water”
Hermione almost jumped like she hadn't noticed his classmate there “Thanks Neville, but let's leave that as a last resort” Hermione turned back to her “Any spell ideas?”
Rina laughed “He knows something already”
Hermione frowned “If you're thinking Accio. I doubt the Headmaster didn't think about it”
She shook her head “No, no. The Patronus” They both looked confused at her “Don't be so surprised. Did you know it was used as a messaging system during war? It was the Headmaster who thought about it. But there's more uses to that spell, such as transportation”
Hermione muttered something to herself “Won't they prepare for it?”
“About a spell that's so niche to the public? I seriously doubt it” She could practically see her friend's gears moving inside her mind “Don't think about the limitations of the form they take. Mine is a sea turtle and it can move outside water just fine”
Hermione nodded with determination in her eyes “Thanks. I'll tell-” She halted her movement before looking back at her friend “Wait, you were looking for me”
“It's not that-” She tried to tell before Neville interrupted her.
“If you're worried, it is important” He said. Whenever he doubted about his spot in Gryffindor, she always reminded him of these little actions.
Hermione nodded “Well said Neville”
She sighed and smiled at the two “Fine. We're going to my room” Her friend's mind seemed trapped in another of her lines of thinking “We can go elsewhere if you don't want to”
Hermione shook her head “It's just… I thought Common rooms aren't supposed to be accessed by any outsider”
She chuckled “Gryffindor's and Slytherin's? Yes. Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's? It's not a problem. Didn't your friends tell you how they dragged me out of my room on my first Christmas here?”
If her frown was any answer, no they didn't.
Once inside, after the usual riddle that Rina had heard countless times, she walked in the opposite direction of the gendered dorms. Of course Hermione being the observant girl she was took note of it “Wait. Why are we going away from the dorms?”
Rina sighed “That's the issue I can't enter them. Thankfully Rowena Ravenclaw thought such things could happen" She continued walking to her dorm "I can't get to either of those dorms”
Both of them looked bothered by it, but Neville was the first to point out the issue “Is it because you're not human?” Hermione looked surprised not by the information, but by who told said information.
She shrugged “It's one of the possibilities, but seeing as not even Madam Pompfrey said anything in that regard. I fear”
“You're not a girl” Hermione blurted out as soon as it dawned on her.
“That's the most likely one, yes” She said, trying to keep calm. It was the option she feared the most, the reason she stored that worry away.
Neville, not having any knowledge about muggles past what that shitty class that was muggle studies taught, was visibly confused.
She turned to Hermione while opening her door “You explain it or I do?”
Hermione didn't answer as she took in the plain room her friend sleep in “It's a bit impersonal even for me”
Neville didn't look as lost by that so she started to explain “Muggles have this knowledge that sex and gender are two different things as much as it's sometimes related. And as a society we usually care more about the second than the first” He looked even more lost “Take for example how the uniforms for girls are different from the ones for the boys. If let's say I started wearing pants tomorrow people that first saw me would doubt if I was a girl or a boy”
“I don't get it” He said after some thinking.
Thankfully Hermione came to the rescue “What she means is sometimes the assigned gender it's not the correct one. It's a bit more complicated than that, but for now let's say that there are boys who were assigned as girls at birth and vice versa”
Neville's frown deepened “Is it some kind of curse?”
They both shook their heads “It's just that their own identity doesn't correspond with the one people gave them. If I'm understanding well, Rina was created with the idea of a girl but she's not sure her identity corresponds with that idea”
“So she- he is a boy?” Neville tried to guess.
“No, then I could have climbed those stairs. Those enchantments see me as neither girl or boy” She claimed, shaking her head.
“Is that even possible?”
“It's hard to explain, Neville. I'll ask my parents if they can send some information” Hermione said, trying to calm their friend's mind. She gave her a look “Ri- Actually are you fine using this name?” It was an understandable question except…
“Actually… It's an acronym… It's Rational Intelligence and the place where I was born… I love mom but she's not great at naming” She explained to her friends, it was the most embarrassing thing she could say. Now that she had admitted her doubts at least.
“So North America?” Hermione guessed. She nodded “Actually shouldn't it be AINA?”
She glared at Hermione “You think my intelligence is artificial? Know that I had to learn how to walk without even having a body” She answered trying to sound offended
Hermione gave her a strained smile “I was just joking, sorry”
“I know” She answered back with a smirk “Maybe I'll change it to something less feminine, but I want to have that Ri there still” She sighed “If mom lets me of course”
Hermione frowned at her last sentence “Why wouldn't she? It's your life!”
It was really unexpected to her, or maybe them, that Hermione reacted that way “I'm just afraid she won't like it. She made the eight of us girls after all”
“Have you ever talked to your sisters about it?” Hermione pressed.
They sighed “This might come as a surprise but Eve is my elder sister for twelve years. And I was just a year old when I arrived”
Hermione cringed hard at the information, Neville was still trying to understand the previous one “So you're four now?” They nodded “It's… I mean, if I didn't see that stone inside you” She gripped her arm “I don't think I would believe you're a sentient machine, one that works in Hogwarts of all places” Then Hermione's eyes grew wide again “Wait, that's how it worked! She's really seventeen!”
Rina… No, Ri would do for the moment, laughed.
“You were still thinking about that?” Ri asked.
Hermione flushed red “It was bothering me, yes. You should bring this to Madam Pompfrey so she can contact your mom and…”
Ri sighed but smiled fondly “I haven't talked to mom since I came here. But I'll try to call her before sleeping”
Hermione looked at her with those curious eyes of her “Wait. Are you connected to the telephone line?”
Ri shook their head “No, but I can connect. Get a number and all that. But mom and I have a line between us”
It had taken a while to convince Hermione not to be there when they? called. They called “Mom, can we talk?” The usual pending call sound filled her mind, one, two…
“Rina, is something the matter?” Ri cringed at the name, somewhat surprised she did.
“Mom, how did you know that you weren't a guy?” Ri asked directly.
There was a silent moment between the two “Would you prefer to be a boy?” Their mom asked, it was easy to notice the nervousness in her voice.
“I… Could you answer, please?” Ri tried again.
“There were a myriad of signals; Eve's mom, a lesbian marrying me, how I felt more comfortable looking like and being referred to as a girl… but being told my soul was that of a girl was the definitive one” She explained “I can't gender souls correctly unfortunately. But if you want to I can ask someone who can”
As useful as it sounded “I think I'll try my luck with what I have. Do you mind if I…”
Ri didn't get to finish “As long as you don't hurt yourself, you can do whatever you want. I'm just… sorry you have to go through this too” Ri wanted to say that it wasn't her fault but didn't find the words to “Any doubt you have just to ask. Actually I have one first. What pronouns should I use for my lovely kid?”
Ri smiled “I was thinking about they”
Her mom giggled “I'll probably ask a lot more then. I hope I don't make a fool of myself”
“Mom… Thank you. I-”
“Don't worry, just ask and I'll do my best to help. Just have fun experimenting with your body and tell what you feel comfortable sharing”
“I'll do just that. Thanks mom” They wanted to apologize for bringing her trouble, but either she read their intention or just didn't notice as she interrupted them.
“Try to sleep a bit” They heard her breath “I know you don't really get tired, but it will do you good anyway”
They rolled their eyes fondly “Good night mom”
“Good night sweetie”
They fell on their back and turned the lights off “I guess I'll try and reform me a bit while at it”
They woke up just before breakfast. They had revised their appearance, their blond hair was cut to chin level and their fake puberty had been slightly turned back. All that was left was to try a change of uniform, it was easy enough they just needed the fabric which they didn't have at the moment.
Some people stared at them in surprise. It was understandable, Ri wasn't one to change much. They had grown as a human girl should, but that was about it. Luna Lovegood wasn't one of them, she was weird even by Ri's standard but was also the only Ravenclaw that actually discussed with them and not just asked things.
“You look prettier” Luna said directly.
Ri sighed “Thank you for the input”
Eating had a little bonus for them, since they had lots of control over their body blocking some of the tastes they didn't like was just a thought away. The acidity of orange juice was something they didn't like, but would take it every single time over the overly sweet pumpkin juice.
They were in the middle of their toast when Hermione sat beside them “I'm guessing it went well…” She had that worried look on her face. Ri nodded and Hermione relaxed “Thank Merlin. I know how much you respect your mom”
Ri smiled at her “I should have expected it since she is trans too”
Hermione deadpanned “Yes, you should. For someone so intelligent you can be really dumb sometimes” She bumped shoulders with them “You could have told me, I wouldn't have been worrying all night”
Those words made Ri grimace “I'm sorry. It was stupid… I mean she got me the closest I could be to a Metamorphomagus. Changing my body is fairly easy, I can even change my skin or hair color”
Hermione simply dropped a book on the table “It's a name book” Ri looked at her with doubt. Hermione blushed slightly “I sometimes write… things and characters need names…”
That earned a chuckle from her friend “I have a whole library of these books in my head, you know”
Hermione sighed letting her head fall on the table “Of course you do…”
“It was a nice thought” Luna commented.
Hermione pushed herself up and stared at Luna “Should we talk about this with her here?”
They nodded “I trust her… for some reason”
Hermione opened the book “Since you said about keeping the Ri in your name, I was thinking about River. It sounds neutral enough”
Ri chuckled “It's a good option. Mom went by that for a while from what I heard”
Hermione frowned “No River then. Something Japanese, maybe? I know their writing system lets the same word have a multitude of meanings”
Ri revised their library “It's a good reserve option”
Hermione passed the pages “Something in that library of yours?”
It turned out they had no idea. Making something of their own was harder than they expected, maybe figuring out an acronym was better. But what words… “Any words you would use to describe me?”
“Lost” Luna blurted out.
Hermione and them shared a confused look before turning to Luna “Maybe something that reflects more than my actual state of mind”
Luna blinked slowly “Library”
They slowly turned to Hermione “So you're set on Ls…” They did a fast search “Lorin sounds interesting… But what would the O and the N be…”
“How about Library of Rational Intelligence Knowledge?” Hermione offered “I know the Knowledge is a bit of a stretch…”
They smiled despite themselves “Good try, but I think it's too much knowledge” They crossed their arms “I'd like to think I'm something more than a well of knowledge” They thought for a moment.
“Boring” Ronald commented, taking them by surprise.
Hermione glared at him “How could you say this?”
Ronald shrugged “She is boring” They thought if being called she had ever felt as weird as in that moment
Hermione clenched her teeth “You know what’s boring? Quidditch!”
They sighed but searched for names with B “Actually… Briar might work”
Hermione rubbed under her eyes with her fingers “I hate you Ronald” But turned to Ri “Briar is my friend and a really good student”
Those words stirred something inside of them enough to make them grasp their chest without an actual heart. It confused them. Their pulse was fake, just an illusion for everyone else. Why was it accelerating? Were they overheating? The numbers said it wasn't the case “Weird… I'm not sure what I'm feeling”
“Your head is full of Wrackspurts. More than usual” Luna said. They knew those things shouldn't affect them but knew what they meant, confusion.
“You're also smiling” Hermione added.
They checked the muscles in her face, how the lips were curling at their ends “I do… I guess I liked it then”
Their conversation was cut short by professor Flitwick “I hope I'm not interrupting anything important, but I believe Mx. Era needs an urgent visit to Madam Pomfrey” There was that feeling again that they were trying to understand.
“I do?” They didn't understand why.
Professor Flitwick cleared his throat “Pardon me for being blunt. Have you transfigured your body?”
They nodded and raised from their seat “I understand”
The matron did the usual diagnosis spells, not that they would or should give anything abnormal. The matron breathed in “Do I need to explain something? I see you've done a perfect job on your transfiguration. But your breast tissue will most likely grow again unless you block the hormones your body produces”
If they were human that could be a problem. Fortunately, it was just ticking off a part of their program for them “I'm aware. I'm still not sure how I want to grow up yet. But the name Briar seems to resonate with me”
The matron nodded “I told Filius, you'd surely be fine. Everyone working here knows you are responsible, even compared to some of the teachers. But one checkup wouldn't hurt” She wrote the name change in her papers “I'll inform the Headmaster about the name change. What pronouns should I be using?”
It baffled them how the matron did seem to know things well “I'm not the first, am I? And they/them seem to fit the bill”
The matron nodded “A student had a similar trouble before. During my study years I met a couple girls, Hufflepuff has three dormitory wings too” She scribed the pronoun usage “Every number of years someone pops up with gender related trouble. We were waiting for the moment you wanted to talk about yours, Mx. Era”
There was a lot of trial and error during those weeks. Pronouns were the easiest to work around in the end, They stayed and It was acceptable.
Body and clothes had been a bit harder. Genitals had been tricky until they understood they didn't really care. The general body had been trickier after the dysphoric feeling of wider shoulders then the problem of wider hips, they were really thankful about being able to change their body at will not depending on hormones.
Trying out clothes had taken a really long afternoon, where Hermione, Eve and, for some reason, Ginny Weasley had been throwing clothes at them. In the end skirts were rejected, but hard male coded clothes also were. The guy's uniform ended up being the preferred option with the girl's top part.
And to top it all off, hair was kept long, but in a long ponytail falling from the start of their neck.