Chapter Text
Amelia Bishop sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall, the wall John and she had painted pale blue when they had moved in together a year ago. She had been sitting there for several hours, waiting for her husband to come home and working up the courage for the impending conversation. A heavy weight pushed down upon her chest like lead, and a feeling of dread filled her stomach.
She had originally planned to tell him the truth soon after their wedding, but did not want to risk ruining their honeymoon. In the three months since they returned from their holiday, she had tried to tell John several times, but had backed out each time. She was worried about how he would react, because she had hidden a huge part of her life from him for years, even lying at times. However, she decided today was the day, as it would only become worse over time.
Amelia knew that John loved her, but she also knew that love was not always enough, and not all marriages like hers survived the truth. She had seen it happen. A friend of hers, Sarah Smith, had come crying to her not long after Hogwarts because her fiancé had left her upon discovering what she was. Amelia's own maternal grandparents had disowned her mother for marrying that "filthy mudblood boy", and wanted nothing to do with her "half breed spawn."
Amelia, then Amelia Morgan, had met John Bishop when she was 19, two years after finishing her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She remembered how they met in an old rundown pub while Amelia was in Canterbury visiting her Muggle grandparents.
Amelia had been sitting down at the bar in the dusty, dimly lit pub, nursing a glass of scotch on the rocks, and savored the burn of it went down her throat. She had slipped out of her grandparents house for some time alone to think. She had been under a lot of stress, her apprenticeship at St. Mungo's Hospital was coming to an end. Soon she would be tested to see if she was worthy of becoming a Healer. She finished her glass and had it refilled.
A handsome man with dark features, perhaps a year or so older than Amelia, sat down next to her and ordered a drink for himself. Amelia watched him from the corner of her eye behind her blonde locks. After a few minutes of the man glancing at her, he initiated conversation. "Are you a magician? Because when I look at you, everyone else disappears," the man said with a cheesy grin.
"Maybe I am," Amelia smirked, "My name is Amelia, by the way."
"Good to meet you, Amelia. I'm John," he replied. They continued to talk for several hours until the pub closed. By the end of the night they parted ways, after Amelia gave him her phone number.
John was one of the sweetest men that Amelia had ever met. He had asked her to marry him two years into their relationship. John proposed to her on the beach, although before that he needed Amelia to help him find something after he realized he had dropped it during their walk by the water. Amelia's annoyance at her inability to simply use a summoning charm turned to joy when she discovered it was a ring and he got down on one knee to propose. She, of course, said yes, though not before pretending to think about it.
They got married the following spring, and had a small wedding with their immediate family in All Saints Church, Whitstable. Amelia had a difficult of a time getting her mother, Aurora Morgan, a pureblood former Nott heiress, to dress in Muggle appropriate clothes, to the lifelong amusement of Amelia's Muggle-born father, Charles Morgan.
Her grandparents were also there, as was her older brother Balthazar, and her younger sisters Eleanor and Rowena, and Eleanor's girlfriend, Freya Selwyn. John's guests included his parents, Alexander and Rachel Bishop, as his sister and her husband, Susan and Zack Miller. The Millers had their baby boy, Thomas, with a babysitter. The wedding went smoothly, only a few arguments between Aurora and Rachel.
Amelia and John exchanged their rings and vows before the priest, and sealed their marriage with a kiss. Amelia beamed as she stood in that church in her flowing white dress, facing her new husband, who wore an old suit that barely fit and a goofy grin on his face. She was overjoyed to officially become Mrs. Bishop, surrounded by her loved ones. Though this was the happiest moment in her life, she knew she would soon have to tell him the truth.
Amelia heard the door to the house open and boots stomp as her husband came inside. She pushed down her rising panic, she promised herself she wasn't going to back out this time. John deserved to know the truth. She wanted him to know everything about her, to share every part of herself with him. Besides, her brother would never let her live it down if her next owl didn't come with good news. "John," Amelia called out quietly.
"Yes, dear?" said John as he entered the room. "Is everything alright, Amy?"
John looked concerned as he saw his wife. Gone was Amelia's usual cheer. She looked tired, and was uncharacteristically quiet.
"We need to talk, John. There is something important I need to tell you," said Amelia nervously.
The first time Amelia invited John to her flat in Whitstable she had a mini panic attack as she rushed to make it Muggle friendly. She had grown up in a wizarding household, so she struggled to remember everything magical enough that it needed to be put away. She gathered her books and potion materials, her robes and rather stereotypical hat, and her broomstick, and locked them away in a closet. Soon before John arrived, Amelia remembered her moving photographs on the wall weren't exactly muggle, so she moved them into the closet too.
Amelia also cast a few spells to wash the dishes in the sink and float them back into their cabinet, and to vanish the bit of dirt on the kitchen floor. She hid her wand in her purse just as John knocked on the door. She let him in, smiling as she saw him. "Welcome to my place," Amelia said with a wink, "I hope it's not too much of a pigsty for you."
"Not at all," John smiled back. "I'm just glad that I'm welcome here."
"Oh course," Amelia replied warmly. As she turned around to lead him deeper into the flat she saw a loose chocolate frog hopping in the kitchen. "Hey John, go wait for me in the living room, I'm putting on a pot of tea." John nodded and left the room, while Amelia pulled out her wand and muttered a spell to vanish the enchanted candy. Later she was able to pass off her owl, Mercury, as a gift from her eccentric mother.
John looked at her intently. "Of course, honey. You can tell me anything."
Amelia remained silent for a moment, before taking a deep breath and letting it out. "I am a witch," she said, her voice shaking slightly.
The room was silent for a moment, until John laughed and said "Amy, I know we get into arguments sometimes, but I have never thought you were a witch."
"I'm being serious! I am a witch," said Amelia indignantly. This was not how she expected this to go.
"You mean you are a Wiccan?" John asked with a small frown. "You know my parents dislike that kind of thing, but it has never bothered me. You didn't need to hide that from me."
"No, John, that isn't what I mean. I mean I am a witch, like a magic wand and flying broomstick type of witch. I'm sorry, I wasn't allowed to tell you until after we got married. You see, we witches and wizards have laws to hide magic from Muggles, non magical people, like you. I wanted to tell you sooner. I love you,” said Amelia, suddenly frantic as she stood up from the bed.
"I love you too. Are you feeling alright, Amy?" John said, concern lacing his voice as he looked at her with wide eyes
"I'm not crazy!" she said desperately, "And it's not the Devil or anything like that either, I swear, it's something we are born with. Both my parents are wizards, and if we have children they will be magical too."
"Amy, maybe you should sit back down..." John started before she cut him off.
"Fine! I'll just show you!" Amelia marched over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and opened the drawer to pull out her purse. She unzipped it and drew out her wand, pointing it at the alarm clock forcefully and said "Avifors!" John looked on in shock as the alarm clock transformed before his eyes into a bright yellow goldfinch.