Chapter Text
Dussehra 5 October, 1904 Khimsar, Rajasthan
“Get dressed mera pyaar.” Euphimia’s maa said, softly kissing her head. She had just finished with Euphimia’s hair, and had already laid out the dress Euphimia was to wear on her bed. Euphimia squealed with delight when she saw it. It was one of her very nice ones that she was only allowed to wear when they went to the Potter’s for special occasions. Like today, Dussehra.
She hurriedly put it on, then went out to the kitchen. Her brother and sister were there, lazily playing a game of Ashta Chamma. Her sister, Mildred, snorted when she saw her.
“Maa! Euphimia put her dress on inside out!” Maa appeared from behind the counter and calmly said,
“Then why don’t you help her put it right?”
Mildred snorted again. “I’m not helping that brat.”
“Don’t call her that.” Joseph mumbled, his head twitching. At the same time, maa gave Mildred a very stern look and said, “Language like that and you will have to stay behind from the party.”
Mildred scowled, going back to her and Joseph’s game.
Maa sighed, then came over to help Euphemia with her dress, Euphemia squealing delightedly.
After that, their pita called Joseph to help him pack up the cart full of food to leave. Once their cart was all packed up with food and themselves, they left for the short journey to the Potter’s house. Pita on the front bench, steering their invisible ghoda.
After about thirty minutes, the Potter’s large house came into view and Euphemia began bouncing in her seat.
“Calm down mera pyaar.” Maa chided lightly, laughing as she stroked Euphemia’s hair.
They arrived and stationed their cart among others, then grabbed food to carry inside. Once they walked inside they were surrounded by a swarm of people, and Euphemia took a step closer to her mother.
As they wadded their way through to the table where all of the food sat, the Potter’s youngest son, Fleamont, came over to where Euhpemia was trying desperately to reach the table to set her food down.
“Do you want help?” He asked, holding out his hands.
Euphemia’s jaw dropped, and wordlessly she handed him the basket of food.
Fleamont set down the basket, then hurried off to meet more of the guests, leaving Euphemia dazed.
…
6 January, 1907 Khimsar, Rajasthan
It was very cold outside, so Euphemia was very happy to be in the Potter’s house where the heating charms were much more effective than in those in her own.
All of the men were in a meeting, while all of the women and children were left outside to play. The problem with this arrangement though, was that Euphemia didn’t have any friends. All of the girls her age thought she was weird for some reason that Euphemia couldn’t quite pinpoint.
When she had confided in her mother about it, her mother had said,
“Oh darling, don’t worry about that, those who truly love you will show themselves in time.”
When she confided in her sister about it, her sister had said, “I don’t know, maybe stop being so annoying and leave me alone.”
And so, with nothing left to do, Euphemia did what was one of her all time favorite hobbies: spying. More specifically, spying on Fleamont Potter.
Him and all of the men were in a meeting, so, telling maa she was going to the bathroom, she snuck up to the door of the Potter’s study, and pressed her ear against it, so that she could hear their muffled voices.
“- is right, much as I hate to admit it. The situation just keeps growing graver…”
There were murmurs of agreement.
“Just the other day,” Euphemia heard Mr. Potter’s voice, “I heard talk of an invitation to the DSM going to” he lowered his voice, “Meera’s son.”
There were many outbursts at that. Euphemia knew that Meera was a disgraced witch who married a muggle. It had been the gossip of their village for weeks. It became even worse, when two years later, Meera became pregnant.
“Infested child.”, “Dirty halfbreed.”, and “Half blood is as bad as mudblood if you ask me.” Were common things the residents of Khimsar would say.
She was once out with her brother buying carambola, when they overheard someone discussing it.
Her brother had tightened his grip on her hand and whispered, “Never be hateful Ephie. It doesn’t matter if someone chooses to live life differently than you, because if you carry hate in your heart, then the only person doing something wrong is you.”
When she was four, she hadn’t really understood what he was talking about, but now at the grand and wise age of seven, she thought she understood a little more.
It seemed that everyone had a problem with muggles except for Joseph. There had been many fights among their family because of it.
“Oh Joseph give it a rest with the muggles will you?” Mildred would say.
“I do hope you haven’t been saying things like that in public,” Maa would fret.
But, pita was the worst. “Have you lost your mind son? Have you completely forgotten our way of life? How do you think I feel waking up every morning, knowing my son is a blood traitor!”
When the worse fights happened, Maa would take Euphemia and Mildred out to the market for a couple of hours before returning home. When they did, Joseph always had some kind of bruise or cut.
When Euphemia would ask him about it, he would tell her that he had fallen over.
“It is because of this news, and with sadness in our hearts,” Mr. Potter’s voice brought Euphemia back to the present, listening through the door. “That we are moving to Britain, where we hear Hogwarts has much higher standards under the careful watch of Armando Dippet.”
There were many murmurs of acknowledgement and general sadness and well wishings. Euphemia felt as though she had been hollowed out. The Potters were moving? Where would she spend her holidays?
After that, there was the sound of people getting out of their seats, so Euphemia hurried back to her maa.
Everyone gathered their things and left as they left, Euphemia saw Fleamont hugging his friends goodbye, looking very sad.
Euphemia felt terrible as they all entered their cart and began the slow journey home.
That night, she slept fitfully, not getting much sleep. The next night was the same. The night after that, she slept for twelve hours straight, and when she woke up, staring crying quietly to herself.
Over the course of the next year, the fights between Joseph and the rest of their family, but mostly their pita, became more and more frequent, and Joseph had more and more injuries. Euphemia didn’t understand a lot of it, but from what she gathered, there was a man named Dumbledore. Joseph liked this man, the rest of the family did not.
One warm night in July of 1908, Euphemia found herself gently shaken awake by a very battered looking Joseph.
“Joseph! What -” Euphemia began, but Joseph put a finger to his lips, silencing her. She quickly shut her mouth, biting her lip.
“Effie, this is all very confusing, and I don’t know fully how to explain it all. But I have to go away.”
“Where?” Effie asked.
“I have to go to Britain.”
“What? For how long?” Effie asked, distressed.
Joseph closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering. “I don’t think I will come back.”
“What no!” Euphemia wailed, beginning to cry, “Joseph, you can’t do that!” she sobbed.
“Sh, sh.” Joseph said, sitting on the bed with her and rubbing her back.
“Ephie, you have to be quiet.”
“But you’re leaving me!” she wailed.
“I know Ephie. I know, I’m so sorry.”
“Wait.” Euphemia said, a brilliant idea coming to her.
She turned around to face Joseph and clutched at his shirt.
“Take me with you!”
“Oh Ephie” Joseph started sadly.
“No!” Euphemia said, “Really please. Oh please Joseph, oh please!”
“Sh.” Joseph warned. “What about Mildred? What about Maa? You would miss them so.”
“I would miss you more!” she insisted. Joseph was silent for a second, so seizing her chance, Euphemia begged. “Joseph please take me please.”
“Ephie,” Joseph looked truly drained, “that would be kidnapping.”
“No it wouldn’t! You’re my brother! And I want to! Please!”
“Ephie, you don’t understand…the reasons I’m going…it could be dangerous…”
“More dangerous than here?” Euphemia asked, “With all of the cuts on your face?”
Even in the dark Euphemia could tell that Joseph had paled.
After a couple of seconds, Joseph slowly said, “Ok. Ok, Ephie. You can come. But you must understand, we are not going to Britain for fun reasons.” He paused. “Do you understand that?”
Euphemia nodded solemnly.
“Ok, alright. But we have to leave tonight. So pack up all that you want into one suitcase. And you won’t have a chance to say goodbye to maa or Mildred either.”
Euphemia nodded again, then got up and began packing her suitcase, with the help of Joseph.
An hour later, Euphemia and Joseph walked for about thirty minutes into an open clearing. It was about three thirty am, and the sky was beginning to turn from fully black to a very dark blue.
Once they arrived in the middle of the clearing, Joseph said, “Ok, I am going to apparate us now, and it is going to feel very weird ok?”
Euphemia nodded.
“So on the count of three, close your eyes and hold your breath until it’s over, ok?”
Another nod.
“Ok,” Joseph said, picking up Euphemia and holding her head close to his chest. “One, two, three.”
Euphemia closed her eyes very tight, and puffed out her cheeks to hold her breath. She suddenly had the horrible sensation of being squished very tightly while being spun in circles.
Once the sensation stopped, Euphemia made a retching noise, and Joseph quickly set her down, so that Euphemia could promptly lean over and vomit.
“Oh Ephie” Joseph said, rubbing her back.
Euphemia blinked back tears. “Sorry Joseph.”
“No, it’s ok. Look,” he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the mess saying, “scourgify.” and suddenly it was all gone.
“Are you ok?” he asked, kneeling down to her level.
“Yeah.” Euphemia nodded.
“Sorry, it’s not a very pleasant sensation, is it?”
Euphemia shook her head.
Joseph took a breath. “Alright.” He said, standing up and turning around. Euphemia looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time.
There were a whole bunch of buildings, which seemed to be selling things. Sort of like the market but indoors.
“Where are we?” She asked.
“A place called Hogsmeade.” Joseph responded, his head twitched as he reached out to hold her hand.
They began walking up the row of shops until they landed on one, they walked up to it, and Joseph knocked on the door.
“Is this where we will be staying?” Euphemia asked.
“For now.” Joseph responded, until the door was answered.
The door was answered by a white man who said something unrecognizable.
Joseph said it back, and then the two began conversing in what Euphemia realized was English. She felt a little silly, for only realizing now that they would not be speaking her language.
As they walked inside, the man looked down at her, and Joseph responded by saying something that involved her name.
She shyly smiled and waved.
The inside of the building was dimly lit and smelled a little funny.
After a couple of minutes of indecipherable conversation, during which, Euphemia tried to hide behind her brother’s legs without seeming rude, the man led them up a set of stairs, which were something Euhpemia had only ever seen in the Potter’s home.
The arrived in a dim hallway with two doors open, leading into room, when she realized that one room was for Joseph and one was for her, she squeezed his hand tightly and said,
“Can we share rooms please?” feeling panicked.
“Of course we can.” Joseph said, speaking normal again, which was a relief.
He said a few more words to the man, then they entered the room, and the man was gone.
They set down their suitcases and got into bed, and Euphimia snuggled very close to Joseph, shutting her eyes very tight.
Hogwarts, 1 September, 1911
Three years after coming to the UK, Euphemia had learned English and almost entirely eradicated her accent.
When they had first arrived and Joseph was sent on missions, Euphemia was watched by Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth. Initially, he would let her sit behind the counter as people ordered drinks from his bar, but eventually, he recruited her to help out with him. Over that time period, not only did Euphemia learn how to speak English, she also learned that people liked it much more when she spoke with an English accent, they seemed to order a lot more beers that way.
She was told that most students would be arriving at Hogwarts from a train station in London, but Euphemia already lived in Hogsmeade, so Dumbledore, who had his second year being a professor at Hogwarts, offered to walk her up.
They arrived just a little after sunset, just as the train was pulling up. Dumbledore had already explained the basics of how Hogwarts worked, so Euphemia knew that all of the first years would be going to the castle on boats, while all of the older students would be riding in carriages.
As the students began exiting the train, Dumbledore made Euphemia jump by suddenly yelling,
“First years! First years, please follow me!”
All of the first years clambered over and were given the instructions to get in a boat. Euphemia found an empty one and sat down. It wasn’t empty for very long though.
A couple seconds after getting settled, a blond girl came over and began talking very quickly.
“Hello, my name’s Adriana and this is my first year at Hogwarts! Well, obviously you knew that because why would I be here if that weren’t the case?” At this point, she let out a very sqawky laugh and began clambering into the boat. “Are you so excited? I’m so excited. I had to watch my whole family come here before me and I have four older siblings, it was awful! But I’m finally here now and it’s going to be so amazing! Oh, do you mind if I sit here?”
She said just about all of it in one breath and Euphemia just stared at her for a few seconds before saying, “Er, yeah, go ahead…”
The girl, Adriana, beamed at her, before speaking very quickly once more.
“Cheers! Which house do you reckon you’ll be in? Because I think I’ll probably be in Hufflepuff, which is kind of embarrassing but one of my older sisters, Elizabeth, was in Hufflepuff and she didn’t get too much teasing about it, only a little. My two other siblings were both in ravenclaw though, so it’s a lot to live up to. Any who, which house will you be in?”
“Er…” Euphemia hedged, giving her brain a few seconds to catch up. “Doesn’t the hat decide?” she asked weakly.
At this point, the boats began moving, but Adriana hardly seemed to take notice as she said,
“Well, sure, but just pretend. Which house do you think you’ll be in?”
“Godric, I don’t know…” She said, thinking back to what Dumbledore told her about houses.
“Slytherin is for those who are cunning. Ravenclaw is for those who have incredible brains. Hufflepuff is for those with the kindest of hearts. And…and Gryffindor is for the brave.” then he had mumbled, “Or, it is supposed to be.”
Euphemia thought she hardly fit in any of those, so she just answered,
“Probably Hufflepuff too.” Because that was what Adriana said.
“Ooooooh!” Adriana squealed, “Imagine if we were roommates!”
“Yeah.” Euphemia laughed, “It would be fun…”
Adriana continued talking her ear off for the remainder of the boat ride, but Euphemia found she didn’t mind too much as she only had to interject into the conversation every now and then, and Adriana really was quite funny.
“Where are you from?” she asked suddenly, in the middle of her rambling.
“Er, Hogsmeade.”
“No,” Adriana said, “like, before that.”
“Before Hogsmeade?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know I wasn’t originally from Hogsmeade?” she asked, though she thought she knew the answer.
“Because you’re not white.” Adriana answered bluntly.
“Not white people can be born in Hogsmeade.” she said coolly.
“Oh, er sorry.” Adriana murmured, looking down. It was the first time she had looked awkward, and Euphemia took pity on her.
“It’s ok.” she sighed, “I’m from Khimsar.” Then she saw Adriana’s perplexed look and said, “India.”
“Oh.” Adriana said, then went back to babbling, and the awkward moment was over as quickly as it came.
A few minutes later, Adriana was in the middle of talking, when she suddenly fell silent, and whispered, “Wow.” Looking at something beyond Euphemia’s head.
Euphemia turned around to see the castle, and it really was a sight to behold. It was gorgeous from the Hog’s Head, but it was something else entirely from the lake. It looked about one hundred times bigger.
Euphemia felt herself let out a little gasp of her own.
Once all of the boats docked and the students clambered out, Dumbledore led them through two huge oak doors and told them about how the sorting would work, and house points, etcetera, etcetera.
They walked through the doors to the dining hall and - Euphemia spotted him almost immediately.
He would have been hard to miss. Seated at the Gryffindor table, if the red lion was anything to go by, he was telling a story to what seemed to be twelve devoted followers, and had their rapt attention.
Adriana must have seen where she was looking, because she suddenly asked, “Is that your brother?”
“What? Ew no!” Euphemia exclaimed. Ew, the thought…
Adriana looked perplexed by her reaction, but didn’t have time to comment, because the headmaster began speaking. Then the hat sang a song, which was truly a sight to behold, then it began calling people up in alphabetical order. After just a little, “Rao, Euphemia!” was called, and she walked wearily up to the old and fraying hat.
She sat on the stool and the hat was slowly lowered onto her head.
“Mm…” It purred in her ear, causing her to jump. She didn’t know the hat spoke to you!
“Very brave, smart…very intelligent…mm,” Euphemia really hated this. “And ambitious…interesting. Many qualities. Perhaps - no - certainly, we must go with…RAVENCLAW!”
The hat screamed the last word for the whole dining hall. Euphemia winced, pulling the hat off and scurrying over to the blue table. They were politely cheering. She didn’t dare glance over at the Gryffindor table. The thought of Fleamont not recognizing her was almost too much to bear.
A kind looking older student smiled warmly at her and gestured for her to sit. She did so gratefully.
“Congratulations,” the older girl said, “I’m Violet, a prefect. Let me know if you need anything.” Euphemia nodded shyly.
Eventually, “Smith, Adriana!” was called. She nervously walked over. The hat was perched on her head for a minute before declaring,
“HUFFLEPUFF!”
Euphemia cheered politely. As the hat came off, Adriana caught her eye and shrugged, before skipping off to join the Hufflepuffs.
Noticing the eye contact, Violet the prefect asked, “A friend of yours?”
Euphemia shrugged, “I guess so.”
Violet nodded seriously, “Having friends in other houses is a real bonus that most people don’t realize. They can give sound advice on professors from their respective houses.”
Euphemia nodded along.
“But,” Violet leaned in, “Between you and me, be wary of white girls. They’re good to get a leg up, but they don’t have your back, believe me.”
Euphemia nodded seriously, and looking around, realized Violet was one of the only black girls at the whole table. Her advice was most likely sound and Euphemia intended to follow it.