This was written for the Room of Requirement and the Quidditch Pitch of Harry Potter's World.
Prompts: Genderbender!AU, Non-Canon Pairings: James/Sirius, Severus/Lily, and Quidditch Terms: Violence.
Dedicated to Dessie, because you liked it so much!
"It's a girl!" the midwife announced.
Walburga Black's face fell. Her first child was not supposed to be a girl, Morgana be damned!
She glared at her husband's delighted face, at the midwife and at the child in question who had dared to commit such an atrocity. How dare she to look at her as if she was expecting something from Walburga?
Unknown to little Druella Walburga Black, this was just the introduction to the rest of her life.
Druella (or Ella, as she was starting to call herself) was one year seven months old when her baby brother was born; that was the day everything changed.
While her mother had never paid her much attention, Walburga now mostly ignored her. No longer did she grudgingly tell her bedtime stories once every two or three months, no longer did she dress Ella (Druella, her mother insisted) in little robes, oh no, that time was over.
Little Ella was determined to hate Regulus (Reggie) at first, but the little guy was just too sweet. Ella watched over him to the best of her ability and when her daddy called her a great big sister (which—for some weird reason—felt wrong, somehow), she beamed.
She played with her little brother, the heir, the one who had taken her mother from her; it was not his fault that she was neither a boy nor a 'proper young lady' after all. She would make sure that he, at least, would have his mother (it didn't work out).
Ella Black was a lonely child (not quite a girl), but then, so was her little brother. Both of them only had each other, their house elf Kreacher, and occasionally their father as company. At first Ella didn't even have Kreacher, but she didn't want to be like her mother (anything but that—and yet a part of Ella still longed for approval), so she was nice to him and Kreacher was nice to her.
The point was, Ella did not have a single friend until she went to Hogwarts. Sure, she had associates from the numerous galas and parties her parents (mainly her mother) had dragged her to, but they were all perfect little clones of their perfect pureblooded parents. Far too much like her mother.
So when she boarded the train to Hogwarts, she had no one to sit with.
At least not until a boy her age (almost literally) ran into her. From her position on the floor, she scanned him. He had dark skin, dark hair and his eyes were a beautiful black abyss that she could lose herself in.
He grinned sheepishly while helping her up. "Sorry. I thought I saw my cousin over there. I haven't seen him in ages, you see, he lives in India with my grandmother and her family. I'm James Potter, by the way. Are you a first year too? Do you wanna sit with me?"
Ella looked around her, as soon as she was back on her feet. Her mother was too busy chatting with Abraxas Malfoy to care about her (and thank Merlin for that, too), and her dad and brother looked like they didn't mind. She nodded. "Yes, that would be nice. I'm Ella."
She and James chose a compartment at the very back of the train, not because the train was full, but because it was the best place, honestly (or so James claimed. Ella wouldn't know)!
It didn't take long until they were joined by a scarred boy with a book clutched tightly in his hands, a chubby one who kept playing with his fingers, a beaming, redheaded girl with a big smile, and a thin boy in loose robes that seemed to be hiding something.
For a minute or two, the only sound was a quiet whisper between the other girl and the skinny boy.
Ella decided that something had to be done about that; she was not only going to Hogwarts to learn magic, but to make friends.
"What are you reading?" She asked the scarred boy, because books were something she could talk about given the amount of time she hid with Reg in the library.
He was so immersed by the book that he did not notice her question; this was really going well.
James poked the scarred boy three times until he reacted. The chubby boy was watching from his spot in the corner and the other two had stopped their conversation.
The scarred boy looked at James.
"Ella asked you what you were reading," James informed him cheerfully.
The scarred boy, scratched the back of his head, clearly trying to figure out which one of the girls was Ella.
The redhead, too, recognised it and introduced herself as Lily Evans (which wasn't a magical last name, a part of her realized).
The scarred boy looked at her. "It's a muggle book. The Lathe of Heaven it's called. Pretty dark, I'm surprised my mom let me read this, actually."
"Sounds interesting," she noted, because everything that annoyed mothers was good in her book.
"I agree," James stated. "My name's James, by the way. James Potter."
The scarred boy introduced himself as Remus Lupin, the chubby one as Peter Pettigrew, and the thin one as Severus Snape.
They all looked at her expectantly.
"I'm Ella."
"What's your full name?" Peter questioned curiously.
She sighed. "Do I have to? Can't I just be Ella?"
"C'mon. You're behaving like it's something terrible. Unless you're Ella Grindelwald or something you shouldn't have any reason to be afraid of introducing yourself," James tried to encourage her.
"Not quite Grindelwald. If you absolutely have to know, my full name is Druella Walburga Black."
"And I thought you were okay," James spat, inching away from her.
"What has her name got to do with anything?"
In that moment, Ella decided that Lily Evans was her new friend.
Severus spoke up. "Lily, remember when you asked if your heritage mattered? The Black thinks it does."
"Correction, most Blacks think that. My cousin Andy is engaged to a muggleborn. Got herself blasted of the family tree. She's the closest thing I have to a role model in my family, if I'm honest."
The others let that sink for a second or two. Then James slung his arms around her (and why did that make her blush?). "Alright, Ella."
They were sorted in different houses that evening, but their friendship remained.
The word 'her' had always sounded strange and wrong to her (and there it was again!). Just like countless others. Girl. Sister. Daughter.
It was fine when talking about Lily or Marlene or Alice, but when applied to her? Er, no thank you. It wasn't necessarily that it was wrong, it was more like that it didn't exactly apply to all of her.
It wasn't until third year that Ella told someone else.
They were in an unused classroom on the third floor. Everyone was there; Lily, Severus, Peter, James, Ella herself (there was that yucky word yet again), even Reg and Ana Fawley (a Slytherin in Reg's year that he had protected from bullies) and—of course—Remus. He was the reason they were here after all.
"We know what you are," Severus stated ominously, the second Reg—the lone Raven in their group—had closed the door behind him.
Ana—the only other Slytherin in the room—facepalmed.
"Aren't Slytherins supposed to be, well, subtle?" Peter questioned jokingly.
"We are," Ana agreed.
Remus had paled considerably throughout the exchange and was stuttering what had to be excuses, so Ella and James intervened.
"Yes, we know you're a werewolf," James stated.
"No, we're not afraid or think you're a monster," Ella added.
"And—as far as we are aware—no one outside this room knows," James finished.
"But, but, but…"
"No buts." James declared. "I'm not sure about butts. Thoughts?"
Lily giggled, causing Severus to dramatically roll his eyes. Peter chuckled while Ella, Reg, and Ana outright laughed.
Ella meanwhile, took pity on poor Remus and dragged him into the room next door.
"Hey, don't worry. You're still a normal guy, just like anyone else. We don't think any different of you." She (another appearance of the hated word) tried not to think of Sev while she was saying that.
Remus snorted. "Normal. Yeah, right."
"Hey. By certain definitions—mine for example—you are. And you're not the only one who doesn't exactly fit in the standard definition," Ella muttered the last part, hoping that no one would hear it.
Unfortunately Remus did.
"What do you mean?" he asked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Should I tell him? Ella wondered. What if he doesn't believe me? Or worse: what if he laughs? No, Remus would not do that. He needs the comfort. I should tell him.
It wasn't easy to find the words, nevermind actually speaking them, but Ella managed. Eventually. "I...I am not a girl. Well, not only. I…I think I might be…I am both. Male and female."
Ella's imagination ran wild with countless scenarios of rejection—every single one worse than the one before—even while she (it was impossible to avoid the word) was saying that.
It took a second until Remus completely understood what his friend had just revealed. He had never heard of something like that before. But why should she...err, Ella...lie about something like that?
He noticed that she...his friend (darn, this was hard!)...looked like she...Ella...was about to cry. Her lower lip was trembling and her eyes were wet.
"Hey, no worries. You're not leaving me and I'm not leaving you. We're gonna figure this out together."
Ella's response was to hug him tight.
"Thank you," Ella whispered repeatedly.
"It's alright," Remus replied. "But I do need to breathe."
Ella let go of him and took a step back, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry."
"It's alright."
Their silence was interrupted by a single knock on the door.
"Are you guys okay?" James questioned, through it.
They grinned at each other
"Yes, we are, James," Remus answered.
Three days later, the Remus was sitting in the library, trying to find a way to avoid all those words Ella hated, while his friend was telling Lily (Ella had requested to be alone for this).
He found a couple of words and pronouns to use and quickly noted them down on a piece of spare parchment he had found in his robe.
After twenty something minutes, the two of them slipped into the seats next to him, but neither of them joined his research, instead choosing to work on their Ancient Runes essay.
Roughly half an hour later, he had managed to read through the single book he had found.
"Okay, I've made a list of alternate pronouns as well as some terms," he whispered.
Lily motioned for him to continue once it became clear that Ella wasn't going to.
"There are apparently different kinds of this, er, phenomenon. All of them can be called 'non-binary'. Based on what you told me, you are bigender, Ella. That means you're both genders to a certain degree that can vary over time."
"Yes. That does sounds like me," she breathed, seemingly unable to close her mouth (until Lily pointed that out).
"Okay, I found several other pronouns. Take a look." Remus handed the list to his friend who scanned it.
"This one. Ey/Eir/Em." Ella stated after a few seconds.
"Great!" Lily cheered. "Another thing. Are you fine if we continue to call you Ella? Because if that makes you uncomfortable I'm totally gonna stop."
Remus nodded. "Yes, we could switch to Dru or you could choose a whole new name."
Eir friend smiled. "I like Dru."
Ey told their other friends later that week.
Most of them were confused—some longer than others—but in the end all of them reacted positively.
James went out of his way to ensure that no one in their group misgendered em, Reg swore to hex anyone who ever dared to do it on purpose, Severus promised to look into potions to keep eir appearance androgynous, Peter hugged em, and Ana confessed that she had suspected something like that, but chose to give Dru the time to tell her emself.
Ey had found great friends.
Severus did not find a single useful potion, but he did his best to invent a potion that would make sure that she would not get big breasts.
Dru would just wait and see. And hope that ey got naturally small ones.
During eir fourth year, Dru finally got over her crush for James, who was quite obviously falling for Lily (as was Severus for that matter).
However, she fell for Remus.
Only this time eir love was returned.
A couple of months later—apart from Ana and Regulus they were in fifth year by that point—they finally finished their animagus transformation.
Dru was a Grim, James a stag, Lily a doe, Reg a Raven, Ana a black-tailed prairie dog, Peter a rat, and Severus a vulture.
That resulted in a number of interesting conversations.
They named themselves the Marauders. Padfoot, Prongs, Emerald, Claw, Snout, Wormtail, and Beak.
"You what!?" Dru shouted in protest.
"I entered you in a marriage contract with Thorfinn Rowle," eir mother repeated. "He is from a respectable pureblood family and you are turning seventeen next year, young Lady. You will be expected to act as such."
Out of eir eye, ey spotted Regulus wince for less than a second before he collected himself.
"I will not be doing that," Dru declared. "I refuse to end up as some trophy housewife to Rowle. I am a strong, educated person and I don't need a man to support me or whatever else it is that your tiny little brains thought of."
"Druella Walburga Black! You are young and foolish and you will apologize to your mother at this instant," eir father ordered.
"No, I will not," ey crossed eir arms over eir chest. "I refuse. There are literally so many reasons why this is stupid. He's an ass. He hates me. That hate is mutual, by the way. He'd most likely end up using violence in the first twelve seconds he's alone with me. I am already in a relationship-"
"What did you just say, girl?" Eir father questioned, leaning forward a couple of inches.
"I am in a committed relationship with Remus Lupin and have been for around eleven months. Yes, he is a half blood, but honestly, who cares?! He loves me and accepts me for who I am, as opposed to you who do neither. Don't even try to argue. He's not the one who has spent the last year deliberately misgendering me. He is not the one who tried to curse me into obedience. You know what? I've had enough! I'm leaving. Permanently." During eir speech ey had slowly stood up and now ey stormed out of the room.
"You know, you probably shouldn't have announced that," Regulus criticised as soon as he stepped into her room that evening.
"I know, but I don't care. I just can't stand it anymore. I'm removing myself from this environment before I end up strangling her. Or him. Or both. Both actually sounds like a good idea," ey mused. "Thank you for defending me, by the way. Your support was appreciated."
Regulus rolled his eyes. "You're welcome. After all I convinced them that I would stop you and have Kreacher alert them should that not work out. Are you done packing yet? Because the more time you take, the harder it will be for us to get out from this point on."
"For us?" Dru repeated.
"Of course. Why in Merlin's name did you think I am carrying my suitcase?!" He questioned, clearly doubting her sanity.
Ey grinned. "How am I supposed to know you're carrying it? It shrinks, you doofus! And I'm done. Ready to leave this hellhole behind?"
"You bet."
Dru's first instinct was to go to Remus, but Regulus pointed out that eir boyfriend's parents could barely afford him, nevermind both of them in addition.
"What about Ana?" He proposed.
"Did you forget that her parents are friends with ours or what?"
"Well, obviously not Severus. I don't particularly fancy dealing with Lily's sister and I doubt you do."
"So to the Potters?"
"Sure, why not."
They were welcomed with open arms by Fleamont, Euphemia, James, and their elves.
They finally discovered how a real family acted.
Soon, they were even Potters by name.
Their sixth year was mostly boring.
Apart from their pranks, the only thing that happened that were even remotely interesting were that Lily and James finally got together. As did Ana and Regulus, to Euphemia's delight ("All three of my children have found love!")
Oh, and Remus and Ella decided to go all the way.
Over the years, their group of friends had started a game. The entire point of it was to freak a minimum of one other member of the Marauders as fast as possible.
Dru won the game in eir seventh years, when ey and eir female friends were sitting in the unused classroom they had claimed. It only took her four words to freak them out. And two of them were their names.
"Lily? Ana? I'm late."
"You're what?" Ana questioned. Because she needed to make sure that she understood that correctly.
"My period is two weeks too late already."
A few seconds of silence.
"Well, fuck."
Lily quickly accioed her Charms textbook because she was sure that there was a charm to tell whether or not one was pregnant.
After five minutes of anxious waiting, she finally found the charm.
"Okay, so it'll make the area around your womb glow red if you're pregnant and blue if you're not. Do you want to do it yourself or should I…?"
Dru took a deep breath and closed eir eyes. "Just do it."
Ey heard Ana swallow and decided that ey was ready to face the results.
The area around her lower stomach was covered in a red light.
Ey was pregnant. Merlin's bread!
The only good thing was that she could finally get back at Remus to his latest prank.
Only this was real.
The very next morning, ey was moving towards the hospital wing, holding hands with Remus.
They didn't speak; neither of them knew what to say or do. They figured that Madam Carter (or her apprentice) was their best shot to get helpful advice. They simply could not let anyone outside the Marauders know.
For one second, Dru had imagined eir mother's reaction. She had a nightmare about it that night.
"How can I help you, Mr. Lupin, Mx. Potter?"
Remus scratched the back of his head. "Well, uhm, actually we're here because-"
"I'm pregnant," Dru blurted. "And neither of us have any idea what to do, what our options are or about literally anything else."
"Well, you've come to the right place. Why don't we sit down in my office while Poppy, my apprentice, handles the other students?"
While Remus and Dru sat down, Madam Carter gave her apprentice a handful of rules and tips to handle the Hospital Wing alone. It was empty, save for a fifth year Hufflepuff who needed the bones of his leg regrown and a seventh year Ravenclaw whose right arm had been replaced by a wing. Poppy Pomfrey would manage.
"So, you had unprotected sex. I am not here to lecture you about it, though I wish I had the opportunity before it's too late…. Anyways, your case, I am sure you're well aware, is especially complicated."
Both Dru and Remus acknowledged her statement by a nod.
"In an ordinary case, your options would be abortion, adoption, freezing the pregnancy and let it continue normally. In this case, adoption can almost certainly be excluded, unless you have any specific ideas for adoptive parents?" She prompted.
Dru snorted. Yes, eir blood family would totally take a half-werewolf half-Dru kid and treat it decently. Pretty much everyone else she knew and trusted was a Marauder. Mom and Dad—Fleamont and Euphemia Potter—were the only real option ey could think of and they were pretty much guaranteed to help them anyways. Provided that they decided to keep the kid.
Ey glanced at Remus. He seemed to have pretty similar thoughts.
"You could, of course, also terminate the pregnancy," Madam Carter continued.
"Essentially killing the kid?" Remus questioned. It sounded like he was pretty conflicted.
"Technically speaking, yes," Madam Carter replied, seemingly unfazed. "There is an ongoing debate concerning the issue at what point an embryo or fetus is a kid. I personally don't think we will ever find a definite answer to that question and my own opinion is irrelevant. As is yours, Mr. Lupin. Only Mx. Potter's view is relevant."
"...I...I don't think I can make that choice now," she whispered.
"You do not have to," Madam Carter assured em.
"What about the other options?" Remus inquired. "I believe you said something about freezing the pregnancy?"
"Yes. This is just about what it sounds like. You would be stopping the pregnancy and continues it at a later date of your choice. Mx. Potter would still experience any and all symptoms of eir pregnancy during that time," she stated, looking em in the eye.
"And the last choice would be to continue it normally?" Dru requested clarification.
"Indeed," Madam Carter confirmed.
Dru and Remus independently sent almost identical letters to their parents—adoptive parents in Dru's case.
Mom, Dad, I need your help. I messed up.
They received pretty similar replies too.
Don't worry, we'll be there to help you. Do what you think is the best.
Both of them also talked to James and Regulus, separately and without each other's knowledge.
James first words were not exactly helpful, but at least he wasn't threatening to kill Remus, so that was a plus. "And I thought Severus and Petunia dating was the most interesting thing currently happening."
Eventually—a week after Dru had found out—they talked to each other.
"It's your body and your choice. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I am just as much at fault."
"You shouldn't be burdened with-"
"Don't say that," Dru interrupted. "So we both forgot to use protection. Stop behaving like you murdered someone or something. We'll figure this out. We always do."
"But still-"
"Nope. This is about you being a werewolf, isn't it? Even if the kid does turn out to be one too—because I have ruled out an abortion about twenty minutes ago—that does not mean I love either of you any less. We'll be just as normal as any other teenage pregnancy."
Remus chuckled. "According to certain definitions of normal?"
"Exactly!"
They froze the pregnancy for roughly two years.
Then, after the a series of marriages in their group of friends—James and Lily, Petunia and Severus, Regulus and Ana, and they themselves, of course—Dru decided that ey was ready to be a parent.
"We just need to figure out something that the kid can call me, because I'm not choosing a gender and parent sounds so distant."
"We'll figure something out," Remus promised, before kissing em.
As it turned out, Dru was expecting twins. They figured it out when ey entered the second trimester.
A boy and a girl—at least from a biological standpoint.
"Well, at least we don't have to choose a godfather. We can simply let both Reg and James have one," Remus joked.
"And Ana and Lily as godmothers," Dru agreed.
"Do you know if one of them will be a girl? If only one of them is a girl, then I call the girl," James proclaimed the second he found out.
"I'm fine with that," Regulus shrugged. "Provided you are?" He turned to his wife.
"Sure," Ana stated. "I don't mind. Any child of those to will be equally difficult to deal with."
"Oi!" Dru protested, clearly insulted.
"You have to admit, Ana has a point," Lily giggled.
"Traitors. All of you."
"Hey, don't be like that. This one is going to be just as much of a troublemaker." Lily pointed to her flat stomach.
Everyone but James stared. Peter almost collapsed on the floor.
"Surprise!"
Henry Lyall and Jennifer Euphemia Lupin were born on May 2, 1980. Two months after Joseph Michael Snape and two months before Harry James Potter.
If you ignored the ongoing war against Voldemort and his minions for a minute, everything was good and normal for them.
At least by certain definitions.
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~Marvelgeek42