The weeks before Christmas passed quickly.
I put out a few fires between Snape and our little gang in honour of the truce, in turn Lily tolerated James and Sirius goofing around in the common room. Most of the time.
Remus decided to sit next to me in every class, which started the whole topic of 'who sits next to whom in class' so there would be a perpetual scuffle to the seats, and the loser got to sit with Johnathan. That was mostly Peter, but we made sure to switch every few days.
We all got more detentions, for sneaking around after the first year curfew, but we decided it was worth it, since we found the kitchens. The house elves were kind enough to cater to our every whim at any time of the day. And they had hot chocolate.
James kept pestering me to go out and fly with him but whenever we did get to the pitch, there was some or the other team practice going on, which left him in a very bad mood for the rest of the day.
Remus left to see his mother again at the beginning of December, after promising to keep our meeting a secret. I worried about the illness Mrs. Lupin had, since I certainly didn't remember that there was ever anything wrong with her.
I found out that I was pretty good at magic - especially at Transfiguration, Charms and Potions. Professor McGonagall thought my Transfiguration prowess came naturally due to me being a Metamorphmagus; since I could transfigure myself it was easy to do it on other objects. James and I would always be the first to get a spell right, and we would earn the points that Gryffindor managed to lose – due to Sirius and James's antics – by the end of the class. Charms was my strong suit, I'd taken a liking to them, as had Lily. And the ability to follow instructions from a book came handy in Potions, unlike Sirius and Peter, who would just plop the ingredients into the cauldron and burn them.
With December came the cold, and by the time my birthday rolled around on the 11th, Hogwarts was covered in a blanket of snow. I woke up with a cheerful mood, dancing around the dorm and waking up everybody else before skipping down the stairs and running into James, Sirius and Remus.
"Happy Birthday Rosebud!" Sirius pulled me into a hug and twirled me around.
I laughed. "But I never told you guys!"
"I remembered," Remus said, pushing aside James and giving me a tight hug. "Exactly two weeks before Christmas."
"And yours is in March... The tenth?"
"It is."
"Hey Ayesha... Happy birthday!" Peter smiled, coming down the stairs.
"Thanks Peter!"
"Not to sound like a guy who's starving, but can we go get breakfast?" James interrupted. "We can do birthday wishes on the way down."
So we went down to breakfast, where James insisted I wear pink hair and Sirius snatched every chocolate covered product in a five metre radius and put it in front of me.
"I appreciate the chocolate, Sirius, but I can't possibly eat all that!" I said, pulling my red hair into a ponytail - I refused to make it pink.
"Don't worry... I can finish it - look, cupcakes for breakfast!" And he jumped on the table. "Looks like the elves know it's your birthday!"
"That's a muffin, Sirius."
And that was the mood that carried over the rest of the day - James, Sirius and Peter got detentions for causing a riot in Potions, but for the next three nights instead of the one night, since it was 'Rosebud's birthday'.
After dinner they secured a chocolate cake big enough to cover one of the tables in the corner of the common room and held a mini party, with the rest of the first year Gryffindors, except Johnathan, who thought we were crazy.
Lily, Alice, Mary and Caroline had spent lunch making a card, which Lily had charmed to change colours every few minutes. It included a picture that I had taken a few nights back; all of us were in our fluffy pyjamas and eating chocolate.
After the girls went upstairs, the boys told me to wait for them and ran up to their dorm, leaving me with Peter.
"What are they doing, Pete?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure."
James and Sirius came running back down, with Remus following at a steadier rate.
"I'm not cleaning that up," Remus announced as he sat down.
"Cleaning what up?"
"Sirius made a mess of his trunk and basically coated the whole room with a layer of his stuff."
"Forget about that and just give her your present, Remus."
"You guys got me presents?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Of course," Remus laughed, giving me a small package. I ripped open the wrapping to find a single immobile chocolate frog. A short 'ha!' of amusement escaped my lips.
"This is brilliant!" I picked up the frog and nibbled on a foot.
"Did you kill it?" James whispered.
"No," Remus laughed. "I just removed the charm."
"But that's just… wrong."
"Don't fret, Jamesie, he used to do it all the time," I said, with a mouthful of frog head.
James just shook his head. "After that really disturbing present, -"
"Wait! I have something else!" Remus said, before passing another neatly wrapped package, which turned out to be a bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate. "That's from Peter and me." I smiled as I got up to hug them both.
"Open ours, Rosebud!" Sirius was jumping like a little girl. I sighed as I sat down and ripped the wrapping, which indicated that it was from both James and Sirius.
"What's this?" I asked, holding up the vial to observe the thick blue-green liquid.
"It's a potion," James said. I rolled my eyes. "If you use it in your camera, then your photographs will be moving ones."
I could only stare at the vial. My hands started to shake. "Umm… Rosebud?"
I glanced up at James and Sirius. "You – this – but – we haven't talked about this since the train!"
Sirius grinned widely. "We know – do you like it?"
"Like it? Sirius, it's amazing! Thank you!" I put the vial down and got up to hug them both, before letting go and reaching for my camera.
"Are you going to be taking pictures again?" Peter asked weakly as I added a drop of the potion in the undeveloped film.
"Yes, Pete, I am, so you can stop whining about it and join us!"
The next week passed quickly, with teachers taking end-of-term exams to see what we'd learned, and soon we were on the train again, heading back home for the holidays. The only one of us who didn't seem excited by the prospect was Sirius, who was not even remotely interested in going home, though James had invited him to Christmas at the Potter residence, which Sirius had declined for the sake of his brother Regulus.
"It's going to be weird, not seeing you guys everyday. Sort of got used to it in the past three months," I said, looking up from the gobstones spewed around the floor of the compartment.
"Well, I'll be around. I'm sure our mums and dads will be eager to catch up," Remus said with a wry smile.
"But you live so far!"
"So? He can floo, and so can I!" James announced.
"Floo?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.
"Oh, right, no floo at your house… that's weird."
"I can get your fireplace connected to the network," Peter said, looking comical with half his face covered in gobstones goo. "Dad works in Floo Network Regulation."
"But isn't it illegal to connect a muggle home to the network?" Sirius asked.
"I can ask about it," Peter smiled.
"Would you? That'd be great… only someone has to tell me what the Floo network is!"
"It's like a subway system, except you use fireplaces as stops and Floo powder to help you travel through the fire," Remus explained.
"Wow. That sounds cool."
"Hot, actually. Fire's hot."
"Come on, Sirius."
"What? It is!"
"Anyway," Peter interrupted before I could say anything. "Remus and Ayesha will be meeting over the break… Anyone else?"
"If you can floo, you can come over to my place too!" James grinned.
"I'd invite you too, but I don't want you to get thrown out," Sirius sighed, getting off the floor and sitting next to the window, staring out with a vacant expression. "I'm pretty sure they won't be too happy with me being a Gryffindor."
I looked at the others before getting up and sitting next to him, resting my head on his shoulder, putting my arms around him to give him a hug. He hugged me back, and that was all that he needed. We didn't need words to convey our thoughts.
"Mate, are you sure you don't want to stay over for Christmas? You can get Regulus as well," James said.
"Nah, I dunno… Enough about me guys, let's get back to the game!"
Two hours later we found ourselves at King's Cross.
James took over the planning. "Okay, Rosebud's parents will be in the Muggle station, so - "
"No," I corrected. "They can come in. They'll be waiting toward the back."
"Okay, so you can go get them to that big pillar with the clock. Meanwhile, Remus and Peter will bring their parents to the same place and I'll bring mine there too."
"And I'd love to introduce my parents, but I don't want the platform to explode," Sirius grinned.
"Alright! Everyone have their directions? Go!"
"Wouldn't it have been easier to say 'Let's meet at the pillar with the clock'?" I whispered to Remus.
"Since when has James gone the easy way?" Remus chuckled. "You excited? It's the moment of truth with our parents."
I grinned evilly. "It's going to be epic."
We got off the train, and went our separate ways knowing we'd be meeting in a few minutes. I headed off to the back of the crowd, knowing Mum and Dad would be waiting there. As the crowd cleared, I could finally see them. I wheeled my trolley as fast as I could, making Bonnie give me the evil eye every time we bumped someone.
"Daddy!" I jumped on him as soon as I was close enough. He caught me in his sturdy grasp.
"Welcome back, Princess," he smiled.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?"
"Mum!" I giggled, giving her a tight hug. She looked different. "Did you cut your hair?" I asked, giving her a critical look.
"Yeah, Belle insisted I get a new look. Speaking of whom…"
Someone tickled me from the back and I jumped. "Belle! You're so mean!" I blew a raspberry.
"Aww, Bunny, that was cute!" she smirked, tapping my nose. I grinned back.
"Okay, now you need to come with me." I started pulling her hand and pushing the trolley at the same time. "Come on!"
Dad took the trolley from me and they followed me across the station. I saw Lily and Mary leaving and waved.
"Where are we going?" Belle asked.
"To meet my friends," I answered.
"Didn't you just spend three months with them?"
"Yeah, but they haven't met you guys, and I haven't said goodbye."
We finally got to the clock, where the Potters and the Pettigrews were already waiting. The parents went about introducing themselves.
"Where's Sirius?" I asked of James. His face fell.
"His mum saw him standing with us and took him away. He told me to wish you guys a happy Christmas."
"Who's serious?" Belle asked.
"Not serious, Sirius, like the star," I said absently, trying to compose my face from going all red and blotchy. "Can he at least write?"
"I think so," James said thoughtfully. Then he shook his head and looked at Belle. "I'm James Potter," he said, with an easy smile. "You're Rosebud's sister, right?"
"Isabelle, Ayesha's sister," Belle said, a note of confusion in her voice.
"He calls me Rosebud, Belle," I rolled my eyes. "It used to be annoying. Just wait till I'm taller than you guys."
Belle was looking at me with a weird expression. "You look taller, actually. And different. How much weight did you lose?"
"Umm…" I could feel my hair trying to change colours and controlled it. I made myself an inch taller than I normally was and that made me look a little thinner. "Oh look! There's Remus!"
Remus was in fact, walking towards us with his parents. Belle turned around just before my hair turned bright purple and back to black again. Remus looked at me and smiled.
"Moment of truth?" he mouthed. I grinned back and looked at Mum and Dad, who had just spotted Mr and Mrs Lupin.
"Hope? What in the world?"
"Angela?" Mrs Lupin looked as shocked as Mum.
Remus joined us kids in the back, watching the spectacle. "This is a lot different than I thought it would be," he commented. "I imagined tears."
"Just you wait, they'll be here," Belle said, finally gaining control of her dropped jaw. "Now I know you haven't forgotten me," she said slyly, poking Remus in the ribs.
"Of course I haven't, Belle," Remus grinned as Mum started jumping up and down with Mrs Lupin. "You broke our rock-house!"
"I didn't break it, it was structurally unsound!" Belle protested as James and Peter laughed. "What are you doing here anyway? Are you a witch too?"
"So, Bunny," Belle asked after we finished dinner that night. We were all sitting in the kitchen, the table had been cleared after third helpings of Mum's chocolate pudding (yum). "What's this secret that you've been keeping?"
I gulped down the last sip of water in my glass. On the way home my hair had turned yellow and I hadn't really noticed, so Belle sort of screamed and Dad hit the brakes, stopping an inch away from the car in front of us. I played it off then, saying I would show them something at home.
"Well, it's not really a secret… it's actually…" Boy, I was having trouble wording this. "You remember when you said I looked taller?"
"Yes. Don't change the subject," Mum said.
"I'm not! It's all related!" I said. I took a deep breath and made my hair pink and spiky, gave myself a button nose and really big eyes. It was the face I'd been preparing for this moment. Looking around, I saw identical looks of horror on all three faces, although Belle was a little intrigued too.
"Ayesha Rosalie Cooper!" Mum reprimanded. "You know you're not allowed to use magic outside of school! Stop doing that immediately, whatever it is!"
"Mum, it's not exactly using magic, it's different," I tried to explain. "We aren't allowed to use wand magic at home. This magic, this is something I'm born with."
"Really?" Dad leaned forward. "Do explain."
"This is Metamorphmagic," I said. "It means I can change my appearance at will. I don't need a wand."
"O…kay?"
I giggled at Belle and closed my eyes. Within seconds, I heard three gasps. It must have been weird to see two Belles sitting at the table.
"But I can't change my clothes at will."
Angela Cooper
There I was, hoping for a nice, normal day in the morning. My little girl was coming home, Sam's sister Cathy was going to visit next week and the Christmas sales at the shop were going well.
I didn't expect to find Hope and Lyall Lupin at the station, their son and my daughter glued together at the hip like they had been the first four years of their lives.
I didn't expect to meet people like the Potters, who were not even the slightest bit unnerved that we weren't like them.
And I sure as hell didn't expect one of my daughters to suddenly shapeshift into the other.
I mean jeez.
"Ayesha, honey, you're gonna have to explain this properly."
"Alright," she smiled, turning back to her normal self, only this time, she kept her hair straight like her sister's.
"This is a rare ability that you're born with. You can't really learn it or anything. I can change what I look like and stay like that for as long as I want. I'm the only one at school, and only one of three alive in England today."
"If you were born with it, why don't we remember? Why did mum know you could do magic but not this?" Isabelle asked. I knew she was a little disappointed when we found out about all this, but she had put it all aside for Ayesha. She hadn't even let Ayesha realise. I was really proud of her.
"Umm, that's where my knowledge is a bit hazy," Ayesha said, scratching the side of her head and looking at some unknown point in the distance like she did when she was thinking real hard. "What I was told was that the Ministry Of Magic had been notified of a Metamorphmagus baby when I was three weeks old. They came to check, and they put a supressing charm so that I wouldn't accidentally change in front of other people. And I think they might have removed your memories," she finished quietly.
There was a silence as we contemplated her words.
How could they? No matter what secret they thought they were keeping, how could they steal our memories from us? They knew we would learn about magic someday!
"Who was it? Who notified the Ministry?"
"I don't know, Daddy," she said apologetically. "I first thought it was Mrs. Reynolds, but then I found Remus and remembered they were here too –"
"No they weren't," I said. "Hope and Lyall moved in next door a month before Remus was born. Around February. It was definitely Corrine Reynolds."
"Oh… I'll have to talk to her," Ayesha murmured.
"Aren't you mad at her?" Belle asked indignantly. "They kept you from being who you are and erased our memories!"
"Would you have been able to handle me if I kept changing all the time?" she countered. "Yes, I'm mad they took away your memories, but hiding my abilities was a security measure. A necessary one. And since they told me about it, I'm not really angry. I've even kept it a secret at school, only the boys and a few teachers know about it. You can understand the gravity of the situation."
"Why is it so important that it be a secret?" Sam asked, a note of panic in his voice.
Ayesha looked at each one of us in turn and breathed out deeply. "Since you're going to be spending time with the Lupins, you'll be hearing about this. So," she exhaled again, as if gearing up to tell us a secret of great magnitude. "You know how you guys can't do magic but I can? Well, there are some people who think that magic should only be passed down by blood, and they don't like people like me. It's a huge political thing right now. And even Headmaster Dumbledore didn't say anything about it when he told me to be discreet about my powers, but I think it has something to do with that."
"They don't like you because you're not born to magical parents?" Belle asked, and Ayesha nodded.
"I don't know what goes on in the world outside Hogwarts. I don't know what it'll be like when we graduate. But if the Headmaster asked me to be discreet, it's for a reason. And, coming back to supressing the magic when I was a baby, short of telling you the truth, and having a completely different childhood than the one I remember and cherish, what other option was there?"
And what could I possibly say to that, I thought as I got into bed later that night, except that my little girl had grown up way beyond her years in the last few months?
