AN: Our current Beta - Destiny - is being super helpful! They're the reason things from here on… flow as well as they do. This year was a major point of contention for me as a writer, and I went through three drafts of the whole thing before they helped me make this final version! ^_^

Other than that, I'm pretty sure you guys will like the final edit we've put together for you - but I can't thank Destiny enough - really the story takes a massive upswing in quality from here. I may go back when I have time and rewrite up to this point to keep it all in line. I'll wait though, to see if I get -even better- because then I'll just be rewriting endlessly. When I finish the story (Hogwarts part) I'll go ahead and do it regardless. I promise.

The train ride to the platform I would be picked up on was with far fewer people than normal. Just me, Daphne and Sarah. I was filling them with codes, and how to convince me my mind had been wiped.

I only trust these two with this information because 1. Daphne's whole family has very clearly put themselves behind me. They're backing me in this race. And 2. Sarah wouldn't betray me, and her Occlumency is nearly perfect. I can't see her skill level, but I know it must be at least 50, which is near mastery. I know this because she can easily defeat my mental probes, she's at least twice as good at Occlumency as I am at Legilimency.

Of course, they've both sworn an oath to not reveal the information willingly to another being, with the exception of Daphne's father, who was an insurance policy and safety net.

Involving them as closely as I could would tie us more and more together, which would make it very hard for them to betray me.

As we pulled into the station, I gave them both a hug, and then nodded over my shoulder to them. "I'll try to get a sleepover with Sarah during the second week of summer break. Then Daphne in the fourth week, following my birthday and then again with Sarah in the Sixth week, and then with both of you at my place in the Seventh week. I'll also try to set things up to visit with the boys. Maybe have them visit me. So I'll see you soon." I tell them, and they both nod, though Sarah seems like she wants to cry, and Daphne is clearly more than a bit frustrated. They wanted to help, but, after the many hours on the train I had successfully convinced them that this was the best possible route to staying safe.

Unspeakables are the only branch of the government who don't require a warrant to arrest or eliminate a suspect, they secured that right after Sir Hendrick the Vile stole countless secrets from them and used the magics he learned to harm innocents, and the Unspeakables were tied up in paperwork, getting the warrant. They got it within 48 hours, but by then, Hendrick had killed over 200 with the magics, and had done incredible damage to the research and progress they'd made in the last century.

So Unspeakables don't need warrants, and can do whatever needs to be done, as long as they can retroactively prove it was warranted. If they break the rules, and can't prove it was needed, their department gets a massive fine, and the perpetrators of the crimes in question are put in Azkaban for the maximum time for the crime they committed.

So for murder, that's life, no chance of parole. Too bad the reason for killing me is well within the law.

I slid into my 'daddy's girl' mask, as I stepped off the train, and hopped into my father's arms. He twirled me around, like he'd done last time I came home, then, when I was set down, I hopped into mom's hug, too.

And then we went home.

Hopefully he doesn't know, and it was just an illusion, after all.

When we get home, I'm dragged off by Adam, who wants to hear all about Hogwarts. I choose, as planned, to humor him, and my sister, Jasmine.

"So, what was it like? Did you have any cool adventures this year? Did you meet Harry Potter? Was he cool?" Adam fires off rapidly. I smile at him, placatingly. So inquisitive. So annoying.

"It was nice. I like being away from home and learning. It's so cool learning all that you can do with magic!" I exclaim for him, with Jasmine (still a couple years from Hogwarts) leaning in. "Of course, I did have some adventures. I think the most interesting one was how I got Professor Flitwick to assign me eternal detention." I tell him, and then, begin to regale him with the day of the Quidditch pitch, and how I'd been in detention basically nightly ever since.

I didn't mention Flitwick wasn't actually punishing me, really. That would ruin it.

"That's so silly! You were helping Harry Potter! Why would they give you detention, when you clearly saved his life?!" Adam asks, clearly unhappy, and I giggle as he goes.

"Well, the idiot who I set on fire was in the infirmary for hours, and he was reportedly in pain for weeks after. Also, I absolutely broke the rules. Really, I should have been expelled for attacking another student. The only reason I wasn't was I had a very good reason: defence of another." I explain, and he leans back, slumping in his chair (on my left in the couch).

"Rules are stupid." He mutters.

"Yea!" Jasmine chirps. "Stupid!" Then she giggles and pokes my side. "Say, is Harry as dashing as he's portrayed to be in the books?" She asks, blushing.

"No. I think those are pure fiction. He came to school smaller than Adam is now." I say gesturing to my brother, who was about average for an 11 year old. "On top of that, Harry seems to have been raised by muggles, and rather poor ones at that. The clothes he had didn't really fit, and it was kinda rough for him there, for awhile." I tell her, and she droops.

"Poor guy. He needs someone to save him…" she trails off, and I sigh.

He really doesn't need someone to save him, at all. In fact, as far as I can tell, he's already done more to save the school than most students do in their whole careers there. At this rate, he'll be better than the teachers, even. He's already only a tiny bit behind me. In raw numbers, anyways. I'm pretty sure I'm still vastly ahead in raw skill and knowledge, though. I intend to see the gap in this manner only increase, since it's clear that he'll always end up more powerful than me, with his four titles offering him +1 to a stat, or all stats. (+2 Dex, Con, Int, Wis and +1 Str and Agi per level is just insane. There is no world in which I can outpace his power-growth. I can stick close, but never will I surpass, without something giving me more modifiers.)

All that aside, I just smiled. "I've tried. He doesn't want saving, and he hates people pitying him. He wants to succeed on his own terms. The best thing you can do is try to help him from a distance, set things up to be easier when he has to deal with them," I tell her. She nods, and I can see the wheels in her head turning out a plan.

Cute!

"What about the castle itself? Should I do anything to get ready?" Adam asks, breaking my cooing.

"Oh, yea. Make sure you study up on potions ahead of time. The class requires you read a chapter per-week. If you fall behind on your reading, and don't actively try to keep up, then you will never be able to succeed. The class is largely practical, or demonstration of the things in the book. If you don't know what you're watching, though, I've been told it's a bunch of senseless wand waving and ingredient preparation." I tell him. He nods seriously.

"Outside of that, you'll want to make sure you have a good grasp of the fundamentals. Did you read the books I told you to? They're boring, I know." I say, seeing the look on his face. "But they're important. If you know and understand that stuff, then you'll be way ahead of your classmates, and be able to do magic way better. Trust me. People ask me how I'm so good at picking up spells all the time. Really, it all starts with those books. They explain everything." I tell him, and he nods slowly. Clearly not liking what he's hearing. He understands, though. Good.

"Is there… a shortcut? Some way to get better faster?" He complains. I smile at him.

So much like me when I was his age, originally.

"I wish. It's not like you're some hero destined for power and greatness. You have to earn every inch. If you earn the title of hero, or you truly work hard and dedicate yourself to doing all you can, then you'll be a great and powerful person. If you slack off, and waste time, like most do, then you'll still come out good, though. You never saw any particular people be marked down as "weak" because they spent their childhood playing pranks. I've yet to hear, or read, of some prankster who became a legendary mage." I explain, playing to his dream of being great - like Dumbledore. He has desires, he wants to go places.

If he wants to overcome the sheer genius and perks Dumbledore (and I) have, he'll need to work twice as hard, or hyper-specialize.

"But, that sounds so hard. No one ever talks about Dumbledore working for hours on end. No one has ever told me that Dumbledore spent every waking hour out there working on bettering himself and his magic, like you're implying he did. How can he just be born so powerful and stuff, and I have to do all this work?" He grumps, and I pat his head.

"They don't say he did, but I know he has. He's told me so himself. They don't talk about it, because if they did, then he'd lose some of his mystique. It's reasonable that someone who works all day every day for years becomes a legend. It's absolutely impossible - and beyond terrifying - that he was just born that way. He's just that good naturally. If I'm someone making propaganda about him, I know what angle I take." I tell him. He nods.

He's smart, but he's pretty lazy. Firstborn son. Slightly spoiled but well meaning.

Hopefully Hogwarts - a taste of the real world - won't turn him bitter like it did Cormac. I'll try to make sure it doesn't. People are a bit hard to predict in a lot of ways. I'm just hoping that I've read my brother right, and I can steer him away from spoiling.

It would be a lot easier, spending as much of my free time tutoring him this summer as he could stand. If he didn't want it, then I'm sure Jasmine will want some time with me. In fact, I'll try to give her more attention than I'd originally planned. Just hang out with her whenever I have the time.

Yea. That sounds like a great idea.

Eventually, I settled into a tedious routine. I would wake up, play with my brother or sister, or teach them something. Then, I'd go to my summertime classes for violin, gymnastics or dancing. When I finished those, usually sometime after-noon, I would go home and do my homework. When I finished my homework in the second week. It had been while staying at Sarah's, which while a novel experience, there was nothing special that happened. We just hung out like we do at Hogwarts and her mom having taken up the role of our local adult figure.

Really basic, but fun. A story for another time.

So I moved on to personal projects, like advancing my charms skill as far as I could with my current knowledge. To this end, while Papa was at work, I was spending all my time working on my magic, constantly trying to improve my magic in every way. In doing this free-form experimentation, I not only netted a lot of levels in the Charms (All) skill, which was massively ahead of all my other magic skills, but I also advanced my other skills slightly. As in, my Transfiguration was improving, and my DADA was improving, even though I wasn't using them. I figured out why a couple days before my birthday.

"It's a subtle thing, but…" I cast the spell again - a fifth year charm which projects a precise sound from your wand. There are endless variations to it. The one I'm practicing is an inaudible (to humans) whistle spell. Perfect for covert practicing of spells.

And if cast powerfully enough, a way to break someone's eardrums in combat.

But that's not why I was casting it, really. I'd been working on perfecting the spell, and it finally clicked why this mastery of charms was affecting my other magical skills. I'm mastering the underlying theory behind the magic. It's just that simple.

All magic comes from the same basic source. So a lot of the concepts are related until you get pretty far down the line. My mastery of charms - currently in the mid-40's - is so far ahead of my other skills - low to mid 30's - that the things I'm learning are retroactively improving my other skills, since the theory and skills I'm getting would be applicable to those branches of magic, too. Really, it was a simple idea, but unnoticeable unless you paid incredible attention, or could cheat and see the underlying system, like I could.

The interesting thing is, that there are some things which I learn that seem useless to anything but charms, like specific 'charms only' theory, which improves my other skills. But when you think about it, knowing the exact boundaries between one thing and another will help you do them both with more accuracy and skill. You won't try, for example, to transfigure legs onto a kettle to make it dance.

There's a much more efficient charm for that. There's no point. But unless you knew why, under Xian Wakana's Enchantment Theorem, well, it would just be a relative 'it just is'.

Xian Wakana, for those curious, had discovered, using Arithmancy, exactly why it was how it is. In short, the charm makes the illusion of legs, but doesn't make the legs. It instead makes precise force-constructs which are just raw mana. This is the first step to actually making them with transfiguration, but requires none of the power of taking some other material (or air) and actually making the legs.

No transformation? No transfiguration. Just a simple illusion and basic raw magic manipulation. I get a point in Transfiguration and Charms for mastering the spell, either way.

Now, I've all but mastered every spell which you learn in Hogwarts Syllabus. I can extend space, even. This unlocked a magic subtype called "Dimensionalism" - which was a subtype of charms, like Enchantment and Chronomancy. There were apparently just the three types, just like combat magic and their three schools - Elemental, Emotive and Power-based. Or Transfiguration, and Animate, Inanimate and Conjurations. Note, "Combat Magics" and not "Defence Against the Dark Arts." Really, that was just half of "Combat Magic", the other half, the offensive bit, wasn't taught at school, which is a good thing, I think.

People who know where to look will find it, but you know, at least they aren't actively arming OWL students with the Fulmen spell. It's the first level of lightning magic, the second level is the lightning spear I'd learned for the magical control set.

There are ten spells for each element, I'd figured out. Grade 10 Elementalist spells are stupidly powerful. Fiendfyre is the most common example, but the Electromagnetic storm is probably the scariest. It basically summons lightning bolts from the sky, and warps them to your will. Famous uses of this are in the eastern mythos (and why 'elemental magic' are so popular in the east.) and sometimes in the older western tales.

I don't think I'll ever master magic to that level, but it's good to know what may exist. Thankfully my element (which I am most aligned with) - Air - has a defense to most of the other elements. It's a bubble of 'void' - where you remove all oxygen from the air, and leave other, less charged or flammable gasses. It's the air-version to answer the two combat-based elements. Fire and Lightning. Anti-Earth is the flight spell, and anti-water is the freezing spell, though generally the books on air-magic recommend learning water and ice-magic, too.

An Air/Water Elementalist would be nigh unstoppable to other elementalists.

But too specialized for my liking. Imagine running into a soul mage? No elemental spell really stands a chance. Better to use normal magic. It's faster, generally and just stronger on the counter to specialists.

But I've been distracted. Yea, the three charms schools. Dimensionalism is familiar to me, because it's literally altering reality to be larger. I suspect creating a pocket dimension is possible, where you can alter the laws of reality a bit.

I think that's what the Room of Requirement is, actually. It's also technically how you'd do illusions. You warp things in such a tiny way that reality is open to suggestions, on how things look externally. It doesn't change how they really are - but it changes how they look.

I imagine changing how they are, physically on a temporary basis is possible, but just stupidly hard. Imagine ripping a dimensional hole so you can make your illusion a reality with your square of the dimension you'd pulled for your illusion, just to put it all back together?

Yea, not so easy.

Not yet. I will figure out how to do these types of magic. Illusions are just so useful! Too useful! And I like being able to use them in combat. Even just to make life easier, too. Illusions, truly the best type of magic.

Oh well, I'll have to figure it out later. Now? I should really just get as good as I can in my basic schools of magic. Charms first. I can focus on the fancy stuff when my fundamentals are at 'master' level. Before then, I'm just wasting my time. I've seen as much from the room of the Masters. The fancy stuff requires skills to be at least level 60.

My summer continued like this. It was just two days before my birthday that I was back and my father took me and my brother out shopping. Really, I took my brother shopping. Papa went to manage something in the family vaults, and said it would take a few hours.

Plenty of time to get supplies. He gave us 50 Galleons to get the supplies (which would probably cost 10 Galleons for me and 20 or so for my brother.), a treat for ourselves and lunch, in case he was gone for a while longer than he'd anticipated. I decided to stick to papa's script from when we got my stuff.

Trunk first.

The interesting thing about Diagon was the number of awakened wandering around. Easily 100 of them. Various shopkeepers and just wandering witches and wizards. A few off in Knockturn, but less than in the main alley itself. I was surprised to find Papa wasn't awakened this summer, but maybe the magic was lost in our family?

"What kind of trunk should I get?" Adam asks me as we trod off to the shop. I shrug.

"What kind of woods do you like? Or do you know what you want? We're not getting anything insane, but I recommend a harder wood with durability, sizing and weight enchantments. Size too. That's what mine is, but you can take your time to find one you like," I tell him and he nods up at me.

"Are there any good hardwoods which match the wood used in the beds?" He asks and I blink at him.

"Depends on the bed. Most of them are maple or oak frames, in my experience. I think. I'm not a wood expert but that's what I've heard from the others," I say and again, he nods.

"Are there any hard maple or oaks?"

"Hard maple, yea." He nods.

"Lets get that, then." He decides, and I ruffle his hair. We enter the shop not a minute later. I'm the only customer, but the old man - I honestly don't remember his name - is at the counter. In the back I hear someone rifling around.

"Hey!" I call as I enter. "We're looking for a sturdy hard-maple traveling trunk, something which will last him all seven years and beyond." I say, thumping my brother on the back with my right hand as my left pulls out my coin pouch. The man nods, and waves his wand at a stack of trunks, and one which (I guess) matches what we want, floats down.

"This one good?" The man asks, and I shrug. My brother opens it and looks in the expanded interior.

"Does it have basic security charms and anti-tampering? I know it's not standard on Hogwarts stuff, but we both know it should be" I tell him, roughly repeating what I remember my father saying, he smirks at me and nods.

"All my trunks have that, these days." He tells me. "When you buy it, I hit it with a spell so it won't set off my alarms for theft and binds to the person holding it." He tells me, I nod, and look at the price tag.

5 Galleons.

I shell out the money and we're on our way. Adam was more than pleased with his acquisition.

"How about you go get your wand? I'm going to go get my robes done, since I'll take awhile. When you're having yours done I'll go handle the books, and then we can get lunch. Sounds good?" I ask, and he nods, zipping off to the wand shop we'd passed earlier. I chuckle and head off to get my robes done up.

I've outgrown what I can expand the fabric to work with, and I need new underclothes, anyways. Being a growing girl is such a hassle sometimes. Asymmetry in my body is really annoying. One arm a tiny bit longer than the other. One boob slightly larger than the other.

Annoying. All of it. I figure I'll even out later in life, maybe not totally, but a bit. Better than 'adolescent asymmetry' at least. As long as I keep eating slightly more than I need to, I should fill out very healthily.

Thank god magic is so accommodating. And fixes slight health issues, like being overweight.

You can get overweight as you age, if you eat way too much or are vastly overindulgent, but it's a lot harder for magical people. Magic helps our bodies keep running optimally. A little too much or way too little food won't kill us. Way too little can harm our magic though, due to the strain of it fixing stuff and otherwise needing to be active.

I walk into Madame Malkin's a bit roughly as I think about why I learned this. Harry had been dealt a bad lot. The door bell jingling roughly snapped me out of it in time for me to stop the door from slamming open fully, but only barely. I looked up sheepishly at the front desk attendant.

Only one other person was in the shop, and she looked to be in her mid-30's, but was clearly not English. Her hair was a shade of blonde which doesn't exist in these isles, and her eyes were a shade of blue which you see more in Western France or in America.

I'm guessing she's French, considering the magical aura floating off her, wispy and almost forming wings on her back.

Veela. I think.

Glad I have such a tight screw on my magic, and mind so she can't affect me. Quickly they get my measurements, and we begin the process of figuring out my clothes. It takes a good thirty minutes before I feel satisfied with my choices, and the French lady shakes her head.

"I think you would look much better with the lavender than the blue, mademoiselle. It matches your eyes," she says. Her accent is barely detectable, but certainly French.

"Ah, you think?" I respond in French. "I was uncertain. You see, my house color at school is blue, so I must wear it often. Perhaps the lavender would be best?" I tell the lady, and though she seems slightly surprised she quickly snaps out of it.

"Ah, yes. I think that the variety would help, and also, since it's your informal wear, it's best to play to your strengths, you know?" She replies more readily. I smile.

"I suppose it is true. Did you have any other recommendations? I really like skirts, but have been having issues finding a good cut to compliment my legs properly." I tell her, and she smiles at me like she's won the lottery.

"Of course! But where are my manners? You can call me Aurélie Aramelle, I am part of the French Embassy to your ministry. Specifically for any non-human members of the French community. You are?" She gives a nice formal introduction. I don't recognize Aramelle as a major name (or even magical house) of France, so I figure she either married a recently magical house, or she's unmarried.

"Aubrey Hawthorne. First born to the Lord of my house. Currently top student of Hogwarts, and record-holder for charms and history tests in the first two scholarly years," I tell her. "It's good to meet someone who speaks my language - clothes - and isn't trying to just sell me something." I tell her, and we share a smile as the attendant, who's been watching us as we jabbered back and forth, looks on wearily.

At least she didn't put anything away yet.

"I think we have a few other things to try though, with these new opinions. Do you mind bringing me your various cuts of skirt? I'd like to see what I can find on that front." I tell the attendant, who nods happily and walks off. Aurélie and I share a smile.

In the end, I'd be working on my wardrobe longer than it took my brother to get his wand (just over an hour) and to get his own clothes.

I spent almost all of my money on the clothes, but left enough to get a new wand, if it was needed. Then, I went and got mine and my brother's books.

All the Lockheart books were required - thankfully, I own a set from my mother. They were said to be reality - these things having happened, but it was clearly a tall-tale. I don't doubt that the events happened, just that Lockheart exaggerated himself to be way better than he actually was, or just failed to include people who he worked with, since it makes for a better story.

Either way, there had to be some kind of info in there. I'd not read them yet, but I suppose getting just my brothers set cut the cost down on the trip. In the end, I gave him the money for his personal gift for himself and a pet - and I went to Ollivanders, telling him I was getting something from a specialty shop for myself, and I'd meet him near the food-shops in about an hour.

No one needs to know I'm checking to see if I need a new wand. No one but me and the wandmaker.

I opened the shop, and found that I knew exactly where the old man was. Behind me. He's awakened.

"Hello Ollivander. I'm here to check if I need a new wand. I'm sure you can tell why." I say, not turning to him, but acknowledging that I know where he is. He puffs a sigh.

"I do. Yes. Awakening like you have, so young… surely your magic is different. I can even see a shift. The colors went from the faded purples and greys to a more vibrant… deep purple, highlighted with silvers and glowing in that familiar aware way. Yes. You will need a new wand. Your old wand… was good for you, but is likely fit to retire now." He tells me, then snaps his fingers and a pile of seven boxes comes out of the back. "But this time, I'll give you what I think is best, from the start. You have demonstrated patience, and I see no reason to test you further." With that, he holds out the first wand I take it, and it throws sparks, but it's not the same feeling as my first wand.

"No," I say, observing it.

92% match. Close.

Silver Lime and Dragon Heartstring Wand.

Unique.

Strong. Control. Combat.

This is the wand of a combatant. The magical properties resonate with you, but feel like you aren't direct enough to be a perfect match.

+10% Spell Potency. +5% to Combat Magic. +1 Con

"Close." I tell him. "It feels like it's an aggressive wand. I'm not very aggressive myself, though we agree that combat is needed, as is strength and control." I tell him. He nods, picking up the forth box, and holding it to me as he takes the wand back.

I take it and feel a strong connection, and a shower of silver sparks smelling like spring come from the wand.

Norway Spruce and Dragon Heartstring Wand.

Unique

Control. Power. Grace.

This wand, above all others, wants someone who is controlled, powerful and knows how to wield their power with grace. When to pick fights. It's overjoyed at finding you, and thinks you're the perfect match.

100% - Soulbound Match.

+5% Magical Control, +5% Spell Potency, +1 Dexterity as long as you are the master of the wand.

I smile down at the wand. "Perfect." I tell him. He nods.

"Will you need a second holster, or will you shelve the old wand? You're still compatible enough, but not as close as you once were." He tells me. I gesture that I'll be alright. I have another holster already, though I don't say as much.

I can keep a wand somewhere I can access if restrained. Attached to my lower back?

"I should be fine. Don't worry about it." I say, hitting my old wand with an Observe. 93% compatibility. Still really good- way better than someone else's if I get disarmed. The unicorn tail still resonates with me in every way, it just lacks the ability to properly direct my power. As a result, it's happy to call me it's master, it just knows that it's not the best tool for the job, anymore. Someday, maybe.

"Say, do you have any recommendations on things I should do? I have a pretty full schedule, but…" I trail off and he smiles.

"Oh, no. Nothing I would ask of you. You may, however, do well with visiting the specialists district and ask for the next level of control exercises. I see you mastered the basic sets, but there's always more. They have a control exercise for almost anything these days, I swear…" He mutters and I blink.

Wait - there's more control exercises? "How many? When? What?" I ask dumbly, and he chuckles.

"In the last hundred or so years, there's been a revolution in exercises. A number of them have cropped up or come into print. Really, in the last thirty years, there was a major boom in the minimum requirements to get a master-level in most professions. If you go to an academy, you have to master at least one of the branches. There are seven 'master' level exercise trees, though they're only three exercises each." He tells me and I really want to die, suddenly.

Of course there's more. How foolish of me to think I'd done it all. But control exercises for everything?

Really, you can't have too much control. If you know how to exercise and gain control of magic, you would be more effective. I think if you learn to do something before you learn to control, the effectiveness would be reduced, even if you learn control afterwards.

You have bad habits, then. Now… to get out of the shop and find my brother.

"Thanks for the information. I suppose that the saying is true - no rest in the pursuit…" I tell him, curtsying, and I see him smile.

"Indeed." And as I leave I tag him with an Observe.

Garrick Ollivander

?

?

?

As expected. I duck out of the shop, a smile on my face. He's at least level 55. That's higher than everyone I've seen, except for a couple Aurors, my Papa and most of the heads of departments in Hogwarts, though not all.

I found my brother - predictably - in the Quidditch supplies shop. He's surprised to see me.

"That was fast." He tells me, looking over the supplies on sale at the shop. I nod.

"The shopkeep knew I was coming and had the things I wanted ready ahead of time." I tell him, he nods, and pats the Quaffle he'd been eyeing.

"Well, I have what I wanted. Don't ask what I got and I won't ask what you got." He tells me. I smile and nod, hitting him with an Observe as I steer him out of the building and to lunch. The tail of his description tells me what he's hiding.

He's currently hiding your birthday present and is grateful you aren't pushing about it.

Well, it wouldn't be sporting to do that. My birthday is very soon. I'm in no rush to get my gifts.

In the end, I decide upon a small (magical, but somewhat spendy) Chinese food shop. They have dragons and other exotic things on the menu, but Papa didn't like Chinese, so I'd never been. No time like the present…

It's not too much longer before I'm home - with my leftovers - and telling all about my trip to Jasmine.

"Trunk-guy is kinda creepy." She says, and I shrug. I guess. He kinda looks like a race-horse salesman. Or a card-shark. Greasy. Not so much in his actions though. Very upstanding and quick.

"Why do you say that?" I ask, eliciting a tirade about his actions, which I only barely listen to. Really, I was focused on Papa and Mama having a hushed conversation. Mama wasn't trying to hide her concerned looks at me.

Why concerned? I can't ask, though, with Papa being right there.

I manage this back and forth with my sister for about five minutes before Papa gives Mama a kiss on the cheek and then floo's out to the ministry. I neatly wrap up our conversation about my day (by all but telling her I don't really want to talk about it, and want to think about what we've talked about for a bit) which she surprisingly accepts before running off to go pester Adam.

So I approached Mama, erecting a privacy and slight misdirection charm behind me.

"Why so worried, Mama?" I ask as she goes about getting things ready for dinner.

"Well, it's complicated, sweetie," she tells me, quickly setting up the cutting board and pulling out the meat she's going to use for the lasagna tonight.

"Well, I want to help. Can you un-complicate it for me?" She glances at me, then at the prep, and sighs. She puts things down and nods, gesturing for me to follow her.

We wind up in her crafts room, where she makes the handmade stuff she gives us for birthdays and whatnot.

My magic sense dings as I feel heavy duty wards spring around the room, my eyes go wide. I hit Mama with an Observe.

Angelica Hawthorne.

…

Currently Angelica is extremely worried because she's been having terrible nightmares lately and can't ascertain reality and fiction anymore. She's extremely paranoid that either you aren't actually her daughter or that something is horribly wrong. She doesn't want to scare your brother or sister with the conversation she intends to have with you, since they probably won't understand.

These nightmares are resulting from her obliviation of all things regarding your first four years of life.

That son of a- deep breaths. She was worried because her dreams - which conflict with but make sense and seem more realistic than her memories (because they're real, duh) conflict with what she knows about me.

"How good is your Occlumency?" I ask, suddenly as the wards are done settling. She blinks.

"I- what?" She asks. Muggleborn, yes. But married to the Lord of an ancient house with no Occlumency?

"Mental shields which stop people from reading your mind. Judging by that - not great?" I ask again.

She nods. "I only have some jewelry your father provided me to block people from reading my mind." She tells me. I sigh.

"Okay. Well, judging from the wards, what I get from your actions and my own experiences, you've been having nightmares, just like me?" I ask, and she sags in obvious relief.

"Yes. I -" she pauses. "I'm relieved as horrible as it is to say. I was so worried…"

"Well, I did research on these things, what they can mean, and consulted Madame Pomfrey. Basically, she's confirmed that I was Obliviated of basically the whole first four years of my life, when I was four. My nightmares are that. I assume yours are, too. Occlumency helps, though. If you want, I can help you with it?" I ask, and she seems to almost want to cry in sadness and yet hug me.

"I want to say yes… but I can't. I can't remove the jewelry your father gave me to protect my mind. Without being able to do that, no mind-healer will be able to revert the issues. Mind magic just won't work on me." She says. I flinch.

Cursed jewelry, too? That's low.

"Well, I suppose that you should come with me when I go to see Daphne, then. Maybe you can catch up with Lord and Lady Greengrass, since they're sure to want to get to know my parents, and sadly papa is… occupied with work." I tell her and she nods.

"Of course! But how does that relate to…?" She asks, gesturing to herself. I smile.

"They happen to be extremely skilled at removing curses from people, including cursed jewelry, due to some bad stuff which happened in their families recent history. They focus on curses on people, though." I tell her, leveraging the fact she knows I want to be a curse-breaker to explain why I know about this.

Even though that's wholly unrelated. How did I become an adult in this situation..?

"Well I suppose that would solve the issue. Do you remember what happened? How you were obliviated? I feel like I should know by now, but it eludes me…" Mama says, and I flinch.

"Yea. I know." I tell her. "I won't say until you have good occlumency, though. I trust you, but I want you to be able to defend yourself, in case of similar things happening again. If the person who laid the obligations knows - and they'll figure it out - then we're liable to get our minds wiped, again." I tell Mama.

Jesus, I want to cry. I don't want to be going over this with her, not like this…

"Can I trust anyone? Your father? Your siblings?" She asks, sounding a bit broken. I can't blame her. I felt - and still feel - the same.

It's better knowing I'm not alone in the raping of my mind and memories.

"No." I whisper, squirming my way into a hug. "Friends and family are all suspects. Only Grandma and Grandpa - on your side - are clear. They couldn't have done it, and no one would think you'd talk to them about it. Maybe just… go be with them for a few days and see if things clear up?" I suggest. This suggestion comes from a place of greed in me. Greed, in that if she goes away from magic, her magic is more likely to find and subvert the magic holding her memories hostage.

And she'll know who without me saying who.

"Who put up the wards?" I ask, mumbling into her shirt with wet eyes.

"It was Lord and Lady Shafiq. Old friends of your family, I hear. I was complaining about nowhere being safe from your father - so nowhere to hide gifts. They provided me with a small stone - which they said had some modest wards." She mutters into my hair.

The Shafiq family? Again? Their hands are in every pie, it seems. At least, all of mine. A bit suspicious.

"Mm." I hum into her chest, fully snuggled in.

Seems like a good place to take a nap, to me anyway.