In the sweltering summer heat, a sleepy silence fell over Privet Drive. Sparkling vehicles standing dusty in driveways, no more animate than the flowers in the flowerbeds of the houses along the quaint little street. The wind was calm, and in this still wind and stiller street, there sat a teenage girl on a park bench.
That teenage girl was Autumn Potter.
She generally spent her time instead in her bedroom at 4 Privet Drive if she could help it, but she needed to get outside every once in a while. This was one such time. She was distancing herself from the Dursleys, choosing to just watch the sunset at a park on Magnolia Road, adjacent to Privet Drive.
As glad as she was to have some contact with the wizarding world, she was still being kept quiet in the dark about… well, everything. Sirius chose to give vague advice instead of news, Remus just point blank said he couldn't talk about it. Ron and Hermione sent letters saying nothing of value, although they were nice to have at all.
She catches a glance of someone, a group of people - maybe three or four of them? - walking around being boisterous and loud. Autumn knew who those people were. The figure in front was unmistakably his cousin, Dudley Dursley, wending his way home, accompanied by his faithful gang.
Dudley was as wide as ever, but a year and some change worth of dieting and the discovery of a new talent had wrought quite a change in his physique. Uncle Vernon delightedly bragged to just about everyone on the face of the earth that Dudley had recently won the title of boxing champion of the school board. Autumn didn't exactly fear Dudley anymore (quite the opposite, in fact), but she still didn't think that Dudley learning to punch harder and more accurately was cause for celebration.
Autumn decided she might as well go home now since Vernon got obnoxious when she was late, and that generally meant food was probably gonna be barred from her for the night, which wasn't something she looked forward to.
Autumn stepped into the shadow of a large lilac tree and waited. She figured she could tease Dudley a bit before getting home. She knew it was kind of petty, but she didn't care much. Autumn waited for the gang to go on their merry way, before turning around and walking near Dudley, who was strolling along at his ease, humming tunelessly. Autumn decided to take some pleasure in it, teasing Dudley about his nicknames, when suddenly Dudley shivered and stopped.
The whole sky seemed to have just been turned off. The moon, the stars, the street lights, even the little light of Dudley's glow-in-the-dark watch, all of it gone.
Autumn paused, surprised at her accidental magic - before remembering that while she could do a decent amount of things, turning off the stars and all light in the world was not in a wizard's arsenal.
She turned her head, trying to see something aside from the darkness of the void. Dudley's terrified voice broke in Autumn's ear.
"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it!"
"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"
"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I —"
"I said shut up!" Autumn stood still as a sculpture, turning her currently-useless eyes in just about every direction.
Then it clicked.
It was impossible... They couldn't be here… Not in Little Whinging...
Dammit, she thought, it's Dementors, isn't it?
"I'll t-tell Dad!" Dudley whimpered. "W-where are you? What are you d-do — ?"
"Will you shut up?" Autumn hissed, "I'm trying to lis—" But she fell silent. She had heard it. The sound of torn fabric scraping against concrete, the sound of some sort of shallow breathing turned hyperventilating. The sound of whispers of your fears.
It was Dementors.
She saw Dudley bolt, trying to run, but running directly to the source of that shadowy haunting sound.
"Dudley, stop!" She glanced at her wand. She catches a glance of it, and for a minute she can feel herself panicking a little. "E-ex…"
She felt hopeless, a little. She could see the Dementor, hovering over her cousin. Looming closer, and she held her wand out.
"Expecto patronum!" She called, and she watched as a spark of silver shot out, twisting in the air, weaving into the shape of a stag, pushing the Dementors back. The Dementors hovering near Dudley, as they seemed to back off in fear of the patronus. The Dementors seemed to glare somehow, but they crumbled, seemingly vanishing and going elsewhere - likely back to Azkaban.
Reality seemed to turn the lights on again. Autumn could see the trees, the ground, Dudley on the ground.
Autumn's eyes fell onto Mrs. Figg, who was panting and rushing over. Autumn moved to hide her wand-
"Don't put it away, Potter," She said in a near-hiss, "What if the Dementors come back? Ooh, I'm going to kill Mundungus!"
Autumn was annoyed. Apparently, she was being spied on by various witches and wizards; and had been watched to avoid needing accidental magic. She had been expelled, un-expelled, and sent two more owls and a Howler in the span of ten minutes, and she was all around fed up. Sending letters to her friends, she decided to wait a reply.
Three days went by however, with zero reply, further adding to the annoyance. It was only on the fourth night, after the Dursleys left, when Autumn had two thoughts when she heard clatters downstairs.
The first was panic, because of burglars.
The second was confusion, because even novice burglars would try to be quiet. Heading downstairs, she grabbed her wand and raised i-
"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," said a dark voice. Autumn screamed, before realizing who it was. Mad-Eye Moody.
"Professor Moody?" she said hesitantly.
"I don't know so much about 'Professor,'" growled the voice, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly." Autumn slowly came into better lighting, and the Auror chuckled. She saw a second person.
"It's all right, H- It's alright. We've come to take you away." Said another voice.
"P-Professor Lupin?" Autumn stammered, surprised to hear the voice of her (former)-DADA professor.
"Can somebody tell me why the only light is from outside the window?" Came a voice Autumn didn't recognize, "Lumos."
A wand brightened the hallway with light, and Autumn blinked away the spots that formed from the sudden change. There was a group of people at the bottom of the staircase.
Her third-year professor, Remus Lupin stood closest to her, although he had seen healthier and better days. His hair had gone more gray, and his robes were patchy.
"Ooh,-" The witch holding her wand said. She seemed to be the youngest with black hair, although that seemed to be the only quality Autumn could quite make out. Her face seemed to be changing in the light. "She looks different than I expected."
"Are we positive this is Harry?" Moody pointed out, and Autumn was not surprised. "Lot of good it'd do if we brought a Death Eater with us. Anyone got a question only Potter could answer?"
Lupin stepped forward, looking at Autumn. "What's your Patronus?"
"A stag, even I know that." Moody said. "Anyo-"
"What's your name?" The black -no, wait, blonde(?) haired witch said, and Autumn blushed.
"Autumn. Autumn Lily."
"It's her." She said, and Lupin's eyes widened, while Moody nodded.
"That makes zero sen-" Lupin started to argue.
"Trust me." The witch (nope, it was definitely red now - Autumn rubbed her eyes to try and get rid of the dizziness) said, looking at Autumn.
"But his name isn'-" Lupin started, looking very distrusting.
"Remus." The witch said, glaring.
Autumn started following them, nd looked at them.
"You're really glad the Dursleys weren't here."
"I wouldn't call them lucky," said the (now-)violet haired witch. "It was me that lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now..." She smirked. "Well, they think they are."
Autumn stifled a giggle, picturing the look on Uncle Vernon's face when he realized there was no All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition.
"So, we'll be leaving?" Autumn asked hopefully. "Soon?"
"As soon as we get the all-clear, Harry." Lupin said absentmindedly, looking outside the window for something.
"Where are we going? The Burrow?"
"No, it's too risky." Lupin said. "Too risky. We've set up headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while..." Lupin panned his hands over to Moody. "So, uh, this is Alastor Moody. The, er, the real one." He introduced, and Autumn shook the feeling of deja vu - it was weird being introduced to someone you had supposedly known for almost a year. "This is Nymp-"
"Tonks. Call me Tonks." Said the witch, sticking a hand out for Autumn to shake.
"This is Nymphadora, who prefers to be called by her last name, Tonks." Remus finished, unsurprised at the interruption.
"You would too," Tonks pointed out, "If you had a name like Nymphadora."
"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," Lupin said, looking out the window. "I give it fifteen minutes before we're off."
"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" Tonks commented, who was looking around the kitchen. "My dad's muggleborn and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just like with wizards?"
Autumn nodded, looking around. "So, uh, what's going on, I've heard nothing. What's going on with Vol-"
"Shut up!" growled Alastor Moody, his magical eye half-turning to her, before it jammed up. "Not here. It's too risky..." He growled, this time about the eye which was sticking up. "Bugger, hey, Potter? Get me a glass of water," He said, muttering something about Crouch Jr. breaking it. With a glass of water, he started cleaning the eye in it.
"So, uh," Autumn started, "How are we getting wherever it is?"
"Brooms. Only way." Lupin said. "Portkey's are expensive and difficult to set up, Floo network is being watched, and you can't Apparate." He looked at Autumn, who had a look of panic. "Don't worry, Harry, we brought a broom for you to use. You should probably go pack, though."
"I can go help Autumn." Tonks said, getting up. "I need to do something."
The two walked up the stairs, and Autumn was half-listening as Tonks commented how the house was too clean, and Tonks even helped pack things using some sort of spell.
"Hey, Autumn? Don't mind Remus," Tonks said suddenly. "He'll come around." Autumn looked at her, confused.
"Remus, he's... old-fashioned. At best. He'll probably be a struggle." Tonks said, chuckling. "But he'll come around. I know what it's like." Autumn cocked her head to the side. "Do you know what genderfluid is?" Autumn's eyes widened with understanding, and she kind of smiled and nodded.
"Y-you mean," She stammered, but Tonks smiled.
"Yeah. I'm like you." She sat down on the bed next to Autumn.
"It'll be rough. You used the potion last year?" Tonks asked, and after Autumn nodded, continued. "It's dangerous to take for long periods of time, so you'll need a different approach, but I'm here for ya." She said, and she ruffled Autumn's hair, and Tonks looked at her.
"You know, I expected the Girl Who Lived to be different." She said, after a pause. "It's good. I expected you to be all boastful, so... Stay that way. It suits you." Tonks said with a smirk. "Now come on, they're waiting."
Autumn grabbed Hedwig's cage, and started following Tonks downstairs, assured with the simple fact that she wasn't alone.
AN: So, uh, sorry for the delay. I've been planning out Order of the Phoenix, and I have things planned out quite... thoroughly. The Department of Mysteries is the most clear at the moment, which is ironic given the name - I can not wait to get there.
Nymphadora would be a huge ally, I picture. They, above anyone else, would understand the urge of not feeling like you're in the right body. Hence, genderfluid Tonks doesn't even feel off: plus, it also gives Autumn a positive role model, and an example of what to kinda look up to: Queer future-Auror, trans (or genderfluid, same vein though), half-blood to two Wizarding parents, and the important part: both of them grew up as an odd one in the bunch. As such, Tonks will serve as a sort of 'mentor' to Autumn. (I also picture Metamorphmagi having issues keeping a single appearance in certain emotional states - meeting the Girl Who Lived would count.)
As for Remus, he isn't an asshole. He isn't. However, he is fully aware of what discrimination is like for something that puts you outside the mold, since he gets judged for being a werewolf, despite it not defining him. In his eyes, Autumn is doing the same thing here. The catch being Remus is mad, because he doesn't understand why Autumn would willingly do this. In his eyes, he's taking something Autumn could've avoided and making her life more difficult, so he's a bit bitter over that.
TL;DR I was slow because I was planning out OOTP, Tonks is a huge ally, and Remus doesn't understand and that misunderstanding makes him bitter, but he won't be aggressive about it.