Jade Harley woke, like she did every day, to the sharply fragrant smell of her Chamdemom flower puffing a thin spray of pollen into the room. The bioengineered plant, winner of the Zograf Award for Strength in Agricultural Innovation, had once sat on Headmaster Karkaroff's desk, though protected by a filtration spell; when Jade was younger and struggling with waking up in the morning, he'd provided his prizewinning plant to her. She'd accepted it cautiously, placing it on her nightstand, unsure of how it was meant to help. She got her answer when she woke at exactly 6:13AM the next morning, the flower having woken with the sun, her nose twitching with agitation at its bloom. Over the years, she swapped out the plant for its descendants; Karkaroff taught her how to procure the seeds.
While many would be disturbed by the concept of essentially inducing an allergy attack every single morning just to wake up, Jade needed it. Without that natural alarm, she tended to sleep like a dog.
Jade silenced the alarm with a whispered casting of "Nox" towards the flower's photoreceptors. The flower curled back up, and, with a yawn, Jade cast a vanishing spell to clean the pollen from the air.
The young Witch took her first breath of clean air, held it, and exhaled.
Time to face the day.
(And clean her fur. It gets SO GROSS at night.)
-
Once she'd finished drying herself off, it only took a flick of her wand for her outfit to assemble itself, hovering in front of her mirror. She gave it a once-over, judged it good enough, and began to dress herself, grabbing clothes from mid-air. The familiar motions helped ground her-while she had helped design the Flora Hotel, it still didn't mean she was comfortable sleeping in a room that both was-and-wasn't hers. Step through both leg holes, and shimmy the stockings up. Fly the robe upwards, point her hands towards the sky, and let gravity flow, adjusting as needed. Feel the fit - adjust belts and garments as needed above and below the long, flowing robes. Hands through gloves. Paws in boots. Lace boots up halfway, remember that you're magic, facepalm because you really need to figure out the coffee situation here, make a mental note - wait, you're magic, point your wand at your finger and whisper "colovacula incarcerous." Stare at the blue string that you've just summoned onto your pinky. Facepalm a third time, grab the phone Rose gave you. Open the reminders app, and just, set a reminder to ask Dave about the coffee situation. Hit the home button, see the messenger app, and realize that you can just ask Dave right now, actually.
Shoot off a text.
Stare at your home screen as you vacantly reflect that it's really nice, actually, to have friends your own age again, for the first time in a decade and a half.
Pocket your phone, take a step forward, and almost trip over your still untied laces. Argh, that's what the blue string was for!
Cast "nodo gordiculum" on your boots, watch them finish lacing themselves with a sigh, and switch back to third person narration.
Jade took a few experimental steps around her room. The naturally-derived flooring had some give to it, but she could still get a satisfying stomp from her shoes.
Perfect.
With one last glance in the mirror, Jade pulled up her hood. Her ears, as they were wont to do, seemed to vanish into the magical cloth. Bigger on the inside.
Dave's reply came just as she stepped into the hallway. He was joining his friends for breakfast in the Great Hall; she'd likely find her coffee there, unless the "plant hotel had some like on-board bean generator or something. man i don't know what the hell goes on over there hermione talked my goddamn ear off this morning about a complete systematic lack of british academic curiosity or whatever but basically she was no help either but like now that im processing the context its p likely that you dont have bean generators considering that youre asking where to find coffee."
She couldn't wipe the Strider-induced grin off her face for minutes.
-
Hogwarts breakfast, Jade soon realized, was a more muted affair than dinner. The tables were sparsely populated, with the yellow-scarf-wearing kids at Dave's table making up almost half the total Hogwarts students who'd gotten up in time.
As for Durmstrang's populace, Jade noticed Viktor and his friend group sitting with Hogwarts students who looked to be around his age; they all wore items of green.
Well, if those kids were in Rose's Hogwarts Quadrant, they were probably good people. For her part, Jade joined Dave and his friends.
"Hey!" greeted Jade. She grabbed a croissant from the plate in front of her, careful to avoid the chocolate-covered almond horn right next to it. Even in the magical world, even after merging with her superpowered dog, her body just could not process certain foods.
One day they'd cure nut allergies.
"'Sup," said Dave. "Following up on the coffee thing, they have, like, traditional English breakfast coffee. Which means that it's barely edible, but I can grab some for you."
Jade, who'd already stuffed her mouth with croissant, made a "gimmie" motion with her hand. To her surprise, an older boy in similar yellow-accented robes to Dave put a pitcher of coffee in front of her.
"And there he goes," muttered Dave. "Cedric with the mitzvah of welcoming guests. Goddamn, man. Prefects never rest."
"Hi," said the boy. "Have you had this stuff before? It's great."
"Hi," said Jade, "I'm from Durmstrang, my name is Jade. It's nice to meet you!"
"Oh, I love saying hi to people too," said Cedric, a dopey smile on his face. "And drinking that stuff in the pitcher. I've never had it before."
"Wait, who the fuck let you have coffee?" asked Dave. "What the fuck."
To Jade's detached, decaffeinated horror, Dave stood up. "Hey!" he yelled. Was this normal here? "Puffs, who let him have coffee?"
Someone at the end of the table distantly yelled back, "you ordered coffee!"
"I ordered coffee?" Dave shouted back.
"For your friend!"
While Dave was busy yelling across a cafeteria at eight in the morning, Jade had been pouring herself a mug of the stuff Cedric put in front of her. She'd finally taken her first sip as the final response was yelled back; despite being hidden under her hood, she could feel her ears twist in embarrassment.
"Sorry, Cedric," she said.
"Don't be sorry!" he said. "I feel really good right now. Like I could take on the world."
Dave frowned as he processed Cedric's words, then groaned. "I swear to fucking Christ, if you follow that up with-"
"So that's why I signed up for the Triwizard Tournament!"
Cedric beamed at Jade.
Dave stood up again.
"Hey y'all," he shouted.
The Hufflepuffs responded with scattered replies of "good morning!" and "hi!" and "dave!"
"Hi," said Dave. "Did we like, vote yet, on who we were gonna let join the tournament?"
"No," yelled a yellow scarf. "That was for tonight."
"Uh-huh," said Dave. "Who was leading the discussion committee?"
"Cedric," came the response.
"Hi!" said Cedric.
"Hi Cedric," said the bescarfed child who'd been yelling back to Dave.
"Is it always like this?" muttered Jade. Hermione, who had been sitting next to Dave, seemed to take the question seriously.
"Yeah," she said, a smile ghosting her lips. "It's very democratic."
"If Cedric was a committee member, how come he just signed up?" yelled Dave. Gosh, Jade was worried about his voice.
"Because he's the committee leader," responded the Hufflepuff at the other end of the table. "We trust him to do what's best."
"Yeah, sure, he's a great guy, but not when he's hopped up on caffeine!"
"You ordered the coffee!"
Dave let out an "augh" straight out of the old Peanuts comic strips, and sat back down.
"Guys," he said. "I think I need to join this stupid fucking tournament."
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade would be Rose if she wasn't busy processing Dave's proclamation!
"You're planning to join the tournament?" Jade frowned. Hermione's face mirrored hers.
"Dave, weren't you-"
"Yeah, didn't want to get wrapped up in some MHA sports festival bullshit. Yeah. But. Turns out that shit's gonna happen to somebody, and apparently it's gonna be Cedric, and that's my fault." He lowered his voice. "I love the guy, but if he joins the tournament without any support, he'll get killed out there."
"That would be bad," agreed Cedric, who had leaned in to listen once he noticed Jade and Hermione doing the same. "Who are we talking about?"
"I'm joining the tournament," declared Dave, loudly.
The Hufflepuff table whooped with excitement. One boy started chanting Dave's name, and the whole table quickly picked up the cheer.
"Dave! Dave! Dave! Dave!"
Jade noticed Dave crack a rare, two-pixel smile.
"Yeah. I'm joining. Might be fun, I dunno."
"I'll join too," said Jade. "Spirit of competition."
"Can I join too?" asked Cedric.
"You already did," said Dave.
Cedric's smile blossomed, and Jade, who was not easily attracted to the male physique, felt her heart skip a beat. Holy crap. "Wow!" he said. "Tell whoever signed me up 'thank you.'"
"You signed yourself up, no?" asked Jade.
"For what?" asked Cedric.
Dave mouthed "drop it" in her direction, and that was that.
They placed their names in the Goblet of Fire. The enchanted cup burnt away the strips of paper with a belch of flame, and then it was off to class.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade frowned. "Hey, Dave, wait, before we split ways, where is Rose?"
"Uh," he said. "Good question. Thought you knew."
"She's sleeping," said Hermione, idly flipping through her phone. "Snakechat says she conked out hard last night."
"Oh," said Jade. "Does she have trouble waking up, usually?"
"Uh, sometimes?" said Dave. "I dunno. I'm not too worried, but I also don't live with her. Yeah. I dunno. Maybe ask her when she gets up."
"Maybe," said Jade. "She got a little mad at me last night when I asked her if everything was going okay."
Hermione exhaled with her jaw still shut, air rushing between her teeth. "Yeah, she's... yeah. I don't feel comfortable asking her so directly."
"Oh," said Jade, heart sinking. "Should I not have?"
"No, no, you definitely should have," Hermione assured her. "You knew her a universe away. You're as good a judge of her character as I am."
Jade hummed in noncommittal agreement.
Dave waved his wand in a small circle. "Y'all, it's not-enough-time-to-get-to-class o'clock."
"Yeah," said Jade. "Maybe talk more about this later?"
"Maybe," said Dave. "Peace."
"Bye, Jade!" Hermione opened her arms for a hug, and Jade leaned into it.
Hermione was warm.
Jade pulled away from the hug, and the siblings started to walk away. With a wave, Jade said, "Bye, Grangers!"
Dave and Hermione reciprocated the wave, turned a corner, and Jade suddenly felt very alone.
Well.
Time to rectify that.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade was too busy attending Hogwarts classes as a guest student to be Rose!
Also, Rose was probably still sleeping. Was that normal? Dave didn't seem too worried, but Hermione was on her wavelength, she thought. Maybe she should talk to some of Rose's friends, since she'd mostly been around Dave's-
Jade's train of thought was shattered with the sound of Professor Alastor Moody slamming his textbook shut.
"Alright," he said. "We've wasted enough time. I expect everyone to have done today's reading – with, of course, the exception of our Durmstrang guests, though I do expect you to meet me in my office if you decide to register for any of my classes as exchange credits, so that we can assemble a lesson plan. Now!"
He turned around, summoned chalk from somewhere, and began writing on the board. "This lecture will be based on Hartholemew's Horrid History, subheader fourteen of Part Four. Horatia Smonthtoe was responsible for casting the first recorded instance of what on British soil in 1456?"
A student in the front raised their hand. Without turning around, Moody pointed his stick in their direction. "A permanent illusion, Professor."
"A permanent illusion! Correct. Dispellable only with the death of or with the casting of a formalized retraction of intent from the original caster. Smonthtoe's Bubble, the site of which is how many meters from here?"
Another student raised their hand, and Moody pointed again, never stopping his frantic chalkboard activity. Jade couldn't even make out what he was writing; her notes were somewhat scattered, based on the snippets of chalk she could glimpse when he moved, and whatever auditory content she could translate into written word.
"Twelve thousand meters south, sir."
"Outskirts of Hogsmeade," growled Moody. "Right in our backyard."
Finally, Moody turned around. His left eye, the magical one, whirred around as he spoke. "Smonthtoe wasn't a criminal, because there wasn't any law in this soil preventing her from doing what she did. Of course, the copycat witches and wizards thought the same was true for them – but our glorious Ministry put a stop to that quickly."
The professor hobbled over to his desk, and took a seat with a sigh. He reached for something on his hip, which, to Jade's shock, seemed to be alcohol? Well… whatever got him through the day, she supposed.
"The Ministry," continued Moody, "and specifically the modern DMLE, defines not just what is and is not a crime, but what does and does not count as Dark. Smonthtoe's style of illusion is mostly harmless nowadays – advances in magical forensics, which we'll cover in the spring, let us trace the burst of energy that was used in casting to its maker. Not useful for hiding, anymore – but it's still good for traps. Or for simulating hallucinogenic effects. But back in Smonthtoe's time, they decided to mark the technique as Dark and its casters as criminal – a distinction that holds to this day. The Ministry has the unique privilege to categorize those things."
He grimaced. "The Ministry also had the unique privilege of meddling with my teaching schedule today, by requiring me to remind you of the mandatory Triwizard assembly. With this interruption on top of the catch-up from last week, if we're going to ever get back on track, I'm going to need all of you to stay in for an extra ten minutes during your first lesson next week. Does anyone object?"
No-one said anything.
"Good," said Moody. He almost looked like he was smiling. "Let's now turn our attention to subheader fifteen."
As he hobbled back towards the chalkboard, continuing his prepared monologue, Jade slowly fell into the rhythm of active listening.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade turned her head, glancing at Rose, but then quickly dismissed the thought. Rose was somewhat occupied, and she was somewhat occupied. Certainly too occupied to consider that suggestion.
She'd found herself next to Rose mostly by chance. Really, the thronging masses of students from two magic schools at once weren't going to easily fit through the mostly-cramped medieval design of Hogwarts' exterior; she was relieved to find that she'd ended up near anyone she recognized at all.
Rose hadn't displayed a ton of interest in engaging in conversation since the two had sat next to each other, so Jade let it slide.
Besides, Beauxbatons was supposed to be arriving any second now.
Unlike last time, where Jade had a privileged view of the Hogwarts students, staring them down from her position on the bridge as they sat on the grass wide-eyed, Jade was now one of the unremarkable many. Professor Dumbledore stood on the podium that she'd spotted the day prior. As they waited for Beauxbatons, he'd made some comments about the exciting opportunities that having three school bodies in one building would provide. Cross-cultural, intra-educational, all the kinds of things Jade had heard people say to Headmaster Karkaroff at dinners since she was very young.
When he'd run out of things to say, everyone just sat in silence, though that quickly gave way to whispered conversations. Jade was content to just listen to the crickets chirping.
It surprised her, then, when Rose broke the silence.
"This is giving me a sensory sort of déjà vu," she said, voice almost a whisper. "We didn't do a lot of things together, but when I was twelve years old, my mother took me out to a local park on the Fourth of July. I didn't understand what she was even inviting me to do.
"She packed the car with this- this bamboo blanket topper, which in hindsight I think was meant to be placed underneath the blanket, though the point was moot, anyway. She took it out of the car, and I grabbed the big picnic blankets. I remember the plastic price-tags hitting me in the cheek as I carried them out of the trunk, and I thought at the time, I can't believe she left the price tags on her precious blankets just so that she can watch me hit myself in the face with them like a moron.
"I didn't realize that she'd bought those blankets that day." Rose shook her head slightly, and her voice dropped lower. "She clearly had owned the blanket topper for some time, though, because there wasn't a price tag on it at all. We took... there was this twine wrapped around it, which I thought was a little too strong for the job, maybe velcro would have worked. Mother just cut it with her car keys, and the rolled-up blanket topper flew open.
"In my memory of my emotional response, there was a lot more mold than there really was - and it really wasn't anything nightmare-inducing. But I made a stink about it. You know how kids are.
"I don't remember what she did with it, but my memory of that night - the part I'm invoking specifically - we ended up sitting on the grass directly, wrapping the picnic blankets around ourselves like little burritos, and we waited for two hours for the fireworks to start.
"I didn't take the tag off of mine.
"She didn't, either, even though she had the same car key from earlier on her. I don't know what she was thinking with that, because it couldn't have been comfortable.
"I don't know.
"We didn't talk at all for that whole waiting period. But eventually they lit one firework, and she just got up and left. But she put her blanket on me.
"I stayed for the whole show."
Rose blinked hard, or so Jade could roughly make out. "I stayed for the whole show, and then I walked back to the car alone, and we drove back home and didn't talk about it."
"Ahem," said the magically amplified voice of Professor Dumbledore. "I've received word that our Beauxbatons companions will be arriving shortly."
Rose seemed to remember where she was, and turned in Jade's direction, as if to say something-
"In the sky!"
Jade couldn't place who shouted it; judging by the English accent, it was likely a Hogwarts student, and a quite young one at that. Placing her faith in the next generation of magical youth, she craned her head upwards, but only after she saw Rose do the same.
== Jade: Be Rose.
The duo couldn't do anything but stare into the sky as what seemed to be the very fabric of the star-speckled firmament warped and twisted. Familiar constellations vanished as heaven folded, shaping itself into what looked like -
"They made a wormhole?" Jade couldn't help but gasp.
The wormhole seemed to stabilize, and it was only a moment before the bow of a massive, wooden, flying ship poked through the hole in time and space.
The bow was quickly joined by the rest of the hull, and then a giant, winged mast, because of course it would have wings, how else could it fly, duh.
The boat angled itself downwards, towards the Hogwarts Lake - for a moment, Jade was afraid it was going to somehow mess with Durmstrang's Hotel Flora Supernatant, but whoever was steering the boat seemed to know what they were doing, and it splashed into the water without disrupting the other structure.
The boat lazily (though, considering its size, maybe not so lazily) turned around in the water, coming to halt when it was perpendicular to the shore.
Rather than a plank extending from the top of the ship, like Jade had expected, a huge section of the hull seemed to vanish entirely, revealing a cadre of Beauxbatons students who looked to be bursting with nervous, excited energy.
As they stood, thick clouds of mist began to form the floor of the newly-revealed compartment on the ship, all the way to the nearest point on land.
It was only a moment before the mist resolved itself into a rainbow, and Beauxbatons students eagerly strode across it. Hogwarts and Durmstrang students got up to meet them; Rose and Jade, of course, were no exception.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Rose seemed to be completely lost in thought as she stared at the bridge, and Jade tugged at the girl's robe.
"Rose, I'm not going to go alone, but you can't just stand here."
"Look at them," said Rose. "I didn't realize how much it would affect me to see them."
Jade looked where Rose was staring, but couldn't really tell what the other girl was going on about. "Okay, show me in person."
And she grabbed Rose's arm, and the two joined the throng of students who were greeting the new arrivals.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade understood what Rose was talking about the moment they broke through the crowd.
In both lives, Jade had been isolated from "normality." Her first life, she knew only her grandpa, herself, and her dog. Then her grandpa died and she merged with the dog - leaving only herself.
The three of them - dog, Pa, and girl - had paper-white skin, whiter than the frost that covered Jade's planet. It was silly to admit, sure, but she really thought television had exaggerated the skin color of the actors depicted within it, filling in the white with... whatever, y'know? Her dreams were filled with people whose skin was colored exactly like hers. Dave's skin looked like hers, as did Rose's - but after her rude awakening in the forest all those years ago, she never saw anyone else with the same epidermal pigmentation.
At least, she hadn't, until today.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade couldn't have described the feeling. It was sort of similar to how she felt when she found out that there were other magic children. It was similar to how she felt when she discovered the tower in Prospit which housed the other sleeping dream-child. Really, it was closest to what she'd felt last night - a dawning bittersweet chasm of "oh, they were here all along."
A girl in Beauxbaton greys, with stark white hair like Rose's. A boy, three paces behind her, hair ink-black like Jade's.
A girl, approaching them with a doofy grin.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade stuck her hand out first.
"Hi," she said. "I'm Jade Harley, and I'm from Durmstrang. Welcome to Hogwarts!"
She elbowed Rose, who seemed to just be staring at the girl in front of them. Rose collected herself enough to say, "I'm Rose Potter. From here. Yeah."
Boooo. Lame, Rose. Jade rolled her eyes.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Luckily, the girl giggled, her thick, long black hair bouncing with the motion. "It is, ah, a pleasure to meet you," she said, vowels accented. "My name is June Serket."
"Serket?" Jade's eyebrows raised. "That's certainly an interestingly specific last name."
"Goddess," breathed Rose. "Goddess of stings. Egypt."
== Jade: Be Rose.
"Rose, are you okay?" asked Jade.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm okay."
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade smiled at June. "Well, it's lovely to meet you, anyways."
"Of course," said June. "I will be seeing you, I hope!"
She winked, and walked away, presumably to introduce herself to other Hogwarts students.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade waved her hand up and down in front of Rose's face. "Hello?" she asked, drawing out the 'o'. "Anyone home?"
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade sighed. "Rose, is everything at least okay?"
Rose managed a nod.
"Okay," said Jade. "I'm going to go see if I can catch up with Dave."
== Jade: Be Rose.
"You do that," said Rose.
"Okay," said Jade.
== Jade: Be Rose.
Jade walked away.
== Jade: Be Rose.
== Jade: Be Rose.
== Jade: Be Rose.
== Jade: Be Ros==e.
== Jade: B=== Ja Jde: == J== ======Rose.
==
== Jade: Be Rose.
Rose's brain was whirring faster than it had in years. No, not years - maybe ever? Maybe ever, in this lifetime. She'd known that something like this was possible. The visions she'd had back in first year confirmed it, certainly. This was just... it was something else to see those faint whispers materialize in front of her.
My fucking god, thought Rose, over and over again in as many permutations as the teen's mind could spin up, June Serket was cute.
—
This chapter was beta-read by Nihilistic Janitor, Rose Davidson (who provided excellent HP consistency checks), and given a thumbs up by Deacon Blues! This chapter was also brought to you by FlaringK, who created both the AO3 theme on MSPFA, as well as the tool of a generation: Gdocs to Fiction. This story lives happily on five platforms, give or take an FF.N, thanks to the incredible work Flare put in.
Credit eternal to Jasmine for coming up with this chapter's ending in July of 2020. Thank you for having the single best idea for this fic.
On a serious note, I'm releasing this chapter in the wake of some of the most vicious anti-trans backlash in recent US history. If you're trans and reading this, please take time for yourself this week. You are loved, and things will get better. If you're cis, and have not heard about this, please look deeper into it – the linked thread is a good place to start.
Save our lives.