DISCLAIMER

Last I checked, I'm not a humongous-ly rich blonde Brit. I'm a broke-ass brunette, student-waitress paying for a room in Canada with an unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter. Thus, I do not own the franchise or the characters, sadly.

You're going to see me on breaks, btw -.-zzz

"Briseis."

On the chilly dawn of September 1st of 1990, a manor is beginning to stir. Today the Hogwarts Express is due to leave Kings Cross station at 11 AM for the 160th time. A man in his late 30s is attempting to wake her daughter who is supposed to ride the glorious red train for the first time, as her grandmother did years ago as an eleven-year-old in 1941.

"Few more minutes, Papa." The brunette midget mumbled as she burrowed deeper into her comforters.

The man chuckled and conceded to her wishes. There's still time to spare after all. He went back downstairs to check whether breakfast is already served. He had Gigi, their house elf, cook tapsilog. It's Briseis' favorite breakfast dish, something her lola had cooked for her one morning when she was seven that had become a staple for the Bythesea household.

It had been a harrowing move. From living in the tropical islands of Asia to the cold Old London Town. Briseis' life shifted dramatically. She has never been away from the Philippines, even after his separation from his wife. His ex-wife's love was so fickle and too substantiated. Too fake. She made him jump hoops to conform to her but held up for his daughter. However, their relationship was strained, and the last straw was her reaction to Briseis' accidental magic at two years old and another surprise.

-.- zzz

1992

From a young age, Cassandra had seen that her granddaughter had an affinity with the flora. She experimented with her inkling for a while by bringing the inquisitive toddler into her greenhouse every afternoon. The plants seem to brighten and grow faster when Briseis was around. After a severe frost one morning, Cassandra brought Briseis to her beloved sunflowers and roses in the desperate hope of salvaging what they can. Briseis was upset upon seeing her grandmother's priced plants lifeless and dull. The little girl started to walk and talk with the plants, stopping at each pot and plot. Against all odds, all the plants; sunflowers, roses, lettuce, cabbages, strawberries, everything - came back to life and flourished as if the storm last night hadn't happened. Unfortunately, Cassandra's much-scorned daughter-in-law was snooping around. Why Morpheus ever bed the woman, she wouldn't know. Ligaya saw what happened and started shouting, accusing her daughter of being possessed by spirits. Cassandra whipped out her wand and confounded the hysterical woman.

Cassandra divulged the incident to Morpheus that afternoon when Ligaya left for her afternoon card games with her amigas. Since then, mother and son kept a keen eye on the woman and a more protective stance with Briseis. As luck would have it, Briseis' next accidental magic was when Morpheus was at work and Cassandra went out to buy from the small convenience store a few houses away. Little Briseis was playing on the sloped fields near their home, a small cottage in an old American settlement in the hills of Baguio City that Morpheus bought a few months back. Their property was surrounded by pine, guava, and soursop trees. A small shrine with a small pond where lived a handful of goldfish and koi was near the driveway, as well. Ligaya was on the porch, engrossed with her cross-stitch patterns, and was listening to a radio drama series about a womanizing husband when she heard her giggling daughter call out to her. When she looked up, her daughter was waving her hands like an orchestra conductor guiding instrumentalists. Only Briseis was maneuvering water from the shrine into a circle in the air. All the while, fish are swimming leisurely in and out of the water halo.

Shocked and afraid, Ligaya grabbed the nearest thing her hand could grab, a bamboo back scratcher, and stomped towards her daughter. In her fear of her mother's reaction, the magic Briseis formed fashioned around her like a protective dome. This infuriated Ligaya further and started to hit the dome, killing a few fish with her blows. A few meters away, Cassandra heard familiar calls of a woman screaming and the frightened cries of a child. A surge of panic came over her. Thankful for the absence of people at this time of day, she apparated to their kitchen and rushed out to the sound of distress. Taking her wand out, Cassandra struck the madwoman with a stunner, passed by her, and kneeled in front of the dome, uncaring of the dead fish she may have squished. After a few minutes of coaxing, Briseis' dome finally broke apart. What was left was a small trembling child in the middle of a circular dry patch of grass.

Morpheus was called back home, and the police were involved. Ligaya began shrieking as she was being taken into custody. With no sufficient grounds, the questionable accusations by the woman, and the unexplainable circumstances, the police had no legal grounds to take the woman in, unless they'd face unlawful imprisonment. The harpy came storming back and began a three-way argument with the Bytheseas, which ended with Cassandra obliviating Ligaya of all knowledge of magic.

The days that passed were grueling. Despite the obliviation, tempers were short, voices rose, and physical abuse by the hands of Ligaya toward all house occupants began. A few more calls to the police on grounds of domestic abuse were made, but with the highly patriarchal society of their new country and the 'macho' phase at the time, no actions were taken. The internal war halted when Ligaya showed signs of early pregnancy. Swearing to have never touched her since their one-night stand that brought Briseis, Morpheus demanded from her the truth. A sobbing Ligaya admitted having been going to an ex-boyfriend's place instead of going to her amiga's card games and then proceeded to blame Morpheus for destroying her relationship with the man by impregnating her with Briseis. Not wanting to regret doing grave damage, Cassandra stunned and shut her in her room. Morpheus loved his daughter dearly and couldn't stand the possibility of her not being his. To quell his son's agony, Cassandra went to his warded room and performed a paternity spell on the peacefully sleeping Briseis. To their relief and joy, Briseis was indeed theirs. The rest of the day, the pair put together a plan of action to dissolve the marriage.

The next few months were an onerous affair. Thankfully, the marriage was never legal due to the questionable background of the officiator, a man named Samuel, and the absence of the marriage contract. Apparently, Ligaya and her ex-boyfriend, the same Samuel, had co-conspired against the Bytheseas. Their initial motive was to have Ligaya gain British citizenship by marrying Morpheus, divorce him, and naturalize Samuel through marriage with Ligaya, draining the Bytheseas' assets along the way. Unfortunately for them, they got caught and their planned citizenship pathway was never legal. Samuel was sent to prison for co-conspiracy in fraud and other charges. Ligaya was sent to a women's institution until the conclusion of her pregnancy when she will be imprisoned as well.

Eventually, Ligaya gave birth to another daughter, who was given to her mother. Despite being estranged from her wife, Morpheus had a good relationship with his mother-in-law, Pricilla. Being one of the most wholesome people he knows, he couldn't understand how a leach like Ligaya had been born from her. In her youth, she had been sold as a comfort woman during the second world war. She never knew who Ligaya's father was but did her best to raise her daughter. But it was obviously all for naught and then proceeded to jokingly blame the father's genes. Their unfortunate love lives had been the initial bonding moment for Cassandra and Pricilla, and it had grown into a strong sisterhood.

Briseis had grown up in a loving unconventional family consisting of her, Morpheus, Cassandra, Pricilla, and Princess, her half-sister. They all lived together in the same small cottage by the hills. Lola Pricilla was the one who introduced her grandchildren to tapsilog and to creating masterpieces out of food. Nana Cassandra harnessed their love for creativity in arts, music, and plants. And Papa Morpheus established their appetite for knowledge. On Princess' seventh birthday, Morpheus surprised her by officially making her part of the family by adopting her. Unsurprisingly, her birth parents were all too happy to give her away, which didn't bother her one bit.

-.- zzz

Present time.

On a stool beside the stove stood a house elf wearing a pretty frilly pink cotton dress with small rose embroideries. When he returned to Britain, Morpheus was appalled by the way his late father treated the house elf. She was badly abused, dirty, and had an old thick shawl as clothing. On his bedridden father's deathbed, he berated the old fool regarding every pent-up emotion he had and the man's wrongdoings. The man had been repentant to the death. He relinquished all titles and assets he had in his name to his squib son, reinstating him in the House after throwing him out of the family when he ran away with his mother years ago. He also managed to retract ongoing contracts with all families, to be handled by his son, the new Steward for the Ancient and Noble House of Bythesea.

Along with the many changes he made for the family, Morpheus gave Gigi dignity. On his very first hour of reinstatement, he bought various fabrics for Gigi. The elf was reluctant to take them at first, thinking that they were clothes and that she was being dismissed. Morpheus took time to convince the distraught house elf that what he was giving was fabrics for her to use to make her own clothes. Eventually, Gigi conceded with the agreement that she would also make clothes for the young misses.

Now, Gigi is cooking beef tenderloins by the stove. After all, tapsilog is best cooked manually. On one burner sat the beef, on another were eggs being poached, and one more held the garlic rice. A bowl of pickled vegetables was, also, on the counter. "Hello, Master Murphy, Sir. Gigi is makings tappy-logsy as master asks. Would master want his teas?" the elf asked.

A small smile crept on Morpheus' lips at the way the elf kept butchering the English language, no matter how many times he tried to correct her. "Don't worry, Gigi. I can handle making my own tea." He said as he patted the elf on the head when he passed by her, making the elf giggle like a child. Reaching up the cupboard, he took the can of loose earl grey tea. Taking a spoonful out, he let it steep in the cup of hot water Gigi provided. Crossing to the fridge to get milk, he glanced up the time on the wall clock, 7:25 AM. "I'll wake Briseis again after making my tea," he thought.

With his tea made, he trudged up the stairs again and woke up his little sleeping beauty with tickles.

-.- zzz

They managed to leave home at exactly 9 AM. Briseis may try to hide it, but her father can see the trepidation in her eyes. He expected her nervousness, that's why he decided to leave home early to have one last fun time with her at his favorite childhood stop-over, Fortescue's Ice cream Parlor. Despite being a squib, he still managed to enjoy the everyday things that his wizarding counterparts do, without the use of magic of course. He drove past Kings Cross station, which was not left unnoticed by Briseis.

"Papa, wait! We missed it!" Her daughter cautioned while frantically grabbing her things and pointing toward the station.

Chuckling at her daughter's expense, he looked back at the mirror to see her expression, saying, "It's still too early, honey. I thought that since we're early, why not stop over for a treat?"

Upon hearing 'treat', Briseis stopped her fumbling and sat still in anticipation. "Are we going to McDo?" She asked.

"Someplace better." He replied, which led to her incessantly asking throughout the whole trip.

A cone of no-melt treacle tart and chocolate fudge-flavored ice cream at hand later, a brighter Briseis skipped along her father's side as they strode out of the shop. Consuming his own butterbeer ice cream, Morpheus smiled down at her. Getting back to the car later, the occupants drove to Kings Cross station in higher spirits.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I had this idea while I was at work and couldn't shake it off. A sleepless night later, I present to you my masterpiece. McDo is the Philippine term for McDonalds.

Lost Muggle is still ongoing. A little tune-up for the next chapter is all I need. Please R&R.

Unbeta-ed, thus errors are errors. I will not be having regular updates as I also have a life and writing fanfiction is not a paid job. Do check out some of my library readings for other AWESOME stories. I will update my bio accordingly for any reasons that would impede or progress my writing magic.

Til we meet again in the next chapter.

TragicErato