(Hogwarts, 2026)
Mia adjusted to life at Hogwarts as easily as she had to life on the TARDIS. She woke early enough (as time-lords – or at least her father – needed less sleep, she presumed). She befriended her classmates over breakfast, lunch and dinner. She excelled in her classes, doing better than the Ravenclaws, even ("It's not really fair on them that you've got an extra-terrestrial brain," Katherine had laughed). She was most adept at Transfiguration, taught by Professor Simmons, and wanted to become an Animagus. Katherine had told her that Rose and Scorpius were able to transform into foxes.
Professor Simmons, inspired by her eagerness to learn, gave her books on the subject.
That evening, she was sitting on the floor of the boys' dormitory (she preferred the company of Leo over the girls, and the other first year boys accepted her presence) reading a thick leather-bound volume called the Basics to Becoming an Animagus, while Leo sat on his bed, finishing his Potions homework.
"You're obsessed," he said to her, looking up.
"I should've been in Ravenclaw," she murmured, turning a page.
"The Hat's decision is final, and besides, it's simple to get into the Ravenclaw common room, so you can go and hang out with the cool people any time you like."
There was a slight note of jealousy in his voice. Mia looked up.
"You're my best friend, you know that, don't you?"
He smiled now. "Yeah. And you're mine."
She smiled back, returning to her book.
"How many times have you read that now?" he asked her, crossing something out on his homework.
"Two," she replied absently. "I need to read it three times to absorb it properly."
"It always gives me the idea of the book sinking into your head," he laughed, scratching his nose with his quill.
"Just the words," she said. "Not the actual book."
"What are you?" Leo asked, after a pause.
"What?" she asked.
"You can't be human," he said. "It's not possible."
She paused, and then sighed. "I'll tell you, but you have to keep it a secret. I don't want this all around the school."
"I won't tell a soul," Leo promised, laying down his quill.
"You're right. I'm not human," Mia said, rising to her feet and sitting on the bed next to her friend. "I've got two hearts. So do my parents. Me and my father are the last of our species. My mother is human plus."
Leo seemed to digest the information without being completely shocked. "What are you called?"
"Time-lord. Mainly because they used to take care of time. Glitches, holes, stuff like that. My father has a machine that travels through time and space. He stole it when he was a kid."
"And I thought my life was pretty interesting," said Leo. The two of them laughed.
"I only met them a couple of weeks ago, though," Mia continued. "I grew up in an orphanage, under a false name – for my own protection. My mother was kidnapped when she was a baby, and she was only human plus. They didn't want the same thing to happen to me."
"You still haven't forgiven them," Leo observed. "Not completely."
She sighed. "No, I don't think I have."
"Mia?"
"Huh?"
She looked around. Emily, a fellow Gryffindor first year, with long brown hair and freckles, was staring at her.
"What are you doing?" Emily hissed.
They were sitting in History of Magic, which was taught by a ghost. Mia found herself instantly sleepy, but scribbled down notes anyway. She now looked down at her work. It was circular Gallifreyan.
"Doodling," she murmured sleepily.
"Strange doodles," Emily muttered, leaning in to examine them. "You're a really good artist."
"Uh … thanks."
Emily smiled at her and returned to her note-conversation with a blue-eyed red head in the third row. Mia returned to her note-taking, wondering how she hadn't noticed she'd been writing in Gallifreyan.
She put the question to Katherine, when she and Leo had sat beside her and her friend, Maggie, who had long hair in a plait.
"You're like Harry," she answered. "He never realised that he could speak Parseltongue. It just seemed like English."
"Who is he?" Mia asked, deciding that now she'd been twice compared to this Harry, she may as well find out who he was.
"I think I've got it somewhere," Katherine said thoughtfully, delving in her schoolbag. "Aha! No one ever read it, since Rita Skeeter wrote it and everything, but you might find some use out of it." She handed Mia a book, titled, The Golden Trio.
"And to answer your question," Leo said, buttering himself a roll. "He's Harry Potter. The boy who lived. The man who saved us all from Voldemort."
"Rose's uncle," Katherine added.
"You know Rose Weasley?" Leo asked curiously.
"Rescued me from the orphanage," Mia explained quickly. "Took me to meet my parents."
"You told your boyfriend?" Katherine asked.
"Best friend," Mia corrected unconcernedly.
"Can he be trusted?"
"Yes," said Mia fiercely, opening the book.
"You do realise we've got Transfiguration next," Leo said.
"So?"
"Shouldn't you be absorbing your Animagus books?"
"Already absorbed," Mia said absently.
"Oh you're good," Katherine sighed. "Wish I was as good."
"We're sitting our OWLs this year," Maggie said gloomily. "I don't think I'll get enough."
"Of course you will," Mia smiled, looking up.
"Easy for you to say," Katherine said. "You're a genius, and you don't have to sit your OWLs for another four years."
"You'll be fine," Mia assured.
The bell rang.
"See you two around," Leo said, as Mia stuffed the book into her schoolbag and swung it onto her back.
"Bye!" the three girls called in unison, heading to their respective classes.
After Transfiguration, Mia went to the front while everyone packed up their things.
"Miss Song?"
"I was wondering when I could start learning to be an Animagus," she said.
"You're a very keen student," Professor Simmons said to her. "How about Halloween? You'll have had enough time to settle in well by then, and make your mind up properly."
"Ok. Thank you, sir," Mia smiled, leaving the classroom.
"What did he say?" Leo, who had waited for her, asked.
"I can start at Halloween," Mia replied, smiling.
"That's great!"
And so it was.