Cierce watched Mrs. Weasley putter around the big kitchen. She felt guiltiest about lying to her and Mr. Weasley. They had been nothing but kind to her. Nothing but kind to Harry. At the thought of Harry, Cierce suddenly remembered that she had a crush on him when she died. Tentatively she mulled it over and realized, whatever attraction there was before...It was gone now. Actually, the more she thought about it... The more Cierce realized she hadn't felt any fully positive emotions since she died.
What if I can't feel love anymore? The thought was a punch to the gut and Cierce had to fight the tears back down with a mighty heave of her inner control. If she made Mrs. Weasley cry purple tears, it might blow her cover. Am I some kind of walking corpse? That man that Carol found who hates me...He never really explained-
A plate of cookies landed gently in front of Cierce, startling her from her reverie. She examined them, noting the shape was like a bunch of little stars. Little...purple stars. She took a bite, trying not to react. She probably just got in the habit of making these for me when I still got to by Nova. Cierce fought back the quiver in her lips even harder at the taste of anise. Licorice snap cookies. She was the only one of this group of children to prefer them.
"Oh dear." Mrs. Weasley stood before her. "What's wrong, love?"
"The cookies are really good." Cierce choked on her tears and kept eating the purple stars. "I have to figure out how to fix Mr. Black and that other guy." Whew, that was close. I almost used their first names.
Mrs. Weasley got a sad look on her face. "I used to make these all the time for young Nova Stark. She loved them, too." She hesitated. "I wouldn't about Sirius too much. Alasator will fix him and Severus right up. You should relax. Try to rest, and remember that whatever they did to you before you were rescued, it won't happen again." Mrs. Weasley hugged her and left Cierce to enjoy the cookies.
x
For the next week, Nova relaxed in private and put on a show as Cierce whenever she was around others. Moody had in fact managed to fix Sirius and Snape too, but Nova kept out of the Order's way nonetheless. One day she stood across the room, watching Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk about their summers. She didn't approach. That had been another life and Nova was supposed to be dead. Cierce didn't know any of them.
"You know, you can always reintroduce yourself." Sirius was quiet next to her, in the same space beside the window. Cierce supressed a shudder at being startled.
"No, I can't." She turned her head to see sparkling green eyes in the middle of Sirius Black's face. "Loki?" The illusion smiled at her.
"Come with me a moment." He lead her into an empty room and locked the door, conjuring a pair of chairs, a table and a tea set. "I see Black destroyed your communicator. Fury was...well, furious. Tony yelled at him for about two hours about your heart is probably breaking and to have some sympathy." This did make Cierce smile. Loki waved his hand and removed her disguise. "Come on now, you can be Nova in here." He sipped his tea. "Now, I'm supposed to check on you and remind you hou of your mission, but I think you need no reminders. Let's talk instead. Has the illusion been uncomfortable?"
Nova shook her head and Loki narrowed his eyes. "I'm the god of lies, Nova."
"Okay, fine. I've begun to understand the pain of dysphoria nonbinary individuals must go through. The body in the mirror literally doesn't match the one in my mind and the dissonance is astoundingly...Loud."
"I can't say I really understand. I've always had the ability to look exactly the way I want. But if that were taken... I'm sorry, Nova. For what it's worth, I don't agree with the way any of this is happening. You're far too beautiful to frown like this all the time."
Nova blushed and purple rose to her gray cheeks. Loki was such a smooth talker. That's is nothing new. This is just how Loki is. Curb your hormones, Nova. "Well, I do. It's hard not to frown. What would you propose I do?"
Loki handed her a book from the depths of his...magic. "What I did, maybe. Study magic and mysticism. But no one can tell you what's going to end up working for you. Only you know that."
x
Loki watched her begin to relax finally, unable to tell her the things he'd actually be sent to. Or to check for the things he wasn't supposed to tell her. Nova was...an outcast just like him but surely it wasn't the other of her kind had been telling them. Surely she couldn't be a serial killer waiting to happen. Not this fragile, shaking young lady. One day she's going to reach a point where she Realizes with a capital 'R' that she is as strong as she is. Her blood caste is ultra-violent and has even built a religion around the belief they are superior. Purple bloods all Realize sooner or later and they snap. They snap and they kill anyone they can get their hands on.
Loki shook the other Alternian's voice from his mind. "Nova, darling. Would you like to go on a date before school starts? To get out. Away from both of the big groups in your life right now."
The girl perked up and her excitement made his heart twinge a little more. "Where would we go?"
"Where do you want to go?"