Children of the Gods

by inwardtransience

When the message came, there was little left of Cassiopeia Black in her — soon she would move on, shed her face and her name for another. But, at the last possible moment, she found a reason to carry on, the smouldering embers of her identity sparking to new life. Unfortunately, adopting the Boy Who Lived came with complications. (metamorphs, fairies, AU and very weird)

7. Visitors — III

Violet was living with Cassie for a bit over a month when Cassie got a letter from Lord Arcturus Black, telling them to come have lunch with him so they could talk about Violet. And because he was the Lord of the Family, Cassie wasn't allowed to say no.

Cassie mentioned before that there were magic person nobles, even said she was one, but never really explained past that. The day before the lunch, she actually did...a bit, Violet still didn't understand a lot of it. Basically, the magic government was really old-fashioned, their nobles were still pretty much in charge of everything — they had a thing that was kind of like the House of Lords, but they didn't have something like the House of Commons at all, the lords and ladies ran everything.

The Ministry, led by the Minister of Magic — who was...kind of like the Prime Minister? except he wasn't an MP, they thought... — had a lot of non-noble people in it, but the important people were mostly nobility. The current Minister, a bloke called Cornelius Fudge (which was a funny name), was a commoner, and so were the Directors of International Cooperation, Mysteries, Commerce and Trade, Public Works, and Games and Sports, but the Directors of Law Enforcement, Transportation, Lands and Waters, Wizengamot Administration Services, Regulation and Control of Magic Creatures (Cassie scowled a little saying the name), and Health and Family were all nobles.

Violet's head was spinning a little from all the names and stuff, Cassie told them not to worry about it, she'd teach them how everything here worked when they were older. The point was that the old noble families still ran most things in the magical world, more or less. They still had a lot of power, not just in the government but also over people in their families — Cassie basically had to do whatever the head of the family told her to. There was some wiggle room, and there were things it was illegal for him to try to make her do, but pretty much.

Magic people gossipped, and Acturus must have heard about Violet from somewhere. So he knew Cassie was going around telling people about a Black kid he didn't know about. Pretending to be a member of a noble family when you're not is actually a really big deal — like, get a big fine and sent to prison for years big deal — but Cassie said not to worry about it, she had a story to explain it, it would be fine.

Violet was still nervous anyway.

Talking about noble families and stuff, Cassie said that Violet was one too, and not just through their grandmother — the Potters were a noble family too, and since Violet was the only Potter left they were even a Lady of the Wizengamot and everything. (Violet had a seat in magic Parliament, something they didn't even know existed a few minutes earlier, which was crazy.) It didn't know how to feel about that, honestly. The thought made it uncomfortable, but it couldn't really say why.

But anyway. Arcturus was one of the few Blacks left, there was pretty much just him, Cassie, and her brother, who was living in Greece at the moment. (He left the country when the rest of the family died off, and didn't plan to come back.) Arcturus was Cassie's cousin — they had the same granddad — and was only four years older than her, so they saw each other a lot growing up. He became head of the family when their granddad retired way back in '39, and then passed it down to his son in '59...but then his son died in '79, and there wasn't really anyone left who could do it, so he became the head of the family again.

Even though he wasn't very old by magic person standards — magic people didn't start being old until like a hundred fifty, and got above two hundred all the time — Cassie didn't think he was going to live much longer. Magic people had their own war at the same time as The War, and Arcturus went to fight in it — he was injured pretty badly, and his health had been bad ever since. Since everyone else was gone, he'd been trying to talk Cassie into taking over, and also getting married and having kids, for years now, but Cassie always said no, since she didn't plan to stick around for very long.

This wasn't something Cassie explained before, but apparently metamorphs would only be the same person for so long, before deciding they didn't want to be them anymore and went off somewhere else to be someone else. Cassie was close to doing that before, but she decided she was going to stay here but not really try to be Cassiopeia Black proper anymore, just be how she wanted to be and do what she wanted to do, and if those weren't things Cassiopeia Black would be or do, so be it, she didn't care about that anymore.

She didn't come out and say she'd changed her mind so she could stay and look after Violet, but it was pretty easy to guess.

The point was, Arcturus probably wasn't going to be very happy with her right now. Double because Arcturus was a bit magic-racist — he wasn't a Death Eater, thought they were idiots and would never follow a Dark Lord like that, but he didn't like magic people with non-magic parents anyway — and the story Cassie was gonna tell him was that Violet's great-grandfather was Cassie's baby brother Marius, who was born without magic, which was a thing that could happen...and was then kicked out of the family for it, because magic-racist. Arcturus wasn't going to be happy about that, but he was going to be happy that there was a kid who could keep the family going after he died — if Violet was a normal magic kid, maybe he wouldn't want them anyway, because magic-racist, but since they were a metamorph Cassie thought he'd be okay with it. Arcturus was probably gonna make Cassie sign papers to agree to take over when he died, in trade for not kicking up a fuss about Violet, which Cassie was a little annoyed about but was willing to do.

Of course, Violet wasn't going to continue the family, 'cause they had their own still. The Blacks were going to die out anyway, but Cassie said Arcturus didn't need to know that, they were going to let him think he won. And to do that, they had to not make him angry enough to not want Violet as a Black.

Cassie said not to worry about it, but Violet was nervous anyway.

Because they were meeting a fancy magical lord person, they were both wearing fancy magical clothes. Violet didn't have much stuff in more old-fashioned magic...things, more like muggle clothes, so they actually went out to a store last night to get something special — the store looked and even smelled expensive, somehow, it felt out of place just being there. Old fashioned magic person robes were basically just like dresses, though really baggy, and with a couple layers. Violet was used to dresses or skirts and jumpers by now, but not this thing, it was trying not to fidget already and not doing a very good job. Cassie also got new clothes while they were there, 'cause she didn't want to wear her old Cassiopeia Black clothes, and since they were getting them at the same time they matched — Cassie was in mostly silver with a little red and Violet mostly red and a little silver, some black stitching around the hems.

House of Black colours, apparently. Violet was told the Potters' were red, white, and gold, but they didn't think they would remember that.

They were meeting Arcturus at a place called Ancient House, and Cassie said even Blacks couldn't just teleport in and out of Ancient House, so they had to take the Floo. Violet didn't like the Floo — it was...spinny. They'd only done it a few times so far, but it was awful every time. Thankfully, they didn't have to go alone — Cassie magicked the fireplace bigger so they could go at the same time, Cassie's hand tight on their shoulder holding them close to her side — if Violet tried on their own they'd probably fall out in the wrong place. After a few seconds of whirling green fires, with a few hard thumps that put waves in the fire and made Violet feel kind of sick, they were stepping out of a fireplace somewhere else, Cassie catching Violet before they could fall face-first on the floor.

Violet clung at Cassie's robes for a little bit, breathing hard, waiting for their head to stop spinning and trying not to be sick. Ugh, it did not like the Floo...

They still weren't better yet when there was a sharp pop, Violet jumped, looking over their shoulder quickly found a house-elf. Not Nola, this one had different-coloured eyes (a deep greenish-blue, reminding Violet of the sea their couple days in Dublin ages ago now) and a much wrinklier face. "Hello again, Miss Cassie," the elf said, their voice harsh and gravelly — really old, maybe?

"Menae. This is Violet, who I'm sure you've heard about. Violet, Menae is the chief elf at Ancient House, and also the family at large — I've known her for longer than I can remember, she was one of the elves here when I was a child."

Violet frowned — how long did elves live, exactly? Menae did look older than Nola, but they didn't think anyone ever said. "Um, hello."

Menae eyed them for a moment, maybe curious? Cassie said Menae probably knew who Violet was, that Nola might have told the other Black elves — and also that it didn't matter if they knew Violet was fake, since they were Dorea's grandchild and Cassie was looking after them the elves will see them as part of the family anyway. If Arcturus asked, the elves would have to tell him, but why would he ever ask? After a few seconds of looking Violet over head to toe, she nodded, said just, "Miss Violet," before turning back to Cassie. "The Master is waiting in the blue salon. Shall I have one of the girls start tea?"

"Yes, thank you, Menae."

The room they were in was all fancy, polished stone, the floor smooth and shining and bits toward the ceiling carved into curling, complicated shapes. The stone was mostly black, but there was reddish wood here and there — panels in the walls, a couple little tables — little glinting silver bits running in streaks. It was a little room, enough for a few people to stand around and that was really it — there weren't even any chairs or anything. Cassie said all this room was for was the Floo, how the family came in and out. Apparently there was a fancier Floo room in the guest hall, which, Violet couldn't imagine that, this was fancy enough, thanks.

Cassie led them out and through the halls, more black stone and reddish wood everywhere. There were things to lighten it up a bit, pale creamy carpets, some paintings on the walls — a lot of portraits, the people inside whispering as Violet and Cassie went by (because magic paintings could talk), but also some of, like, forests and mountains and stuff, one on the sea somewhere rocky and jagged Violet thought was really nice. And the lights kept it from being too dark and sad, a yellowish glow coming from somewhere up near the ceiling (Violet couldn't see where), bouncing off these pretty glass thingies up there every once in a while, glittering in the light, little flecks of rainbow colour scattered along the hallways. Very pretty.

Though as they walked, Violet just got more nervous. They were already nervous about the meeting with Arcturus, but everything was so pretty and...expensive-looking. Violet was scared to touch anything, even a little guilty about walking on the carpet.

After a bit of walking, they got to what must be the blue salon — Violet guessed because there was a lot of blue. The carpets, the chairs, the curtains along the walls, all in different shades of blue, here and there brown of wood, black stone peeking past the curtains, silver bits glinting. The light was a little darker, and plainer, without the little rainbow bits from glass, an odd wavy pattern painted onto the ceiling, Violet couldn't tell what it was, but there was nothing else up there. Too bad, Violet liked the glass things in the hallway.

And, well, another hint that they were in the right place was that there was a person in here. A man with a narrow, sharp face and dark eyes, his hair long and black and curly with just a few grey bits in it, dressed in magic-person robes, also in black, but with curling patterns in dark blue (Violet didn't see it at first), the cloth glinting when he moved. He was sitting in a padded armchair, at a table with copies of the same armchair around it, going over a pile of papers — letters, looked like — a cup of tea steaming on the table.

Seconds after they stepped inside, his eyes found Violet's, dark and sharp and heavy, it glanced down to the floor right away. Nerves prickling over its shoulders, chest already starting to go tight, Violet reminded itself to breathe.

Cassie and Arcturus said hi quick, chatted a little bit. It was obvious by how they talked that they'd known each other forever, hinting at stuff (most of it over Violet's head) and using nicknames — Cassie called him "Archie", but Violet guessed they probably shouldn't. Cassie drifted closer as they talked, Violet trailing after her, until she was standing near the table, around the corner from Arcturus.

"And this is the girl I've heard tell about, then," Arcturus said, suddenly, making Violet twitch. His voice was low, gravelly and hoarse, sounding older than he looked. He was looking at them again, but Violet could only meet his eyes for a couple seconds, too nervous.

"Yes, this is Violet." Cassie reached over to smooth down a bit of Violet's hair, they glanced up at her before looking down again. "Picked her up on Samhain, we've been living at the Refuge for going on a month now — I assume you saw the contract for the house."

"I did, of course, though I had assumed it was an investment on your part, or perhaps part of a larger arrangement with the Caoimhes."

"I haven't spoken to anyone from the family yet, actually — I acquired the house through an agent, I'm not even certain the Caoimhes know I'm living there." The Caoimhes were a big family in magic Ireland, very wealthy and important, but Violet didn't know much about them past that. Their house was on Caoimhe land, supposedly they owned all the rowhouses around their courtyard...though Violet didn't know how that worked, exactly. Didn't Cassie buy their house?

At the edge of its vision, Violet saw Arcturus scowl a little, clearly not happy about that. "Still reckless as ever, Cassie."

"And you, Archie, have gotten paranoid in your old age. The Caoimhes aren't going to give a damn about one of us living on their lands, and even if they did I doubt they will kick up a fuss about it. Especially as we've been decent neighbours so far."

"Perhaps," Arcturus said, with the tone of someone who didn't really agree. "The Family has more than enough properties to our name, I can't imagine why you didn't choose to bring the girl to any one of them."

"Violet is light-aligned — I know, I was surprised too — she was sensitive to the wards on my flat, and I assumed anywhere else would likely be just as bad. Speaking of which," turning to Violet, "are the wards here troubling you? If they are, I can get one of the elves to fetch an amulet with an isolating enchantment, that should help..."

It took a couple seconds to force its voice to work, Arcturus still watching it. "Um. No, I'm okay." Didn't even notice anything, really, nothing like the unpleasant cold in Cassie's flat.

Cassie blinked down at it for a second. "...Huh. The wards here were all set by ritual, nature and blood magics, but they are heavily tinted dark regardless. More dark than my flat even..."

Voice low and almost slurred, Arcturus said, "The very land upon which this structure stands will always welcome a child of the House of Black."

...Oh. That was neat. Magic was so cool sometimes.

"As the spirits of our family have so spoken, I could hardly do otherwise, even should I wish to. Welcome to Ancient House, Violet Black. Whatever else may come out of our discussion today, know at least that I was pleased to hear of your existence — no matter my frustrations with my cousin for not telling me of it."

Violet was definitely supposed to say something now. They took a breath, focused on talking right. "Nice to meet you, Lord Arcturus." That was what they were supposed to call him, Cassie mentioned that, and it wasn't actually nice to meet him, they were still really nervous, but that's what you were supposed to say to be polite. "Um. I like the house, it's really pretty here." Their chest wasn't quite cooperating, but they got the words out, so it was probably fine.

Arcturus gave them a look for a couple seconds, eyes narrowed, didn't know what that was about. Then he let out a little huff, leaning back in his chair a little. "It is that, isn't it. Wait until you see the grounds."

There was a little more talking before Cassie and Violet sat down, and then there was tea, and then lunch not long after that. The food was mostly this really thin soft flatbread stuff wrapped around things — there was some kind of meat in it, maybe chicken? Violet didn't know what these were, a little weird. They noticed Arcturus's hands shook a little, teacup rattling against the saucer every time he picked it up or put it down, maybe they were just having finger food so he didn't have to try to use a fork...

And of course they were talking the whole time. Most of it was about Violet, but they didn't actually have to talk much, Arcturus asking questions and mostly Cassie answering. Like, where they came from — Cassie guessed right, Arcturus didn't look happy about the story she made up, but he didn't say anything about it — how Cassie found them, and on and on. Cassie warned Violet before coming that she would have to tell him they'd been badly treated before, that their non-magic relatives didn't like their magic — Arcturus was really angry about that, surprisingly, glaring down at the table and picking at his food and muttering... Not English, Violet didn't know what that was.

But it guessed Cassie did, because she said, "Oh, I already did, the woman at least. Cruciatus."

Arcturus's eyes snapped up to her, widened a little, then he let out an amused huff. "That's a good start I suppose, but suffering from that particular curse is unfortunately temporary."

"Tell the Longbottoms that. But no, I thought it best to leave it at that. I doubt I'd truly see any legal consequences, assuming the Ministry ever even learned of it, but I wouldn't want to contribute to the whispers, you know?"

"Mm."

(Violet didn't know, it was probably grown-up stuff.)

And most of the conversation was grown-up stuff, really, Violet didn't need to talk much. Even if it was mostly about them, it was all their plans for the years ahead, and Violet didn't know enough about magic stuff to say much. Cassie told Arcturus that they were set to go to Hogwarts in '91 — Violet's parents sent in the papers and paid tuition and everything all the way back when they were a baby, but Cassie told Arcturus she took care of it just a couple weeks ago — and was going to start at Caoimhe's Academy, the school in town a lot of the local kids went to, next autumn.

Caoimhe, was that the same Caoimhe as the big important family? Maybe, Violet thought Cassie might have said something about that, they didn't remember...

Until it was time for that, though, Cassie said they were just hanging out, giving Violet time to get used to the magical world, and also teach them some things about being a metamorph. (They hadn't started doing that yet, but Cassie said after the holidays.) Arcturus said they should think about starting to introduce them to other noble kids, especially the ones that would be in their year at Hogwarts, which... Did they have to do that? That sounded...really boring and annoying, all fancy tea parties with fancy people. Cassie argued to put it off for a year or two — which Arcturus agreed to, said they should wait until they were ready — but Violet kind of didn't want to do it at all.

Cassie must have noticed that, because she smirked across the table and said there would be tiny cakes, and also they would have to get them a bunch of pretty dresses and things to do it all properly. Violet tried not to look like that sounded a little better, but it was probably obvious anyway — it thought Arcturus was even hiding a smile behind his teacup.

(Violet liked pretty dresses and things, but admitting it made them feel funny.)

All in all, their lunch with Arcturus ended up mostly just boring. Which was much better than scary, Violet had been so nervous, so they were okay with that. And they had a lot of practice at being bored, when they were stuck in the cupboard — they had to fight not to fidget sometimes, when the grown-ups were talking about things they didn't really know about and they had nothing to do to distract themself, but they mostly did okay, they thought. Nobody yelled at them, so.

They knew they were supposed to sit still and be polite at times like this, but it was so hard to do sometimes, they didn't know how everyone else managed it all the time.

Lunch was done eventually, and they sat with more tea — Violet was holding their cup, to be polite, but didn't plan to drink it right away, was worried it would have to pee. Cassie and Arcturus were talking about something, sounded like gossip about some magic person or another, when a short silence fell, Arcturus watching Violet again for a moment.

They twitched when he spoke, startled after the quiet. "I am inclined to approve. It would not be difficult for me to waylay the curiosity of the more intrusive or confrontational of our peers, do what can be done at this early date to quicken her acceptance among us. I would, however, require guarantees."

Cassie grimaced, but nodded. "I can already guess what a couple of them will be."

"I have no doubt," Arcturus said, smirking a little. "If Violet is to be a Black, she must understand what that means. There are histories and people and places and magics she must know. As other matters do take priority at the moment, these elements of her education may be postponed until a later date, but not indefinitely."

"Yes, of course. We can discuss that later, when the timing is better."

"Mm. I am not long for this life, you know that. Violet is far too young and undereducated to assume the title herself, and there is no reason she must do so while still in your care — as I suspect she will be yet, when my time comes."

"So you want me to assume the title myself in the meantime." Cassie let out a sigh, her eyes tipping up to the ceiling for a second. "Fine, I'll do it. I doubt having me as our Lady will do any good for the Family in its twilight — I am not Lady of the Wizengamot material, and we both know it — but it isn't as though there's anyone else. Besides, I suspect I'll be sticking around for a good long while now. It's still new, but I have a good feeling about it."

Arcturus nodded. "Good. Menae told me your elf informed her that you've quit drinking."

"Ugh, nosey little bastard..."

His lips twitched a little, but he didn't say anything to that. "As much as I might wish that whatever revelation you've reached could have come earlier, I am pleased. That there is even one child of the Family now is a relief, but that is not enough to assure survival — perhaps, given time, you might even see yourself to having children of your own one day."

"Don't push your luck, Archie."

"Of course — I'm simply expressing a hope, not making a demand. And you, Violet." They tensed a little as he turned to them, his eyes heavy and stern, nerves tingling over their shoulders. "I am aware you know little of these things as of yet, and I doubt you have any comprehension of the gift that is to be entrusted to you. Some might speak of the wealth of our Family, and it is vast, that is true, but that is not what concerns me most. Our family is old, older than I think you imagine.

"When petty kings yet feuded over these islands, we concerned ourselves with it not, doing as we must to preserve ourselves but not allowing ourselves to be drawn in or swayed — as the mountain cares not for the men bickering on its face, ancient and unyielding. We were perhaps the greatest of the families present at the Foundation of the Wizengamot, even then already ancient. Our reach was felt far across the north long before the first Roman soldier ever set foot outside Italy; when those few brave sailors out of old Athens reached our shores, seeking new lands with which to trade, we were already here. Even we know not where we come from, our own origins so ancient they are shrouded in myth, lost in the murky shadows of the time before history began to be kept at all.

"All of that, what has been slowly built by our ancestors, generation after generation down over two thousand years...all of it will, one day, be left to you. And should you falter, should you shame all those who come before, I fear that will be how the Family shall be remembered in your wake. I don't expect it all to weigh on you as it does me, not as yet, but I hope you will at the very least honour the trust you are being given."

...Okay, that was kind of a lot. And more than Arcturus came out and said, even, Violet remembered Cassie talking about how magic people could be kind of funny about their families and whatever, and... Like an almost religious thing, that it was super important. So, yeah, Violet could see how handing over everything to a kid he didn't even know might be scary to him.

And it was making Violet feel kinda guilty because, well, they weren't a Black, not really. They had their own silly magical family stuff to deal with, apparently. (Cassie said she'd look into things so Violet could learn about Potter stuff, but it was okay if it took a while, Violet had plenty to be getting on with already.) So, they weren't going to be a Black forever, and... They didn't know, Violet just felt kind of bad.

But they couldn't say anything about that, Arcturus wasn't supposed to know they weren't just Violet. "I know I don't– I..." Violet took in a breath, forced themself to meet Arcturus's eyes. "This is all still new to me, but I understand its very important to you, and mag– mages." They almost said magic people, their mistake making it harder to talk, they focused harder on getting its voice to work — it wasn't until a few words in that they noticed that they were looking down at their tea again, oops... "I'm really, really grateful, for Cassie...taking me in, and everything, and I don't want to... I'll do my best, I promise."

Arcturus kept watching them for a moment, frowning just a little — had it said something bad? — but then he nodded. "Good, you'll do." He looked away again, and Violet relaxed a little, taking a slightly shaky sip of their tea. "We should work up an affirmation for the succession now, to ensure there isn't any confusion should I pass unexpectedly. I believe there's suitable parchment in the drawers there, let's see..."

It was obvious Arcturus wasn't well, walking with a cane like Rufus but much more slowly and carefully, shuffling shakily along. Now that he was standing up, Violet noticed how thin he was, weak and just... Yeah, they guessed they understood why he thought he'll die soon. He and Cassie got some paper out, wrote out something on it — Cassie did the writing, Arcturus worried his handwriting wouldn't be readable, but they were talking through the whole thing together. Not that Violet really understood what they were talking about, grown-up stuff. That Cassie would take over the family once Arcturus was gone, basically, making it all nice and legal so nobody else would have a problem with it.

As part of it, their paper included the bit that Violet was to be next in line, after Cassie. That part Cassie hesitated on — after all, Violet wasn't really a Black — but Arcturus talked her into it. If the family didn't pass to Violet, Arcturus said all their stuff would go to the Prewetts or the Malfoys, and Cassie clearly didn't like that idea.

Later, Cassie would explain to Violet that the Prewetts were a Light family — they weren't so bad as a lot of them, but she thought they would destroy a lot of the Blacks' old stuff instead of keeping it. And the Malfoys were Death Eaters, so, she didn't want them to get Black stuff either. Violet couldn't be Lady Black, because they were already Lady Potter — well, Lord Potter, really — so the family would die anyway, but Cassie would rather it all go to them than any of the other options. And maybe the family wouldn't die, because if Violet wanted they could keep the families separate, and have one kid inherit the Potter stuff and another kid the Black stuff. (Woah, Violet being all grown up and having kids was a weird thought.) So, it was really the best option.

And also it didn't really matter, because Cassie wasn't going anywhere anyway, it would never be a problem.

After quick saying goodbye to Arcturus — he looked tired already, Violet thought he wanted them gone so he could take a nap — Violet and Cassie were leaving, back into the hallway with the little rainbow chinks of light. Okay, Violet had worked themself up way more than they needed to, that hadn't been so bad.

Leading the way down the hall, looking a little irritated, Cassie said, "I'm sorry, Violet, I didn't know he was going to press you like that."

It took Violet a few seconds to decide what Cassie was talking about: that super serious moment when Arcturus was saying the family was old and stuff, and hoping they would take this seriously. "Oh, that. It was kind of a lot, but it didn't bother me, it's okay."

Cassie let out a little hmm, like she didn't quite believe Violet, but she didn't say anything, so they decided not to argue about it. They got back to the Floo room, another very uncomfortable few seconds in the spinning fire and they were back home. Violet ended up clinging on Cassie's robes for a bit after, just to hold themself up, their knees shaking and their head spinning. Cassie's hand light on their shoulder, she said, "So, that's that out of the way. Anything in particular you wanted to do the rest of the day?"

"Um. Change into normal clothes." Cassie let out a little amused huff. "But not really. Why?"

"I should go warn Albus about what happened today, and talk to him about how we're going to handle Potter things — of course there are things about your family you'll need to learn, preferably before you go to Hogwarts, but we don't want me on record as your representative in those matters."

Because people would see it and find out Violet Black was Harry Potter, she meant. "Okay."

"I can bring back pizza again, if you like."

"Oh! Yeah, okay, that stuff is great." Violet realised they were still holding on to Cassie's robes, and let go, took a step away. "I'm gonna go change now, robes are weird."

Cassie gave them a smile, but it flickered away really quick, for a few seconds she stared down at Violet looking...thoughtful? They were about to go change, but it thought Cassie probably had something else she wanted to talk about. ("Stay put, boy, I'm not done with you yet...") Coming to a decision, Cassie leaned down a little bit, held up by her hands on her knees. Voice going low and soft, Cassie said, "This is probably a stupid question, darling, but is there a reason you were having trouble speaking to Arcturus?"

Violet blinked. "Um, I was a little nervous, I guess, but...not more than usual..."

For some reason, Cassie looked confused. "I'm sorry, but, did you hear yourself stammering?"

"What?"

"You get a stammer, sometimes," Cassie said, all soft and almost cautious. "I've noticed it before, when you're especially nervous, but it was only ever a word now and then. It was worse today, with Archie. Did you not notice?"

"...I was stammering?"

"Yes."

Oh. Um. Violet's eyes dropped down to the floor, couldn't look up at Cassie anymore, holding in the need to fidget. Because it felt nervous again, tingling and too warm and almost even sick a little, which, bleh, it didn't know, it didn't like this. It took a deep breath, forcing the air to move, paid very close attention to talking right. "I didn't know. I don't hear it at all. Was that why Arcturus kept l-looking at me funny?" Wait a second, was that...?

"I think so, yes. Archie is polite enough not to draw attention to it, this sort of thing simply happens to children sometimes, but he did definitely notice. So, you were feeling nervous, but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary going on to worry about."

"No, but I d-didn't know I n-n-nnnorm— Ugh! I can hear it now! W-was that going on the whole t-t— Bleh! Time!" How long had this been going on? How could Violet have a stammer and not even know, what was wrong with it?!

"Aww, love, shh shh." Cassie crouched down further, her hands coming up, and Violet flinched away for a second before catching itself. (She wasn't going to hit Violet for screwing up, even if it was something stupid like not being able to talk right.) It was obvious Cassie noticed, stopping for a second and waiting for something, before she started to move again, her hands coming up to Violet's arms just over its elbows, her thumbs slowly swishing against the cloth. "It's okay, Violet. Lots of kids get a stammer when they're little. It's perfectly normal, nothing to worry about."

"...Really?" Violet couldn't think of any it heard before. Sometimes a kid would trip up over a word a little, but...

"Yes, really. You may not have thought of it before, but talking is really, really complicated. It takes a lost of muscles to move all the little things in your mouth in just the right way, and you have to keep track of your breathing, and you're always thinking about other things too, how to word what you're saying and what the other person is going to think about it and what you're going to say next and on and on, so you'll have several things going on in your head all at once on top of the how finicky the whole thing is. It's really no surprise that people have trouble with it sometimes. I know I had a cousin growing up who had a really bad stammer as a kid, and there were a couple in my year at Hogwarts, it happens all the time.

"I was only asking because it was so noticeable with Arcturus, if I knew you didn't even know it was happening I would have brought it up earlier. It's not a big problem, you're not in trouble just for having a stammer, but it is something we should keep an eye on. You should talk to Shannon about it, next time you see her."

Then it would actually have something to talk to Shannon about next time, it guessed. "Okay. You really d-don't mmmm— Ugh..."

"No, I really don't mind. If it bothers you, then I'm not happy about that, but that's it."

Violet frowned. "It didn't buh-bother me when I wasn't hearing it."

"And I am sorry about that," Cassie said — her lips twitching, like she was trying not to smile. "So, all good?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you." For lots of things, but this time not getting angry with Violet for not even being able to talk right, they knew Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would have...

...Actually, looking back on it, sometimes Petunia would snap at them to stop mumbling and spit whatever it was out, maybe it was because they were stammering and didn't even notice. Huh. How long had this been going on? Why hadn't anyone said anything?

Cassie gave them a quick hug, and then flashed away through the Floo again. Trying not to think about the stammering thing at all, because it was just making Violet annoyed — it was already a freak that couldn't just be normal, and now it couldn't even talk right (and Cassie said it'd been going on for a while, how had it never noticed?!) — they started toward the stairs, pulling at the laces holding the fancy magic-person robes together. A glance out the window, it didn't look to be raining today, maybe Lasairín and Damhnait would be around...

፠

Sometimes Cassie wondered whether muggle women were simply more frivolous than mages, and would then immediately backtrack on that thought — such preoccupations did exist on their side, Cassie had simply never been the sort to pour over every month's Witch Weekly (though it hadn't existed yet when she'd been young) or overly concern herself with cosmetics. Or fashion in general, she guessed, focusing on cosmetics was hardly fair as she didn't need them. One of the those advantages of being a metamorph, if she did want to imitate the effects of make-up (which she did only rarely), she could simply change the colour of her skin, no fiddling with overpriced nonsense required. Anyway, the Dark in general (and the Blacks especially) tended to give less of a damn about gender roles, all the girls when she'd been growing up had been expected to get an advanced education, if not a career — they were all nobility, after all, and had no need to work for a living. They were expected to have serious interests and concerns, and while some care should be taken with their appearance, so as not to embarrass themselves and their families, putting too much effort into it was frivolous, and in itself embarrassing (which sometimes ended up being yet another cultural misunderstanding with the Light).

The point was, she didn't really get muggle magazines. Every time she came here, she flipped through them out of curiosity, but even after several visits she couldn't understand the appeal.

Thankfully before one of the other women in the waiting room could take pity on her for her obvious boredom — they always wanted to talk about their kids and whatever, and Cassie had quickly realised she didn't know enough about modern muggle day-to-day life to avoid saying anything peculiar — Shannon was walking back out of the hallway, Violet silently trailing after her. Tossing the silly muggle magazine aside, Cassie rose to meet them. Violet looked off, her eyes fixed on the ground, face just slightly flushed — must have broached a more intense topic toward the end in there. "All good, then?"

Cassie was unsurprised that Shannon answered the question for the two of them. "Yes, we had a good session today. I only cut it a few minutes early because I wanted to talk to you about something quick."

She glanced at the clock and, look at that, they were out a few minutes early. "Ah, I see." Violet had kept walking past Shannon, coming around to stand closer to Cassie. How quiet and uncomfortable she seemed just now was worrying Cassie a little, but if it were a problem Shannon would tell her once they were alone, no point speculating about it now. "Let's go get that over with, and how about we get ice cream on the way home, hmm?" she asked, reaching over to brush some of Violet's hair out of her face — this did get so messy sometimes, she didn't know why Violet didn't simply change it.

Still avoiding her eyes, Violet nodded. "Okay." On the way out of the room, Cassie discreetly checked over her shoulder — Violet was making for the table with the little plastic bricks under it, right, she should be fine for a few minutes.

Shannon closed the door to her office behind them, but didn't bother taking a seat, standing just inside. "I won't keep you long, I simply had a concern I wanted to raise while I have you here."

"Is it about the stammering? That does seem to be troubling her, now that she's aware it's happening."

Her eyebrows dipping in a frown, Shannon let out a thoughtful hum. "I do wonder about that. In our first few sessions, I did notice her hanging up on a word now and then, never very badly or too often, but lately it seems significantly worse. I don't know whether that's a consequence of her being aware of it, her self-consciousness exacerbating the underlying difficulty, or if it would be worsening regardless. It is somewhat peculiar for a stammer to present so late, you know."

"Is it? I didn't know that." She'd only known a handful of people who had the problem, not exactly an expert...which was why she had Shannon for this shite, she guessed.

"Mm, yes. A stammer will normally present in early childhood, two to five years of age — I'm pulling this from the top of my head, but I believe the average onset is about two and a half. At the age of seven would be very late. Given the circumstances, we can't know when it first started to show itself, but... It's certainly something to keep an eye on, in any case.

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about," Shannon said, seeming to physically shake off the subject of Violet's stammer. Cassie felt slightly guilty now, for telling Violet it was perfectly ordinary and nothing to worry about — since it seemed it wasn't ordinary, at least not in the timing of it — but it was too late to do anything about that. "There was an exercise we did today, and it drew my attention to something I'd noticed before. I asked Violet's permission to talk to you about it shortly before we wrapped up."

Which could well be why Violet had looked so uncomfortable, before. Right. "Okay. What is it?"

"It's not a complicated exercise. What words come to mind to describe this person, and then that person, and then themselves — standard practice is to only ask that the child describe themselves, but I find it goes more smoothly with the more self-conscious children if I get them used to thinking in such direct terms about other people before trying it with themselves. Anyway, I was wondering, has Violet ever used the word 'freak' with you?"

Cassie grimaced. "Oh. That. Only once, that I can think of, but I was given the impression that it's something the Dursleys called her all the time."

"They did, in fact, Violet admitted as much before she was done for the day."

It took some effort to swallow her anger — she'd made more than enough casual murder threats around Shannon already. "Getting to serious things now, then."

"We're starting to, yes. Violet can only talk about such trying subjects for so long before she shuts out, which is not at all unusual, but we are making progress, however slowly. I wondered whether..." Shannon hesitated for a second, fingers tapping at her own arm, eyes darting over to the wall. "This is only a thought, you understand. But it's my impression that the neighbours kids are mostly...well, ordinary children. Magical, yes, but with no gifts so visible as metamorphy."

Not quite sure what Shannon was getting at, but okay. Cassie made an ambivalent wiggle with one hand. "Maybe, maybe not, it's hard to tell this young. Some gifts don't present themselves until adolescence — metamorphy is unusual in that it can be identified from the moment of birth, most others take more time."

"All right. I think it might be helpful for Violet to, hmm..." Shannon considered her words for a moment, eyes tipping to the ceiling. "...encounter a greater variety of people. Particularly people with some magic to them she wouldn't have seen before."

"So it'll sink in she's not just a freak, right, I get it." That was definitely possible, Cassie guessed, though it could get complicated very quickly, depending on how they went about it. "Well. I was considering spending Christmas with one of my nieces and her family. Andi married a muggleborn, so they do actually celebrate Christmas, probably my only relatives who do, and I thought more familiar was better for Violet's first year. Her daughter's a metamorph — she would be...fourteen now, I think? I don't remember exactly, but it's something like that."

"Good, that's good — introducing Violet to your family and having plans for the holidays, I mean." Not like Cassie really had much family left to introduce Violet to, and most of them weren't really safe for her to be around alone, but Shannon probably didn't realise that. "But I was hoping... Well, other metamorphs might not be ideal to get the message to sink in. You've mentioned there are other races of people out there, goblins and whatever else, who might be more visibly magical."

"Oh, well. That can be...complicated. There are other magical beings in Britain, though they don't exactly welcome tourists — most of them don't like being ogled at." Shite the goblins would simply execute any human who stepped foot in their sanctuaries...

"Yes, I can imagine how that may become a problem. It's not urgent, you can take all the time you need to...well, come up with something more tactful than walking around their neighbourhoods and ogling at them."

Cassie snorted. "Yeah. I dunno, I used to visit Starlight sometimes, they might not react badly to me dropping by with Violet. I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Of course. I'll see you and Violet back in three weeks." Shannon opened the door, holding it for Cassie with a smile. "Happy Christmas, Cassie."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

፠

Violet was the weirdest mix of nervous and excited. It was kind of confusing.

The mages were different from normal people in all kinds of ways, Violet knew by now, not just that they had magic. One of the big things was that they weren't Christian...or at least, not the same Christian — Cassie said a lot of Irish mages had this weird thing where old gods, the ones everyone around here had worshipped before they converted ages ago, had gotten all mixed up with Christianity, so it was kind of both but also its own thing. Which sounded confusing, but it wasn't really Violet's business. Lasairín's family believed this weird mixed thing, and actually most of the people in their block did. Violet had asked Lasairín about it once, curious, and they believed God and Jesus existed and everything, but her family mostly worshipped Lú, and there were some things with Bríd and Manannán and Éadaoin and Áirmidh... There was a lot going on, apparently.

They didn't really do Christmas...or at least not on Christmas. They did have a Jesus holiday, but it was in January, and didn't sound like it was the same thing? It was quieter, anyway, and not nearly as much with like decorations and stuff — Cassie said there would be a lot of lights in the town that night, but mostly it was a quiet day, people staying in with their families and just being home and cosy and stuff. Cassie said Irish people really hadn't had a holiday at this time of year at all before Christianity came, and Christmas didn't become a big deal until very recently, so it wasn't a surprise even magical Irish Christians (or something sort of like Christians) didn't do much for it. Hallowe'en was a big holiday, and so was May Day, but not Christmas.

That wasn't true of all magical people though — the English and Welsh mages did do Christmas, even if they didn't call it Christmas. Old-fashioned magical Welsh people had something around the same time — Violet didn't remember the name, it was Welsh, but Cassie said it meant festival of lights — but a lot of mages did Yule, which was basically just Christmas by a different name. There wasn't any Jesus stuff, but everything with the big meals with roasts and puddings and stuff, and having a fire and carolling and all kinds of things like that, and even decorations like wreaths and Christmas trees and stuff, that was all mostly the same. There were even gifts, sometimes, though Violet was told it worked different. Cassie said all the familiar stuff was Yule stuff first, and old Christians had just mixed the holidays together since they happened at the same time anyway, which Violet guessed made sense.

People with muggleborns in their families and also a lot of "Light" mages (Violet wasn't sure what that meant) even called it Christmas, and some people meant Christmas Christmas but other people really meant Yule, which just went to show how much they were the same thing.

It was Christmas Eve, and they were going to one of Cassie's nieces' place, where they would spend a couple days for the holiday. And Violet was nervous and excited all at once.

Christmas never went very good for Violet, before. Not having to go to school was always mixed, because they didn't really like school — most of the other kids were mean, and the teachers weren't much better — but at the same time they didn't like being at home either. They would have to do a lot of cleaning at least, especially if Aunt Marge was coming over (which she usually didn't), arrange all the decorations and stuff that weren't too heavy for them, and they had to help with all the baking Petunia did coming up to the day, and that was a lot of baking. No surprise really that Dudley was getting so fat, the amount of cakes and candies and whatever Petunia always made at that time of year was ridiculous. It was a lot of work making it all, and Violet was always really tired after all the cooking and the cleaning and everything, and then they didn't even get any of the special holiday food, mostly just shuffled into the cupboard and then left there for the rest of the day, too sore and tired to really do anything but try to relax and get some sleep (if the tele wasn't too loud).

Cooking with Cassie was much nicer. For one thing, there was never nearly as much stuff to do, because they were only cooking for the two of them, and also Violet got to eat it! And Cassie didn't just tell them what to do, Violet had a say in what they were going to make, and they didn't know a lot but it could be fun to come up with things. They made stuff to bring with them to the Tonkses, which Cassie said was only polite. There were these little mince pies — which had meat in them, Violet never heard of that before but Cassie said they were supposed to, sounded weird — which had been kind of gross and sticky to make but Violet had been right next to the sink so they could wash their hands whenever they needed to — Cassie gave them funny looks every time, but didn't ask — and they made some kind of hard brittle candy stuff with cream and honey and peppermint — which sounded weird, but it was pretty good — and Cassie had whipped up hard sauce and cider, and there was a big pork roast...thing, that was going to be for supper tonight, with potatoes and gravy — making it had been kind of interesting, Cassie cutting slices into it and stuffing in spices and herbs and stuff (Cassie asked if they wanted to try it, but the meat was still raw, didn't want to touch it), and then slowly cooking it over hours and hours and hours, the whole house smelled amazing — because Andi (Cassie's niece) was making dinner tomorrow, and splitting the job of feeding them all was only fair...

There was a lot, really, too much for them to carry. Cassie had cast spells on all the dishes so nothing would spill, then magicked them really little and put them all in a bag, which was neat, magic was so neat sometimes. There was also a bag that Violet was pretty sure was presents, Cassie shrank them both down and put them in her shoulderbag. That thing was also holding changes of clothes for both of them, and a couple of books and some coloured pencils if there were a slow couple hours and Violet needed something to do, which all together was way more stuff than that bag should be able to hold, like multiple times more, but magic was neat like that.

And Violet was excited, because it was Christmas but they wouldn't just be shoved in the cupboard and forgotten about the whole time, but out with everyone else for the food and the talking and...whatever people did on Christmas, they didn't really know. So it would actually be like their first Christmas, and that was exciting! But also nervous, because it'd be at the house of some people they'd never met before, and they were never good with new people, and they'd be staying over two nights, and it was...kind of a lot.

What if they didn't like Violet? They were Cassie's family — Cassie made a family tree to show Violet, Andi was her brother's granddaughter, meaning she and Violet were related to Cassie the same exact way, despite Andi being a grown-up with a kid and everything — and Violet didn't want to mess it up, and... They knew they probably shouldn't worry, that it'd do something bad and then Cassie would be angry (and it didn't know what would happen then), but they couldn't help it.

Cassie came back from going around the house and checking all the doors were closed and the lights were off, picking her bag back up and slinging it over her shoulder. "Right, I think everything's all squared away. Are you ready to go?" Violet stood up from the chair they'd been waiting in, nodded. "Aww, well, aren't you just adorable today," Cassie said, reaching down to smooth aside a little bit of their hair.

Cassie said they didn't need to dress up, but they didn't want to get off on a bad start with any of Cassie's family, so they'd picked one of their nicer dresses — all deep purple and black and pretty. (Though the cloth was really thick so it was also warm, it was good for that reason too.) But, "Should I change my hair?"

"You can if you like, darling. But don't feel you must, you're plenty cute the way you are."

...They could if they wanted to, Cassie didn't care if they changed things. They kind of did — mostly they kept their hair this way because it gave something not so bad for Vernon and Petunia (but mostly Vernon) to complain about, they didn't really like it so much — but the thought made them nervous, and they were already nervous for other reasons, so that felt like a bad idea. They should try that later, though...maybe. "Um, no, I'm okay. Is it time to go?"

"Yeah, we should be just about right on time, I think. Let's get going then — just like last time, remember to..."

This trip was really no better than the last time, still all bright and green and dizzying, Violet grabbing on to Cassie's skirt without thinking. It lasted for a few seconds, and then they were kicked out again, Violet would be on the floor if Cassie's hand didn't tighten on their shoulder, holding them in place. Head spinning and stomach twisting, Violet held on to Cassie taking slow, shaking breaths, waiting for everything to go back to normal. They did not like the Floo.

Violet twitched at the voice of a woman coming from nearby, low and husky and posh-sounding. "Ah, Aunt Cassie, there you are. I'd thought you were to arrive at any minute. Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, kid. Nice jumper, you knit that yourself?"

"Mother Mercy, no, an old friend from my apprenticeship days made this. What gives you the impression I ever learned how to knit?"

"Ha! Good point."

"So this young lady is Violet, then. Doesn't agree with the Floo?"

"No, 'fraid not." Violet tensed a little as something touched their head, but they thought it was just Cassie, her fingers running through their hair — they were a little embarrassed, Andi must be standing right there, but that did feel kind of nice... "Only the fourth time through — we had to pop over and talk to Arcturus a couple weeks ago — and she's managed to hold onto—"

"My deepest sympathies."

"What do you— Oh, Archie? Nah, it wasn't so bad, he's mellowed out a bit since the war. Anyway, we should get the roast in the oven quick, I've got it right in here—"

"Auntie, those take hours to cook, by the time it's finished it—"

"No, no, I've had it going for hours already — what do you take me for, I'm not that hopeless. I just figured we'd give it a last half hour or so to get everything nice and steaming for the table. The parsnips could use it, certainly. I need my arm to get the food out, darling, could you let go for a second?"

"Oh!" Violet let go of Cassie's dress, took a step away so she'd have plenty of room to go through her bag. Blinking a little against the warm yellow-orange light coming from the ceiling — magic lights, the same spell they had at home, maybe a little more orangish — Violet looked around the room for the first time. The walls were mostly wood panels, some places reddish brick, there was a circle of armchairs and sofas over there, a couple little tables, what Violet knew were a radio and a record-player on the shelf over there (mages didn't have television) surrounded by books and little potion bottles. Everything was in pleasant browns and oranges and whites, easy on the eyes (maybe the lights weren't actually more orange and it was just the orange stuff around making it look like it), probably smaller than the sitting room at home but very cosy-looking.

There was a woman standing a couple steps away, must be Andi. She had long black curly hair (like Arcturus, but no grey in it), looking a little frizzy at the edges, face long and pale — definitely an adult, but mages aged funny, Violet couldn't guess how old she was. She was wearing denims and fuzzy socks, and a very colourful jumper, green and red and yellow, a bunch of little gift bows in the pattern, along the hems little letters stitched in white, HO HO HO over and over and over. It was maybe the silliest thing Violet ever saw a grown-up wearing, even including the weird stuff mages had.

She was smiling at Violet, soft and friendly, but Violet was too nervous, they ended up staring at her jumper anyway. "Happy Christmas, Violet. My name is Andromeda, but you can call me Andi."

Violet took a careful breath. "Happy Christmas, Andi. Um, thank you for ha– for having us over." Ugh, stupid stammer, why did that keep happening...

"Of course, Violet. Once I heard, I couldn't leave you alone with this stuffy old lady for the holidays, that would be cruel."

"Hey now, I take offence to that — I'm not stuffy." Cassie held out a hand to Andi, Violet could just see from here the rim of the tin in the palm of her hand. One eyebrow ticking up, Andi plucked it up, turning the shrunk pan around. "You'll need to be careful taking off the spells, or something might get mixed around when it comes back to full size. A formal reversion should undo the shrinking — do not use a simple dispel — and the environmental paling is fixed to the lid, just take that right off and stick the bottom in the oven."

"Ah, heat circulation, that's what that is. You know, I'm sure, that using free transfiguration to shrink something of this complexity is completely absurd."

"Fully."

"Of course. Anything else I should take over right away?"

"No no, I can unload the rest over the course of the evening, I'm sure. Leave our shoes by the door?"

"Oh yes, do try not to wear those on the carpet — Morgen knows Dora has done enough damage there over the years to be getting on with already." Andi started walking off as she talked, leaned around a railing and raised her voice to call up the stairs. "Dora, the Blacks are here!" And then she continued on, leaving through a door.

Faintly from that way, Violet heard a man's voice say, "Heh, that there's a phrase I never thought to hear in this house..."

"Come on, darling, let's get our shoes squared away."

Across the room from the door that led to the kitchen, there was another door, Violet thought that went outside. Most of the sitting room had carpet, but around the fireplace and the door was a tile part, a strip along the wall connecting them. Violet and Cassie both took off their shoes, leaving them with the rows of shoes and boots and stuff already here — Violet had to sit down to do it, but there was a bench here, no problem. Turning back around — quicker than they had to, their socks on the tile letting them spin a little, the hem of their dress swishing (weee) — they were just walking back when someone bounded down the stairs, missing a step near the bottom but caught herself with a hand on the railing with an oof! hopped down to the floor.

Violet blinked at the person for a second — she (Violet thought?) was maybe the most colourful person they ever saw. And magic people's clothes tended to be more colourful, so that was saying something. She was wearing bright pink trousers — not denims, but not pyjama bottoms either — a black tee shirt that had a bunch of little glittery beads on it, every colour of the rainbow in some kind of pattern Violet couldn't make out 'cause there was a cardigan over it — Christmassy green and red, but worn open, probably just for the warmth of the sleeves — a long scarf with little puffy bits hanging from the ends in yellow and black. Also, the fuzzy socks had pink and yellow and something, Violet couldn't see. It was all very bright and colourful, and none of it matched anything else, like she just picked things at random.

Also, the person was colourful just by herself. Her short and messy hair was a bright pastel blue — kind of went with the pink of her trousers, Violet guessed — and she'd done things with make-up, her lips a bright red, a bit of pink over her round cheeks, the skin around her big, round eyes (almost too big for her face, looked slightly weird) tinted green, little silvery bits catching the light. As she straightened her cardigan, Violet noticed her nails were painted, red and then green and then red one finger to the next — they guessed all the red and green was because Christmas. It looked kind of funny, especially the blue hair, but mages looked funny sometimes.

Violet was a little surprised Andi let her dye her hair — she looked plenty older than Violet, but not grown up yet, almost but not quite a teenager, which seemed a little young for that stuff...

"Hey, there!" the girl chirped, grinning. "You saw nothing."

Voice wiggling a little, as though trying not to laugh, Cassie said, "What a curious thing to say, whatever are you talking about?" That must be a joke, but Violet didn't get it... "You must be Nymphadora."

The girl winced, just a little, but went right back to grinning a second later. "Just 'Dora' is good. And you must be this Aunt Cassie I've heard about. You know, Mum doesn't talk about her family much, but you're one of only a few it doesn't sound like she hated."

"I suppose I'll take that as a compliment."

"Good, it was meant as one. I think? Yeah, sure."

Cassie let out a little huff of a laugh. "Silly girl. I like the eyeshadow, by the way — did you apply it, or is that you?"

"Ah, the lips and the nails," Dora said, wiggling her fingers, "are me, but the eyeshadow is real. Well, it's conjured, so not real real, but you know what I mean. I can conjure the glitter, but I have trouble making my own skin look like that, you know?"

"Yes, it can be difficult to figure out tricks like that. I can give you a few tips while I'm here, if you like. If nothing else, I can transfigure your skin for you and you can simply copy that whenever you like — it's easier to pick things up like that than trying to figure it out yourself, but you'll want an adult to do it for you, it's too easy to hurt yourself if you don't know what you're doing."

Dora's grin went wider, smiling so bright she almost seemed to glow, and...patches of her hair suddenly went a bright sunny yellow? What the... "Wicked! That'd be great, thanks!"

"No problem, sweetheart. Anyway, this here is Violet." Cassie waved them forward a little, her hand settling on her shoulder as they stopped next to her. "She's a niece of mine I've taken in recently. Violet, darling, this is your cousin Dora. She's a metamorph too."

There were two things in there one after the other Violet was surprised by. For one, the only cousin they had before was Dudley, which, they didn't exactly get along — Dora did seem nicer, at first glance, Violet would have to see. Also, Violet had no idea Dora was a metamorph, Cassie hadn't said there'd be another one here, the only one they'd met before was Cassie. Though, Violet guessed that explained the colours — Dora didn't dye her hair, she could just make it any colour she wanted — and the slightly-too-large eyes, probably...

Dora's too-large eyes went even wider. "Oh! Mum said you had a kid, but she didn't— This is so cool, I've never met another metamorph before and now there are three of us! Heh, how long do you figure it's been since three metamorphs were in the same room?"

"In Britain? A good long while, I imagine. Immortals gather sometimes, but they tend not to come here, too out of the way."

"Hmm, yeah, that makes sense. Love the hair, by the way." Dora started reaching toward them, Violet flinched away before they could stop themself; giving them a funny look, Dora changed her mind, her hand settling on her hip instead. "Let's see if I can..." After a second, squeezing her eyes shut, her hair wiggled in a wave, back to all blue but a little longer — she somehow copied the random kinks and curls Violet's hair had, it looked kind of funny in the wrong colour. Dora let out a giggle, ruffling a hand through her hair, making it even messier. "Neat. I like the eye colour too. It's like green, not eye-colour green but really really green, you know?"

"Um..." Now that Violet was looking, Dora's eyes were a bright orangish red, that was a little freaky...

"They're her mother's eyes, actually — I think she mirrored them when she was little, and just never got rid of them. Her parents died when she was very young. The hair's her father's, too."

"Oh..." Dora's grin dimmed a little, messy blue hair almost seeming to droop. "Sorry, I didn't know. Still, they're neat! I'm always looking for new things to play around with, though drives the professors at school batty it does, pretty sure I've given Snape a headache with just my hair colour a few times—"

"Among other things." That was a new person, a man, coming out of the door Andi went through earlier. In corduroy trousers and a fuzzy knit jumper — yellow with black at the hems, the design on the chest a black and white badger pinning down a green and orange snake, its mouth open in a very fake but kinda funny O of pain (snakes mouths didn't curve like that), Xs over its eyes — this bloke was a little taller than Cassie, his dark blond hair short for a magic person, a bit of a goatee around his chin. This must be Dora's dad. "And you must be the famous Cassiopeia Black."

"Famous, am I?"

"Oh yes, the stories I've heard about you from D.L.E. officials, you've got an interesting reputation, you know. Ted Tonks," he said, offering a hand to shake.

Cassie hesitated a second — did magic people even do handshakes? Violet hadn't seen one yet... — but took his hand quick, smirking at him. "I'm sure half of them are exaggerated. What do they say about me anyway, it's not like they'll go blabbing where I can hear..."

"Oh, nothing bad. Or I suppose they think it's all very scandalous, but honestly those poncy flouncing purebloods can piss right off."

Cassie let out an amused huff. "You know you married one of those poncy flouncing purebloods."

"I wouldn't call Andi poncy, but she does flounce a bit — the nobles walk different, she still hasn't lost that."

Dora let out a laugh, but a clearly fake one, like uh hurr hurr. "Spent a lot of time watching Mum walk when you were teenagers, did you?"

"When we were teenagers? Still got eyes, haven't I?" While Dora giggled, Ted turned down to Violet, giving them a crooked, curly smile. "And hello there, Violet, haven't forgotten about you. Glad you and Cassie could come over, more the merrier, I say."

"Um. Um, thank you, Un-Uncle Ted." They winced at the stammer, stupid thing. Violet was a little wary — they had an even worse time with uncles than cousins — but Ted seemed nice so far. Violet didn't think he should remind them of Vernon. His hair was a much darker blond, and he was big and tall, but his belly wasn't nearly as big as Vernon's, his face a little puffy but not even close to Vernon's stubby round neckless head.

(The Dursleys did look very strange, when Vernon thought about it — and they called Violet a freak...)

Ted huffed a little, for a second Violet thought they did something wrong, but he turned right to Dora without saying whatever it was. "Hey sweetie, why don't you show them around the house, let them get settled in the guest room. I sped the roast along a bit with a warming charm — looks wonderful, by the way — it should be ready before too long, but I shouldn't leave Andi alone in the kitchen. Could burn water, that woman."

Cassie chuckled. "Yeah, hazard of growing up with house-elves, took me decades of practice before I could properly feed myself. But sure, let's get going — lead the way, Dora."

The Tonkses' house was smaller than theirs, Violet thought, but it was a lot busier, with things hanging on the walls and furniture and stuff laying about, little knick-knacks and books and scarves or gloves or the like and potion bottles and toys or whatever else, the kind of things that just get everywhere in a house. Or a house that didn't have someone like Petunia, who needed everything to be just so — Violet had been in Lasairín's house, and it was more like this, with things around (like people actually lived in it). Cassie and Violet still hadn't lived in their house for very long, and of course Violet hadn't had things to bring with them anyway, so theirs still looked kind of empty, but it was getting there.

It was smaller, but the layout was kind of similar? Sort of. There was a sitting room and a kitchen, but no dining room — there was a table and chairs in the kitchen, that was it — instead a bathroom — the tub wasn't nearly as big as theirs, but still bigger than in a normal bathroom, enough room for maybe three or four people but no more than that — and what Violet was pretty sure was a laundry room — the Tonkses didn't have an elf, they did that stuff themselves. Like at their house, there were four bedrooms and a toilet upstairs: one was Andi and Ted's, one was Dora's — it was very colourful, just as many random colours mixed together in her room as her clothes — one Ted made into his office — Violet wasn't sure what he did for work, but it looked like it took a lot of reading and writing and stuff — and the last was the guest room.

It was nice enough, warm browns and yellows, if a little small, with just a closet and a little bed and an arm chair with a lamp close by for reading. Cassie looked around for a second, before changing the bed with a swish of her wand, making it grow out to the window and nearly bumping into the little table the lamp was on. That was better, closer to the size of the bed the two of them shared for a few days in that hotel in Dublin — still a little awkward to do, but much better than the littler bed would have been.

Cassie unpacked her shoulder bag, putting the bags Violet knew had the presents (though they didn't know what was in them) in the closet, plopping their clothes on the bed for now, taking out all the shrunken food and drinks and stuff, and then slinging her bag over the backrest of the armchair. The food and drink containers were stacked kind of awkward in her hands, she handed some to Dora and Violet and they went downstairs again.

While they were looking around, Dora shrunk down to a little kid close to Violet's age, like Cassie did all the time — she asked Cassie for help doing her clothes, Dora was still learning and changing herself and her clothes at the same time was hard for her. When they went back to the kitchen — smelling of cooking meat, juicy and spicy and herby, mmmm — Dora's parents didn't even comment on her looking different all of a sudden. They must be used to Dora changing all the time.

(Violet could probably change stuff if they wanted, they didn't think Cassie would mind. The thought made them even more nervous, though, and there was already too much going on, so they didn't.)

The rest of the night was nice enough, Violet quickly stopped being so nervous. There was a lot of talking going on, and Violet didn't much, mostly just listening to everyone else. Violet got the feeling that Cassie hadn't seen Andi in a long time, and maybe hadn't met Ted and Dora at all, so there was a lot of catching up to do for years and years. Andi and Ted's jobs came up — Andi was a healer, and Ted did some kind of legal thing (like a solicitor or barrister or something?) — and Dora went to Hogwarts, which was a boarding school, but she was home for the holidays.

After a couple questions, Cassie said Dora would be in seventh year (the last one) when Violet started, so they guessed they'd at least know someone there (none of the neighbour kids went there). Wait no, Susan was going to Hogwarts, so her too...

The roast was even better than it smelled, juicy and all kinds of flavours all at once from the herbs and stuff — and Violet still wasn't quite used to actually getting meat, the Dursleys never let her have this kind of thing. Even the vegetables were good, thick with gravy and everything, and just great. The grown-ups had wine and stuff, and even Dora got a little, but Violet was too young, they got fizzy pop instead, but that was fine, fizzy pop was great. There was maybe too much on their plate, but it was good, so Violet finished it all anyway, and then felt kind of bleh after, but oh well.

Washing up after dinner was really easy, Ted and Cassie just took care of it all with a couple wand flicks. After a bit of talking, they decided to play cards for a bit — Ted made a joke about something called "Jenga", but whatever that was Dora really didn't want to play it. Except, it wasn't a normal card game. All the cards in the deck were dealt out — Violet had, um, thirteen? maybe? — but instead of numbers and pips and faces they had words or pictures on them. The person whose turn it was would put down a card, and then everyone had to put down a card that was related to the first person's card somehow — they could explain how they thought they were related, and some of the connections got really out there sometimes. The first person picked which one they liked best, the person whose card that was put them all in their pile, and then they went on the next person, going clockwise, whoever wins the most hands when they ran out of cards wins. Violet took the game maybe too seriously at first, it took them a few hands to figure out they were all being silly on purpose — the fun of the game was explaining how you thought the connection made sense, people were all making jokes and teasing each other, the talking more important than the cards — and it was more fun when they stopped thinking about it so hard. Very silly, but still.

They were done with that after a while — more like Dora was getting annoyed with Ted not picking her cards and demanded they do something else — so they...played Scrabble? Seemed random, but okay. Violet never played Scrabble before, and also it was only for four players, so Cassie and Violet were on a team. Violet expected they'd be bad at this one, because it was a game for grown-ups, needing to know words and everything, but they guessed that was why they were with Cassie.

...Except Violet didn't end up needing Cassie's help. After a couple turns around to get the hang of it, they started seeing words quicker than Cassie, sometimes even putting them down without asking first. They didn't know, just looking between the board and their tiles they just clicked sometimes — kind of like with a puzzle, but with letters instead. Eventually Cassie stopped playing at all, sitting back in her chair giving Violet a funny look (not a bad one, just not sure what that was) and sipping at her wine.

(When Dora made PENIS, giggling to herself, Andi pointed out that could have been SPINE just as well. "Well, yeah, but penises are funnier.")

The second game, Cassie was up breaking the candy apart and getting more drinks and stuff, not helping Violet at all. Andi was very good, her words often big and weird (Violet didn't know what half of them meant), but Violet was right after her, a few goes around in and their score was higher than both Ted and Dora's. As they laid down all their tiles to make a long word (wingspan) on a double-word-score spot, going through a word that was already there (grasp) to go past it and even make a couple two-letter words (ta and an) against one going the same way next to it (stand), when they finished Andi making a hum of approval as she counted up the points, Dora was gaping at them.

Ted counting them out more tiles, Violet gave Dora a shrug.

"How are you doing that? Aren't you only eight?"

"Mmph!" Violet was taking a sip of their fizzy pop at the time, quickly swallowed and put the bottle down. "I'm seven."

Dora stared at them. "No, seriously, how are you doing that?"

Violet grinned, their feet kicking under the table. "It's like a puzzle, but with letters!"

That made sense to Violet, but Dora kept staring at them, like she didn't get it. And then she said "I don't get it," so.

"Violet's got a knack for puzzles," Cassie said, carrying over a plate of candy and another bottle of wine for the grown-ups. "She's got a bunch of those muggle ones, you know, making a picture with a bunch of little pieces, you should see her burn through those things." Yeah, Lasairín and Damhnait and Rónán said they did them really fast too — Violet was ninety-nine per cent sure, they said it in Gaelic — but they didn't see what was so special about that. Cassie was faster at it than Violet, really, but...

"Yeah, well, I'm good with jigsaw puzzles too, cheater metamorph spacial awareness and all that, I don't see what that has to do with Scrabble."

"I'm not familiar with what might be expected, but I think she reads well for her age too, maybe—"

Without thinking, still pleased with their big word clicking together, Violet blurted out, "I taught myself to read when I was little. Littler." Cassie cut off, turning to look down at them. All of the others were looking at them, really, eyes gone wide, one of Andi's eyebrows curled up. "Um..." Did they say something wrong?

"Did you really?" Ted asked — not like he didn't believe them, just, surprised. Though, if he didn't believe them, he wouldn't be the first. "How did you manage that?"

"Um... L-l-logos on things, and the wrappers on food and cl-cleaning stuff and...gardening things, I know what they're called and just kinda... And, on the news, you know, when the person is talking there's also words on the screen? And and, sometimes Uncle Vernon would complain about something in the paper, and after he left I would look at the articles on the way to the trash, and guess which ones he meant. Lots of things like that, just putting words with the letters, you know? It took a long time, but it wasn't hard."

Dora's head slammed onto the table, hard enough the thunk startled Violet, folding her hands on top of her head she let out a long groan.

Didn't know what that was, but the grown-ups mostly just looked like they thought it was funny. Her lips twitching, Andi said, "Perhaps this simply never occurred to you, Violet, but most anyone you could ever meet would consider the prospect of teaching oneself to read to be, in fact, hard."

Violet blinked. "Oh. Really?"

"Yes, really. I've hardly ever heard the like of it before, it is quite an exceptional accomplishment."

...Oh. Violet hadn't realised reading was supposed to be hard. They meant, spellings could be stupid sometimes, and there were seeming endless words out there, but there were only twenty-six letters to remember — it wasn't like it was complicated.

"Clever girl," Cassie said, sinking back down into her chair. She set down another bottle of fizzy pop for Violet (this one wasn't finished, maybe just in case they wanted another), leaning over to drop a kiss on the top of their head. "I should find some homeschooling materials for you soon, we wouldn't want those brains of yours to get rusty by the time you start school again."

Ted let out a hum, "We still have Dora's somewhere in storage, I think, I can see if I can make you some clean copies tomorrow. Doesn't need English, clearly, maybe start with Maths and Geography?"

The adults talked about that for a little bit, as the Scrabble game kept going, and Violet tried to wrap their head around the new idea that they might actually be smart. That had... Well, a couple of the teachers in their old primary school had said stuff kind of like they thought so, maybe — though more often worrying about how Violet didn't get on with other kids — but the Dursleys said very much the opposite, that was for sure...

(Though, Violet guessed that would explain why they spent so long on the alphabet that first year in school...)

Anyway, after the third Scrabble game, Dora said this game wasn't fair, because Violet's brain was clearly magic — they thought that was supposed to be a good thing — but it wasn't like they had anything better to do, so they started playing a card game called contract rummy, which wasn't quite the same thing as normal rummy, which Violet at least heard of (though never played before). It wasn't hard, they figured it out pretty quick. Munching on the candy Cassie made, not really talking much, just listening to everyone else and taking their turns. The grown-ups were starting to get a little off from the wine — not really mean like Vernon could get, just silly, making jokes and giggling, so that was fine.

A few games later and it was getting late. At least Violet thought so, they were starting to have trouble paying attention to both the game and what people were saying. They all lingered around the table after calling an end to the game, talking about...stuff, Violet wasn't listening. They weren't quite asleep when Cassie touched their shoulder, said it was time to go to bed, but probably pretty close.

Violet packed their nightdress, but Cassie didn't bother. She undressed — leaving her standing naked in the middle of the bedroom, because she really didn't care about this kind of thing — shrunk down to a little kid again, and then conjured a pair of shorts and a baggy tee shirt. As kind of embarrassing as that was (Violet focused on changing and didn't look), they did appreciate that Cassie made herself little — there'd be more room on the bed this way. Violet crawled in first, taking the window side — though it was smaller than their window at home, couldn't see out it from here — and Cassie wiggled under the covers behind her, then turned the lights off with the special word. The Latin one, the lights at home used Gaelic, Violet had forgot the Latin ones.

The room was dark and quiet for a couple seconds before Cassie said, "You doing okay here so far, darling?"

"Yes."

"If you want to go home early just say so — we don't have to stay the whole time we have planned, Andi will understand if we have to go."

...Did it seem like Violet wasn't doing okay? They were pretty quiet for the last hour or two, but really... "Um, no, I'm okay."

"Good. Sweet dreams."

Not sure what to say back, Violet just hummed. As much as there had been going on today, as many thoughts turning in their head, they might have guessed it would take a while to fall asleep. But they were so warm and full and tired, it didn't take very long, looking at the faint starlight making the curtains glow a little, before they started slipping away.

፠

"Wake up!"

A hard thrum shooting through it, for a second Harry was back in the cupboard, Aunt Petunia yelling at it from the other side of the door, but the bed was too soft, too warm, cloth smooth and nice against its skin — and too long, not a ratty old tee shirt but a nice new nightdress — for a second it was confused, here and there and then and now all mixed—

It jumped as something fell on the bed — no, someone, a child, letting out an excited squeal as they pfoofed into the covers nearby. "Come on, Violet! Snow!"

It had sat up at the person jumping onto the bed — not the cupboard, it was much too nice and big, it was in a proper bedroom and— Oh! The Tonkses', Violet and Cassie went to the Tonkses' for Christmas, Violet remembered now. The person on the bed, bobbing up and down on their hands and knees and grinning in excitement, had bright sunny yellow hair, little bits of pink and green slashed through it, their eyes streaks switching between orange and blue, very funny-looking. That she was funny-looking told Violet who this probably was. "Um, Dora?"

"Yep! Come on, come on!" she almost yelled, bouncing a little higher. "It's Christmas morning, and that means snow! Get up get up!" Giggling, Dora popped up to her feet, the bed smooshing down under her (but not much, she was a little kid again), jumped off...but missed a little, one of her feet catching the edge and then slipping off, Dora fell out of sight with a squeak of surprise. "Ow ow ow... I'm okay!" she said, popping back up to her feet, then wincing, rubbing at her bum with one hand. "Ugh, stupid— Come on, let's go! Snnoooowww!"

...Wait, snow? There was snow out there? There couldn't be very much, Violet was pretty sure they were in England...

Dora already bounding back out of the room, Violet tipped up onto their knees, shuffling over to look out the window. Oh, there was snow! Glowing bright white in the morning sunlight, and... Huh. The Tonkses' house was in a meadow or something, some hills up in the distance but the area around mostly flat and grassy, some trees poking up here and there...and none of it was snowy. But, stretching from the house out and out and out to reach a hedgerow — curving past the window both left and right, maybe the edge of the property? — all of it was covered in snow, and nothing else, the snow stopping right at the hedge. It looked pretty deep too. Huh.

That was weird, but Violet found themself smiling anyway. They didn't think they'd ever played in the snow before...

It was a few seconds later, as they got dressed, that Violet noticed a problem: snow was cold, and they didn't have clothes for it. Hmm.

Pulling on a soft knit skirt and jumper (did look nice, but also just warm and comfy), Violet quietly padded downstairs. The front door was hanging open, but they didn't feel the cold, there must be magic keeping it out. There were sounds in the kitchen, inside they found the three grown-ups — Cassie and Andi sitting at the table with cups of tea, Ted at the counter...making pigs in a blanket, looked like. They mostly looked the same as yesterday — Ted even had the same jumper on — but Cassie had made her hair more Christmassy, silvery with red stripes, a branch of something in her hair above her ear, green pine needles and these little red berries.

Cassie grinned at them over her tea. "Good morning, darling. High times and good fortune, and happy Christmas."

Violet blinked at the weird part, guessed it was a magic person holiday saying, like happy Christmas and stuff. "Um, happy Christmas, everyone. There's snow?"

"Oh yeah, that's Andi's doing. Clever bit of elemental warding that."

Andi nodded, lips curling just a little. "It was an idea I had when Dora was, oh, even younger than you, I think. It snowed overnight, but only within the bounds of the wards — it should last for at least a few days, how long precisely depends on the weather beyond the wardline. Appropriate for the season, don't you agree?"

Andi used big words sometimes, Violet had to think for a second to make sure they knew what she meant. "Oh yeah! It's super pretty! But, er, I don't have..."

"But you don't have winter clothes?" Cassie asked. She waited for Violet to nod before saying, "Right, I can charm your clothes against the wet and cold, hold on a second." Cassie muttered something to Andi, Violet didn't catch what, finished off her tea with a big gulp. "Come on," she said, standing and leading the way over to the front door. "Did you bring any trousers? I don't know if I can get both sides of that skirt very well, it'll get wet."

"Um, n-no, I didn't..." They did own trousers, but they didn't wear them very often. It sounded kind of funny, but they liked the way skirts swished around sometimes (also they were just prettier)...

"Mm, I can conjure something for you. Or would you be okay going around in just those leggings?"

"Er..." Violet thought about it for a second, but they didn't think it mattered? They meant, the cloth was thick enough nobody would see anything — and also Violet was supposed to be a girl, so it didn't really matter if they did — and it was just Cassie and the Tonkses, and from their look out the window earlier it kinda seemed like they were in the middle of nowhere. If there were strangers around, they'd probably be too awkward for that, but this should be fine. "Just the lek-leggings will be okay. Um, should I t-t-t—" Violet huffed. "J-juh—" Ugh! Stupid... Plucking at their jumper, "This thing?"

"Nah, that's fine, I can waterproof that — it's having more than one surface to deal with that's the problem, I can just go over the top of your jumper no problem. Go ahead and get your skirt off and your shoes on, and I can take care of that quick."

While Violet wiggled out of their skirt, hanging it over a back of an armchair (maybe not the place for it, but they didn't know what else to do), Cassie started changing, shrinking down to a little girl again. Her dress got smaller and smaller, soon looking more like a tee shirt, soft-looking trousers that weren't there before stretching down to her ankles (must be made out of her knickers). She was done by the time Violet had their shoes on, standing there almost shivering in...something — excitement, they thought? They never played in the snow before, and it was so bright and pretty, they could hear Dora giggling out there...

Cassie putting the spells on their clothes was a little awkward. Violet had noticed that different spells were cast different, and whatever this one was apparently needed Cassie to touch the thing she was magicking with her wand — since the thing Cassie was magicking was Violet's clothes, that was a little bleh, the tip of the little wooden stick lightly dragging along one leg and then the other, up and down their front and back and then their arms. Cassie did bits on their shoes (so snow didn't get in the top, Violet guessed), and then a pair of spells on each hand, these strong enough Violet could feel the tingling — it was a little uncomfortable, pins and needles, but not so bad, Violet tried to ignore it. Cassie did the same spells over herself — Violet thought she was being a little less careful about covering everything, it didn't take as long — and then one last spell on Violet, pressing down on them from all sides, and they suddenly felt really really warm, like standing really close to an open oven, wow.

Smiling over at them (because they were the same height now), Cassie grinned. "Come on, let's go." She took Violet's hand, lacing her fingers with theirs, and led them outside.

Violet was glad they'd waited for Cassie to do all those spells — the snow was surprisingly deep, coming up to their knees, probably higher further from the walk path. It was very white, shining almost painfully bright in the sunlight. Cassie let go to skip away with a giggle and kick at the snow (reminding Violet of her jumping in puddles in the rain), flinging a bunch of it up, some of the flakes glittering in the sun as they slowly fell back down. Wow, Violet never saw snow do that before, that was pretty...

Violet just picked through the stuff for a little bit, their feet going through like ploof, shuffling noisily as they walked. They could feel the weight of it against their legs, but not the cold and the wet at all, Cassie's spells must be working. It did get deeper as Violet walked further from the door, but they didn't think that was a good idea — much higher above their knees and it started getting really hard to walk. They were tempted to, just, jump into the stuff, with Cassie's spells it wasn't like they'd get cold and it was all soft and foofy, like Andi had pulled clouds down around the house, but—

Something hit their shoulder with a smack and a foosh, snow falling apart to scatter back down to the ground. They turned around — a little slowly, the snow in the way — to find Dora standing over there, packing another snowball in her hands and giggling. Violet was reminded for a flash of one of the few good snows they'd had in Little Whinging, Dudley and his friends pelting them with snowballs and tripping them and shoving their face in, they bit their lip until it hurt, they didn't really think Dora was gonna do that, she was very silly but nice, and besides, even if she did Cassie's spells would—

A ball of snow went poof! against Dora's chest, the girl tipping back a couple steps — more from surprise than the hit itself, Violet thought — dropping the snow in her hands as she tried to stop herself from falling. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You didn't think I was going to stand at the sidelines, did you?" Cassie bent down to scoop up some more snow, smoothing it out into a ball, smirking over at Dora. "If I didn't meekly sit by during the war, what makes you think I will for a little snowball fight?"

"Ugh, you're an Auror, that's not fair!"

"And you're twice Violet's age." Cassie wound back her arm and chucked the snowball over at Dora.

The girl ducked under it, but lost her balance, sinking down through the snow to her knees before pushing herself back up, flailing a little — not the first time she fell like that, Violet was getting the feeling Dora was really clumsy. "Oh that hardly counts! I'm all little, see?" she asked, pointing at herself.

"And I'm not using magic, so me being an Auror shouldn't count either." Patting together another snowball, Cassie smiled at Violet. "What do you say, darling, think we can take her?"

Giggling, Violet nodded. (Even if Dora was mean like Dudley and his friends, which Violet didn't really think she was, Violet had Cassie on their side.) They stooped over a little, scooping up some snow — they never made a snowball before, but it couldn't be that hard...

The snowball fight went on for a long time, had to be hours, most of the morning. At first, it was two against one, and Dora was just trying to run away. She didn't do a bad job moving so Cassie and Violet didn't surround her, and even did okay dodging snowballs, but she was also clumsy — she tripped and fell into the snow way more than she got hit. After a little bit, Andi stood in the doorway, watching them, before going inside again.

And then Andi came outside, but she looked different — the same curly black hair, the same pyjama trousers and jumper, but now child-sized, looking no older than the three metamorphs. Andi couldn't change like Cassie and Dora and Violet could — though she could make her clothes smaller, that was simple magic everyone could do — Cassie explained Andi must have brewed a potion. She threw a snowball at Cassie, coming in on Dora's side, and now that it was more even Dora didn't just keep running and started to fight back, snow flying back and forth, shouting and squeals and giggling filling the air.

Violet did get hit plenty of times, but it wasn't so bad, Cassie's spells were protecting them from the cold and wet and the snow was soft enough it didn't hurt. As the fight went on their teams kind of fell apart, people just throwing at whoever was closest or not paying attention. After a bit of that, Violet couldn't guess how long, everything a smear of patting snowballs and dodging and tripping and giggling, Ted came out too, also shrunk down to a little kid — harder to recognise than Andi or Cassie, his face a different shape now (and not just because he was thinner) — so it was maybe a good thing they didn't have their teams anymore, they didn't have an even number. He didn't stay out the whole time, coming out to play for a few minutes in a go before slipping back inside to check on dinner — probably dripping in water, but it didn't seem like anyone cared.

At one point Cassie hit Violet with a big splattery one from really close by, and Violet didn't have any snow in their hands, so they just ran and jumped right at her, knocking them both over to sink down into the snow. Their hair was getting wet (that wasn't magicked like their clothes), with snow all around them, half-buried in it, but still Violet was giggling, the snow foofing as Cassie's arms and legs flailed around, "Why you, get over here!" and Cassie grabbed on to Violet's ankle and dragged her closer with a swooshing noise, a squeal jumping out of them as they tried to grab onto something but there was only snow all around, crumbling as they tried to hold it—

And then there was tickling, and Violet screamed, trying to push Cassie's hands away but she was too fast— "Ah ha ha, reveennnge! There is NO ESCAPE from your DOOM!" —Violet's throat was starting to hurt from the laughing but they couldn't get away, instead they threw themself up and looped their arms around Cassie's neck, and then flopped back and turned, yanking Cassie over, she rolled over Violet and into the snow on her other side head-first, flopping over with a ploof! yelling and spluttering, probably got snow in her mouth. Violet staggered up to their feet and plodded away through the snow to open up some distance, hugging their aching sides and grinning— "ACH, foiled by my own hubris once more, CURSES!" —they giggled, breathless, almost tripping down into the snow again...

The fight went on for what felt like a long time but also no time at all, when Ted showed up at the door again and shouted that dinner was almost done so get their cute butts back in there. Violet was tired, their limbs starting to get achy and shaking, and was even a little cold and wet — Cassie's spells were still there, but the snow melted in Violet's hair dribbled down their collar. And they were getting really hungry, even after eating so much last night, their stomach grumbling. Violet ploughed through the snow toward the door, hugging their arms around themself, shivering just a little.

Dora looked worse than them, her clothes soaked, shivering bad enough her teeth were clacking — but she didn't seem to mind so much, still grinning. Everyone else wasn't nearly so bad, Violet thought maybe Dora did her own spells and didn't do as good a job as the grown-ups. Cassie was waiting at the door, flicking her fingers at them to whip off the snow and water as they passed, but Violet was a little cold, the neck of their jumper wet. While Violet untied their shoes — their socks were still dry, Cassie's spells held up — Andi said, "Why don't you girls warm up in the shower quick, dinner should be on the table by the time you get out."

Violet tensed a little — they were used to baths with Cassie, but Dora was still new, and they didn't know... Dora snagged them by the hand, started pulling them toward the bathroom. There was a funny look on Cassie's face, looking at Violet, maybe asking without asking if they wanted Cassie to step in? Violet thought for a second, then shrugged, turning to follow Dora properly. Their new cousin was nice enough, it would probably be fine...

Besides, it was kind of hard to be afraid of Dora. When they were in the bathroom, Dora undressing — quicker than Violet, nerves tingling along their skin (but it was fine, Violet was supposed to be a girl) — she tripped over her trousers, slamming down to the tile with a shout of, "Dammit! Stupid bloody trousers..."

As she grumbled, trying to kick the things off her feet, Violet couldn't help giggling a little. Dora really was very silly.

Hugging themself — they were even colder once they were naked — Violet shuffled over to the shower. It wasn't the same as the one at home, glass walls blocking off most of the space inside (bigger than a normal shower), leaving only one bit near the corner open to walk through. The water suddenly came on as they walked in, startling them, not out of a faucet or whatever but evenly out of the whole ceiling, like back home. It was a little too hot at first, but Dora hissed, and a second later it cooled down a bit, pleasantly warm instead.

This was a little awkward, because Violet didn't really know Dora, but it wasn't that bad, it only took a minute or two for Violet to stop feeling weird about it. It kind of didn't help when Dora tugged them over to the side near the wall, where it wasn't raining, and started rubbing shampoo into their hair — she could have at least asked first — but Violet just let out a huff, rolling her eyes, and let her.

(Though they didn't mind that much, honestly, some shampoo got gross and slimy, didn't have to worry about that if someone else was handling it.)

"There, just let that sit for a second — I don't know what it'll do with the magic in your hair, but it won't be—" Dora was walking around in front of Violet when she suddenly froze. Just, staring at them. Which was kind of awkward, because they were both naked right now, Violet didn't know what was going on with that. The longer Dora stared the more awkward it felt, Violet's shoulders starting to hitch up as—

No. Dora wasn't staring at them, in general — they were staring at their forehead.

Violet's hand jumped up to their neck, but found only slippery skin. They took the magic necklace off when they were undressing, it was with their clothes right out there, and their hair was all glued together by the shampoo. Dora could see their scar.

Crap.

Her eyes wide, hair looking like it was changing colours under the soap bubbles, Dora hissed, "Is that... Are you Harry Potter?"

Crap crap crap crap... "Um, I'm... I'm n-n-nnnot s'posed to—"

"No, you're in hiding, obviously, I get that. I'm guessing most nobody knows, so Death Eaters and stuff can't find you, makes sense. So, Harry Potter's a metamorph and living with my mum's half-mad ex-Auror aunt. Wicked..." Dora grinned at them for a second, before her face evened out a bit, giving Violet a serious sort of nod. "Right, I won't tell anyone, don't worry. You're my baby cousin, you know — I won't do anything to put you in danger, that would be a shite big cousinly thing to do. Come on, that's all the soap needed, let's rinse that out and get to dinner, I'm starving..."

Violet was nervous about being found out at first, they weren't supposed to let people know who they were (also, Harry Potter was supposed to be a boy), but Dora didn't seem to care, going right back to normal without saying anything about it. It took a bit for Violet to relax again, but with Dora going on with constant random babble about whatever — right back to calling it Violet, wasn't acting any different, as though nothing changed at all — it didn't take too long. When they were out, Dora taught them a trick to dry out their hair really quick. She said, all they had to do was imagine their hair as wet, like the water was part of their hair, and then just imagine it dry. Squeezing their eyes closed, Violet concentrated for a few seconds, and then with a feeling like warm soapy water running over their head their hair was soft and warm and dry again.

"Ha! Perfect, and on your first try. Great job!" Dora reached over to ruffle their hair, grinning. "Your hair's such a mess, it's cute. Right, food, presents, let's go let's go..."

(It wouldn't occur to them until a couple days later that, not only did Dora not seem to care about the famous person thing, but she never once said anything about Violet being a girl.)

After getting dressed, Violet looping through the sitting room to grab their skirt so they could get dressed all the way, they returned to the kitchen for dinner. It smelled really really good in here, did in the sitting room too. There wasn't one big turkey, instead Ted had made a bunch of littler birds, one for each of them, sitting on separate plates with a row of pigs in a blanket with each. There were other dishes and stuff, but as they sat, Violet just stared at the plate in front of them, trying not to frown too much. How were they supposed to eat that, exactly?

There was a little bit of talking, and then people were digging in, with knives and forks and... Eewww, Dora and Ted were touching it! It was all greasy — not more than there should be for cooked meat that wasn't stupid dry, but still. It looked good, but Violet didn't want to touch it...

"Darling, do you want me to take out the bones for you?"

Violet twitched at being spoken to, glancing up at Cassie for a second before their eyes fell back to their plate. "Um, I— Yes, please." Needing a grown-up to cut up their food for them was kind of making them feel like a little kid...but then, they were a little kid, so they guessed that was fine.

Cassie pulled out her wand, and started casting magic at Violet's plate. It looked really weird, the bird shifting and wavering like gelatin, big clumps of things pulled out — the bones, must be, all the meat magically stripped off. "Did you want the skin?"

"Um, no." Violet noticed they were kinda grimacing, tried to force themself to stop. (Didn't want Ted to notice and make him feel bad by accident.) They'd never liked the skin, and it was one of those things Petunia would give them instead of real food — if they could, Harry would take a little bit at the hob to fry them up crispier, but if they couldn't the things would still be all slimy and chewy and gross, blech, hard to get down but they had to eat something — so they didn't want the reminder today either...

"Right, let's see if I can leave you the seasonings..." The skins peeled right off, showing how pulling the bones out had kind of torn the meat in places, but not really bad, just looked like it'd been cut here and there. A little twist of Cassie's wand, and there were drips of grease misting back down to the meat, dark and green flecks falling out. "There we go." A flick, and all the stuff Cassie pulled out disappeared. "I got rid of all the bones, cartilage, and skin, it should just be the meat left. I can shred that up quick too, if you like."

"No, thank you." Violet picked up their fork, started poking through the pile of stuff on their plate — yeah, this was much better...

When Violet looked up, they noticed everyone had gone quiet, watching Cassie do the magic on their food. Apparently that wasn't a thing most magic people could do either.

Dinner was really really good, like a lot. Violet was feeling a little out of it, like they couldn't quite believe this was even happening. Not just because it was really really good, but they never got Christmas dinner proper before, eating the same thing as everyone else at the table with them and everything, it felt kind of funny. Not a bad funny, just, different. As Violet tried to work past that, from what people were saying, Violet learned Ted cooked pretty much everything that Cassie and Violet hadn't brought. Talking to Cassie about it, he said he didn't really know how to cook so much before marrying Andi, but she really didn't know how either, and was also absolutely hopeless at it — Andi huffed a little, but didn't argue — so he'd had to figure it out, even secretly sneaking off to his (muggle) grandmother when Andi was at her healing training so he could learn things and surprise her with them later.

Violet thought that was kind of cute, and Cassie seemed to think so too, giving Ted and Andi a crooked little smile.

There was wine with dinner again, and Violet got some this time. Before setting the glass down in front of them, Cassie did more magic at it, taking out some of the alcohol part and moving the clear liquid she pulled out to her own glass — and getting more funny looks, because that also wasn't something most people could do. The wine was fine, Violet guessed, but not great, mostly just tasted like grape juice with more sourness in it...which made sense, 'cause it was mostly just grape juice...

Also, pigs in a blanket were great, Violet never got bacon before Cassie...

By the end of dinner, Violet was feeling very full and also all warm and tingly, and it was time for the gifts part — Violet thought gifts were supposed to be in the morning before dinner, but the Tonkses had their thing with the snow instead, so. Most of the presents weren't Violet's business — also mostly boring useful grown-up stuff they didn't care about anyway — but one that wasn't theirs stuck out. Dora was a little surprised Cassie brought her something, she tore it open all excited, then turned what she found in her hands, frowning. Violet didn't know what that was. It was leather, the surface smooth and shining, Violet noticed a few...crystal-looking things set into it, white and smoky, like the bits of quartz you could find in gravel sometimes. "A wand holster? I can feel the enchantments, what is that?"

"Dissolving and grounding spells," Cassie said, which meant nothing to Violet, but Dora's eyes both widened, a shock of orange shooting through her hair. "I hear you've been having trouble with some of your classmates."

Dora grimaced. "Yeah, well, people are pricks sometimes. 'Cause I'm a Black, 'cause I'm not a Black, or just 'cause I'm a loud clumsy weirdo, take your pick. I've even been rushed to Saint Mungo's, um...four times? I think it was four times. I only remember three of them, I was sent back to the Hogwarts Hospital Wing before I woke up once..."

"Wait, hospital?" Everyone turned to look at Violet, they tried not to flinch. "Um. You were h-h-hurt so b-bad at school they sent you to the hospi-hospi-hos— Ugh! You know." It could be just their imagination, Violet didn't notice right away so didn't trust themself to be able to tell, but they thought their stammer was getting worse — and it was really annoying, why couldn't they even talk right?!

Cassie must be picking up on Violet's frustration, she leaned over in her chair closer to where Violet was sitting on the floor (with a pile of presents they hadn't touched yet, still kind of, hmm), and gently started smoothing down their hair. Violet tensed at first, but then relaxed, leaning back into Cassie's chair. Didn't know why, but that felt nice, better to just not think about it too hard. "It's okay, darling. I know the stammering bothers you, but try not to beat yourself up about it too much. Nobody here is going to be short with you for it, so just be a little more patient with yourself, if you can.

"And, about the hospitalisations, Hogwarts is a safe place, but the little jinxes kids do for pranks and the like can be dangerous for metamorphs. How our magic works is to make what our body looks like real, even if it was only made that way by a spell that's supposed to be temporary. Some of the prank spells that just do embarrassing or uncomfortable things, when a metamorph makes them real, can be very bad for your health." Cassie turned back to Dora, but her fingers didn't leave Violet's hair. "The enchantments on that will work better than a shield charm to intercept pretty much anything — it won't stop serious curses, of course, and the enchantments need to be touching the spell to crack the envelope, so you'll need to catch them with your arm before they hit. It's not a general protective amulet, but those tend to interfere with spellcasting anyway. This won't — you could block a jinx and counterattack at the same time, with a bit of skill."

"Wicked!" Dora fiddled with the laces on the underside, but she didn't move to put it on, probably just checking she knew how to put it on. "Not sure how good I'll be at catching spells, but I'll get some of my friends to help me practise. This'll be a lot of help, thanks!"

"That's not all: it also comes with lessons."

Dora's eyes widened again, her hair suddenly going solid black. "What? You mean, duelling lessons?"

Violet wasn't looking, but they could hear Cassie smiling. "Sure. Metamorphy is a brilliant talent, I wouldn't trade it away for anything, but I can't deny that it does come with certain vulnerabilities — especially with how kids can be awful to each other sometimes. At least until your classmates bore of tormenting you, that you learn to defend yourself properly isn't optional. So long as your parents approve, of course."

"Oh, yes, certainly," Andi said right away. "Your father and I were already talking about getting you a tutor over the summer, but Cassie is far more skilled than any we'd be able to hire at a price we can afford, and is far more suitable to address your particular needs. I approve, wholeheartedly. Ted?"

"Yeah, no argument from me, that's a great idea — if we had any idea you'd be open to it, we'd have already asked. Though we could hardly let you take on such a time-consuming project without some compen—"

"Ted, please, I'm a Black. The degree to which I don't need your money is honestly comical. Besides, you're family, I wouldn't charge family for this sort of thing."

"True, true. How about home-baked pasties now and then, for my conscience?"

"Well, if you're gonna twist my arm..."

It was about then that Violet started getting over their dazed surprise enough to start poking at their presents. It's just, they never got anything for Christmas before...or at least, not real presents — the Dursleys would give them something stupid and useless, which Violet mostly found confusing, didn't know what that was about. But, there were a few sitting in front of them — well less than Dora had, but it looked like her friends had sent her stuff — and they weren't tiny stupid things, they looked like real presents, one of them was even a pretty big box...

Violet started picking them open, slowly. From Andi and Ted they got sweets — Violet didn't know most of the logos, so they must be magic sweets. Mostly fudge, and toffees, and chewing gum, and...chocolate frogs? Those didn't have real frogs in them, did they? Ted apologised, saying they didn't know Violet so they couldn't get anything more specific, but Violet hadn't expected anything, so this was still big to them. Most of them were from Cassie, which, she really didn't have to do that, Cassie already bought them stuff all the time, didn't need to do more because Christmas. There were some bracelets and necklaces and stuff, beads colourful and glittery, and a couple scarves — one was plain wool, meant for warmth, but the other was thinner and more brightly colourful, with silvery sparkly bits, meant to just be pretty. One thing she'd definitely gone to a muggle store to get: a set of watercolours, circles of stuff in a plastic case (magic people didn't use plastic), and with it a few books with drawings to paint in, some of them complete pictures (like any other colouring book) but others vague and incomplete, just something to start with, the person supposed to fill in the rest.

Cassie said she knew Violet liked coloured pencils, but didn't like pastels, so she thought they might want to try other art things. Which, sure? Sounded like fun, just, Violet never would have thought to ask...

After that there were just two left, the big box and a smaller thing, a wide flat box (like a book) with a littler squarish thing fixed on top. The big one was kind of..."scary" was the wrong word...so Violet pulled the smaller one closer. Trying to pull off the little thing on top ended up taking some of the paper with it, which Violet guessed worked well enough — they brushed off the rest of the wrapping on the flat one, finding a book, Gathered among the Mists. A picture book, specifically, the colours deep and intense, with really fine details. Flipping through it, Violet saw a lot of forests and people in robes with wands but also spears and swords and bows and arrows, courtyards with complicated mosaics for floors surrounded by pillars and curtains and vines, and... It was really pretty, and definitely magic — the paintings (they looked like paintings, anyway) were moving, not a lot but it was noticeable, leaves in trees wiggling in the wind and waves on the sea and people gesturing as they talked. Very pretty, Violet liked it. Hopefully the story was as good as it looked...

Cassie said it was about the first meeting of the Wizengamot, the magic Parliament — which happened a very very long time ago, like fifteen hundred years, before England was even a thing. Since it was so long ago, they didn't really know how it happened for sure, but the story of Merlin — yes, that Merlin — and the Seventeen meeting on Anglesey was a story all magic people knew, so it was good for Violet to know it too. The "Seventeen Founders" were the mages (and also the families descended from them) who were there at the very first meeting, and the Blacks happened to be one of them. Cassie took the book for a minute to flip through it, before showing Violet a page with a woman with long curly black hair wearing a weird-looking dress, sitting on the edge of a cliff watching over boats coming in to harbour — that was Melisende the Black, their many-many-times-great-grandmother, one of the Seventeen.

It was good that Violet learn these things, Cassie said, but it wasn't actually Cassie who got it for them. This book, and the little box that came with it, were from Arcturus. Violet didn't know how to feel about that, they really hadn't expected anything from him. Inside the little box that had been attached to the book was a necklace, on a plaited silver chain a black bird with its wings spread, smooth and polished stone of some kind. Except, not just black, there were little words put on the wings in shiny silver: toujours pur on one wing, and then toujours vaillant on the other.

Nope, that was not English. Cassie knew it, though, apparently it was the motto of the Blacks, because they were a fancy noble family and had that kind of thing. It was French, meant always pure, always valiant (which was a special fancy word for having courage, like in a soldier-y sort of way). Apparently, there was a lot of talk these days about always pure being about how the Blacks were the most racist of purebloods, but that wasn't what it was originally about — the saying had been around for longer than purebloods were even a thing. Cassie said "pure" was supposed to be meant in the same way as pure of heart, that the Blacks didn't let stupid unimportant things get them all confused, that they were and did just as they meant to be and do. Which didn't always mean good things — someone who meant to do bad things could still be said to be "pure" in their intent to do bad things — but it wasn't supposed to be racist, originally.

Violet was told that being given a Black thing to wear by the Lord of the family was kind of a big deal, but they didn't really get it. But since they were told it was a big deal they went ahead and pulled it over their head anyway, the little bird bobbing against their jumper.

And then there was just the last thing left. The box was big, and kind of heavy, so it took a bit of effort to get the wrapping paper off of it...but when they did, they found what was pretty much the best thing ever. It was, like, one of those models of the solar system, with the sun and the Earth and all the other planets in their orbits, but it was a puzzle — Violet had never heard of a puzzle that wasn't just a flat thing, they didn't even know how making a ball out of puzzle pieces even worked, but it sounded very neat. And each ball was done separately, so it wasn't just one puzzle, but, uh... Violet turned around the box — wood instead of cardboard, made by magic people, which was odd because Violet thought they didn't do jigsaw puzzles — until they found a list: the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the moon, Mars, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, and Saturn...and Saturn's rings were kind of its own puzzle too, so...thirteen? was that thirteen puzzles? Jeez...

And they were also magic puzzles. Cassie explained that the picture on the box, with the balls floating around, like one of those model things but without anything holding them up, wasn't just for show, the balls really would float around in circles like the real solar system when they were finished. There was a book talking about things and how they worked, Cassie suggested Violet open the box up and check...but it turned out the book was in French, Violet couldn't read it.

"Oh, damn," Cassie said, looking at the book over their shoulder. "Did they forget to— Here, can you pass Earth, it's that one right there." Inside the box were littler boxes for all the different planets — so at least you knew which pieces were for which one, Violet guessed. They picked up the box Cassie was pointing at — also wood, sanded smooth and painted black, a symbol printed on it in white, a plus sign inside a circle — and handed it up to Cassie. She opened the box, picked up a piece, turned it around for a second, picked up a second piece. "Right, good," dropping it back in with a little clatter and closing the box again, "for a second there I was worried they sent me the wrong one.

"You know, I mentioned before that I've heard of something like jigsaw puzzles, but only for educational purposes? Well, most of those are made by families for their own use, or sometimes just small craftsmen who only make a few a year, but I found a toy shop in Toulouse that make them in bigger numbers." Cassie handed Violet back the Earth box, so they put it back in with the others. "And they have all kinds of fun complicated enchanted things like this, it might be worth visiting with you someday to see if anything else catches your eye. The problem is, they don't make them in English — English isn't a common international language on the magical side, and they don't do any business in Britain. They make a version of this planetary model in French, Occitan, Catalan, and Sicilian, but not English. I asked them to make an English one for me — apparently they forgot to translate the book, but the names on the puzzles themselves are in English."

Wait, Cassie had this made special for them? That sounded like it'd be really expensive...

But anyway, yeah, magic puzzles. When just in pieces, the puzzles were pretty big, most with a few hundred pieces each, but when they were finished they could be shrunk down to a size they wouldn't be so in the way floating around as a model. And the model actually kind of worked — they could just float around in circles at random, but there was a setting for them to sit where the planets all were right now, drifting on their real orbits very very slowly, or at a speed you could actually see but everything following their real orbits the way they should, just sped up.

And the pictures on the puzzles? What the planets and moons and stuff actually looked like. The shop Cassie went to used pictures taken from non-magical space probes and stuff, filled in a bit with scrying and a little guesswork (though they didn't need much), the colours exaggerated a little on some to make the puzzle easier to figure out, but very close to real. The Earth puzzle had two settings — one was what it looked like from space, but tap it and say a special word and the pieces would change to a map with countries and things. It was supposed to be a thing kids could learn from, so everything was labelled, the Earth puzzle big enough (when not in the model) to pick things out. And they were the magical countries, which were different from the normal countries, which Violet guessed was a good thing to know.

(Just glancing at a map in the book, the borders in Europe were all wrong, so, should probably learn the new countries at some point.)

Cassie said she was told that some of them, especially Venus and Saturn, could be pretty hard to finish, if Violet was having trouble they could always ask and she would help. But, thinking about it, wouldn't the sun be the worst, since it was pretty much all yellow? No, actually, because it turned out that, like the Earth puzzle did, the sun puzzle had a second setting, which was the night sky, with all the stars and the constellations outlined and everything — the solid black background meant it wasn't the easiest puzzle in the world, but it was much more doable...especially since it also had lines measuring angles and stuff, and a lot of the stars were labelled, so you could look up where things were supposed to go and get pretty close. Cassie said that, when it was done, if you put it in that setting, tapped a spot on the Earth puzzle and said a special word, the sun-and-stars puzzle would project the night sky as it actually was from that spot on the walls and ceiling, with all the stars and planets and the moon and everything in their proper places — Dora was jealous, said that would make Astronomy class much easier.

Basically, it was the coolest thing ever. Violet never really gave much thought to space stuff before, but flipping through the book and listening to Cassie explain the whole thing, it was so cool. They were weirdly excited to start putting it together — honestly a little annoyed that they couldn't start now, they had to wait until they got home — it took actual effort to keep themself from fidgeting, just...

"I know it's maybe not the most fun gift in the world," Cassie was saying, "basically giving you homework for Christmas, but I thought it was one way to ease into some of the things you'll need to know before school starts." There was something after that, that she was thinking about bringing them to a quidditch game or something fun sometime soon (quidditch? was that another magic thing?), but Violet was only half-listening. Did...Cassie think Violet didn't like it? Violet was being quiet, they guessed, but they were usually quiet, and Cassie was mostly behind them, so...

(And it was probably really expensive, since Cassie had had it made special and everything, Violet didn't want her to think that...)

"Nnno, I love it," Violet said, maybe interrupting Cassie a little, oops. They turned around so they could look up at Cassie, which was a little awkward at this angle, just to make sure she could tell they meant it. "I love it. Thank you, Aunt Cassie."

Cassie smiled down at them, bright and warm, Violet blinked down at her knees. "Oh good. My pleasure, Violet darling."

The day went on from there, but Violet didn't remember a lot of it very well. They were so full from the food, and it was so warm and nice in here, Violet fell asleep without meaning to not long after presents. They woke up to the fwoosh of fire and flash of green light, someone coming out of the fireplace. (There was a cloak on them, someone must have put it over them and left them sleeping.) The visitor was a boy Dora knew from school, freckle-faced and orange-haired, named Charlie. He dropped by just to say happy Christmas, and give the Tonkses some fudge and things his mum had made for them. Andi was a little annoyed for some reason, Violet thought — which was funny, the fudge was really good, Violet didn't know what there was to be annoyed about it.

Charlie stayed for a little bit to talk to Dora, going off somewhere to talk in private. Violet found them by accident when going to the toilet — they were kissing. Charlie was really embarrassed when he noticed them, but Dora just laughed, so at least Violet wasn't in trouble for interrupting. When Violet went back to the sitting room, they asked if Dora and Charlie were allowed to be kissing — they had gone off to do it somewhere the grown-ups couldn't see, maybe they weren't supposed to? — which made Andi even more annoyed, but Ted seemed to think it was funny, and Violet was very confused.

After Charlie left, Cassie teased Dora about it, at one point asking if Dora knew she and Charlie were cousins. Like, double cousins, 'cause both of Charlie's grandmums were Blacks. So, maybe they weren't supposed to be kissing, Violet thought there was a rule about that...

Violet knew they went out to play in the snow again, but that was all a blur, they didn't really remember. They did know all three of them came in wet and freezing, so Violet took their second shower of the day — this time with Dora and Cassie, but this one wasn't so awkward for some reason, maybe just used to it.

Andi and Ted were wearing different clothes now — Violet thought maybe Dora's parents did sex while the three of them were playing outside, but it was probably rude to ask.

In the evening they played more games at the kitchen table, munching at mince pies — turned out they were pretty good, still thought putting meat in them was a funny thing to do, but Cassie knew what she was doing — and sipping at cider. Which was also pretty good, Cassie pulled out some of the alcohol again so Violet could have some too. It was better than the wine, Violet thought, but not everyone agreed, Andi had more wine instead. And it was really good when Cassie did a spell to make it fizzy (they ran out of fizzy pop already), so it was, like, spicy apple fizzy pop, it was great.

Violet must have fallen asleep at some point, but they didn't remember. They woke up in the guest bedroom in the morning, with no idea how they got here. Cassie must have packed up her bag already, there were clothes sitting out for Violet, they changed quick — they were in their nightdress, which was a little weird, because they didn't remember going to bed, but Cassie could do that with just a couple spells, so.

When Violet got downstairs, Cassie and Ted were talking in the kitchen, but Dora and Andi were already gone — Dora was visiting one of her friends, and Andi was at work. (She worked at a magic hospital, she was really busy a lot.) They already had breakfast, but Ted fried something up for Violet quick, using eggs and mushrooms and some of the pigs in a blanket they didn't eat yesterday, it was really good, and Violet felt weirdly guilty, Ted had done so much cooking the last couple days, they could have done it themselves...

They stayed for a little bit, Cassie and Ted talking, but before long it was time to go. After checking to make sure they weren't leaving anything behind, Cassie pulled Violet through the Floo, and after a twisty dizzying few seconds they were home.

Standing in the sitting room, Violet felt... They didn't know. It was a funny feeling, warm and a little tight, and kind of...like that shivery feeling they could get when they stopped after doing a lot of stuff and were kind of tired? But, like, not quite the same thing, they didn't know. It wasn't a bad feeling, so.

(Violet breathed through their nose — woody and green, tea and oranges from the kitchen, plus a little bit of spices from the gravy and peppermint from the candy, just a little bit of vanilla from the scent Violet liked to use in the bath. They liked that smell.)

Cassie went over to the sofa and started unloading her bag, unshrinking things as she went, clothes and leftover food and candy and presents... "So. Did you have a good time at the Tonkses'?"

"Yes." Violet paused for a second, a little nervous — it wasn't to tell people what went on at home — but that didn't matter anymore, they weren't going to get in trouble. Besides, Number Four Privet Drive wasn't even home anymore. "I n-nnever had a real kuh-Christmas. It was nice."

Cassie's hands paused for a second, but then she got back to unpacking. "Good, I'm glad you liked it. We can go to the Tonkses again next Christmas, or we can do something else, if you want."

"Um, okay. If there's someone else n-next time, I'm g-g-guh-g—" Violet sighed. Trying to slow down a little bit, saying each word carefully, "I'm okay with doing something else if you want, but the Tonkses are nice." There we go, stupid stammer...

"All right, we'll have to see how it goes. I don't have a lot of family out there anymore, but maybe we'll get an invitation to visit someone else next year, we'll see." Cassie turned around, sitting on the edge of the armrest with a sigh. She looked a little tired — she was smiling a little, and not a fake smile, Violet didn't think, so she was fine, just had a long couple days. "I'm a little surprised little Cissa hasn't asked me about you yet, honestly."

"Cissa?"

"Narcissa Malfoy — my niece, Andi's sister." Oh, Violet thought they heard that name before, didn't remember where... "She might invite us to tea one day, I'll tell you if it comes up. Speaking of which, remember we do have a tea date coming up — we're supposed to meet Dumbledore in about a week, on the third."

Violet nodded. "I remember." They were a little nervous about that, honestly. Albus and Cassie were old friends, but Violet knew he was the one who put them with the Dursleys in the first place, and would have kept them there forever if Cassie didn't show up, so... Also, when Cassie told Violet they were going to meet him, she made sure to say that she wasn't going to leave Violet alone with him at any point, that she'd be there the whole time, which also made it sound scarier...

"Right," Cassie chirped, clapping her hands a little. "I should get the leftovers squared away. Did you have any plans for today?"

"No. Maybe start the magic puzzles." They were supposed to tell Lasairín when they got back, but they thought they would wait until tomorrow. They'd done a lot of talking to people and stuff the last couple days, and as nice as Lasairín was they just didn't feel like it right now. Puzzles sounded much better.

Cassie's lips twitched a little at magic puzzles, but she didn't tease them for it. (Besides, they were magic puzzles, what else were they supposed to call them?) "I was thinking of having a friend over, if that's okay with you."

She meant a sex friend? "Who?"

"Julie. If she's busy, I might call Laura or Síomha — I haven't seen either of them in a while, though, I'm not sure if they'll want to come. So, a woman, but I'm not sure which yet."

...There was a Síomha who lived on their square, but Violet thought Cassie meant a different Síomha. "Okay?" Really, Violet didn't know why Cassie was asking, she didn't need Violet's permission.

"Okay." Cassie cast a few spells at Violet's things, making the pile a bit smaller. "There, that'll do. The spells will wear off in about five minutes, so, more than enough time to carry it all up to your room." Oh! Violet was a little worried about that, they thought they'd have to make more than one trip, and the puzzle box was big... "Come get me if you need help figuring out the enchantments on the magic puzzles, since the instructions are annoyingly in French. I don't think we need lunch, but we'll figure out dinner with whoever I have over, okay?" Violet nodded — they definitely weren't going to be hungry for lunch, and probably weren't going to need much for dinner either — so Cassie stood up again, began piling up the things to bring into the kitchen.

Without really meaning to, Violet snagged Cassie's skirt as she walked by. Cassie stopped, looking down at Violet over the leftovers she was carrying, one eyebrow ticking up, Violet's eyes dropped down to stare at her dress in front of their face. "I, um..." They didn't know why they did that, they didn't... It kind of felt like they wanted to say something, but they didn't know what, their head fuzzy and words catching in their throat.

Cassie waited a few seconds, and then there was a funny tingle on the air — she let go of the things she was carrying, but they just stayed floating over Violet's head, held up with magic. Moving slowly, careful she didn't get caught on her skirt, Cassie sank down to her knees, her arms wrapping around Violet, gently hugging them to her chest. Their forehead was touching the skin over her neckline, the dress smooth against their face and their fingers, all warm and soft and... Hugs were nice, that was all.

It was kind of making the funny feeling Violet didn't know what it was worse, but it wasn't a bad feeling, really, so that was fine.

"Are you okay, Violet darling?" Cassie whispered, inches from her ear. That felt bad, pins scraping at their neck, Violet turned their face sideways against Cassie's dress so it wouldn't happen again.

"Mhmm. It's nothing." Well, it wasn't nothing, but Violet didn't know what to call it. It wasn't a bad feeling though, so.

"Okay." Cassie hugged them for a couple seconds longer, her fingers softly slipping through their hair, before she tipped back a bit, sitting back on her feet, smiling at Violet from right about their height. "You should get your things upstairs before the spells wear off. Call me if you need anything, okay, love?" Violet nodded at her shoulder, so Cassie stood up and started off to the kitchen, the leftovers floating along after her.

Violet took a moment to collect themself, blinking. (Uncle Vernon hated it when they cried.) No matter what all that was, their chest tight and hot and kind of tingly, they still smiled as they got upstairs, walking to their room.

Christmas with the Tonkses was nice, but they were happy to be home.

---

Poor Violet, feelings are hard.

Apparently I'm incapable of writing sub-20k chapters anymore. I did consider splitting this one (again), but fuck it.

Some people might think it's impossible and out of nowhere for Violet to develop a stutter at seven and not even notice it happening at first, but it's very much not — in fact, it happened to me. I was... Huh, pretty close to exactly Violet's age, didn't notice that until I did the math just now. Anyway, I remember my dad pointing it out to me one day, that apparently it'd been going on for months by that point and I had no idea...and it quickly got worse, because being self-conscious about it didn't exactly make it any better. Unusual, yes, and suggestive of some underlying cause, but hardly impossible.

Violet's stutter is actually going to be less severe than mine (and very stress-dependent), but still, made my point.

Over the last weeks there's been a significant replanning of certain details in this fic. In the original plan, Violet was going to develop an exhibitionist slant as she got older, but I've decided to axe that and bring in something else instead — there might have been enough hints in this chapter for people who know what they're looking at to guess, but I don't think I need to spell it out just now. You'll see.

You'll see, you'll all see, mwahahaha! (Cassie's dramatic evil play voice amused me, and I'm noticing just now that I do that a lot writing adults playing with children...)

Right, then, more than enough of that. Important canon-plot-breaking events in the next chapter, unless it gets too stupid long and I split it again, wooooo...