Menstrual cycles discussed. If that makes you squeamish, heads up!

Cokeworth was experiencing a nice patch of sunny weather. Aria lounged on a poolside chair with a book while Robert, Samuel, and Tommy splashed around with several other teenagers their age. Most of them were sixteen and her thirteenth birthday was in July. While she knew that Robert, Samuel, and Tommy had other friends besides her, in the past the four of them spent most of the summer together. Now it seemed, between jobs and those other friends, she sometimes ended up the odd man out.

She did recognize a few of the other teens. Abbie Hanson and Sheila O'Reilly also lived on Spinner's End, though on the far end closes to the bridge leading into town. Abbie's dad was the foreman at the mill. Sheila's dad owned the car garage over on Twinset Circle. Luke Gibbs lived two streets over and was one of the other teen models for Gloria Keetering, alongside Aria and Jasmine Fitzpatrick. Jasmine had gone to primary with Aria, though she had been a year ahead of her, and was from the other side of the river. She lived on Fitton Street where the paint on the houses never peeled, the roofs never leaked, and the gardens were always maintained.

The rest of the teens Aria did not know. St. Brigid's Secondary served several communities, not just Cokesworth, so several of the teens were from other towns.

St. Martin's bell gonged the half-hour. Aria slid a bookmark into Pride and Prejudice and set it aside, reaching for her shorts and tank top which she pulled on over her dried swimsuit.

"Heading home?" Samuel called, coming to the edge of the pool.

"Gotta start dinner," Aria answered. "Dad's working a late shift and Remi's not getting back until later either."

Remington Johnson was a boarder at Aria's house. He was letting the basement which her dad had redone. It was not much, essentially an enlarged bedroom with full bath. Aria was still amazed at what her dad had gotten up to while she was away at Hogwarts. Apparently, being alone in the house made him antsy (according to Mrs. Tweed, Samuel's mum), and had taken on a few renovating projects to fill his time.

Aria was also pretty sure Remington had turned into more than a boarder for her dad, but neither her dad nor Remington (or Remi as he told her to call him) was saying anything. She had, however, noticed long looks between the two of them, saw how her dad's hands searched out Remington when they cooked together in the kitchen, how the two of them smiled at each other. She might be only thirteen, but she was not dumb.

Robert, Samuel, and Tommy might have also pointed it all out to her in the beginning.

She slid on her flip flops and slid her book into her beach bag alongside her towel.

"See you later then!" Samuel called to her. She waved and called good-bye, shoulders slumping a little when only Tommy responded. She did not dally on her way home, throwing her things down in the entry way in a huff.

A soft hoot came from the living room, and she smiled seeing Hedwig perched on the sofa. She lost the smile seeing another bird perched on the top of the floor lamp. Fawkes cooed a greeting, ruffling his colorful feathers before launching off the lamp and onto the coffee table.

"What the hell are you doing here, Fawkes?" Aria demanded. Fawkes jerked his head, as if shocked at her language. She sighed. She was not going to let a bird tell her what sort of language to use, especially when her dad wasn't around to tell her off.

"What's he doing here?" she instead asked Hedwig. Hedwig hooted gently. Well, Hedwig was a good judge of character, she liked her dad and Remi, even if the latter was amused with the idea of an owl as a pet. She had worried that the Muggle would be a bit freaked, but he and Hedwig had stared at each other for a minute before he had reached out and gently rubbed her feathers.

"Fascinating," he had said.

"Do you have a letter for me?" Aria asked Fawkes. "Does the headmaster want me?" She hoped not. After her conversation with Harry on the Hogwarts Express, she could not shake the wary feeling about Dumbledore that now dogged her. She had even started having dreams of him showing up in Cokeworth.

Fawkes shook his head, deciding he did not like the coffee table, and that he wanted to try the arm of the couch as a perch. Aria made sure some of the blinds were pulled a little lower. She did not want to get in trouble for breaking the Statute of Secrecy because a phoenix decided to randomly visit her.

"You can't be here when Remi gets home," she told Fawkes. "He's a Muggle that lives here. Do you understand?"

Fawkes trilled loudly. She took that as agreement. If anything, she could just take Fawkes up to her bedroom while Remi was here. Though she had no idea how to explain Fawkes to her dad.

"I'm going to make dinner," she told the birds, heading out to the kitchen. "If you're hungry, Fawkes, now is the time for me to feed you."

Hedwig and Fawkes flew into the kitchen, settling on the back of chairs to watch Aria as she put together a lasagna. She gave some of the hamburger meat to the owl and phoenix who gobbled it up with grateful noises and cheek rubs.

Lasagna in the oven, Aria went up to her bedroom, Fawkes following after her. She pulled out her Transfiguration homework.

"What can you tell me about Transfiguration?" she asked Fawkes. Fawkes cocked his head questioningly. "Yeah, me too. I just wish I could practice the spells but no I can't because I'm underage."

A sudden picture formed in her mind, one of Dumbledore in his office waving his hand and a book floating off the shelf towards him. It was such a sudden vision, she almost wondered if she had made it up herself. Until another picture formed in her mind, again of Dumbledore, but this time he waved his hand and sent the book back to the shelf.

Her head popped up and she narrowed her eyes at Fawkes. Fawkes ruffled his feathers.

"Was that you?" she demanded. Fawkes bobbed his head. "I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me."

Another picture suddenly popped into her mind. This time it was of a young woman, a person Aria did not recognize, who stood in the center of a stone circle, waving her arms. Around this woman Aria saw things begin to float and move about.

Then the picture changed and this time a boy, tall and lanky like he had been stretched, sat on a hill with Hogwarts in the background. He wore a black tunic with green edging around the neck, arms, and hem. The boy was entertaining several smaller boys and girls in either black tunics or dresses, each edged with either green, blue, yellow, or red. The boy would cup his hands and produce animals from little flames that popped up from his hands. Aria noticed one of his audience members was using a wand to try and replicate the animals and the fire but was having little success.

Seconds later the picture faded, and she was back in her bedroom, on her bed, Transfiguration book open in her lap, a phoenix perched in front of her.

It was clear that Fawkes was trying to communicate something to her. She could feel a thrum of patience tinged with just a little frustration coming off the bird and she hoped she could figure out what he was trying to say quickly.

Perhaps there was something happening in each vision that she was meant to focus on. She closed her eyes and went back over each picture Fawkes had given her. Dumbledore, a young woman, and a boy. All of them doing magic . . . all of them doing magic . . .

The sudden click of the answer in her mind made her gasp as her eyes flew open.

"They didn't use their wands!" she cried. Fawkes hopped several times, and she felt a thrill of excitement as he trilled happily. "They were using wandless magic! Are you saying that if I also used wandless magic, I won't get in trouble for underage magic?"

Fawkes bobbed his head.

That was absolutely wicked! Aria immediately looked over at her bedside table and her alarm clock. She held her hand out towards it.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she cried. Disappointingly, the alarm clock did not move. She huffed even as Fawkes had the audacity to giving several chirps like he was laughing.

"I should've swished and flicked," Aria told him. "That's what I would've done with a wand." She held her hand out again, this time, swishing and flicking her arm as she spoke the incantation. Her magic pulsed inside her, just like it always did now whenever she used it, and the alarm clock shuffled along her table like it was trying to rise but could not.

"I'm gonna have to work on that," she muttered, glancing towards Fawkes. Downstairs she heard the front door open and close. She yelped as Fawkes disappeared in a flash of light. Well, she mused as she headed downstairs to see who arrived home first, at least she didn't have to hide a phoenix from a Muggle.

Remington Johnson set his overnight bag down next to Aria's pool bag, toeing off his shoes. He gave Aria a weary smile before padding into the living room. Aria couldn't help but stare in shock at him. When he told her that he had an autoimmune disease and went to London once a month for treatment, she had accepted it, but she had not expected him to come back looking so battered or worn like he had been in a fist fight. The only thing missing were the facial bruises.

"Are you okay?" she cried. Remi chuckled, sitting down with a sigh.

"I will be," he told her. "It looks worse than it is, I promise."

"Like I haven't used that excuse before," Aria muttered. "Dad's not home yet, but the lasagna's almost done."

The oven beeped.

"The lasagna's done," she corrected. "Lots of hamburger. Dad said you need the protein during treatment, so I made sure to load it up." She went and pulled the lasagna out of the oven, setting it on the range so cool a little while she set the table. Remi shuffled into the kitchen as if to help.

"You look like death warmed over," Aria told him. "Sit down before you fall over." She set a glass of water in front of him and a cold Strongbow before making a salad. She was just dishing out the first helping of lasagna to Remi when her dad came home.

"It smells so good!" he cried, kissing her head in greeting. He grabbed his own Strongbow and settled at the table, helping himself to lasagna and salad. "Remi, I cannot wait until you're back to work, mate. Chris can't run the office; everything goes to pieces."

Talk of the mill went in one ear and out the other. Aria ate her lasagna, trying not to look at bored at she felt. She wished Fawkes was still there, at least the phoenix would pay attention to her.

What a summer this was turning out to be. She hoped her friends were at least having better summers.

The next morning when Aria's alarm clock went off, she knew immediately that something was wrong. For a horrifying moment she was convinced that she had wet the bed which was mortifying.

Gathering her courage to check, Aria lifted the duvet, only to find the sheet beneath her stained red.

Oh.

Oh god.

No!

Aria dropped the duvet and sat there stunned. Another quick peak did not change the reality staring at her from her bed.

She had started her period.

Now, she knew about periods. Her primary school's health class had taught about it her last year, so she knew that it was coming, though to be honest, she did not know if any of her friends had started. She had seen no evidence of menstrual products in her dorm room from any of the girls, though did the wizarding world even use tampons? Or pads? Merlin, she would have to decide what to use now!

She had absolutely nothing in the house which meant she would have to choose clothes that would need to be washed once she got home. Scrambling from the bed she found her darkest pair of shorts and underwear. She decided to double up the underwear until she could get something from the store. Then she tied a sweater around her waist for good measure.

Raiding the coffee can where her dad kept extra cash on hand, she hurried out to the little corner shop two roads over owned by Mr. and Mrs. Kirkby who were ancient if anyone wanted Aria's opinion on the matter. She slipped down into the aisle where the toilet paper was kept because she had seen the menstrual products there before. Hopefully she could figure out what she needed and would not have to make the walk across the bridge to Tesco. Aria stared at the selection, realizing that she did not know how to use any of these products. Did they come with instructions in the boxes?

A sudden deep longing for her mum washed over Aria. A longing that she had not felt for a long time, not since first year and her Hogwarts letter had arrived. Her mum had always been the one to tell her that her little "accidents" made her special, even if she was at as much of a loss over them as Kenneth had been. After their first trip to Diagon Alley, Aria could remember lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, willing herself not to cry because she wished she could tell her mum that she was a witch, and all about the people she had met and the things she had seen.

Now it washed over her, making it hard to breath. She would not cry in the middle of the shop, even if her eyes were burning and beginning to blur over with tears. If her mum were here, she would be able to help Aria figure out what to do with the fact that her Muggle friends were leaving her behind for their own Muggle friends. Kenneth had merely shrugged and said, "They're getting older" as if Aria herself wasn't getting older! If her mum were here, she would be able to tell Aria exactly what she needed to get off the shelf and how to use it, and if her mum were here, she would be able to strip her bed and show her how to get the blood out of the sheets. Otherwise, the sheets were ruined, and Aria would have to figure out about getting a new set.

"Aria?"

With a start, Aria saw Melinda Jacobs, Robert's older sister, standing at the edge of the aisle, a young man she did not recognize holding her hand. She hurried to wipe her face as Melinda glanced around the aisle, understanding dawning. She handed the shopping basket to the young man.

"You finish up," she told him. "I won't be long." The young man kissed her cheek before hurrying off. Melinda came and wrapped an arm around Aria's shoulders.

"So, you got your period?" she asked. Aria nodded.

"It was all over the bed," Aria muttered.

"Ah. Well, what's womanhood without waking up at least once in a pool of your own blood, eh? Now, dry those tears. Periods are inconvenient, but nothing to cry over."

"I just want my mum," Aria told her. Melinda tsked, pulling Aria close for a moment.

"Well, I hope I'll do," Melinda murmured. Aria nodded. "Now, your first few times are gonna be trial and error as you decide what you like to use and what you don't like to use. Some girls like to wear pads their whole period but others like tampons. Now me? I use tampons and panty-liners." She pointed to the appropriate boxes. "And then I use an overnight pad alongside tampons when I sleep because I don't like waking up to a crime scene."

Aria giggled.

"Let's get you pads, tampons, and panty liners," Melinda suggested, "I'll tell you how to use each one, and then you can decide as you go along which one you like better. Okay?" Aria nodded and Melinda grabbed a box of regular pads and a box of regular tampons and a smaller box of pantyliners.

"Now, you've just started, so I doubt your flow's too heavy," Melinda said walking her towards the bathroom. "But as each month comes, you'll realize some days the bleeding's heavier than other days. That's what the whole 'super' or 'regular' or 'light' means on the boxes."

That seemed easy enough to remember.

They stopped outside the bathroom. It was single use, so Melinda just angled her body as she opened up the tampon box and pulled out a tampon. She opened it. Aria stared at the thing. Melinda fished out a folded set of instructions.

"This will give you more detail," she said, "but essentially, you stick it, push it, and then pull it." She demonstrated. Aria's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Melinda giggled.

"That's supposed to go inside me?" Aria questioned.

"Yup. And you change it every 4 hours or every time you go to the bathroom. They also say you shouldn't wear them overnight, but I don't know anyone who follows that instruction." She put the opened tampon in her purse and opened the box of pads.

"These are great 'cause these have wings," she told Aria. "See how when you pull these tabs off there's a sticky strip? That attaches to your underwear and then you just wrap the wings around. Pantyliners are the same thing, just without the wings and a lot thinner. They're just meant to help with any leaks until you can get to a bathroom."

Aria nodded, taking the boxes into the bathroom.

Several tampons later she gave up and just used a pad.

Mrs. Kirkby was chatting with Melinda when she came out of the bathroom.

"How'd it go?" Melinda asked.

"I gave up on the tampons," Aria admitted. Mrs. Kirkby chuckled.

"Those do take practice," she told Aria. "It took my Patricia several months to figure them out." She led Aria over to the register where she bagged the menstrual products in a brown paper bag and slipped in a chocolate bar with a wink.

"Now, when you get home," Melinda said as they walked outside, "mix two parts lemon juice and one part baking soda and let that sit on the blood stain for about 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse in cold water. You might need to use the tub for this. Unless you've got a good stain remover. But Mum swears by the baking soda method, and it hasn't steered us wrong yet."

"Thanks," Aria said as they approached the young man Melinda had been shopping with. "I really appreciate it."

"No worries," Melinda answered. "Don't hesitate to reach out to my mum either, you hear? You're gonna go through lots of things now as you keep growing."

"I'll remember that," Aria murmured.

"Everything good?" the young man asked.

"Yeah," Melinda answered. "Aria, this is Max. He's my guy." She gave him a silly grin which he returned, kissing her forehead. "Max, this is Aria. She and my brother are friends."

Aria sighed. Melinda raised an eyebrow.

"You guys having a spat?" she asked.

"It's just that the boys are off at their jobs or off with their other friends," Aria complained. "It hasn't been just me and them all summer. It's like I've done something wrong and they're just letting me hang about without telling me what it is I did."

"Oh, sweetie," Melinda cried, "it's not you. They're sixteen. They're starting to have interests about grown up things. Things that you don't have to worry 'bout just yet. They probably don't even realize how they're making you feel. Robert's kinda dumb that way."

"Just a little," Aria muttered.

"I'll have a chat with him," Melinda promised, patting Aria's shoulder. "I know it might be hard, but you're all growing up and they are three years older than you."

Aria and Remi were washing up from dinner when Mrs. Jacobs showed up at the door holding a cake.

"What's the occasion?" Kenneth asked as she marched in, the cake bright red from the frosting. Mrs. Jacobs gave Aria a look as she set the cake on the table.

"It's red velvet," she told them. "Just bring the dish back whenever you're done with it." She turned and pointed at Kenneth who fell into a defensive stance like he was about to fight the woman.

"You take care of her, you hear?" she demanded.

"When have I not?" Kenneth questioned. Mrs. Jacobs marched right back out of the house. The door shut firmly behind her.

"What is red velvet cake?" Remi asked, eyeing the cake appreciatively.

"It's chocolate cake dyed red," Aria answered, tasting the frosting. Buttercream!

"Is there something I should know?" Kenneth asked as Remi got them each a plate and Aria eagerly cut into the cake. The cake was two layers and the middle layer oozed strawberries. "Why is Linda threatening me?"

"I started my period today."

Remi almost choked on his first mouthful of cake. Kenneth froze, eyes wide. Aria shoved a forkful of strawberries into her mouth.

"I think . . . the Arsenal game's on . . ." Remi sputtered, quickly scooping up his plate of cake and making an escape to the living room. Kenneth barely acknowledged him leaving.

"Are you going to say anything?" Aria asked.

Kenneth came around the table, as if in a trance, pulling Aria into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her face against his chest. They stood quietly for a few moments, Kenneth gently rocking her.

"I was just thinking . . ." Kenneth trailed off as his voiced choked. Aria tightened her grip on him. Her dad was not a crier. He tended to shout whenever he got worried.

"I was just thinking," Kenneth said again, "that I really wish your mum were here." He took several shuttering breaths. "Do you need anything? Do I need to go get anything?"

"Melinda helped," Aria told him. "Even told me how to get the blood out of the sheets."

"Baking soda and lemon juice," Kenneth stated. "Your mum swore by it."

Aria laughed, wiping away her own tears. "Yeah. Melinda said Mrs. Jacobs swears by it too."

Kenneth cupped her face, bringing her gaze up to meet his.

"You're growing up into a fine young lady," he said. "I'm not ready for my little girl to be a woman."

"Hardly a woman, Dad," Aria muttered.

"I'm going to have to give you the sex talk soon I guess."

"Ew! Dad! No!" Aria pulled away, grabbing her piece of cake. "No!" she scurried into the living room even as Kenneth's laugh followed her all the way. Remi had the Arsenal game on and an empty plate in front of him.

"Everything good?" he asked.

"It's all good," Aria answered, plopping down beside him. "You're looking a lot better."

"Ah, how could I stay ill when I've had such good cooks to fill me up?" Remi teased. Kenneth came in and plopped down on Aria's other side. Remi sent him a concerned look, probably noticing the pink rimming Kenneth's now dry eyes. Kenneth gave Remi a quick smile before taking a bite of his own piece of cake.

Leaning against her dad, Aria sighed contently. She missed her mum, there was no doubt about it, especially today or all days. But, she supposed, if this was what lay in store for her, for her dad, she could get use to it.