Planning Meeting
Content warning: continued casual gender-bending for privacy.
Tonks did not apparate her straight home, or to the Ministry. She apparated them to a field that Leona was almost certain was in northern England, and west of where the Hogwarts Express ran. Leona wasn't sure how she figured that. But if it was true, she might in fact be able to learn the kind of sense of direction that apparating required.
Interesting.
Or else it was just two degrees cooler here than it had been in Surrey.
She looked around. She was in the middle of a small field, a path ran up and stopped a few paces past her feet, on the far side of the little stone fence in one direction were sheep, lots of sheep, in the other direction a stand of trees. More trees than just the hedge row that surrounded them. She looked down. There was … a rather small variety of grasses for a field this large. Probably it had been cultivated at one time, but for now they were just keeping it mowed.
"Give me a few seconds," Tonks said, "Don't wander off, feel free to change back to Harry if you feel like it, or just stay as you are if you prefer Moody not to know who you are."
"I think he already knows," said Leona, "Though I'd rather no one else did, and I don't currently have a hood to hide in while I change."
"Right," said Tonks, "Never mind. Don't wander off." And then she walked to the end of the path and disappeared into nothing without a sound.
Leona stared at the gap, or rather at the lack of a gap.
She'd grown used to descriptions of how it felt to look at Harry's ward, she walked to the end of the path, tried to step past the end, and instead found herself determined to walk in a rectangle just a few meters inside the perimeter of the fence.
She stopped that and returned to the path.
There were several different ways, 'don't wander off' could be interpreted, and one of them was, 'don't mess with the wards that will try to make you wander off.'
She stayed put. But she felt mildly offended and hard done by. She glanced around again to find there was now a medium sized house where there hadn't been before at the end of the path. She went back to that end of the path, (which now meant at the base of the veranda stairs,) and waited.
Eventually Tonks reappeared and motioned her to follow.
Inside there were a whole crowd of people. The four law-enforcement people from before, also Sirius and Amelia, also it looked like Dumbledore's robes through that doorway, sitting and maybe talking to someone through a floo.
Leona so didn't want to deal with a crowd right now.
She looked around, ignoring Sirius, and turned to Auror Moody.
"Oh, Hello again Professor," then she stopped because a huge yawn overtook her.
Maybe we could go back to the old game, leave me to sleep my adventure off in the hospital wing, and then get summoned to Dumbledore's office after to get the cover story.
And without Nim to explain why that might have turned out to be the best cover story for Dumbledore.
That didn't sound so good after all, maybe she should at least stick around for the introductions, and everyone's first idea, then fall asleep until they all reached a consensus.
"Who the hell are all these people, and why did I have to get up again already?"
"Magical exhaustion?" suggested one of the hit wizards from earlier.
Bless him.
"No, magical exhaustion feels like how I was a third of the way in," she said, "This is whatever comes after that."
Everyone looked sceptical, except Auror Moody, who looked impressed.
"Soul depletion," said Dumbledore from the doorway, "the early stages of it. Have you had chocolate?"
She nodded, "A bar and a half of Läderach Wholesale Standard Milk, about forty minutes of sleep, and about a half pound roast beef and mustard sandwich."
"Who's idea was the mustard?" said Professor Snape from behind Dumbledore's shoulder.
"Local squib," said Leona.
"My compliments," said Snape, "I'd suggest another four to twelve hours of sleep. There's dreamless sleep available, but I'd suggest trying to go without. Increasing your fish intake for a couple weeks would not be amiss, baked or steamed rather than fried if you can manage."
"I can probably go without potions if …" she looked around until her eyes fell on Tonks again, "Can you hold me?"
"While you sleep?"
"Yes," said Leona, "Not hold me up, just, lean against me or on top of me anywhere it won't stop me from breathing."
"Acceptable," said Snape.
"As long as you do not touch the patient's head, and the patient does not touch your lips, it should not delay recovery," said Dumbledore.
"How important is it that she not take dreamless sleep?" said Tonks.
Snape shrugged.
"I'm mostly only concerned about the first half hour or so," said Leona.
Tonks shrugged. Snape crossed the room at a diagonal, which met Tonks leading Leona toward an inside door that Leona hadn't seen opened yet. He handed two vials to Tonks, and turned away.
As soon as the door closed behind them, someone she didn't know asked, "So who the hell is that?"
"I thought it was fairly obvious," said Auror Moody.
Leona froze.
"To you maybe," said Snape, "Care to enlighten the rest of us?"
"Mediterranean features, but northern hair colour, Carries three wands, but can only cast the patronus with veela feathers, a peer of the realm, but educated at home with Beauxbatons for finishing and O.W.L.s. Accent changes drastically depending on mood."
Tonks froze.
They stared at each other, in growing astonishment and fascination and horror as the recitation continued.
"One of her grandparents was an English Noble, probably pureblood, wasn't supposed to ever inherit the title, but after the last war, did anyway. One of her grandparents was a petty sovereign or other potentate in south eastern Europe, just rich enough or powerful enough or merely independent enough to catch the fancy of said third or fourth heir of an English aristocrat. She was raised in an isolated compound, learned both the local languages and English from her grandparents and the staff, plenty of variety of accent and slang, little enough overlap between the speakers that she has no understanding what the different accents actually signify, she more associates them with the personalities and attitudes of the speakers from whom she learned.
"Trained as that local compound's version of hit-witch or enforcer, shown plenty of respect by the rank and file she trained amongst, and the other squibs and bastards. Shown next to no love by the human side of her family, like I said, possibly acknowledged more readily by her grandparents than by her human parent. She might not know which of her grandparents' heirs is her parent, her other parent was one of the veela sex toys, not yet clear from her behaviour how feral those veela are permitted to be, nor how many years she was left with them before being dragged off to be trained into a hit-witch. The other veelas at least accepted her as a person, not just another soldier, hence the two feathers she carries for casting the Patronus charm, and perhaps her repertoire of light aligned fire charms.
"Later some kind of family politics happened to get them to send her to Beauxbatons, might have been the same thing that decided the grandparents to pass the English title on to her in place of any of the legitimate children, or it might have been a completely different event."
Moody stopped for breath.
And so did Leona and Tonks.
"That is an amazing amount of bullshit," whispered Tonks.
Leona rolled her eyes and nodded,
"At any rate she's here," continued Moody, "checking up on the family holdings that go along with the title, if any. She's checking up on local squibs that fit her profile as competent or trainable goons. She doesn't particularly like the place, but it's the hand she's been dealt, and she's going to build a little empire she can call home. And it's going to look like a little war-lord's enclave unless we can get to her and show her how things are done here. She doesn't understand the Wizengamot or the ministry, she presumes that she can swear fealty to the crown, and stay out of the way of the other Wizengamot members, and be allowed to recruit and train her little army of squibs and muggleborns in peace.
"Basically she has no concept of a useful layer of government between grandpappy and the queen, and now she has to fill grandpappy's shoes all by her lonesome."
"The poor dear," said Mrs. Weasley.
Leona's eyes bugged out, "who isn't here?" she whispered.
"The minister, and you-know-who," Tonks whispered back, "usually there's less overlap between Dumbledore's faction, Sirius's faction, and Amelia's faction, but this seemed a special case."
"No shit," said Leona.
"And maybe," said Moody, "she might just have gone right on existing under our collective noses, except that by coincidence, the squib she was trying to recruit was Harry Potter's cousin, and she intercepted an assassination attempt aimed at Harry Potter, which here means: she destroyed two dementors that were no doubt intended to catch him unprepared and kiss him before he could summon help, or make it back to his wand or whatever. Luckily Harry was out of town. Are you alright there Sirius?"
"I'll be fine," coughed Sirius, "I apologise for eating these pepper crisps while you're rambling on and on about this witch who accidentally saved my godson's least favourite cousin. You sure she's a veela? I didn't feel anything worth calling The Allure."
"Well, of course not," said Moody, "right now she's suffering magical exhaustion. And I hope she sleeps well and makes a full recovery. But this presents us with a unique opportunity to oust Fudge, or put that undersecretary of his behind bars where she belongs. The question before us is: which is more desirable, and how to achieve it with least risk to our position."
Leona turned to face the door and saluted, mouthing, "Yes, professor Moody," then turning to follow Tonks.
Tonks gave her an odd look, "What?"
"Yeah," said Leona, "he knows everything, and his eye sees through everything, and someone in there lacks his trust, as much as some other people in there lack mine."
"That creepy eye?" said Tonks, "it actually works, it's not just to freak us out?"
"Yes," said Leona, "I suspect the only things it cannot see through are bent-space type things. And that's merely a guess."
.
...-...
At Susan's Place
Content warning: continued casual gender-bending for privacy.
Harry woke, opened his eyes, and realised he could see without glasses, and knew that she must also still be wearing boobs and blond hair.
She also noticed that the thing that dominated her range of vision was a very comfy looking arm chair with a very comfy looking witch sprawled diagonally across it, with one knee hooked up over the arm rest, showing off her orange and purple knickers. Which was odd because she'd thought it was Padma who had bought knickers in that colour scheme, not Susan Bones.
She seemed completely engrossed in her book.
Leona rubbed her eyes.
Susan looked up, glanced at her, glanced at her lifted knee, pinked ever so slightly, then smirked and left it there.
"Hello Harry," she said.
"Hello Susan," said Leona.
Susan smiled, "how did you sleep?"
"Very strangely," said Leona, "I dreamed that everything Auror Moody was saying about me was true. Which was very weird, but also kind of nice. First because it wasn't dementor dreams or even normal post-dementor dreams. But mostly because we were all there, enforcers and investigators, or researchers. Auror Moody was sometimes the old warlord and sometimes he was the young leader of the enforcers."
"Who was I?"
"You were the rightful heir, of the rightful heir" said Leona, "Whereas I was the bastard accident of the second daughter and her favourite half-veela man. But you were right their beside me anyway, kicking arse and taking names."
Susan grinned, "And the Patils?"
"They and Hermione were their own trio, also kicking arse and taking names, but … a bit more methodical about it. Aurors to our hit witches."
Susan nodded, "did we have a third member?"
"Sometimes it was Ginny, sometimes it was … I think another one of our siblings or cousins that I'm not sure I've met yet, and I think sometimes it was Tonks. Though sometimes I think she was our tutor and handler."
"Who is Tonks."
"A second cousin through Sirius… Oh, so maybe a fourth cousin."
"Hmm," said Susan.
"Anyway," said Leona and flopped over on her back, "how much of Auror Moody's cover story didn't get contradicted before everyone left?"
"I have no idea, Aunty just told me to come down here and watch you and floo her when you woke up. She said you were some organised crime lord's princess or spy or recruiter, but when I got here I find you have my hair and boobs, and the Patils' skin, and your own wands in new wand holsters. So what was I supposed to think?"
"That I outsmarted an assassination attempt, by killing two dementors the slowest, least concentrated, most exhausting way, that might still manage to be possible, and Auror Moody didn't get there in time to help but did get there in time to take a statement before I figured out it might be safer to not admit that there were any dementors there to start with."
"So now they have you in unofficial protective custody?"
"Yeah."
"I see," she said, "So what do you want to do now?"
Leona shrugged, "I was hoping Auror Moody coerced them into some kind of consensus, which they'd put together into a statement that I can sign and memorise as my cover story, and then be free to go. Or else they made up three and will let me choose the one that I can actually feel right living up to."
"There's an envelope on the nightstand behind you that might be that," said Susan.
"Oh," said Leona and rolled the other way to look at it, and ignored the way the duvet rode up and let in a draft, until that reminded her that she was wearing nothing except a crude leather tank top barely greyer than her skin, and knickers under, which Susan might be able to tell without half looking were wizard drawers not witch knickers.
She rolled back with the envelope and scooted up to lean against the headboard.
"Harry, my dear," cooed Susan in what was doubtless a imitation of a male voice imitating a female voice, "What are you wearing?"
"Armour lining," said Leona, "knickers, and wand holsters, what else would I be wearing in bed?"
"May I try on the armour lining?" said Susan.
"Yes," said Leona, "but please don't hate me if it doesn't fit you, I'm not the best tailor, and I had only a very basic idea what shape you are when I used you for inspiration for my Leona shape."
Susan put her book down and hopped up.
Leona tucked her legs under her and took off her top and held it out. "But if we get too far into a game of 'Leona is your dress-up doll,' your Aunt will know you didn't alert her as fast as you were ordered."
"Yeah, but you're my captive," said Susan, "It's my prerogative to show you proper hospitality, or not," she leered.
"Fair enough," said Leona, "as long as you're willing to take the fall for that, because I'm not familiar enough with the lay of the land to judge that risk."
Susan shrugged and accepted the top, she slipped it on over her clothes, adjusted it here and there, seemed to decide that it did fit, then started to take it off again and paused.
"You made it smell more like Harry than Harry does. … How?"
"Catnip for Nim and Sher, lily and sweet sage for me and Hedwig."
"Sweet sage and levisticum for me," said Susan.
"What?"
"I want one," said Susan, handing it back, "You said you made this one, you just took it off, and you were under quilting just before that, but it's cooler than the back side of a pillow. And I want mine flavoured with sweet sage and levisticum."
"Oh," Leona thought, "Alright, find me the runes for transfiguring levisticum, and I'll try it."
"Really?"
"Don't act like it's such a big deal," said Leona, and again donned the garment, "it's just split cow hide and three rune sets, two of which I didn't even have to make up."
"What's …"
"Temperature control, sweat control by transfiguring moisture and salt into herbs, and cut resistance," said Leona, "Granted that the cut resistance will probably help the squib who asked for the first shirt more than it might help us against a piercing hex, or a cutting curse."
Susan nodded, "Not armour, just an armour liner, like you said."
"Yeah."
Susan nodded, "I still want one."
"I still will make you one, as soon as I have no pressing obligations," said Leona, "Speaking of, this envelope is sealed. Do you think I should open this and see if I can figure out where everyone's thoughts are going, before your aunt comes to interview me about them all, or let her have first crack at it all?"
Susan looked conflicted, "misinterpreting 'as soon as she's awake' for 'as soon as she's awake, in her right mind, and dressed' is totally different from 'as soon as she's done reading the newspaper I wanted to have a chance to prepare her for, or watch her read' or whatever."
"True," said Leona.
They were silent.
"I think I'm supposed to interpret that this envelope is sealed, as that it matters that I can trust the contents were not tampered with. I'm … willing to return the favour allowing myself to be debriefed with my knowledge unprimed or otherwise tampered with."
Susan looked shocked, "that's the opposite of what you're supposed to do, you're supposed to ask for an enumeration of your rights and possibly a lawyer."
"That depends on if I'm being treated as a criminal, or a partisan."
Susan's eyes went wide, "Oh!"
Leona nodded.
"I'll go get Auntie," she scampered away.
Three minutes later Susan was back, still breathless, "She says she'll be here in eight minutes."
Leona sighed and put the envelope back.
"Does she know I'm Harry Potter?"
Susan shrugged, "No idea."
"Hmm," said Leona.
"She for sure doesn't know that I know," said Susan.
"Ah!" said Leona.
"What do you want?"
"Until it is common knowledge that Leona is Harry Potter, or conversely it becomes common knowledge what Leona's last name is, I'd rather you just called me Leona when in this form."
"That's fine, Leona."
"Thanks, Susan," said Leona.
"I meant, what do you want to do in your last seven minutes alive?" said Susan.
"To go to the loo, and go back to sleep?" said Leona.
"You should have told me that before I promised her you were awake," said Susan.
"Exactly," said Leona.
"What?"
"I want," said Leona, "her to come in on me losing … a tickle fight to you, because you promised your aunt that I am awake now."
Susan tilted her head to the side, "casting me as reliable, and ambiguously as the bratty little sister, or the disciplinarian older sister, yet playful about it?"
"Sounds right," said Leona.
"I like it," said Susan.
Leona slid back under the covers and rolled on her front and put her arms up to protect the back of her head.
Susan chuckled then climbed onto the bed, pinning one of Leona's legs, and started poking her sides.
It took several minutes of experiments for Susan to determine the most effective places to poke, prod, scratch, and rub to elicit maximum giggles or squirming.
.
"Dare I ask?" said Madam Bones.
"She said she wanted to go back to sleep," said Susan turning to face her aunt, and in the process letting Leona escape, "I told her I'd promised she was awake now. So I kept her awake."
Leona moaned and scooted away and rolled over. "Well I'm not going to fall asleep now." She said morosely.
"Good," said Madam Bones, "It's time you were up regardless, I'm surprised you're not begging for food."
"Food?" said Leona, "Already? What time is it then?"
Madam Bones looked at Susan and back, "Ten A.M."
"Oh," said Leona, "Fine then, yes, I should eat, May I use the Loo first?"
"Yes," sighed Madam Bones, and sent a glare at Susan.
"I'll show you where," said Susan, and flipped the covers off.
Leona yipped and pulled her shirt down, "I'm perfectly capable of—"
"Getting up by yourself?" said Susan, "I've heard that one before little madam. Up, up."
Leona had the distinct impression she was either imitating someone at a training camp, or someone in Hufflepuff, or both. She sighed dramatically but followed to the loo and was only mildly surprised that Susan stayed in the doorway and watched her.
"What's the algorithm here?" said Leona, "if I don't like the scrutiny, then I have to surrender my wands or something?"
Susan leered, "more like, if you'd bothered to be a wizard, you could have someone else watch you instead."
"Oh," said Leona, "It seems like, perhaps—"
"What?" Susan arched an eyebrow.
"That's enough Susan," echoed in from the other room.
"Someone needs to get laid," hissed Leona.
Susan's eyebrows arched higher, then she hooked a thumb toward her chest and then pointed back the way they'd come.
"I hope, I'm only easy to construe as interested in one of those options," muttered Leona.
Susan smirked, "her, right? You're into dangerous and powerful, just like your relatives?"
"I'm also into allies that respect our friendship as a mutually beneficial arrangement."
"Still ambiguous," said Susan.
"Well, I am interested in friends and allies regardless," muttered Leona, "I'm," she whispered, "sexually," and returned to her previous volume, "more especially interested in equals."
Susan pinked a very tiny amount, then mouthed, "thank you, now, keep quiet."
Leona smirked, then slipped her wrist into Susan's hand.
Susan rolled her eyes, then accepted the ruse and dragged her back down the hall into the bedroom, "Your clothes are still hanging were you left them," guided Susan, "I presume you don't want any help?"
Leona stuck out her tongue, "I already told you, I'm perfectly capable."
Susan crossed her arms.
Leona dressed.
.
...-...
Explanation
Content warning: continued casual gender-bending for privacy.
"Alright," said Amelia, "So here's the situation: We have suspicions who set those dementors on your squib friends, but we can't prosecute until we can gather more proof. We might still ask you to testify later, but for the moment it won't gain us anything to tip our hand early.
"Fortunately dementors are tightly regulated enough that we've got a paper-trail most of the way. So it should be simple enough to cause the person last responsible to be transferred into a position that does not give her authority to access them.
"Oh," said Leona, "Alright."
"Can you try to keep to yourself that you dispatched those dementors, and that you were even there at the time?"
Leona shrugged, "I can try."
"Good."
"So … she's not going to be punished for trying to have Dudley kissed? Just transferred?"
"I'm afraid that's all we can do at this time, but rest assured that we're keeping a lookout for useful evidence. Or evidence that she's done anything else illegal."
"Alright."
"Unless you have anything additional to tell us?"
"The only things I know about are what Professor Moody warned Harry about last week, and about what time in the morning the dementors arrived in Little Whinging. I'm guessing that the official paper-trail is already much more extensive than that."
Amelia raised an eyebrow, "Yes, probably."
Leona shrugged, "So where's she being transferred?"
"That's still in the works. Do you have any objection to, the British Liaison of Economic Cooperation to Sïqırlı bawırlardıñ qazaq gegemonïyası."
Leona mouthed that over twice, "Kazakhstan?"
Amelia grinned.
Leona shrugged, "No opinion one way or the other."
Amelia grinned wider, "Mages can control temperature and conjure water, we can learn languages fast with the strategic application of potions and study techniques, but we can't easily convince an entire culture to interpret the statute of secrecy a completely different way."
"Huh?" said Leona.
"'Mages are unholy, and only fit for genocide,' and 'Mages are the unreachable upper class,' are two classic perspectives from this end of Europe. 'Mages are divinely conscripted holy warriors, also useful for scrying the weather and curing addictions,' is another perspective that was not uncommon at that end of Europe before the soviets tried enforce their brand of peace (by shall we say, downplaying all religions.) I won't say that is literally the only perspective, I'm just saying that is the shape of the traditions, even if there is no longer the force of dogma pushing them."
Leona blinked several times, "So she's not going to be able to pull off pureblood supremacy or whatever?"
"She's not going to be able to shirk her duties, or manoeuvre dementors or anyone else into doing her dirty work for her," said Amelia, "she'll either come back with a massive inferiority complex, a reasonable hatred of corruption, or merely an acceptance that sometimes she'll need to do her own dirty work."
Leona shrugged, "I don't know her well enough to guess why all of those would be an improvement."
"Trust me," smiled Amelia, "Any one of them would be an improvement. But I'm betting on an inferiority complex based on her actual capabilities comparing unfavourably against Qazaq muggleborns, or even muggles, rather than her current merely social inferiority complex about her own blood status and lack of wealth."
"Oh, I see."
"Also brooms and floo travel are banned there, so the idea of her having a choice between riding a flying carpet or a horse, is going to give me happy dreams for weeks."
"What about apparition?"
"Is only a reliable way to get places you've been before."
Leona nodded, "So, fine for commuting, but not learning your way around?"
"Exactly," said Amelia, "and her new position will require a lot of field work I think."
Remind me never to get on your bad side.
.
...-...
Pre-party
Content warning: continued casual gender-bending for privacy.
"So, she's gone," said Susan, "And you've had breakfast. Now, what do you want to do?"
"I want to read this twice more," said Leona, "and then … I seem to remember there being a small leather project I promised I'd work on, also there might be a game of 'Leona is a dress up doll' on the schedule, and maybe a slumber party to prepare for… and I don't have a birthday gift allocated."
"Lavage and vanilla," said Susan.
"What?"
"Another armour liner, levisticum and vanilla."
"Vanilla is annoyingly potent for this use."
"Alright, amaranth flowers."
Leona shrugged, "if we can find runes, we can try."
Susan smiled, "how much space do you need to work?"
"A potions or runes worktable should be fine, whichever. Leather work intermittently requires me to work standing up."
"This way."
.
"Did mine fit the way you want?"
"I don't remember, let me check again?"
Leona blinked, but wasn't sure what an appropriate response should be.
Only a memory of Nim's reply playing in her head, why wouldn't you have been waiting for an excuse to take off most of your clothes in front of a girl you like.
So she sighed and took off her outer top then her leather tank top and passed it across.
Susan stripped and tried on the tank top again. She fingered her thigh and showed Leona how much farther down she wanted it to fall.
Leona picked up her sun dress and pulled it over Susan's head, Susan got her arms through and got it settled.
"So, Here?" pointed Leona, barely shorter than sun dress length.
"Yes," said Susan.
"You understand the sides will have to be split for that to still give proper movement," said Leona, "and split sides are a tearing hazard."
"Can you just add enough pleat to make it skirt out at that point?"
"I suppose," said Leona, "but then we're moving so far away from the original tabbard design that we're risking ending up with something that hangs awful. Like some fashion horror that survived from the sixth century, only because it looked so bad that no one would wear it often enough to wear it out."
"I thought you were the one with the sense of adventure when it came to runes projects."
Leona glared at her, "I'd rather be using my sense of experimentation on other things, but I see your point, let's pin something together and see how it actually hangs."
.
"Is it really alright that we're practically naked in here?" said Leona.
"Does it matter?" said Susan, "No one's here but us, Auntie won't be back until tea. Luna won't be here until tomorrow afternoon, and she wouldn't care either."
"True," said Leona.
.
"Is this what you want?" said Leona.
"Yes."
"Do you want to try some other clothes over it, to check how well those pleats function in real life?"
"I guess I ought."
.
"Sounds like a plan, take it off so I can sew it together, then we can add the runes."
"Should I go get Hanna now, or after you finish sewing and engraving?"
"I don't mind one way or the other," said Leona, "But … are you going to get dressed first?"
"I wasn't planning on it," said Susan, "do you have a strong preference?"
"I'm not clear how things are done," said Leona.
"By tradition, we're uncouth little savages that can do no wrong until we turn sixteen, and then we're magically ladylike, accomplished, productive, and almost ready to be full members of society in a year."
"I don't think human development really works that way. Hell, I don't think any mammal develops like that."
Susan leered at her.
Leona shrugged.
"It's common," clarified Susan, "for children to go about in shifts in winter and kilts in summer (or nothing at all in highest summer or while swimming) until seven or more, when some of us start wanting trousers, breaches, or pants to ride brooms. Or in some cases to ride sheep, goats, hogs, oxen, or horses."
"Oh," said Leona.
"And then at twelve or thirteen those of us who feel the need, start wearing whatever kind of chest support is in fashion that generation, at least if we live an active enough life to want chest support."
Obviously that did include Susan. "Right," said Leona.
"At about sixteen, we are expected to start wearing going-into-town clothes all the time, instead of only when we're going into town."
"And 'going-into-town clothes' means?"
"Mage robes and hat over whatever else I just described," said Susan.
"Understood," said Leona, "Thank you for the lesson, I'm glad I asked."
"It's also why I asked," said Susan more quietly, "what would Harry prefer I wear?"
Leona put her work down and looked up.
"Unless they request otherwise, You may go naked in front of Luna, Hermione, and Padma," said Leona, "unless they proposition you otherwise, and you like the proposal, I'd rather you wear at least one layer in front of the others. And I'd like you to wear a civilised amount in front of people not of our group."
Susan looked both understanding, and annoyed.
Leona amended, "Or … not of any other groups you have that you already consider yours."
"Like family and the girls in my room in Hufflepuff."
"Exactly," said Leona.
"Alright," said Susan, "I'll wear clothes through the floo and back, but I'll go mostly starkers in front of Hanna, if only to make her feel normal letting you fit her."
Leona sighed, "Do you want her to be part of our group?"
"The study group," said Susan, "or the harem?"
"I'm concerned about Lion's-Keep at the moment."
"The harem then," said Susan, "No, she's got her eyes on Neville, and I'm alright with that."
"And you don't think it might be a problem that I see her?"
"A little while ago we were talking about the sleepover and you were looking forward to it, and not planning on telling anyone who you were, let them figure it out. And now it's a problem?"
Leona sighed, "I was under the impression it was only going to be Lion's-Keep members at this slumber party."
"It is," said Susan.
"Then still, Hanna is a separate question."
"You like her?"
"She's a mutual friend through you and through Neville," said Leona, "I'm not in a hurry to change that."
Susan sighed, "you're here on my farm as a child of an ally farm, as such, I'm treating you as a neighbour. The Abbots are also our allies. Also they are actually my neighbours. If you stand on too much ceremony, you risk alienating them."
"So as neighbours, or as your neighbours while on your farm, it is completely acceptable to see each other in nothing but drawers and bras?"
"Yes."
"And that would still be acceptable if I were a boy?"
"Yes, but…"
"But what?"
"But then the touching would need a responsible adult witnessing and advocating for the rights of the one being touched, before it could be … coerced."
"I wasn't planning on coercing anything, but …" Leona frowned, "you didn't tickle me until I asked for it, but once your Aunte got here, and was nominally the adult on whose prerogative I was present, you could beat me up and drag me around until she told you to stop?"
"Exactly," said Susan.
"And then … I was annoyed that you'd stopped completely instead of merely slowing down for me or getting gentle, and gave you permission again. And you went back to playing rough."
"Yes," said Susan.
"Alright," said Leona, "to clarify, I didn't really like the rough treatment, but I do like being touched." She frowned, "more specifically … I don't mind being touched by Lion's-Keep members, that's … one of the ways I know who I don't mind being Lion's-Keep members."
Susan shrugged, "Regardless of roughness, I still have to listen for invitations."
"Understood," said Leona, "I'll try to keep this system in mind. Just to clarify, you're treating me as male?"
"Obviously," said Susan, "you're barely tolerating it, like Ginny barely tolerates Luna."
"If I weren't male," said Leona, "how would you be acting differently?"
"I'd be touching you more, talking more about what I want to talk about, and being less careful about clarifying and listen to you clarify what invitations to touch you needed to do the fitting you needed."
"Alright," said Leona, "and would any of that change … if …"
"What?"
"I'm not sure how to word my question so that it doesn't sound like a proposition or an offer to let you rape me."
"You're wanting to exchange permanent permission to touch?" said Susan.
Leona shrugged, "I want to know if there is such a thing, and how it would be handled, and," she shrugged again, "how it should be stated."
"There are such things," said Susan, "You … went most of the way there when you called me little sister, and I didn't believe you meant it, so I didn't try to guide your words better."
"Alright," said Leona, "I didn't know enough to mean it then, and now I only mean something like indefinite invitation to show affectionate touch, when 'in private enough situations that you feel comfortable in only drawers'."
Susan smiled.
"I'd rather still keep sexual touch partitioned off to regular invitation and negotiation, however that goes. And I certainly don't mind receiving tutoring in your dialect of that, yours seems like it would be much more or much less nuanced than the House of Black version that Nim taught me."
Susan shrugged.
"Alright," muttered Leona, "That's all the piercing done, where's my needles?"
"Leona, listen to me."
Leona dropped her hands again and brought her eyes up from the workbench.
"Thank you for the invitation, but I think I cannot accept it yet. You really ought to offer it in front of and to a full gathering of Lion's-Keep.'
"Yeah," said Leona, "You're right.'
"Are you alright here on your own for a while?" said Susan, "While I go get Hanna? And you won't feel the need to get dressed for town the moment she walks in the door?"
"Yeah," said Leona, "I'm fine with that now."
.
Leona managed to finish lacing the main seams together before they returned.
"Alright, let me see the product," said Hanna.
Leona handed the dress to Susan. Susan handed it to Hanna before stripping. While she stripped Hanna examined it. "I don't see the attraction."
"It's not enchanted yet," said Leona, and took off her own shirt and handed it over.
Hanna twigged to the difference after only a few seconds, and laid it against her cheek. After several seconds she said, "You could do this to anything, why an ugly shirt?"
"A professional charms crofter could probably do it to anything," said Leona, "I can only do leather so far, do you want one or not. I … if you don't want one," she glanced at Susan, "I won't have anything to bring to the party."
Hanna glanced back and forth between them, and then relaxed, "It's fine, I would like one."
"Try one of them on and show her where you want it bigger or smaller," said Susan.
Hanna rolled her eyes, "you could have just asked to borrow one of my favourite shirts, and preserved the surprise."
"Fabric doesn't fit the way leather does. It's better to test fit in a material that matches the final material," said Leona.
"Ah," said Hanna and tried to put on Leona's shirt only to fail and put it aside while she stripped to the waist.
Susan put on her own dress, and patted the pleats, "Leona, either this pleat is on inside out, or I have the whole thing inside out."
Leona looked, "you have the whole thing inside out. No … one pleat I did seam on inside out."
"Seams a weird thing to get wrong," said Hanna, still looking down, adjusting, trying to get Leona's shirt not to feel tight.
"Not that hard," muttered Leona.
"She was punning," said Susan.
"Oh!" said Leona, "fair enough."
Hanna's head snapped up, "Why aren't you helping me yet?"
"Because you haven't acted like you're done poking for yourself, or started asking me to examine what you've decided, or anything," said Leona.
Hanna looked at Susan, then back at Leona, then drew Leona's leather up to her nose and sniffed it, "Harry Potter? How are you a brown-skinned blond witch?"
Leona shrugged, "I can bleach and dye my hair as easily as anyone else."
Hanna smirked.
"Spending the first three weeks of summer in France running around almost naked could make most people tan."
Hanna nodded.
Leona went back to puttering with her laces and transfigured rolling hole punch.
"What about the witch part?" said Hanna.
Leona looked her in the eye, "I don't understand the question."
"Why are you a witch?"
Leona looked at Susan and shrugged.
"Why are you a witch?" said Susan.
Leona shrugged again.
"Should we switch to asking how you are a witch?" said Hanna.
Leona did her best not to blush, "no, that would not be helpful."
"Alright," said Hanna, "then explain why."
Leona shrugged again, then looked at Susan, "you're done being fitted, have been for half an hour or more, why haven't you gotten dressed again?"
"Don't try to change the subject," said Hanna.
"I'm not," said Leona, "I'm looking for words."
Susan stared, "because I don't care."
"Even though it's not difficult for you to pick up a piece of fabric and slip into it, whichever way that piece of fabric is meant to be slipped into?"
Susan shrugged.
Leona nodded, "In the current circumstances, you just don't care."
Susan nodded.
Leona turned to Hanna, "In the current circumstances, I just don't care, not even enough to cast a single finisher."
"Hmm," said Hanna.
"If the circumstances changed," said Leona, "such as either of you asking me to change back, then I probably would care enough."
"It's a transfiguration spell then?" said Hanna.
Leona nodded.
"And you can take it off that easily?" said Hanna.
Leona nodded.
"Can you put it on again that easily?" said Hanna.
Leona nodded.
"Would you mind taking it off for long enough for me to verify that you're Harry Potter, and not some random acquaintance of Susan's I've never met before, and happen to like a scent that reminds me of Harry Potter?"
"I'd actually rather you not have a memory of verifying a connection between the two forms," said Leona.
"It's a disguise?" said Hanna, "you don't mind Susan and I knowing, but don't want it leaking out?"
Leona nodded.
Hanna shrugged, "alright, whatever. As long as it's not some weird muggle complex against sewing while in male form."
Leona blinked, "I seem to remember certain hufflepuffs complaining that Potter spent much too long dominating one of the desk looms in Rune's class."
"That wasn't me," said Hanna.
Leona smiled, "it probably was mostly muggleborns, now that I think about it."
Hanna nodded, relieved.
"Alright, Susan, try this," Leona handed it over, "Hanna, do you need yours looser than mine and Susan's?"
"Yes, I think."
"May I hold this against your back?"
"Sure," Hanna braced herself.
...-...
We are Leona
Content warning: continued casual gender-bending for privacy.
Content warning: casual references to kidnapping, gas-lighting, and eventually, actual kidnapping.
Susan jerked at the sound of distant gongs, then jumped and ran to the window, "Those are the wards! Who would that be?"
At the window she tried to look out at an angle and soon the rest had joined her. "That's siege spells already."
"Concur," said Hanna, "Floo to my house."
"Yes, go." said Susan, "Everyone GO! I'm last."
Hanna led the way to the Floo and powder, "Abbot's Gate!" she called loud enough for them all to understand the address, and was gone.
Ginny went into the green flames next, but when Luna's pinch of powder hit the fire, it flared purple.
Luna screamed and jumped back, "Blocked already!" said Susan, "Whoever is after us, they've got a mole in the floo office."
"Did Hanna and Ginny really get out?" said Leona.
"Yes," said Susan, "Redirect is a different colour than clear or blocked."
"What's the plan now?" said Leona.
"Normally, The tunnel to the safe house. But we're not in the main house, and with the wards in their current state, the main house wouldn't let us in anyway, so that's not an option. Overland to the safe house also won't work.
"What do we have just in this house?"
"Guest rooms, ballrooms, kitchens, and conference centre. Holding cells in the basement."
"Are those cells clean enough to use?" said Leona.
Susan shrugged, "Auntie uses them sometimes for unofficial protective custody: charity cases on bad potions, werewolves who notice their own pens have been compromised too late to get them repaired in time. That sort of thing."
"Sounds perfect. And it's not the full moon," said Leona, "Let's go."
"What's the idea?" said Susan.
"We're prisoners in protective custody, leave anything traceable to us up here like it was abandoned as we made it out, then go down and pretend to be either as interesting as possible or as boring as possible in a holding cell."
"OK, but, How?"
"Veela orphans?" said Luna.
"Crazy, never educated or socialised, veela orphans," suggested Leona.
"We don't look related, and she's invisible, and I can be. Who is oldest?"
Leona nodded, and thought, "We're identical triplets," said Leona, "Hold still." She transformed both of them.
Luna stared at herself, then pulled down her collar to examine her Sher mark, still there. "Not sure if it matters what I look like if I'm still invisible."
"They might still touch you by accident," said Leona.
Luna shrugged.
Susan looked at the blond patch of skin on the back of her arm, where her wand holster rode, "That doesn't look good." she said.
"Oh, sorry, forgot about that," said Leona, "Do you want me to undo it and try again?"
The sound of gongs changed tone.
"Yes, Later," said Susan, "I want to get below ground before the wards collapse."
Luna flinched so hard Leona took that as a credible threat. And apparently a credible strategy.
"Then let's go," she said.
Susan led the way, and picked out the cleanest holding cell toward the back. One of the big ones with plumbing.
Leona conjured a lot of quilts and pillows made entirely of split leather, "The nice mean people made these for us, because we couldn't do it for ourselves," she said,
"Nice mean people is the aurors that brought us here? Why can't we conjure our own things?"
"Because we don't have wands, and we wouldn't know what to do with them," said Luna, "We don't even know the word magic or wand. We know that Dad can do fancy things with his feathers, and Mum can too when she can convince him to give her a feather. But mostly they just hunt, and keep us away from muggle tourists wandering through our woods, and the muggle tourists away from us."
"Fine," said Susan
Leona began stripping and stowing her clothes into her belt pouch.
"Now what are you doing?" said Susan.
"I'm not getting caught in polyester clothes, unless we postulate that our hypothetical parents steal clothes for us, from muggles."
"Fair," said Susan and also began undressing, "Down to just armour lining," she agreed as soon as she saw what Leona was doing.
"And last, if we can act it well enough," said Leona, "we're afraid of aurors because they stole us from our parents, perhaps even our parents from each other. But we don't know to be afraid of the new invaders, until they teach us to, or betray it in body language.
"I probably don't know that much body language," said Luna.
"If you don't then none of us do," said Susan.
"Right," said Leona, "I'm putting your clothes in my pouch, and then sliding my pouch just far enough outside the bars to seem out of reach.
"Levitate it all the way into the next cell might be better," said Susan, "It's got your mark, right?"
"Yeah."
"Should be fine," Susan helped fold her clothes and held them out for Leona.
"Do we have names?" said Luna.
"Of course we have names," said Susan, "But what names do we want?"
"Maybe we don't have names, my veela never did." said Luna.
"My veela did, but she was three quarters human."
"I think our Dad was only half human," said Luna, "and our Mom never went to Hogwarts."
Susan shivered, "Both our parents were half wild and so are we?"
"Yes," said Luna, "If we want to be."
"Wild enough to:" Susan shuddered, then retreated to the corner then took off her knickers, looked at them a second then tore them up and strewn the pieces about the cell and a few pieces wadded up and pushed deliberately outside the cell as if it were a rejected gift from the aurors that brought them in.
"Oh," said Leona, "I wasn't thinking that wild. I figured we were older than that, but without adults or other children to copy, there might not even be any reason for us to pick up more language or manners than what we want for talking to each other."
"Then most of our manners will be about snuggling, hunting, hunting together, and hiding from muggles."
"We wouldn't call them muggles," said Leona, "We'd call mages something, but muggles would just be normal people that aren't Mum or Dad."
Susan stared at her.
.
"Cell blocks're clear."
"You need to get your eyes checked."
"What?"
"That cell in the corner isn't storage, there's someone, ... looks like a pair of twins."
"There's enough bedding for half an army." They came closer.
"And the choice of bedding has got to mean something."
"Yeah, they look feral, might be wolves or wilder-folk."
"There's people here," said Luna, "I think they're fancy people."
"Fancy? I don't think ..."
"Look," said Leona, "They've got the wooden kind of feather things, I think they are fancy. Like the mean fancy people that brought us here."
"Are you kids sane?"
"What's he asking?" said Leona.
"I think he asked if we've eaten enough," said Susan, "Mum only asks about insane when we're hunting too high."
"Oh," Leona jumped up and went to the bars, "can we go hunting yet? We haven't been hunting in hours."
"Look, are those veela feathers?"
"Daddy feathers."
"Your dad has feathers?"
"Yes, lots and lots, sometimes."
"Does your Mum?"
"Only as many as Dad gives her, She uses them to make fancy."
"Like you use yours?"
"No, I'm ... my fancy is different, I don't know how to use feathers for that."
"How's your fancy different?"
"My fancy is being a lion, but it's very hard."
"Really?"
"Yes, Her Fancy is being a dog, Her Fancy is hiding."
"There's three of you in there?"
"Yes, three now."
"Fancy means magic?"
"Does magic mean making fancy with your wooden feather?" Leona pointed at his wand.
"Yes."
"I think magic means fancy."
"What are your names?"
Leona turned to the others, "What are names?"
Susan sighed, "I knew, but I don't remember. The red fancy's asked too, but I couldn't remember in time to answer, now I don't remember again."
Leona turned back to the man in black robes and deep hood, "We don't know what names are, ask something easier."
The man sighed, and turned to his colleague, "Alright, so their Dad's a veela, and their Mum is not, might be magical though." "Hey, is your Mum a gypsy-born?"
"The red people asked that too," said Susan, "I think they decided she was a regular fancy that got given/sold to gypsies, but they were mean, and Dad was nice and flew away with her, "
"Have you ever met your grandparents?"
"Not in this place," said Luna, "Only in dreams of the other places."
Leona nodded.
Susan shrugged and nodded.
"What did she say?"
"Not met grandparents in this place, only in dreams of other places."
"What kinds of dreams?" he said.
"The other places we've been born and learned other things and died and gotten eaten, how we've learned to read and write and do potions," said Luna, "except we're terrible at those things because it's been decades and lifetimes since we were rescued young enough to be civilised in time to go to Hogwarts."
Leona looked at Susan, "She's the smartest of us."
"Then why does dad keep giving you the in charge feathers?"
"Because my fancy is being a lion," said Leona.
Susan put her nose in the air, "Dogs are better than lions."
"Yes, It depends on what there is to hunt," agreed Leona.
"What did the hiding one say about dreams?"
"She said, some dreams are about other places, before we get eaten."
"Get eaten?"
"Hunted," she said, "Dead, eaten, There are only three of us now."
"Who hunts you?"
Leona shrugged, "Hawks when we're little, wolves sometimes, snakes sometimes, mean people sometimes."
"And do you remember each other from your dreams?"
"Yes!" said Luna, "but ... not always the same ones survive."
Susan nodded, "We can only remember from the places where we lived, not from after we get eaten."
"Nine," said Luna, "But I don't remember more than 7 surviving, usually four."
Susan turned and looked at her, "Where?"
"I remember nine of us, but hardly ever more than 3 in one life."
Leona turned to the man, "yes, we remember each other, but not all of us survive each place, she says she remembers nine of us, I never tried to count who is missing before."
"Tell me your favourite dream," said the man.
"When ... when there's enough food, and Mum lets us have friends." said Leona, "Sometimes even people friends."
"Any of my dreams about when an aunt comes and helps us find feathers ... wooden feathers, and ..." Susan worked her hands through the air near each other, staring at her motions. Not trying to communicate, trying to think.
"Books," said Luna.
"Books?" said Susan, "Yes, yes, books! Feathers and wands and books. and then read-read-read sometimes ... so many friends, so much fancy."
Susan collapsed and huddled at the overwhelming-ness of the memory. Yes, the memory of Hogwarts to someone who only knew 5 people would be overwhelming.
Actually, that might be a fair representation of Susan's life, though perhaps it was the memory of hanging out home alone, with Hanna, though perhaps an Auror training camp had been her first overwhelming social memory.
Luna went to her, Leona had to keep the conversation on track.
Leona stared at them and tried to think of the most Luna-like re-coding of it all, then tilted her head as veela like as she could, "Oh, you're talking about ... big wet pigs."
"Big wet pigs?" said Susan, "Hogs? Oh-"
"Hogsforde," said Leona, "a city called Hogsforde, a pretty little school right in the middle of —"
"called," said Susan, "named means called."
"What?"
"He asked what are we named, he means what are we called."
"Oh," said Leona, and stared at Luna, she could suggest things and talk and get them on the same page, before they agreed to anything together.
"Leona?" said Luna.
That wasn't as creative as she was looking for, but they'd practised with it enough that it would be easier than anything else, except perhaps the truth. Leona nodded, and turned back to the man, and intoned very solemnly, "Our name is Leona."
Susan and Luna stood up, as if having their name called was a special occasion, and probably involved significant parental attention.
"Yes, Leona," agreed Luna.
"What?" said Susan.
"I wasn't calling us," said Leona, "I was telling the fancy people our 'name'."
Leona turned back to the man, "but usually mum calls us, 'dear, children'." She followed that with a sigh. Let him try to guess whether that was a mother's sigh and part of the quote, or her own sigh about missing her mother.
"That's not how names work," muttered the man who'd hung back.
The man in front rounded on him, "My parents could barely keep my name straight from my brother, and we were born three years apart, do you really think two semi-idiotic parents in a survival situation would have the resources to both tell apart identical triplets, or convince them that they didn't share a name? Besides if they're like some identical twins I know, they share most things."
"Share everything except fancy and feathers and memories," said Leona, "Unless we were both there... try to all be there. ... They ... They shouldn't take Mum away!"
Susan and Luna stepped forward and wrapped their arms around Leona.
Leona glared at the men for a few seconds longer then let herself be dragged away to the nest of blankets, where the three of them crouched together looking outward, in what was half embrace and half watchful waiting for whatever the world would throw at them next.
"Like chicks in a nest," said one man, "I don't know if the boss would want them, or if he'd give them out as prizes, but, I think they're an interesting enough find that he wouldn't be happy merely with a report."
"It is always safest to bring back a specimen."
"Alright Leonas," called one man, "I want you to all lay down on your backs and hold hands."
"Why!" said Susan.
"Because I'm going to portkey you, and you'd rather lay down by yourselves than for me to make you."
"He's a fancy," said Leona laying flat, assuming the other options were collecting a stunner first, "mum won't punish us for not hiding from him. Which fancy is 'portkey'?"
"I think it's ... like a fancy fire, with no fire or fireplace."
"Oh those," said Leona, "I remember calling those something else."
"Alohamora," said the man, then several other things, eventually he got the door open and wrapped a shoelace around Leona's and Luna's hands, then around Leona's and Susan's hands.
"Activate-confine," he said and they were no longer there.
...
...-...
{End Chapter 7}