The first impression Marinette had of her second cousin on her mother's side was "skittish".
Lierre, as she had legally altered her name to be French rather than the English translation, was going to be moving in over the bakery and possibly sharing a room with Marinette. From what she could see, the other girl didn't have a lot of things outside of a rather gorgeous white owl she named Hedwig.
Because of the limited space, the Dupien-Changs were going to tweak the space they had in the bakery. Oddly enough, they were given the clear to make a magically-expanded home almost immediately after applying for it.
Marinette loved magic, but there was a lot about the magical enclaves that she didn't like at all. It was the reason she opted to do home-school lessons and go to normal school by day, rather than Beauxbatons.
Lierre Noir was about the same age as her, with neck length black hair and really pretty green eyes that were giving Marinette all sorts of ideas on how to use that color in her designs.
It took a few days for the room to be completed, but once it did there it became a double. Along with a few minor alterations that her parents were thrilled to have, like two extra bathrooms.
The first few days were unspeakably awkward, to say the least. Neither girl knew exactly what to say to each other.
It wasn't until Marinette tried another failed attempt at small talk, this time with cookies, that Lierre opened up a little.
"Sorry... I'm not very good at this making friends thing. I've only ever had a small handful of them and I still left them behind without telling them anything about what I was planning," said Lierre quietly.
"Maybe we should start over and try again," said Marinette. "My name is Marinette and I love fashion, flying and cookies fresh from the oven."
"My name is Lierre Noir, and I like flying, animals, cooking and sometimes gardening. I'm not such a big fan of potions but I am good at defense."
"Lucky. Defense is my worst subject," said Marinette, half-joking.
"I could help you with that. I might not know how they teach it at Beauxbatons but I do know how to cast a patronus," offered Lierre.
Seeing a chance to get the other girl to break out of her shell, Marinette latched on to that.
"You can cast a patronus? I heard that it's a really hard spell to get down."
"It took me a few months, but I can cast it. It always comes out as a stag though," said Lierre.
The two were soon chatting about defensive spells and their applications, and Marinette decided to broach the topic of the other girl's wardrobe...or lack thereof.
The end result of that was a minor shopping spree and a closet full of new clothes.
Considering it was summer, that gave Lierre plenty of time to catch up on normal schoolwork so that she could join Marinette in her class.
Marinette had to wonder what sort of friends Lierre had before, and why she had moved all the way from England to France. It was pretty obvious she used to attend Hogwarts...the uniform was a dead giveaway...but she was also too familiar to be a 'pure blood'.
The ravenette swiftly learned never to broach the topic of her home life from before she came to France after mentioning it to her mother.
"Lierre's old guardians...well, they were quick to sign the papers when they were sent and made it clear they wanted nothing to do with her. From what I could tell, her 'aunt' was not pleased having a witch in the house," said her mother quietly. "On the magical side of things, she's technically an adult, but because she's living with us she needed a legal guardian."
"Wait...she's the same age as me! How can she be a 'legal' adult in the enclaves?" asked Marinette.
Her mother winced.
"It's a story I won't go into for the moment. Let's just say she was tricked into a magical contract that had been set only for adults and managed to complete it. Due to a technicality she was legally registered as an adult witch in France once she found out about our side of the family. However since we live in the normal world, rather than the enclaves, she needed an adult to register as her guardian so she could attend school and other minor things, so the Ministry reached out to us and asked if we would take her in. She also needs to sit both the magical exams."
In exchange the Dupien-Changs received a stipend from Lierre's vaults to pay for her upkeep, which was discreetly converted into normal money and deposited into her account. It paid for room and board, and would pay for whatever school Lierre applied to and managed to enter, including college.
Because she had been in Hogwarts all this time, which didn't exactly keep up with mundane subjects like math and science, Lierre would have to spend most of her summer catching up so that she could attend the same school as Marinette. The thing was that Lierre was far too comfortable in a mundane setting, which meant she couldn't have been raised like a pure blood. They barely knew how to use a light switch, much less the small computer she had bought when they went clothes shopping.
Though Marinette did have to coach her in how to use a phone. She was comfortable with technology, but she certainly didn't know how to use it. Once she got the hang of it, she was as good as Marinette herself was.
Marinette looked at her charms work in dismay. It was rather hard to keep up a good grade average while juggling two different sets of homework, especially when one of them required practical applications.
Lierre looked at her math with equal annoyance.
"...Want me to ask the tutors if we can practice our magical homework at home so long as it's in a place where mundanes can't see it and warded appropriately?" asked Lierre.
"Please!" said Marinette. She was going to fail her O.W.L.'s at this rate.
The next time their tutors showed up, Lierre showed them the 'extra' suitcase that Marinette had yet to see opened. It turned out to have the same enchantments that the infamous Newt Scamander used on his case, just with a full mansion inside.
There were a few dueling rooms, a full potions lab and everything that could be used for study practice for their exams.
Marinette could have wept with relief finding out she was allowed to practice at home, provided she only used her wand in the suitcase for approved spellwork. The same went for her potions.
The kitchen in the bakery was for business use only, and the one in her home was too small (even with expansions) to use a cauldron. Never mind how awkward things would be if a friend came over and saw it!
They even got clearance to practice the patronus charm, once Lierre demonstrated she did know how to cast the charm successfully and knew how to teach Marinette. Using that during the Defense and Charms examination was an immedaite Outstanding, because it was considered well above N.E.W.T. level to cast.
So far Marinette could create a fine silver mist, but hopefully she could get it up to a corporeal patronus soon.
"I just bet Chloe is in my class again!" bemoaned Marinette.
Lierre had used a light stinging hex to get her cousin up, though it was pretty obvious why she was excited to go to school.
"Four years in a row? Is that possible?"
"Knowing my luck, definitely," said Marinette.
"Try to be positive! After all, this is the first time you'll have someone you already know in class!"
Marinette brightened slightly at that. Lierre had managed to pass the entrance exam and was going to be in her class by special request. At least she would have someone on her side.
"Who's Chloe?"
"Chloe is the mayor's daughter and the absolute worst. Just because her dad runs the city she thinks she has the right to lord it over the rest of us," said Marinette with a groan.
"...So her only power is that she can whine to her daddy to get things done her way? And it's entirely dependent on the fact her dad is the mayor of the city?" clarified Lierre.
"Pretty much," said Marinette.
"If she starts going after you again, tell her that you at least don't have to rely on your dad's temporary power over others and that it wouldn't take much for someone else to take his place."
Seeing Marinette staring at her, Lierre shrugged.
"Her power is dependent on the fact she's the mayor's daughter. What would happen once someone else gets elected and he's booted out of office? For that matter, if she's as bad as you claim then why hasn't he taken her to task over it since it could harm his re-election chances?"
Marinette stared at her, mouth agape. She had never thought of it like that!
"Besides, you're technically nobility since I reinstated your side of the family into mine when I moved here," added Lierre.
"Say what now?"
"You're related to me through my dad's side of the family and they're nobility in England. Since I came to live here, I thought it was only prudent to activate the vaults for branch members of the family, which means technically you're a noble without any titles," clarified Lierre.
"So...that means what exactly?" asked Marinette.
"Distant relationship with a noble trumps mayor's daughter any day of the week. Outside of the fact you and your mother have roughly twenty thousand extra galleons to spend via the branch vault...each, by the way...nothing," said Lierre.
Marinette's jaw dropped.
"Twenty thousand galleons?!" she sputtered.
"Again, nobility. Old blood, old money and the goblins had a set standard for branch vaults. I set it on the high end once I got to know your family better," admitted Lierre.
The base number for a branch vault of an old family was five thousand, but Lierre had set it to four times that. She still had trouble balancing her accounts though.
Marinette finally realized something important.
"I can finally get a proper broom!"
She hated having to borrow her mother's old broom to fly.
"Not until the weekend," her mother reminded her.
Lierre made sure to hand over the vault keys...she kept forgetting she had them.
Her first exposure to Chloe told her all she needed to know about the girl's personality.
She was another Malfoy.
"Marinette Dupien-Chang. That is my seat."
"Excuse me?" said Marinette. "This has always been my seat."
"New school, new year, new rules. Adrien and some noble girl from England are coming to our class, and since he's going to be sitting in that spot, this is my seat," said Chloe smugly.
"Noble girl?" repeated Marinette. "And who's Adrien?"
"Lierre Noir is from old blood, and really old money. Obviously she would only want to hang out with me. After all, Daddy was told to give her special attention!" said Chloe smugly. "And what rock have you been living under that you don't know who Adrien is?"
Lierre found it very amusing Chloe dismissed her presence in favor of harassing Marinette.
Marinette was almost as amused for the same reason.
"So just to be clear, you think a girl that comes from old money would only want to be friends with the mayor's daughter?" asked Marinette carefully, trying very hard not to laugh.
"Of course, after all I am the most popular girl in our class, much less the entire school!" declared Chloe. "Unlike you who only hangs out with ragamuffins like this girl."
Considering Lierre had gone for casual and not stylish when she got dressed this morning, she looked at Marinette with an impish gleam in her eyes.
"She happens to be my cousin," said Marinette.
"Cousin? I should have guessed from the drab way she dresses," sneered Chloe.
Marinette turned to Lierre, her eyes almost begging to say it. Lierre smirked and nodded slightly.
"I don't know, I think it suits her. Don't you Lierre?" asked Marinette.
Chloe was swiftly beginning to realize her horrible mistake at the name when Lierre's eyes stared her down.
"I do believe I can decide my friends for myself, thanks. After all, I wouldn't want to befriend such a spoiled little brat who's power is entirely dependent on her daddy's status as the mayor to boss the rest of us around. I bet his opponent in the next election would be amused to find out the entire reason I would fund their campaign would be to give you a much overdue reality check," drawled Lierre. "After all, old money is a very easy way to insure someone else gets elected as mayor if our current one is content to let you run wild."
The gobsmacked expression on Chloe's face was priceless. Marinette was enjoying it entirely too much, but the bratty blond had it coming for years now.
Lierre put the final nail in the coffin by cheekily adding "Besides, at least Marinette doesn't have to cake on the make-up on her face to feel good about herself."
Dead silence.
Chloe fumed silently. As if her day couldn't get any worse, Adrien didn't even show up to class!
Lierre silently shared a 'high-five' with her cousin.
"I almost have to wonder if she's related to the Malfoys," muttered Lierre.
"With that hair?" said Marinette. "She would have to be a squib. Though it would explain how her dad keeps getting re-elected so easily. Some of those ad campaigns weren't cheap."
A few hours later...
"I hate first days back at school," said Marinette.
Out of all the things to happen, why did a super villain have to show up?
Lierre had a guilty expression on her face.
"It seems my horrible luck followed me when I moved here."
"You mean this sort of thing is normal for you?" said Marinette.
"Well, not super villains but weird things like this happening? Usually this sort of thing only crops up around Halloween with something equally depressing happening at the end of June," admitted Lierre. "What's that on your desk?"
Marinette looked down and saw an odd box on her desk.
She opened it...and a small bug with red coloring appeared from the earrings within.
"Wah!"
It took everything she had not to crash on the ground from shock.
Lierre was considerably calmer.
"Marinette, chill. Since there seems to be a monster running around Paris, odds are that they (she nodded to the bug) are here to help you set things back to normal," said Lierre calmly sipping her tea.
"It's okay Marinette!" said the tiny bug.
"Who...or what...are you?" said Marinette.
The bug seemed to finally take note of Lierre.
"Are you here for Marinette or for me?"
"Marinette," said the bug.
"In that case, anything that happens is now designated not my problem unless it risks her life or her health," said Lierre. "That being said I'll stick around so that I can properly act as her background support."
The bug looked unsure, the Lierre's smile was tired and full of mirth.
"I've had my fun of playing hero. While that thing outside might not be as dangerous as a mothering dragon or a thousand-year basilisk, I'd rather not get my head caved in trying to deal with it, if it's all the same to you. That being said my cousin will likely need the support of someone who knows how to handle the headaches of being a hero," said Lierre.
The bug stared at her.
"Where on Earth would you find a thousand year basilisk, and what possessed you to go near a mothering dragon?!"
"It gets better...I had to steal a fake egg from the nest of real ones and she was already worked up because the three before me made a mess of things. And she was the meanest of the lot."
Marinette stared at her cousin, as a few things that had always seemed odd to her clicked into place.
She suddenly knew what her cousin's original name was and why she went the extra mile of legally changing it. Though not why Lierre had left England in the first place.
"Quick question...am I related to you through your father's official family or the one that married into it through his mother?"
"The first," said Lierre, eyes sparkling with mischief. "If I wanted to move in with the second, I could have stayed closer to home. Besides, they had one of their daughters marry into the Malfoys."
The bug seemed to determine the other girl would keep silent on her presence.
"My name is Tikki and I am a Kwami. Those are the Ladybug earrings, and they're vital when it comes to defeating Akuma. Someone has gotten their hands on the Moth Broach and is using it for evil purposes. You're needed to set things right," explained Tikki.
"Have fun!" Lierre called out, almost wanting to cackle.
She was soooo glad this was not her problem for once!