Leonis Abraxa Malfoy of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was proud to say that she was perfectly abnormal, thank you very much. She was always the very first person her parents expected to be involved in anything strange or mysterious because she herself was.

Leo was the younger of the Malfoy twins, and she was Wrong. She was a reedy, angular girl with blue lips and icy fingertips, and she couldn't remember feeling warm in her life. Her twin was a slender, pointed boy with hoary eyes where hers were glacial and sleek hair where hers was curled. They were nothing alike, and they both were of the opinion that it was just fine that way.

Leo had almost everything she wanted, but she also had a secret, and her greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. She didn't think she could bear it if anyone found out about Regulus. Regulus Black was her cousin, but he'd died years ago; in fact, she knew exactly when he'd died because he was the ghost that was haunting her. She shuddered to think what could happen to her if someone found out. She knew Regulus had a Dark Mark under his sleeve, and that his ghostly figure did little to erase his actions before he'd died. Those actions were another good reason for keeping him secret; they didn't trust anyone but themselves when it came to why he'd died.

When Leo woke up screaming on a cold, wet Wednesday morning, she was not alone. She was rarely alone, of course. In fact, she was like a mirror; she always had a reflection with her, even if the reflection didn't always talk back. On this particular morning, her reflection was floating before the garden window over her desk.

"Is something happening outside? Or are you hoping to see if this moly will wilt too?" She adjusted her bedsheets in her lap, smoothing out the wrinkles in the gold patterning.

His head tilted down so he could examine the pot of flowers growing in the morning light. "It will never bloom properly without magical support."

"Right. I'll just go ahead and burn all my herbs, then, shall I?" She kicked her covers off and climbed out of bed. "What's outside?"

Regulus squinted at her, though she definitely felt like he was looking through her instead. "Ah," he finally murmured, as if it had taken that long for her question to reach him. "An owl has been circling. Our cousin, I would presume."

"You're absolutely useless," Leo said, moving to open an arched window. "For how long? You didn't think to wake me up?"

"About an hour now, I would estimate. I wasn't here for a while."

The owl saw the open window and dove for it. Leo stepped back. "A treat, please, Mer," she said pointlessly, already getting one from the desk herself. The owl alighted on her window sill, and Leo traded the owl pellet for the long, narrow package it was carrying. "Thank you," she said, giving the bird a quick scratch on the head. As it flew off, she closed and re-latched the window then looked down at the delivery. It didn't have a return label, instead just Leo in fancy calligraphy written bold with black ink above the address for Malfoy Manor. Grinning, she sank to the floor and started carefully opening it, keeping the paper intact.

"Best wishes," Regulus said, floating to rest in front of her and craning his neck to look at the gift. "And many happy returns."

"I can't believe you forgot," she sighed, pausing in her unwrapping just long enough to press the back of her hand to her forehead. "An injustice upon my soul!"

"Is that a lunascope?"

She looked back down at the gift. It didn't look like any lunascope she had. While it had a form similar to the spyglass figure she was used to, the outside was covered in swirling colors. When she ran a finger over it, she felt that the outside pattern came from paper wrapping. Then she lifted it to her eye. "Wow," she breathed, staring at the reflected patten of colors inside, far more organized than the external design. "This isn't a lunascope."

"There's a note with it."

Leo lowered the present and picked up the paper it had been sitting on. It was as she started to read the explanation—a kaleidoscope, her cousin called it, saying it was a Muggle toy that her father recommended—that someone hammered on her door. That was the only warning given before her door was flung open.

"Happy birthday to me!" Draco announced, standing in her doorway with his hands on his hips. The door had bounced off the wall and was lazily swinging back towards him. He huffed and sidestepped it to get inside. He was holding something small in one hand. "What do you have for me?"

"What do you have for me?" she shot back. "Don't be a greedy git."

Draco stuck his tongue out at her, marching across the room. He paused, leaning forward to look at the kaleidoscope in her lap. "Lunascope?"

She put her hands out towards him and opened and closed them both. "Gift."

He dumped the small thing he was holding into her awaiting grasp. "Nicked it off that Muggle sod that slagged you off."

She peeled open the paper to reveal a blue yo-yo. A Muggle yo-yo. She slipped a finger into the string loop and pointed at her nightstand with her other hand. "Gift," she repeated eloquently.

Draco made a pleased sound and moved to the nightstand. Regulus floated to the side to get out of his way and then moved to look at the toy Leo was testing, trying to replicate the same tricks she could do with a screaming yo-yo. She wasn't very good at those tricks in the first place, and he told her as much.

"Shut up," she muttered.

Draco did what he and everyone else in the Manor had been doing for a decade now; he didn't even acknowledge her talking to no one. After all, it wasn't normal. It wasn't normal to talk to someone who wasn't there, and it wasn't normal to hear a voice that no one else could. It wasn't normal to see something no one else did, either. Unless you were a seer, of course. But seers were useful, and Leo was of use to no one but Regulus.

Draco gave a triumphant cry as he found a bag of sweets in her drawer. "Perfect."

"That's not yours," she said, already moving to add both the yo-yo and the kaleidoscope under the false bottom of the trunk beneath her bed. "Put that back." She shoved the trunk back in place with her feet.

"He's not going to listen to you," Regulus mused, head tilted back to stare at the ceiling.

She sat up again, peering over at Draco. The sweets were tucked under one arm as he continued to dig through her things. "Stop that. It's the box."

He huffed, muttering, "Okay, fine," as he picked up the box that was sitting under a heavily bookmarked copy of Why I Didn't Die When the Augurey Cried. He was already inching towards her door as he ripped it open. "A Gobstone!" he whined.

"A Noisy Hitter," she corrected. "Don't worry; it'll be mine the next time we play."

"I'm taking this," he announced, holding up the bag of sweets.

"Absolutely not!" She scrambled to her feet.

"Absolutely yes!" he yelled back. "It'll make up for the stupid Gobstone."

"Give them back."

He lifted his chin. "Let me take this, and I won't tell Mère that Nymphadora keeps sending you things."

"Don't call her that."

Draco stuck his tongue out at her again. "Make me!" When she opened her mouth, he squealed and rushed for the hallway.

Leo spat out, "Locomotor Wibbly," just as Draco dove for freedom. The jinx hit her door instead, and it sagged heavy on itself, draping from the hinges like soft wax instead of hanging like solid wood. Draco's giggles echoed as he escaped, and Leo bit back a grin of her own.

Regulus was in front of the door, waving his incorporeal hand through it. "Your aim will be better with a wand," he concluded.

She responded to that only with a loud groan as she threw herself onto her bed. "Dobby," she whined.

There was a crack, and then she could just barely see the elf's ear in her peripheral vision. "What can Dobby do for Mistress Leonis?" he asked.

She tilted her head enough to see him just past the edge of her bed. "Good morning, Dobby."

Dobby just beamed at her. "Is Mistress Leonis needing something from Dobby?

She squirmed for a moment before sitting up. "I missed," she mumbled. She pointed at the door. Then she dropped her hands in her lap and watched as Dobby reversed her jinx with ease, putting the door back in its normal state. When he turned back to her, she said, "Thank you."

Dobby bounced on his feet. "Dobby wants to wish Mistress Leonis a happy birthday!" He paused and turned his head. "Dobby must go. Master Lucius is calling." And then he disappeared with another crack.

Leo fell back on the bed again, staring up at the ceiling. Regulus came into view. "I would say you're a month and a half from your letter."

"A month and a half from a wand," she agreed.

Leo had almost everything she wanted. She and Regulus would figure out the rest themselves.