Blood of the Covenant

by ChaosCretin527

Summary:

Chariana Comic. Abused, beaten, mentally broken, but thriving under the care of Sans Comic and his twin brother Puns, coexisting Heads of Ravenclaw House and Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When her loyalty to her family is tested she begins to question herself, but learns quickly that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb

Chapter 1: Acceptance

Summary:

Chara experiences getting her Hogwarts letter

"Chara, calm down, Chasity will arrive with the mail soon" Mom laughed as I pressed my face against the window.

"Easy for you to say, you're convinced I got in" I pouted. "What if my letter never comes?"

Mom sighed and set down his phone to look at me. "Chara. You have been working hard on your English for six months now and you've improved a lot. You're my daughter whether it's by blood or not. You will get into Hogwarts. I promise you".

Sans and Puns Comic. My family. I had been on the streets until I was found and legally adopted by Sans, who I called Mom because the idea of having a dad made me want to throw up. I had grown up in France and Ireland with my abusive parents until I killed them and ran.

Mom and Puns had worked with me through my trauma as well as my illiteracy with English. I had been living with them for the last year, and they had taken the year off work to help me get settled.

Now I'm 11 years old. Still not fluent in English but much happier. My mom and uncle believed I was a muggleborn, meaning that my birth parents didn't have magical abilities but I did. They both wanted to go back to work and were hoping that I could come with them and learn magic.

My mom and uncle worked side by side as the heads of their respective houses. Mom was the Potions teacher and Ravenclaw head, and Puns was the Astronomy Teacher and Slytherin head.

Chasity, our sooty owl, screeched as she came to the window, snapping me out of my thoughts. Mom joined me at the window and unlatched it, letting in our restless owl. I bounced on my heels as he sorted through the letters, setting aside letters and smirking as he came to one. I stretched and looked over his shoulder at the iconic Hogwarts wax seal, only to have it playfully snatched away from me.

"Open it, open it, open it!" I begged.

Mom smiled softly. "Do you want to read it or do you want me to? Remember it's probably from Professor Toriel and she has really spidery cursive writing"

I hesitated. I didn't think my English skills for good enough for cursive. "You read". Despite my slight disappointment at not being able to read my own letter I was still bouncing.

Puns came through the kitchen doorway, dangling a mouse between his fingers. He tossed it to Chasity, who gladly caught it in her beak and flew to her perch to eat. "Alright" Puns said. "Let's see this letter"  

Mom peeled up the wax and opened the ornate envelope. His eyes scanned across the parchment.

"What's it say?!" I asked, bouncing faster. Mom's grin widened.

"Dear Ms. Comic.
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,
Toriel Dreemurr.
Deputy Headmistress"

My jaw fell open, causing my mother and uncle to burst out laughing.

"I GOT IN!" I yelled. "I ACTUALLY GOT IN!"

"Told ya, Moonchild".

I enjoyed the feeling of warmth and comfort that washed over me from that nickname. Puns had taken to calling me Moonchild because before I felt comfortable sleeping in their house I would sit on the window seat and stare out the window at the moon every night.

"You know what this means right? You have to take me to Diagon Alley! And Ollivanders and Flourish and Blotts and-"

"Calm down kiddo!" Mom laughed. "It's not even August yet. We have a month. First we have to owl them back confirming your attendance."

Puns however was doing the opposite. He went to the fridge and came back with a butterbeer, which he handed to me with a grin. "Down it kid. You earned it".

I laughed at the fact that he treated butterbeer like actual beer, but I still accepted the mug and drank.

"You're a witch now, kiddo!" Mom said, finally feeding into my excitement.

"I know! It's amazing!"

"I know you're excited but we gotta make sure you understand some things okay?" He said, motioning to the couch. I sat down and he sat across from me.

"Kiddo we love you with all our souls but you do know we can't give you special treatment in our classes just because you're my kid right?"

I nodded. "I wasn't expecting it. I want to learn and be a good student."

Mom smiled. "That's my girl. Now that being said, being the kid of a staff member is going to earn you some things. For example in the event that you cause any trouble, your Head of House will have to consult with me on your discipline. They can give you detention and bad grades but anything more than that they go through me. If you end up in Ravenclaw then we cut out the middle man because you'll answer to me anyway. "

I blinked. I hadn't even thought about the fact that my guardians were both House heads.

"Also, the three of us will be talking to the Headmaster on probably your first day to learn a set of translation spells. We know you're a lot better at English but kid, you're real stubborn. I know you won't ask for help if you don't know a word" he shot me a look. I glanced away sheepishly. I had, on many occasions, left out a word because I didn't know it instead of asking for help. "So if you find that you really can't get a word then these spells will let you translate the word or the phrase or hell the whole page, into a language that you can read."

I nodded, secretly grateful that there wasn't as much pressure on me.

"The third thing is about your quarters. Whatever house you're in, you'll have access to their common room as well as your dorm. But if you ever need us, we have a shared chamber as well as our offices. If you don't have class then you can always use our spaces to study or have some quiet. And when you're having a bad day..." he trailed off. I knew what 'bad day' meant. "You can sleep on the couch in our chambers.  Okay?"

I nodded eagerly. "Hell yeah!"

Puns snickered. "Oh yeah. I know we don't care if you cuss because we do it too, but most of your teachers ain't gonna let that fly. Try to reign it is when you're in class"

I rolled my eyes. Cussing was 85% of my vocabulary.

"Yeah it sucks ass" Puns said with a smirk. I hit him with the couch pillow.

"Alright. Now who wants to go to lunch?"

Chapter 2: Astonishment

Summary:

Chara experiences Diagon Alley

July 18, we went to Diagon Alley. Chasity had taken my owl and my attendance was confirmed.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley kid" Mom said as I drank in the sights.

Shops buzzing with light. Students old and young buying books and robes. Things flying and moving of their own accord. And Gringots Bank in the distance. Looming.

I knew we wouldn't be going in there. Mom and Puns carried plenty of money to buy my things. But just seeing the iconic building. Wow.

"Alright. Boring stuff first. Robes and books. And clothes for underneath the robes. Pants right? Not skirt?"

I nodded. Skirts and me did not match.

"I'll get your uniform and robes. I know your sizes" Puns volunteered. "Sans, take her to get her books and meet at the potions shop?"

"Yep. Come on kiddo. Flourish and Blotts is this way".

As Puns ducked into the robe shop, Mom lead me to the book shop on the corner. My mouth dropped open as soon as I walked in.

Textbooks of all kinds lined the shelves, sorted by subject. Fiction books took up a few shelves. Books opened and turned pages by themselves and the pictures on the cover moved. I grinned despite having seen it a thousand times in the library at home. I love magic.

"I'll find your textbooks" Mom said. "I want you to find 2 or 3 books you want to read on your own. Novels or something".

I begrudgingly nodded.

I shuffled up and down the aisles and trailed my hand along the shelves. I could only read a word or two of some of the titles and some I couldn't read at all. I sighed. How did mom expect me to pick books that looked interesting when I couldn't tell what was interesting to me? I grabbed a random book about faeries and continued my hunt.

I didn't find anything else until I saw a journal display on the end of an aisle. I eagerly began searching through them.

Some had infinite pages. Some came with enchanted quills that would write down your thoughts for you. But one in particular caught my eye.

It was medium sized, black, but it had a monochromatic shift to green. Despite my mother being the head of Ravenclaw, I was partial to green. It was the colour of the trees and grasses. It felt like home. But most importantly about this journal was the huge silver lock on it. The key could be enchanted to stay in your pocket or simply worn on a chain around your neck. I grabbed the journal without a second thought. If mom objected to me picking a journal instead of a novel I could say it was to practice my English.

I located mom at the front till, where he carried a stack of books. I joined him in the line just as he got to the front. He payed for my books and we left the store, with a box of books packed up for us.

Puns was waiting for us outside with a trolley of clothes and scrolls and ink and quills.

"Got your basic supplies. There's a pair of shoes and some socks. And the dragonhide gloves." He pulled out the list of supplies as mom added the books to the trolley. "Potions shit, wand, and pet if you want it" Puns read off. Mom looked around the street.

"I'll get her 'potions shit' as you call it" Mom said, jokingly flicking Puns in the head. "Take her to Olivanders. I'll meet you there."

Puns pushed the cart down to Olivanders, the giant wand shop at the end of the street. He fished a coin pouch out of his pocket and handed it to me.

"That should cover the cost no matter what it is. Head on in. Sans and I will wait out here"

"Aren't you coming in with me?" I asked as I pocketed the coin pouch.

"Nope" Puns grinned. "You go in alone to get your wand. Comic family tradition, Moonchild"

I shrugged and walked into the wand shop.

"Hello?" I called. "Hello? Anyone here?"

An old man with shaggy gray hair popped up from behind the counter. "Sorry dear! I did not see you come in!" He skirted around the counter and stood to his full height. I had to tilt my head back to look him in the eye. Stupid shortness.

“Miss Comic! Delightful to meet you child! I imagine you’re here for your first wand eh?”

I blinked in shock. “Uh yeah but how did you know I’m a Comic? I’m adopted”

“Word gets around fast when your parent is the potions master eh?” He said, winking at me. “Now now, stand up tall let me look at you.” Confused, I dropped my arms to my sides and stood up straight. “Short girl eh? I know just the thing”.

The eccentric man retreated into the back. He came back out with a long box, which he opened to reveal a long wand.

“Haze wood and unicorn hair, 11 inches long and supple.” He handed me the stick of wood. “Give it a swish and see what happens.”

I mimicked the swish-and-flick movement I’d seen Puns and Mom do a thousand times. I flinched backwards as the glass jar of quills on the counter exploded.

“I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed immediately.

“No no dear, I can clean it up. Worse has happened to wizards who tried to wrong wand, trust me.” He took the wand from me and vanished among the shelves again.

He came back with a slightly different box, opening it to reveal a wand that was basically the same colour as my red-brown hair. “Cherry wood. Phoenix feather core, the rarest of the three. 13 inches long and rigid” He recited, giving me the wand. “Give it a wand!”

I repeated the swish and flick technique. Instead of anything exploding, a strange yellow glow engulfed me and the wand. I stood in shock until the glow subsided.

“Aha! We’ve found the wand for you my girl!” Olivander quickly took the wand and boxed it back up. He carried it behind the till. “That’ll be 6 galleons!”

I took out the coin pouch and counted out six of the gold coins. I slid them across the counter and Olivander gave me the box.

“Have a good day my dear!”

“Thank you sir!” I called over my shoulder as I left.

Mom and Puns were waiting for me. “Let’s see that wand kiddo!” Mom said eagerly.

I smirked as I opened the box. “Cherry wood. Phoenix feather. 13 inches” I recited.

Puns whistled. “That’s a dangerous combo right there. I hope you’re careful with that thing”

“I’ll be careful Puns. Where’s the last stop?”

“Well, are you thinking you want a pet? We’ve got Chasity but do you want your own owl? Or maybe a cat?”

My eyes lit up. “Cat!”

Mom chuckled. “Alright. Cat shelter it is”.

The three of us pushed the trolley down to the loudest shop on the street. It buzzed with cats, toads, and all sorts of reptiles. In the window I spotted a group of kitten playing. Except for one.

It was all black except for a white patch over its eye and one white foot. It’s green eyes bore into me. I knelt in front of the window. I then noticed the tear on its ear.

“That one” I said confidently.

Puns chuckled. “Of course you would like the one sitting by itself. Alright. Let’s get you that cat”.

We entered the shop and I quickly found the cat I had been looking at while Mom and Puns went off to find an associate.

“Hi little one” I whispered to the cat. It inched it’s way forward and sniffed my hand. “You’re very small and adventurous” Animals didn’t mind when your English was weird.

My family came back over with an employee, who looked unsure. “I don’t think you want that one miss. She just came in two days ago. Feral little thing. Always fighting. We don’t know how she got that rip in her ear and we’re afraid to find out.”

“I want her” I said confidently.

“Kiddo, it sounds like she’s a little wild-“

“I want her” I repeated, cutting mom off.

I heard a sigh. “We’ll take that one sir” Mom said.

Ten minutes later we were headed back to the house with a trolley full of school supplies and a kitten cradled in my arms.

“What are you gonna name the cat Chara?” Puns asked my head.

I smirked. I’d been waiting for this. “Chausette”

Puns blinked. “Well that’s French”

Mom nodded. “What’s it mean? Night? Shadow?”

I shook my head, my smirk widening. “Sock”.

Chapter 3: Insecurity

Summary:

Chara experiences the Hogwarts Express

It was a week before term started. I sat on my window seat with a mug of tea in my hand. The moon was glowing outside my window. I stared at it fondly as I had spent the last year doing.

"Hello" I whispered quietly into the night air. It was warm outside. And very inviting.

Our large manor was set on the outskirts of London. From the front windows I could see the lights of the city and the bustling cars gliding down the street. But from the back I could see the quiet countryside and peaceful gardens in our backyard. And the moon. Always the moon.

I found the soft glow comforting. My first few months here had been riddled with sleepless nights. Still too scared to get up and get help, I had to find other ways to calm myself down and try and get to sleep. I would find the moon and stare at it. It became an old friend in the sky each night, reminding me there were still beautiful things in this world.

When I grew more comfortable in this house I would get up and make myself a cup of tea or cider or hot chocolate to sip while I watched the stars overhead. London got cold at night and when it did I enjoyed my warm drink and pajamas. Pajamas were something I hadn't gotten to appreciate before.

A knock on my door frame behind me scared me out of my thoughts. I flinched and turned my head slightly. Mom stood in my doorway.

"It's late, kiddo. You need to be sleeping at night up at school." 

"I know". I murmured. "Rough night I guess".

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked me, joining me on my window-seat.

If he had asked me that question a year ago I would shut down and refuse to explain myself. I was a quiet kid for the most part. I didn't like people around me and I had boundaries that I got snappish if they were crossed. I didn't relate well to most kids. Trauma ages you.

But things were different now. My birth parents were dead and gone. I had a family that loved me.

"I'm getting nervous about school" I admitted.

Mom nodded. "Can't day I wasn't expecting this. What's got you down? Worried about classes? Making friends?"

I shook my head. "Classes are fine. I don't care about making friends." 

"Kiddo you really need to work on your social skills."

I shrugged. "I'm fine on my own".

Mom sighed and gave me a look that told me that this conversation wasn't over. "Alright. What's got you worried?" 

I sighed. English was hard and I had to plan my words carefully. "Mom. You and Puns are both House Heads. Right?" Mom nodded slowly. "But there's four houses. So there's only half the chance I'll be in one of yours".

Moms eyes softened. He extended an arm and caught my eye, waiting for my permission. I nodded and he wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him.

"Kiddo. It doesn't matter if you're in one of our houses or not"

"Not a bit, Moonchild" Puns's voice came from the doorway. I turned to face him as he crossed the room to join us.

"It doesn't matter if I end up in Hufflepuff or Gryfindor?" I asked.

"Moonchild it don't matter to us at all what house you're in. What matters is that you're doin your best"

"Exactly." Mom continued. "We just want you to be the best witch you can possibly be. And I have full faith that you can do it." 

I allowed a small smile to grace my face. "Okay. I trust you".

"I know you do."

**************************

“This platform system doesn’t make any sense”. I huffed. Finally, FINALLY, it was the start of term. I was standing behind my trolley, Chausette tucked into one of those gimmicky cat backpacks until we got on the train.

“I know it doesn’t but trust me.” Puns said. I raised an eyebrow at the grin on his face. “You run straight at the wall between the platforms. You’ll get through. Trust me”.

I was still apprehensive but we were running out of time. I took a firm hold on my trolley handle and sprinted.

To my surprise the wall disappeared and I found myself in a completely new station. It bustled with students wearing the same robes as me. Many of them had their iconic house patches already but I saw many first years like me who had no houses yet.

And in the center, gleaming brightly, was the train. I didn’t need to be able to read to know that it was the Hogwarts Express.

A man in a black uniform unloaded my trolley into one of the cars. He let me keep my cat backpack with Chausette and Mom and Puns led me to one of the passenger cars.

“Now remember we’ll see you up at school. We use the Floo network to get there. Whatever house you get, remember we’re proud of you.” Puns rambled.

“You should have money for anything you want off the sweets trolley” Mom continued. “And Chara? Try and make friends”. I rolled my eyes.

“Sure thing mom”.

The train whistle blew its five minute warning and Mom ushered me on. “Love you!”

“Love you too!” I called over my shoulder.

I ducked into an empty compartment and closed the door firmly, hoping no one would sit with me. Out of the window I saw Mom and Puns talking. I jumped up and pulled down the window, waving to them as the train lurched forward.

I sat down as the train pulled away. I freed Chausette from her bag and settled her on my lap, mentally preparing myself for the greatest day of my life.

Chapter 4: Pressure

Summary:

Chara experiences peer pressure and the sorting ceremony for the first time

The train rumbled gently towards its destination. I was amusing myself by struggling to read the trading cards on the chocolate frogs I had bought off the trolley. Chausette, ever the adventurer, was using my leg as a step-stool to stare out the window.

I blinked as a red liquid dripped from my eye. But I didn't panic. I knew it wasn't blood.

We didn't entirely know what it was. It had happened to me since I was little. I was born with blood red eyes and they occasionally leaked a matching red fluid. Often when I was excited or angry. It's why my guardians thought I was a muggleborn.

And why my birth parents hated me.

I could manipulate the fluid if I was careful. I could make my eyes flash red and drip on command. But I had to focus hard for that.

I shook the thoughts from my head and wiped away the stray streak. It was then I realized I was no longer alone.

A girl with blonde hair and no house patch on her robe was standing on the other side of my glass compartment door. Her hand was outstretched towards the handle. I stayed quiet and didn't look at her. I wanted to see how far I could take this.

The door slid open. "Hi... Sorry to bother you but everywhere else is full. Can I sit?"

I didn't answer, pretending to be too engrossed in reading my chocolate frog card. To be fair with how hard reading English is for me, it wasn't far from the truth.

The girl didn't take my silence as a no. She stepped in and sat down across from me without closing the door.

"I'm Rosie Atkins. What's your name?" She asked. Her tone was far too chipper. I didn't dare acknowledge her existence with eye contact but I just knew if I looked into her eyes they'd be full of innocence. Innocence that I couldn't relate to. This girl was the type to doodle hearts of her and her crush's initials and obsess over stickers. Not someone I was willing to be friends with.

"Cute cat. What's its name?"

At this point I looked up, having had enough of her cheery disposition. I focused the mysterious red fluid into my eyes and let it drip down my face and make my eyes glow brightly. I paired this with what Puns and Mom had dubbed my cat hiss. Admittedly it wasn't much on its own but I knew that when paired with my eye tricks it could be terrifying.

The girl's face paled. She scrambled for the sliding door and ran down the aisle as fast as her scrawny legs could carry her. I got up and closed the door tightly before returning to my seat and cleaning my face. Chausette was purring softly at this point, having gotten bored of staring out the window and opting to sleep on the seat next to me.

I gently picked her up and set her on my lap as I took my turn staring out the window. The lush, British countryside flew past the window as we rattled on towards Scotland. Not exactly where I grew up. But strange that it was so close.

I let my thoughts sweep me away as I watched the country go by. Mom and Puns were already at school by now, having either apparated or used the Floo Network to get there. Right now the house elves were probably making beds and sweeping rooms, and preparing food for the enormous feast. I thought about what I'd been told about the castle. I'd been told it was huge and full of secrets that hadn't been discovered in thousands of years. My brain was buzzing for the moment I'd see it in person.

I yawned as I leaned against my head against the window.

******************************

A loud train whistle woke me from my short nap. I jolted in my seat and looked out the glass door to see students filing off the train. I quickly stood up and helped my cat back into her bag. I opened the door and filed in where I could.

We got off and the first years were called to the boats. I shoved into the boat and payed no attention to the kids around me. I had no intention of making friends with them.

In another boat my eyes locked with another girl’s, if only for a second. She was also quiet and her eyes were also a strange colour. A dusty pink.

I focused on the castle looming in the distance. It quite literally dwarfed us. It was huge and dark but the windows made it seem to glow.

The boat ride was shorter than I anticipated. We were soon stepping out and being lead into a large hallway with a goat woman waiting in a dark red cloak. She smiled warmly.

“Welcome, young ones. I am Professor Dreemurr. I will be your transfiguration teacher. Through these doors are the Great Hall. Now, in a few moments, you will pass through these doors and join your classmates. But before you can take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, while you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup”

I blinked. It was all information I knew. But to hear it in person took me by surprise.

Professor Dreemurr quietly went through the doors. I heard a burst of loud chattering before they shut behind her.

Around me the other first years began chattering excitedly. I stayed quiet and kept my eyes locked on the doors. My heart pounded at the thought of what was behind them.

The huge wooden doors opened and Dreemurr reappeared. “We’re ready for you now. Please follow me.”

The doors gave way to the Great Hall. A room I’d heard about and seen pictures of. But the pictures did not compare.

Four long tables covered most of the room. Above each one was a row of banners marking which house it was. The table directly to my left had blue banners. The Ravenclaws. On the other side was the table with green. Slytherin. On the other side, directly to my right was Gryffindor, with red banners. And against the far right wall was the table with yellow banners. Hufflepuff. All the tables were buzzing with chatter from the kids sitting at them.

At the front of the room was the teachers table. I found my guardians on the left side, somewhat in front of their respective house tables. Mom caught my eye and gave me a subtle smile and a short nod. Puns noticed, spotted me in the crowd, and winked.

Energy feeling renewed, I pressed on with the group. Dreemurr stopped us in front of a stool with a hat on it.

“When I call your name you will come forth. I will place the sorting hat on your head. And you will be sorted into your houses” she recited. She reached into her robes and pulled out a scroll, which she unfurled. “Atkins, Rosie”

The blonde girl from the train stepped forward and sat on the stool. Dreemurr placed the hat on her head and to my minor shock it sprouted a face.

“Hmmm. Interesting. Very interesting. I believe that for you it shall be... Gryffindor!”

The Gryffindor table burst into cheers as Rosie climbed down from the stool and walked to their table.

The sorting ceremony continued like this for a couple more minutes. My heart jumped into my throat when I realized they were calling us alphabetically. My last name is Comic.

“Comic, Chariana!”

I pushed forward, trying to block out the buzzing whispers around the hall. The two professors who are brothers vanish for a year and come back with a human child who has the same last name? I can only imagine how that looked.

I sat on the stool and saw the brim of the hat being lowered over my eyes. The hat’s voice was low and rumbly from where I sat.

“Hmm. An odd girl with a bad past I see. But there’s talent. And a determined spirit. You’re driven. You’re a leader. You’re....”

I closed my eyes, anxiety overtaking my body at the thought of what it was about to say.

“SLYTHERIN!”

Chapter 5: Pride

Summary:

Chara experiences her first spells and a rivalry of roommates.

My body moved on autopilot as I walked to the Slytherin table, which had exploded into cheers. As I got closer I could hear a boy's voice calling "Move out of the way, make room for the first years". I looked up and found that the voice belonged to another goat. This one obviously much younger than Professor Dreemurr. An older boy begrudgingly moved out of the way and the goat boy motioned to the seat. I sat down quickly, just wanting the eyes off of me.

I found the two skeletons at the teacher's table again. Puns was grinning like a madman. Mom held up his hand in the 'I love you' sign. I quickly returned the gesture before staring at the table.

The sorting ceremony continued. I briefly saw the pink-eyed girl from the boats walk to the Hufflepuff table as fast as she could, seemingly also wanting the attention off her. I also heard that her last name was Ellis.

I looked back up at the goat boy as I tried to drown out the rest of the hall noise. He looked almost exactly like Professor Dreemurr, except for the smaller horns and the Slytherin patch on his robes. Below that patch however, was a badge. It was still green and silver, the house colours. But there were letters written across it. I squinted as I tried to read. It wasn't a work I recognized.

The boy caught me staring and held up his finger. I took that as an "I'll explain later" and nodded.

The sorting ceremony finished with a boy named Isiah White going to the Ravenclaw table. A hush fell over the hall as the tall man in the center of the teachers table stood up. I hadn't seen his face before now. I was shocked to see that, like my guardians, he was a skeleton. But he was much taller and had two long cracks in his face.

"Welcome. To another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am your Headmaster, you may call me Professor Gaster. I trust that you are all eager to get to your studies and continue where you left off last year. For our first years I trust that you are eager to begin your journeys as a new generation of witches and wizards. Now before we proceed with the feast, you may have noticed that our two teachers who were absent last year have returned. My sons have returned to this school with a little surprise up their sleeves, but I'll let my younger son discuss that". The tall skeleton gestured down the table to my guardians, who stood up.

It finally caught up with me what he said. The headmaster of the school was my grandfather?

Mom cleared his not-throat. "Well, you all saw the reason for our disappearance during the sorting ceremony actually. Last summer I came into contact with a young girl. She was illiterate and barely spoke English, and had a very rough history behind her. I adopted her. Because she was only ten, and there was no proof that she had any magical abilities, she couldn't come to school with us. So my brother and I took the year off. We raised her and helped her get over her past and we helped her to learn English. Today she's 11, very close to 12, and does indeed have magical abilities. She sits in this school at the Slytherin table. My daughter, my pride and joy, Chara Comic." He caught my eye and I smiled softly. "We're beyond proud of you kiddo. I love you."

"Welcome to Slytherin, Moonchild." Puns added.

The great hall burst into applause as my guardians sat down.

"Yes yes well done, my sons. I look forward to meeting my new granddaughter formally" Gaster continued, catching my eye. My eyes widened and I quickly looked away. "But now, we can begin the festivities!" He raised his hands and to my pure enjoyment, the empty plated on our tables filled themselves.

I didn't eat much. I never did. My relationship with food was a rocky one, and I didn't eat meat or most dairy products. I had some potatoes and green beans, because I knew Mom would be watching to make sure I ate. He always says I eat like a bird. I guess it's true.

The goat leaned into me. "Your Comic's daughter?" I nodded. "I'm Dreemurr's son. The name's Asriel. And you're Chariana?"

"Chara" I corrected. "No one calls me Chariana".

"Chara it is then. Well, I'm one of your house prefects. Basically I act as an extension of our house head. First years usually come to me when they're scared to go to him. But I guess that's not a problem for you since you're his niece." I smirked. "But you can still come to me for anything you need." He assured.

When the feast finished Gaster stood up again. "Prefects, please take your first years to their dorms."

The goat boy stood up and raised his hand high in the air. "First year Slytherins come with me please!" I squinted at the letters on his badge again. P-R-E-F-E-C-T.  I stood up and moved to follow him.

"Nnnope!" A voice from behind me said as a pair of long skeletal arms wrapped around my shoulders. I giggled and looked up to see my mom's grinning face for the thousandth time that night.

"Evening Professor Comic" Asriel greeted. "And Professor Comic" he repeated with a slight smirk, looking to Puns. Puns placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Evening Asriel. You've met my daughter I see." Mom looked down at me. "Chara, Asriel is one of your prefects. He's a seventh year. You can go to him for anything you need. Then again you can also go to Puns."

"I don't know, I might bite" My uncle teased. 

"Asriel we gotta take the kiddo up to talk to Gaster" Mom explained. "Got some spells she's gonna need"

"I'll walk her to the Slytherin dorms myself when we're done" Puns chimed in. "Password should still be Rottweiler"

"I understand. Take your time. Rest of em will be in good hands"

"C'mon kiddo." Mom said. He kept his hand on my shoulder, guiding me in the opposite direction of where everyone was going and to a set of swirling stairs guarded by a pair of gargoyles.

"Sagittarius" He recited. He quickly jumped up on the stairs, and I followed suit. I heard a thump as Puns jumped up behind us. The staircase tumbled and began to rise and spin. I shut my eyes and clung to Mom's hand, not knowing what was happening.

"It's alright Moonchild" Puns said in a soothing voice. "This is how we go up to see our father. Your grandfather." He explained. I still kept my eyes closed tight.

We stepped off the stair side and passed through a large set of wooden doors, where the tall skeleton sat at a desk, enjoying a cup of tea.

"Hey Dad" Mom said, as Puns nodded and leaned against the wall.

Professor Gaster stood up and walked around his desk. "Well hey Chara. Your idiotic mother never brought you up to see me" he teased, nudging Mom. "I'm your grandfather. Call me whatever the hell you want."

I blinked rapidly, my brain fighting to process. "Hello sir"

Puns snickered. "No need to pull the good kid act around him" he said. "Dad don't care"

"I understand you're here because you're still not too good with English" Gaster said. "I've been working with my sons to prepare a set of spells you can use. I've been told you know some Latin?" I nodded for the millionth time. "Perfect". He set two papers on the desk in front of me. "Got your wand?" I pulled it out of my robe. "Excellent."

Gaster pulled the first paper toward me. Scanning it, I could tell it was English. But at a glance I couldn't read it. "The first spell is 'Transferendum'. You know what that means?"

I squinted at the ground in thought. "It means translate doesn't it?"

"Yep! All you gotta do is tap the page with your wand and say transferendum and it'll translate the page into a language you can read. Try it out"

I stepped up to the paper and switched my wand into my right hand. "Transferendum!" I repeated, tapping the paper with my wand.

I watched in awe as the words transformed before my eyes. One by one they rearranged themselves into French. My eyes widened.

"Now you just gotta know the reverse spell. To translate your papers back into English. You know what 'Lingua inversa' means?"

This one took a little bit of effort. "Reverse...language?"

"Kids a natural" Gaster praised. "Good job kid. Same thing. Tap the page and say the spell." Gaster instructed, pulling the other page towards me. "Go ahead"

I tapped the page. "Lingua inversa" I repeated. The page, which was written in Irish, transformed and shifted until it was English.

"Amazing" I whispered.

"Man. If you're fascinated by that wait til you see what else magic can do" Gaster said, nodding approvingly. "You're gonna do amazing at this school, kiddo. You'll love it here"

"Ready to go to bed, kiddo?" Mom asked.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep" I muttered.

"Well good because we've got a little bit more to show you" Puns said. He finally stood up off the wall. "Let's roll"

The three of us went back down the terrifying spiral staircase and walked through some corridors. Mom lead the way into the dungeon, and from there into his office.

Moms office was off the side of the potions classroom. On the other side of his office was a wide apartment-like space.  It had beds for both my guardians as well as the couch that they had assured me I could sleep on if I needed to. There was a door that lead to some stairs that went to Puns's office. And he told that in his office were stairs up to the astronomy tower. I let my mouth fall open as I took it all in. It all still amazed me. I didn't think I'd ever get used to it.

We exited through the potion door and Puns took the lead as we walked down the corridor to a large green panel in the wall with a silver snake painted on it.

To my shock the snake reared it's head at us. "Password?" It hissed.

"Rottweiler" Puns said. In front of my eyes, the wall wavered and vanished. It gave way to a wide room with a roaring fireplace, a huge dark window, and a number of couches and tables.

"This is your common room, Moonchild. We're underneath the Great Lake, as you can see" he said, motioning to the window. I gasped as a giant fish swam by. "Up those stairs to the right should be your bedroom if I remember correctly. But for now you can just enjoy it"

Asriel approached us from the couch closest to the door. "Evening once again, Comics. Chara, welcome to the Slytherin common room. Your stuff is in the first year girl's bedroom upstairs. I'd get up there and see what bed is left if I were you" he chuckled.

I shook my head and went towards the window. I watched in pure bliss as all sorts of sea creatures swam in the murky water. Behind me I faintly heard mom apologizing to Asriel, explaining that I love nature and animals.

A hand on my shoulder made me turn and I came face to face with my mother.

"Be good, alright? And come get us if you need us" He encouraged. I nodded. I pulled away from the window to give him a hug. "I love you kiddo"

"I love you too" I whispered.

Neither one of us said it, but we knew why the other one was nervous. It was my first night having to sleep alone since I had been adopted. I always had the choice of going to his room before but now there were other kids and teachers who could find me babyish for not wanting sleep alone.

I swallowed my fear and let my stubborn pride take hold. Mom broke the hug. Puns wasn't much of a hugger but he nodded his support. I returned the nod and my guardians left the common room.

I climbed the right staircase and found a door with a silver 1 on it. I pushed it open and flinched at the sight.

3 other girls were in the room, sitting on the four-postered, white beds. All the beds were made with rich green duvets and pillows. I drank in the sight before even looking at anyone else.

Every bed had a dresser, a small desk, and a bookshelf next to it. A small white door was off to the side. It probably lead to the lavatory. The windows were wide and looked out into the inky darkness of the lake. Each window was bordered by green curtains.

I looked around at the girls in the room. They were staring at me. I didn't say anything as I moved to the only empty bed in the room, where a Chausette was asleep. I picked her up and quickly began petting her, wanting the softness of her fur to ease my anxiety.

"You're Chara aren't you?" A girl with chocolate brown hair asked me. I nodded and kept looking at my cat. "Your eyes are weird"

"Oh be quiet, Dana." A girl was honey-blonde hair said. "Don't mind her, she's a waste of oxygen. I'm Evelyn."

"Hey wait, you're the Comic daughter. Chariana!" Dana chimed in again.

"Don't call me that. No one. Calls me that. My name is Chara" I mumbled.

"Touchy aren't we?" Dana said with a smug grin.

"Cross me and I will knock your teeth in so fast you'll shit them out in two hours" I snapped.

"That's enough. We can all be civil, can't we?" Said the last girl. Her hair was short and mousy brown. "Dana, stop teasing. Call her Chara like she says. Chara, I'd suggest you stop threatening people"

"I don't know who you are but I don't take orders from anyone." I retorted, snapping my head to look at her. As I spoke I felt the red liquid drip down from my eye. I let it happen. "If we're gonna be roommates for the next seven years or whatever then you three had better learn not to try and control me."

"Audrey, leave the girl alone" Evelyn said, rolling her eyes. "Dana was aggravating her".

I stayed quiet. I tried not to think how disappointed mom would be if he knew I was getting into fights with my roommates on the first night. He wanted me to make friends."

As Dana and Audrey moved to put away their belongings, Evelyn moved closer to me. "Cute cat. What's it's name?"

"Her name is Chausette" I said quietly. "It's French for sock".

"Cute"

I took a deep breath. "I don't mean to be rude but I'm not one for small talk."

Evelyn blinked. "Oh. Okay. I get that." She turned away and knelt by her trunk. I set Chausette down and unpacked my own.

******************************

Later that night I cursed my brain for not letting me sleep. I was up and sitting on the windowseat, watching the merpeople swim past the window and waving to them as they passed.

I didn’t know how I was going to survive in this place. I held in the urge to cry as I stared at the open water.

I thought Hogwarts was going to be amazing. And in most aspects it was. But these girls were insufferable.

I had no idea how to be friends with anyone.

Notes:

Two chapters in 24 hours who the fuck am I

Chapter 6: Confrontation

Summary:

Chara experiences potions and gay

I knocked on Mom's office door after my first morning of classes. He let me in and I promptly groaned and leaned over with my face in the chair. He chuckled.

"Tired?"

"Barely slept" I admitted.

Mom frowned. "That's not good. Should've come and gotten a potion"

"I didn't know that was still an option".

"Of course it is. In fact it's even more of an option now that I've got my entire supply store here"

I shrugged. "I'll keep that in mind next time"

Mom nodded, seemingly accepting that answer. "Ready for your first potion class?" He asked me.

"I think so" I said. "I've helped you with enough potions that I know what to expect. And it's not like you would give us something volatile our first class"

Mom chuckled again. "Yeah you're right about that. A Cure For Boils Potion is hardly volatile, but still gets complicated if you're not paying attention. And this is where a lot of rivalries reveal themselves. Because this potion is so hard to mess up, kids who do mess up are the ones I keep an eye on all year. So a lot of kids try and sabotage each other so I'll have to keep an eye on their enemies."

I frowned. "That better not happen to me"

"I'm sure it won't kiddo. I'm going to be very surprised if anything goes wrong with your potion. But I better not hear of you trying to sabotage anyone else either."

I nodded. "I would never."

The bell in the clock tower struck one, and Mom waved me out into the classroom attached to the office, where the other first year Slytherins had largely crowded to the right side. The first year Hufflepuffs were on the left. I was waved over by Evelyn, who I begrudgingly sat with. Anything to not sit with Dana.

Mom was leaning against his desk at the front of the room, his eyes scanning the room and looking at each of us in turn.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to your first ever potions class. To those of you that forgot, my name is Professor Comic. Not be confused with my brother, who you call Professor C. He is the Astronomy teacher, who I believe the Hufflepuffs have had already?" There was a murmur of agreement among the Hufflepuffs. I noticed the pink-eyed girl from the boats was looking around wide-eyed, not seeming to pay attention.

"Unlike your other classes there won't be much wand waving here. Many potions will require a wand movement over the cauldron, but the majority of this class consists of weighing and measuring ingredients, cutting or crushing them, and learning to stir cauldrons. There is an art to stirring cauldrons, I can assure you that. Now if you would please set up your cauldrons."

I reached into my bag and pulled out the potions set I was given. Mom insisted that I have the best set of basics I could possibly get. I had silver scales, where everyone else had brass, and my phials were in excellent condition. My cauldron was collapsible, and also silver, and I felt several pairs of eyes burn into me as I set up my supplies.

Mom caught my eye with a smile. "As usual my daughter is one step ahead of me. If you all would look at Miss Comic's setup you'll see exactly how you need to have things set up. Cauldron in front of you, ladle and knife to the side of your dominant hand, parchment and quill close by," he caught my eye again when he said that, and I quickly dug out my parchment and a quill and ink pot. "and your scales and phials at the far edge of your workable. You should have plenty of room for all of this at your tables. You most likely will not need your textbook but keep in nearby for reference purposes." Mom flicked his wand and we watched as a piece of chalk floated up and wrote out a set of instructions on the board.

"Please follow these instructions to the best of your ability. If you need help please call me over"

Panic overloaded my brain for a solid minute. I couldn't read the instructions. And I couldn't translate the board because then no one else would be able to! I tried desperately to catch Mom's eye.

He grabbed a paper off his desk and handed it to me. "I wrote out the instructions for you separately so you can translate" he whispered.

"Thank you" I whispered. As he walked away I made quick work of the translation spell, noticing Dana glaring at me.

Her hand shot up. "Professor Comic!"

Mom whirled around and started walking towards her. "Yes Miss Remirez?"

"You shouldn't be giving Chara special treatment. She should have to read the instructions off the board like everyone else"

"Miss Remirez my daughter has been given special permission by the Headmaster to translate texts into a language she can read easily until she is more confident in English"

Dana quickly shrunk back.

I followed the instructions as closely as I could, occasionally having to call Mom over when something just didn't translate correctly. He patiently explained what it meant and I was fine.

By the time I finished the potion my potion was emitting pink smoke. I stared wide-eyed as Mom hurried to my table. I looked up at him to find he was grinning.

"Ladies and gentlemen if you would look this way, if you've done everything correctly your cauldron should be smoking pink just like this"
Dana glared at me again behind his back. He turned back to me. "Good job kiddo. Put it in a phial, label it with your name and put it on my desk".

I did as he said and then returned to my table to pack up my things. I watched in silence as Mom helped other kids who called for him, and one by one the other kids put their phials on the desk.

When everyone had turned in their potion Mom stood at his desk tonight. "You all did very good today. I hope we have an excellent year together. Class dismissed. Chara if you would stay behind a minute? You're not in trouble."

I carried my school bag up to the front of the room and waited at his desk as he saw everyone out. Then he turned to me. "Is there something going on between you and Dana Remirez?"

I sighed. "We got in an argument last night and she just hates me ever since"

"An argument?" He asked. "About what?"

I shrugged. "She doesn't like my eyes and she called me a freak"

He frowned. "We're still going to have to do some testing with those eyes of yours."

Speaking of my bright red eyes, I rolled them at that statement. "Yeah yeah"

A clatter in the corridor interrupted his inevitable lecture on how I couldn't brush stuff off. "Get off!" I heard a girl's voice squeak.

I shot mom a look. He returned it. We both ducked into the corridor to observe the scene.

Dana had pushed the Ellis girl with the pink eyes to the ground, spilling her school-bag in the process.

Acting on instinct I put myself between Dana and the girl. I quickly drew my wand, aiming it at Dana. "Leave her alone, Remirez!" I snapped. "She didn't do shit to you!"

Dana blinked, startled by my words.

"Dana Remirez, detention this afternoon!" Mom barked, causing me to flinch. I had forgotten he was behind me.

As Dana walked away for fear of further punishment, I held my hand out to the Ellis girl. "Hey are you okay?"

Startled and most certainly dazed, the girl took my hand, her soft pink eyes meeting mine with a slight gasp. "Y-yeah. I'm alright." I pulled her to her feet and then bent back down to pick up her stuff. "Y-you don't have to-"

"Don't be silly." I cut her off. "Dana's a bitch. It's the least I could do" I said, putting her books back into her bag. "Here you go."

She took the bag from me and slung it over her shoulder, still wide-eyed. "Th-thank you."

I smiled, feeling a little guilty that I had probably startled her. "I'm Chara." I offered.

"L-Lenore." She stuttered. "Lenore Ellis."

"Lenore? That's beautiful."

Lenore blushed, evidentially not sure what to say. She opened her mouth to respond, but the clock tower struck 2 and she paled and ran off.

I blinked and turned around to Mom. "What just happened?"

He was smirking. "What do you mean?"

I paused. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Many things, child". He answered, patting my shoulder. "Many things. Come sleep in our quarters tonight”

Chapter 7: Rising

Summary:

Chara experiences flight and even more gay

I stumbled into my guardian's living quarters, absolutely exhausted from the day. "Why'd you guys want me in here?" I asked.

Puns was sitting on the couch grinning wildly. "Welcome".

I squinted at him. "Ominous as fuck greeting"

Mom came out of his bedroom. "Hello kiddo"

"Why are both of you being ominous?" I asked.

Puns patted the middle seat of the couch and I sat down. Mom sat down on the other side of me. I hated his position. It always meant that it was serious conversation time and they weren't gonna let me escape.

"You met Lenore today?" Puns started.

I shrugged. "Dana was being a bitch. I just helped Lenore up"

"That don't explain why you were blushing" Mom said.

"I was not blushing!" I snapped, sounding more defensive than I meant to. "I would never blush at a girl!"

Puns burst out laughing. "I knew it! You have a crush on her!"

I felt my face heating up despite my wishes. "I do not!"

Mom chuckled. "Kiddo, I know you. I saw that look in your eye when you two made eye contact. And I saw both of your faces turn about as pink as her eyes" he teased, leaning closer to me"

I shoved him back. "Oh fuck off, I do not have a crush, I barely know her"

Puns shrugged. "That doesn't mean you don't find her attractive"

I sputtered. "But... She just.. I just...!"

"Don't have an answer do you?" Mom smirked. "Kiddo it's alright"

"No it's not! She's a girl! I can't have a crush on a girl!"

"So you DO have a crush!" Puns cheered.

I grabbed a throw pillow off the couch and screamed into it. My guardians laughed.

Mom put a hand on my shoulder. "Kiddo. It's alright for a girl to like another girl. There's nothing wrong with it. Please don't think there's something wrong with you".

I kept my face in the pillow. "What so I even do about it?" I asked the fabric.

"Well you got two options" Came Puns's voice. "You can shoot your shot or you can suffer in silence."

"Shoot my shot?"

"You want to?"

"Maybe? I don't even know what it means" I groaned.

"Kiddo it just means to tel her you like her" Mom explained. "If she likes you back maybe something will come of if, if not that's okay".

I looked up at him. "My parents said girls can't like other girls!"

"Your parents also thought you were the spawn of Satan" Puns said. "And they're dead. We are your family now. It's our opinion that matters".

I sighed. I didn't have a response anymore. "Why did you want me to sleep in here tonight?"

Mom shrugged. "Partially to tease you about your crush. Partially to make sure you were alright after your first day of classes".

I nodded. "I'm fine. Just tired."

"You've got astronomy with me tomorrow. First thing"

I grinned. "I'm so fucking excited. You got me a really good telescope"

"Yeah well. I know how you are about the stars. You've also got flying tomorrow."

Mom's face fell. "I forgot about that. Promise me you'll be careful?"

"I promise"  I said.

He sighed in relief. "Alright. Well let's get this couch made up for you. You gotta be up bright and early to climb that astronomy tower."

**************************

Astronomy class the next morning went painlessly enough, not that I expected it to be difficult. Puns taught us how to set up our telescopes and we had a little contest to see which constellations and planets we could already name. I would've won but a Ravenclaw boy named Quinn O'Connery named one more planet. Not that I cared. It was only 5 points to his house.

On my way to Flying I ran into Lenore, who was hurrying the same direction I was. An older kid slammed into her and she squeaked. I grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

"Woah!"

"Thanks" she whispered, and I smiled in return.

"Are you going to flying class?" I asked, falling into step beside her. She gulped and nodded. "What are you afraid of?"

"Flying. It's dangerous. What if I fall off the broom?" She gasped, her face paling.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "The teacher won't let you fall."

"How do you know?"

I smiled warmly, hoping it calmed her. "He's my uncle."

We made it to the trining grounds, where my uncle Papyrus was waiting. I had only met him once, and the visit was cut short abruptly by an incident that involved a lot of shouting. Still, he gave me a wave as I walked onto the field with Lenore at my side.

"Hello first years! I believe I have Slytherins and Hufflepuffs with me today, including my darling niece! Nyeh!" I gave him a small smile. "Now! Let us proceed with today's lesson!"

**************************

By the end of the flying lesson, Lenore was only slightly less terrified of flying. We hadn't actually been in the air yet, so I could see why the prospect still scared her.

As I slunk into my mother's chambers that night  to make a cup of tea, I finally worked up the nerve.

"Mother?"

"Hm?" He responded, looking up from his book. "Yeah?"

"What can you tell me about Lenore?"

Mom smirked and shut his book. "Well. I can tell you she's a muggleborn, and she's very quiet, like you. But while your quiet is derived from lack of interest, hers is because she's afraid She's very skittish, and I fear her home life is not the best. Unfortunately, I have no way to prove it. Why are you asking questions, kiddo?”

I shrugged, hoping my face wasn’t turning pink. “She just seems so afraid of everything.”

Mom nodded solemnly. “You used to be the same way when we found you on the streets.” He reminded me.

I blinked slowly, his words echoing over and over in my mind. “Because I was abused- Oh. Oh no. Oh god no.”

“I know kid. We have no proof that the same thing is happening to her, but we have to take comfort that she’s away from whoever hurt her right now.”

“Do you think I should talk to her about it?”

Mom shook his head. “Not unless she brings it up first. Chara, what she really needs right now is a friend.”

I nodded. I had no idea how to be a friend. But I could figure it out.

**************************

By our potions class the next day, Lenore often looked my way. I did my best to keep my eyes on my cauldron, carefully looking over mom’s shoulder as he helped me translate.

“Class dismissed!” Mom announced as the clock struck 2. “Enjoy the sunshine today, no enjoy your first weekend.”

I quickly picked up my things, looking up to mom o see if he wanted to talk. When I got no hint, I took that as a change to catch up with Lenore.

“Hey Lenore?” She looked at me, her big, pink eyes wide. “I’m gonna go for a walk by the lake. Do you wanna come with?”

Lenore looked shyly at the ground, then back up at me with a tinge of pink on her face. “Yeah!”

Chapter 8: Murky

Summary:

Chara experiences her first kiss

Mom hadn't lied. The sun was shining brightly. The Black Lake glittered in the shining light. As many times as I had seen its murky depths in the common room, it was different to see it in the sun.

"So." I said, trying to strike up a conversation with as little awkward tension as possible. "What's your favourite class so far?"

I slowed my stride slightly so Lenore would have an easier time matching my steps. "Herbology." She said . "Easy to remember plants, and no risk of wrong spells."

"Are you that worried about messing up the spells?"

"Of course!" She gasped. "My stepmother says that a wrong spell can kill someone!"

I blinked, taken by surprise. "Well, I mean, in some cases yes. But we're first years. They aren't gonna teach us anything too volatile."

"Volatile?" She asked. "What's that mean?"

I paused, trying to think how to put this into words. I had two speech patterns. Vocabulary of a university student, and vocabulary of a 4 year old child. "Something that's volatile can kill you." I explained simply. Lenore blinked those wide pink eyes at me.

"So not every spell can kill you?"

I shook my head. "Of course not. Are you afraid of magic?" Lenore nodded. "But magic is so wonderful!"

"It is?"

"It is. Ive watched my mother make potions that cured the flu, that kept bath water hot, and added new flavors to sweets. I've seen Puns use a magic telescope to zoom in so far on the moon that you can see each individual crater."

"Why do you call him mom?" She asked me suddenly. "The potions teacher, I mean. Isn't he dad?"

I shook my head. "No, he's always been mom. I didn't have a great relationship with my birth father. So I didn't want a dad again. I wanted a mom."

Lenore nodded solemnly, sitting on the grass on the bank of the Black Lake. "I understand. My stepmom nod I don't have a good relationship either."

I joined her next to the water, feeling the soft blades of grass brush against my legs. "What do you mean?" I prompted.

The small girl sighed, pulling her knees up to my chest. "She married my dad for his money, and she doesn't care about me or him at all. She wishes I was out of the house so she could have him to herself."

I shuffled closer to her, trying to be any form of support. "Does she say anything to you?"

"She calls me bad names, says she wishes I wasn't born. When she drinks from the weird brown bottles she hits me sometimes"

I felt my hands tighten into fists. "You know she shouldn't do that right?"

Lenore nodded nod went back to staring at the glittering water. It seemed the conversation was over. I had to admit the water looked gorgeous.

I found my thoughts getting the better of me for the millionth time in my life. How bad was this hitting she talked about? Did her stepmother only drink from the 'weird brown bottles' occasionally or was she a drunk? How many years had she been dealing with her? How did she know this woman was a gold digger?

My thoughts were quickly interrupted by her mumbled voice. "Everything glitters in the sunlight."

I smiled despite myself. "Yeah. Being in the common room, I've seen the lake a thousand times, but it's so different seeing the surface instead of the depths. But nothing can compare to watching sea creatures float past the giant windows." As I spoke, I felt her eyes bore into me, hung on my every word. "They look like creatures you'd only hear about in pirate stories, but they're real, they're right there on the other side of the glass."

"My father wants to take me to the ocean" She said, as the sparkle began to die from her eyes. "I don't know if we'll ever get to with stepmother around."

I looked around, searching for anything to put a smile on her face. I found a small pile of stones and picked one up. I launched it into the water, watching it skip across the surface before sinking down to the bottom.

"How do you do that?" She asked in awe. I grinned and reached back down to the pile, handing her a smooth flat rock. I put it in her hand and wrapped my hand around hers.

I directed her, helping her move her hand in the right motion to fling the rock onto the surface. It skipped a few times before sinking to join mine at the bottom.

We continued for longer than I normally would care to admit, the pile slowly dwindling as we continued to bounce across the surface of the glimmering water.

Until she got too excited and hit herself in the face with a rock.

Working quickly I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to where our stuff was. I pulled a handkerchief out of my bed and used it to wipe away the blood before the tears forming in her soft pink eyes could fall. "Are you alright?" I asked softly.

"Mmhmm. Thanks" She whispered. I used the tiny piece of fabric to wipe the last bit of blood off her lip.

In the moment I'm not sure what came over me. Her glassy eyes in the mid-day sun, her sleek black hair blowing in the afternoon breeze. My heart was pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears, and all I could look at was the small scab forming on the edge of her lower lip.

Every part of my mind was screaming. No, what are you doing! She's a girl, this is wrong! But I didn't listen to my panicked thoughts. I leaned forward and plunged my lips into hers.

I got the faint taste of strawberry lip gloss before I pulled away in a panic. All we could do was stare at each other, neither of us quite sure what just happened. I watched the colour rise to her face, and I knew by the burning sensation that mine was also turning red.

“I uh. I should p-probably get back to th-the common r-room.” She stammered.

“R-Right.” I stuttered back, rubbing the back of my neck. “Do you want me to walk you-“

But she was gone, taking off back into the castle as fast as her short legs could carry her. I stood up, brushing the grass off my uniform trousers and gathering up my bag. Although I stayed calm on the outside, my mind was racing. What had I just done? Had I just ruined any chance of getting to know her? God I felt so fucking stupid.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and turned towards the building, only to find my guardians staring at me.

“You uh. You wanna talk about that?” Puns asked, crossing his arms. Mom didn’t say anything but he was grinning so wide I thought he was about to burst into a West End musical number.

I turned on my heel and bolted for it. Nope. Not today emotions. Not today.

Chapter 9: Torture

Summary:

Chara experiences a panic attack

Dinner that night was torture. If I looked around it seemed like everyone knew what I had done. I had kissed a girl.

I shook the thought from my head. Even as I ate I could feel my guardian's eyes boring into me from the teacher's table.

There was a screech as Chasity soared into the room, utterly confusing everyone. I heard various whispers from around the room, observing that mail only came at breakfast. I put my head down on the table as my family's owl dropped a notecard in front of me. When the excitement of the room dissipated and no one was paying attention, I picked up the notecard and withdrew my wand. I made quick work of translating and read the card

Come to our room tonight
-Mama.

I swallowed hard as I scrunched up the note and crammed it into my robe. The short message held so much fear to me. I stole a glance at the teacher's table to see Mom staring at me. I scanned his face for any signs of anger. But there was only concern. I broke eye contact to stare down at my half empty plate. Then as quickly as I could, I pushed up from the table and glided through the doors to the grand staircase. I climbed them two at a time, no longer caring if I drew attention to myself.

I hurried into the Slytherin dorm and raced up to my dorm room as quick as I could. I was grateful for the emptiness as I shoved into the bathroom and kneeled over the toilet.

The small amount of food I had eaten released itself into the bowl. I gagged. The door opened behind me. "Go away!" I snarled.

A hand touched my back and I flinched hard. "Chara?"

I pulled my head up and turned to see Evelyn, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Are you alright? Do I need to get your mom?"

I shook my head violently. "He'll think I did it on purpose" I said before I could stop myself.

Evelyn's eyes went wide. "He'll think you threw up on purpose...?"

I shook my head. "Forget it". I snapped. I stood up and wiped my mouth off with a fistful of toilet paper. I flushed the evidence of my upset stomach and hurried back down to the common room and then out into the corridor.

I knew I wouldn't be able to escape. So I decided to get it over with. I let myself into Mom's office and from there into their chambers. I sat down in the high-backed office chair and stared at the mess of graded essays.

***************************

By the time Mom came in I was slumped over on his desk. He made short work of gathering me into his arms and carrying me to the couch, where Puns was already waiting for us.

"Evelyn told me you threw up" he whispered, running his hand through my hair. I couldn't do anything except nod into his shoulder. "She also told me you didn't want me to think you did it on purpose. I know you didn't, don't worry about that. Did we freak you out?"

I shook my head. "I did something bad" I whispered.

This got Puns's attention and he shuffled closer to us. "What did you do kid?"

I shook my head and buried my face in Mom's shoulder. "Don't make me say it".

"Is this about you kissing Lenore?"  I flinched. "I'll take that as a yes." Mom pushed me back to arm's length so he could look me in the eye. "Chara, listen to me please. Are you listening?" I nodded slowly. "I know you're freaked out. But you didn't do anything wrong. I know you like this girl a lot. There's nothing wrong with that."

"But it's wrong!" I cried before I could help it. "I'm not supposed to like anyone, especially not girls!" 

Puns blinked at me, amazed by my words. "Kid! There's nothin wrong with havin feelings for someone. Doesn't matter if it's another girl. That's normal."

I shook my head. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. It was wrong. It was against God-

"Kiddo, listen to me" Mom's voice dropped to a whisper. "There is nothing wrong with you. Do you hear me? Nothing. You're a wonderful kid. The fact that you're gay doesn't change that".

I flinched hard at that word. It was as bad as any curse word to my birth parents. "I'm not!"

"Maybe you aren't. You don't know yet. You're young. You're still figuring yourself out. And that's okay. But if you like a girl you like a girl, kiddo. That's all there is to it."

"But the Bible-"

Puns silenced me with a hand on my shoulder. "I know what your birth parents taught you. But they were wrong. They were wrong about a lot of things. And they aren't here to tell you what to do".

I didn't have a response for him. I layed on Mom's shoulder, just trying to calm my own nerves.

“Sorry if we freaked you out kid”

“It’s okay” I mumbled. I pulled my head back from his shoulder and looked around the room. I relaxed when I remembered it was Friday. I didn’t have classes the next two days.

“Did you manage to eat anything before you threw up?”

I nodded, suppressing a yawn. “A little. I’m not that hungry.”

Mom stood up from the couch with me in his arms. “It’s getting late. You don’t have class tomorrow so you can sleep in alright?”

I nodded sleepily. “I didnt realize how tired I was”. Normally I would protest being carried. But I was pretty out of it so I just let it happen. No one was going to see anyway.

*************************
I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in a cold sweat. I looked frantically around the room to confirm that my insane parents weren’t there about to strangle me for kissing a girl.

“They’re dead” I whispered. “They’re dead. I killed them and they’re dead”.

I untangled myself from the blankets and padded into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I looked towards mom’s bedroom door, but I shook it off.

I didn’t need him to keep worrying about me.

Chapter 10: Purity

Summary:

Chara experiences secrets and rumors

I sat alone with my thoughts on the lawn the next day. So much had happened in just three days of classes. I cracked open my journal and tried to write it down.

So here I am. Hogwarts. The school I've been hoping I could go to for an entire year and I finally got in.

And right now everything sucks.

Classes are fine. Great actually. I think I'm going to do really well in that regard. But this whole friendship thing is hard. Talking to people is impossible when you feel like you're saying everything wrong and you're not even sure you're speaking the right language to begin with.

And then Lenore Ellis. God where do I start with her? I feel like she's avoiding me. I can't exactly blame her.

"Can I sit?" I flinched at the sudden voice. I hadn't heard footsteps. I looked up to see the O'Connery boy from my Astronomy class. I nodded and vaguely motioned to the spot next to me. He sat.

"Quinn, right?"

"Yeah. And you're Chara."

"You're the one who beat me at the competition we had" I remembered. He sort of laughed.

"Hey you gave me a real good fight".

I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He was pretty bulky. Definitely had some muscle in his arms, but also hadn't outgrown his baby fat. He had messy, mousy brown hair that fell in his eyes. Despite his gruff appearance he was submissive in nature, keeping his voice low and avoiding eye contact with me.

"I grew up looking at the sky" I said absently. I hated awkward silence.

"And living with the astronomy teacher you'd know all about the stars"

I shrugged. "I've only lived with the Comics for a year. I've been looking at the sky for much longer".

"I wanted to ask if you were okay last night. You ran out of the Hall looking sick to your stomach".

I nodded. "You could say that. I just didn't feel well. I'm alright now" I lied.

"Well that's good"

I lied backwards on the grass, letting the blades slip through my fingertips.

"Is the view better down here?" Quinn asked. I looked over to see he had joined me in laying down.

I grinned. "Guess so". I looked up at the clouds rolling overhead in the afternoon sky.

"So I guess the night sky isn't all you watch" he remarked.

"Clouds are just constellations made of water vapor"

We fell into silence before he made a little 'huh' noise.

We still hadn't said another word to each other by the time the lunch bell sounded. We silently got up and fell into stride next to each other walking towards the Hall.

But I didn't mind the silence for once.

***************************

“You’ve got rumors goin about you” Asriel told me in the common room as I sat by the window watching the fish.

“Huh?”

“People are talking, Chara. And it’s not good.”

“What are they saying?”

“Some folks are saying you kissed the Ellis girl from Hufflepuff”

I swallowed hard and tried to maintain my composure. I kept my voice cool, trying to act nonchalant. “Is that all?”

“They’re also saying you’re a blood traitor, Chara.”

Now THAT threw me off guard. “What the hell is blood traitor supposed to mean?”

“Slytherin has been known for centuries for being the house of purebloods. We don’t know who your parents are. So no one knows your blood status”.

I raised an eyebrow. “I’ll tell you who my birth parents were. Awful fucking people. So it doesn’t matter what my blood status is. I’m clearly a witch or I wouldn’t be at this school at all. And I’m clearly a Slytherin or else I wouldn’t be sitting in this common room”.

I made a mental note to talk to Puns about the history of our house. I didn’t like the sound of ‘blood traitor’.

“Chara, they’re going to assume you’re a mudblood”

On the outside I remained calm. Stoic almost. But internally I was recoiling. I knew that word. Mudblood.

“What does it matter? I’m a Slytherin. Nothing can change that” I said, trying to brush off this whole thing.

I made a quick show of rummaging in my bag and grabbing a random piece of paper. “I have to go talk to my guardian about some homework” I said hurriedly and then rushed into the corridor.

***************************

“Yes. Our house hasn’t been great with inclusiveness in the past. But even though ya didn’t believe it yourself, what you said was true. Your parents don’t matter anymore. You’re a witch. And a Slytherin witch at that. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. And don’t use that word again.” Puns ranted. I blinked, slightly shocked by the sudden lecture.

“Kiddo, you have probably had the worst first week of term of any student I know” Mom chuckled. “And the week was only three days”

I smiled slightly, trying to play off my spiraling thoughts. There was too much going into my head at once. I looked around trying to distract myself. I finally noticed what mom was doing. Going through what looked like a file folder.

“What are you doing mom?”

“Mmm”. He hummed. “Just going over your medical files from your parents.”

I squinted and tilted my head. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Just making sure there’s nothing we missed. Always good to double check. Why don’t you take a nap kiddo?”

 

***************************

It was a good nap. One of those naps where you don’t know where you are when you wake up. I blinked and darted my eyes around.

I was still in the living room on the couch. The main light had been replaced with lamps and the fireplace was crackling softly. The room was warm.

Somewhere in the room I could hear my guardians talking. Behind the couch I was on, probably in the back corner by moms desk.

“How did we miss this?”

“I don’t know! We gotta tell her somehow”

“We can’t. Not yet. At least until we have a better handle on what it means”

“I hate that this explains so much”

“We’re gonna tell her Sans. Just not yet. We have research to do”

The two of them went quiet for a minute before footsteps started approaching the couch. I closed my eyes and decided the safest course of action was to pretend to be asleep.

Now even my family was hiding things from me?

Chapter 11: Dusk

Summary:

Chara experiences a diagnosis

I stretched and sat up as if I had just woken up, even though I hadn't actually slept. Mom was at his desk, leafing through a book. I furrowed my brow slightly. Whatever they were doing research on, I didn't like.

I shifted my weight so the springs in the couch would squeak, alerting mom. He closed the book quietly, but quickly, and turned around.

"Have a good nap?" He chuckled. I nodded, even though it was a downright lie. "Dinner is in half an hour." He informed me. I nodded again and stood up, letting the bones in my body crack.

I heard a cringe and looked over to find Puns looking disgusted. "You humans are wierd"

I rolled my eyes. "We get it, you're a humanoid skeleton, DAD. ", I said, enunciating the last word so it would drip with sarcasm.

To my shock Puns froze in place for a second. His eyres flicked to me and then to mom, who was staring back in just as much shock. I blinked. I thought he would assume sarcasm.

He shook his head and continued. "So you know how you wondered why your mom had to go through your medical files?"

I nodded, slightly nervous. "Anxiety and depression, we knew that. Anger issues-"

"Not anger issues" he cut me off. "We thought it was. It's something else"

Mom sputtered. "Puns are you sure we should be telling her this?"

But Puns nodded. "You know she's gonna do nothing but pester us".

He turned back to me and took a long, deep breath.

"Chara. Do you know what autism is?"

***************************

I slammed the door to the Slytherin chambers, grateful for the silence of the empty space.

I threw myself onto the bed. It was foreign, because despite it being mine I had only slept in it once since I arrived.

I lay facedown on the bed, panting. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Puns claiming I had autism? I couldn’t. There was no way.

Autistic people were awkward and clumsy and rocked back and forth. Not me.

The bell in the clocktower struck six times, signaling supper. I was anything but hungry, but if I didn’t eat they’d just come looking for me again.

I sunk to the floor with all the gracefulness of a newborn giraffe and stumbled out and down the corridor to the grand staircase. I slipped into the crowd of people headed to the Great Hall and filed in until I was at my table.

I ate in silence. Refusing to look at anyone or speak to anyone. Refusing to call any attention to myself. I picked at my food more than I ate it. And despite not looking in the direction, I could feel Mom’s eyes bore a hole into me.

I slid down from the bench and hurried back down to my dungeon quarters to lock myself in again.

But I was too late. Dana was already sitting on her bed, playing with Chausette. MY Chausette.

I snatched my cat up as quick as I could and cradled her, glaring at Dana.

“Well look who finally decided not to sleep in Mommy and Daddy’s bed anymore” she sneered. I shook off her words and put Chausette on my bed. “Too good to sleep with your fellow Slytherins?”

I balled my hands into tight fists, facing the wall. I refused to let her win but I didn’t know what to do. Mother would be disappointed if I got into a fistfight so soon.

“Cant you hear me you autistic freak?”

I whirled on her so fast. “Who told you?”

“It’s obvious. You’re wierd and you don’t like anyone? You’re obsessed with your telescope? You always get special treatment?”

At that moment I couldn’t be held responsible for my anger. I lunged at the Puerto Rican girl and clocked her in the nose.

She stumbled backwards, clutching her face. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

Before I could process what the hell I just did, she ran at me.

What happened next was a blur of hair pulling, nails scratching, kicks, hits and punches.

“What is the meaning of this?!” A booming voice thundered as a blue haze washed over the room, abruptly stopping the fight.

Assuming the worst, I turned my head and raised my hands in surrender, terrified at the sight of my guardians in the doorway. Moms hand shimmered blue, the same icy blue magic that surrounded my wrist. “Chariana. Front and center. Now” he growled.

I shuffled over to stand in front of him, refusing the look him in the eye. Puns advanced further into the room, standing in front of Dana.

“Miss Remirez what happened in here?”

“She was mocking me for sleeping in your room and then she called me an autistic freak. So I swung on her”

Puns raised an eyebrow at me. I just nodded silently.

“Is this true, Miss Remirez?”

Dana paled, realizing she was caught. “Uh. Maybe?”

Puns punched the nonexistent bridge of his nonexistent nose. “Go to the headmaster. I don’t have the energy for you”.

As Dana ran off, Mom switched his magical hold on my wrist to a physical hold.

“Chara what is going on with you?” He asked. “You ran off after your nap, you barely ate at dinner-“ I furrowed my brow. “Yeah, don’t think I didn’t see that. And now you’re getting into fistfights?!”

I writhed and struggled to get my arm out of his grip. I jerked my foot up and kicked him in the shin.

Mom’s grip on my wrist only tightened. “That’s enough of that” He pulled me in tighter so my head was against his chest and there was a bright flash of blue.

Chapter 12: Longing

Summary:

Chara experiences a diagnosis and a new friend

I wriggled violently in Mother's grasp. I didn't have to open my eyes to know he had Apparated us to the couch and was now holding me close, waiting for my little tantrum to end.

"Easy, easy" he whispered, rubbing up and down my back. "There's no reason to carry on like this".

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who's fucking autistic!" I snarled, pulling back from his shoulder.

Mom shushed me and pushed me back into his shoulder. "I know it's hard to process. It's okay. You don't have to process right away."

"It's all so unfair!"

"What is, Moonchild?" Puns finally spoke up.

"Lenore, this autism bullshit, everything!"

"Have you talked to Lenore?"

I shuffled uncomfortably. "No".

"Maybe you should. Tomorrow's Sunday. You've only got one more free day until you have classes again"

"Am I in trouble for fighting?"

Mom looked to Puns, who shook his head. "Not this time. I didn't punish Dana so I can't exactly punish you. But if this happens again, I can't say the same"

"Can you tell me why you ran off earlier?"

"Because yes I know what autism means"

"Okay, I get that. We tracked down a missing file from your medical records. It seems you were diagnosed with autism when you were about 2 and your parents did nothing about it".

I scoffed. "Imagine that. My shitty parents ignoring the fact that I'm mentally ill."

"Moonchild, I promise you it's nowhere near as bad as you're thinking. There's this stigma around autism. That its something to look down on or that you need to be treated like a child, or like a frightened animal. But really? You just need to keep being you. We'll figure out as we go." Puns said gently.

"Right. This doesn't change a thing" Mom assured, running a hand through my hair.

Puns shifted his gaze from me to the wall and took a deep breath. "Kid, I gotta ask you something."

I scooted off Mom's lap and looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Earlier this afternoon, I don't even know if you remember, but you... you called me dad."

I swallowed hard, my heart suddenly in my throat for a reason I couldn't pinpoint. "I... Remember." I confirmed.

"Have you been hanging out with Charm?"

I titled my head. "Who?"

***************************

I was looking at a girl who was about the same height as me. Her eyes and hair were both chocolate brown, and like me, she wore a Slytherin uniform.

"This is Charm" Puns said. "Ready for a story? Because we haven't been entirely honest with you. Ya see, your mom and I aren't actually brothers. The law of magic includes something called timelines. Different universes that run parallel to each other. My boss was a very experimental wizard, and he sorta fucked everything up. Your mom and I are technically the same person, just from different timelines."

I stared blankly at him. "I... have no reason not to believe you, and that scares me."

"That's a much better reaction than I was hoping for." He chuckled. "Well, Charm is... you. Just from a different timeline. My timeline."

I turned my attention back to the girl, who had her eyebrow furrowed as she looked at Puns. "Okay..... I don't understand what this has to do with me calling you Dad."

Puns sat down in his armchair. The girl huddled by the door, clearly keeping to herself. "Charm is a second year, but I've known her since she was, gosh, probably 6?" Charm nodded in response. "Ya see, she was adopted by the Toriel in our timeline. Uh, Professor Dreemurr?" I slowly nodded. "Yeah. Well I've been pretty close with her family for a long time, so I'd babysit, watch her when her parents had business trips, stuff like that. But when those business trips started getting longer and more frequent...." He looked to the girl by the door, clearly uncomfortable continuing.

"He took me in." Charm finished. "It was easier to live with him than try and work around my parents schedules. They aren't home much at all. Plus when I started having accidental magic, it became clear I was going to Hogwarts anyway."

"So if you live with Puns, why didn't I see you at all last year?"

"It was part of the deal my parents worked out. They were able to come home for holiday breaks so I went back to living with them. That way, Dad could focus on you."

I shifted in my seat, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable that I had taken this girl's guardian away from her for a year. Puns cleared his throat, snapping me out of my anxious thoughts. "I figured you two had already met, given that this one has been calling me dad for years."

I swallowed hard, the feeling of my heart being in my throat returning quickly. "It was just a joke, I'm sorry, I won't do it again-"

I was cut off from my rambling by Puns laughing. "Man, are you two sure you've never met because you are one and the same with your anxiety. That's the exact same reaction Charm had when she did it for the first time" I glanced over to Charm, who was nodding. "Kid, I don't mind it, not at all. You caught me off guard is all. If you wanna call me dad, you go right on ahead."

I couldn't speak. My brain was struggling with all the information it had been given. "It's too late for this."

Mom laughed. "Go on to bed. Charm you wanna crash down here for the night?"

The brown-eyed girl shrugged. "Might as well."

A door next to mine flung open. I had a bedroom down here but I usually ended up on the couch. I had never realized there was another bedroom. Charm wandered towards that door and sat on the bed inside. I mentally added that to the list of things I had to process and started to my room, only to be stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I turned to come face to face with Mom.

"Promise me you'll talk to Lenore in the morning."

I swallowed hard. It was a promise I wasn't sure I could keep, but I grit my teeth and lied. "I promise, mom."

***************************

I kicked the blankets off in the middle of the night. Despite it being cold down here, I tended to feel hot when my anxiety was bad. I cursed myself for making that stupid promise to Mom.

Wasn't there a way I could just pretend the Lenore situation never happened?

Chapter 13: Heat

Summary:

Chara experiences PURE GAY PANIC

I stared out the window into the lake, a cup of tea clutched in my hand. It was six AM, but I couldn't sleep. So I decided I wasn't going to try.

I heard shuffling behind me and I turned around. But it was only Charmx. That seemed to be what Puns called her. She was wearing a plush looking bathrobe and making her way to the kitchen.

"The water is still hot if you want tea" I said absentmindedly. I heard a squeak.

"I didn't realize anyone else was awake" she said quietly.

I shrugged. "I don't sleep much." We fell into silence besides the gentle shuffling sounds of her making tea and me sipping on my own warm drink.

Before long she was walking back into the parlor, holding her own steaming mug. "Mind if I join you?"

I scooted over on the window seat. Charmx sat and joined me.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

I felt my shoulders tense. I wasn't used to that. The idea of someone openly wanting to know about me. I coughed.

"What do you wanna know?"

Charmx shrugged. "How'd you come to meet Puns? And Sans too I guess"

I paused to take a sip of tea. "I was homeless. Living on the street. They caught me stealing from their trash can. I expected them to turn me in, but instead they took me in"

"How'd a young kid like you end up on the street?"

I shook my head. "I'd rather not talk about it. I lost my parents. That's all"

"I'm so sorry for your loss"

"I'm not" I muttered. Then I cleared my throat. "Hey look at that!" I said, pointing to the first sea creature outside the window that moved. I was desperate for a change of subject. Charmx followed my finger and I sighed in relief.

***************************

“You promised me you’d talk to Lenore today” Mom reminded me between drinks of coffee.

I grumbled. “I was really. Really hoping you’d forget about that” I admitted.

Mom chuckled. “I know. But ya know I don’t forget. So do it, okay?”

I sighed as I stood up from my seat and grabbed the door handle. “Fiiiiiine!”

I vanished out the door before they could laugh at me and headed up to the main floor of the school. I didn’t know where the hell I was supposed to look.

The Great Hall was empty except for the house elves cleaning, the hallways were far too intricate to search in any reasonable amount of time, and I wouldn’t be able to get into the Hufflepuff common room.

I found myself in the courtyard before long, sitting on the grass against the building. I prayed that Mom wouldn’t come out and see me. Last thing I needed was his joking nagging on me to find Lenore.

On the other hand, I almost needed him to come out here. To coach me. Tell me what to do. Give me any sort of guidance on what to say so that I wasn’t just flying blind.

But I didn’t have that. I was on my own. And clueless. I don’t like being clueless.

“God, could you be any more pathetic?”

I snapped my head up at the sound of Dana’s voice. I was about to bite back some sort of snobby retort, only to realize she wasn’t near me. Confused, I glanced around for the Latina.

I found her about 5 meters away, yelling at none other than the Hufflepuff with the soft pink eyes.

“Go back to your dorm, Huffle-freak!” The Latina girl snapped. I stood up.

“Remirez! The fuck you think you’re doing?” I called, rapidly walking towards the scene. “You got a problem with her?”

“What’s it to you, Comic?”

“You got a problem with her you got a problem with me, you hear?” I said, now close enough to get in her face.

Dana looked between me and Lenore, then raised her eyebrow and scoffed. “Should’ve known you were a fag” she spat, before turning on her heel and storming off.

My blood was boiling. My parents had always called people that disgusting word, and I never understood why it bothered me. Now that I might be one of them, I think I understand.

I shook away my feelings and turned back to Lenore, who was cowering. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I’m alright. Thank you” she said.

I swallowed saliva and cleared my throat. “Hey um. Can I talk to you?”

Lenore blinked. “Oh! Um. Sure!” She clasped her hands in front of her.

I took a deep breath. “About me kissing you, I’m so sorry, I just-“

“Whoa whoa whoa! Hey, it’s okay! You don’t have to apologize!”

Every thought in my brain came to a grinding halt. It was okay?! What the fuck?!

“But you’re- and I’m- we’re both-“

“Young?”

“Girls!” I blurted. I felt my face heat up, and I cursed my Irish heritage for giving me such pale skin.

Lenore paused, her eyes boring into mine with such intensity I almost had to look away. Then suddenly she was giggling. “That’s what you’re worried about? Chara, that’s okay!”

“It is?” I asked tentatively

“Of course it is! Chara, you don’t have to apologize! I like you too!”

“You- I- YOU WHAT?!”

Lenore stepped forward, closing the small distance between us. “I said I like you too!” She stretched up on tiptoe and her lips connected with my cheek.

Nothing existed anymore. My face was searing with heat. I was certain that if you threw water on my face it would evaporate.

At least I was out before I hit the ground.

***************************

I woke up on the couch in my parlor, surrounded by a worried looking Lenore and my grinning parents.

“Oh you’re awake!” She said. Mom stepped a little closer.

“We can take her from here, Miss Ellis. Thank you for bringing her here.”

“No problem! I’ll uh… see you around, Chara?” I nodded, my throat too dry to say anything. Lenore left the room in a hurry, and if I didn’t know any better I would swear her face looked the slightest bit pink. I wanted to stop her, if only so I wouldn’t be alone with my parents. But she was too fast. The door shut behind her with a click and I gulped.

A sharp sound from behind me made me jump. I turned to see Puns slow clapping as he walked towards me.

“Wellllll wellllllll well”.

Chapter 14: Isolation

Summary:

Chara experiences a series of mentally draining conversations

I threw the couch cushion at him. "Not it!" I yelped.

Dad caught the cushion in his magical aura and looked at me with a lazy grin.

"I don't think you get to claim innocent with this one, kiddo" Mom said, catching me from behind.

I squealed and wriggled, but I knew better than to think I could escape. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You don't know about Lenore running to us all freaked out because you fainted in the courtyard?" Dad asked.

I turned my attention towards him with a glare. "You are so lucky you're across to the room"

"Chara, there's no use trying to hide it. She told us what happened out there"

The colour drained from my face. "She did?!"

"Mm-hmm. And Chara? Let me reiterate. It's okay. There's nothing wrong with you"

"I got that already" I said, rolling my eyes.

That was a downright lie and I knew it. I was freaked the fuck out.

Even though Mom and Dad had sworn up and down to me a thousand times that it was okay, I was terrified. I guess some part of me was still stuck in my birth parents' world, bending to their whims and not daring to step out of line.

And dating a girl would certainly be out of line.

I had to remember where I was. I was safe. I was at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and fucking Wizardry for God's sake!

My birth parents couldn't hurt me anymore.

***************************

"...easiest class ever. It's gonna be a piece of cake" I heard as I walked into the library. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

I knew his voice. It was Bennett Brooks, a hyperactive Gryffindor first year. Although the rivalry between our two houses had long since vanished, Bennett wasn't the kind of kid I wanted to make friends with. He was loud and egotistical.

I pulled out a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook from my bag and  quietly casted my translating spell before settling in to read it.

My peaceful afternoon of studying was interrupted as a hand came down next to my book.

"Hey, Comic, right?" I looked up.

"Yes...." I said patiently, trying not to reveal how much his interruption was annoying me. "And you're Bennett. Brooks." 

"So your parents are like, professors here right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Someone didn't pay attention at the opening feast" I mumbled.

Brooks ignored my sarcasm and continued on as if I hadn't spoken. "Awesome, well I'm pretty good at DADA, if I do say so myself. So if you ever need a hand let me know"

"Charming. Can I get back to reading now?" I asked rhetorically.

"Oh, yeah, sure thing. I'll be over there with my buddies if you need me"

As he walked away from my table I desperately wanted to tell him to fuck off, that the library wasn't a place to hang out, it was a place to study. But I knew deep down that my words would be ignored. Oh well.

***************************

“How are you settling in?” Asriel asked me that night, handing me a cup of tea. I shrugged as I took the cup.

“It’s been okay. I haven’t really slept down here much.”

“Yeah, I heard Remirez giving you trouble about that. Is that being taken care of?”

I shrugged again. “To be honest? I don’t care enough to find out. It’s not my problem how she spends her time”

“You’re awfully mature for your age”

I nodded. “So I’ve heard”.

“There a reason for that?”

“There is.” I said shortly.

A moment of silence passed between us.

“And that reason is….?”

“Confidential” I replied. “To put it simply, I didn’t have the best life before the Comic family took me in. But I’m happier now”

“That’s good to hear.”

We sat in silence for another moment, drinking our tea. I kept staring out the porthole window at the sea creatures passing by.

“You like animals don’t you?” Asriel asked, following my gaze.

“Nature in general.” I said shortly. It was getting hard to continue carrying a conversation.

“I think you’ll do well in Care of Magical Creatures in your third year.”

I nodded politely. I was tired. Having to mentally translate everything into English was hard when I was tired.

“You seem pretty out of it. You should probably head up to bed. Back to classes in the morning” Asriel gently nudged.

I simply nodded, not having the energy to argue otherwise. I finished off the warm cup of tea and set it on the table, knowing the elves would take care of it.

“Thank you for the tea”

“Anytime” Asriel said warmly. “Thank you for the company.”

I paused at the staircase, looking back at him and returning the smile.

“Anytime.”

Chapter 15: Heartbeat

Summary:

Chara experiences invasive testing and some gay feelings

"You all did wonderfully today. Remember to bring me 12 inches on the effects of the Cure for Boils potion next class!" Mom called as we gathered our things and made our way back into the corridor. 

"Chara, actually, I need you to stay behind today." 

I groaned. "Again?" I didn't want to make a habit of this. It would look babyish to the other first years if I was always staying after class with my parents.

"Relax" he muttered to me as the past few students filed out of the room. Lenore was among them, and she stopped next to me.

Before I could blink, she stretched onto her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. "Bye Chara!"

Instantly I felt heat blossom over my entire face, and I didn't need a mirror to know I was blushing harder than a nun in a strip club.

Mom grinned at me for a second, but then his face went back to being serious. "You remember how I said we were gonna do some testing on those eyes of yours?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah"

"I got Puns to cover my afternoon classes. You and I are taking a trip to your grandfather's office to run some tests."

"What about my classes?"

"Your teachers have been informed. You're excused from lessons today."

I groaned. "Moooom, I can't fall behind!"

"Kid you're barely a week into the year. You're not gonna fall behind."

I rolled my eyes again, quickly realizing I wouldn't win. "Fine".

We made the trip up to the main floor and then to the spiral staircase. I held onto Mom's robe again as the stairs swirled us around and lifted us into the Headmaster's office.

"Sans, my boy, there you are! And young miss Chara of course, how are you getting along?"

I nodded shortly. "I'd say I'm settling in well enough."

"Good, good. Excellent. Well, we've got some testing to do on those eyes of yours. So tell me. What do you know about those eyes? Anything?"

I sighed. "I know that my birth parents hated them and that I can force some kind of liquid to come out of them if I focus hard enough."

Grandfather sat up straighter in his chair. "Liquid? Tell me more about this liquid".

I shrugged. "I really don't know much about it. It ranges from light pink to a really dark red, almost black actually. It doesn't hurt or anything. Sort of feels like tears." 

"When's the last time you were able to produce this red liquid?"

My eyes widened. "I... um...." I glanced apprehensively at mom, who didn't seem to notice.

"Come on Chara, no judgement here."

I looked down at the floor. "On the train to school at the start of term. To scare a kid away"

That got Mom's attention. Grandfather however, was chuckling under his breath.

"Well. That is. Certainly. One way of doing it."

I could tell from Mother's burning gaze that he was not going to leave this alone though.

"Well Chara, what I need you to do is try and produce some of that red stuff for us." Grandfather said, handing me a small jar off his desk.  "We'll give you your space, I understand it may take awhile. Do what you need to do"

I nodded. I took the jar and retreated to a couch on the far side of the room. I sat down. "So I just...?"

"What is it you normally do when it comes out of your eyes?" Mom prompted me.

"Uh. Well. I guess I get angry most of the time?"

Mom sighed. "Never thought I'd be ENCOURAGING your anger, but that's exactly what I'm doing." 

The three of us sat in tense silence, me staring at the rug and clutching a tiny glass jar. It wouldn't have been so awkward if the two adults in the room weren't just staring at me, waiting for me to get angry.

What the fuck was I supposed to get angry about?  I was doing well in my classes, I had a girlfriend for Christ's sake! A beautiful girlfriend who...

...was constantly getting bullied by the very girls I slept in the same room with.

Suddenly I was back to that first day of potions class, yelling at Dana to fuck off, her beady little eyes glaring into mine while Lenore's soft pink eyes stared in horror-

I flinched as the jar shattered in my hand and a thick, reddish-black substance flooded over the glass shards, as well as my hand and the carpet underneath me.

 

The room fell into even tender silence, minus the sound of the tar-like substance dripping off my skin onto the floor.

Grandfather cleared his throat loudly. "Well! I think that's enough testing for today!"

***************************

“There you are!” Lenore giggled as I stepped into the main hall. “Why’d you have to stay after?”

“Mother and Grandfather wanted to do some testing on me. It uh. Didn’t go as planned”.

“What do you mean?”

“There was. An explosion.”

“An explosion?! Are you alright?” Lenore flew into action, immediately checking me all over for injuries.

I laughed. “Lenore, Lenore I’m fine! I’m fine. I promise.”

Lenore stood on tiptoe with a stern face, pointing at me. “You better be”

I smiled, internally suppressing the urge to squeak at how cute she was when she was trying to be tough. “Yes, Lenore. I’m alright”.

“Okay. Well, come on! I wanna introduce you to my friends!” Lenore said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the Hufflepuff table.

Two older kids sat there already. Third years if I had to guess. They smiled warmly as Lenore sat down, and I gingerly sat down with her.

“Guys this is Chara!” Lenore squealed. “Chara this is Jacqueline” she said, pointing to the girl on the left, who had her platinum blonde hair in a braid “and Harley” she said motioning to the other girl, who had mousy brown hair tied back in a bun.

“Nice to meet you”

“Lenore has been so excited to introduce us to you.”

“Likewise.” I said.

Lenore smiled brightly. “Chara’s my girlfriend!”

Harley laughed patiently, and I internally sighed in relief. “We know Lenore. You’ve told us. Three times”

“Oh, I have? I’m sorry”.

I coughed into my elbow to avoid squealing at her.

“Chara? When am I gonna meet your friends?” Lenore asked me.

My coughing became choking.

“Oh no!”

I quickly recovered before Lenore could freak out at me being possibly injured again. “I’m okay, I’m okay. To answer your question, I’m uh. Not sure. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it?”

In truth, I had no one to introduce her to. I didn’t like most of the other Slytherins. I guess I could introduce her to Asriel?

Luckily she seemed to accept that answer.

***************************

“Chara. Wake up. You’re gonna be late for astronomy” I heard Dad’s voice the next morning.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”

Dad quickly shushed me and pointed next to me.

I looked down at my side to see Lenore, fast asleep against my side, less than a foot away from a book that rested on my lap.

It was then I realized I hadn’t fallen asleep in my parents’ quarters, or even in my dorm.

I had fallen asleep in the library. With Lenore.

Chapter 16: Scattered

Summary:

Chara experiences bad news and a pair of legendary Gryffindors.

For once, I couldn't focus on Astrology. And the fact that I could feel Dad's eyes burning into me every time I put my head down to fill out to fill out the star chart. We were scattered around the room with our partners for this assignment, and I had partnered with Quinn. The two of poured over the textbook we had set between us, struggling to find the star we were talking about.

"Oh, here it is. An...drome..."

"Andromeda" I said absently, filling in the name on my chart.

I couldn't help it. I knew Flying class was next, the class I had with Lenore. Not that I was expecting it to be uncomfortable. We knew each other well enough by now. It was just awkward, knowing what happened last night.

I knew exactly what had happened last night. After wandering the courtyards for awhile after Jacqueline and Harley left, we ended up in the library. What started as browsing mindlessly up and down the shelves turned into finding books about mythical creatures. I guess they weren't really mythical, considering they actually existed here. Lenore had found a book with different tales of dragons, and we settled down in a corner. That was one thing we had in common, liking small spaces.

Lenore had been reading to me, saying she wanted to give me a break from having to translate everything. So I let myself get swept away by the sound of her voice as she told me tales of dragons destroying old wizarding villages, flying over the countryside, making friends with humans, and more.

After 5 or 6 of these stories, she had fallen asleep on my shoulder. I gently took the book from her and whispered the translation spell so I could keep reading these stories for myself. I guess I must've fallen asleep there too.

"Earth to Chara?"

I shook my head as Quinn pulled me out of my thoughts. "Sorry, I got distracted."

"Yeah, I can see that. How do you spell Andr- whatever it is."

I slid him my paper. "Andromeda" I repeated.

As Quinn copied my spelling, dad drifted by where we were sitting. "Doing alright over here?"

"Yes sir." Quinn said. I just nodded as I picked up my textbook, pretending to be deeply invested in its pages.

As Dad passed to another group of partners- one who evidently needed help because he sat down with them- I shot Quinn a questioning look.

"Why'd you cover for me?"

He shrugged. "I figured you'd tell him whatever this is on your own."

Well, I supposed he was right about that, in a way. I wasn't going to talk about it on my own, but eventually I'd be forced to talk about it. \

The two of finished our assignment and handed it in, giving us some free time. I pulled out the book about dragons, which I had checked out from the library upon waking up, and flipped to a random story.

At the end of class, I quickly packed up my things, rushing out the door before Dad could interrogate me. And also because I knew Lenore would be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

Sure enough, she was waiting for me. But instead of her smiling face, I was met with a frown and downturned eyes.

"Is something wrong?" I asked as we fell into step beside each other.

Lenore shook her head. "I got a letter from my stepmom, Melanie, this morning." I caught her voice start to break as we made it to the courtyard. "It's not good news."

I frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Can we talk about it after class?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Meet in the courtyard?"

"Please"

As we continued on our way to Flying, I felt my frown deepen. I hoped that god foresaken woman hadn't upset her.

***************************

"So what's going on?" I asked as Lenore joined me on the grass, cuddling into my shoulder.

"It's my dad. He's sick." She said, biting her lip.

I raised an eyebrow. "How sick?" I doubted her dad catching the flu would upset her this much.

Lenore didn't answer for a minute. She rested against my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her.

She drew in a shaky breath. "He had a stroke."

I couldn't help how wide my eyes got. I didn't know much about illnesses, but I knew that a stroke was not an easy thing to recover from.

"Lenore... I'm so sorry, hon. How is he doing?"

Lenore sniffed. "Not great. He's in the hospital right now. Melanie said something about blood work I think, but I think the tears were blurring my vision at that point."

I pulled her closer. "Thank you for trusting me with this. Please tell me if I can help you somehow."

She nodded. "Of course. And of course I trust you."

I made up my mind then and there to do some research about muggle illnesses and conditions.

"Do you want to talk about it anymore? How you're feeling?"

She hummed softly. "I'm just worried. He's young. I thought only older people had strokes, you know?"

"But that also means he's healthier than most people who have suffered a stroke." I pointed out. "He has a higher chance of pulling through."

Lenore nodded. "It scares me that I'm not there with him."

I rubbed her shoulder, hoping it was providing comfort. "He's going to be okay."

I didn't fully believe my own words. I tried to tell myself it wasn't a lie if I didn't know the truth in the first place.

***************************

Charmx spent the evening with us, asking Mom for help with her class's potions assignment. I was thankful for her presence, knowing that Dad wouldn't ask questions about what had happened in Astronomy while she was here.

As I finished my herbal tea and set the empty cup down on the counter, Mom finished explaining the Swelling Solution to Charmx, and the four of us fell into a relatively comfortable silence as they finished their tea.

Mom's eyes turned to me. "You're awful quiet tonight kiddo, were classes alright today?"

I blinked in confusion. I thought for sure Puns would have told him about the fact that I spent the night in the library. I cleared my throat.

"Mr. Ellis had a stroke." I said bluntly.

"Mr... Lenore's father?" Mom questioned.

I nodded stiffly. "She got the news this morning. He's in a muggle hospital right now."

Dad's eyes bored into me for a second, but he didn't change the subject like I was expecting him to. "How's she handling it?"

"She's worried. And upset that she can't be there with him right now." I responded, parroting back Lenore's words from earlier.

"Strokes aren't easy to recover from." Dad murmured, sipping the last of his tea. I briefly questioned, as I usually do when I see my parents eat or drink, how it got past their constantly closed teeth. I had asked once, but they just smiled and winked, not answering my question.

We fell back into silence, this one was much more uncomfortable.

Mom cleared the throat he didn't have, apparently eager to change the subject. "By the way, I'll be missing from dinner tomorrow night. I have a couple third years serving detention in my office."

Dad rolled his eyes and set down his empty cup. "Let me guess, Katie and David?"

Mom nodded. "Yup. Caught them in my storeroom trying to eat the leeches."

I made a face. "Who would wanna eat leeches?"

Dad shook his head. "David and Katie are... interesting. I hear they've become sort of legends in Gryffindor Tower. The first years think they're so cool"

I nodded quietly. Maybe it was stereotypical, but the fact that they were Gryffindors told me everything I needed to know.

Chapter 17: Pretending

Summary:

Chara experiences being lied to.

I didn't mean to read it. Really, I didn't. It had fallen out of Lenore's bag when we were in the courtyard the day before. I was going to return it to her. I just didn't see her the rest of the day.

As I woke up, far too early as usual, I went to put my Potions book back in my bag and found the note where I had tucked it. Curiosity overtook me and I whispered my translation spell and read it.

I didn't believe my eyes. The fact that Melanie could be so cruel shocked and unnerved me. Unfortunately I was used to parents treating their kids like the scum of the earth.

Still, I wanted a second opinion.

When Mom woke up and got himself a cup of coffee, I slid the letter across the table.

"Read it to me please?"

He paused, setting down his coffee mug. "Did you translate it?"

"I did. But I don't trust my own eyes on this one. Please read it before I overreact"

Mom nodded and scanned the letter. His eyes widened before he read it out loud.

"Lenore,

If it were up to me you would have no right to know this, however your dear father believes that you have the right.

Your father has suffered a stroke and is in the hospital. His doctors are performing blood work on him right now. I haven't cared enough to pay attention, but they say he's not recovering very well.

Just think, if you haven't paraded off to learn magic tricks, you could be here with your dear father in what are hopefully his final moments and claim your inheritance. However as it stands, the money will be going to me, his loving wife. After all, what lawyer is going to believe that his daughter is residing at a magical boarding school?

If only you had a magic spell to make him all better, right? We both know you want his money to yourself you selfish brat. It's too bad your plan will never work now.

Best Wishes,
Melanie"

As he finished reading, I imagined that his jaw would've dropped if it could. My jaw however, was locked tightly in place. My blood was boiling, and clenching my jaw was my only hope of keeping my mouth shut before I exploded.

"This is Lenore's stepmother?"

The dam inside burst the second he spoke.

"SHE'S A CONNIVING LITTLE BITCH. HOW COULD SOMEONE EVEN THINK TO TREAT A CHILD LIKE THIS, LET ALONE-"

"Breathe."

The simple command stopped me in my tracks.

"Chara, I know you're upset, and I am too, but you're just going to work yourself up. Now breathe please. Take a few deep breaths for me. In...."

I forced myself to bite back a retort, opting instead to inhale deeply.

"Aaaand out....."

I obeyed his words, releasing my breath.

"Good. Again. In...."

We repeated this process. I felt my heart rate slow as I was forced to calm my breathing.

"Be still my beating heart" I muttered.

Mom grinned. "There we go. Are you ready to talk?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I think so"

"First thing, how did you get this?"

"It fell out of her bag yesterday. I was going to give it back, but, you know. Morbid curiosity." I felt my face flush. "I was going to give it back!"

Mom quieted me with a wave of his hand. "You didn't do anything wrong kid. Second thing, how are you feeling right now?"

"Pissed off"

He chuckled. "Yeah I walked into that. Anything else?"

I paused, staring at the dining table. My head was buzzing with thoughts and it felt impossible to pick out the emotions behind them. Finally, I managed to identify one of them.

"I'm scared, I guess"

"Why?"

I sighed. "It's stupid. I'm jumping to conclusions"

Mom shook his head. "We've talked about this before kid. If it's worrying you it's not stupid. And if you're jumping to conclusions then you're either right or pleasantly surprised, right?"

I nodded slowly, letting out my breath in a slow exhale. "Well. Melanie seems sure that he's not going to make it out alive. And if he doesn't, then his money is going to go to her? Melanie I mean. Right?"

Mom nodded slowly. "Unfortunately an inheritance often goes to the spouse before any children."

"So what's going to happen with Lenore?"

Mom didn't answer me for a concerningly long time.

"Mom?"

"I don't know" He finally admitted.

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Right now? All you can do is be there for her. And I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but it'll mean the world to her."

I nodded slowly. "I think I can do that."

***************************

Lenore and I had made it a habit to sit outside in the courtyard after classes and do our homework together. As I finished with my History of Magic homework, I remembered the letter.

"Oh yeah, you dropped this yesterday." I said, pulling the letter out of my bag. "Here you go."

Lenore took the letter, eyeing me as she did. "You read it didn't you?"

I flushed. I couldn't lie to her. "I did. Lenore, why didn't you tell me-"

"I didn't want you worrying." She cut me off. "I'll be okay, Chara."

"But the way she talks to you, it's-"

"I'll be okay." She repeated. "I'm here, after all. Learning magic! "I've gotta be doing something right, don't I?" Lenore turned to me with a wry smile. A smile that stabbed me in the heart because I knew it was fake.

It was the exact same state of mind that I had found myself in. The idea that because I had magical abilities and was learning to harness them, nothing could be wrong. It was the same state of mind that I knew to be insanely wrong.

But she looked so hopeful. So desperate to pretend everything was okay.

Did it hurt? A little. I could admit that. It stung that she was lying to me. But at the same time I could understand. I had been in her shoes once after all. I guess now I know how Mom and Dad felt when I lied to them.

So I decided that if she was desperate to lie to me, I could lie right back.

"Alright. I believe you." I said, leaning over to plant a kiss on her forehead.

***************************

Admittedly, I had no intention of meeting them. It was pure luck that I went back down to our family quarters as the two of them were finishing up their detention.

David and Katie, I remembered. Katie was a tall girl with bright red, really almost orange hair, that stuck out in a weird antennae on the top. She had glasses that sat crookedly on her face, almost as if they'd be knocked out of place once or twice. David was a short, anthropomorphic goat that looked like a shorter version of Asriel, only his eyes were brown instead of yellow. Both of them were grinning wildly to each other as they made their way down the corridor.

"Oh, Chariana, right?" Katie said, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Chara." I corrected instinctively. "Can I help you?"

"Nah, just wanted to say hi."

I watched in utter confusion as they continued on their way down the hall.

Other kids bemused and annoyed me. I'd often found that they had no plans for life, pleased to simply coast along on whatever happened next. Not me. I had goals. Goals that I intended to accomplish, thank you very much.

I sat on the couch and opened my Charms textbook, whispering the translation spell and studying intently. Unlike some, I had no time to waste.

Chapter 18: Camouflage

Summary:

Chara experiences a game of Quidditch

"Chara, come on, the Quidditch game starts in half an hour" Mom called.

I groaned as I lifted my head from book and stretched my neck muscles. "Do I have to go?" I whined.

Mom eyed me as I leaned my neck from side to side, cracking what felt like every bone. "How long have you been studying?"

"Ummm..." I craned my neck to look at the clock above him. "....Almost 3 hours?"

Mom sighed. "Yes, you have to come. You need fresh air and you need to give your eyes a break"

"Mooooom I don't wanna watch some dumb sport" I groaned.

"I don't think you'll find it dumb once you're in the stands" Dad called, reaching over and closing my book gently on my hand.

"Hey!"

"Mark your page and study later, you're going to this match."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever"

***************************

Mom split off from the group to go sit with the Ravenclaws as Dad herded Charmx and I towards the Slytherin section. The three of us tucked into  a corner at the top of the stands. I stared at the wide Quidditch pitch as the kids excitedly chattered around us. I knew very little about this game. Two sets of tall hoops sat on either end of the pitch. Tall rectangular pillars lined the pitch, decorated in a checkerboard pattern of the houses' colours. Today they were decorated with the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor colours, since that's who was playing. I decided that I would've been cheering for Ravenclaw even if it wasn't Mom's house.

Because Dad was surveying his house to make sure everyone was in line, I turned to Charmx.

"So how does this game work exactly?"

Charmx shifted positions and leaned forward slightly. "Well it's kind of like football. There's 7 players. There's 3 Chasers, their job is to chase the Quaffle and try and throw it through those hoops" She said, pointing at the tall hoops at one end of the pitch. "The keeper defends the hoops from the other team, kinda like the goalie in football." I nodded. It made sense so far. "Then there's the Bludger. It flies around kinda at random, and its a heavy thing so it can knock you off your broom if you're unfortunate enough to get hit by it. The Beaters- you'll see them, they're the ones with the clubs in their hands- fly around and keep the Bludger away from their team by hitting it with their clubs. Ideally they're trying to hit them towards the other team."

My eyes widened. I doubted a game with this much violence would be allowed in a muggle school.

"And then there's the Golden Snitch. Tiny little golden ball with wings. Fast, and nearly impossible to see, especially when everyone's in the air. The game doesnt end until one of the Seekers catches it."

"And the team that catches it wins?" I guessed.

"Most of the time, yes. It's worth 150 points, so chances are it guarantees your win. But the game goes on until its caught, so...." Charmx paused, staring into space for a second. "Okay, let me give you an example. Say this match went on for a long fucking time and Gryffindor had like 250 points while Ravenclaw had like 70, and then Ravenclaw catches the Snitch. It would end the game, but they would only have 220 while Gryffindor has 250, so they'd still lose. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

The two of us fell back into a comfortable silence until the announcer came over a microphone. I squinted to see who it was. It looked to be Katie, the redhead from a few nights ago.

"Hello and welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season! Today's game is Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor!"

I flinched as various cheers and boos went up from the crowd. I tried to block it out as I watched two teams of students burst forward on brooms, clad in red and blue uniforms respectively.

My uncle stepped underneath the players with a heavy looking chest beside his foot. He said something I had no chance of hearing from where I sat, but I assumed it was something like "Good luck". He opened the chest and two larger balls rocketed into the sky, followed quickly by a tiny golden thing.

"The Bludgers are off along with the Snitch! Remember that the seeker to catch the Snitch will earn 150 points and end the game"

Papyrus picked up a reddish ball, bigger than the others. He tossed it into the air.

"The Quaffle has been released and the match begins!"

I watched more intently than I expected as Katie narrated the events I could barely see. She would call out names I didn't know and announce that someone had scored points for their team, before the giant scoreboard displayed the score.

On the field, the players were whizzing around faster than I had ever imagined was possible. I had extremely limited knowledge of riding brooms. I squinted to try and see who was even playing.

"Another ten points to Gryffindor" Katie announced excitedly. The Gryffindor section cheered and I looked over to see Professor Dreemurr applauding quietly.

I looked over at Dad and Charmx to gauge their reactions. Dad was watching casually, leaning back against the wall of the quidditch pitch. Charmx however was sitting forward with her elbows on her hands.

"David Anderson has taken a Bludger to the ribs!" Katie's voice announced.

I snapped my head forward just in time to see one of the red-robed players fall out of the sky. When I squinted I could see it was David. I winced as his body hit the ground with a dull thud.

Dad winced from next to me. I watched with mild concern as a sentient spider ran over to his floppy body. I knew it was Madame Windsor, the Healer.

"Unfortunately this means Gryffindor's seeker has been knocked out and they stand little chance of winning now, but who knows!"

The Ravenclaw section cheered louder than ever. I looked over at them to see Mom smiling ever so slightly.

"Yikes. I hope he's okay" Charmx muttered.

I looked over. "Are those Bludgers hard?"

She nodded. "It's like taking a sledgehammer to your body. Or at least that's what I've heard from the Slytherin team."

My eyes widened as I turned back to the game.

***************************

I rolled my eyes as I retrieved my book from the coffee table I had been forced to leave it on. “That was boring as hell”

Mom chuckled. “What, you don’t think a kid plummeting 20 meters out of the sky is exciting?

I shook my head as I started to open my textbook back to where I was. Mom reached over and grabbed it.

“Hey! I have a test tomorrow, I need to study!”

“You’ve been studying here every night for the last 3 days. I think you’re okay”

I groaned. “I can’t fall behind.”

“Kid, listen to yourself. You’ve studied you ass off. You’re ready. What are you really worried about here?”

I shuffled uncomfortably. I hated that about Mom sometimes. How I was such an open book to him when I fought so hard to be closed off to everyone else. I hated that he could see when something deeper was happening.

Most of the time I couldn’t even tell something deeper was happening.

“I can’t afford to stand out”. I muttered. “If I fail, they’ll take notice.”

I looked up at Mom, who was staring at me in worried concern.

“If I fail, then I’m wrong. And I simply cannot allow that to happen”.

Chapter 19: Innocence

Summary:

Chara experiences a quiet date and a reminder of a different kind of date

I grinned as I unwrapped the note from Lenore that Chastity had dropped on me. I carefully untied the thin pink ribbon and unfolded the piece of parchment within.

"What's that?" Dana sniffed, trying to peer over my shoulder. I jerked the letter away.

"Read your own mail, Remirez" I snapped. She rolled her eyes at me and went back to her breakfast. I looked at my letter and realized I didn't have to jerk it away at all. It was written in French.

Or. Well. There was an attempt.

Rendez-vous par le lancer

Meet by the.... Throw? I frowned and worked out a list of synonyms for throw. Toss? Chuck? Pitch? Pitch! Meet by the pitch.

Message decoded I looked up. Lenore was watching me carefully from the Hufflepuff table. I gave her a soft smile and a nod.

***************************

"How was my French?" Lenore asked as I met her walking to the pitch.

I grinned lazily. "It wasn't bad"

She stopped and frowned. "Wasn't bad? Did I mess up?"

"So, I know you were saying pitch, buuuut the word you used was like. Throw. Like a pitcher. Does that make sense?"

Lenore's eyes widened. "Ooooh. Okay! What would this pitch be then?"

I chewed my bottom lip as I looked at the walls of the towering arena. Arena, that's it.

"Arène.Or I guess with the article it would be l'arène"

"Okay. I'll remember that next time"

"Why did you write it in French? You know I can translate"

Lenore looked up at me, her soft pink eyes wide. "Exactly. I didn't want you to. I wanted you to be able to read something outright, without a spell! And I know you don't like the other girls much so I didn't want them to be able to read it".

I blinked. It surprised me when people were willing to do things like that for me. I was so used to doing everything for myself sometimes.

"Thank you. It means a lot"

My answer felt stiff. But it was the best I could do.

"What'd you want me to meet you out here for? We usually sit up in the courtyard"

"It's quieter out here. At least on non-match days."

We fell into silence. Lenore picked at the grass, and I crossed my legs and looked into the sky, watching the clouds roll past.

"What did you think of the quidditch match?" She asked.

I shrugged. "It looks fun"

"Would you want to play next year when you're old enough?"

I dropped my gaze so I was looking towards the school. Through the windows I could vaguely see students passing through the hallways.

"Hm. Yeah. I think I would."

"It's so dangerous" Lenore said with a sigh. "I guess I don't understand how you could want to do anything so unsafe".

I looked over at Lenore. She had drawn in on herself.

"It's the adrenaline I think. The uh. The thrill. The knowing that it's dangerous. There's something about that, it's, it's an adventure.  I know you don't like flying but I. I do. Being lifted off the ground like you're nothing. And having total control but. Total freedom."

I looked at the sky as I spoke.

"Will you at least be careful? For me?"

I blinked and looked down. Lenore's eyes were firmly on me.

"Lenore. That's next year. You and I- I mean it's barely October, it's so far away and we-"

"Is something going to happen to us between now and next year?"

It was then I realized what she was saying. She wanted us to stay together. So we would be happy next year too.

"No. Nothing's gonna happen to us"

I sighed and looked back up at the clouds. The clouds drifted lazily by.

"Yeah. I'll be careful. For you"

I realized that mom would probably never let me on the Quidditch team. But the idea of flying. Soaring above the crowds, above the trees. Wind in my hair, on my face. Sun in my eyes.

It was truly a dream.

Wait.

I sat up straight suddenly. "It's October"

Lenore looked over at me. "Yeah?"

"Fuuuuuck"

I flopped backwards into the grass. It took all of two seconds for Lenore to join me, laying on her back.

"What's with the language?" She asked, teasingly.

"Uuugghhhhh. October means Halloweeeeeen" I groaned.

"What's wrong? I figured you'd love Halloween"

"Yeah. Yeah. I do. But. Halloween isn't just Halloween. Not for me"

"What else is it?"

I inhaled deeply and turned my head to look at her. My sweet Lenore, lazing against my side.

I sighed. "My birthday".

***************************

"I feel like if we say it's name three times a weird ghost man is gonna jump out at us"

I rolled my eyes at Quinn. "Not that Betelgeuse. The star."

"I'm surprised you even know about that"

"I'm not that out of the loop"

"How are we doing over here?" Dad asked as he passed by.

"Quinn is mocking me" I complained, filling in my chart.

Quinn gasped dramatically. "These allegations Miss Comic!"

"Don't play innocent with me" I said, realizing that I was smirking.

This was new to me. The casual, back and forth teasing. Banter. It wasn't something I had experienced before.

And dad was smiling. Why?

"You messin with my daughter?" He asked.

"No sir, I would never" Quinn said, continuing the overly theatrical voice.

"You implied I don't know Beetlejuice!" I retaliated, copying his dramatic mannerisms. "Honestly, I'm a Halloween child, who do you think I am?"

Quinn's face changed, his over the top betrayed expression shifting into genuine curiosity. “Halloween child?”

I sighed heavily, noticing Dad’s grin widen. “Yeeaaahh. Halloween is my birthday” I admitted.

“So it’s coming up soon?”

“Don’t remind me” I groaned.

“As if we’d let you forget” Dad said with a Cheshire Cat smile before going to check on the next group.

“What’s wrong with your birthday?” Quinn asked me once dad was out of earshot.

I felt my face grow hot. I swallowed hard and kept my eyes firmly on my star chart, pretending to be deeply invested in the assignment. “I just don’t like being fussed over” I lied.

I guess it’s not totally a lie if there’s some truth to it right? It’s just not the whole truth. A lie of omission if you will. My birth parents had ruined my birthday for me. So I didn’t like it anymore.

I sighed. I was lying to myself. It wasn’t just my birthday. It had never just been my birthday. It was ours. I knew that.

Why had I forgotten that?

“Hello?”

I blinked and looked up. “Sorry, were you talking to me? I zoned out”

“Yeah, I said have you told them that?”

“Told them what?”

“That you don’t like being fussed over. I mean, from what I’ve seen your parents are pretty good at respecting your boundaries”

I nodded. “Oh. Yeah. They know. They don’t fuss over me. They just tease me about it”

As the two of us went back to our assignment, occasionally swapping notes and helping each other find a specific star, I let my mind wander.

Our birthday. Ours. It had always been ours.

Why had I let myself forget that?

Chapter 20: Counting

Summary:

Chara experiences a very serious conversation about her mental health

“Can I talk to you?” I asked, pulling a stool up to Mom’s work table.

Mom held up a finger, staring intently into the cauldron he was working on.

I shrank back a little. “Oh.”

If I concentrated I could hear him whispering under his breath. “….47, 48, 49, 50” He set down his ladle and looked at me. “Sorry kid, I was counting. Why do you need to talk?”

I paused. I was not good at most social interactions but I had a script for most of them. This was not the script. “So I can talk to you?” I clarified, wanting an answer to my original question.

“Yeah kid. What’s up?” He reached for a jar containing small bits that glittered in the light. I put my hands behind my back. I enjoyed helping him sometimes but was too embarrassed to ask. Too afraid he’d say it was too complicated.

“I was thinking about what you told me awhile ago. About how I have.” I swallowed hard. “Autism”.

“Mm-hmm. What’s about it?” He looked sideways at me with a small smile. “Do you want to help?”

I looked up sheepishly, not sure if my body language gave me away or if he just knew me that well. “Can I?”

“I think there’s a few things you could help out with.” He opened the jar and poured some of its contents onto his scale. He then dumped the tray of the scale onto the cutting board. “Come chop up these pixie wings”

I gladly scooted my stool close and picked up the knife, setting to work chopping the pixie wings finely.

“Just keep chopping. They need to be really finely cut. I’ll tell you when it’s good” I nodded, pushing my hair out of my face to see better. “Now what are you worried about?”

I shrugged, finding it much easier to talk now that my hands were busy. “I guess I’m just confused as to what it means”

“What autism itself means? Or what it means for you?”

“…Both?”

Mom paused, thinking. “It’s a neurological disorder. Do you know what that means?”

I nodded. “Brain”.

“Right. Basically parts of your brain didn’t develop the same way as a lot of people. The most common symptoms are difficulty with socialization and repeated thought patterns and behaviors. But it’s a spectrum. It affects everyone differently. Those are chopped enough by the way”.

“How?” I asked as I set the knife down. Mom lifted the cutting board and added its contents to the cauldron.

“Well. You struggle with socialization because you find talking to people difficult. You don’t like eye contact, which some people think makes you rude. You lose interest in conversations that you can’t contribute to. You have scripts for different scenarios and when other people don’t follow that script it confuses you. However, there’s one autistic student at school who is the opposite. He’s fine with eye contact and small talk. But he has a very strict routine and he panics when it’s disturbed. One of his classmates got mixed up once and sat at the wrong desk and that kid had a panic attack. You’re both autistic. But you have different areas you struggle with.” Mom handed me another jar that I recognized as lionfish spines. “Count out 25 of those and chop them each into four pieces”

“How do you know about my scripts?” I couldn’t help but ask. I knew most people didn’t have them, so I didn’t bring them up. I carefully counted 25 spines as I listened to his answer.

“Because you did it with me just now”

I blinked. “I did?”

“Yup. At the beginning of this conversation when you asked if you could talk to me. You asked me a yes or no question. I didn’t give you a yes or no answer. You got confused and repeated your question. Right?”

I paused. That was. Exactly why I had done. “….Right”. I picked up the knife again and began carefully cutting each spine.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just how your brain gets through conversations. You have a rough idea of how you think a conversation will go and you develop a script. When someone deviates from that script you get confused because it’s not what you expected.”

I nodded slowly. I had done that for years. I never knew why it helped, but I knew that when it didn’t work I got confused.

“What does it mean for me?” I asked, remembering my question was two-fold.

“Well. That’s something we’re still figuring out. Even before we saw your diagnosis, we’ve done a lot of guess and check, right?” I nodded. “So it’s something we’ll figure out as we go. If we find out you need something, we get it for you. Otherwise we just keep doing what we’re doing”

“What do you mean if I need something?”

“Well, you might benefit from something like therapy. Or something like accommodations for your assignments. You’re sensitive to sound, so, for example, we could arrange for you to take exams in a separate room where there’s less noise to distract you.” I finished with the lionfish spines. Mom added them to his cauldron. “Give me just a second to count again”

I nodded quietly as he picked up the stirring stick and counted under his breath. When he reached 25, he set it back down and put a cover on the cauldron.

“It has to simmer for an hour and a half now, so I think that’s all you can help with” I nodded. “I figured it would be easier to talk when you were doing something with your hands”

“It is”. I confirmed. “Is that another autism thing?”

Mom shrugged. “Could be. What probably helps is that since we’re both working there’s no pressure to make eye contact.” Mom carefully put his jars back in place. “Do you have anymore questions for me?”

“Have you noticed anything I do already?”

“What do you mean anything you do?”

“Anything else that’s an autism symptom I mean”

“Ah” Mom nodded. “Yes. I have. Just a couple things. Do you want me to tell you or would it make you uncomfortable?”

“Tell me please”

“You’ve got sensory issues. Things that bug you more than they should. I’ve already mentioned you’re sensitive to sound. You can tell if it’s me or Puns getting up in the middle of the night based on our footsteps. And I don’t know if you remember this but when you first started living with us, I offered you some sweets. It was some sort of candy cigar I think. Looked like chalk. You hated it. You wouldn’t even bite it because you didn’t like how it felt on your hands. You set it down, mumbling apologies for denying the gift or something, wiping your hands on your shirt. Then you jumped up and washed your hands as soon as you could.”

I cringed at the memory. “It just felt so gross. I needed to get it off my hands”

Mom nodded. “That’s sensory issues alright.”

“What’s the other thing you noticed?”

“Well. It’s common for autistic folks to have something called ‘special interests’. Can you guess what that means?”

I squinted. “I think I understand. But I don’t think I can put it into words”

“It’s typically defined as an intense focus on something. Like a topic you really like or a hobby.”

“Like how I am with space?”

“Exactly. If I had to guess I’d say space is definitely a special interest for you.”

I grinned despite myself. “Well duh! There’s over 200 sextillion stars! And a sextillion is like a billion trillion! It’s just astounding to think that-“ I paused. My birth parents had gotten angry when I talked about space like this. “I’m sorry” I muttered.

“For what?”

“I got too excited”

“Kiddo.” Mom looked at me. “Don’t ever apologize for being excited. Don’t ever apologize for feeling anything. It’s perfectly natural and it’s not something anyone should be angry with you for. Okay?”

“Okay” I agreed sheepishly.

“That’s my girl. Now keep talking to me about stats, you’ve got me hooked now”