qswa

[slythervivian]

Vivian is a quiet child. Shy and easily overwhelmed, she is most often found at home studying quietly under her mother's approving eye. She does well enough in school that her parents start to talk about sending her to a fancy boarding school when she's older; St. Paul's, perhaps, or maybe Sevenoaks. Vivian doesn't object. She is always well behaved, and she never speaks unless spoken to. If her parents think she should go away to school, she's sure they know best. She doesn't need to talk to them about it. And she certainly doesn't need to mention the strange things that happen sometimes in her room, late at night when she's falling asleep. Her books can't actually float. The street lights don't actually make pretty moving shadow designs on the wall. It's just a pleasant fancy.

And then suddenly it isn't just a child's fancy anymore. There's an older couple showing up to Explain Things to her parents carrying a fancy letter on parchment- sealed with wax, even- and an entirely different kind of boarding school to attend. Her parents seem more confused and afraid than anything else, but the wizard couple is very insistently, politely persuasive. Vivian gets the feeling her parents don't quite know what to do with her. But having been presented with such a convenient answer, the arrangements are made.

She'll be attending Hogwarts in the fall.

---

It becomes obvious to Vivian very quickly that the helpful couple left a lot of things out. Until recently the school was, literally, a war zone. Perhaps they'd done it on purpose; they'd said something vague about fetching her "because the faculty were busy", but Vivian suspects belatedly that they really meant "because the faculty are recovering from an enormous magical battle, yes seriously." She doesn't tell her parents; they would worry, or pull her out of school, and she doesn't really think she'd be any safer if they did. She is, as always, quiet. The Sorting Hat puts her in Slytherin, and she gets quieter. She doesn't socialize, she doesn't answer questions about her home life, she spends as much time as she can in the library. Eventually the older students write her off as "one of those weird Asian witches", and she sees no need to correct them. She is a weird Asian witch. Better than a pureblooded snob, as far as she's concerned.

She does well in school. She's not inspiring awe and admiration in Ravenclaw hearts or anything like that, but when you do nothing but study you do well in school, and Vivian does little else. She likes the work, and doesn't feel the loss. She finishes year one, then year two. Her parents are pleased she's doing well, and don't otherwise ask questions; magic makes them uncomfortable. It certainly never occurs to them to ask if she's making friends. She's not, but she prefers it that way. She likes her cozy armchair in the library much more than the older Slytherins, that's for sure.

Her disinterest in socialization does not survive the onset of puberty.

---

Vivian isn't clear on when, exactly, she realizes that other witches are pretty. But other witches are definitely pretty. So Vivian starts attempting to meet some. Her studying starts moving closer and closer to other students' study groups. There's one group in particular, with a beautiful Ravenclaw witch her age... Vivian watches them. She's not the only one, this group is awfully famous so she doesn't stand out much, but she's still too shy. She tries not to stare as much. (She fails. She's so smart. And that smile.) She tries to at least stare at other girls. (More successful, but it's not a large student body; she only has so many options). And she worries and daydreams and panics that she'll say something and be crushed in the process. (She says nothing.)

But there's no one to talk to about this. Why can't she find any gay witches or wizards to talk to? She listens to gossip. She asks innocent questions when she dares. She only comes up with three names, in the whole school, and the two girls are dating each other. That's probably the only reason anyone knows about them at all, she decides glumly. This is just not talked about at Hogwarts. And it's not like she has friends to ask or compare notes with. She's "that quiet Asian witch" who doesn't make friends.

She decides that if no one is talking about it, she's going to make them.

She gets permission from the Headmistress. She talks Madame Hooch- on the principle that the flying instructor has the most free time- into acting as the faculty adviser. And she starts distributing flyers.

Queer/Straight Wix Alliance introductory meetup, Monday October 2 at 7pm in the Charms classroom. Cauldron cakes and chatting.

Comments

[slythervivian]

"People would do that? But... that would hurt!"

[chanuphis]

"Well, yes, temporarily. Madam Pomfrey would put them right, but it still wouldn't be fun in the meanwhile, and it would also clog the schedule."

[slythervivian]

"Still though." Vivian shakes her head. "People are odd."

[pleating]

"Um. Miranda kills Dementors for fun."

[slythervivian]

"Well but that's not more true in the infirmary. Unless you kill Dementors there? I thought you were traveling when you did that."

[chanuphis]

"Yes, but they're not hoping to watch me do it, by and large, they just want to watch me exist, and if I can most reliably be found existing in a location they can't get access to unless they're hexed or have a broken leg..."

[slythervivian]

"Do you spend a lot of time in the infirmary, then? What do you do there? I haven't been much, just for scratches and things like that."

[chanuphis]

"I'm not doing anything really interesting yet, mostly just freeing up Madam Pomfrey's time from having to do little tasks, but she's teaching me. I have a solid Episkey now, I've been allowed to heal some things myself, although I guess not while you were in."

[slythervivian]

"It was mostly from flying lessons. I don't think you were there yet."

[parental_guidance]

"Well, if anyone was going to be a healing prodigy at age eleven..."

[chanuphis]

"I think I'm learning healing at a perfectly ordinary rate for a person of my age who is interested in the subject and has access to a healer."

[witch_please]

"Yeah, but do you remember the part about how you kill Dementors, ordinary is not your best quality."

[chanuphis]

"I didn't say it was."

[slythervivian]

Vivian is getting the sense that this Dementor-killing business is a bigger deal than she thought it was. She's not very clear on how impressive magical achievements are when they fall anywhere between "did well in class" and "defeated a literal Evil Wizard in a duel". But everyone seems very impressed, so she's not going to mention her ignorance.

"Well, I think I'm going to try to have another of these in two weeks," she says instead. "If you're interested, write your name down on the parchment by the cakes; I'll make sure you get the details when I'm all set up."

[pleating]

Karen goes and writes her name.

[slythervivian]

Vivian tries not to beam too much.

By the end of the event, she actually has a few names. The Known Couple's signed up, even if that older Gryffindor boy never showed up- Vivian tries to be charitable and imagines he has class, or an essay due, or something. Alli and Karen both signed up, even if the rest of Alli's clique seems less inclined. And her final count has a whole six other people on it (seven if you count the maybe) so all in all, way better than she'd hoped. Eleven people! She can't even count that on her fingers!

Flyers go up again two weeks later, and this time around she also leaves notes for the people on her list at the breakfast table.

Queer/Straight Wix Alliance social hour, Thursday October 26 at 7pm in the Charms classroom. Chocolate frogs and chatting.

[pleating]

Karen turns up right on time.

"How come 'queer/straight'?" she asked. "Miranda guessed because it's technically more inclusive than 'widdershins', is that it?"

[slythervivian]

"Oh, no. Is that wrong? I thought that's what it was, I don't know all the words here yet-"

She stops. That was... more than she wanted to reveal about herself, potentially. But Karen's friends with Jenny, right? Hasn't Jenny mentioned being Muggleborn? This is fine. Probably. Karen won't think she's weird or inferior or whatever else it is those Slytherin snobs have stuck up their bums.

(Vivian is not much enamored of blood purists.)

[pleating]

"Well, you don't hear it as much, but widdershins technically only means witches who just like witches, or wizards who just like wizards, not people who like both or any of the peculiar gender things - apparently Miranda's mum has interesting friends. So it's not wrong. Just obscure."

[slythervivian]

"Oh..." Vivian looks at Karen anxiously. "Do you think widdershins is better? I mean, I wanted everyone to feel comfortable, not just- widdershins, right?- and putting 'straight' seemed like it might convince people who were hesitant? In a 'we can just say we came to be supportive' way? I want this to be inclusive!"

[pleating]

"It's fine, it just isn't as instantly recognizable as 'widdershins'? I mean, to wizardborns, anyway, it might be really obvious for Muggleborns. And for 'straight' it'd usually be 'deosil' but that's just to match with widdershins, it wouldn't make sense next to 'queer'."

[slythervivian]

"Thank you," Vivian tells her. "I don't- have a lot of background on this, really. That's one of the reasons I started the group."

[pleating]

"Are you Muggleborn altogether or did you just grow up with a Muggle parent or something? It's fine, it's only, Slytherin."

[slythervivian]

"Muggleborn," she admits (quietly). "But I wouldn't say, and I guess the Asian community keeps itself pretty separate? So none of the older students were sure."

[pleating]

"Yeah - my family knows a family that's got a Korean Muggle who married in, in it, but that's all off the top of my head. I won't tell anyone if you don't want."