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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.
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slythervivian
slythervivian
Vivian shrugs, embarrassed. "Seemed easier to picture than 'really large lizards', I don't know." She frowns. "I know wix use magic instead of science, but that's history too? And it's not like you don't know Muggles are there, you're not accidentally ignoring everything we know." She looks at Miranda questioningly. "You... seem to know both wix and Muggle stuff? Help?"
chanuphis
"Wixen children go to primary school until age eleven and learn sums and how to read and write and some folklore, some very wix-focused history and government and so on, bits of music and art in some schools. They're not being prepared for their A-levels, they're getting the basics handled so they can go to Hogwarts - and you know how much science we cover here. I don't know how good the Muggle Studies program is but they don't have very much time to cover dinosaurs when they need to cover dishwashers and stamps and why there's such an awkward relationship between the Ministry and the American wizarding government."
slythervivian
"But...but..." Vivian splutters. "Don't wix know how the world started? Don't they wonder? It's not like they're 'choosing wix history over Muggle history' during the dinosaurs, there weren't wix then either!"
chanuphis
"I know about dinosaurs, but I think the usual idea is that science is that thing that Muggles have instead of magic, and dinosaurs are a Science Thing, so they must only concern Muggles, like dishwashers," shrugs Miranda. "Please don't ask me questions like you think I'm responsible for primary wixen education in Britain. I'm really not."
slythervivian
"Sorry!" Vivian says instantly, looking down. "I don't think you're responsible at all, I swear! It just- seems all backwards, and I don't know who is responsible, so I just rant." She shuffles her feet. "So. Sorry."
chanuphis
"Mum teaches little little wixen, like five year olds, but she's mostly just teaching them to behave in a classroom setting and read," says Miranda. "She doesn't have a chance to go over dinosaurs, generally, and if she did most of the kids would figure they were made up if they ever thought about them again - little wixen like made-up stuff as much as Muggles do, only different stuff counts."
slythervivian
"I don't think I could even say when I learned about dinosaurs?" Vivian says helplessly. "It's just- something people know. I thought. I guess wix probably learn about dragons the same way."
chanuphis
"I had a really mixed-up education. I did go to a little bit of Muggle school but I don't think that's how I learned dinosaurs were a thing."
slythervivian
"There's toys, and children's books, and films-" they went over films with Karen, right? She vaguely remembers they did. "-and things like that. It's not something you have to learn about in a class, always, not like... I don't know. Weirder science."
chanuphis
"...Wizards mostly don't do public libraries," Miranda mentions. "There are books, but if you're going to read them you basically have to buy them or get them at Hogwarts. That may be a factor, that and not having television."
slythervivian
Vivian decides that now is perhaps not the time to get into cave people. "Sorry," she says, trying to sound reassuring. "It's- more me being confused by the whole wix world again, I think. I mean, I feel like that all the time here- magic is real? Fairies? Cauldrons and broomsticks and all that stuff?"
slythervivian
Vivian thinks about it. "A lot of it they went over with my letter, but I didn't really talk to people much my first two years? So I still get surprised by things sometimes." She shrugs self-deprecatingly. "Like dinosaurs." She smiles tentatively at Karen. "You should try the Muggle world sometime." It comes out as a suggestion, almost a question.
planetarium
"I don't know what I'd... do? Also apparently being black is like... a thing. That I don't know how to deal with at all."
chanuphis
"It probably won't even come up if you're only going for a walk," Miranda says. "I just said it was like being Muggleborn because I couldn't come up with anything more like it than that."
slythervivian
Vivian deflates a little internally. Resolutely she forces away the picture that had been forming, of them going to the cinema and eating popcorn and having a fun 'Muggle' day out. Karen's probably right. It wasn't a good idea.
"You don't have to or anything. I just thought it might be interesting." She smiles a little. "See a dinosaur skeleton or something."
"You don't have to or anything. I just thought it might be interesting." She smiles a little. "See a dinosaur skeleton or something."
planetarium
"Also if I screwed something up and someone had to be Memory Charmed Miranda would probably never speak to me again."
planetarium
"Not after the massive lecture you wouldn't. Anyway, maybe when I'm older? But it makes me really nervous to even think about it right now."
slythervivian
Vivian's eyes dart back and forth between Karen and Miranda awkwardly. She's not sure what they're talking about but they're clearly referencing something and she... will not be asking while Miranda is making that face. "When you know more spells, you mean?" she guesses.
planetarium
"No, when I know more about... things in general. You can't do spells in front of Muggles anyway."