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.
Vivian shrugs awkwardly. "I guess it's hard to change with the other countries...? I don't know. I'm not precisely looking for a Muggle girlfriend."
She's pretty sure she got the term right? She wants to use the right terms for things.
"There aren't exactly... I'm not sure how adults would do it except by trial and error, word of mouth, that sort of thing. Maybe you can issue everybody club pins and then by the time we're in our twenties some people will have the habit of wearing them when they want to go... looking?"
"That's a good idea!" Vivian says, brain spinning. "Though maybe pins are too obvious. Colours? I think Muggles wear purple? But hm, we have uniforms."
"Is there some reason to be subtle? If we go with 'purple hair accessories' or whatever then there'll be false positives."
"I... don't know. Is there? The Muggle world isn't always... friendly about this. Are wix any better?"
"...Yeah? As far as I know? Have you had some kind of trouble? ...I guess people are fussing about there being enough wixen next generation, so that might be a thing, but like, not that much of a thing."
"I haven't, not me. But you hear- stories, or curse words. It was actually illegal until fairly recently."
"I think magic only stopped being illegal once they were convinced it didn't exist to ban, so. Wixen are fine about widdershins folks. I wrote my parents the other week, it's all fine."
"Mum did tell me that one of her friends is working on a foundation to facilitate early identification and adoption of Muggleborn wixen. But not really a speech. Two lines."
Feeling oddly low, Vivian scratched more at her homework. It was weird to realize that she was almost done. They hadn't been here that long, had they?
"Who, Mum's friend?" Karen scribbles out a line of runes and starts checking her work. "Miranda thinks demand will outpace supply and they'll start trying to make it look like Muggleborn wixen are orphaned when they're not."
Vivian's mouth twists into a sad half-smile. "There's barely enough wix, let alone wix wanting to adopt, right? Miranda's probably right that they need to be careful but- I think they'll have time."
"Maybe. I think she's worried about international adoption? Like, Miranda's mum was born in Nigeria, they just moved here when she was a few years old. It might be easier to kidnap a Nigerian baby than to Confund a few orphanage workers and fiddle with all their records here. Maybe. I don't know much about the wizarding government in Nigeria or how much they'd object."
"Yeah, they're not really covered. One of the things Mum finds wanting in the curriculum. She wants me to do an independent study on it but I'm not even sure the library has anything up-to-date."
"Yeah, like that. I'm not really interested enough to motivate myself through a whole course on it, though, you know?"
"So do something else for part of the course?" Vivian suggests absently, then her eyes light up. "Oh! You could make it on widdershins issues! The adoption for your mom, and- history, or laws, or social norms? Famous Widdershins Wix Throughout the Ages? Oh, that would be such fun."
"I'm not sure 'widdershins issues' so much exists as a topic like that? It would be really hard to find materials specifically about it, I'd wind up reading six times as much stuff."