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chapter one: stranger danger?
word count: 4.04k
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AZALEA POTTER wasn't a girl of many words, not with her family, at least, unless someone disturbs her dear slumber. 

So, to summarize, Azalea was a calm and quiet, meek girl of 13 ( almost 14 ) living in the Dursleys, who started her days by cursing at her piggish cousin under her breath. 

This day was no different, except, for once, she'd adopted a façade where she wouldn't yell at her cousin : after all, as horrible as he was, it was his birthday. 

Little Azzie who believed in buttering up to her teachers to get extra grades was now teen Azalea who still believed in buttering up to her teachers to get extra grades. She was still that bubbly girl who drew paintings and wrote letters for her teachers, just more mature, with much better drawings. She was still the best of her class ( and perhaps, her entire grade ) and still got A's in each subject. 

However, she still cooked and cleaned for the Dursleys in the evenings after she came home from school, and the Vernon Dursley still used her as a tool to remove frustrations on. 

Petunia had been sane enough to provide her with a room, considering the necessities of a girl for privacy and so as to not be a victim of the infamous Potter mood swings. 

Dudley. . . he was the grey matter in between Azalea's black and white world, even though she didn't think grey matter existed. He was sometimes kind, gave her some food in the night after his parents were asleep, or bought her some extra paints when he knew she run out of them. When they were out in public, however, he portrayed their relation as if they were strangers. 

Her only escape from the crazy household she was somehow related to, Calypso Aurum, Janus Black, and Calantha Scamander, were always there for her. They, obviously, never knew about the abuse she got at her house: be it of any kind. 

Everyday in the Dursley household was the same for her: wake up, go to school, come back and do every household chore, do homework and sleep; lest it be a weekend, when Petunia had her do all the extra chores she couldn't do during the week. 

There were times when Azalea wondered what the hell it was that her aunt did with all the free time she got by dumping her chores to Azalea, but when the girl saw the huge amounts of laundry she did and the good stack of magazines on her aunt's side table, she got her answers. 

So this Saturday, a particularly 'special' Saturday, was perhaps one of the best Saturdays of Azalea's life. And it began with her darling auntie 'Loony Tunes' banging on her door, saying: "Get up! Now!"

She did get up, quite groggily, might I add, and dragged herself to the bathroom, where, once again, Petunia banged the door: "Hurry up!" 

She could've just screamed back something that was sure to shut Petunia up for days, but then again, she'd rather not hear Vernon scream his head off at her for making his wife cry. 

As soon as she walked into the kitchen, she could see the Dursleys' smiles turn into frowns: except for Dudley, who was already frowning and squinting at the amount of gifts he'd gotten. 

"Try not to burn anything," Petunia had ordered, passing the pink pan to Azalea: who merely rolled her eyes and muttered a, 'yes ma'am'. 

"How many are there?" Dudley demanded, gesturing towards the gifts. His father gave out a nervous chuckle, and the Potter already knew this was going to be her amusement for the day. 

"36, counted them myself!" replied Vernon. 

"36?!" Dudley's face went red. "But last year, last year I had 37!"

"Well, some of them are quite bigger than last years."

"I don't care how big they are!" 

"Well, Duddykins," Petunia rushed to her son, trying to calm him, "what we're going to do ─ what we're going to do, is when we go out, we're going to get you two new gifts, is that alright?"

Dudley nodded, his tears forgotten.

Azalea couldn't help but roll her eyes at him being a kid. 

The bell sounded soon enough, when Azalea began to dish out plates for breakfast. Considering she was to never open doors unless asked ─ what a courtesy ─ she was stuck in the dining room with Dudley, who grinned at her. 

"Cheer up, cousin!" he patted her back, causing the frail girl to almost fall at the sudden impact. "We're going to the zoo! Even your stupid little friends are invited." 

She let out a smile at that: at least someone in their zoo's excuse of a house wasn't a complete donkey. 

But she'd worry about that later: for now, she had guests to deal with. 

.  .  .  

NO ONE IN THE GRIMMY neighbourhood knew that Azalea wasn't a kid but the Dursleys' personal maid who hadn't been paid for 13 years. 

As Azalea sat on the breakfast table with Dudley's friend ─ Phineas ─ and his family for breakfast before they were all to go to the zoo, she couldn't help but supress her want to roll her eyes each time they sang praises of the Dursleys, and how Azalea should be grateful they took her in their house rather than leaving her in some orphanage. 

She wanted to say that perhaps the orphanage would've been better, but considering she had never been to one, she didn't want to assume things. 

"My parents are becoming too much, huh?" Phineas lightly nudged her foot under the table, his voice down to a whisper so that only she could hear him. 

Phineas was one of those friends of Dudley who were actually kind and sweet, and actually tried to make conversation with Dudley's little sister and not pass snide remarks about her. On the contrary, he sometimes defended her. 

Nodding her head subtly while avoiding Vernon's piercing gaze, she said, "They're talking about my family as if they're Gods or something. Think Uncle Wally paid him." 

"Uncle Wally?"

". . . Childhood nickname. He likes it very much!" 

"Azalea!" Mrs. Candace, Phineas's mother, cut in. "How's school? Heard you go to a different one than little Dudders here."

Here's the thing. . . the Candace couple is too much like the Dursleys. 

Mr. Candace enjoys being blunt and impatient, and he too has serious anger issues, while Mrs. Candace is perhaps the human version of Petunia: everything prim and proper, her want to be posh was overwhelming. 

Azalea obviously did not enjoy that. 

"It's great!" she nodded with a small smile, genuinely happy to talk about her school. "We learnt about current electricity last week."

Here's another thing ─ Azalea was a year above her grade. 

"That's great!" Mrs. Candace nodded with an awkward smile before indulging in conversation with Petunia once again. 

"She was weak in physics." Phineas whispered again. 

"Figured." Azalea whispered back. 

And that was it. 

Even though Phineas tried making short conversation with Azalea and cracked jokes with her that weren't supposed to be funny, but they were.

.  .  .

AS SOON AS THE DURSLEYS PARKED THEIR car in front of the city zoo, Azalea hopped out of the suffocating car where Vernon was still grumbling about 'stupid teenagers who know no speed limit'. 

Even hypocrisy has it's limits, Uncle Wally.

She waved at her friends ─ who were huddled over near the reptile compound. 

"Moony!" she squealed when her friend cooped her in an overly enthusiastic manner. 

"Apples!" she got her reply. 

When Azalea had given Calypso the nickname 'Moony', Calypso had been adamant on giving her friend a nickname too, one only they both used for each other. Considering they were barely seven, and Calypso had no creative sense whatsoever, she decided on calling her friend 'Apples', simply because she loved the fruit.

God help anyone who comes between her and her apples.

Soon enough she was sandwiched in a hug with Calypso, Calantha and Janus, while people looked at them as if they were crazy. 

"Guess who's finally turning 14 in a week?" Janus bumped his shoulder into hers when they were looking at the snakes. 

"I am!" Azzie gave him that grin. "What gift have you planned to give me?"

What he wanted to blurt out was, Telling you everything about your parents and the living legend you are, that an old hag has been keeping back from you.

But for the sake of his and his friend's ─ who was basically a little sister at this point ─ sanity, he replied with, "Take a guess." 

"I don't knooooooooooooow."

"I'm not telling you," Janus raised his hands in surrender. "Mum would kill me." 

"I won't tell Emma, if you─" Azalea began talking, but her cousin banging his fist on the glass case in which the snake was having a peaceful slumber, made her stop and sigh. 

"I swear he's a 5 year old in a teenager's body," Calantha spoke from beside her. 

"He's not that bad . . . sometimes." Azalea shrugged, wincing at the attention Dudley was garnering. 

". . . Sure." 

"Pretty sure he's asleep, mate." Phineas, too, winced, laying a hand on Dudley's shoulder.

Dudley rolled his eyes: "He's boring," and walked away. 

Azalea felt bad for Dudley's friends, no matter how horrible they were to her. She knew they were all friends with her cousin only because their parents were friends with the Dursleys, but the Dudley treated them: as if they were his assistants, made her pity the poor people. Especially Phineas, kind little Phineas.

"I'm gonna go make sure the snake's okay," Azalea murmured. Her friends didn't question it: they knew animals were more of her friends than people. 

"Hey there." she smiled at the snake after it was awake. "You're from Burma, aren't you? Have you got many friends there?" 

The snake only nodded towards the board that read: 'BRED IN CAPTIVITY'. 

"Can you. . . hear me?" she continued, frowning slightly. When the snake nodded, she paused before shrugging and continuing her conversation. "I understand. That's me, as well. Never knew my parents either. "

Unfortunately for the bonding friends, Dudley noticed the now awake snake, and yelled out in excitement. He stomped over to the closure and pushed his cousin out of the way. 

She scrunched her nose as she fell, hearing the offended "hey!" from her friends. As Dudley jumped in excitement in front of the snake closure and banged his hands on the glass, she noticed Phineas blend in the shadows away from the Dursleys, pretending to not know them.

She let out a snort.

Phineas could be cool.

Her attention was taken away from the dorky boy in the dark when Calantha helped her up. She glared at Dudley, not liking the boy and the pain on her bottom because of him.

She didn't expect the glare to have any effect, but when the glass vanished in thin air and Dudley fell in to the water with a splash, she widened her candy-apple eyes in surprise, trying to hide the smirk when Dudley got what he deserved.

But when she saw satisfied looks on her friends' faces rather than the surprised or even terrified ones she'd expected, she knew she would have to have a talk with them later.

How were they okay with her talking to animals and the glass vanishing with no logical reasons?

When Vernon glared at her in return, however, and when Petunia's shrieks mixed with Mrs. Candace's reached her ears, she had to push those thoughts to the back of her head.

Boy, was this going to be a long day.

. . .

"I TOLD YOU!" Azalea cried as Vernon pulled her in the house by her hair, wincing when a particularly hard tug gave her a small whiplash. "I didn't do anything, I couldn't have done anything! One minute the glass was there and the next it was gone: it was like magic!"

Something snapped inside of Vernon, because the next moment, he was shoving her in the closet, his purple face visible from the small window in the cupboard as he bellowed: "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS MAGIC!"

And then, nothing.

All that could be heard was Petunia consoling and comforting Dudley, and Vernon spewing curses under his breath about God knows what.

And later that evening, when smelt the sweet scent of chocolate cookies as a consolation for Dudley, she couldn't help but feel jealous of the attention her cousin received.

And then, she let her eyelids fall shut, drowning in thoughts of who she thought her parents to be, and the mysterious creature in the dark cloak, and the fire, and the startling green eyes with freckles dotting the golden skin like constellations.

. . .

THE NEXT day, Vernon seemed to have forgotten the fit he had after coming home from the zoo. The family lounged around in the living room to shield themselves from the bitter wind of autumn.

"What're you doing, standing there like a fool?" Vernon looked at her with his beady eyes. "Go, get the post."

So, with bleary eyes, she dragged her feet to the front door, picking up the bundle of envelopes gathered on the doormat.

She doesn't believe it at first — has to rub her eyes to make sure she isn't sleepy anymore. But it was there, as clear as day, her name on a manila envelope.

She turned and flipped the envelope around, noticing the red seal that held the envelope close. 

She distributed the envelopes in the living room before finally hiding herself in the kitchen and unwrapping the envelope to read the contents inside.

Just as the seal was delicately peeled off, so as to not ruin the design it held, Nosy Dudley decided to make a racket about 'little Miss Potter' receiving a letter.

"Look mum, dad! Little Miss Potter has a letter!" he yelled, snatching the letter from Azalea's hands.

"Hey!" she cried out. "Give it back, that's mine!"

"Yours?" Vernon spit out in a tone that made her feel embarrassed for even yelling out in the first place. "Who'd be writing to you?"

But as soon as he saw the letter's address, his face morphed into horror.

And as soon as Petunia saw the letter too, she was pushing the children out of the room.

. . .

AZALEA POTTER hated secrets. And liars. And cheats.

So she hated the Dursleys.

For the past two days, she and Dudley had been dragged around like toys, with no clue as to what it was that spooked the Dursleys so much.

Except for the letters. Yeah, having letters appear in eggs and practically vomited out of the fireplace might take a toll on people. Especially when they're addressed to the little girl who didn't even matter anything to anyone.

It was 23:59, and Azalea pitied herself. The house the Dursleys had found was a small, stone hut on the shore in the middle of nowhere. As the moonlight shone upon the cold, stoned floor, the waves crashed against the shore, the Dursleys slept in their beds and couch, she pitied herself.

As she drew 'Happy Birthday!' on a cake on the dusty ground she was unfortunate enough to call her bed for the night, her mind fell into that dark abyss she hated so much.

45 seconds.

She pitied the fact that she had no family.

40 seconds.

She pitied that she wasn't as tall as kids her age should be, she wasn't as healthy as kids her age were supposed to be, her mind was darker than it should've been.

30 seconds.

She pitied that she could never have the love her friends got from each other. She pitied that no matter what, they would still look at her differently after seeing Vernon pull at her hair when he pushed her into the car at the zoo.

15 seconds.

She regretted that she could never have a normal childhood.

BEEP!

A soft smile curled up on her lips. It could be worse. Be grateful for what you have.

"Happy birthday, Azzie." she whispered to herself, before blowing out the cake she drew on the dust. She pushed herself off of the dirty ground, dusting her hands and cloths as quietly as she could —

BANG!

Someone kicked the door down.

Just another casual day, huh, Azzie?

It's still midnight, she rolled her eyes, reminding her inner voice, before quietly curling up in a corner in the room.

"Sorry 'bout tha'." a gruff voice spoke, before the man who broke the door down picked it back up and rammed it in the corridor where it once was.

Hadn't the door falling down scared her, the scene in front of her might've been comical: Dudley was up and hunched back like a bull that was scared, Vernon held a rifle in his shaking hands, and Petunia hopelessly clutched onto her already terrified husband's sleeve.

The man didn't appear fazed.

"I demand that you leave at once, sir!" Vernon, well, demanded. "You are breaking and entering!"

The man came over and bent the rifle backwards. The squeal that left Petunia vaguely resembled a mouse's cry.

"Dry up, Dursley, yeh old prune."

Whoever this man was, Azalea was starting to take a liking towards him.

Then, the man stopped his stare in front of Dudley, "Blimey, Azzie, didn't think yeh woulda chopped yer hair off!"

"I—I'm not Azalea," Dudley stuttered, shaking under the towering stranger's brown eyes.

"That would be me." Azalea finally revealed herself from the shadows. :"I'm Azalea, but I prefer to be called Azzie. And you might be...?"

"Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid!" the man— Hagrid— beamed from underneath his bushy, messy beard. Then, his face lit up, as if remembering something, and he dug around in his heavy coat.

"Got somethin' here for ya!" he grinned, handing Azalea a pink cardboard box, which was slightly squashed from one side. "'Fraid I mighta sat on it at some point, but I assume it'll taste just the same."

Hagrid seemed a little nervous of her reaction as she opened the box, but he continued anyway, "Baked it meself! Words and all."

The box had a cake with icing the similar colour to the box's, with bright green letters reading: "Happee Birdae Azaleea". Though her name was spelt wrong, and the frosting was messy, and the cake was broken from the middle, it was—

"Perfect." she grinned up at the giant. "It's perfect, thank you! But if you don't mind, could you tell me how you know me?"

Then, with a pointed glare towards her family, she continued, "And how did you know it's my birthday, today?"

Dudley looked confused as ever, Petunia looked away, and Vernon didn't bother hiding the fact that they were dragging the Potter around like a rag doll just a few days before her birthday.

"Well, it's not everyday our young lady turns fourteen, is it?" Hagrid internally gave himself a pat on the back, accomplishing the fact that he hadn't scared the child away with his appearance. "And ter answer yer question, Azzie, I just happen to be the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts— you'll know all about Hogwarts, of course!"

"What in Hades' name is Hogwarts?"

"Yeh don' know 'bout Hogwarts?" Hagrid furrowed his thick eyebrows. "Blimey, Azzie, yeh never wondered where yer parents learn'd it all?"

"Learned what?"

"Yer a witch, Azzie."

But you don't have a green nose and boils all over your face, do ya?

"But I don't have a green nose and boils all over my face, do I?" she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm no witch— I'm Azzie, just plain ol' Azzie."

"Well, just plain ol' Azzie," Hagrid pointedly repeated her words. "Did yeh ever make anything happen? Anything strange, or outta the ordinary? Something yeh couldn't explain, when you were angry, or scared?"

Hagrid was internally satisfied as he saw Azalea's reaction morph into one of realisation.

Azalea's subconscious grinned as Dudley let out a whimper, remembering his birthday at the zoo.

And her subconscious dances around when she finally receives the letter that's been kept away from her for the past few weeks.

"Dear Miss Potter," she spoke after dramatically clearing her throat. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"She'll not be going!" Vernon bellowed, apparently finding his voice again. "We swore when we took her in, that we'd put an end to all this rubbish!"

"You knew?" Azalea frowned. It was sad how normal this was for her— how she'd never known where she came from, or who she really was. She was just Azzie. "You knew, and you never told me?"

"Of course, we knew," a shadow crossed Petunia's face. "With my perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Potter, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we landed with you."

It seemed as if Petunia had been waiting for years to get that off of her chest, as she released a sigh of satisfaction.

Well, time to blow up, Azzie. Show 'em what you got.

"Blown up?! You told me my parents died in a car crash!"

"A car crash!" Hagrid cried as if that was the most absurd thing in the world. "A car crash kill Lily and James Potter?!"

The kind teddy bear that'd given Azzie her cake looked at the Dursleys with so much venom in his eyes, she was almost pitying them.

Enough pitying for one night, sweetheart.

"We had to tell him something." Petunia threw her hands up.

"It's an outrage! It's a scandal!" Hagrid stood up from in front of the fireplace, where he'd lit a fire using his magic umbrella.

Is he Mary Poppins too?

"He'll not be going!" Vernon intervened, holding his crumpled up rifle, as if to scare Hagrid.

Hagrid scoffed, "Oh, an' I suppose a great Muggle like yourself's gonna stop her, are ya?"

"Muggle?" Azzie tilted her head like a curious cat.

"Non-magic folk." Hagrid said in passing as if it were the most normal thing in the world, before returning to glaring at the horrible guardians she'd been entrusted with. "This girl's had her name down since she was born! She's goin' to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry there is, and she's going to be under the care of the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore."

"I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach her some magic tricks!"

It seemed as if Vernon had struck some delicate part inside of Hagrid, because as soon as those words were left hung in the thin air, Hagrid pulled out his umbrella and pointed it threateningly at the Dursleys.

"Never. Insult. Albus. Dumbledore. In front of me."

Then, with a nasty look towards Dudley who was scarfing Azalea's cake down like a pig, Hagrid pointed his umbrella towards his... bottom, where a curly tail soon grew.

It suits him.

Azalea let out a laugh as the Dursleys screamed and ran around like cartoons.

"And, er, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone at Hogwarts that." Hagrid spoke sheepishly, nodding towards the family. "Strictly speaking, 'm not allowed ter do magic."

Azzie nodded, "Your secret's safe with me."

"Well." Hagrid checked his pocket watch. "Come on, then, we're a tad bit behind schedule."

As Hagrid walked out the door, Azalea hesitated. He was a stranger, after all.

But one glance at the Dursleys, and she shrugged to herself, picking up her big, bulky jacket, which had belonged to Dudley in some era.

Stranger danger over this zoo, any day. 

.  .  .

merry christmas! and to those of who don't celebrate christmas, happy holidays <3
also, yea i'm alive, school's just been a pain in the ass with back to back tests and assignments. i still have three assignments due on the first day of school :')