"Romora! Focus!"

Training. That's all Romora Ash ever does anymore. Learn a new spell, then use it. That's all she could do.

"Romora, you need to focus!" Eleazar Fig told her, making Romora groan.

Eleazar was her foster parent, despite his age. He, and his wife, had raised Romora ever since she was 6 years old. They've always loved her, especially her metamorphmagus abilities.

Metamorphmagus are witches and wizards who have the capability to change their appearance. Their face, eyes, hair, color of the previous, voice, anything but their main size. Only one metamorphmagus is born every decade.

And Romora was currently the previous decade's lucky one.

"Romora, stop getting distracted!" Eleazar yelled this time, getting impatient.

"Eleazar, we've been doing this for hours! Can we at least be done for the day?" Romora tried, but that caused him to argue more.

"There is only one week till you start school at Hogwarts, and it is my job to make sure you aren't too far behind!" Eleazar reminded her, making Romora roll her eyes.

"I'm still going to be a few years behind, cause I'm already 15, and just now starting at Hogwarts." She argued, twirling her borrowed wand in her hand.

"Might I remind you that you are starting school as a fifth year, so you need all this practice." Eleazar reminded her for the fourth time that week.

Yes, with her upbringing, Romora was not accepted into Hogwarts when she was 11 like everyone else. When she was adopted, the Figs did not know anything about her family. And her metamorphmagus abilities weren't revealed until she was 13. And so it wasn't till age 14 that her magic abilities started to show.

Once at her old school, girls were teasing her about her hair, and the fact that she had old foster parents in the girls' lavatory. Romora started to cry, and that caused all the other girls to laugh. Suddenly, all the toilets started to overflow, and the sinks sprayed out water. The school assumed it to be a plumbing malfunction, but the Figs realized the truth.

A different time, Romora was assigned a project partner for an essay at school. Her partner was the school bad boy, Wajo, and he made it his personal mission to annoy her into doing the project herself. He almost succeeded too, until Wajo saw Romora's eyes flash blood red. He never again spoke to her after that, and she preferred it that way.

After many similar incidents, the Figs finely placed together the cause. One day, they took her out of school early, and sat her down in the living room. Confused by what was happening, Romora started getting nervous, almost setting the house on fire.

But Mirium, Eleazar's wife, had managed to calm her down before anything bad happened. She always had that calming effect on Romora, which had often come in handy. But nothing could really calm her down since Mirium d...

Romora sighed, stopping herself from showing Eleazar that was what she was thinking. Miriam's death had been hard on the both of them, but ever since, Romora hadn't been the same. She stopped going to the library, stopped going out on her daily stroll around London, basically everything that she ever did with her foster mom. And Eleazar had noticed.

He noticed everything.

"Look, Romora, I just want you to have a good experience at Hogwarts. And you can't have that if you're constantly trying to catch up." Eleazar said, finely putting his wand away.

"I know, but I don't think a little school work will stop me from that. It certainly didn't when I had to catch up when I first went to school. Do you remember that?" Romora reseoned, sitting down on the couch.

"Yes, I can recall. You made school into your job, and caught up by the end of the week." Eleazar chuckled, joining her on the couch.

"Exactly! I'll focus on my studies for as long as it takes for me to catch up. And once I'm done, then I'll have that fun experience." Romora said, putting her borrowed wand away.

Eleazar sighed heavily, thinking hard. He would still be able to help with school since he was a professor. If Romora did need any help, he knew she would ask for it.

"Alright, fine, we can be done for this week." Eleazar sighed, making her beam.

"On one condition." He finished, making Romora sigh.

⋈-⋈

After many hours in Diagon Alley, Romora and Eleazar finally headed home as the sun set.

"So, how do you like your new book?" Eleazar asked, walking alongside his foster daughter.

"Oh, I very much enjoy it. I've never read something quite like it." Romora told him, admiring her book on "Seven Ways To Befriend Beasts" by San Bakar.

"I'm glad you found a new book. Do try not to read it all in one day." Eleazar chuckled.

"It's not my fault the last book was so short." She defended, putting her book in her bag.

"It was 1,000 pages long!" He exclaimed, sending an exasperated expression to her.

"I stand by my statement, Eleazar." Romora, laughing softly.

Eleazar smiled brightly at the sight.

Romora had been fairly emotionally distant since his wife's death, and he couldn't blame her. Mirium raised her like she was her own daughter, and cared for her like no one else. Her and Romora were inseparable, ever since the Figs found her in that orphanage.

But to see Romora smiling and laughing for the first time in, what, four months? Well, that made Eleazar's day. It was well worth the wait.

"Eleazar?" Romora asked suddenly, all happiness lost to her voice.

"Yes, Romora?" Eleazar answered hesitantly.

The last time she had sounded like this, it was after kids had bullied her at school.

"I really miss her."

A single tear fell down Romora's face, and her eyes turned a sad blue color.

Eleazar pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her back softly.

"I do too, Romora. I do too."

⋈-⋈

"Romora, look."

As a little toddler, Romora was looking out at the sunset on a high hill. A woman with a browned haired messy bun sat by her side. Her face was not shown to the little toddler, who was completely transfixed by the sunset.

"This is your home." The woman told her, who Romora now knew to be her mother.

"Home?" Toddler Romora repeated, still not looking away from the sky.

"Yes, you see that village over there?" Her mother asked, pointing west.

Once Romora looked away from the sunset, she saw what her mother saw. A small group of cottage houses sat a good distance from the hill, with townspeople walking about the square. As a toddler, Romora was not interested in that, so she refocused on the sunset.

"That's where your grandpa lives." Her mother said, a sad tone to her voice.

"Mama...sad?" She asked, crawling into her mothers lap.

"No, no, Mama is not sad!" She lied, but Romora knew better by the watery eyes.

"I be sad?" She asked.

"No, you don't need to be sad! You should never have to be sad for me!" Her mother assured Romora, rubbing her cheek.

"But...mama sad?" She asked again, and this time her mother nodded.

"Please don't be sad mama." Romora begged, hugging her mother tightly.

"I won't have to be soon." She said, turning her daughter to face her.

"Why?" Romora asked, squirming in her mothers grasp.

"Because I'm gonna help your grandpa. And I'm going to make sure you never have to experience the pain of losing someone." She said determinedly, letting the toddler look back at the sunset.

"Ok, mama." Romora said, holding onto her mothers arm.

⋈-⋈

Another dream. That's all it was.

Romora woke up in her bed with the sun shining bright through her curtains. Her blankets were spread out over her body, with her feet poking out from the bottom. She was sprawled out across the bed, with pink hair over her face.

Wait, pink hair?!

Romora bolted upright, shocked by her hair color. Sure enough, when she looked in the mirror, she had pink hair that waved at the bottom right above on her shoulder. Romora's hair hadn't been able to change color yet, so that was a little unnerving to her.

Romora quickly got dressed in a white shirt, with a black vest, and black leggings paired with tall brown boots. As her stomach rumbled, she headed out into the living room for breakfast. She fixed herself some eggs and bacon, and sat down to eat after she made Eleazar some.

"And what exactly would you be doing up at this time on a Wednesday morning?"

Romora coughed, and almost choked on her food as she looked to find Eleazar leaning on the hallway door frame.

"I, uh, got really hungry." She said, gulping down some water to stop coughing.

"Ah, the munchies, the ultimate sleep stopper." Eleazar said, sitting down at the table with the plate Romora had made for him.

"It's already 9 am anyway, so I don't really mind being up." She told him, returning to her own plate.

"So, the hair is new. Didn't really think you could pull off pink, but it suits you." Eleazar complemented.

"Uh, yeah, me neither. I just woke up with it this morning." Romora said, having a sip of water.

"Huh, interesting." He thought, digging into his eggs.

After eating breakfast, Romora washed the dishes.

"Well, I really must head to work. I'll see you tonight. Stay out of trouble." Eleazar said, then apperated away.