It was a warm, breezy autumn day in Diagon Alley. The rush for school supplies was long over, and shopkeepers were now mostly concentrating on getting up their stock for Christmas. Damask Morrigan, proprietor of Morrigan’s Montage of Used Wizarding Goods, and his wife Demeter, seemed to be no different. They wore the same sort of clothing that the other residents of the Alley wore. They used the same sort of charmed items (self-knitting needles, walking teakettles, Floo Powder) that everyone else around them did. And they, like all the other shopkeepers, were working very hard to prepare for the Holidays.
But Damask and Demeter were not the same as the others. Hidden behind the door that led upstairs to #27 Diagon Alley was a secret. It was a secret that had been in Damask’s family for two hundred years, and that his wife shared. It was a dark, shameful secret, though it came on them through no fault of their own. You see, Damask and Demeter were Squibs. Demeter, in fact, was part of a very large and gifted family of witches and wizards, much as Damask’s mother had been. Damask’s father, and Damask himself, were different. They were Squibs, born to a pair of Squib parents. In fact, the Morrigans had held one Squib in every generation for the past two centuries.
So, while they were concerned with getting together the right merchandise, and repairing the tattier second-hand stuff they came by, they were also concerned with keeping their secret. It was hard enough to make a living in the competitive commerce of the Wizarding World without something like THAT being bandied about, they thought.
There was also the matter of stigma on their child. Demeter often put her hands on her humongous belly, and thought of the child that would soon be born, and wonder what sort of life it would have. It would be another Squib in the family, of that she had no doubt. This thought brought tears to her eyes, and she often had to take a moment to compose herself.
Still, stigma or not, the child had to be born. And so she was, on October 10, Year of our Lord 1926. Demeter’s first labor pains came on suddenly, and actually knocked her off the ladder she was standing on. But within moments her mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and sister were at her side, shooing Damask down to the Leaky Cauldron to wait, and ensuring that the child had a safe entrance into the world.
Persephane Cygnet Morrigan was a happy little child, and seemed not to notice or care that her family was different than others, or even that her mother’s parents could do things that her parents, and her father’s own mother, couldn’t do. She just enjoyed her time playing in the small garden behind the shop, talking to the little birds and insects, and occasionally to the pixies and garden gnomes. For, though her parents didn’t know it, Persey was not a Squib. She had somehow missed the Morrigan Curse, even though it didn’t show.
Persey went to primary school when her time came; a Muggle school. Persey’s ability with magic was subtle, and not terribly strong. She couldn’t even speak to animals in the way a Parselmouth can with snakes; she simply had an uncanny…way with them, and of always somehow knowing what was wrong if they came to her. So, though she hated it, and always felt an outsider, to Muggle school she had to go.
Persey went through the usual things a child does, but in addition she also caught a very nasty case of tuberculosis when she was about eight years old. This kept her out of school for quite some time (not that she missed it; she kept up with lessons admirably at home), and weakened her body forever, in ways that would not show until much, much later.
One of the more obvious ways in which it weakened her was that, at least for a time, she was unable to do any strenuous physical activity, such as the calisthenics and other “healthy exercise” that was popularly forced upon school children of her day. This, and her mother’s misguided notion that she needed “feeding up” after her long confinement, meant that by about the age of ten, Persey was more than a bit on the chubby side…resulting in her receiving the nickname “Piggy” from her more mean-spirited classmates.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take another term of teasing, Persey’s life underwent two drastic changes, all in a row.
The first of these was the arrival, via owl post, of her Hogwarts acceptance letter. It was, for both Persey and her parents, an unthinkably joyful moment. Persey had never been told about Hogwarts…because she had kept her one hint of magical ability, her way with animals, hidden so well that everyone had just assumed she was a Squib like both her parents. However, she couldn’t help but hear the chatter of children and parents on the Alley, and so when her letter came, she was as overjoyed as her family.
The second, much less pleasant surprise came when Persey was having her annual physical examination, in preparation for going off to school. Her doctor, a fine wizard in his own right and an old friend of her family, was stunned when he noticed something not quite right in her eyes. Upon closer examination, it was shown that Persey had a fairly common Muggle eye disorder, Retinitis Pigmentosa. Under normal circumstances, it would be no trouble to have the condition fixed through magical surgery. However, the only two doctors in the world who could perform the surgery were currently living in Germany and the United States…and the Nazi aggression was making travel to either place, by magical OR Muggle means, thoroughly impossible.
So Persey went off to her first year at Hogwarts carrying some extra pounds, and the knowledge that while her sight was easily worked around at the moment, it would only get worse over time. The teasing she had underwent at Muggle school, both for her weight, her sicknesses, and her nearly pink hair (the result of having a red-haired father and a white-blonde mother) had made Persey shy of other children.
Even though she was Sorted into Hufflepuff, a House notorious for its’ friendly, loyal, hard-working students, Persey spent almost the entirety of her first Year at Hogwarts either immersed in books and schoolwork, or talking with the House Elves. She was determined, you see, to lose her extra pounds by the time she got home, and soon figured out that the House Elves were the ones responsible for making the food…and therefore were the ones best equipped to help her. Besides, she thought they were awfully cute.
By the time the beginning of next Term came around, Persey felt ready to finally face her Housemates and integrate herself fully into Hogwarts. But then, just before the start of term, disaster struck. Just before the beginning of Term, Persey went on a holiday to Bath with some of her cousins. Somehow or another, she and almost the entire group, came back with lice. While her cousins, having wizard parents, were easily rid of the nasty pests, Persey’s lice seemed quite resilient, and not even the most potent potions available were able to evict them. So, with only a day left before she had to board the Hogwarts Express, Persey had to undergo the thoroughly humiliating ordeal of having all her abundant roan hair shaved off! She went to school for the second time feeling even uglier than she had before. The fact that her eyesight had deteriorated to the point where she had to wear horrible thick-framed Muggle glasses didn’t help any. It was another year among the House Elves and books for her.
All that year, Persey waited for her hair to start growing back. But, probably due to the potions piled upon it to try and kill the lice, her head was a patch of pink fuzz at the end of the year, exactly the same as at the beginning. In despair, Persey turned to a charm she had read about, the Engorgio charm. Though something in her told her that for a second-year to take on a charm like this, without advice was a bad idea, she was just desperate enough to do it anyway.
At first, she thought that nothing had happened. But by the time she woke up the next morning, her pillow, and in fact most of her bed, was covered in thick, long Rapunzel-like hair! It took her a half hour to fish her cat, Hades (who had been her one friend through all these catastrophes) out, and another hour before she finally came to the conclusion that no matter how much she cut it, it would just grow right back again.
But despite this new hairstyle, which required her to cut holes in her pointed hats, and her ever-thickening glasses, AND the addition of hideous Muggle braces (business had been poor, and her parents couldn’t afford wizard dentistry), Persey was determined that her Third Year would be different. So she set out from day one to make friends…and make them she did!
Almost immediately Persey was taken in by Layla Chenizra and Mikaela Grant a pair of Hufflepuffs in fifth and fourth-year respectively. These two charismatic young women were instrumental in Persey coming out of her shell and truly finding her place. They were also one of the few people who knew of Persey’s diminishing sight. The only other person, at least at first, who Persey confided in was the Hogwarts campus nurse; Vesta Tweedlum.
Although not naturally clumsy, Persey ended up spending a lot of time in the Hospital Wing, mostly from bad falls in the dark or spells gone awry. The spells were mostly to be blamed on Persey’s over-enthusiastic wand. The wand was made of rare Whomping Willow tree wood, which, while it made up for Persey’s weak magical energy, also tended to put considerably more “oomph” into a spell than the caster intended.
With the help of Vesta, Layla, Mikaela and later Professor Esmerelda Mugwort (the Hufflepuff House head) Persey learned to channel her creative talent with Charms into adapting to her failing sight. After blowing up the Potions lab (an incident which earned her the nickname Pink Peril) she even got talking lab equipment. This, along with writing and reading charms and the immeasurable help of her cat Hades (who would miow before she hit anything, or before she reached stairs) enabled Persey to continue her Hogwarts education, and she even became an Assistant Nurse in her fourth year.
Just before the beginning of term in her fifth year, the Retinitis Pigmentosa finally ran its’ full course, and Persey’s sight was completely gone. She didn’t let this get her down, though; thanks to a correspondence course she’d taken over the summer, she had developed a charm that would allow her to diagnose medical problems without having to see them.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to use this charm a great deal, even though her work as Assistant Nurse had become, unofficially at least, the job of Nurse itself, along with Jessica Angel Marten, another Hufflepuff. The reason she didn’t have to use her Charm very much is that, about three months into the term, she got an Owl from her father saying that a German doctor had escaped the Nazis, and was in residence at St. Mungo’s Hospital…right there in London. This doctor, Dr. Krauss, was one of the two who could perform the surgery that would restore Persey’s sight!
So, with the help of Mikaela (who had graduated a year before and was living in London) Persey went to St. Mungo’s for her surgery. Even before leaving Hogwarts for that fateful trip though, she had an experience that would change her life forever.
It was a frosty winter’s morning when Mikaela was due to pick Persey up at Hogwarts. Waiting nearby was Mikaela’s younger brother, Dallas. When she heard Dal’s voice, and felt his presence, her heart stirred, and Persey fell instantly and totally in love with the young man, even though she could not see him. Her thoughts were on Dallas, as well as on her impending operation, as she and Mikaela flew to London and awaited the arrival of Dr. Krauss.
When Dr. Krauss arrived and examined Persey, he very happily told her that he would be able to completely restore her sight, though it would change the color of her eyes. Persey nearly burst out laughing and crying all at once, and her mother, who was also waiting nearby, started sobbing for joy and had to be restrained by her father, just a bit. So with all haste, Persey was bustled into an operating room, put under a powerful sleeping charm…and Dr. Krauss worked his delicate magic.
When Persey woke up, she was stunned. She had been with fading or no vision for so long that she had almost forgotten what the world looked like. And when she saw HERSELF in a mirror, well, she nearly fainted. The last time Persey had gotten a decent look at herself, she had been thirteen, skinny as a twig, with huge thick glasses and sparkling, ugly braces, not to mention two roan-pink ponytails sticking out from the sides of her head and cascading down past her rump.
Now she was willowy, but well on the way to developing the figure of a woman. Her braces and glasses were gone, and her roan hair cascaded like a cloak down her back and nearly to her knees, and shone like a golden-pink halo around her head as the sunlight hit it. Her eyes, which had been blue like her father’s and mother’s, were now green; deep, sensitive eyes framed by long eyelashes. She hadn’t been expecting to be pretty, even though people were often saying that she was.
Still, Persey had no time for vanity. Her job as Assistant Nurse was very taxing, and she also had her regular studies (and a task as Assistant Care of Magical Creatures Professor) to tend to. Just because she’d always wanted to, Persey tried out for the Quiddich team…and made it. Now that she had her vision, Persey found she actually had a bit of talent for being a Chaser! While before she had been a cheerleader (and had even made her own Golden Snitch costume, complete with little wings) now she was able to really participate.
Each day that passed, Persey felt more and more a part of Hogwarts, and knew that she never wanted to work anywhere else. She set her sights on becoming the official, paid Nurse for the next Term. The man the school had hired was a wastrel, and had left everything to herself and Jessica Marten. While the two did an excellent job, the Board of Govenors didn’t take kindly to someone getting paid for absolutely nothing. So, it was soon agreed that next Term Persey, though still an undergraduate, would be the School Nurse.
Despite her amazing career success, her recovery, her many friendships and a few spectacular pranks (including flying singing bloomers!) Persey still felt somewhat incomplete. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dallas, Mikaela’s brother. She went out of her way over the term to find out more about him, to spot him whenever she could. Unfortunately, for all of her Fifth year, Dallas was involved with someone else…a girl who had saved Persey’s life many years before. So, despite her growing love for the handsome young man, Persey kept her lonliness to herself.
Next Term, Fate took a hand once more in Persey’s behalf. Dallas had suffered from polio as a child, and walked with a cane and sometimes, substantial pain in his leg. He was able to use this as an excuse to talk to Persey…and the two soon found out that their thoughts had drawn them together, and had been doing so since they first met, though briefly. It wasn’t long before Persey and Dallas (who had broken up with his girlfriend at the end of the last Term) were Going Steady, and spending every spare minute together.
At the end of that Term, which had been a hectic and busy time for everyone, especially the new Campus Nurse and her several assistants, Dallas asked Persey to marry him. She responded with an instant Yes, and the two arranged to be wed just after graduation. The time between the proposal and the wedding was a mad blur for both of them, full of family visits, school and all its’ hustle, wedding preparations, and of course many stolen moments.
Their wedding was a small, quiet affair held in a little chapel in Hogsmeade, where the two settled down. At the wedding, which was well attended by the couple’s friends and family, Persey received the shock of her life. It was there she learned that her gray cat Hades, who had been such a help and had been by her side through so much, was no cat at all! He was actually her UNCLE, who, after spending several years wasting his time and talents, was co-opted into watching over Persey. Artemis Williams, Persey’s domineering witch grandmother was responsible, and she figured that after seven years, Hades had learned his lesson. Besides…as a married lady, Persey would need her privacy, even though Hades had always managed to be “out” or “asleep” around the time for her to change. So, along with the other fine wedding gifts Persey and Dallas got, they received a baby phoenix…a perfectly “normal” magical bird, to replace a not-so-normal Animagus!
All next Term Persey was ran off her feet, even with the help of a very large group of Junior Assistant, Assistant and Senior Assistant Nurses, and, later in the Term, “Doctor” Derk. The Specter of Salazaar Slytherin, known mostly as the Dark Presence, caused enough havoc to keep her and her entire staff busy nearly all the time. Without her staff, Persey’s weak body never would have been able to keep up with the demands. As it was, she fainted a few times, but that was becoming par for the course when she had to exert large amounts of her precious magical energy.
What will this Year hold? The Dark Presence was gone, but there were two young babies and two twin toddlers ready to make Persey’s life interesting, not to mention the fact that she is teaching Medicinal Magic…and that she and Dallas are expecting a baby of their own! Only time will tell…but if Persephane Grant’s life so far has been any example, things will NEVER be dull!