ActualWeeb: Hey, guys! It's July 31st and you know what that means! That's right, it's my wife's birthday. Also, the 2nd birthday of this fanfic!

Since I wanted to update today, I had to cut this chapter in half. Originally, chapter seven, pronouns, was just the first part of "boggart in the closet", but I decided to make it a separate chapter. So, I'm sorry that literally this entire chapter is about being trans.

Actually, no, I'm not. We deserve representation and if I have to put in an entire chapter in my shitty, shitty, fanfic to get that, then so be it. (yes I'm trans :^) my pronouns are he/him and my name is Harper I'mma boy)

Anyways, onto this completley overdue and rushed chapter!

I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Seven, Pronouns.

"Pronouns?" Neville blinked.

"Oh!" Bella exclaimed. "This must be when I learned about trans people."

"Oh, I remember that," Hermione said fondly.

Fluer opened her mouth to continue reading, but something else occurred to Bella.

"Wait!" Bella exclaimed. "Just so you all know...I think it's likely that a lot of people will be outed because of these books."

"Ah," Daphne muttered. "That makes sense, especially with your analytical abilities."

"So...I just wanted to say that if you're outed, I'm sorry," Bella continued. "Okay, you can read now."

"What does that mean?" Tom whispered to Ginny. Ginny looked at Bella, unsure how to explain it.

"Help," she whispered.

"Er…" Bella muttered. "Not it."

The rest of the room yelled 'not it' until Fred was the last one remaining.

"Dammit," Fred sighed. "Uhhh...well, being trans is when you were born as one gender but you're not that gender. It's kind of like...if a girl was stuck in a boy's body, or something like that…" He looked awkward, not knowing what to say to a six-year-old on the subject. "And being outed is when everyone finds out that you're trans...or gay. Or something."

"Oh, okay," Tom frowned. "That's weird, but okay."

"Can I read now?" Fluer sighed.

"Yes, sorry," said Bella.

Bella threw open the door to Classrom Eleven, Socks on her heels, and threw off the invisibility cloak. She looked up, seeing George sitting on an old table in the middle of the room, staring at her expectantly.

"You're late, Potter," he pointed out.

Bella scowled. "Shut up." She noticed Socks looking at George cautiously. She didn't know why- Socks had gotten along very well with George before, so the distrust in his expression didn't make sense to her. She decided to deal with that later, since Socks at least wasn't attacking him.

"I thought it was a hookup at first," Sirius sighed. "Thankfully it wasn't, or else I would have strongly regretted following Bella. I also would've growled at George until he left."

"Or until I kicked you out of the room," Bella pointed out.

Bella examined the table that George was sitting on. On it was a cauldron, books, and various potions ingredients.

"What's all that for?" she asked.

"Oh, my dear Bella, you didn't think I didn't already have a plan for this prank, did you?" George chuckled. Out of the corner of her eye, Bella saw Socks ease down.

"Tell me your plan, then, Mister Prankster," she grinned, playing along with George's dramatics.

"You two are so over-the-top," Hermione sighed. "You should've never become a couple."

"Tooooo laaaaate," George sang.

"Well, are you aware of hair color-changing potions and charms?" he asked.

"Of course I am, why?" Bella frowned.

"You see, I was planning on changing Malfoy's hair color. You know, from blonde to a magnificent ginger like my own."

Draco glared at George and Bella.

Bella stared. "That's all?"

George pouted. "You put such little faith in me, Isabella. No, you see, all charms and potions for changing hair color are temporary- they last on average less than twenty-four hours. I, however, have a plan."

"And what's that?" Bella raised her eyebrows.

"A brilliant question, young accomplice," he grinned. "You see, for a long time now, there's a potion I've wanted to invent. I have no experience in inventing potions, however, only going by instructions. That's where I require your help."

"Me?" Bella blinked, confused. "I've never invented my own potions either, you know."

"Of course not," he explained. "But I know you're much smarter than you look. I believe, with our combined brilliance, we could make the most amazing potion known to wizard-kind."

"And why aren't you just doing this with Fred?" Bella raised her eyebrows.

"Because he hates me," Fred sighed sadly. "That's it, isn't it, Georgie? You hate me."

"Yep, you've got it," George snorted.

"A wonderful question, dear Isabella," George said. "You see, though you may hide it, I know you're extremely intelligent- powerful, too. Your help would be very useful. Plus, you're cute.

"Oh, so that's all that matters, is it?" Cho giggled.

And Fred said that he didn't want to stay up past midnight every night to make a potion- he's less of a night owl than I am."

"You can't stay up past midnight every night! You need to get eight hours of sleep," Pomfrey sighed.

Bella didn't know why, but she felt her face heat up when George called her cute.

"The potion, you see, is a permanent hair-changing potion. Once you change the hair color, you cannot change it back unless you use a remedy that we will also invent. We'll change Malfoy's hair color by discreetly placing the potion in his drink, and once he realizes that the color isn't coming out, Fred and I will announce that we're selling permanent hair-changing potions, along with the remedies."

"...And Malfoy will have no choice but to buy it from you," Bella finished his sentence. "So we're basically conning him?"

"You," Draco hissed, glaring at Bella. "I should've known you were involved."

Bella shrugged, smirking.

"That we are, young Potter. Now," he said, pushing a small bowl towards her. "Would you crush this bamboo for me?"

The next morning, Bella found herself waking early to go to the library to read all she could on inventing potions. It didn't escape her friends' notice when she sat at the breakfast table reading a book that wasn't in their curriculum.

"What are you reading?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Potions book," Bella grunted.

"Why are you reading a Potions book?" Ron raised his eyebrows. "Potions is boring."

"Is this for the prank George is helping you pull?" Ginny asked.

"It is," Bella answered.

"What prank?" Ron blinked.

"George told Bella he'd help her prank Malfoy if she named a teddy bear after him."

Lilly watched the exchange silently, looking amused.

"What?!" Ron exclaimed. "Why did he never give me that offer?! I'm his brother!"

"You're not a cute girl, Ronald," George stated as he walked past. "Therefore, the invitation of my time is not extended to you."

Tom laughed, as did many others.

Ron jumped.

"Where did he come from?!"

But as he said that, George had already left to go sit with Fred and Lee.

After breakfast, Hermione, Lilly, and Bella headed to their first class, which was Art.

When they entered the class, the only person sitting there was Dean Thomas.

"Is this all of our class?" Bella blinked.

"I think so," Dean answered. "I heard not many people take Art."

The three girls sat down next to Dean. Bella looked around the room- it was filled with different works of art. Sculptures, paintings, sketches, you name it. They were all in different styles and had different skill levels. It seemed that these were all made by previous students. Bella felt a sinking feeling in her gut- these were all very good, but Bella wasn't very talented with art at all…

Just then, the door to the classroom was kicked open by an an androgynous-looking person.

"Hello, everyone, my name is Professor Nava, and my pronouns are they/them!"

Bella, Dean, and Hermione looked at each other, confused. Neither of them understood what Professor Nava was talking about, but Lilly seemed to understand.

"It's good that you knew what they were talking about, at least," Lily Potter said to Lilly Moon. "I was very confused about those kinds of things when I first entered the wizarding world."

Lilly didn't respond. She didn't seem to be paying much attention- she was still lost in thought.

Professor Nava turned and looked at the class. "Is this it? Alrighty, then! Easier for me to get to know all of you!"

Professor Nava was a tall, androgynous, dark-skinned person with short brown hair and a friendly look about them. They had a mole under their left eye, and a scar that went across the bridge of their nose. One of the most noticeable thing about them, however, was their eyes. They had deep, warm, brown eyes which were blazing with determination- they seemed to have a fire to them.

Professor Nava cleared their throat. "Well, now. Why don't I get to know you all? Here, I have a project for you." They waved their wand, and a paper appeared in front of each of them. It was a bit jarring to see paper in Hogwarts for once- Bella had mostly only seen parchment used in the wizarding world.

"Oh, pen and paper, how I missed you," Lily Potter sighed wistfully.

"On one side of the paper," Nava began, "I want you to draw yourself."

Bella felt a sinking feeling in her gut. She wasn't very good at art- what if she wouldn't be allowed to continue the class?

"On the other side," they continued, "I want you to write down these five things about yourself." They picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the chalkboard at the front of the class. When they moved away from the board, the class could see what was written.

Full name

Preferred pronouns

Favorite hobby

Favorite color

What you want to be when you grow up

"Alright," they grinned. "You have fifteen minutes to finish. And...start!"

Immediately, everyone turned to their papers. Bella decided to start with the drawing- she wanted to get it out of the way first.

It didn't take her long to finish the sketch of herself, so Bella turned over the paper and began writing the five facts about herself.

The first one was easy.

Isabella Lily Potter

She paused, however, when she got to the second question. 'Preferred pronouns'? She had never heard of such a thing before! She frowned, writing in her answer.

I'm not really sure what that means.

The next two questions after that easy.

Quiddich

Green

But then she got to the last one. A future career- she hadn't thought about it much. Well, when she was little, she had wanted to be a detective. A part of that still appealed to her, and she couldn't think of anything else.

A detective?

"You'd be a wonderful detective," Amelia smiled. "Once you're out of Hogwarts, it should be easy for you to become one."

Bella set down her pencil. There. She was done.

She looked around. Dean and Lilly were both already done. Hermione, however, was still writing, likely revising her answers.

Ron snorted. "Of course she was."

Dean and Lilly's papers had the drawing facing up. They were both quite good. Dean's, of course, was the best- he was the best artist in their year, and possibly in the whole school.

Lilly's wasn't perfect, like Dean's, but it was quite pretty and simple- Bella liked it a lot.

Bella's was...okay. It wasn't nearly as good as Lilly's or Dean's, but it wasn't a stick figure, at least.

Hermione scowled.

"I'd love to see your art some time," Lily Potter smiled at her daughter.

"It's not that great," Bella mumbled, staring at her feet.

"Anything drawn by my daughter is sure to be wonderful," James grinned.

A few minutes later, Professor Nava looked at the clock and cleared their throat. "Well, children, it's been fifteen minutes! Are you ready to hand in your papers?"

"But I haven't finished revising my answers!" Hermione exclaimed.

Professor Nava laughed. "Revise them? This isn't a test, I just want you to tell me about yourself!"

With a flick of their wand, the summoned all the papers to themself. As Hermione's paper flew past, Bella felt slightly better about her own drawing when she saw that Hermione's was a stick figure. She felt a little bit better about her drawing.

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Sorry," Bella laughed.

Professor Nava read through the papers. It didn't take long, but in those few minutes, you could feel the heavy anticipation in the room.

Finally, they set the papers down.

"Well," they grinned, "you certainly are a very interesting bunch. I see a few of you were confused about the pronouns question."

"Yes, ma'am," Hermione muttered.

"Not ma'am," Professor Nava corrected. "I'm not 'sir', either. You see, I'm not a man or a woman."

Tom blinked. "Wha?"

Bella look at Hermione. Well, Professor Nava wasn't lying, but...how could someone not be a man or woman? She's heard of some cultures that have more than two genders- maybe Professor Nava was from one of them? She'd also heard of being intersex...maybe that was the same thing.

Hermione looked flustered. "S-sorry, er…"

"Mx," they corrected. "It's a gender-neutral honorific."

"Oh, o-okay, Mx," Hermione muttered. Professor Nava grinned.

"There we have it!"

"Er, sorry, but, how can you be not a man or a woman?" Dean asked.

"That's a very good question, which I expected to be asked. Who here has heard of 'transgender' people?"

Bella, Hermione, and Lilly raised their hands. Dean looked confused.

"Well, it's good that most of you know," Professor Nava smiled. "Could you explain to me what it is?"

"Er," Bella began, "isn't it when people get surgery to change their gender?"

"You're sort of right," said Nava. "It's when someone does not identify as the gender they were born as. Some people will take potions to change their sex, or if they're a muggle, get surgery, to help the dysphoria they would feel, but many trans people choose not to. For example, I didn't."

"Oh," said Bella.

"There are many people who identify as not a man or a woman. Sometimes they're both, sometimes they're niether, sometimes they're entirely different. Everyone feels differently. I, myself, feel like neither a man or woman, so that means I am agender," they explained.

"That's weird," Tom said, looking confused.

"It is at first, but not when you get used to the idea," Bella shrugged.

"Oh. Okay!"

"A gender? Isn't that the opposite of what you want?" Dean joked. Nava snorted.

Fred tried to hide a snort.

"You're funny. I like you," they grinned.

"I try my best," Dean shrugged.

"Now, what I meant when I asked for your pronouns, I wanted to know how you would like me to refer to you," they continued. "Whether you would like me to call you 'he', 'she', 'they', 'ze', or something else."

The rest of the class was spent talking about this. As the conversation went on, Bella began to understand 'nonbinary' genders more thoroughly. The muggle world was much less educated and accepting of things like this, and Bella was glad she was learning about it now. After all, her not considering the fact that Ginny could like girls had clouded her judgement for a year.

"Oh, no!" Ginny exclaimed. "Did the scary bisexual intimidate you?"

"Yes," Bella rolled her eyes. "You're very intimidating, Ginny."

Soon, the bell rang, and they had to go to their next class, which, for Bella and Hermione, was Ancient Runes. However, as Bella and Hermione made their way there, they were stopped by Fred and George Weasley.

"Oi, Bella!" George grinned. "After class, my favorite boy and I-" he threw an arm around Fred's shoulders- "are going to play some Quiddich."

Charlie laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't just skip class to play."

"Don't encourage them!" Molly exclaimed.

"I'm not," Charlie raised his hands in defense. "I'm glad they didn't."

"You in?" Fred asked.

"Hell yeah!" Bella exclaimed. "I'll be on the pitch once I get out of class."

"Wicked!" Fred exclaimed.

"Come on, Bella," Hermione rolled her eyes, pulling her away from the twins. "We have to get to class."

Bella waved goodbye to the twins as she was dragged to Ancient Runes.

But it didn't escape her notice the look in Fred's eyes when referred to as 'boy'.

"Zat is ze end of ze chapter," Fluer said, setting down the book.

"Wait, what?" Ginny blinked.

Fred looked startled.

"Hold on a second, what's that book talking about?" George furrowed his brows.

"It's nothing," Fred laughed nervously. "Who's going to read next?"

But no one answered his question- instead the room had begun chattering, everyone talking over the other, trying to talk to Fred.

"I- er, one thing at a time!" Fred exclaimed. "Blimey, I don't have twelve sets of ears."

There was a pause, everyone looking at each other, wondering who should talk first. Finally, George spoke.

"Fred…" he began softly, "Fred, you're not a boy, are you?"

aaaand scene! see you in like 3 months lol