Writing Club: Liza's Loves: The Mime - Write about someone who doesn't talk (Mute!AU); TV Show of the Month: Tara Maclay: (pairing) Hannah/Susan, (item) skirt, (action) hugging; Lyric Alley: Do you know the line that I'd walk for you?; Count Your Buttons: Song: "Dying to Live" by Scott Stapp, AUs Camp!AU, Fred/Hermione, Character: Ron Weasley; Days of the Month: Get Over It Day - Write about a character getting over something.; Showtime: We Both Reached For the Gun - (word) Understandable; Book Club: Miles Richter: (object) jacket, (creature) cat, (action) limping; Shannon's Showcase: Read My Lips - Deaf AU; Disney: Love at first sight - Write about a pairing, and one of them can't speak.; Character Appreciation: Item: Glasses

Caffeine Awareness: Iced Coffee - Write a story set in the summer

Jewel Day: Citrine: Necklace: Write a blind!AU

Assignment #6 Extra Credit: Friday the 13th - Write a fic set at Camp

The Golden Snitch's Through the Universe (Koldovstoretz, Vladimiranova): Perihelion — (settings) spring, summer

Word Count: 3,496

show the world who you really are

"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts Summer Camp!" A rather good looking black girl with a patch of vitiligo on her neck and shoulders. She couldn't possibly be far from Hannah's own age announced from the podium. A tall raid haired man who she guessed to be a tad bit older stood by her side and translated it into ASL. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Hermione Granger. I have been coming to this Camp for almost a decade now. I won't bore you with the specifics, but you are free to ask me if you want to. The man next to me is Fred Weasley.

"The two of us are far from the only workers here - there are, among others, psychologists and doctors in the vicinity that have been sponsored by donations - but as we are the closest in age, we have been selected to welcome you.

"Speaking from experience, I know that arriving here can be overwhelming, so I will stop here and let you explore. Just one last thing: don't be shy to ask for help. I know it can be hard, but we're here to have fun and in some cases get better; you don't have to speak to me, but we'd appreciate it if you talk to someone.

"Thank you for your attention; you can look into your cabins now, if you want."

Hannah decided that this was a good idea. After all, it was barely midday and her parents had been late with dropping her off and had taken a time to say goodbye, so she had arrived just in time for her to hear this speech.

Grabbing her suitcases that thankfully had wheels, she made her way to her cabin. The numbers had been mailed to them a week ago, with the option of knowing mailing back to know the names of the other five people they would be sharing it with, but Hannah decided not to. She liked the surprise.

It wasn't long until she had found Cabin 12, the one she'd be staying at for the next three weeks. There was already a girl lying on one of the lower beds who was wearing at least two designers and looked like she would rather be anywhere else. She reacted to the sound the door was making when Hannah came in, but she didn't look at her, still facing the wall.

Hannah threw the bag she had around her shoulder on one of the higher beds to claim it and proceeded to introduce herself by first fingerspelling her name to the girl and then doing her name sign while pointing at herself to clarify. She also had a name-tag, since she knew not all people were familiar with ASL.

But the girl never looked at her, so it was kind of pointless.

"I'm just gonna presume that you introduced yourself silently and inform you that I'm blind," the Japanese girl. "The name's Pansy. No, that's no traditionally Japanese and no, you're not allowed to know my entire family history."

Hannah was at a bit of a loss. She understood Pansy's sentiment - Hannah wasn't exactly a traditional Cherokee name either - but how to communicate? Hannah did not know barille and she couldn't presume Pansy either knew or was okay with tactile signing or anything else that would require Hannah touching her.

Thankfully, she was saved in that moment by the arrival of two the other four people of their cabin. One was an Indian amputee wearing incredibly pretty sari under a jeans jacket that hung loosely on one side and the other a Latina beauty in a light summer dress.

"Hey, my name's Parvati," the former introduced herself. "This is Susan, she's deaf," she added while Susan performed her name sign, pretend to hold something delicate like a flower with her right hand then proceeding to punch her left palm.

"It's nice to meet you," Pansy said, turning towards Parvati. She was wearing glasses, maybe she was self conscious about her eyes. Hannah had heard that blind people sometimes were.

Hannah was more than glad that she and Pansy were no longer alone so that they would actually be able to communicate in some fashion.

She used ASL to explain the issue to the other two girls, making sure to fingerspell Pansy since she wasn't sure if a name for her existed and even if it did, Hannah didn't know her nearly well enough to give her one.

"The other person here so far is Hannah, she's mute." Parvati was kind enough to vocalize the issue which was good since it was possible that Susan didn't really talk either.

"Well, hey, Hannah, I guess. Here's to hoping this won't turn into some convoluted game of postbox or whatever that game was called."

"I'd hope so too, but the only way I can think of would be you," Parvati addressed Pansy directly, "to learn some tactile signing. Either that or Hannah writing in braille, if you can read that. Maybe a bit of both," she proposed.

"I can't read braille," Pansy confessed. She sounded rather agitated and annoyed while doing so. "I haven't been this useless for long. I used to be normal."

Hannah shook her head before she recalled that this was utterly useless. Instead she focused on informing Susan of the situation, since she obviously hadn't heard what Pansy had said and Hannah was well aware that lip reading wasn't even close to perfect.

"Don't say this-" Parvati started, only to be interrupted by the arrival of another person, a redheaded boy with a whole bunch of freckles in a wheelchair.

He took a second to take in the mood of the room. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"It's fine, I was just telling Pansy that she's still normal and valid and shouldn't think less of herself."

"Look, can we just talk about something else?" Pansy requested with a groan.

"Alright," Parvati agreed, pointing at Pansy, "But don't think we're done with this yet."

Meanwhile the boy had claimed one of the other lower beds, which Hannah totally understood. Trying to get to a higher bed while using a wheelchair couldn't be easy, even if you were still able to walk with some pain.

"Hang on, was that a boy's voice?" Pansy asked.

"Yes." The boy nodded. "Ron Weasley. My mother founded this camp and all of my brothers either work here in some fashion or are part of the campers, like me."

"My parents won't be happy about that. Me sharing a cabin with a boy," she clarified.

"They had the chance to choose," Parvati pointed out. "Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to take the last lower bed, since climbing one armed is not a good idea and sleeping with prosthetics isn't either." She directed the last part directly at Susan and Hannah.

Both of them assured her it was fine and Ron pitched in that they were smart enough to consider such things, so the last person wouldn't require it.

"That would be me, I think." The voice came from the door and the looks of Ron, Parvati, and Hannah prompted Susan to look at it as well. Pansy had changed into a sitting position at one point.

In the door was a scrawny, small, Indian boy. He looked able bodied, but there were too many scars on his body for him not to have some from of PTSD, in Hannah's non-expert opinion.

"This is Cabin 12, right?" He asked hesitantly, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Yes, it is," Ron confirmed. "Nice to meet you, I'm Ron."

The others' introductions followed, though Hannah had to rely on her name-tag and Susan's name was said by Parvati.

"I'm sorry," the boy apologized. "But my aunt and un - my former guardians weren't really focused on teaching me anything but how to be a good servant. My name is Harry, by the way, Harry Potter."

Hannah knew that name. Even if she couldn't quite place it.

By the looks of it, neither could Parvati, Ron, and Pansy, but Susan seemed to have an epiphany. She signed rapidly, her facial expressions changing accordingly, as she questioned whether or not he was the so called Boy-Who-Lived that had been in the news.

Ron put it in words in a way Harry could comprehend, speaking slowly and awkwardly, dragging out the words as he did so.

"Yeah, I am," Harry looked down. "I'd prefer not to talk about it, though."

"Susan understands. Hannah too," Parvati translated. "I do as well."

"I feel you," Pansy added. "People have been insisting I should talk about my accident as well, but I'd much rather be alone."

Harry nodded in understanding, which Ron mentioned to Pansy.

"Oh, I am sorry, I didn't know." Harry looked like a kicked puppy.

"That's kind of the point of the glasses," Pansy deadpanned.

Hannah stopped playing with her skirt - a nervous habit of hers - and moved to hug Harry. That was a way she could make her emotions clear without using a third party to run interference. Before she actually touched him, she stopped, looked at him, and made the question of 'may I?' as obvious in her body language as she could.

And considering ASL relied to a bit part on body language, she's like to say she was fairly good at.

Harry nodded in acceptance and Hannah hug him, making sure only to let go after he did. Since he was the one who needed it, he should decide when to stop, after all.

Meanwhile Parvati had taken off her jacket Susan had produced an adorable plush cat from one of her cats, and Ron was limping the few feet between his chair and his bunk bed for a reason Hannah didn't know or feel like asking for.

"Anyway, that's gonna be a joy to explain to my parents." Pansy snorted.

"What?" Susan had taken Pansy's hand and carefully wrote the letters out.

"Sharing a cabin with boys," Pansy explained. "They are rather conservative and proud of it."

"I'm sorry," Harry apologized again, but Ron interrupted him.

"Don't be. I know that my brother Percy is very careful with parent's requests while he assigns the cabins and that Hermione - the one who gave the introduction speech - checks it."

"Just have as much fun as you can," Parvati advised Pansy. "Also it's not like nothing can happen in girl only places. There's lesbians and trans girls to consider. Not to forget bisexuals and pansexuals, though I suppose asexuals like myself could be placed anywhere by that logic."

Hannah had to agree with that, after all she was one herself. A transgender Cherokee mute lesbian, what a joyful experience it often was.

Parvati had been translating parts of the conversation to either Pansy or Susan whenever Ron wasn't, bless her. Once she had seen the conversation to this point, Susan too was nodding to show her thoughts and based on her expression, she may have a more personal interest in it as well.

"And nonbinary people shouldn't be excluded either," Ron added, causing Harry to frown in confusion.

"Yeah, exactly," Parvati agreed with a firm nod.

"What does nonbinary mean?" Harry questioned quietly, like he had to work up a lot of courage to even ask the question.

"Someone who doesn't identify as either binary gender," Ron informed the other boy.

Harry looked like his mind was blown by the very concept, so Hannah decided that it would probably be good to give him some time to think about it?

Say, if you've been here pretty much your whole life, how come you weren't here first? Hannah signed in Ron's direction. Of course the grammar of ASL was different, but it was the same intent.

"Oh, I got into a conversation with Hermione and my brother Fred, her boyfriend. I was only able to leave after a few minutes. They were being incredibly annoying with their flirting for their standards, I couldn't wait to get away from it."

"Preach!" Parvati exclaimed. "My twin sister and her date mate are very annoying sometimes. No consideration for the poor asexual suffering from their noise."

Hannah winced in sympathy. She wasn't asexual herself, but she imagined that it must be far from pleasant.

"Nah, it's cool," Parvati said as she signed in Susan's direction. "I'm making it sound worse than it actually is. Hyperbole and all that jazz."

"That sounds good, then," Pansy replied. "My step brother has no chill in that regard. I used to think it was only a matter of time until I'd see something I wouldn't, but that at least doesn't seem to be a problem any longer."

"That's right, always look on the good side of things," Ron encouraged. "I probably sound like my mother right now, but any way to cope helps you adapt to new situations and get over your problems."

"That's sounds dumb," Harry commented, before he clasped his hands over his mouth.

"Yeah, it is not like I'll get my sight back or anything," Pansy drawled. "There is no getting over this."

"Of course there is, Pansy," Parvati argued. "Looking an entire arm wasn't easy either, but I learnt how to deal with it and I accepted myself for it. It wasn't an easy road and no one is claiming that it will be for you, either, but you'll get there. Eventually, you'll learn how to live without your sight in the way you want to."

Pansy snorted. "If you say so." She didn't sound like she believed it at all.

Susan, meanwhile, had stayed focused on Harry who was shaking slightly and trying to move back into a corner, as if to hide.

She asked Ron to translate what she herself called 'a possibly rather long rant'.

Ron agreed, asking Harry if he wanted to maybe sit down at their table or on his bed or at some other place in the cabin.

"You don't have to, mind, but in my experience most feel more comfortable."

Harry followed that advice, throwing his stuff on the last free bed to put his stuff at the top and sit down on the lower one, next to Ron.

"Would you prefer if I move?" Ron asked softly.

Harry shook his head, moving his arms to his chest to hug himself.

Hannah got Parvati's attention.

"Harry, Hannah is asking if she can sit down on your other side or if that's too much for you."

"You don't have to take my feelings into consideration," Harry whispered.

"Bullshit," Pansy deadpanned. "You're the one having a panic attack, so of course we're making sure you're fine. We're not assholes." Hannah might have imagined the addition of 'like my family'.

Either way, it was an issue for later. They'd be here for more than today, after all, so they could deal with the immediate issue first.

Not having a definite answer, Hannah sat down at the table, carefully observing Harry's pose to know when to move.

"So." Ron started. "You're no longer with these… let's go with assholes, I will not survive if my mother hears I said that word Susan used... they're in prison now and you're here. You're safe. Which, let me add, is true.

"It's hard to comprehend, yes, but it's true. It will take a while until it sinks in completely and that's fine it's… to be expected, even. Once it does, though, it will be wonderful, believe… her. And me."

"And me," Parvati inserted. "I know someone who's gone through similar shit."

"I think many people do," Pansy added monotonously, as if she was carefully hiding her own emotions, which wasn't all that unlikely.

"Yeah. Anyways," Ron continued translating Susan's rant, "Even if you're likely thinking otherwise because they made you believe it, you didn't deserve any of their shit. No one does.

"Many things they taught you are stupid. Susan's willing to bet… a pet? It's a name sign I'm not familiar with...yeah, a pet… that constantly apologizing is by far not the only thing.

"You're allowed to speak your mind when you want to. You're allowed to criticize and to argue when you think it's right too. And apologizing isn't wrong by itself, but only for things that are actually your fault, that you actually had some control over. Not for every stupid little thing.

"No one is expecting you to let go of old habits immediately, or if they do, they're the stupid ones. You've lived with these monsters for way too long to just turn around and forget it all. That's not how trauma works. Which yeah, she's right," Ron added. "You wouldn't expect someone with a physical illness to get better overnight, someone with mental ones won't either.

What she's trying to 'say' is that she gets that the situation... more than sucked. She gets that it won't be right now that you'll realize how safe you actually are and all those other things. Just that, we're all here to get better and support is the most important thing for that, so that's what we'll do for you. She's done, but I have to say that I agree with her."

"Same," Pansy said, more into her pillow than into her room.

Hannah nodded, making sure that Harry saw her doing so and Parvati, too voiced her agreement."

Harry had stopped shaking at one point and took a deep breath. "Thanks. Really. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Really, I do. Appreciate it, I mean." He stumbled around the words awkwardly and had Ron not been faster, Hannah would have moved to hug him again.

Instead, she took a good look at Susan.

She was shaking a bit - in anger if Hannah had to guess - and seemed to be trying to stop herself from going into 'rage mode'. So Hannah moved towards her.

You did good. Worded it better than I ever could, that's for sure. Hannah signed once she got the Latina to pay attention to her.

Thanks. I just did what I had to do. What anyone should. She self-consciously played with her dress.

But not all would have, Hannah reminded her. You're admirable. Was she blushing? Hannah thought she might be. Why?

Possibly because Susan looked rather good, Hannah had to admit. The summer dress was hugging her figure rather nicely, among other things. Her nose, her hair, really Susan was just really pretty in general.

Thank you. Susan was blushing as well as she responded. She wasn't quite looking in Hannah's eyes, instead focusing on the spot between them. It wasn't lying, Hannah was fairly sure. More, nervousness, maybe?

"Hey, Hannah," Parvati said suddenly, placing her hand on Hannah's shoulder.

Hannah flinched as she remembered that she and Susan weren't alone in the room. Susan seemed to flinch too, as if she had also forgotten this.

"Sorry," Parvati apologized, signing it at the same time. "Ron just mentioned that they should start serving dinner soon and that we'll be able to pick our table if we arrive first."

Susan nodded hastily. Yeah, sure, let's do that. Sounds like a plan.

Hannah, too agreed, noting that Ron seemed to be trying to suppress a giggle, which was why Hannah glared at him.

But he just shrugged. Rude, that.

Harry frowned in confusion - trying to understand positive emotions possibly - while Pansy asked what was going on.

"I'm pretty sure Hannah and Susan were being lovebirds," Parvati commented.

Susan threw a pillow in her general direction, it just barely missed her head, so Parvati continued laughing as she picked up her prosthesis and began to put it on, before she did the same with her jacket.

Hannah just flushed in a deeper shade of red.

"Let's just leave, shall we?" Harry proposed. It was more than obvious that he had no idea how to handle the situation.

"That sounds like a good idea," Pansy approved, producing a parka from somewhere and pulling it on as a look out the door showed that it was raining slightly.

Ron and Susan too grabbed jackets, while Harry just put the hood of his oversized hoodie on his head. Hannah went for her bag and the first useful thing she found was an umbrella, so she took that.

Together, the six of them left the cabin, Harry falling behind and making sure that they had closed the door correctly.

As they moved onto the path, not the same one Hannah had used to get there, but like the other, it was even and made out of concrete, to make walking on it or using a wheelchair as easy as possible. It was free of clutter, too, but that may only be because it was the first day.

At some point on their way, Susan took Hannah's hand. And Hannah had to say, she had to say that she more than approved of the decision.