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Summer with McGonagall was interesting. Nuna dyed her hair dirty blonde as a way of disguising herself during the few months of holiday. The rest of the vacation went haywire. Especially the argument that spouted between the professor and her parents.
Nuna could vaguely remember slurs being thrown at the professor. She had no idea how the teacher stayed so collected.
It became so brutal that the Ministry of Magic had to be involved but in the end, Nuna was now under McGonagall's legal care.
It was a week before the school year started up and Minerva was physically dragging the poor girl to Diagon Alley.
"This was the deal," McGonagall called out as she gracefully walked through the street, ignoring the students hiding from her. Nuna wore a hood over her head and walked far behind, not wanting to be seen. "You have to graduate to live with me, Miss Bernard."
"I'd regret my promise but I don't want to be homeless," Nuna added as she quickened her pace to match with McGonagall's. "I don't want anyone seeing me."
"Why? It's not like anyone knows you were supposed to leave."
"Only the people that matter did," she grumbled.
"Well then, it'll be a surprise for them all." McGonagall handed Nuna the books she needed for the year and let her roam around by herself. If she hung around the professor for too long someone was bound to recognize her. She wouldn't have cared. Just as long as it wasn't someone important.
She put her books into her bookbag before passing by Zonko's and looking around. Did she have any idea what she wanted to do? Not a clue. She just really wanted to get away from the seeing eye and be alone.
The girl never got a chance to be alone once McGonagall got official custody of the child. Her family wanted to keep the ordeal on the down low to save the "humiliation" and for McGonagall, it was the least she could do since after all, she was taking their eldest child away from them. Whether they cared or not.
The only person she said a real goodbye to was Abril. She promised not to tell a single soul and for that, Nuna regretted not spending more time with her youngest sister. The tears that were spilled between them were something Nuna never imagined would happen. A sincere interaction with a sister. She was a little pissed that that was as close as she would ever get to knowing what it feels like to be loved by her family. And to be missed.
She looked at all the merchandise around the store, knowing the Marauders had used every single one before. She picked up a stink ball and started gently throwing it between her hands as she walked around the store. The only kids that would ever walk in were second years, maybe even younger. She tightened the hood over her head and fluffed out the humongous hoodie she was wearing when a voice called out to her, almost making her drop the stink ball.
"Excuse me, Miss? Please don't do that with the stink balls. We've already had an incident with them and don't want it repeated— wait, Nuna?"
The girl didn't sound like anyone who would recognize her, plus she didn't even know there were any workers in here. She placed the stink ball back in the pile and ducked down between the aisles. She was weighing whether or not she should respond to the clerk or not.
