silver bells

Date: 20 December 2017
Location:  Zhāng household
Cho Chang and @nick

It kind of stunk that she wasn't allowed to go back to Singapore for Christmas, and it was almost even worse that Nicky hadn't sent an owl to anyone to ask where they were supposed to go. So far, they were ignoring the London house and their father (who had rather tactlessly informed them that Christmas was not going to be celebrated that year). She knew that they didn't really celebrate Christmas, but doing so really got them a leg up in Singapore, so her mum normally made them dress up and go to church with their cousins. But this year... This year was different. They weren't allowed to go to Singapore, they were told that they were supposed to stay in school, and Lizzy had to be the one to ask their Auntie Qiū to let them come home with her for the holiday. Really, that was supposed to be Nicky's job, but he was being a right buttface about that. He just wanted to study and send owls to Atha, and she had wanted to have a real home for the holiday, and she also really wanted her mum.

Aunties did, sometimes, so she had been excited when Auntie Qiū had said that they could come over. They were going to have real food, they were going to get a chance to hang around with their family... And she could talk in any of her other languages if she wanted to, she didn't just have to stick to English! It was actually rather funny when she thought about it; just last year she had whined about having to speak in anything other than the Queen's English, but now she yearned for anything other than that. 

"Auntieee," she chirped, wandering into the kitchen. "Wǎncān chī shénme?" 

---

Wǎncān chī shénme? - What's for dinner?

When Qiū had moved out of her parents' home, her Cantonese and Singlish had dropped in a deep, steady curve. Qiū hadn't been the best at them to begin with, the when she was alone, she'd spoken only English. When she'd married Jae-gyu, she'd learned some Korean-- she picked it up easier, it was quite irritating-- and she'd done her best to make sure her children went over to her parents enough that they could say they had raised their children to speak respectfully to their Singaporean and Hong Kong relatives.

She'd visited Singapore a handful of times, always the banana at family gatherings as her relatives chattered easily in Singlish and she could barely keep up. She was the Quidditch player, she was the jock, she was liek boh kiew, half a step out and half a step in. She practiced, she really did-- but it wasn't like Quidditch where it was freedom; and it wasn't like learning something she'd known as a child and half-forgotten, the answers rising up naturally inside of her. Eleanor Young helped when she saw her-- Eleanor did understand, being a bit of an outsider among Singaporean elite. Qiū's mother was such for all that she'd married someone from the Mainland, and her mother's family was as well. Qiū had cousins who were, but she was the one who would smile politely, and hope that her accent wasn't awful as they smiled politely at her, and no doubt criticized her when she left. She knew what they were like-- she gave them so much ammunition.

Lizzy had written to ask if she and Nick could stay home with Qiū and Ginny for the holidays. And of course they would-- they were family after all, and Qiū didn't know if there were many magical people who knew Singapore like how the Youngs held it. She'd used Ginny mercilessly to prepare and brush up on her languages, just in case. She wouldn't let the Youngs call her younger cousins bananas, wouldn't let them blame Eleanor or say that the visit to Qiū was to blame.

She gave a grin to her niece. Lizzy and Nick-- they were reasons why she was in the Order. She could only hope that their distant enough relation to her might keep them safe.

"Chai tow kway, youtiao, and some tauhu goreng." Lizzy was excited for Singlish-- she hoped she was doing well enough. "Not very zao hor, I'm afraid."

---

liek boh kiew - 'catch no ball'. Used when one is unable to comprehend what others are saying.
zao hor - impressive

There had been a plan for the winter holidays, he just hadn't told Lizzy about it. They were supposed to stay up at the school and out of trouble, but clearly his sister hadn't realized that. He knew that she was young, that she needed advise and a hands on approach, but he had thought that she would have been able to figure out the plan without prodding. Apparently, Nick had forgotten that at eleven she was an overly precocious brat. He had assumed that she would have asked him where they were going, but she had simply arranged for their Auntie to take care of them. She hadn't even asked what he wanted to do, and since she had left their names off of the list for staying he had been forced to ask what she assumed they were doing. "We're going home with Auntie Qiū!" she had announced, and he had attempted to keep himself from exploding. Nick didn't like being angry, anyway. He hated shouting, he hated exclaiming, and he hated when Lizzy just refused to think.

He shouldn't have been surprised. Out of any house she had managed to get Gryffindor, and that was... Frustrating. He had hoped that she would have gone somewhere easier to manage, but she had simply decided to make everything difficult for him. That was just her thing, anyway. So here he was, in a house that he barely knew, with an aunt he really wasn't much acquainted with. It wasn't like he could do anything about it, either. He had to just smile and pretend like it wasn't annoying, he had to talk to her and smile sweetly. At least his aunt's girlfriend was nice, and he could talk openly about his boyfriend without fear of judgement. They had clearly come to one silent conclusion: they wouldn't tell Eleanor about their relationships and they would try to keep Lizzy from asking repeatedly why they couldn't go to Singapore. It was a good enough plan, but Lizzy was herself, so they had to keep her from mentioning anything about their relationships to their Ah Ma.

"It's still better than anything we have at Hogwarts," he said, sliding into the kitchen as his aunt answered the question. Sometimes the elves tried, but it didn't... It just didn't taste right. "Xièxiè nǐ ràng wǒmen liú zài nǐ shēnbiān. Nǐ de kuǎndài shì fēifán de. And I know Lizzy is excited to have someone to talk Quidditch with. She's very upset that she can't join the team yet."

---

Xièxiè nǐ ràng wǒmen liú zài nǐ shēnbiān. Nǐ de kuǎndài shì fēifán de - Thank you for allowing us to stay with you. Your hospitality is remarkable.

"Zhè bìng bù máfan, wǒmen shì jiārén," she returned, tongue twisting only slightly. She'd practiced that phrase with Ginny, and with Gouzhi, who had been amused at her nerves about trying to communicate with her family. What, he'd asked, grinning. Putting on airs, now, trying to seem impressive? It had been well enough for Gouzhi to say that, as he didn't need to bother so much with appearances.

Qiū did, though, especially with Singaporean relatives. Gouzhi liked not caring-- had it not been for Yuanjun, she wasn't sure which of them would have been considered the family disappointment. Gouzhi was more of the family disgrace for his birth, but he'd grown into it well, and had several times refused to trod on what was his strong opinion was YJ's. She supposed, in a way, that might mean that Jiao-Long might be adopted by his grandparents if he married a girl from a good Chinese family. Or— her heart pinched— even Jian-Min, her son, by her own parents, or even Jin. . .She didn’t know how to feel about that

She was more the Gōngsūn disappointment, and despite her joking to Lizzy about what her standing was (mostly to see what the younger girl was like), she was content with that. She'd accepted, though it stung, that she would always be the half-outsider there, the half-Mainland Westerner.

She offered a half-smile. "Wǒ shuō dé bù hǎo, dàn wǒ kěyǐ zuò fàn."

---

Zhè bìng bù máfan, wǒmen shì jiārén - It was no trouble, we're family.
Wǒ shuō dé bù hǎo, dàn wǒ kěyǐ zuò fàn - I don't speak well, but I can cook.

Lizzy liked her auntie far more than the other aunties. She was much better about explaining things, and she really didn't just ignore her with the thought of "another girl" like the rest of her family did. Auntie Qiū always answered her questions when she had them, and she made sure that Lizzy knew what was going on in the world. Her mother never did that, not really. When Lizzy had told her about Carin, she had simply shook her head gently and had told her not to mention that to her Ah Ma. So, instead of using the wrong pronouns for Carin, she had followed what her mother had said and kept her lips completely shut. She didn't want Ah Ma to be mad, but she also didn't want to hurt Carin's feelings. Even if they weren't there, she was sure that misgendering (which was the fancy word that Nick had taught her) would still hurt her friend from miles away. At least Auntie Qiū taught her what everything meant, and she was fun and nice-- and she was dating a former Quidditch star! Which her auntie also was, but the whole Quidditch-couple thing was still so exciting. They weren't Marcus Flint and Vesper Long-Last-Name, but they were exciting to her.

She liked playing with Ginny, though. She thought that her aunt had a good taste in people to date, because Ginny liked playing with her. She was a former Chaser, so she took some shots against Lizzy. She was definitely going easy on her, though; Lizzy was able to protect a few of the shots. She was sure Ginny was doing that to be nice, but it was great either way. She didn't get to play as much Quidditch when she was at school. It was just the flying class and whenever she was able to sneak away. Sometimes she took her broom to one of the towers and flew around where people couldn't see, but it wasn't as much fun. She couldn't go as high and she was always risking getting in trouble. She got in enough trouble as is, and Lizzy didn't want to get the sport taken away from her. "That's okay. I don't speak well either, and I don't write well. But I can sort of fly around and play Quidditch." She shot her brother a mean look, mad at him for coming and ruining her time with their auntie, but it didn't look like he had noticed. He had spent so much time trying to get away from them all during the break.

"That's what I say to everyone all the time, but the reactions I get from our family," she teased. Dad's family was more giving, especially since her father had let her run wild. While she was sure that some of the elders had disapproved and her father's sister definitely had, they'd considered her a Gōngsūn problem, rather than Zhāng, feeling that her mother's family ould sort her in order, and if not, it was because the snobbish Singaporeans were simply too much for anyone. After Cedric, whatever loops they might have had, they'd relaxed around Qiū-- she was mourning, after all, surely they could give her a few years, and then she'd been warrior of the battle that had brought down Riddle, and then recovery from that, and--

She'd been forgiven up until she had a Muggle's ring on her finger. Not even a Muggle from a good Chinese family, let alone Singporean. A middle-class South Korean Muggle who was a scientist, with an adopted child of uncertain lineage, and then their excuses had no longer worked. She'd slipped through cracks that she doubted Lizzy could, and it was no doubt difficult to her young cousin, especially with dyslexia.

"Not being able to fly well isn't harmful, though. Some people don't like flying, and that's fine. It's not for everyone, which can make it feel more special for those of us who do. I'm sure Nick had his other talents, even if--" she wrinkled her nose in faux disgust, "he's an older brother."

Nick just couldn't fathom why his sister and aunt thought so negatively about their family and their lives. He knew that their auntie had had a difficult time of it because of who she was and how she married. Those relationships that she carried on, they were never the type that the Youngs, the Lees, and the Chengs were concerned with. She had forged her own path, and she had made her own decisions. He was nervous, of course, that Lizzy would follow in that pathway. Lizzy was still so young, so impressionable. She could look and think that this was a better idea. He knew that she didn't want to be the little heiress that their parents wanted her to be. His sister had ideas of flying around like a dolt, playing Quidditch for the rest of her life. He didn't quite understand what sort of thought that was, especially since she could have done so much more with her life. So could their auntie. The judgement that he held towards them was because he knew what potential they had. Nick knew that he wasn't just guessing, he was positive. He knew. He knew that they were only just going to get by, and he knew that Lizzy had to be persuaded into something better. 

He and his aunt seemed to have some sort of arrangement. They kept Lizzy from asking too many questions and they kept the secret of their relationships. For some reason, his sister still didn't grasp the fact that their aunt was dating Ginny Weasley, even if she knew that he was dating Atha. He wasn't about to call that into question. Her not knowing kept them both safe. She already knew she couldn't talk about Atha with adults. He had explained that they just wouldn't get it, and she had understood. He knew his sister, though. She wouldn't be able to keep more than one secret. 

"I am older and wiser," he insisted, crinkling his nose at both of them. "At least I'm not a ridiculous little sister."