TW AND CW: mentions of death, crying

Remus flipped the page. "Is it just me, or does everyone seem to overlook Beth a little?"

Ana scoffed. "I know, right? Beth is a queen. Everyone thinks Jo and Amy and Meg are so great, and they are, but everyone forgets about Beth."

She was in a much better mood and seemed to have put her mother's incident in the back of her head for now.

But when the portrait hole swung open, Ana turned pale.

She turned around. "Hello, Professor McGonagall," she said.

McGonagall nodded in acknowledgment. "Hello, Miss Miracle, Mister Lupin. Miss Miracle, the headmaster is awake. Come with me."

"Bye, Remus," Ana said quietly. "See you later."

Remus waved weakly as Ana got up and left the common room with McGonagall.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…

When Ana and Professor McGonagall reached Dumbledore's office, she left Ana there.

"I suppose you'll see the return to your own common room once you've finished?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes, Professor," Ana said quietly. "Thanks."

Ana stepped onto the platform to Dumbledore's office and walked up the staircase until she reached the door.

She knocked gently on it with the neatly engraved dragon handle.

"Come in," said Dumbledore's muffled voice.

Ana opened the door and stepped inside the eccentric room, filled with odd gadgets and gizmos all around.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss," said Dumbledore gently. "Please, have a seat."

Ana nodded and sat down on one of the chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. "Sir, my mother's will said I had to tell you about something called 'the changing'? Apparently, you know what that is, so..."

"I do," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "You see, 'the changing' is not a thing. It is more of an... idea. You, Ana, are apart of the changing. Do you have any idea why?"

"Because I can do the animal thing?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, because you can do the animal thing. But do you know WHY you can do it? Do you know WHY or HOW you are a Figuramagus?"

Ana thought for a second. "Actually, no, sir. Is it a genetic thing...?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It is. But it only pops up randomly in generations, and it is not very common for it to pop up in a half-blood family. Your father was a muggle, am I correct?"

Ana shrugged. "I actually don't know. We never talk about him. I think he was a muggle, though. Maybe that's why he left, because he found out Mum was a witch?"

"There are endless possibilities," noted Dumbledore. "We don't know. But like I was saying, it is very rare. You inherited your mother's surname and bloodline, which means you carried on the Miracle legacy."

"Er..." said Ana uncertainly. "Is my family supposed to be well known, or something?"

"The Miracles were a particularly well respected and very well known family in the mid-1600s," said Dumbledore patiently. "It may have been a long time ago, but history shows that the Miracles were so popular for their odd and uncommon ability to become any animal at will."

"That has passed down so many times that the Figuramagus magic has been- so to say- drained and chiseled down, which makes it so much more rare," continued Dumbledore.

"Does it have to be genetic?" questioned Ana curiously.

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, it doesn't have to. But it is a little more common for people with Figuramagus ancestors. And your ability could serve... useful for Voldemort."

Ana's jaw dropped. 

"The suffix 'magus' appears in many Latin-based words," continued Dumbledore. "Animagus, Metamorphmagus, and so on. It means change. The changing is a philosophical and historical event that historians believe will happen sometime when all of the 'maguses', so to speak, band together to fight. When I say philosophical, I mean philosophical. There is no concrete evidence as to if this rare event might actually happen, but many Seers and historians seem to think so."

Ana nodded. "Cool. And so... you called me here to tell me about rare philosophical events?"

Dumbledore laughed heartily. "No, Miss Miracle, I called you here to tell you how to prepare for this, in the case it might actually happen. You are to come here every Sunday for Figuramagus lessons."

Ana nodded. "That'll be exciting. Seems great. And, Professor," added Ana. "I needed to tell you something. You see, two days ago, Remus Lupin and I were studying in the library and Avery, Mulciber, and Rosier from Slytherin came to us and started teasing us about some 'bad news'. The next morning, the news of my mother came. I had a feeling it was connected."

Dumbledore nodded, as if taking this all in. "I'll be sure to take a look at this. Did your mother have a severe allergy to Alihotsy? What were the symptoms?"

"She had general hayfever allergies," said Ana, backing down slightly at the harsh subject of her mother. "But Alihotsy was the worst one. Even going near it would make her throat close up. It was fatal. Why she would even go in the simple vicinity of Alihotsy leaves, Helga knows."

A/n: fun fact: one of the ministers of magic died from alihotsy-flavored fudge because she had an allergy! Her name was wilhelmina tuft, and she was minister from 1948 to 1959.

~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~…~

Ana slumped on the couch next to Remus.

"Aren't you going back to your common room?" asked Remus, a little amusedly. "It's Sunday morning. Aren't you gonna spend some time with Ivy and Sage?"

"Sage has to visit Hogsmeade and Ivy is hanging out with her boyfriend today," Ana grumbled. "I'm free the whole day. Can we read?"

Remus nodded gently. "'Course."

He grabbed the book off of the table and flipped to the page they were on. 

Remus snuggled closer to Ana, who placed her head on his shoulder as Remus held the book close to them so they both could read.

Suddenly, Ana's face was streaked with silent tears.

Remus placed the book back onto the table and engulfed Ana in a hug, burying his face into her wavy hair and stroking it gently. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's just," Ana whispered, clutching onto Remus' sweater. "It didn't actually hit me that she's never... she's never coming back. Ever."

RIP ALWENA MIRACLE SOBS WE'LL BEAT UP ALIHOTSY LEAVES FOR YOU

hope you enjoyed how crap that chapter was :/

Love y'all sooooo much :)

Love, Jui W.