Billie tried to not look too disappointed. After all, Ama hadn't given her a hard no. Perhaps meant there was some sort of possibility that the woman would still show her!

"Okaaaay," she commented and then dipped back to retrieve more paint. Normally, she would have rushed to complete the task, but she knew Ama would need to be finished as well before she could see any sort of transformation.

"Yes! I like to make friends with all of 'em, especially the cats and nifflers. Arnie says there's classes about creatures at Hogwarts. I wanna learn about that!" She paused, long enough to take a breath, and then asked, "Do you like animals?"

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

As they gradually made their way along the fence — little Billie taking the lower half, and bad-backed Ama opting for the higher — she returned the girl's enthusiasm for animals. "I love animals." She paused to brandish her paintbrush up at the apple tree, pointing at a little green bird perched there. "See that parakeet? His name's Kojo. And that cockatoo over there?" she nodded at a pretty white and yellow parrot on the fence at the other end of the garden. "Her name is Ekow. And they have many other feathery friends around, too."

  

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Billie paused in her painting to squint at the two birds Ama had indicated. She wasn't well-versed in the names of birds, nor did she believe that cockatoos and parakeets were native to Scotland. She tried to file away their names in the back of her head, while she beamed. "Where did you find birds like that? I like those names. Do you own all of them birds?" She couldn't imagine having so many pets.

"I've just got a cat. His name is Soot, and he's the best cat in the world. And I feed lots of stray cats, and I have a niffler friend named Ginger. Mr. Scamander is her Dad." She babbled on, excitedly.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

"I do indeed own them", Ama replied with a smile. "Or as much as one can own such a free creature. I bought or adopted them from an exotic pet trader here in Scotland." A strange vocation, one would assume; but they did very good business.

"It's good that you're a friend to cats, Billie", she continued conversationally as she listened to the girl's happy remarks, going back again to the paint tray and this time painting the bare fence in swathes of sunset purple. As time went on and the paint job neared completion, the fence was looking fuller and brighter — and more Ama than ever. Or, specifically, more Ama and Billie.

"Stray and needy animals never forget the care we show them."

  

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Billie knew enough that, when the word 'exotic' was used in reference to something purchased, it was bound to be expensive. Who knew how much those birds cost. However, she couldn't help but admire the fact that they weren't forced to exist only in a cage. She'd been into houses like that. "Well, that's sure fancy."

Glancing at the fence, she was almost sad that they were nearly done. The swirls of colors were mesmerizing, and it was a rather fun task to engage in! She swirled her paintbrush in the colors, hoping to go out with a bang.

"They don't?" She questioned immediately. Though, the more she though about it, Billie realized that the stray half-kneazle she liked best never tried to hurt her, but it always swat and bit at the Bates boys. Idiotic, rock throwing dunderheads.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Ama smiled with amusement. Fancy wasn't quite the word she'd use to describe her living situation, especially compared to how it had been before the divorce, but she could see why Billie found it quite thrilling. Truth be told, Ama found it thrilling too. That was why she lived this way, even while so few approved.

"They most certainly don't", she confirmed as she finished up her portion of the fence. "Needy animals recognise that they cannot give us anything in return for our kindness, so they are infinitely grateful. Though of course they can offer us friendship, one of life's greatest treasures", she added with a waggle of a finger.

Once they were done, Ama stood back, hands on her hips, to admire their handiwork. The fence had turned into what she recognised as a vivacious work of art, the wild and fanciful colours of Billie's lower half merging with the more controlled gradients of Ama's upper. "Quite perfect, don't you agree?" she asked her little helper happily.

  

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"Ohhhh. I guess that makes sense. It's good to have friends, anyways," she responded. Even if they were of the furry or scaly variety, she would be happy to call any living creature her friend.

Billie scuttled to stand next to Ama, mimicking her hands on her hips as if she thought it would help her appear as if she were looking upon their masterpiece critically. The fence was certainly a statement. Even though their two halves didn't quite meld together in some places, its vibrancy still seemed to work. Tilting her head, she beamed up at Ama, "Yes! It looks real pretty. Your neighbors are gonna be real jealous they got boring old white fences instead."

Though, even she knew the woman's neighbors weren't likely to be jealous, Billie was convinced they should be.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Billie had proved a delightful little thing, and Ama made a mental note to check up on her from time to time, certainly giving her a few more odd jobs before she started at Hogwarts. Ama smiled down at her, knowing full well that most of the neighbours did not approve of the eccentric Mrs Zabini, but she had long ceased caring about such things.

"I think we've earned some refreshment after that", she announced, and with a flick of her fingers made two sparkling glasses of iced lemonade appear on the rickety wooden table nearby. "And your payment, of course", Ama passed Billie a little pouch of coins.

Ama sank into the garden chair next to the table with a quintessentially middle-aged sigh, and took a sip of lemonade. "Now — do you still wish to see my Animagus form? It is very big, and like nothing you've seen before", she warned mysteriously.

  

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Billie's eyes grew round when Ama made the iced lemonade appear. Despite spending almost two years in the magical world, it still caught her off-guard sometimes. She took the coin pouch as if it were the most precious thing and beamed, "Thanks!" She was getting so close to purchasing her own broom. Just a few more jobs.

With an enthusiastic bobbing of her head, the small girl stood up straighter, "Yes, please! I want to see." The mystery of which animagus for Ama would transform into had her nearly bouncing on her toes. "It's okay if you're very big. I ain't scared of nothing!" Which wasn't exactly true, but it's what she lived by.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

So be it! The older Ama got, the more inclined she was to bend to the will of adorable children; though she would've refrained if she thought Billie would truly be upset by her gigantic Animagus state.

Ama put down her glass of lemonade with delicacy, then made her way to the centre of the lawn, gazed up at the tall, tall trees and — seconds later, there she was in giraffe form, an enormous African rarity, peering regally down at the now tiny girl through vast, sweeping eyelashes.

  

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Despite Billie's insistence that she wasn't afraid, she wasn't exactly prepared for how large Ama had grown. She took a step back and let out a gasp. She'd never seen, not heard of a giraffe before. Nor had she encountered a creature as large as her.

"Fli--" She started to blurt out, but then she stopped herself, censoring herself. "Miss Ama, you're HUGE! What are you?!" She shouted, unsure if the woman would be able to hear her from all the way up there without having to raise her voice. "I bet you could see all of Hogsmeade!"

To say she was impressed was an understatement.

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Ama had been even younger than Billie when her mother had first told her to stop showing off. She had indeed stopped showing off. But these days she couldn't care less about such fussy rules — on the contrary, it delighted her to take up so much space when the world wanted women to be as small and inoffensive as possible. And it was a pleasure to demonstrate this to a young girl, as well — Billie would hopefully learn from this that there was something magnificent about a woman making herself known.

The giraffe sent a sweeping, long-lashed gaze over the treetops as if looking out over the village as Billie had suggested. But the truth was, the hedges and trees were very tall; she couldn't see much.

Having awed the youngster an appropriate amount, Ama dwarfed back down to size, dusted off her dress gracefully, and gave Billie a dimpled smile. "I'm a giraffe", announced the human. "The tallest land animal in the world, belonging to the sweeping Serengeti plains of Africa."

  

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Billie fully believed Ama must have been able to see all the way to Hogwarts from her vantage point, despite any hedges or trees. She was also certain that the woman would knock her roof off if she ever tried to turn into her animagus form inside her house.

"The tallest," she repeated, awed. She couldn't imagine coming across a real giraffe. She knew so little of Africa that she assumed they must be all over the place there. People must be practically ants there.

"That was---you're amazing!" She blurted out, gushing. Billie didn't know it, yet, but anyone else (unless they were a niffler) who transformed into their animagus form would likely not impress her as much as Ama did now. Her sheer size!

  

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MJ, yet again working her magic.  <3 <3 Thank you

Ama gave another laugh of delight at this exclamation, bouncing vaguely on the balls of her feet. "Well, you are welcome to come round and talk about Animagi any time, young lady", she responded brightly. "As long as your Mr Ollivander is okay with it, of course." She'd taken a shine to Billie, and was sure many at Hogwarts would do the same. Ama had the impression that from humble beginnings would grow quite the star.

OOC: Wrap? <33

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   Billie Farrow

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