June 16th, 1890 — Zabini Residence, Bartonburg, Hogsmeade
Ama Zabini

Billie relied heavily on word of mouth in order to land herself with as many odd jobs as she did. Often, word reached her secondhand, which was the case with Ms. Zabini. It seemed many people needed small tasks completed without wanting to pay someone an exorbitant amount for their services. She couldn't blame them, really, and she certainly didn't mind profiting off of it.

The only problem with secondhand information was she couldn't always adequately prepare. Without knowing what the woman wished her to do, Billie had brought along a few general supplies, some of which she borrowed from Gideon. She had yet to tell him why she was so adamant about generating extra money, but she also wasn't sure he realized with all the drinking he'd been doing.

Squinting about at all of the homes, she tried to find the one that had been described to her. Once she found the most likely culprit, the ragamuffin beamed and set off with a determined hop to her step. She reached the door fairly quickly and set about knocking upon it. While she waited for someone to answer, she hurriedly attempted to smooth her unruly hair down and fixed her collar. It helped to be at least somewhat presentable! A thought she would have barfed over a year ago.

When the door swung open, Billie's face lit up with a genuine smile. "Morning! I'm looking for a Ms. Zabini."

  

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

When her friend Marcy had mentioned there was a little waif asking around for odd jobs, Ama Zabini had made it abundantly clear that she'd be delighted to give her some work. Who better, after all, to give out the oddest of jobs than the local eccentric?

Being a divorcee who lived alone, Ama's Bartonburg house was a modest thing, but also charming. In recent years she had come to embrace her vibrant tastes, and so the door was pale blue, and the steps up to it etched with wavy designs, and off to the side was a great plantpot holding a young tree with pink blossoms.

Ama herself was also in pink today, her long linen dress swooshing around her ankles to reveal a pair of hardy boots as she headed for the door. The butler had answered, but before he could say anything, Ama thanked him, sidled past him, and joined the young girl outside. She was a little thing with rusty hair, and a boyish look that was really not in vogue at her age. Ama appreciated that.

"You must be Billie! I do hope you brought a paintbrush."

  

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With all the cookie cutter houses lining the streets of Bartonburg, Ama's house certainly surprised her. The woman's sudden appearance and quick dismissal of the butler also caused her to quirk her left eyebrow. It was unusual for her not to be shown in by household staff. Sometimes, she didn't meet whomever owned the house altogether and was contracted by a maid.

"Yes, Miss. I'm Billie. Nice to meet you." She answered, dragging up all of her learned politeness that she could.

Her polite smile turned into something more genuine when she heard Ama ask after a paintbrush. She proudly held her bucket of miscellaneous items up, "I do! A real big one." Well, it wasn't that large, but it wasn't suitable for portraits either. She loved painting jobs. She wasn't the neatest, but she was very thorough. So thorough, in fact, that Ms. Zabini wouldn't have to worry too much if the paint chipped. It was unlikely one would be able to see the color underneath after the layers she was known to put on.

  

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

Ama beamed at being called "Miss", an inaccurate but well-meaning title that she found ever so endearing. Billie was a polite young thing indeed. "Well as long as I'm calling you Billie, you may as well call me Ama while it's just us", she invited her brightly. For these days Ama was not one to abide by rigid societal rules.

And speaking of which...

"Marvelous!" she replied when the presence of a paintbrush was duly announced. "Off we trot to the garden, then." Yes, they wouldn't be entering the house at all — Ama led them round the back through a tall, narrow gate, and into a spacious garden filled with wildflowers, saplings, soaring sunflowers, funny stone statues; and through it all a meandering cobbled pathway. Here and there, spectacularly vibrant birds chirruped from the treetops.

She gestured towards the long, brand new wooden fence at the back that separated her garden from the neighbour's. "I was intending to paint this all on my own, but... my back isn't what it's used to be", Ama admitted with a twinkle. "Bending down is a bother. So I thought I could paint the top bits and you could do the rest."

  

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Billie wasn't the most well versed in societal rules and etiquette (although she was trying to learn), so calling her Ama worked just fine. She liked it best when people were straightforward in the way they wished to be addressed. It dispelled a lot of confusion. Children were easier in that sense.

It was such a nice day; Billie was glad that they were to work outside. With a bit of a hop in her step, she scampered after Ama, being sure not to accidentally lose any of her supplies. When they arrived in the garden, she stared around at all the beautiful greenery, but her attention zoned in on the birds. She quite enjoyed birds, but she wasn't sure she'd seen some as vibrant as the one's in this particular garden. Not in Padmore Park, at least. "Do you feed them?" She paused, realizing that was a vague question. "The birds. There are so many."

She shooed her own questions to the side when they reached their destination, and she surveyed the fence with a smile. Painting fences was a task she actually enjoyed. It was fun to watch the wood disappear behind a layer of color. Or, well, usually white. "I can get the real low parts, easy! I ai--I'm not that tall." Sometimes being small had its benefits.

  

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

"I certainly do", Ama replied, after a moment's consideration to figure out what Billie meant by "do you feed them?" Ama glanced fondly up at a passing parakeet. "We can feed them some bits and bobs later if you'd like", she added brightly, though she was convinced the lively young girl would be quite preoccupied with the fence-painting task that was about to begin.

Billie had her own paintbrush, but Ama would provide the paint. In fact it was already laid out upon a garden table; a rectangular tray full of paint that was coloured... beige. Dull, dim, unfashionable beige. Apparently this was the colour Ama wished to paint her fence.

"Okay, let's begin!" she announced. But first, the Ghanan matriarch approached the tray, dipped her fingertip into the cool beige goop, and muttered a spell. All at once, swirling from her fingertip, the paint dyed itself all the colours of the rainbow, from dramatic royal blue to deep vibrant pink; from soft sunrise lilac to bright lurid turquoise. Now these were the colours of Ama's and Billie's future masterpiece.

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   Billie Farrow

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"Okay!" Billie readily blurted out since feeding birds such as the ones in Ama's garden seemed exciting.

Standing up a bit taller, Billie peered into the paint tray and tried not to make a face. Beige, ugh. At least the white stood out. Beige would barely make the wood look all that different. Ah, well, she still enjoyed painting. She started to walk forward to dip her brush in it, but it seemed the woman had other plans.

"Whoaaaa." Eyes widening, she gasped, staring at the swirls of colors that were left. Was Ama really going to paint her fence in such a way? Her neighbors were going to hate her! The thought of such a thing had Billie grinning near to the point of laughter.

"How did you do that? You didn't even use a wand" She didn't know enough about magic yet to know that some spells could be done without.

  

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

Although it was already evident to Ama that young Billie was the type to get tucked into a fun activity without delay, Ama led by example and began the task. She dipped her paintbrush into the cacophony of colour, swirling up a few shades of blue, and proceeded towards the far right of the wooden fence. Before long, the top of the slat was already a pleasing array of blues. It would swiftly become evident that the paint was magical in more ways than one, for it clung obediently to the wood without dripping or splashing.

"That's right, I practice wandless magic", she smiled over her shoulder to Billie. "It's widely taught at Uagadou, the school where I was educated."

  

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Eagerly, Billie dipped her paintbrush in and dawdled just a little bit, trying to coat it with as many colors as she could before dashing over to the lower bit of the fence. She started painting with reckless abandon, smiling from ear to ear at how loud it was.

"I didn't know you could do it without, except by accident." She was being raised by a wandmaker, after all, so she'd just assumed that was what was required to do real, purposeful magic. "Ua..ga..dou?" The word was repeated slowly and awkwardly, almost as if she were gargling rocks at the same time. "Where's that school?" Billie only really knew of Hogwarts, but it would make sense that there were other schools. Ama had an accent that she couldn't quite place, which meant she was originally from 'far away.'

  

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

Ama glanced over at Billie to see how she'd chosen to begin her task, and — well, it looked like she'd gone for all the colours of childhood. Ama beamed at this, proceeding with her gently swirling waves of blue while the little one painted something that looked like it'd have a pot of gold at the end of it.

"Uagadou", she confirmed the pronunciation with a nod. "It's the oldest and greatest wizarding school in Africa, where magic was born", she explained with breathy drama in her voice as spoke of her dear home.

"Hogwarts is another great and ancient school. Will you be enrolling there?" Knowing that not all families could afford it, Ama did not wish to assume.

  

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Billie's eyebrows shot up. It was complete news to her that magic was born in Africa. Even if Ama was just being dramatic, she saw it fit to believe her at face value. Why else would she have said it. "I didn't know there was a school there. What was it like?"

As they spoke, she skittered over to gather up more paint onto her brush, enthusiastically adding it to the fence with wide, sweeping brush strokes. She was by no means an artist, but she was determined that the two of them would see the fence fully painted in no time.

"Yes! Gideon says I get to go in September. I turn eleven really soon. I've never really been to school. My mother wouldn't let me. But I guess this will be different, anyways because it's a magic school, not a muggle one."

Billie counted herself lucky. If she hadn't stumbled upon Hogsmeade or found Gideon, she likely wouldn't have had a chance to go to Hogwarts. Her mother would have made sure of that. Even if the teachers convinced her to attend her first year, there was no way she could have financed a second year on her own. Not to mention, it had been Gideon's suggestion she learned to read, write, and do sums to get ready. Without that, she wouldn't have made it even a month.

  

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

Ama glanced over as Billie nipped back to the tray for another round of marvelously colourful paint. The child was working a lot faster than Ama, who was making her way along the top of the fence with swirls of sundry blues. She was very glad Billie was enjoying herself — and curiosity from youth was always a treat.

She made a mental note to ask who "Gideon" was, for surely she would not address her father so. Ama wondered briefly if it could be Gideon Ollivander, the wandmaker; she did not know the man, but she imagined it would be quite the boon for a young girl to be raised by such a talent. As long as he was also kind.

"Uagadou lies deep in the Mountains of the Moon", she explained wistfully. "It is a magnificent school hewn from the rock itself, shrouded in mist and magic. There we learn to read the skies, cast spells without wands, and transform into magnificent beasts...

But you know, Billie, growing up, Hogwarts was as exotic to me as Uagadou is to you. Perhaps you could tell me a little about your soon-to-be school? I'm sure you know more about it than I do." Actually, her children had attended Hogwarts, so she knew plenty, but it would be interesting to hear about it from the perspective of a youngster with her whole schooling ahead of her.

  

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Billie paused in her painting long enough to try to imagine such a school, but a few of the details confused her. How could a school be hewn from the rock of mountains? Did that mean it was a huge cave? Or was the entire school a mountain? She wished to learn more, but the last thing Ama said had Billie suddenly blurting, "What do you mean transform into beasts?? People can do that?"

How had she not heard of such a thing before?

"I don't know much. Just that it's in a castle, and we're supposed to be sorted. But I dunno how that works. And there's quidditch and wands and classes and the Black Lake is also there." Sure, she'd asked people questions, but so many of the answers were so contradictory. Not to mention many of the older students liked to leave some sort of air of mystery and would only offer up vague answers.

  

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

Given her own childrens' past attendance at Hogwarts, Ama was somewhat tempted to divulge some secrets of the school herself — this would no doubt serve to make the excitable young one even more thrilled at her enrollment. But Ama decided against it. Billie would discover Hogwarts for herself soon, and much more than Ama (who, after all, hadn't attended it herself) would ever know.

But as for transforming into animals... now there was a subject she really had mastered.

"Oh yes. Any witch or wizard who has the skill can train to become an Animagus — someone who can transform themselves into an animal. It's very difficult; a commitment best considered when you're a bit older", she added with the intention of being responsible, eyes twinkling as she glanced over at Billie, trusting she knew she wouldn't be able to warp into a lioness on her first day at school.

  

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Billie filed the word animagus in the back of her mind. Perhaps, it would be something she looked into down the road. Right now, she barely knew the basics of living in the wizarding world and civilized society, not to mention magic.

"Can you do it, then? Can...can I see?" She suddenly blurted out, looking expectantly up at Ama. The girl paused in her painting, a voice in the back of her head reminding her to use her manners. "Please." She'd never seen anyone transform into an animal before. She wondered what animal Ama would be. If it was up to Billie, she'd want to become a niffler animagus.

  

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

Ama chuckled, realising she should've expected this response — it had been a while since her children had been this young, sometimes she forgot how downright curious they were. And Billie was more brazenly so than most (an admirable quality, in Ama's mind).

But she did remember that children could be alarmed by things that were unknown or imposing. Suddenly finding herself face-to-face with a gigantic creature, the likes of which she'd never seen before, could be too much even for brave Billie. Ama didn't want to take that chance.

"Perhaps after our work is done", she said, returning to the paint tray and spreading ten shades of yellow onto her brush.

"Do you like animals then, Billie?"

  

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