Figuring things out
Rhonda knew from a very young age that she wasn't the same as the other girls in her house. She hated wearing skirts and dresses unlike her sister Ginny who loved them but her Mum forced her to wear them. She wished she had short hair like her brothers. She wished she could look like them. She brushed it off and pretended she liked long hair and pink and dresses. She didn't want to seem weird. This worked for her... for a while anyway.
She was terrified of her family finding out. She felt like there was something wrong with her. Why did she feel like a boy. She was born a girl. You couldn't change your gender. Could you? She hated this so much. Why couldn't she just be like everyone else. Why couldn't she just be 'normal'.
She was 9 when she heard Fred and George talking about their friend Lee Jordan. It was during quidditch practice in the field. She was watching them practice with Ginny and caught snippets of their conversation.
"His names Lee Jordan now remember,"
"I remember I'm not am idiot,"
"We gotta tell Mum though can't have her misgendering him and deadnaming him,"
"That will be fun she ain't gonna understand what transgender means,"
"We'll explain it simply but I swear if she doesn't accept him,"
Transgender? She hadn't heard that word before. She didn't quite understand what was going on or what any of this meant but she wanted to know more.
It was about a week later. They were all sat round the table enjoying dinner. When the term transgender was said again.
Rhonda was gulfing down the potatoes one of her favourites.
"Rhonda will you stop eating those so fast we aren't going to steal them for you. And you've had loads of them how about you have some salad don't want to get too chubby do we now," Molly said looking at her.
"Anyway boys," coughed Arthur," Are you excited to go back to hogwarts next week?"
Rhonda looked up from her plate. She loved hearing stories about hogwarts and what it was like.
"Yes it will be good I'm starting 3rd year so lots of new subject." replied Percy.
"Yeah it will be really good fun, though I can't wait until 2nd year when we can try out for the quidditch team." Answered Fred
"It will be fun to have you two on the team," smiled Charlie
"Oh yeah you remember our friend," started George
"Oh yes Leah Jordan she was so nice and polite when I met her," Mum interrupted.
Hmm they said Jordan; that's Lee's last name. Maybe this has to do with what they were talking about last week. Rhonda got excited maybe she could finally find out about this transgender thing.
"Yeah, except he's changed his name to Lee now. He's transgender so he was born a girl but is a boy and you refer to him using he/him just so you know,"
George looked at Fred. They had no idea how Mum would react.
"Well... that's lovely good for her,"
"Its him now Mum," said Fred looking at her.
So that was what transgender meant. That's so cool. Lee Jordan that is such a cool name.
Later at night Rhonda lay awake staring at her ceiling still thinking about the conversation. Transgender. That's how she felt all these years. She wasn't a freak. She wasn't a weirdo. There were others who felt like this. She was so excited that there were others like her.
It was two days before everyone went off to hogwarts. The twins and Charlie had gone off for last quidditch practice. Dad was at work and Mum, Ginny and Percy were shopping.
He paced up and down his room holding the letter he wrote. He decided to tell Bill first on how he felt. He spent that entire week picking out a name he liked. Ron. He liked that. Okay deep breath. Here we go.
He opened his door walked across the hall to Bill's room and knocked on the door.
"Hey lil sis you okay,"
He winced at lil sis but tried to stay calm.
"This is for you," he thrust the letter into Bill's hand and then ran back to his room.
He was shaking a bit and started breathing fast. He had no idea what to expect. He was hoping he would be accepting as he was really supportive of Lee. He sat on his bed waiting.
Bill opened the letter. It was clear his lil sis had spent a lot of time on this as her handwriting was a lot neater then it normally was.
To Bill,
I was very nervous to give you this and I hope you understand. I am not your sister. I'm your brother. I'm transgender. I haven't told anyone else yet. I decided on a name I like Ronald Weasley. Ron for short.
Love you
Your brother
Ronald
He sat there in a bit of shock. He wasn't expecting this but he felt so touched that his brother would tell him first. He sat there for a few minutes then realised he needed to go speak to Ron so he knew that he accepted him.
He knocked gently on the door before walking in holding the letter in his hand.
Ron looked at him then at the letter then back at him. He gulped. "I'm sorry its just..," Ron said starting to apologise.
"Hey, hey what you apologising for. You know I love you no matter what. Your my brother. I love you unconditionally,"
Ron started sobbing and just hugged Bill. "Thank you, I'm sorry, I love you. Thank you for being supportive,"
Bill hugged him back not exactly sure what to do.
"Hey you got any ideas on a middle name yet,"
"Well I quite like the idea of Billius then I have your name in it," he said sniffing and wiping away the tears.
"I'd be honoured for you to have that as your middle name. Ronald Billius Weasley. Its perfect,"