Little changes make different people
Tuesday, September 19th, 1989
Hugo Granger was not fond of his birthday. Most kids adored it. They got parties, attention, and gifts they wanted. Hugo didn't get that. Hugo had no friends or family for parties, his parents worked too much for any sort of special attention, and the present he got were meant to shape him into a 'nice young lady'.
Hugo wanted books, a telescope, to not be misgendered. Hugo got body lotion, makeup, and perfume. In his opinion, it was all repulsive.
Hugo looked down at the pack of pink hair bows he had opened with the rest of the gifts half an hour before. He had escaped to his bedroom with the offending items as quickly as possible. Which was not quickly enough.
Pink hair bows? For Hugo? Had his parents ever met him?
Even if Hugo was a girl he still wouldn't want these. They were nothing like him. But, they weren't bought because his parents thought he would want them. They were bought because his parents wanted him to put his annoyingly long hair in pigtails and braids and ponytails. Because they wanted him to be a stereotypical cis girl.
Hugo didn't want his hair at all. The curls that took more effort than he wanted to put into hair went down to his mid-back. Less puffy than they used to be as his mother started forcing him to care for it.
Hugo spied the scissors on his desk. They weren't for cutting hair, but they should be sharp enough, at least if he tried hard enough. His parents would hate if he cut his hair...Hugo thought that fact a pro if anything.
_____
Hugo looked in the bathroom mirror. He had cut his hair to were it just barely went to his chin. It felt a lot more masculine and comfortable.
Surprisingly his hair almost looked like it had been cut in a salon, and the scissors worked much better than he had ever imagined. Hugo assumed he just got lucky, though in reality it was magic helping out a bit.
Even if Hugo did know the real cause, he wouldn't have cared. Because he had finally started looking like himself. And his parents were going to hate it.
Smiling at the reflection, something Hugo never did, and running his hand through his shorter curls one last time, Hugo finally left the bathroom.
Since it was Tuesday his parents were working, but he was off school for the day because of a teacher meeting. So, he had the whole day alone. Unlike most kids in this situation, Hugo planned to just spend the whole day reading. Maybe a bad movie in the background.
It would be glorious!
-----
Hugo was in his bedroom when his parents got home, so they didn't see him immediately. This was part of the plan. His mom always came in right before bed to tell him good night; his parents would find out then.
As always, Emma Granger came into Hugo's bedroom at 9:30. Typically he would get a kiss on the head and have to promise to be good, not tonight.
Emma stopped in the doorway. Hugo forced himself to keep his face blank, but Emma. Emma's face was not blank.
She looked like she had just walked into a murder scene. Hugo almost thought his mother was frozen, but then....
"David!" Emma called to her husband, who rushed in.
David seemed just as shocked and angry. Hugo smirked. Amazing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, March 1st, 1990
Hallie Weasley carded her right hand through her hair. It had grown last night from nearly buzzed off to a straight bob-cut going to her chin. Magic. Magic had made her hair look like that, but her parents would never believe it. They would think she did it intentionally. As a prank.
Ever since she came out to them at three, and they destroyed her self-confidence, any remotely feminine thing she did was a 'prank'. Hallie wasn't a girl, she just wanted to be funny. Sure, because people really have seven year running gags that didn't work the first time.
Why couldn't they just accept her? Love her for who she was? Love her at all?
Hallie and familial love were complicated. Her siblings loved her, but she wasn't very close to them because she didn't want to have to pretend to be a boy more than necessary. Her dad loved her, but he didn't protect her enough. Her mom....Her mom resented her for being the sixth 'boy'. And had never felt the same about her since the 'prank' began.
Why did this hair thing have to happen today of all days? On her birthday? It was the one day of year she got a little attention, now it would all be negative. Mom hated Bill because the second he turned seventeen he started growing out his hair and there was nothing she could do about it. And he had never done anything feminine before. So, Hallie doing this was going to end in disaster.
It wasn't even her fault! She couldn't control her magic yet! Besides, if mom hadn't cut her hair so short in the first place, it wouldn't be a problem!
What was she supposed to do? She didn't know how to cut hair, manually or magically. Besides, she didn't have scissors or a wand. And even if she did, how was she supposed to make it look exactly like what mom did? Buzzing it would get her in trouble too because mom thought people who were intentionally bald were 'hooligans'. Not that Hallie had a razor anyway.
Hallie pulled harshly on her hair to force herself to stop falling into the spiral. She loved this hair. It made her feel happy and confident and like she actually looked like what she was supposed to. But, it also brought the anxiety of a known punishment.
Why couldn't Hallie just be a boy? Or had been born with 'girl parts'? Or had accepting parents that let her be the girl she was?
It wasn't fair! Ginny got praised for being a girl, but Hallie....Hallie was punished and laughed at and ignored for being a girl.
Hallie wasn't a girl. Not to anyone but herself at least. And did it really matter what her gender was if everyone else refused to see it?
Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Hallie didn't know. But....
She knew that if being a girl meant this, than she wished she could be a boy like her brothers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 31st, 1990
Harry didn't even know he had a birthday until he started school at five. How was he supposed to know he had one? It was never celebrated! Even still, he didn't learn what his birthday was until he was six. And only then because his Aunt and Uncle started forcing him to do his and Dudley's paperwork. For school and otherwise.
So, to Harry July 31st was no different from any other day. In fact, it was worse because he was always yelled at for being conceited enough to think he deserved celebration....Harry had never even mentioned his birthday before, but okay....
Harry tried to pretend July 31st didn't exist as much as possible, because when he thought of it he thought of what had happened to him on that date before and what would happen to him in the future. Sometimes the Dursley's ignored it, other years he was starved or beaten or something as a punishment for being born.
So, when Harry woke on his tenth birthday his first thought was fear.
What mood would they be in this year?