Vidalia dreaded the next day when she was to return home. She'd made the decision on her own, of course, as Vidalia had always been set on making her own decisions, but that didn't make this decision of hers any less dreadful. Lyle had been very kind to allow her to stay the entire Christmas holiday at the Lupin house, but after her conversation with Remus the night prior, Vidalia knew she had to get to the bottom of this strange tale her mother had been feeding her and everyone else for the past eleven years.

The more Vidalia thought about her mother, the more of a mystery the old witch seemed to become. Cosima was, as it goes without saying, quite shut off from most of the world. She kept to herself, either at home or tinkering around in the shop. Besides Dumbledore and her own daughter, Cosima Strange didn't interact much with other people, except the small interactions with customers at the shop. Cosima seemed more and more a figment of Vidalia's own imagination rather than a real person; a real person who had raised Vidalia since she was days old, no less.

Vidalia couldn't help but think maybe her mother had a lot to hide. Was she hiding a dark past? Was she hiding to protect herself and her daughter? These thoughts ran wild and ate at Vidalia all night long. She'd even gone as far as waking Remus up at sunrise to voice these collectives of hers.

Remus, in a half-asleep stupor, had tried his best to listen and reassure Vidalia that what she was feeling was valid and reasonable, but still couldn't hide his annoyance that Vidalia had woken him up in the first place. The number of times he'd been awoken by James to be asked stupid questions couldn't even be counted on both hands.

Now, at about a quarter to noon, Vidalia stood before the very fireplace she'd appeared in the night before to warp herself back to her own home. Lyle and Remus stood just behind her, almost reassuringly, but not quite. As much as Vidalia wanted to turn around and stay with the Lupins instead of returning home to her family drama, Vidalia couldn't allow herself to. Facing her mother had to be done, and it had to be done before she returned to Hogwarts for the rest of the year.

"If things go south, don't hesitate to come back," Remus offered.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality. I appreciate it more than you know," Vidalia said. "But I've never been one to run from my problems and all I've done all year was run and hide. I need to face this drift with my mother head-on and hopefully, figure out how we can fix this."

"Well, you're always welcome here," Lyle said, giving Vidalia a very warm smile.

"Thank you so much. It's very reassuring to know I have so much support from my friends." Remus watched as Vidalia's bright yellow irises glazed over with a sort of cosmic aura. A big toothy smile spread across her face as she took in Remus Lupin, this tall, quiet, studious child.

"Remus you don't have to be scared." This odd comment left her mouth and, just as quickly, her eyes cleared of any sort of dreamy haze and her big grin fell into a small comfortable smile. Remus' heart rate picked up briefly and he exchanged glances with his father. Vidalia hadn't the faintest clue of what she'd just said and turned back toward the fireplace without another word.

"The Floo is just on top of the mantle," said Lyle. Vidalia looked up and spotted the tin can right away. She helped herself to a handful and then stepped into the grate. She turned back around so she was facing the Lupins once more.

Vidalia took a deep breath. "The Strange Cottage," she barked before throwing the powder onto the floor. Green flames burst up around her and she felt smoke run itself up her nostrils as she was transported all the way home to River Piddle, straight to the living room of her home.

Spur let out a noise of protest, obviously displeased with the amount and ways of travel he'd been forced on in the last couple of days.

Cosima entered the room a second later, drying her hands on her kitchen apron. Wordlessly, the tiny witch crossed the room in just a few swift bounds and pulled her daughter tightly into her.

"Vidalia, dear, I'm so sorry," Cosima said. She pulled away, holding Vidalia at arm's length from her so Cosima could read her face better. "I have a lot of explaining to do."

"Yes," Vidalia said absolutely. "You do."

Cosima let Vidalia drag her trunk into her bedroom, where she planned on keeping it the rest of Christmas break. Vidalia took a look around her room and couldn't help but let her gaze fall to a prediction she has made when she was no older than five. She had written it with crayon on a crescent shaped piece of paper.

"'Someone in Gryffindor who goes by the moon needs me'," Vidalia read aloud. She shook her head. "Why is this all on me? I'm eleven."

With brows furrowed and a still complaining Spur buried in her hair, Vidalia left the sanctity of her bedroom and rejoined her mother in the kitchen.

"Vidalia," Cosima said. "I... I longed to stand out at your age. That's why I came up with the story that I was able to make predictions and prophecies. And I got very good at reading dregs because once you know what people want to hear, it's very easy to tell them how their life will pan out."

"But why, mum? Why would you like to me?"

"I was in too deep, I supposed. You ended with me because you seemed to scare the hell out of everyone else. You were a borne prodigy. From the get-go you were making magic and I think it scared people having that powerful of a witch in their care. And you ended up with me every time. I had this bond with you. We were both outcasts.

"When you started showing true signs of being a true Seer, I contacted Dumbledore. We chatted about how I had made up stories the whole time and how I now was raising an actual Seer and we both agreed it in your best interest for me to keep this act up so maybe you would feel some sort of normalcy.

"This whole time you've been away at school, the guilt was just eating at me. I was going to wait to tell you when you turned sixteen, or maybe I never planned on telling you the truth... But, Vidalia, I just couldn't do it anymore. I knew you would have a rough start to school because Seers are a truly rare thing. And you're the rarest of the rare."

Vidalia took in Cosima's words carefully, but all she seemed to be able to focus on was the fact that even her own mother thought her to be a sort of freak.

"Was I just some sort of experiment to you?"

Anger and hurt flashed across Cosima's features for a brief second. "Merlin, no! Vidalia Ray, I knew you were destined for amazing things from the very beginning. I just didn't want you to be discouraged because of everyone else's hate."

"Mum, you pretended to understand the cruelty I faced. Children made up songs about me. I got super lucky with the friends I made at school. I know growing up I didn't let a lot of things bother me and I even went into school convinced I was never going to make a single friend. And this entire time you pretended to understand what that was like."

Cosima didn't turn away from her daughter like Vidalia thought she might— but backing down in shame would have been completely out of character for Cosima Strange. She never backed down from a fight and she never let shame make itself known. She always faced it head on because that's how you move on.

"I don't know what I can say to make it all up to you. I am terribly sorry I lied."

"I really don't think there's anything you can do to make it up to me," Vidalia said lowly. "But I would like to put this past us."

Cosima nodded solemnly, looking pensive. "I understand."

Silence fell over the Strange house after that. Vidalia retrieved her coat and boots and bundled up before slipping outside into the December air. The sun was out today, but it didn't do much to warm up the tiny village. The air was frigid and there was a stiff breeze that stung Vidalia's face as she made her way down the path toward the little shop.

She let herself in and was surprised to see Casper was working today. Casper was an older wizard who had worked at Cosima's shop for many years. He didn't much hang around River Piddle this time of year as he much more preferred to vacation in New Zealand when it got cold in the Northern Hemisphere.

Casper looked up from a book he was reading on Southern World dragons and smiled in greeting. Although Casper worked for Cosima for a long time, he didn't much interact with the old witch. But Vidalia had had plenty of good conversations with him about various things.

Casper liked dragons and it was plainly obvious he'd been up close and personal with one too many. His left eye bore a crooked, jagged scar from eyebrow bone to jawline and the entire eye itself was grey with blindness. His other eye— the only good seeing one— was a bright crystal blue and was very menacing if not hidden behind his octagonal spectacles. His nose was long and hooked and he had white hair, which was a bright strawberry blond in his youth. Casper looked like your average sorcerer from a muggle children's book.

"How are you today, my dear?" Casper said, his voice raspy like he'd been smoking too much tobacco.

Not wanting to relive her current family crisis today, Vidalia nodded, smiled, and said, "splendid. How is yours?"

Casper beamed, as if hearing that had been the highlight of his day. "Can't complain too much." Vidalia stepped further into the store so she could get a better look around at all the things for sale. She hasn't actually been in the shop for awhile, even despite being at Hogwarts the last three months.

She chose an aisle at random and made her way down. She had four friends to buy for and she wasn't sure what they would like.

On one shelf, a giant white crystal caught her eye and she picked it up.

"That's enchanted to read people's energy and guide you toward what you're lacking," Casper explained as he noticed her studying the crystal. It had since turned blue in her hands.

"What does that mean?" Vidalia said.

"The color. It's supposed to tell you what you need."

"But I don't need anything."

"Here's the color card." Vidalia walked toward the counter and took the piece of parchment from Casper. "Blue means guidance."

"So I'm lacking guidance?" Her eyes went from the crystal to the card and then to Casper, who shrugged. "I don't know where to find that."

"Do any of us?" he joked half-heartedly.

Vidalia walked away and set the crystal back on the shelf. "Silly thing."

In the next aisle over, she found several old books, none of them on anything particularly interesting, however.

"What are you looking for?" Casper asked, leaving his spot behind the counter momentarily to join the young witch in her search for gifts.

"I'm trying to find Christmas presents for my friends," she explained, picking up an old book with a torn and dusty leather binding. Trick Your Friends!: A Wizard's Guide to Great Practical Magical Pranks. "James might actually enjoy this."

"Have you tried making them gifts?"

"Well, I don't know how to make stuff. And I don't exactly have much time before Christmas, anyway."

"Well, I'm sure they'd understand."

Vidalia shook her head. "I'll come up with something." She placed the old book back on the shelf. "Thanks for the help, Cas." Vidalia gave Casper a wave before heading for the door.

"Good luck!" Casper called back as she slipped back out into the cold.