Born to a muggleborn father and a pureblood mother, Alyssa was the precious little girl of the Trevelyan family. Being home-schooled by her mother, she never had very many friends (unless you counted her muggle cousin, Tom). So, she often spent her time playing alone in the backyard, reading books, or replicating experiments she read about in those young scientist magazines Tom shared with her. Her Uncle Morris must have pitied her lonely childhood, and would bring her and Tom to the nearby playground whenever she visited their home. It wasn't often, but Alyssa enjoyed moments where she could be in the company of other children.

Her fun was short-lived, though. After she made little Willie grow a moustache, her mother forbade Uncle Morris from bringing her to the playground again. She insisted it was because the neighbourhood wasn't safe for young girls, but Alyssa knew it was because her family was too odd. Magic seemed more of a bane than a boon.

After that, her visits to Tom's home were confined to the house. Although she could no longer play with the muggle children, she still enjoyed spending time with her cousin. She would look forward to days when she visited Tom, or when her father had friends over. Oddly, her mother never had friends or family over. But at times, Alyssa would catch her fiddling with a locket she always wore, gazing into the distance as if she were remembering a far-off memory.

When her Hogwarts letter arrived, Alyssa was ecstatic! She could finally live a life away from her home and make friends who had magic just like her.

It happened when Alyssa was seven. She had been spending a weekend over at Tom's place, and Uncle Morris had brought her and Tom to the playground. They were playing imaginary pirates with some other muggle children in the neigbourhood, and Alyssa was giving orders as the captain of the ship. But a boy named Willie started claiming he should be the captain instead because Alyssa was too little. That's when she started to get angry. I'm not little, she thought. I'm a fully capable captain! But the other kids had started agreeing with Willie and Alyssa's face was getting warmer. She felt so utterly humiliated.

Then, Willie pushed her to the side so he could take the helm and her eyes started to burn. That's when Tom stepped in and started arguing with Willie. Honestly, Alyssa couldn't hear what they were yelling at each other. She was just trying not to sob and feeling so very angry.

That's when one of the kids yelled, “Willie, your lip!” Poor little eight-year-old Willie had started sprouting a long, thin moustache just like that pirate captain from that Peter Pan moving picture box thing Uncle Morris had shown them yesterday! He tried desperately to hide it behind his hand, but it just kept growing. Honestly, Alyssa thought he was looking very silly, like how her father looked when her mother was playing a prank on him. She couldn't help but start giggling, and soon enough the other kids started laughing too. "Grandpa Willie!" they teased. He ran home crying and Alyssa became captain for the day.

That evening after she returned home, a bunch of men in robes visited her parents. They looked intimidating, but her father assured her they were good people from the Ministry of Magic. She overheard them talking about “obliviating the witnesses” and her mother kept apologising for the trouble caused. It was only later that Alyssa learnt that she had been the one to cause Willie to grow that ridiculous moustache. It was truly unfortunate that no one will remember Grandpa Willie. What a pity.

POST-HOGWARTS

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