I'll Know My Name as It's Called Again (Lee)

[Deleted]

June 2025

Where Chrissy’s involvement was concerned, it was as easy as Lee had promised her. It had only taken a few signatures on a lot of official, legally-worded papers which—in essence—stated one thing: She was adopted. It would be a little while longer until every last document was updated to reflect what all of those papers had accomplished, but it didn’t matter. As of the moment that the representative of MACUSA signed off on it, she was Chrysanthemum Mae Pond, Alyra Pond’s daughter.

Hearing other people refer to Lee as her “mother” and not merely her “guardian” would take some getting used to, but it had never felt more right. Chrissy kept an eye on the little “Pond” charm on her bracelet—the one that Lee had given to her from her mother—as she walked back through the halls of the Ministry and into the Atrium. She must have looked like such an anomaly, she thought, smiling like she was with so many stern-looking Ministry officials walking around.

It had to have felt as strange to Lee as it did to her, to suddenly be the parent of a teenage girl when she wasn’t that much older than she was. “…You good?” Chrissy checked, looking over to her as they continued to walk.

@alyra

[Deleted]

It had all gone smoothly as Lee had expected it to. She had done all the work ahead of time to make sure that this appointment with the MACUSA representative here was only to sign papers and nothing about it would stress Chrissy out. She didn’t want her to have to worry about the stress of paperwork and the adoption process. She was a child, after all, that shouldn’t fall onto her. “Oh i’m good. Are you good?” she asked, wondering if Chrissy had asked the question because she wanted it asked of herself. Lee knew this was a big change and a lot to take in for everyone. In a perfect world, they would have done this home in California with her family there, but instead, they had chosen to do it just the two of them. She’d have some sort of party to celebrate it when they were able to go home again.

@chrissy

[Deleted]

June 2025

Lee said that she was good and asked her the same.

As thrilled as she was, Chrissy knew that it hadn’t quite hit her that she was officially adopted. She was still in a state of disbelief over the whole thing. She wouldn’t have another foster home. She wouldn’t have to pack up and leave everything behind again—at least, not unless it was to go back to California. She had had her parents before Lee, but now she had the Ponds… officially. Although she might not have been related to them by blood, how much did that really matter? Family was chosen, too. “I know I’m gonna slip up when I actually do have to call you my mom,” Chrissy admitted with a hesitant laugh. She hadn’t had a word for what Lee was in relation to her before she had become her guardian, and now she was… her mother.

@alyra

[Deleted]

Lee wondered how long it was going to take to sink it that this was all real. Chrissy admitted that she was going to slip up when she had to call her mom and Lee nodded. She didn’t feel like a mom. She was thrilled to have Chrissy and knew legally that she was her parent now, but it was definitely something that she was going to have to get used to. “It’s weird for me too. I never thought I’d be a parent so i don’t think I’ve ever really prepared to be a mom. So you don’t have to call me mom if you don’t want to. If you do, you can. It’ll just take some getting used to.” she admitted.

@chrissy

[Deleted]

June 2025

At least Lee told her that it was weird for her, too. She said that she had never thought that she would be a parent, so she didn't really think that she had prepared to be a mom. So she didn't have to call her that if she didn't want to, Lee continued, but she could if she wanted to.

"I'm fine with just 'Lee', still," Chrissy let her know. She would feel strange calling Lee "Mom" and didn't want to weird her out about it. What was more interesting to her was Lee's revelation that she hadn't expected that she would become a parent. It was probably too personal of a question, and Chrissy wasn't going to push for a response. "Did you not want kids because of all of the MACUSA stuff, or…?"

@alyra

[Deleted]

Lee was kind of relieved when Chrissy said that she’d just stick to calling her Lee. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to be called mom or was worried about it, but it was just a weird feeling and something she wasn’t used to yet. Chrissy asked if it was because of her job at the MACUSA that she didn’t want kids and Lee shrugged. She had a lot of reasons for not wanting to have children in the past. “I never really wanted to be pregnant. I never had a steady partner, and never was really in one place long enough. Work kept me busy and I was almost always traveling for a job. So, I think it was mostly the societal norms of what you’re supposed to do before you had a child that kept me from thinking I’d ever have one.” she admitted. Lee had a lot of patience. But she still didn’t think she’d ever be someone who had enough patience for potty training and cleaning up all the food spills and vomit messes that small children brought along with them. That stage of life still wasn’t one she was sure she’d ever take on for herself. “But I’m sure glad I got over that.” she added.

@chrissy

[Deleted]

June 2025

"I never really wanted to be pregnant. I never had a steady partner, and never was really in one place long enough. Work kept me busy and I was almost always traveling for a job. So, I think it was mostly the societal norms of what you’re supposed to do before you had a child that kept me from thinking I’d ever have one."

Chrissy understood. It would have been completely different to adopt an infant or a toddler, even if that was what most people seemed to prefer.

"But I’m sure glad I got over that," Lee said, which was fair enough. Now, she had a teenager.

Chrissy didn't think that she was as awful as some people made teenagers out to be; she hoped that she wasn't. "And you know me, at least," she reminded her. Lee knew the situation that had brought her into foster care to begin with, and she was the reason why she would never have to deal with the system again. "So it's kinda different."

@alyra

[Deleted]

“It’s absolutely different. I’m an entirely different person than I was when I decided I didn’t want kids. And you’re right, I know you. And I love you. And I want you to have a good life and a solid foundation.” she explained. She saw how smart Chrissy was and how much she had grown over this year and she could see how much potential she had. Lee wanted to give her the resources to continue to grow and explore her potential. It was never too late, she hoped at least, for Chrissy to benefit from having a regular home life and a steady parental figure who only had her to focus on and not a load of foster kids. Though, Lee did still have Mazie, but that was her sister and Lee knew it wasn’t the same as what Chrissy had been through in the past.

@chrissy

[Deleted]

June 2025

"It’s absolutely different," Lee confirmed. "I’m an entirely different person than I was when I decided I didn’t want kids. And you’re right, I know you. And I love you. And I want you to have a good life and a solid foundation."

Chrissy nodded, feeling herself choke up again at Lee's explanation. It wasn't that she hadn't known that Lee loved her; she did. In her opinion, Lee had done the most that anyone could have been asked to do for her. If she was hesitant or even afraid of what it would be like to be a parent to a teenager with the history that she had, Chrissy thought, she hadn't showed it. What was more was that she knew that Lee wasn't doing what she was—what she had done or what she had just taken on—because she felt forced, the way it had been obvious that some of her foster parents had felt. She wasn't their ideal, and that had always been known to her—explicitly or implicitly.

"I love you, too," Chrissy spoke softly, out of fear that she would begin to cry rather than out of a lack of belief in the words that she said. "Thanks for not giving up on me," she added. As much as she wanted to insert the word "yet" into that statement, Chrissy knew that it wouldn't have been true. Even if Lee had never thought that she would become a parent, she had never once stopped believing in her.

@alyra

[Deleted]

Chrissy said that she loved her too and thanked her for not giving up on her. Lee smiled. “Why would I give up on you? You’ve given me no reason to think that you’re capable of any less than commanding the world.” Lee knew that Chrissy had her shortcomings, everyone did. She wasn’t blind to faults in Chrissy or herself, or anyone. If anything, Lee was a little more apt to pick those sorts of things out since it was kind of her job to find those things in people and use them to catch criminals or get the truth out of an interrogation victim. But she had seen how strong Chrissy was, especially for how much she had been through. And Lee knew how much that meant in terms of where she could be in 10 years. "You're probably the strongest person I know. And I hate that you had to be so strong at your age. I hope now you can focus a little less on having to be strong and having to take care of yourself, and a little more on enjoying your teen years." she admitted.

@chrissy

[Deleted]

June 2025

"Why would I give up on you?" Lee questioned her with a smile. Chrissy knew that she didn't really have a good answer to that, either, but it felt like an easy enough thing to do. It was easy enough to view her as something of a lost cause, but she also knew Lee well enough to know that she wasn't one to take the easy way out of anything, either. What Lee said after that question, though, brought tears to Chrissy's eyes. "You’ve given me no reason to think that you’re capable of any less than commanding the world," Lee told her, although Chrissy tried to shrug it off as nothing more than an exaggeration. She didn't really see herself as a Gryffindor, with all of the bravery that they were supposed to have, and commanding the world? When she had had such little say in what had happened to her little corner of it?

Regardless of her own views of herself, Chrissy knew what Lee had meant. Lee hadn't given up on her, and it wasn't for nothing. Chrissy blinked in an attempt to keep herself from crying even more, but any hope of that was dashed as Lee continued. "You're probably the strongest person I know," she added. "And I hate that you had to be so strong at your age. I hope now you can focus a little less on having to be strong and having to take care of yourself, and a little more on enjoying your teen years."

Chrissy nodded, wiping at her eyes with her hand. She knew that she would never be able to go through life unaffected by everything that happened to her; it was said and done, but adoption was as close to starting anew as she would ever get. Not being the type of person to "reinvent" herself, per se—or even where to start if she were to attempt such a thing—just being able to say that she had a family again was significant. Chrissy knew that it wouldn't always be easy, if being at Hogwarts for half a year had taught her anything, but she had just a little over half of her teen years left. That was almost as much time as had passed since she had first met Lee, and now she was leaving the British Ministry of Magic as her daughter. Time was weird.

She wanted to make Lee proud of her, and she wanted to make her late parents proud of her, too, even though they might not have been alive to see her grow up from a little girl into a teenager. "I-I'm really trying not to cry…" Chrissy admitted, but it was hard not to. She reached out for Lee's hand. "These are—These are good tears, I swear…"

@alyra

[Deleted]

Lee hadn’t meant to make Chrissy cry, but she supposed if tears were meant for any moment it was a moment like this. Chrissy had gone the last several years without a family, without anyone on her side, without anyone really rooting for her or pushing for her to succeed. Lee wasn’t going to let the rest of her life continue on that way. She may have no idea how to be a mother, but she did know how to be an older sister, and that would be a good enough start. At least she could give her somewhere stable and make sure she had all the tools she needed for success. “I know.” Lee nodded when Chrissy explained that she was crying happy tears, not sad tears. She put her arm around the girl and pulled her towards her for a hug. Lee wasn’t a very touchy person, but this moment more than called for it. A few seconds later, she pulled away a bit. “Well, should we go get Mazie and then grab some lunch?” she offered, hoping to lighten the mood since they had the rest of their lives to be sappy.

@chrissy

the end (finally)