(Trigger Warnings for Body Image Issues, Weight & Health, and Fat Shaming)

The Flight
It had been a flurry to repack from exiting Obderedria’s 4th year of Hogwarts on the 9th so they could travel to Mexico for the Pienas family reunion. Switching from trunk to muggle luggage, seeing the pets kenneled, instructions for the one trusted neighbor to water the plant. Tree, really. Enough stress that it had been some late nights the past few days with most meals delivered. Much as Obderedria tried twice to convince her mum to let her cook, she could make a healthier recipe.

But she’d given in. And her own cravings didn’t help.

All the airline travel was stressful from the first flight out of Heathrow. The time changes, the layovers, the in-flight movie had frozen over the Atlantic. Customs agents looking between Drea and her passport photo with minimally masked disbelief that yes, her hair had a strange green spotted pattern. She’d tried hair dyes and it never stuck.

So what was meant to be a happy time had become thoroughly miserable for the overweight witch. Had Drea been younger, should would be genuinely excited to finally meet more of mum’s relatives from the Americas. At age 14, having to stay silent about magic and avoiding the bathroom scale, she was getting more anxious as they got closer to their destination.

Obderedria had tried everything to distract herself during the flight. Drawing, reading. She started a letter: “Dear Beverly, I hate flying on aeroplanes” but didn’t get much further. The English/Spanish audio lessons weren’t sticking. Philo had suggested another immersion technique, reading text in both English and Spanish. At an airport kiosk Drea had noticed a fashion magazine printed in both languages next to the newsprints. Which didn’t work as intended. Seeing all these beautiful, confident, THIN girls in outfits she’d never be able to wear. She was ready to stuff the magazines in the pouch infront of her seat and forget about them.

Her eyes watered as she looked over to mum’s seat across the aisle. Patricia Pienas had finally been able to sleep during the flight. Drea couldn’t, reading the magazines by small overhead light. It was just the two of them on this trip; but that wasn't the number of tickets they'd purchased, on account of the narrow aeroplane seats. And that was the problem, how heavy they were. Mum Patricia had hips nearly thrice the span of an average woman's. Drea didn't have her own hips or rear quite as large, being plump all over, but most of her weight settled in her jutting stomach that covered her lap.

For the most part, her wizarding outfits had more give because they had grown with her. Finding a consistent size at muggle stores was a pain. She wasn't in her school robes for the trip, although a Hufflepuff colored jersey she used for lounge wear was comfortable enough for the flight, although she wished the stripes went at a different angle. Drea was heavily embarrassed to ask for a seat-belt extender when they boarded the plane. She had a not so irrational fear of getting stuck in the tiny aeroplane water closet so she was holding back until the next airport.

Drea was going to shut the magazine when the next page caught her attention. A teenager, the girl older than her, with raven dark hair and light brown skin. Her eyes were closed but her smile was big on her cherubic face, makeup lined with pink. Wearing a beige cashmere sweater and a dark pair of hip-hugging jeans. Because the model had wide hips, her tummy tucked into pants that fit her curves well.

Drea wiped the tears from her eyes. This girl was beautiful even if she was plus sized. The only woman close to Drea's weight in an entire magazine. She couldn't read the small, Spanish print easily so she looked through the pages of the English version. She caught sight of the model's face but only her face; the photo was cropped from chest level up, making her closed eye smile even bigger. Drea was incensed when she couldn't find any further details about the model, only the agency that distributed the pictures.

The English magazine was folded over into the pouch with the safety cards. Obderedria returned to the Spanish magazine with the full photo of the full-figured teenager. "I wish I had her confidence," she wept.

June 14 2012
12 km outside Moctezuma
Sonora, Mexico

(full disclosure: I'm using google translate)

Adding to all the early family reunion drama was the timing of cousin Benita Magro's Quinceañera, which was a few days before the reunion proper. Obderedria wasn't too familiar with the traditional recognition of a girl's debut at 15. The topic was in many of mum's favorite telenovelas on the cable box. They had some Spaniard neighbors back in London that had one for their daughter.

Fifteen was a special age. Drea wouldn't be having one, she'd be thick in the midst of the autumn term at Hogwarts. They were facing their O.W.L.s this year, the very hard tests but not the nastily exhausting ones. But Drea had been trying to pay enough attention to this 'dress rehearsal' period for Benita's Quinceañera. She would attend mass for the last time as a girl, then be introduced as a woman come the reception with an entourage of damas and chambelanes. Given most everyone was going to be there for the reunion anyways, all the distant cousins were going to fill these roles along with the school friends Benita demanded to be included. In modern times Benita would be allowed to date, rather than announce an engagement.

Drea had no clue who she'd invite to her own 15th outside of a few friends. Nor who she'd want to date. Between an order from Honeydukes and the Hogwarts kitchens it could be well catered at least. She already missed the food.

"¿Viste a la chica del pelo loco? ¡Es enorme!"[1]

Benita Magro was from the Magro branch of the family, daughter of Patricia's younger sister. The Magros were from San Diego, California and apparently quite loaded: if they could cover most of the Quinceañera costs, travel for Benita's American guests and half the costs of renting the rustic villa. The dress rehearsal was going to have it's own catered lunch! Obderedria was shying away from the multitude of the Pienas/Magro and further relatives about the property. She sat at a distant table with her sketchbook. Her eyes were red and itchy.

"Pensé que Mercedes estaba gorda, pero ¡es obesa! ¿Cómo cabía en el avión?"[2]

Drea had tried her hardest to fit in, truly. She knew she and mum were going to be the outliers, coming from Britain rather everyone else being from Mexico or the United States. There were five or so in the full family tree as light skinned as her. She had a Londoner's accent and a poor grasp of Spanish. But she'd been sending letters throughout the term, looking forward to meeting everyone. This was family, familia, and family cared for each other, right?

"Ella nos escribía cartas el año pasado. ¿Quién hace eso? ¿Sus dedos son demasiado gordos para un teléfono?"[3]

Drea had the best smile she could keep, or fake for long periods, when getting introduced to all the relatives. She expected some of the stares. Growing up with green spotted hair from when she had discovered her magic brought with it the need to thicken her skin. But she could only go so far with the stares. The adults had found it an unusual feature but remained pleasant. Not so for the generations closer to her age. Gobsmacked stares that gave way to catty giggles, half whispered in rapidly spoken Spanish. All the while Drea could only grin stupidly, being unable to keep up with the conversations around her but absolutely sure of the malicious intent.

"La tía Patricia también está obesa. ¿Qué comen en Gran Bretaña, manteca de cerdo?"[4]

Because the reason for Obderedria to be picked on was as obvious as her spotted hair. She and her mother were the fattest women at the reunion. There were plenty of other overweight members of the intermingled families, from plump elders to chubby kids. Yet the Pienas ladies from London eclipsed the weights of their respective generations. Big targets, in all sense of the words. Drea wished she was able to follow after her mum, who was swept within a long-overdue catching up with her sister and their more immediate relatives. As mothers any cracks about Patricia's own weight were avoided, or probably not said within her earshot.

"Aquí es donde la cerda se ha estado escondiendo, con sus dibujos tontos."[5]

Drea wasn't spared the jeers, her ears turning red as she looked up from her sketchbook. Cousin Benita was somehow curvy yet also slender, with the final fitting of the sparkly dress she'd be wearing tomorrow. She and her girlfriends, both American and Mexican, had a mix of giggles and sneers catching sight of Drea sat straddling the table. Her cousin's pointed face with the worst sneer of them all.

Whatever Benita would have said next, she was cut off by another voice. "¡Ciérrate la boca, Benita! No deberías tratar a la familia de esa manera."[6]

An older teenager in a blue and yellow floral dress, dark hair and a big round bum, was telling off Benita and her friends. Drea was stunned, not able to keep up with the argument. After a minute Benita made a dismissive face and left with her entourage. The other girl sighed, swearing something unpleasant (which reminded Drea of Philo's funny frog) before she turned back to the table with a smile.

"Tenía la esperanza de conocer a mi prima de pelo moteada de la que todo el mundo hablaba. ¿Hablas español?"[7] The girl's face was the friendliest Obderedria had seen since arriving. She had moon shaped eyes and a cherubic face, you might not have been able to guess her weight just looking at her from shoulders up. There was something oddly familiar about her.

"Non," Drea replied, already sensing she was screwing things as she attempted the words. "sém uy po--err, I mean, sé muy poco español."

"That's okay, I speak English too," she sat at another chair. "I wanted to apologize for mi hermana. Benita is being an absolute witch just cause tomorrow is going to be about her." It was clear by the girl's disgusted expression she wanted to use a different word for her sister. Her face softened again into a toothy grin. "So you're tía Patricia's daughter from London, England? I couldn't wait to meet you! I'm your oldest cousin, Raquel Magro."

Obderedria was nearly teary eyed again. Happy tears, from someone just older than her being kind. She was about to give her name when she paused, dumbstruck, the tears crystallizing on her face as she focused on Raquel's big smile like an adjusting camera lens. The reason Drea recognized her.

"It's you!" She exclaimed. "You, you're the model from the magazine!!"

1.	"Did you see the girl with the crazy hair? She's enormous!
2.	"I thought Mercedes was fat but she's obese! How did she fit on the airplane?"
3.	"She was writing us letters this past year. Who does that? Are her fingers too fat for a phone?"
4.	"Auntie Patricia is just as obese. What do they eat over in Great Britain, lard?"
5.	"Here's were the sow has been hiding herself, with her silly drawings."
6.	"Shut your mouth Benita! You shouldn't treat family that way."
7.	”I was hoping to meet the spotted haired cousin everyone was talking about. Do you speak Spanish?”

June 15 2012

Raquel Magro, age 16

Raquel loved each of her family in turn but in the short time getting to know Obderedria Pienas, she almost wished they'd been sisters instead of cousins. Because Benita was such a prima dona, worsening over the final hours to her special day. She vowed to duck out of bridesmaids duties whenever Benita got married.

Drea, however, was cute and sweet and a lot more bubbly when she wasn't being shy. And her hair was so unique! They'd talked extensively since yesterday; over lunch, walking the property, hearing family stories from both their madres, butting into the younger kids playing games on the Nintendo Wii. Almost oversleeping from staying up too late, as Raquel kept trying to ask where Drea got her hair styled.

This morning was very busy, making breakfast a slap-dash affair getting everything ready. Raquel was doing her best to avoid the main drama surrounding Benita, asking around if anybody had seen Drea. Tia Patricia hadn't seen her since rising, she wasn't in their room or at breakfast, nor out in the yard. Nobody cared to remember, earning them incresingly disgusted looks from Raquel.

Maybe they'd sit next to each other at mass. After searching the entire villa, Raquel sighed as she returned to her small room. She'd have to finish getting ready herself.

"Moteada??" Finding one's spotty haired, London raised cousin crying on the bed was unexpected. Although it figured this would be the last place Raquel would've looked. "Drea? What's wrong?"

The younger teen looked up. Her entire face was reddened from crying, purple glasses askew, as she looked wild eyed at Raquel. "I'm s-so sorry," she whimpered, tears within every word. "I didn't know where to find you, or mum, and I didn't want to go back outside after..."

Raquel immediately recognized the wardrobe malfunction. The dresses for the damas were a muted, rose-gold hue to compliment Benita's more extravagant dress. On the left side of Drea's dress, there was few centimeter hole from a popped seam. The side of her belly bulged out of the opening.

"Oh," Raquel's face took a shocked yet sympathetic expression. "It's okay, we'll figure out how to fix this." She sat beside Drea to cradle her in a hug.

Drea was despondent, hiccuping through cries. "I can't fix it!! I'm not, ugh, allowed. I-I-I've been worried since we got here, that it wouldn't fit. That I shouldn't be here!"

"Hey, hey," Raquel tried to soothe Drea, rubbing along her back. "Of course you belong. We invited the whole family." The tender pain of burst, ill-fitting clothes was one Raquel also knew, as she circled around the subject. "Are you sure they got you the right size? Maybe the UK sizes were mistaken for ones here. It's inconsistent even across the border."

"Maybe," Drea sobbed, still leaning across her cousin's shoulder. Raquel couldn't see her face through the shook of brown hair, the green splotches misshapen in Drea's distress. "Or I've gained weight since then. It always happens, even when I try to eat careful. But I'm just a fat, waste of space--"

"¡Tonterías!" Raquel suddenly thrust Drea away from the embrace. "No eres una gorda que desperdicies espacio."[1] The Londoner was wide-eyed, scared, and for a moment Raquel felt just as fearful and horrible for startling Drea. She gulped, remembering that Drea wasn't as familiar with Spanish.

"We're big girls Drea. You must get plenty of teasing for it but you are NOT a waste of space!" Raquel was feeling her face flush a bit, from a long simmering anger. "But look around, it's not like the rest of our relatives are that much thinner. Us, your mother, everyone on aubelo's Pedro Pineas' side of the family. They call him Papito Pedro, or 'little daddy' and he's anything but! Even Bentia when she was younger."

"Benita??" Drea said in disbelief.

"Oh, Benita was an absolute butterball!" Raquel smirked. "She was worse then me when we were kids, asking for seconds and thirds. Way past the point of chubby." It was bittersweet reminiscing, but she hoped it would help Drea. "We were worried about her weight but only in middle school did the teasing get to her. Then she put all her effort into slimming down, being hot and popular. But it wasn't about being healthy, she just wanted to be the bully instead of being bullied. She makes cracks about my size to this day, because I haven't lost as much weight."

Raquel gently brushed Drea's hair away from her face. "Course, I kept up modeling when she couldn't break into it. So she's just jealous."

"Don't you hate being fat?"

Raquel sniffed, watery eyed. "It's like I said, prima moteada. Some of us are predisposed to bigger physiques. I model because not every women fits in a size 2. You can do what you can, with diet and exercise, even if you can't shed those last kilos. Or you can be cruel to yourself, the way others are. But you should learn to love yourself first."

Drea lapsed into silence, tenderly feeling at the rip in her dress. Raquel stood, crossing to her dresser. Moving a few items she'd unpacked for the reunion. A shuffling of papers. Drea looked up, recognizing the stack of parchments.

"Are those...my letters?"

"You know what I see," Raquel began, paging through the letters. "I see a girl with fantastic hair and a caring heart. Everything you've written to me about life at your boarding school. You make it sound so wonderful, almost magical." The panicked look on Drea's face surprised her, but she pressed on. "Or what passes for it to the cousin that hadn't met you yet, working a part time job at a San Diego bodega after school. Getting to hear these stories about life on the other side of the world. Like, your roommate who's a wiz at water polo and you helped her stick to practice. The boy in your study hall who lost his frog in the library. The girl trying to master tarot reading, or the school musicals, the caravans of Irish travelers, the Deputy Headmaster everyone was afraid of, all the big school festivals. The year your school had the big competition with students from America, France and Norway. I can't of anything like that back home! Or how worried you were when everybody got sick from bad lollipops."[2]

Raquel stopped on one of the letters. "And here, an older student in your dorm kicked your blender out of a window and you apologized to him! Because you knew it was ultimately an accident.[3] I mean, who else is as kind as you, Drea? That's why I've wanted to met you the most, mi prima moteada, because--OOF!"

Raquel was almost floored, with the wind squeezed out of her from Obderedria's sudden hug. Girl had some arms under that plumpness! They were both crying now, although the tears were much happier. After a few minutes the sniffling stopped.

"Hoo," Raquel wiped the tears from her eyes. She noticed the popped seam in Drea's dress had lengthened from the sudden motion. She turned to the rest of the dresser. "Here, I'll help you get ready. We're not the same shape but I should be able to find you something more comfortable."

1.	"Nonsense! You're not a fat waste of space." / Thanks to Chocobo for help massaging some of the Spanish in this thread.
2.	Oblique reference to Mischief Unmanaged, events of Feb 2011
3.	Oblique change of blender destruction from Blend It Whipped - Oct 1 2009