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It was exactly one week following the death of Zhenya's Grandparents.

"Mama, today when I was in Grandpapi's study I smelt Peppermint, Freshly Turned Soil and Pine. It's a bit of a weird combination, don't you think?" she asked her mother.
"No, Zhennie. That was Amortentia you were smelling. Grandpapi used to keep an open caldron of it in the drawer of his desk. It reminded him of the day he married your Grandmother," said Lizabel smiling at her daughter.
Zhenya's Amortentia smelled just like hers did. Except she smelled Strawberry Jam her mother used to make, instead of soil.

"Mama, why should I do homework? It's not like any of this muggle stuff will be of any use at Hogwarts," Zhenya groaned at her mum, who was trying to teach her long division when she was 5.
"Enough moaning and groaning Zhenya, you will do as you are told. Now, what do you do with the 9?" her mother replied.
Zhenya had no idea! She didn't know her 9 times tables. She started getting very angry, and suddenly burst into tears of anger, pushed her chair away and threw the muggle calculator into the fire, screaming "NO MORE MATHS!!"

It was Zhenya's 6th birthday. Dimitri gave her a long, narrow, spherical present with a red bow on the top. It looked rather odd, that big bow.
She smiled up at him, with three teeth missing, "'Fanks Dima," she said, and took the present. She opened it, and looked at it funny. "What's it?" she asked him.
"It's called a Licorice Wand Zhenny - silly. You eat it!" he said.
She shrugged and took a bite out of it. She chewed it. Then her family laughed in amusement as her face screwed up.
"UGH DIMA!" she gasped. "Gross it's so tangy!"

Zhenya's Christmas tradition with her brother was a singing contest they did. Every year!
Her brother went first - Dimitri. He sang a Christmas song; Jingle Toads. Zhenya clapped along. It was her 8th Christmas she had celebrated with her family.
Then it was her turn! She stood up in front of her family and started singing - Santa Clause is coming to the Hollow. Unfortunately for her, Dimitri's rat had got out of his cage and was running up her dress. She roared out a giant, ear deafening Yodel. Dimitri gathered his rat, and they all clapped. She won that year.

When you are younger, someone hands you a peanut. You shove it in your mouth and taste, for the first time, a peanut. But something isn't right and you collapse, gasping for air. All around you people are yelling "She's having an Anaphylactic reaction!" and someone calls the ambulance. You feel something sharp on your neck and you gasp before passing out.
Later you wake up in a hospital bed, clean and white, with a tube in your throat. The doctor tell you that you are allergic to peanuts and you know there are no more peanuts for you. Ever.

Zhenya had crawled under the dinner table at home. It was April Fool's day. She had waited for two hours, plotting her prank. It wasn't necessarily a good one, but it should work. She had to hold her hand over her mouth to try not to laugh. When Dimitri sat down at his seat, she carefully untied his shoe laces. Then she tied them together. He wouldn't be able to walk! She had to wait under there though in case he noticed and caught her out on her prank. After 30 minutes, he stood up and fell on his face.

Zhenya was in the Divination class room, getting along well with the Professor. She was answering all the questions, and getting 10 points for every answer. Her book was getting FILLED with everything he had been saying that lesson. Well, of course it was, it was her favourite lesson. She loved it more than Herbology, Potions and Astronomy. When the Professor asked for a helper she put her hand strai-...

Wait... What? Are you Seriously writing this?

What?

I HATE Divination!! I hate it more than any other lesson!

Oh, I forgot. I... well this is awkward. Sorry Zhenya...

Zhenya was so depressed. Healers had tried to help her, but it wasn't working. Her depression was coming from a part inside her, too deep to be healed by others. It had to be healed by moving on.

How could she move on when her grandparents, whom she cherished and adored, were just buried? Every fibre of her body missed their presence. Her mother, father and brother surrounded her with hugs, but nothing helped.

Until she found a letter from her grandparents, holding just enough love to help her move on with a new beginning, in a world without them.

Zhenya and her mother were packing her trunk. Every time she put something in the 'take' pile, Lisabel would put it back in her wardrobe. And every time her mother put something in the 'take' pile, Zhenya would throw it down the stairs.

They had a fight. "All I want to take is PLAIN CLOTHES!!! None of this fancy stuff. I don't want to wear sparkles and lace."
"Zhenya, you need some nice clothes!"
Zhenya tipped her trunk upside down, letting the contents crash to the floor. She stormed down the stairs and out the door leaving Lisabel to clean.

Zhenya nervously waited in the line. She soon heard a Professor call "Burton, Zhenya" and she sat on the stall. It took so long and she was worried she might be called a Hatstall. Dimitri had told her about that right before she went on the train, which freaked her out.

So there she was, waiting and waiting. She heard the hat run through every house, decideding where her talents were. It sensed she would be good in all houses, like many other students, but it finally said one word out loud, which settled her nerves. That word was SLYTHERIN!

Zhenya had put make up on, and now looked like a mummy. She knocked on Dimitri's door.
She heard his footsteps as he approached the door and opened it. Even though he knew it was her, he lept a foot into the air, shrieking in fright. "Don't SPOOK me Zhenya!" he yelled, pushing past Zhenya, who was now rolling around laughing on the floor, and went to tell their mother. She heard him telling Lisabel and stopped. She was so scared at that moment. She ran into her closet and hid under 25 pillows. Uhh Ohh! Mum on the move.

It was valentine's day. Zhenya was 10, and Gordy, who lived down the road, was 11. He send her a card asking if she would be his valentine, and go on a date with him.

That afternoon Gordy came to Zhenya's and they walked down to the park where the Ice Cream Van came.
"Howdy kids what can I get you?" Rupert asked.
They ordered, and sat on a nearby bench to eat it. When they had finished, Gordy walked her home and at her front door he leant in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

It was winter in Russia and Zhenya was building a snowman with her Grandpapi. They had her Grandmother's pearl necklace, a scarf, and a fancy hat to dress it up! They were busy laughing, and putting everything on the snowman... "No Grandpapi, it's a snow-WOMAN," Zhenya corrected him.
He looked at her lovingly through his kind, blue eyes, "Zorry Burtie, snow-VOMAN."
"VOT ON EARTH YOU DO?" they heard from the door. Zhenya looked over the Snow-Woman, noticing what they had done..

"RUUUUUUUN!!" she yelled, grabbing her Grandfather's hand and running in the opposite direction of Angry Babushka!!

Zhenya woke up when she heard a CLASH down stairs. She yelled out "DIMA!!" but he didn't answer her.
Getting scared, she got out of bed and tip-toed to the door. Her parents had gone away for the weekend and she was home alone with Dimitri, but where was he?

There was another CLASH downstairs - coming from the kitchen. She lightly descended the stairs, avoiding creaky ones, and peeped around the corner. It was her brother.
"Dima, what are you doing?" she asked, peeking over the counter. There was chocolate hearts in different sizes. "Who are these for Dima?"

It was Zhenya's 5th birthday, and as a tradition with her mother and brother, they were all home in their pajamas, sitting in the kitchen eating cookie dough. It was Zhenya's favourite, a recipe her mother had received from a friend - M&M cookies! "Mmm mummy, these 'r delicious," she said through her mouthful.
Lisabel, a usually stern woman, couldn't help but laugh at her daughter, with dough all over her face, "don't talk with your mouth full," she said regretfully.

"Happy Birthday Zhenny," Dimitri said to her.
She sneezed. "Oops..." she said, looking at the splattered dough over the counter.

It was the first day of May. Zhenya was back in Russia with her Grandpapi and Babushka, as she liked to call them. They were sitting outside in the chilly Spring, eating breakfast when she joined them
"Ahh, Zhenya," they greeted her.
She sat down with them and grabbed some crumpets and a hot mug of chocolate. She gobbled everything up.
"Grandpapi are we going to plant the Orange Grass today? You said the first day of May is the best day to plant it!" she said.
He laughed his jolly laugh, "Of course Burtie, ve can do dat!"

Dimitri was just at the front door when Zhenya stopped him. He sighed after he looked her up and down. She was wearing a singlet and short, with her running shoes.
"YOU said you would let me come with you on your run!" she said, pointing at him.
"OKAY, okay," he said, putting his arms up, "come on then."

They had been running around the neighbourhood for about 20 minutes when Dimitri, who was far ahead of Zhenya, stopped and took hold of her hand, then pulled her along. The air was breezy as she was being pulled through it.

It was Halloween!! Zhenya and Dimitri had been carving pumpkins all day to line the drive way for trick-or-treaters. It had been so much fun, flinging pumpkin at each other, and slicing away patterns. Dimitri had carved 10 and Zhenya had carved 4.

By the time it started to get dark, Dimitri and Zhenya tried to light them. They put candles inside them, but something went wrong.
"Dima what did you do?" Zhenya asked.
"I put flammable gas in them to make them better than everyone else's," he said, getting the fire extinguisher and X-TINGUISHING the pumpkins.

One morning, Zhenya woke up remembering a very vivid dream she had just been having. She walked down stairs where her mother was and sat on Lisabel's lap, saying "Mummy I dreamed I was driving a Ford Anglia in the air and... I reached out and caught a falling star, and I wished 'I just want to be back in bed,' and I woke up! What does it mean?"

Lisabel laughed at her young daughter, whose brother had been teaching her about cars. "Sweetheart, it means you've been using that telescope too much, and Dimitri should stop talking about cars!"

It was movie night, and the Burton's were watching a movie called Don't Tickle the Dragon!

It was a highly fictionalised movie about a man named Harry who was brave enough to tickle a Dragon to get closer to a wandering Veela, Tresinia. Only, he hadn't realised that by tickling the dragon, it would laugh fire and burn him. The young Tresinia, who was angry about being a Veela and never having a boyfriend, had to stuff his ashes into a matchstick box.
That night, Zhenya had horrible nightmares about a Harpy that looked just like Tresinia, who wanted revenge.

"Okay, Dimitri that was good... but put more passion behind it! Okay? Okay! Let's practice Act 59, scene 1,243," Zhenya said, getting the 9th book of her script off the floor and flipping it open.
"Zhenny do I HAVE to? We've been going over the same Act for 3 months!" Dimitri said.
"So? What, you don't want to put a perfect show on for Grandpapi and Babushka when they come over? Huh - Dima?" she accused of him.
He raised his eyebrows at her and threw the script into the fire. "How's that for an act?" he said and stormed off.

"Dimitri, STOP IT!" Zhenya yelled, too scared to approach the fight incase she was hit.

"DIMA, DIMA, DIMA," everyone yelled at the two boys.
"STOP EGGING HIM ON!" Zhenya screamed at them all.
One girl stood not too far away from them crying. Zhenya eyed her... it must be HER fault the boys were fighting. Dimitri had said his new girlfriend was getting close to some prat... that must be the prat Dimitri was currently punching. The girl was just standing there, not even trying to stop it.
Hoping Dimitri would pound the guy, she started egging him on too.

"HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY ZHENYA!" was written all over the walls, roof and floor of the lounge room at Burton Cottage, because Zhenya was 10 today.

It was her day to do anything she wanted, and she had immediately said "I want my name to surround me!" and that was all. She didn't even know what she meant by it, but here she was in the lounge room with her name surrounding her. But on the walls? "Mum?" she asked. Lisabel was usually horrible when it came to mess.
"Happy Birthday Zhenny," she said, trying to smile and hide her resentment.

Lisabel was shocked at how quickly their baby announcement had been at being published into the Daily Prophet. Alexander had sent it off that morning. Rocking her baby daughter softly in her arms, she awkwardly cut it out of the paper to save it into her baby album. She was careful to cut with perfect straightness. The announcement read;

Mrs. Lisabel Metanova-Burton and Mr. Alexander Burton, along with Dimitri Burton, are proud to announce the birth of Miss. Zhenya Gredippe Burton, born July 6th 2064 at 12.01am weighing 5lb 9oz. She is a healthy and happy pure-blood baby.

One morning, Zhenya woke up remembering a very vivid dream she had just been having. She walked down stairs where her mother was and sat on Lisabel's lap, saying "Mummy I dreamed I was driving a Ford Anglia in the air and... I reached out and caught a falling star, and I wished 'I just want to be back in bed,' and I woke up! What does it mean?"

Lisabel laughed at her young daughter, whose brother had been teaching her about cars. "Sweetheart, it means you've been using that telescope too much, and Dimitri should stop talking about cars!"