Preface: The War After the War
If there was one thing that was very important to know it was this; Wizards cared very little for Black-Bloods. Black-Bloods like Mud-Bloods were considered to have less than authentic magical genes and as such we're looked down upon. The dangerous thing about Black Bloods was the contagiousness of their condition. They were witches and wizards who had inherited traits from magical beast be it from a bite or bloodline.
In the days before the Dark Lord's second rising, this was a non-issue. Families hid their malfomalites never dreaming they would one day walk in the light. After the Battle for Hogwarts, many of the most noble families were ripped apart. Fenrir Greyback himself was responsible for the turning of near a quarter of a generation wolf bloody. The full extent of his influence is still unknown. With so many afflicted and a war for equal recognition under the law won, the Ministry of Magic and the Hogwarts school board could no longer deny education to those who were afflicted. They became known as Faunus to the greater world and so 20 years after the Potter Boy ended the Dark Lords terror a new fight looms. Descended faunus of those brave souls who fought and died and those witches and wizards who would spit on them and call them black-blood.
Chapter One: Sorting
Yang looked down at the shiny and crimson gold captain's badge encrusted with the emblem of Gryffindor house which sat glinting back at her from her plate. It was her sixth year at Hogwarts and while her captaincy filled her with excitement there was something more important on her mind.
Headmaster Oz rose to his feet and tapped his glass loudly so that everyone's attention turned from the feast. When he had every pair of eyes on him he began.
"Good evening children, I trust that you are well. I know that many of you are tired and wish to get on with it, so I will say only this—Welcome." He put his hand on his chest a gave a deep bow. "Now, on with the sorting."
There was a long grateful applause. Professor Ozpin was the sort of man who did not like to waste words when one would do just fine. Yang appreciated this about him. She felt too nervous to pay attention to any lecture provided by the headmaster this year. Instead, she turned to the entrance and watched as several young pale faces marched in through the doors of the great hall. Among them was her younger sister, Ruby.
Yang resisted the urge to leap from her seat and shout embarrassing things at her sister as she marched by with the other new students. Rather she clapped and cheered proudly. Ruby was only a year or so younger than Yang, but this was the first year Ruby would attend Hogwarts having spent her formative education years learning at home and abroad with their Uncle Crow Branwen. Crow was also a new addition to the school, as it so happened, and would take up the mantle of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He thought it a good idea that Ruby socialize with students her own age and she preferred to go where he went. It wasn't that Ruby was bad at magic, quite the contrary, since her earliest years Ruby had shown she was an exceptional witch particularly in defense and it seemed to both their father and uncle the best thing was to grow that spark the best they could. Yang couldn't have agreed more.
However, Ruby was not the only elder student to join the sorting. In the back, as if herded together, was a group of students who looked stricken and somewhat frightening.
One Slytherin hissed, another Hufflepuff boy made a cat call, and there were those around her who started to snicker.
They were Faunus, which meant that they weren't particularly thought well of by the other students, but Yang found her self-staring curiously at all their faces trying to determine with what magical creature their blood had been mixed with. One boy had flaming red hair with horns, while another's eyes flicked like a snake. She couldn't really blame people for being alarmed, but she didn't find them as strange as most others did.
The group of Faunus were all ages and had probably grown up in the same community with a homeschool education like her sister. It was becoming commonplace for the Faunus to learn magic among their own kind first and then send their best and brightest to finish at an institution like Hogwarts.
"Amitola, Illia" was the first of the Faunus herd to step forward and be sorted into Slytherin. The next Faunus boy was sorted into Slytherin and the next after that. Of all the new Faunus students each had been sorted into Slytherin, except one.
Yang had noticed her right away because she seemed to stand apart from the others. Her raven hair was tied back with a black bow that sat lightly on top of her head.
"Belladonna, Blake" Professor Goodwitch called and the girl stepped forward. She didn't look frightened or nervous like the others. Rather she had a mournful indifference about her that drew Yang's curiosity. From what she could see there was nothing remotely Faunus about her appearance. "Maybe she's part Veela," Yang thought as the girl was quite beautiful, hauntingly so.
"Ravenclaw"
There was light applause from the Ravenclaw table and murmurs amongst the other Faunus who sat watching. Yang found herself staring unabashedly at the Ravenclaw table trying to puzzle out just what made the Belladonna girl so interesting, but what it was escaped her. She only looked away when she heard Goodwitch call "Rose, Ruby!"
Yang's attention snapped back to the front of the room where her sister nervously climbed the steps. Yang held her breath. The sorting hat had barely touched her ears when "Gryffindor" sang from the slit in its brim.
Yang practically leaped from her seat and whooped louder than anyone else. She knew Ruby would be a Gryffindor, but in the back of her mind she worried that her sister might have changed over the years more then Yang may have realized.
"That's my sister!"
Ruby's face turned scarlet, but she rushed over and hugged Yang. Both felt an overwhelming sense of relief
