Disclaimer: I own none of the content except for the overall plot and premise of this story and any unrecognisable characters (i.e. The Greengrass parents)

Witches and Wolves

Prologue
a.k.a 'The logical witch'


Ideals of Pure-blood supremacy always seemed to confuse Daphne Greengrass and her younger sister Astoria. After all, what actually did differentiate Pure-bloods, Half-bloods and muggleborns on a logical scale besides knowledge of the Wizarding World and ancestry? 'Magical ability seemed relatively similar with people like that Granger girl surpassing everyone in the grade in practically every area of academia', Daphne had always wondered, and they learnt all about magical culture soon enough after entering Hogwarts. Oh, Daphne liked to consider herself as a logical girl despite the fact that magic seemed to transcend all logic in the universe. Besides, the Greengrass sisters thought that muggles were absolutely fascinating, yet their parents thanked the high heavens that they were smart enough to never let any other Slytherins catch onto their fascination. After all, those bright little devices that muggles used to instantly contact anyone were amazing!

Of course, having a holiday house in a muggle community may have played a part in the girls' upbringing and perception of muggles. For a month each summer since Astoria's birth, the Greengrass family would return to their little (three storey) cottage. This particular cottage resided in the heart of the forest that surrounded the quaint little town of Forks, Washington in the United States, as well as the Native American reservation of La Push and each summer, the small family of four would live without magic.

Gwendolyn Greengrass had always believed that despite their Pure-blood status, since over 80% of the world's population were muggles, it was only logical that the girls immerse themselves in muggle culture since taking Muggle Studies at Hogwarts would in no way be helping their family's name. As someone who was raised with ideals of Pure-blood superiority but never disregarded the importance of muggles and empathised with their humanity, she made sure to raise her children with dignity and above all, respect. It was after all, at Gwendolyn's insistence that the Greengrass family remain completely neutral during the war against the Dark Lord who they nonetheless publicly respected due to fear. Thus, their neutral status was the reason their 'little' summer home had been heavily warded against Death Eaters who hoped to convince the neutral family to join the Dark Side, as well as bumbling muggles.

Those vampires a little up north didn't sweeten the deal either, despite the fact they supposedly only fed on animals.

Yes, Sebastian Greengrass was no fool the day he saw the Cullen 'family' move into Forks near their house two years ago. That 'O' for Care of Magical Creatures during his NEWTS back in 1971 wasn't for nothing, oh no. The moment he saw their golden eyes he knew they were technically 'safer' but then again everyone thought Voldemort was dead and look what happened there. And so Lord Greengrass automatically placed undetectable wards around his family and researched about magical phenomena around the seemingly harmless town. This led him to find out about the sacred treaty between the Cullens and Quileute shape-shifters in the small reservation La Push. Thus armed with his new wealth of knowledge, he promptly warded his house against them.

But despite reservations regarding granite-like blood-sucking monsters and gigantic furry beasts, the Greengrass family had always enjoyed their American house. So as dusk fell over the Final Battle at Hogwarts and the Great Dark Lord finally fell, Sebastian decided to move his family from the remains of a broken Wizarding community to the peaceful forest of Forks. There, Astoria could restart her education in peace with her own father as a tutor and Daphne would be able to heal her own scars, both emotional and physical, especially the ones on her left forearm and back after refusing to perform the Cruciatus Curse on Longbottom. The makeshift Dark Mark on her arm burned even without the Dark Lord, it was a constant reminder of her being the one who branded her own family as 'blood-traitors'.

Daphne knew that she should have fought back. When McGonagall commanded that all the Slytherins leave Hogwarts during the final battle to ensure that no one was infiltrating them, she should have ran to the front, proclaim her innocence and desire to help the Light, taken down her Occlumency shields and allowed any Legilimens to see the truth in her desire. But she had left. For Astoria. Astoria was only 15, she shouldn't have been walking away from with all of the other Slytherins by herself. Daphne didn't trust anyone in the house during her seventh year save for her sister. If only she had Tracey...

Tracey's own family had been the only other neutral family in the war but the attack on the Davis family in mid-October after they refused to bring their children back to Hogwarts for another year had left Daphne without an ally and above all, her best friend.

The Light rejected her with a disdain laugh; she was a Slytherin after all. That, of course, automatically meant that she was evil! In what other ways could a desire for success, ambition and a cunning nature be used for besides world domination and blood purification? After all, was it not her family friends who came over for Christmas dinner who had been the ones to torture and kill? And just because she was a Slytherin...

It was illogical reasoning like this that Daphne despised, as it was quite common knowledge in the House that Merlin himself was a Slytherin yet this fact had often been covered up in the media and history textbooks which were predominantly run by a Gryffindor-biased society. Nonetheless, the Dark would in no way welcome someone who had refused to torture a Longbottom without glee and accidentally let slip her own sympathy towards muggleborns, as well as her logical explanation regarding Wizarding ancestry?

"But we virtually look the same! That means we all must have some ancestral connection to muggles even if they don't have magic! Like they're descendants from squibs and if you come to that conclusion that means it was wizards and witches all along who made the muggles everyone persecutes so much-"

Well, maybe it wasn't an accidental slip and more of a misguided rant that was overheard and reported to the Carrows. Nonetheless, it had accounted for the especially large ridge across the small of her back and indent that could have only been made by a knife at the nape of her neck.

The younger dark-haired girl, Astoria, looked very much like her older sister despite the latter's scars. With brilliant green eyes instead of a chocolate brown, she was much paler and destined to grow just a couple of centimetres taller than Daphne. However, both girls boasted long dark hair, an enigmatic characteristic of their family even though Astoria's bordered onto dark brown like her mother's hair while Daphne had inherited the soft black of their father. Both sisters also had the same facial features, a small, delicate nose, graceful lashes, long, thin fingers and eyes that looked yet did not seem to see. Their emptiness was unnerving and haunting, possibly due to elongated exposure to dementors during the war but most likely from the loss of what was supposed to be the most carefree years of their lives. Their coldness was only emphasised by the war, as their natural social calculations, logical demeanour and elegance had dubbed them the 'Ice queens' of Slytherin, especially Daphne.

That was what had made Daphne's supposed betrayal all the more shocking and enraging to the rest of the Slytherins. She was supposed to be one of them, she was supposed to behold the beauty of the Slytherin house in her timeless appearance as well as her ideals yet she had failed and instead had been deemed as a humiliating failure.

Daphne stopped herself from absentmindedly rubbing the outline of a skull that had been roughly cut into her arm with a blunt knife by Amycus Carrow, and tightened the cloak around her as she walked around her family's vast garden. She scrutinised the the tulip in front of her. She counted each bump in the velvety petals that looked like veins. The tulips had been growing better and better as each year came and went, it was terribly unjust that she would not be there to witness them the next year to see their progress. The entire garden was currently flourishing, as with a family name like 'Greengrass' it was just expected that they prided their flora.

"I knew you would be here." Her father's deep voice pulled Daphne back to reality. "I told your mother that it would upset you to a degree but she didn't want that estate to go to waste, or your muggle knowledge for that matter too."

Nodding slightly, brown met brown as Daphne looked into her father's eyes and lowered her Occlumency shields, not finding the strength in her to talk.

"You're only 18 and you don't have any proper records stating that you've graduated from any school." He sighed and stroked the thorn of a rose ever so slightly with his thumb.

"Even the American Ministry won't tolerate the forgery of any documents, they're much stricter about enforcing the rules of minors, and since you're under 20 you're still a minor in magical America. Besides you've essentially finished all of your magical training and I don't think you'd want to touch your wand for a while," she winced at the truth in the statement. His tone was sharp but his eyes were warm.

"Think of it like vacation."

With a sigh, the eldest daughter consented "I will try father".

And with that, Daphne Greengrass called for her house elf Mitsy to help her pack her belongings. It was a long road ahead of her. She would be happy, for her parents to not have to stress more about the burden they had delivered onto their children and so that her younger sister could feel like a child for just a little longer, even if it was a tad. She would smile, even though this logical witch found no logic in calling this trip a vacation when she was required to attend a muggle school, in a rainy little town named after an eating utensil.


A/N Hello there, it's the Bejewelled (two 'l's are intentional and not a typo) Quill here and I would just like to thank you for reading my first fanfiction in a while. A few things you should know about me that affect this story is firstly the fact that I am not a Bella fan and though I am not a Cullen fan as well, they will not be portrayed as badly as Bella. I am not a fan of her complete dependence on having a man to keep her from going suicidal and lack of ambition for her own life and willingness to throw away her future and any ideas of any aspirations because of Edward as they completely clash with my own stance as a Feminist. So, while I will not outwardly be doing any 'Bella bashing', she will not be a nice person. Moreover, I am what you can call a 'Slytherin sympathiser' so while I accept their wrong-doings as cruel and inhumane, I can understand the positions of some families (especially the Malfoys i.e. Draco) as they felt they had no choice and wish to give them a second chance in my story.

But again, thank you for reading and if you can, please review! I'd love to hear your opinions and constructive criticism.