I'm back! If anyone's confused, I changed my penname from ChairmanMeow1409 to AriReeLaufeyson. Anyways, the OC's in this story are pretty much me and my friends (Kitty, Elliot, and the Twins) as CDF freaks going to Hogwarts. Everyone is in fourth year, along with the Golden Trio. (This was mainly for the purpose of having the Yule Ball)
Also, I'm trying something a little different. I won't update as much, but the chapters will be much longer than those of my other stories. I hope you all enjoy it!
I sat on my small bed in the corner of my tent. This place is almost literally my home. I spend all of my time I'm not doing chores and performing here, listening to the collection of music on my iPod and writing short stories.
I've lived here since I was little, when I had to escape the place I was born. Unfortunatly for me, I was an experiment of recombining DNA, formed at the School in a test tube. They would push me to my limits, testing endurance, strength, speed, and various other things.
I was barely able to escape the building alone, as even my closest friend refused to help. I could still hear faint sirens in the background, barely over my heavy breathing. I was freezing cold, and I tried to wrap my wings around myself, but they were shaking too violently to do me any good. The sounds of sirens eventually faded away, as did my stamina. I had collapsed against a tree, half-starved by the whitecoats, and dehydrated. I could feel I was close to dying, when two men came past at the speed of light. The one closer to me stopped about a few meters away, and turned around to face me.
I didn't realize it yet, but that man was my savior, and eventually my mentor. The second man slowed as well, and came back quickly. They were talking, but my senses were dulled and I couldn't decipher a word they said. I couldn't actually feel anything, not even when he cut into my fingers and pressed his to mine.
I really didn't notice, until something jolted in my heart. It helped me get energy to go on with life. I was able to hear again, and aside from the two men, there was another noise. Faint but still enough to make out.
Men shouting and dogs barking.
"We need to move. Like, right now." I said, shooting up off the ground. They stared for a moment, then one of them gestured to get on his back. Knowing that I had other methods of moving, I got a running start and unfurled my wings from my back. I took off, leaving the two staring for a moment. One just shook his head, then came after me. He was followed by the other one, and they set off in the direction of my current home. The Cirque du Freak.
How I remember this so vividly, I don't really know. All I do know is that I would still be an experiment if Crepsley wasn't there. I actually didn't realize at first, but he had to blood me as a full vampire in order to save me, so I am lucky only in the sense that I don't ever have to deal with the Purge. Otherwise, not so much.
A loud banging on the entryway's tent poles broke me out of my thoughts. I turned, and standing there was my partner in crime, Rae. She was actually Larten's first assistant, but he took me on so I wouldn't die. We've been really close for a while now, and now, we're pretty much inseperable.
"Hey Alysa, you need to get up. Mr. Tall wants to see us in his tent." Well, there goes my plan to get Octa to refuse to do everything.
"Just a moment, I need to grab something." I pulled out my simple black cloak from a dark wood dresser, then exited the tent. Rae was so lucky. She could wear whatever the hell she wanted. Me, I can't wear a tank top without burning to a crisp.
"Any clue what he wants from us?" I asked, walking through the bustling camp. Various freaks walked past us, waving and nodsing their heads in greeting. While I was a full vampire, I would still stay active during the day. I don't think Crepsley really approves of my situation, but I don't exactly care what he thinks. He has Rae do all his dirty work anyways, as she's still only half.
"I'm not exactly sure. Usually he comes and gets us when he's pissed, so it's not something we did. He sent Truska to get me." she replied, and I sighed in relief. I guess he still hasn't figured out that we were the ones who painted his tent pink and green polka dotted.
We had reached the opposite end of the campsite, and ducked into the tent. Per usual, Mr. Tall was sitting at a dark wooden desk, sorting through a pile of papers. He barely looked up as the two of us walked across the tent and sat down in a couple chairs. He stood up, and pretty much confirmed our theory of him not being angry.
"I know the two of you are probably confused, as the only time I see you in private is when you do something that makes me angry." I smiled, remembering the countless pranks we had pulled on most everyone that's been at the Cirque in the past 4 years. "Anyways, a situation has arisen, and the Prnces have sent word that you two will be sent in undercover to help stop it." Great. Undercover missions. I can't go undercover for crap. "One of my old friends, Albus Dumbledore, has learned of a plot to sneak a group of vampaneze into his school and take over. I need you two to pose as students there and help with the defense of the students."
"This sounds pretty easy. I've had to pass off as human multiple times." adds Rae. She still hasn't figured out by Mr. Tall's expression that there's more to this than he's already told us.
"Unfortunatly, you won't be passing off as humans. I might as well explain first, so let me first clarify that magic exists." WAIT WHAT? "And you'll be passing off as wizards in a wizarding school to help stop the vampaneze." Well, I'm screwed.
"Okay, what? How the hell are two vampires supposed to pass off as wizards? I barely pass off as human as is." I yell angrily. There is no way this is going to go well.
"I know you're upset. Just let me explain." I sat back down with a thud. "Dumbledore, as I said, is headmaster of the school. He has found a spell that will give you the ability to cast spells for about a year, and he will make sure that you are provided with everything you need." At least the man knows what he's dealing with. "I want you and Rae to go, since you two are the only ones young enough to go to the school. Or at least, you look young enough." True. Technically, I look 13 and Rae looks 14, but we're both about 20 in reality.
I considered the prospect for a few minutes. This is a huge chance to A) Learn how to use magic, B) Be considered normal again. Well, just be considered normal. I never actually was. And of course, C) kick some vampaneze ass. I wanted to go, but something else was bothering me.
"Alright, I'll go. On one condition. Amy, Eva, and Violet have to come too." Those three were my other friends, all various freaks that had been here since before I came. There was no way I would be doing this without them.
Mr. Tall sighed. "I'll see what I can do." And he was about to let us go, when he said one more thing: "And since you leave tommorow, you can be in tonight's show."
I jogged through the mass of tents, trying to locate the one I was looking for. There. A tan tent set up near the middle was where I would find Amy. I pushed through the thick fabric flap, and came into the main portion of the tent.
Amy was lying on her bed, napping as she pretty much always is, a small toy mouse curled in her hands. I pushed her onto her back, and she opened her eyes. "Get up. You need to pack. We're going to magic school!"
I sifted through the drawers of my dresser, trying to find the navy blue dress I wore while performing. I never was organized, and the mess in it could prove it. After pulling most everything out of three of the five drawers, I found it, the one neatly folded item, in the bottom of the drawer. I laid it out on the bed, then started finding pairs of jeans in the mess on the ground. I had one suitcase I had gotten for a birthday a few years ago, and it was barely a quarter of the way full with the pants I had already laid inside. Next came a collection of t-shirts, my Converse, my iPod with charger, and my set of composition notebooks, compllete with a small case of pens. I had discovered my love for writing about a year after I left California behind. It was a present from Violet, who was the first to realize it. Only two of them were full, and another had two things in it: a short story about the people I had originally grown up with, and a really shitty sketch of the camp from above. No, that wasn't hard. I would just hover above and hope my stuff wouldn't fall onto someone's head.
I started adding in my other things, bit by bit as I found them scattered about. My makeup case I left out, as well as a hairbrush, then my few things I still had from my childhood. I brushed off an old piece of paper, then pulled out a smalll unmarked box. Inside were the few things I had to remember my childhood. There was a tattered shirt and pants that I had been wearing during my escape, the necklace I had made of loose wire that frayed off the end of my cage that just happened to be right by the wall, and a single white feather. Kai and I had given each other one of our own feathers when I left, promising that if I made it, I would break him out too. I still hold onto these things, even though I never really want to remember why I have them.
I put the lid back on, and continued trying to find stuff to pack.
About an hour later, I was in Eva's tent, trying to put on eyeliner while Amy yanked my hair into curls. "Look Amy, can you just stop for a minute so my eyeliner doesn't go all wonky?"
She didn't say anything, but just put the curling iron down and looked over at all the others. Eva was actually near finished, her makeup done and her dark brown hair pulled back in a loose bun. She was helping Violet with her dress, a tightly fitting white thing reaching her feet. It was hard enough for her to walk in it, let alone get it on.
"Alright, there. You're good, Amy." She stepped back in my line of sight, in a tan jumpsuit that matched the color of her hair. Definetly easier to move in than what I had. A small pop emanated from the corner of the room, where Rae had just teleported in. "Guys, 5 minutes until you need to be backstage." And just like that, she was back who knows where.
Amy rushed curling the last few strands of hair, then I slipped my dress and heels on, and ran off towards the main tent, coat in hand.
I sat backstage, listening and watching through a hole in the curtains. The first act had come and gone, and now Eva was waiting near me in the wings, about to go onstage. A voice coming from a section of stage I couldn't see boomed, "Our next act is very unique, and I would like to say that anyone injured during this act will be given a half refund." That was a bit important considering how danerous Eva was. She stepped on stage, her neon orange dress shimmering like it was satin. It actually wasn't, though.
She stepped to the front of the stage, and she literally became a human torch. Good thing we found that fireproof fabric. People in the front row screamed, both with terror and delight. Eva smiled. She always got a reaction similar to this, and it was always fun to watch the people straight in front of her panic. She went through her usual act of scaring the crap out of the first row. It's been a little varied, especially after she read Inkheart.
She stepped offstage with a little bow, and she high-fived me as she passed. Her habd was still hot, and I winced. I watched Sive and Seersa, Thamus, and Gertha, then Violet came on. Her pure white dress had tiny sparkles sewn in, giving the effect of her glowing. Today she had settled on raven black curls, with a single one colored orange.
"I need a voulenteer from the audience, one who isn't particularly jumpy." A few people stood up, and Vi surveyed them until she rested her eyes on a middle-aged woman with bright red hair. She gestured her onto stage, and then had her stand back to back with her.
"Now, will everyone close their eyes." The audience was wary at first, but complied with a glare from her. I watched as her features morphed, becoming one and the same as the second woman. Once she had become exactly like her, she yelled out, "You may open them now."
The crowd gasped, for there on stage was two women, exactly the same in every way. The original turned, and stifled a scream. Vi laughed, the unnamed woman's face priceless. She turned to the audience, then morphed back to what she looked like earlier.
Once the major shock factor had passed, Vi asked for requests, and ended up transforming into a variety of celebrities. One of the funniest was when she was asked to look like her closest friend. I actually didn't know what she was going to do, when I remembered that Rae was next. Her features changed one last time, and her black hair receded and lightened to a chocolate brown. Her blue eyes shifted to green, and she shrunk about 3 inches. Once she was done, she stood perfectly still, and the real Rae teleported in. In the confusion, nobody noticed Vi slip backstage.
Rae really didn't have a long act, being the teleporter of the bunch. She had on a blue strapless shirt and denim shorts, a staple of her wardrobe. Most was spent talking about stuff and freaking out random audience members. While hilarious, it wasn't exactly much. She teleported off, then out went the Little People with a collection of cheap souviners. It was about the halfway point of the show, and I was feeling more and more anxious about what will happen tommorow. What would happen this year? More importantly, how the hell were we supposed to magically (no pun intended) gain magical abilities overnight? I considered the prospect as more acts came on. Evra and his snake, Larten, and Cormac all came on and off again. I stood in the wings, waiting for Amy to enter. We often do our act together, tonight being no exception.
Amy jumped on stage, her striped bodysuit tight around her thin body. Her hair flowed in a wild manner, her cat's ears alert to her surroundings. Trailing behind her was her bushy tail, and she crouched, waching the audience with golden eyes. If it isn't obvious, she's half-cat. For a moment, I waited, then unfurled my wings and took off into the main theater area. I flew around for a moment, before Amy lept into the air, towards where I was flying. She almost reached me, as I swerved up to the ceiling. Our next section was comprised of planned out manuevers where we were almost playing cat and mouse. It was tiring, but well worth it. The audience ate it all up.
Amy ran back to the wings, and I landed on the stage, then showed my pitch-black wings off for a moment, before exiting too.
I sat in my own tent late at night, in a black camisole and pajama pants. I still couldn't sleep, no matter how long I tried. I eeventually just gave up and sat around waiting for Rae to come and get me to leave. My duffle and backpack sat closed and ready by the entry, and all my other things were closed, "put away" and waiting to be packed into the trucks for the year.
My iPod was on top of the bag, but I dared not touch it, as for now I had no way to charge it. It's not exactly a great batery holder either. I eventually just decided to go for a walk. I slunk through the camp, moving towards the woods, cloak in hand just incase I was out for too long.
The woods were always a good place to think, as that was my first taste of reality. Well, as close to reality as it'll ever get for me. It's obvious that I don't have a place in this world other than here. I'm the vampire lab experiment who has to go undercover at a magic school. What else could happen? Maybe I'll even end up time travelling. (A.N. cough-sequel-cough) I was heading back, when I heard a rustling in the bushes. I slid behind a tree, assuming the worst. Out of the bush slunk Rae, and I sighed with relief. She heard me, and pulled me out from behind the tree.
"And just what are you doing out?" she accused.
"Couldn't sleep. Got bored sitting around doing nothing." I replied cooly. She nodded, and looked off into the distance. I could tell she had the same thoughts I did, about what we were about to do. "I'm a little worried. How are we supposed to fit into a society even more complicated than the one we barely fit into as is? We don't even have powers."
"Look, Alysa, I'm just as confused as you are. But I wouldn't dwell on it too much. This guy that's taking us in must know what he's doing." She wrapped her arm around me, then we went off again.
"Amy! Get your lazy ass up! We're leaving in a couple minutes." An annoyed groan from the tent came, followed by Amy in a pair of jeans and t-shirt, her hair a complete mess. She was pulling on a small backpack, and in her opposite hand was a black bag bulging with it's contents. She shuffled over to where the rest of us were waiting by a Jeep that Jekkus was willing to drive us to the airport in. All we really had was our luggage and instructions on who we were meeting once we got to England. Yeah, woopee.
Eva grabbed all our bags, and chucked them into the trunk, then we all squashed into the car. Rae was lucky, she teleported straight away into the front seat, leaving me, Eva, Amy, and Violet to cram into the backseat.
I am refusing to ever talk about that drive again.
Once all 5 of us were waiting outside the airport, we were able to get into a flight pretty easily. The only problem was with security. Well, only for the security people. Both Rae and I had our weapons on us, wich wasn't exactly great at an airport. We were able to teleport to the gate once we had had our tickets checked.
The plane itself wasn't too bad. Amy slept the entire flight, Eva accidentaly set off the bathroom smoke alarm, Violet pretended to be a flight attendant to get us extra drinks, Rae would teleport straight into the bahroom when it opened, and then I sat there trying to focus on my music. It got out of hand once Eva took her sandwich she had brought and hand-toasted it, making the flight attendants believe she was an arsonist. They never said anything, though. Nobody was waiting to arrest us when we got off. Amy was still half-asleep, even after sleeping the entire 14 hour trip. We had exited the terminal, and I searched the crowds of family and friends picking up people. I eventually spotted a pair of identical redheads holding up a sign reading 'I don't actually know who I'm picking up'
We walked over, and I said, "We're the one's you're picking up."
"You? You're the Americans?" the first one asked.
"Thought they would've been taller." commented the second one.
"And they lok young. How old are you?" the first one asked me. I was tempted to say i was actualy older than him, but I think that Rae would have to slap me for that. I just told him my cover age, and he shut up.
Everything got weirder and weirder as we went on. The two boys apparantly got here in a flying car, which we all had to cram into. Again, this was probably the worst car ride to everyone. I was fine, altthough it would be better if A)Less people were squishing me against the window, and B) I were actually flying on my own. I sat through it though, and managed to keep my sanity as we landed in a huge field, where to one side of us was the strangest house I've ever seen towered up above. It looked like it was multiple homes stacked on top of one another, I saw a pair of light green eyes peering out of one of the top window, and they disappeared almost as soon as they the time I could tell it was someone, the car jolted to a halt, and the first boy hopped out. He ran inside screaming, "Mom! We brought the transfers! And they're all really weird!"
"Well fuck you too!" whispered Rae, at a voice low enough that only I could hear it.
"Rae! Watch your mouth! We are in the presence of impressionable children!" I scolded.
"Like you do." she retorted sarcastically. "Anyways, we might want to go in, so they know we're not really that weird." I wish I could stay the same, but it was true, we didn't exactly look like normal people. I alone probably looked the strangest, with my dark clothes, my gloves, and my black cloak covering my body. Then there was Rae, in her typical outfit that probably would scare the wizards (short denim shorts, a strapless crop top, and TOMS), Amy in her jeans and her overly baggy sweatshirt, Eva in her clothes that looked partly normal until you were close enough to see the fireproof fabric, and Violet fell into her own category, as at the moment, her hair was a bright purple and her eyes were almost white, the silvery color was so pale.
"Oh, like we aren't weird already." I grabbed my duffle, and jogged towards the so-called house. I circled around it until I found the wooden door, then stepped inside.
Nothing could have prepared me for this house.
The house was a mess of furniture, the bottom housing only a kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was littered with messy dishes, and the dining room had a second collection. A woman with the same shocking red hair as the twins was at the sink, furiously scrubbing at dishes. She must have heard the door, so she turned towards me, then to Rae and Violet, who were walking in the same way I came. She dropped everything she was holding, then rushed over to greet us
"You must be the Americans! I'm Molly, themother of almost everyone in this house." She then proceeded to give us a tour of the entire house, Eva and Amy joining us along the way.
"Alright, I think that I'll have you all stay with Ginny and Hermionie." She called up the staircase, towards the top, "Ginny! Come down here!"
A girl slightly younger than us poked her head out one of the doors on the top floor. "What do you want, Mom?" She had hair matching Mrs. Weasley's, and big, green eyes. They widened in curiosity when she spotted the 5 of us. "Who are these people?"
"They're the American transfers. I was going to ask if they could sleep with you and Hermionie, once she gets here." she answered Ginny's question.
"Oh, that's perfectly fine." She ran down to greet us, and gestured up the stairs. "Shall we?"
We had dumped our bags upstairs, then went back downstairs to eat. I have a feeling that King Sombra would really, really love this house. Anyways, Mrs. Weasley had made some sort of roast, and we had just sat down at the messy table when the twins that I still didn't know the names of burst into the room. They sat down next to each other, followed by an older boy I didn't recognize. As all the others I've met said, he asked, "Who are they? And why are they sitting here?" He was visibly angry at having people he didn't know sitting near him.
The twin on the left leaned over and said, "They're the transfers, Percy. Calm down." Percy calmed down slightly, then replied, "I didn't know they were coming today, Fred."
The twins looked at one another, and burst into laughter. "Percy, come on, everyone knows that I'm George!" They continued laughing, while Percy internally facepalmed and my friends and I sat staring awkwardly. Ginny came down next, then a boy about our age with the trademark red hair.
He walked behind me, and said, "Don't worry. They constantly switch names." I leaned forward, and we shook hands. "I'm Ron Weasley. I've never actually met an American before."
"Don't worry, we're only here for the year."
I hope you liked this (very long) chapter! Next, Hermionie and Harry will come in, and everyone will go to Diagon Alley.
~AriRee