I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.

From what Mihnea understood, a vampire's familiar was a physical manifestation of the darkest, most bestial side of their soul. A creature that was an intrinsic part of them while remaining distinct enough to have it's own personality. They seemed to be made up of the same shadows he had already learned how to manipulate. Their size and shape could vary depending on the purpose they were being released for, but they always took on the appearance of the same animal. His father's familiar was the hell-hound – a fearsome black dog with six blood red eyes. Seras and Pip didn't utilize their familiars nearly as much as the master vampire did, but Mihnea knew what theirs were as well. His sister's was a dark, shadowy wildcat, while Pip's looked more like a large fox. The boy had also seen his family's familiars replicate themselves into several copies. Alucard himself could call up a whole herd of hell-hounds when he wanted, but each one seemed to operate as part of a unit rather than a unique and separate individual.

But these were only facts. Actually discovering what his familiar was and calling it up was a process Mihnea didn't find very enjoyable. It required searching deep within himself and studying all the dark, twisted facets of who and what he was. Things he'd rather not think about being there. He didn't like taking a good hard look at himself because at the end of the day, there were a thousand different aspects of who he was that scared the hell out of him. And any time one of them attempted to rise to the surface, he would quickly drop a lid down on it to keep it from coming out.

"Stop restraining yourself." he heard his father snap at him, sounding impatient. "You'll never make any progress if you keep holding yourself back."

Mihnea's eyes were closed to block out any distractions around him. Aunt Integra had ordered them to work on this outside, since there was no telling what would show up if he succeeded. The breeze rushing through his hair was a bit colder than it would have been during the day. The lack of sunlight caused the temperature to drop several degrees. He knew Alucard's harsh tone wasn't brought on by his lack of producing anything after several hours of working at it. His father was infinitely patient. He was getting upset because the boy had come within a hair's breath of success many times and every time he got close, the sensation of something monstrous about to appear frightened him into pulling back. He grit his teeth together in frustration.

"I'm trying." he told him.

"If you were trying, you would have been able to produce something by now." the vampire said. Though the boy couldn't see his face, the tone of his voice made it sound like he was sneering. "You are fighting what you are. Let go of it, Mihnea. Stop acting like a coward."

Mihnea's eyes snapped open, furious. He was not a coward. His father was standing right in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back and red eyes glowing across the distance between them.

"It makes you angry, does it?" he asked, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "Good. Get angry. Let it fill you until there's nothing left. Lash out."

He was goading him on purpose. Mihnea knew he was. Alucard had taunted him before to get him to produce his first set of shadows, which he immediately instructed to wrap around the master vampire's throat to choke him. His father believed that anger was a useful emotion when it came to learning. Being overwhelmed with fury caused one to snap and do things they normally wouldn't do when they were in full control of themselves. Maybe it was a cruel method of teaching, but the No Life King had never been accused of being anything other than a rampaging sadist. It was just the way he was. Even though his rational mind knew exactly what he was doing and why, Mihnea was too pissed to struggle against it. Watching him standing there, looking so superior and mocking after calling him a coward stoked his anger into a full rage. He felt his teeth lengthen into fangs and shadows appeared around him, poised to strike at his command.

Alucard's smirk widened into a grin. At his side, his own shadows twisted together to form Baskerville. The hell-hound crouched low to the ground and pulled his lips back from his teeth in a deep snarl.

"You want to fight me, boy?" he asked. "Come on then. Stop hesitating and attack!"

Not making any move to advance himself, the vampire merely lifted a finger and pointed at him. Baskerville leapt forward, knocking Mihnea onto his back. He snarled as the hell-hound's sharp claws ripped across his shoulder. The boy threw up an arm in an attempt to knock the animal off of him, but it sank it's teeth down just below his elbow and thrashed it's head. All the other strikes he made at it swiped right through it's body as if it were made of nothing more than air. It was nearly impossible to fight something made of shadows. They could solidify or become like mist at their choosing. This was a situation where you could only fight fire with fire.

Mihnea had no idea exactly how it happened. There was no real thought or active attempt made. It just seemed that something deep inside of him awoke and reared it's head. The shadows he'd summoned up before being attacked by Baskerville swirled together, growing larger and larger before slowly twisting into a recognizable shape. First came a massive clawed foot, then a huge black tail connected to a heavily muscled body. At the end of the corded length of neck, a large head appeared with glowing, hell-fire eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. A pair of leathery wings on it's back snapped open and it roared at the hell-hound, sending him flying across the yard with a single swipe of it's tail. With the immediate threat taken care of, the beast whirled around and hunched low, keeping it's large eyes focused on Mihnea's father as if preparing to attack him if he sent anything else their way. Mihnea himself was so shocked by the animal's appearance he stayed on the ground, not noticing the blood seeping from his wounds or the enormous grin of pride spreading Alucard's face.

This... enormous, terrifying creature had come out of him. Mihnea's familiar was a goddamn dragon.

Constance had never seen George this nervous before. It appeared that her bout of nerves before meeting his parents was normal. Of course, now that her boyfriend knew the most important details about her family's identity, he was probably concerned because of all he'd heard about them in the magical world. It didn't help that Fred had taken to humming the funeral march whenever a mention of the upcoming meeting was made. She had no doubt he'd get over it once he saw her father in person. The plan was to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron at 8:30 and have a spot of breakfast there before going out to do their shopping for school. As both Hermione and Constance would be leaving for home right after, they had to bring their bags along.

Once they had everything they would need for their excursion, everyone congregated in the Burrow's kitchen to floo to the pub. Her dad and Mihnea were already there waiting for them at one of the many tables. There weren't many patrons in that day, so the owners had no problem with them pulling more tables together so they'd all have a place to sit down.

"Good god, Bassarab's huge!" Ron whispered to her as he watched him help push furniture around the room. "He hasn't always been that tall, has he?"

Mihnea had gone through a growth spurt over the summer. She'd been gone only a week, but Connie was still surprised at how tall he'd gotten. It looked like he had grown a good two inches or so since she'd last seen him. Mr. Weasley and the twins were all just under six feet and her cousin still towered over them.

It seemed all the ruckus they were raising pricked Harry's interest. He peeked out over the landing upstairs where all the guest rooms were. When he saw who it was that was making all the noise, he quickly came down to join them. With them having come up with places for everyone, they all sat down and introductions were made. Mihnea was noticeably quiet and kept his head down on the table. Given that it was summer, it was a very early hour for him to be up and it didn't look like he was completely awake yet. When one of the pub's waitresses came over to take their breakfast orders, he didn't do much more than raise his head to mumble a request for coffee. He immediately put it back down and Edmund shook his head at him.

"My nephew had a long night last night, so you'll have to forgive him." he reported, giving him a pat on the back. He then focused on Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "I hope it wasn't any trouble for Connie to stay the week with you. It looks like you have a house full already."

Mrs. Weasley smiled and waved a hand. "Oh, it was no trouble at all! Your daughter was an absolute joy to have with us. She was a perfect lady the whole time. You must be very proud of her."

Connie felt herself blush at the praise and her dad smiled before turning his attention toward Fred and George. "And you two must be the twins I've heard so much about." he said. "You'll have to forgive me, but which is which?"

Mrs. Weasley placed her hand on George's shoulder. "This is Fred, and the other is George." she told him.

Fred made a face at her. "Honestly woman! And you call yourself our mother? I'm Fred!"

"Well, I'm sorry Fred, but if you two didn't go switching all the time it wouldn't be such a bother to tell you apart!" she chided, giving him a soft tap on the back of the head.

George rolled his eyes at her. "George Weasley." he greeted, extending a hand. As Connie's dad took it, he jerked a thumb at his brother. "That's Fred."

Edmund politely took both of their hands and shook them. "Nice to finally meet you. I've been hearing some interesting things." he said, giving them both a playful smirk. He focused his gaze on George. "Like my daughter's penchant for showing affection through hitting. She got that trait from her mother, I'm afraid."

Connie felt her face go red in embarrassment. "Daddy...!"

Her father grinned and clucked his tongue at her. "I believe I heard something about you two being famous around school for your pranks?"

Both of the twins' eyes lit up at having their reputation mentioned, but Mrs. Weasley again butted in before they had a chance to speak. "You'll have to forgive them for that, sir." she said, shaking her head. "My boys can be a bit rambunctious, but I'm hoping they'll grow out of it."

Edmund made a small hand gesture. "That's just one of those things that goes along with being a boy, Mrs. Weasley." he commented, like it didn't bother him at all. "I was known for being a bit of a trouble maker myself in my younger days. I honestly think I'd be worried if a young man wasn't a bit rambunctious."

Connie just resolved herself to sit back and watch as he won everyone over. This was one of her dad's gifts. Being able to walk into a room and say absolutely anything and still make everyone around fall in love with him. He got the twins talking about their inventions (as much as they could with their parents around, anyway) and even offered a few tips as to the best way to start up a business. Once Fred, George and her father got in their initial 'bonding time' so to speak, everyone else started getting involved in the conversation too. When Mr. Weasley asked what sort of work Edmund did for the muggle government, all the boys listened in rapt attention as he told them how he was a defense contractor who owned factories that produced arms and ammunition for 'certain branches' of the military. That was about as far as he could go without revealing too much, but the explanation worked wonders. Ginny pretty much followed Connie's lead in staying quiet and listening to all the males go at it, but Hermione just had to make a comment or two.

"You work with muggle weapons?" she questioned, looking interested. "I've never heard of a wizard interested in that sort of thing before."

"My father was a muggle." Edmund explained. "He left everything to me when he died. Someone had to keep the business going, so I took it over." he sat back in his chair. "I've always preferred working with muggles. I know there are a lot of people in the magical world that don't think too highly of them, but they really are brilliant." he paused and glanced at Mr. Weasley. "Connie tells me you're fascinated by muggle society."

The man immediately nodded, looking like he'd hit the jackpot by encountering someone who worked more closely with them than he did. "Absolutely, sir!" he said with enthusiasm. "I suppose you know all about them from working and living with them. Tell me, exactly how do they keep those 'aero-planes' of theirs up in the air without magic?"

Connie had warned her dad in advance of Mr. Weasley's habit of asking strange questions like that, so Edmund was prepared. Without acting like he thought it was odd, he went into explaining the details of aerodynamics and propulsion while Mr. Weasley sat and looked completely enraptured. As the two of them were talking, the waitress finally came back with their food. Once Mihnea got the cup of coffee he wanted, he perked up and seemed more lively. He was even nice and polite to Mrs. Weasley when she spoke to him, which might have shocked the younger people at the table if they weren't so caught up with listening to her dad. Though she did notice Ron give a start and gape in their direction when his mother commented that Mihnea was a 'charming young man'. Everything was going over wonderfully. It wasn't until after breakfast was over that the more 'meaty' conversations were to be had.

As Mrs. Weasley began gathering up supply lists from everyone to see exactly what they were going to be buying, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry off to a far corner. Constance imagined it was to talk to him about the Sirius Black thing. With there being a possibility that the wizard might come after him, the boy deserved to know. Edmund took the opportunity to have a little private conversation of his own with George. When the girl noticed them walking away she moved to follow, but was stopped by a look from her father.

"Just a bit of small talk, Connie." he told her meaningfully. "It's nothing for you to be worried about."

Constance didn't know exactly what they were going to be talking about, but it had to have something to do with George knowing about their family. With her dad being the way he was, she didn't think he'd do anything to scare or intimidate him, but she still didn't like being left out. She'd have to find out what it was about later.

Mihnea remained in his chair sipping at his coffee as Uncle Edmund had his little conversation with George, but he was paying attention. His acute sense of hearing could pick up on every small detail. They were mostly talking about Weasley knowing about Hellsing. His uncle was making sure the boy knew how important it was for him to keep quiet about it. From the laughter and gentle teasing tones, Mihnea could tell Ed liked him. He had been notorious for being a prankster in his younger years and though he was much more subtle about it now, he still indulged. He had been the one to teach him and Connie how to pick locks, hot wire cars, and build homemade bombs from the moment they were out of diapers, after all. He listened as George assured him he understood how important it was to keep it a secret. Uncle Edmund gave him a good pat on the back, then let him go. But Mihnea wasn't about to let Weasley rejoin his family for a shopping spree just yet. He wanted to have a little talk with him himself. He drank down the last bit of his now cooled off coffee, set the mug down on the table, then stood and grabbed George's arm as he tried to walk past.

"Ow! Hey!" Weasley protested. "What do you think you're doing?"

Mihnea ignored him and dragged him just a little ways away from the table where everyone else was. This wasn't an important enough conversation to be where no one could hear. He just wanted to make sure they weren't interrupted. When he finally came to a stop, George jerked his arm free.

"Look Bassarab, I already know about you, so if that's what this is abou..." he began.

"Shut it, Weasley." he said, cutting him off. "This isn't about that."

"What do you want then?"

The boy narrowed his eyes in warning, then huffed. He'd been thinking about how he was going to do this ever since he'd found out about Connie telling him everything. He cleared his throat.

"You're dating my cousin." he began, looking at him seriously. "From the moment I found out about it, I didn't like it. And now she goes and tells you about us..."

"If this is some bid to get me to break up with her, it's not going to work." George interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest resolutely. "I told her I didn't care and I'm not going anywhere."

"Will you shut up and let me finish?" Mihnea snapped. "I don't want you to break up with her."

Weasley faltered, suddenly looking very confused. "Do what?"

He sighed, then glanced back at the table where everyone else was talking amongst themselves, getting ready to go out to get their school supplies.

"Connie is the closest thing I have to a little sister." he said, looking back at Weasley. "You have one, so you know what that's like. If someone were to go after her, it wouldn't matter what they said or did. They could be absolutely perfect and they still wouldn't be good enough, would they?"

George blinked at him, then looked over at Ginny. His expression slowly changed to one of understanding. "No... they wouldn't." he said in a low voice.

Mihnea nodded. "Constance likes you. I still don't think you deserve her, but you make her happy. And if she trusts you enough to tell you our secrets and you don't think less of her for them... then I'll trust you too." he held out his hand. "Truce."

Weasley looked shocked beyond belief, like he thought hell had just frozen over or something. He personally found himself wondering the exact same thing. He just admitted he was going to trust and be nice to one of the Weasley twins. Finally, after a very long moment that was beginning to cross the border into being awkward, George took his hand and shook it.

"Truce." he repeated.

When he moved pull away, Mihnea tightened his grip and pulled him forward slightly. He wasn't quite finished. "I am going to say this now so there won't be any surprises later. Constance is to be treated like a queen. If you ever hurt her or mistreat her in any way, shape, or form, I will beat you to within an inch of your life. Is that clear, Weasley?"

George studied him. "Crystal."

"Good." he said, finally letting go of his hand. "And don't steal ideas for your pranks from me anymore. You can ask first."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" the boy demanded, both upset and confused. "Fred and I have never stolen any ideas from you!"

"You turned a chandelier into a mass of cockroaches so it would fall on Malfoy." Mihnea reminded him, referring to an incident that occurred last year. "You never would have thought to do that if it weren't for Connie telling you about what I did the summer before."

George stared at him. "Wait. You... you were the one who did that?"

"Who the hell else did you think let loose an army of cockroaches on some idiot at a ball?" he questioned with a derisive sniff.

"No way!" the boy said, not believing it. "You don't seem the type."

Honestly, did he give off the impression that he was that straight laced? "Weasley, I have done things that would shock you."

"Like what?" he challenged.

Mihnea thought about it. "Let me put it this way: the last guy who came to our house and insulted my mother where I could hear it wound up with a teacup full of semen and a bout of Syphilis that lasted three months."

George eyes widened. "Sweet Merl..." he shook his head, looking like he was thoroughly impressed. "We're hanging out from now on and that's the end of it. Next round of torturing Malfoy is all yours and you get royalties from anything we do that comes from one of your ideas."

He wasn't sure how he felt about the whole 'hanging out' business, but royalties sounded promising. He honestly didn't care getting money out of things, but credit needed to go where credit was due. And he'd always considered torturing Malfoy to be worthwhile activity...

"Agreed." he said.

"Excellent!" George exclaimed in excitement. He turned to search out his brother. "Hey Fred! We've got ourselves a new mate! Come listen to this!"

A.N: Just to clarify, the 'teacup full of semen and bout of Syphilis' Mihnea is talking about would have been done with magic. Just so no one's mind goes too far into the gutter about how he did it. And I'll leave it up to you to decide exactly who got that treatment. XD

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