CHAPTER ONE

My life was starting over today.

I carefully considered my reflection in the full-length mirror. Not bad. For my last year as a teenager, I thought I looked good. Pale green eyes that stood out from the surrounding heavy black liner on a cute face. Lashes were long and thick. A small mouth with lips stained black. My figure was okay. I would never be in my mother's league, but the resemblance was there. A few more years of maturity and another surgery or two should get me to where I wanted my overall look to be. That, plus magic would help.

My reflection was currently sporting a frown. Everything looked okay, but I was nervous. I kept running my gaze over the stark black material of the dress, seeking out any possible imperfection that might possibly be used against promoting me in the very best of light. To others, it might seem quite silly, but it was a serious matter to me. I knew I wanted to provide the best first impression for my new employers. I pulled at yet another thread that marred the uniformity of the outfit I had chosen. I hated being anything less than the very best when first meeting someone of importance and, from all of the research over the past three weeks, the Professors at Hogwart's School for Witchcraft and Wizardry were reputed to be the very best.

They had better be.

"I can't believe that you're actually going to leave me here all alone to go to another school." A voice spoke from the now open doorway into my room.

At my brother's interruption of my self-inspection, I turned and glared at the oversized young man. Pugsley knew better than to barge into my room without asking. I'd have to remind him that just because I was leaving to start living in another country and away from the Family's estate that proper manners shouldn't be forgotten; namely that my bedroom was off limits.

There were still those new poisons and potions Grandmamma had taught me last month that I had not tried out yet. Maybe Pugsley had just volunteered.

"Knock much?" I returned my gaze to the mirror. For a nineteen-year-old teenager, I was glad that I had decided to stop with those silly pigtails after graduating from Ilvermorny, but maybe should not have cut so much of its length. It was above the shoulders now and kept getting in the way. Maybe I should shave it all off. Aunt Dementia would be flattered.

"You trying to catch me naked again? You haven't done that since my surgery." I accused him from the mirror. "And besides, Father wasn't happy when he found those old photos from before I was thirteen hidden inside that Playwitch under your mattress."

"The magazine was Dad's!"

"And the Polaroids were of me."

My older sibling offered an unrepentant grin. It was a dangerous look for him. Pugsley already gave off the appearance of a deranged serial killer with that far away dead gaze in his eyes. Along with his large, lumbering size and maniacal grin, he was the stuff of nightmares. Definitely not somebody you would want to meet in a dark alley all alone at night… or any other time, for that matter.

"Come on, Wednesday. I stopped peeping on you after you decided to lose your dick. Dad was only upset because you lied about me forcing you into those poses. You know you liked it. Anyway, I can always look at the pictures I took while you were asleep last week. Mom told you to stop sleeping nude if you didn't want to take the chance."

"She did not."

"Well, she should have." Pugsley ran his eyes up and down my body. "I miss you being a little boy in girl's clothes, anyway. It was more fun getting your little weenie to tent your skirts and dresses. Your ass still looks good, though. Maybe I'd be interested in taking more pictures if you grew some tits worth looking at."

"Ugh. You're such a pervert." I rolled my eyes. That he chose now to again bring up me being a transgender female… I looked the best that I could, considering. If only becoming a female had come automatically with curves like my mother. Pugsley was right that I was not very blessed up top even after the surgery. Mother said we would see about getting me into a larger bra size in a few years. "You were just jealous that mine was bigger than yours and I still gave it up."

Choosing to ignore any response he might have, I sat on my bed next to the suitcase that was finally packed (it only took me five days to decide what to take). I reached down to slip on my shoe, careful not to cause the tights to bunch over the ankle. "And I know you don't have any photographs. None recent, anyway. Aunt Ophelia let me use some of her blood. Nothing will show up without me allowing it… and I didn't Will it." At the thought of the vampire blood I had ingested, I unconsciously ran my tongue over my eyeteeth again. Still blunt and average.

I really wanted fangs.

"So that's why they're so blurry." Pugsley complained. "No fair using vampire powers."

"Yes." Ignoring the possibility that he was actually peeping on me again, I put on the other shoe, stood from the bed and gestured for him to proceed me out of the room. "And Mother and Father aren't 'making me go to another' school. I want to go. Hogwart's is home to several masters of their field; including Professor Vector, Professor Slughorn and Headmistress McGonagall. And that doesn't even include Professor Dumbledore. He's a legend in several classes, including Alchemy."

"You're such a nerd. And Alchemy's still illegal, right?" Pugs offered as we left my bedroom. "I thought you wanted to stay close to home? Help me learn the business from Dad?"

"I do. Maybe. Eventually." I quickly answered. It had been really, really hard to ask the Family for the opportunity to accept the apprenticeship at Hogwart's. Tutored by Grandmamma and Mother, with the occasional help from other Family members, I had excelled at learning magic at home… but we eventually hit a plateau after I turned thirteen and undergone the Familial Ritual. It had been a hard lesson to accept that sometimes people not Family might know more. Since graduation last year, however, I was out performing everyone. Professors included.

I needed more. It had been like providence that the opportunity for learning under so many masters of their craft came when it did.

"Then why?"

I inhaled deeply through my nose. "You're going to be one of the heads of the Addams Family one day, Pugs. You and Pubert. Now that you're of age, Father's started teaching you everything that you're going to need to know, right?" The blonde young man nodded, his face showing that he was actually listening to me for once.

"Okay."

"I don't know how you can't already know about how the Addams siblings work, but they always stop at three. You get that, right?"

"Yeah?" Pugsley scratched at his chin. "So?"

"So… look at Father, Uncle Fester and Aunt Hester. The boys are comrades. Compatriots. The male children are in charge. However, the female stands separate. Different. She acts as a guardian, of sorts. Walks her own path."

"We were brothers. We could have been in charge."

I felt my black lips start to turn upwards at his argument. We 'had' been brothers, whether we stayed that way or not. "We were. But when Mother got pregnant, we all knew it was going to be a boy. I totally knew it was going to be a boy. Three Addams boys never work. It would have been a bloodbath."

He chuckled darkly. "Like we don't try to seriously maim each other. Always have, Sis." He apparently liked being able to call me 'Sis' all of the time now. I was not opposed to the nickname.

"You only think I've been trying. Mother made me take it easy on you."

"Yeah. Right."

I just looked at him before continuing the explanation. "Three boys? It would not have worked. Trust me. And I didn't want it to."

"And that's why you decided to be a girl?" His face got all scrunched up from trying to think too hard. I truly hoped that Pubert got some brains. Pugsley obviously did not.

"No. At least, not just that. I always felt better as a girl. I knew deep down that I was supposed to be a female." We had reached the stairs. I gestured for Pugsley to go first… better able to not be pushed down the stairwell that way. "Mother told me that being a girl Addams would be difficult. Maybe harder than anything else I would ever do, especially since I was born male. To know what I was giving up. But it's what I wanted. And, in the end, it will make the Family stronger."

"Family first."

I nodded. "Absolutely. Family always comes first. But until Pubert reaches his majority, where would I fit in?"

"You'd be my sister." He answered immediately. I took a moment to savor the strangely warm feeling that filled my chest. It wasn't a feeling that we often shared, especially considering the horrors we put one another through... but that he recognized me as his sister rather than as a brother helped make it all worth it.

"I am. And I always will be now, but I need a purpose." I smirked. "More than just trying to toughen you up by trying to murder you. Or for you to spy on so you can get your pervy freak on."

It was good that he smiled. The Fates only knew that we had literally tried to kill one another so many times during our preteen days. I wondered if he knew that I had succeeded three times and that he only still drew breath upon this Earth due to their Grandmamma's mastery over Necromancy... another now illegal Craft. That… and Aunt Ophelia's possession of a stolen Time Turner… something that I was not supposed to know about.

"And this British school can give you that purpose?"

"Not exactly, but close." My free hand pushed the black hair behind my ear. It was definitely too short. "I have a purpose. Mother and Father even approve. I just now need to find the best way to reach my goal. This school can help with that. It's a means to my end."

"What's the end? The goal?"

"Not telling." I offered with an attempt at a smile. I knew that my smile was not very pleasant. Being scary was fun. "Not yet, anyway. But you'll be one of the first to know."

"I don't understand."

"I'm not explaining it very well." I stopped to consider what I could say. What I could reveal. "You know that the way you and I act towards one another is how Aunt Hester and Uncle Fester treated one another. You knew that, right?"

"Of course. Uncle Fester hates Aunt Hester."

"He doesn't, actually. They love one another, but there were certain… expectations." I tried out that word. Maybe it was not exactly right. "As an Addams, certain things had to happen a particular way. When it was just the two of us, we were good as brothers, but when Pubert got added to the mix, something had to change. I had to change."

My brother offered a weird laugh. "Yeah. Still don't get it."

"Ask Uncle Fester. Better yet, ask Aunt Hester next time you see her. She probably could answer your questions in a way that your dumbass might comprehend."

"Bitch." He chuckled. "Okay, Sis. Be all mysterious. I'll get someone to interpret your stupid nonsense. You go and enjoy learning stupid magic stuff. Leave me to deal with Dad and Mom on my own."

The two of us traversed the dimly lit hallways and finally turned into the living room. I would really miss this place while across the ocean. If time away at school had proven anything, it was that the rest of the world had no appreciation for the weird. My dorm room at Ilvermorny actually had paintings of flowers on the wall. Flowers!

I nodded when I saw our younger brother, Pubert, sitting at the dining room table. It amazed me how much like Father he was in appearance, sans that mustache he had been born with. Much as infants lost the hair they were born with, his mustache had fallen out just after his first birthday. I enjoyed calling him 'baby face' after that. Other than the lack of his facial hair, he had that Mediterranean slash Italian slash Greek complexion with dark eyes and even darker hair… not as black as mine, but that deep brown.

The eleven-year-old boy was currently tearing pages from a large book, tossing the ripped pages over his shoulder. Typical. At least he was reading the pages before discarding them this time. If we were lucky, it was one of Grandmamma's cookbooks. I doubted that it was the case as he studied one of the torn pages before folding it and putting in his shirt pocket.

"It won't be that bad for you. Father can never sit still for long." I continued, ignoring his grumbling about 'that' being the problem. "And Mother's going to go crazy since the 'mistake' here has decided to accept the Invitation to Hogwart's." I pointed at the preteen.

"Yeah. I guess."

"From what we have learned, the Ministry of Magic over there is all kinds of screwed up. I even heard that Ambassador Munster asked for a new posting this year, otherwise she would resign. You know that means the President is going to try to get Father to accept the job and get Mother and Father out of the country."

"Dad as an Ambassador sounds like a really, really bad idea."

"I don't want Mom and Dad to follow me to Hogwart's." Pubert threw out, adding his unwanted opinion to the conversation. Both Pugsley and I ignored him.

At seeing we were not going to respond, I heard my younger sibling call me "tramp" under his breath. Anything promiscuous-sounding was his chosen insult towards me ever since the little scoundrel caught me sneaking into my room way past curfew. It would not have been so bad, but my clothes had not been on correctly and covered in grass stains, dried mud and blood splattered.

Not a giant leap to tell what I had been up to.

"Whatever." I offered. He only smirked before going back to destroying the book in his hands.

Looking at my older brother, I rolled my eyes. I really needed to get out of that habit. "But then you could come, as well. It might be good for 'you' to get out of the country for a while."

Pugsley's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why do you say that?"

"Really? I've read the papers. I have seen the news. Four teenage girls and three preteen boys known to have vanished over the past six months?" I shook my head. "You're getting sloppy. That's too many for this area. You should have stuck with the homeless and the runaways. The occasional hooker. Hardly anybody misses them."

"But I have to clean them." The elder Addams sibling whined. "And they barely have any substance to them. No life. All that work for such little reward. I needed more."

"Uncle Fester taught you better. Do I need to tell?"

Pubert looked up from the mess he was making. "I heard Uncle Fester and Dad already talking about it."

"You were spying, you little creep." Pugsley said.

"You're just upset that you're gonna be in trouble." The younger boy shot back.

"As if!" Pugsley intelligently answered. "I've done lots worse."

I sighed. "Pugs, he's right." It was difficult to ignore the victorious look the youngest in the room was suddenly sporting. Nobody in the house liked agreeing with the littlest Addams. "Seven is a lot."

"You're one to talk. It took what? Thirteen virgin females for your Familial Ritual? I'm barely half that number."

"Yeah, but those thirteen were planned. Carefully stalked and properly taken. No one the wiser. I do not think even one of them made the news. You, on the other hand… there was a segment on America's Most Disgusting Unsolved Crimes!"

"Fine. I'll slow down. But there's no way I'm following you and Pubbie there to England, Dad as an Ambassador or not."

"Great Britain."

"Who cares?" He retorted. "Not happening."

I shrugged again. "Fine, but I thought it sounded fun."

"You just want Dad to accept so you can cause mayhem and destruction under Diplomatic Immunity while keeping me under their watchful eye."

"Well, I am an Addams, after all. And somebody needs to keep you in check. Father might be a lawyer, but we both know he'd let you rot in prison to toughen you up."

Pugsley appeared as if he was about to retort when…

"Children."

All three of us stopped talking and were brought up short at our mother's call. We had learned early on that when Morticia Addams spoke, failing to provide her with your undivided attention led to painful lessons… and not the good type of pain, either.

"Mom?" "Yes, Mother?" We responded immediately over one another, standing up straight. Pubert was silent, but he stood up from the chair he had been sitting in.

"There the three of you are." The stunning Addams matriarch glided into the room. Where I knew that I could pull off attractive… blessed by Agrat bat Mahlat when I was thirteen, as well as having the best cosmetic surgery money could buy last year… I would never be in my mother's league. The light throughout the room seemed to artfully dim, offering only a single ray of illumination across Morticia Addams' eyes… almost as if the world was but a film and our mother was the star. Her long hair fell behind her like a cloak. As always, the older witch was in a black dress that strategically complimented the woman's beauty.

I hoped to maybe one day achieve a fraction of Mother's seductively succubus-like appearance. For now, I would take being a pretty, goth female.

"We've received a message from the Office for International Portkeys. The window for what they consider favorable weather conditions in crossing the Atlantic is now less than three hours away. Wednesday, darling, we will need to be off soon. Lurch is bringing the car around to the front. Get your bags, please. Don't forget your wand, either. The Isles get testy when magic is performed without a wand."

The tall woman glanced at her oldest son. "Pugsley, dear, I'm going to trust you to not destroy the place while your sister and I are out. You'll watch your brother, yes?"

Pugsley sighed loudly. "I was hoping to go out tonight. Maybe see what nightlife I can find. Find a little fun since Sis is leaving."

Morticia seemed to think for a moment before finally nodding. "That's fine." She made a motion with her hand; the smell of ozone sharply hit my nose. Magic, of course. Our mother handed the newly Called currency to Pugs. "Your father is all upset that his darling baby girl is leaving. He's worked himself up into a right state and gone through his entire box of cigars. If you find something appropriate, please get it. You know how your father gets when he's forced to breathe clean air for too long. He and Thing are in the study weeping while going through the Family albums."

"I'm on it."

With my older brother apparently settled, Mother moved her gaze towards Pubert. "You, young man, will go directly to your Grandmamma's suite. She'll have a few things for you to do. No back talk."

"Yes, Mom."

It then became my turn again. "And you, darling. You look very nice. Grab a cover from the closet. English weather is raining right now. Definitely not that leather thing you picked up in Chicago. Maybe the Matilda Wormwood Cloak we got you last Yule. The jade threading goes well with your eyes."

"Yes, Mother. Of course."

"Your Familiar is in his case?"

"Yes, ma'am." I answered respectfully.

"Have fun." "See ya later." Both brothers called over their shoulders choosing not to waste the opportunity to escape being in our mother's presence a moment longer, not when she seemed on a mission to get things accomplished. I wanted to send Pugs off with a rude gesture that I learned from Emily Haine just last month, but he was not looking this way any longer. So much for a tearful goodbye.

Asshats, the both of them!

After grabbing the cloak from the hallway closet that Mother suggested and hoping that while in the closet it had not gotten too dirty, thereby ruining all of the time I spent on the dress earlier, I pulled out my yew wand and summoned the suitcase from my bedroom. Once it arrived, I picked up the luggage, as well as my Familiar's carrier before walking over to Mother. Homer was not happy to be contained. "I'm ready."

"So you are, darling." Morticia smiled fondly. "We'll be on our way now. I think it best to leave your Father to his misery. He so rarely has a good excuse to wallow. Yes?" I nodded. "Besides, we'll see you in a month when we drop Pubert off for his first day at Hogwart's."

The car ride to the International Portkey Office took a little while, even with Lurch's driving. The long sedan was an older model that usually turned a few heads. I initially wondered why Mother and I had not simply Apparated there, but when she started talking, I understood.

"Wednesday, darling." She began. "Your father and I are worried that you are tempting Fate by accepting this apprenticeship at Hogwart's."

"We've been over this, Mother." I repeated the argument that I had used the last time she brought this up. "This offers the best way to succeeding."

"I know. I remember. But you are still within the first year after the surgery. The doctors wanted you to take it easy."

"For a No-Maj? Sure, but I am magical. And I'm an Addams."

Mother smiled softly. "You are my daughter. That is definitely true. What about your transition? The truth will come out eventually."

"I am not ashamed of who I am… or how I got to where I am now." I protested. "They will either accept me when the time comes or I will leave them all behind."

We both sat in the silence of the automobile's luxurious back seat, the hum of the gasoline-powered engine soothing in a weird sort of way. I was willing to wait. My transition was enough for a normal mother to worry, but not Morticia Addams, so I simply bided my time.

"You are going to be directly in the sights of Albus Dumbledore." Her voice held a hint of trepidation. "The Potters. I do not know if your father's idea for us to be there will work."

"It will be okay, Mother." I carefully placed my hand on top of hers.

The tall, gorgeous woman that was my mother finally nodded. "Of course it will, my darling."

I hoped I had not tempted Fate with our statements…

…ooo000OOO * OOO000ooo…

I hated waiting. The magical number that was listed over the front desk across the room that signified each person's place in line currently showed nineteen forty-nine.

My number was twenty twenty-one.

Mother had finally left me here and headed home after we reached our destination. I was surprised that she left me alone considering that my mother was still unsure about my leaving for Hogwart's. With all of my luggage properly shrunken and now carefully arranged inside my custom-made Wormwood cloak pocket, I only had to concern myself with carrying my Familiar's carrier, so Lurch was not required to remain either. It was lucky that Homer was a spider and did not weigh all that much – his unusually large size notwithstanding.

The International Portkey Office for New York City was the epitome of dull and boring, as was the case for most governmental buildings that the Magical American Government seemed to choose. The plastic chair I had been directed towards after signing in for my scheduled trip was hard and had a bad leg making all attempts at relaxing difficult.

I considered trying to read the book I had brought along, but the television on the wall was playing some inane Japanese cartoon about a racecar driver and his brother's pet monkey.

How was that entertainment?

"Addams." A man called my name. He was dressed much as every government public service worker you had ever dealt with would be, from the wrinkled short-sleeved button down shirt (most likely originally white in color, though more of a yellow now) and plain tie down to the unflattering eyeglasses and comb-over haircut. "Addams." I stood. The office drone looked my way and I nodded.

"Addams?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Wednesday Addams?" He apparently wanted or needed further clarification.

"That's me."

He looked down at the parchment in his hand before he looked at me carefully. He seemed satisfied, finally. "Follow me, please."

I glanced over my shoulder at the number on the wall. Two thousand and three. Not my turn, yet. I shifted Homer's carrier to my weaker hand and made sure that my wand was within reach. Something was happening and I silently berated myself for sending Mother off too soon.

The man who had still not introduced himself led me into what I assumed were the back offices for the International Portkey Office. There were closed doors initially, though we passed those fairly quickly and he now directed me around a room full of cubicles, each filled with even more people trapped in a world of unending bureaucracy.

At the end of the trek we had followed was door that appeared like someone slightly important waited inside. There was no name revealing who was behind the door, but the script written upon the opaque glass of said door read assistant director, so I assumed this was who had requested my presence.

I hoped they did not make me miss my Portkey.

My guide into the uninteresting inner-workings of this building knocked on the door. Without waiting for a reply or answer to enter, he opened the door and gestured for me to proceed him.

Nodding politely, I carefully moved past the office worker, careful to not touch him. Upon entering what I foolishly expected to be a tiny office, I was flabbergasted to find myself face to face with one of the most infamous and reviled wizards of the twentieth century.

"How are you…"

"Stupefy!" The Dark Lord cast at me before I could prepare any type of defense. I deserved whatever came next. Falling to the floor, I wondered if my journey had ended before it ever could begin.

Upon hitting the floor, my mind tried to fight off the effects of the Stunning Charm, but it was hard. I had not expected a battle before I reached the United Kingdom.

"Sire?" The office drone's voice sounded so far away. "We don't have much time."

"I'm aware."

"Will this work?"

"It had better." Their voices were slowly going away. "I've waited too long for such an opportunity to let it pass by"

"Of course, sire."

Then there was nothing but blackness.

…ooo000OOO * OOO000ooo…

"This way." A woman's voice offered kindly. My first reaction was to pull my arm from her grasp, to attempt to stand upright under my own power, but the roiling in my stomach and the urge to regurgitate everything I had eaten in the last forty-eight hours prevented my doing so. As it was, even with her assistance, I barely made it to the bucket provided before vomiting.

"There there." The woman patted my back. "First time using an international Portkey?"

"Last if it can be helped." I retorted back once I felt done. I accepted the towel and cup of chilled water. "Never again." I promised.

"They always say that." She smiled at me. "But they always come back. Quickest and daffiest way to jump the continents."

I glared at the dark skinned witch. She was so dark in appearance that I doubted one could find her in an unlit room. Her hair, skin and eyes were all the same monotone in color. I found her captivating, especially when she smiled.

"Thank you." I said after swallowing the cool liquid, handing her back the towel she had offered me.

"Of course." She continued to smile. "Wednesday Addams, I presume?"

"That would be correct." I handed over my Magical Passport and Letter of Approval for a Temporary Residence. She looked them over and touched her wand to the bottom left corner.

"Wonderful. You just made your deadline. Was there a problem on the origin side?"

"Not that I am aware of." I scrunched my eyebrows down in thought. "There should not have been any delay. I had arrived on time at the International Portkey Office. Early, in fact. My number was called and I went in. I relayed as such to the witch."

"Hm." She looked at her clipboard after returning my documentation to me. "I'll send a request for a system check. If the casting has a delay that we aren't aware of, it could cause problems down the line."

"Should I worry?" I asked.

"Not at all. No Splinching on this end. No undue Hexes or Curses recorded. Everything looks good." She nodded. "You are good to go, Miss Addams."

"Thank you."

The black-skinned witch directed me towards a door behind me. "Welcome to England, Miss Addams. I hope you enjoy your stay."