I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.
Christmas break turned out to hold a wide array of interesting experiences.
During the family assembly in the sitting room to open presents, Constance and Mihnea received their own custom guns built by Syn. Connie's was a compact, 9mm pistol named Persephone. It was small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, but powerful enough to pack a pretty big punch. The metal had an oil sheen finish that changed from black to blues and greens as the light washed over it. Delicate looking vines with small blossoms were inscribed along the barrel and down to the grip. Mihnea's was Venom – a larger, higher caliber combat pistol with dual-toned construction. The grip and top half of the rounded slide were a matte black polymer, while the lower half of the slide, trigger, sights, and the hammer were polished steel. The ejection port was situated on the left side to take Mihnea's left-handedness into account, and a tribal looking triskelion was engraved on each side of the handle. Both of the guns came complete with silencers that matched their designs. It was surprising that they received them at the same time rather than the boy getting his first. Constance was two years younger, and she thought she'd have to wait a while before receiving a gun of her own.
"I honestly wasn't intending to make one for you so soon." the redhead admitted. "But when we heard about what happened on Halloween, we decided you needed one."
Connie's mother nodded. "You're to take them to school and keep them on you at all times." she said, then looked over at Mihnea. "Both of you."
The two children looked at each other.
"But mom," Constance began. "Taking a weapon to school is..."
"A wand is a weapon with the right spell." her father interrupted. "A gun just gets the job done faster." he looked at them seriously. "If a troll can break into the school, then other things can too. If you ever run across some kind of monster, you shoot the damn thing and make it look like some sort of magical accident."
That must have been why they gave them silencers, she thought. They would mask the sound of a gunshot. While the thought of carrying a gun on her all the time seemed a monumental task, she realized the design of their school uniforms would make it easier. The black outer robe was so long and billowy you could probably carry a rifle beneath it and no one would be able to tell.
It was after the rest of the presents were opened that Mihnea brought out a discovery he had made during a trip to Hogsmeade village.
"You have got to try one of these." he said, thrusting a dark red lollipop toward Seras.
The draculina made a face and waved her hands. "Oh, no thank you." she told him. "The last time you gave me one of those god awful beans, it tasted like vomit. I'm not doing that agai..."
Mihnea quickly popped the candy into her mouth while it was open and Seras went quiet. She rolled the lollipop around in her mouth for a bit, then pulled it out and peered at it.
"Oh my God, it tastes like blood!" she exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"
"Honeydukes in Hogsmeade." he replied. "It's a candy shop. The owner has a niece or something that was turned and he invented them for her. They're stuck in the back so they're hard to find, and the people who see them think they're a gag gift to gross people out."
Pip's eyes widened and he wiggled his fingers at the box filled with 'blood-pops'.
"Oooh, let me 'ave one!" he stuck one in his mouth. " 'ey! Zhese zhings are good!"
Alucard arched a brow. "Candied blood. What an unusual concept."
But, of course, with it being blood candy, he had to try one for himself to see what it was like. It looked like he approved of them too. There was no stranger sight in the world than the intimidating No Life King walking around the manor with a lollipop in his mouth. The humans now had blackmail fodder to tease him with.
It was a few days after Christmas that they received a report of vampires causing trouble in South Wales. Alucard felt Mihnea was old enough and mature enough to take part, so he got to go out on the mission with them. Rather than being thrown in the thick of actual combat, he was positioned on a rooftop with a sniper rifle. He made his first kill that night. While Alucard and Seras took care of the first two vampires inside a house, the third attempted to escape. Mihnea was the one who fired the shot that took it down. A single bullet fired right into the back of the male vampire's head. Aunt Syn was so proud, she looked like she wanted to cry.
"My baby is all grown up and killing things!" she gushed, smothering her son in hugs and kisses.
"Mom!" the boy exclaimed as he tried to escape from her. "Mom, I can't breathe!"
Constance got her first taste of involvement in the business side of Hellsing as well. Her mother had taken over leadership of the organization when she was her age, so she thought it was appropriate for her to learn more about it. Connie was allowed to sit in on a Round Table meeting held not long after Mihnea's first mission. She had never heard so much arguing in her life. She had no idea how her mother put up with it.
"Politics is nothing more than a game in which all the players are attempting to gain more power than the others." Integra told her later. "You must never falter or cower to them. The smallest display of weakness will be exploited and used against you. Hellsing's purpose is too important for us to lose the influence we have."
The girl's brows furrowed. "If what we do is so important, then why do we always have to fight with the other knights?"
"Because their opinions of how things should be done are often different from ours." her mother explained. "And there are some – not all, but some – who want to have power over us just to be able to claim the honor. Being in a position of power is a double-edged sword, Constance. It can corrupt lesser men into using it for their own gain rather than the purpose it was intended for. You must never let yourself be corrupted by power or lose sight of our mission. Hellsing doesn't seek power for itself, but for the betterment of the people we protect. You have to be strong enough to do whatever is necessary to fulfill that purpose, and fight off anyone who would take it away from you."
That was... intimidating. Connie was thankful she wasn't placed in the position her mother had been in when she was her age. She honestly didn't know how she would handle it. Hellsing's job was a dangerous one, and the smallest mistake carried a heavy price tag. She hoped it was a long time before all that responsibility was placed on her shoulders.
"An invisibility cloak! Do you know how rare those things are? Who gave it to you?" Hermione exclaimed.
Christmas break had finally come to an end, and everyone was gathered together in the common room to share stories of their holiday. Harry had mysteriously gotten an invisibility cloak that had once belonged to his father, the Weasleys all received hand-knitted sweaters with their initials on them from their mother (Fred and George exchanged theirs to confuse everyone about who was who), and Hermione told them tales of her skiing expedition. (I fell flat on my face four times! It was so embarrassing!)
Constance found she couldn't say much of anything. Her whole holiday had been so wrapped up in family matters that it had to be kept secret. This business of hiding things was much harder than she had imagined it would be. She had to settle on giving them a simple 'it was fine'. Of course, with her friends being the way they were, that wasn't enough for them.
"It was fine?" Ron repeated. "That's it? It was fine?"
"Yes, that's it." she replied, then held out a tin, hoping to distract them. "Snickerdoodle?"
Harry's eyes lit up and he grabbed one. All the Weasleys just looked confused.
"Snicker-what?" the twins asked.
The three who had grown up with muggles stared at them. They didn't have these in the magical world? That was awful!
"Snickerdoodles." Connie repeated. "Try one."
"They're very good." Harry said, talking with his mouth full. He swallowed. "Did your mom make these?"
She shook her head. "My Aunt Syn did."
Ron stopped chewing the cookie he had taken. "Aunt? You mean Bassarab's mom?"
Constance looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "It's not like they're poisoned or anything." she pointed at Harry. "See? He's fine."
The boy looked suspicious, but he resumed chewing. Hermione took one of the confections for herself, then glanced at her sideways.
"I saw you two at King's Cross when you arrived." she commented. "You were riding in a nice car."
Constance blinked at her. She didn't like where this was going.
"So?" she asked, pretending it wasn't a big deal. "My parents have a nice car."
"It was a Rolls Royce."
Damn it. Trust Hermione Granger to actually pay attention to something like that. To her left, Harry sputtered and looked like he was about to start choking. Once again, all the ginger headed boys with them looked completely bewildered.
"What's a Rolls Royce?" Ron questioned.
"It's one of the most luxurious cars there is." Hermione said smartly. "Only extremely wealthy and very important people own them."
Damn it. Connie thought again. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Now everyone was staring at her like she had grown a second head.
"You're rich?" Fred and George questioned, looking at her intently.
There was no way to get around it now. But maybe there was a way to play this to her advantage.
"Maybe I don't like talking about the things I do with my family because I don't want people to treat me differently." she said, then looked at Harry. "If no one recognized your name or what your scar meant, would you run around telling people?"
The boy looked thoughtful. "No..." he said after a long pause. "I wouldn't."
"See?" she told them. "When people know you're different, they treat you different. That's just the way people are. So there are things I would prefer people didn't know because who my family is, how much money they have, and what they do to get it doesn't matter. I'd be the same person with or without it. You guys are my friends, and I don't want you to see me any differently than you do now. So please don't ask me about things like that, because I'm not talking about it."
They all looked amongst each other. They could tell from the way she spoke that it was important to her and she felt strongly about it.
"You know it's not a big deal, right?" Harry told her. "I mean, you're our friend. You shouldn't have to keep secrets from your friends. None of us would care..."
Yeah, he said that now. But if they knew everything, they would probably care a lot more than they thought they would. These were her friends and she thought they were trustworthy, but there was too much risk involved. She decided to switch tactics.
"It's not just about the money." she said, thinking about what she could tell them that would get them off of her back. "My parents... work for the government. There's a lot of stuff that goes on at my house that's a matter of national security and I can't talk about it. Can we please drop it now?"
The mention of government seemed to get through to them. Connie knew for a fact that the Weasleys' father worked for the Ministry of Magic, so there was probably a lot of things they knew that they couldn't talk about either. They all looked at each other again thoughtfully, then came to a mutual decision.
"Okay."
Oh, thank God. She thought. They were going to respect her enough to leave it alone. She could only hope that the subject wouldn't come up again, because trying to carefully avoid answering questions was tiresome.
"Thank you." she said, letting out a breath of relief.
The boys all nodded, and Hermione studied her carefully. "You can't say anything about your holiday?" she asked. "Nothing at all?"
Constance considered it. Maybe there was something she could talk about...
"Well... I got a new violin for my birthday." she offered. It was a small thing, but at least it was something they could know about.
The boys blinked in surprise.
"Birthday?" Ron questioned. "When was it?"
"December 29th." she reported.
"Happy late birthday, then!" Fred and George piped up.
"So you play the violin?" Harry asked.
The girl nodded. "My family thinks that everyone should learn some sort of instrument to teach them culture and discipline." she told them. She had thought at first they would make her learn the piano, but Mihnea was already studying that one. She wanted to do something different, and she loved the sound of stringed instruments.
"Blimey." Ron said, looking impressed. "I've never met anyone who could play one before..."
"Did you bring it with you?" George asked.
"Of course!" Constance replied. "Would you like me to play something for you?"
They all looked entranced by the idea, so she ran off to pull her violin case out of the trunk still packed up in her room. Maybe it wasn't going to be so awkward after all. Even if she couldn't share everything, she could still give them her music.
A.N: I could totally see Mihnea pulling a fast one and giving Seras all the nasty flavored beans. :P
Okie dokie, so I am going to be heading out to watch Deathly Hallows part II in an hour or so. I'll answer the questions I've gotten in reviews and PMs when I get back. (just so you know I'm not ignoring you). Happy release of the last Harry Potter movie day! ~throws confetti in celebration~ Here's to hoping I don't turn into a blubbering idiot when my favorite characters kick the bucket on screen.