I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.
Constance and Hermione were allowed to leave the hospital the next morning to return to class. Ron was kept under observation for an extra day before he was let out. Harry though, remained unconscious for the better part of a week. When he finally woke up, Madam Pomfrey kept an extra close eye on him to make sure he would be alright. Needless to say, it was a good while before the rest of them learned what happened that night.
"It was Quirrel." Harry told them. He rubbed at the scrapes he still had on his nose. "He's the one who was killing the unicorns. Voldemort was living on the back of his head and he was drinking their blood to stay alive. That's why he wanted the stone."
"Don't say his name!" Ron exclaimed, glancing around like he expected some dark specter to jump out and attack them.
No wonder the professor's turban smelled so bad, Connie thought. There had been a half-dead dark wizard without a body latched onto him like a parasite. Still, she couldn't help but feel vindicated.
"You see? I told you it wasn't Snape."
Ron recovered from his sudden bout of fear at the sound of Voldemort's name and shot a dirty look in her direction. "Yeah, yeah." he said, waving a hand at her. "You were right and we were wrong. Come off it already."
Hermione scooted forward in her armchair, looking worried. "You don't think he'll try to come back, do you? You Know Who. I mean, he wont be able to do much without a body of his own..."
"I don't know." Harry replied. "I hope not."
That's all they could really do, wasn't it? Hope. But the fact of the matter was that even though Quirrel's body had been destroyed, Voldemort's spirit remained. It was out there somewhere and if he could come back once, it was likely he could find a way to do it again.
Even with all the serious events that had recently taken place, there was still the end of term to think about. Poor Harry had missed a full week of review and still had to take his final exams on schedule. That meant the four of them spent several long nights together helping him cram. Studying that way meant he probably wouldn't remember the information long term, but he'd most likely have done the same thing regardless of the circumstances.
The feast on the last day of school was when the coveted house cup would be awarded. Mihnea said Slytherin had never lost the house cup for as long as he'd been there. Sure enough, the Great Hall was decked out in green and silver and banners bearing the Slytherin crest hung over every table. Connie didn't really keep track of who had how many points, but the tally on the display board just outside the Hall was shocking. Gryffindor was in last place. Hell, even Hufflepuff was ahead of them. That was almost embarrassing. Draco was already seated at his house's table, gloating like he was the whole reason they'd won. When he caught sight of them walking past, he opened his mouth to say something snotty. Constance saw Mihnea lean back and reach behind two people to give the boy's ear a hard twist to keep him quiet. Once all the students were present and seated, Dumbledore rose from the teachers table to announce the winner. Just why he had to do that, Connie didn't know. It should have been obvious from the color of the banners hanging everywhere. But when he began speaking, she paused and listened intently.
"Yes, yes, Slytherin is in first place with 475 points, and I congratulate all of you on a job well done." the headmaster proclaimed. "However, in light of recent events, I have a few last minute points to award."
The entire hall went silent to see who would be receiving these new points. Depending on who it was, the winner of the cup could change. Dumbledore looked around for a moment, then focused on Hermione.
"To Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect and logic when others were in grave peril, fifty points."
Holy hell, he was giving points to Gryffindor. Hermione blushed, and the headmaster smiled before going on.
"To Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, fifty points."
Fred and George reached around several people to give their brother hard slaps on the back in congratulations. Connie was smiling proudly at him when she heard her name called out.
"To Miss Constance Stryker, for an impressive utilization of knowledge in potions and mathematics to spare others from a most painful death, fifty points."
Her eyes went wide. She hadn't thought she'd done all that. She had just been double checking to make sure everything was in order before they started drinking... She was so shocked by it, she almost missed Harry being given another sixty points for 'pure nerve and outstanding courage'. When the loud shouts and applause died down, Connie heard several Gryffindors say that they were tied with Slytherin now. What on earth was the protocol for a tie? Were they supposed to share the award, or did there have to be a tie breaker?
Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly. "I'm not quite finished." he announced. "It takes a great deal of bravery to face your enemies, but a good deal more to stand up to your friends. Therefore, I award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."
Neville's mouth fell open and he looked around at the students who were shaking him and letting out loud cheers. He had lain on the floor all night unable to move until McGonagall was free to go back upstairs to remove the spell Hermione had put on him. He had earned those things and though he had gotten the fewest of the lot of them, his points were the ones that put their house in the lead. As Dumbledore changed all the banners to gold and crimson, the Slytherins looked pissed. Several of them snatched their hats off in disgust or beat their fists on the table. No one else seemed to care. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff joined in the wild celebration of their win. The first years would find out later that it was the first time Gryffindor had won the house cup in six years.
It was a wonderful way to end her first year of school.
"One minute it's giant spiders and trolls, and the next it's three-headed dogs and plants trying to strangle you to death." Integra said with one of her cigars clamped firmly between her teeth. "I swear, if that bloody school doesn't kill you, nothing ever will."
Dumbledore or McGonagall must have written home about what happened, because when Constance and Mihnea got back to the manor, they already knew everything. There was no point in trying to hide or lie about it. Connie's fork paused halfway to her mouth.
"Giant spiders?" she asked, confused. "I didn't do anything with giant spiders..."
Mihnea raised his hand. "That was me."
"What? When?" she asked.
"My first year." he replied. "I was exploring the dark forest and found a whole nest of them. Those webs you saw when I took you there? Those were made by the babies. The fully grown ones are as big as a house. Why do you think I came home that Christmas asking dad to teach me how to control animals? If you think dealing with a cerberus is bad, you try having thirty of those nasty fuckers chase after you."
Aunt Syn smacked Mihnea in the back of the head. "Watch your language!"
Connie's mother closed her good eye and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Don't tell me things like this." she said. "The more I hear, the less likely I am to let you go back."
"Oh, come now, master." Alucard said with a deep chuckle. "You said it yourself. If they survive the school, nothing will ever be able to kill them. Survival is a life skill that can only be learned through first-hand experience." he gave the knight a grin. "You were facing down traitorous family members and killing vampires when you were her age. Surely the young master is capable of handling a dog and a few weeds."
Integra glared him down in disapproval, then sighed. "I suppose you have a point." she conceded.
Connie's dad opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but was interrupted by their butler walking in. Jackson had Archimedes perched on his left arm and the bird held no less than three letters in his beak.
"Mail from school, I believe." the man reported.
Archimedes flew from his arm to perch on Connie's shoulder. She winced when his talons dug in, and she gave him a small nudge. The owl immediately corrected himself and found a way to keep his balance without hurting her. She then reached to remove the envelopes from his mouth. Two of them were for her, and one was addressed to Mihnea.
"Must be final grades." her cousin said as he took his letter and started ripping it open.
Constance opened the first of hers and found he was right. The parchment displayed all of the final grades she'd received in her classes. She'd gotten O's in Potions, Transfiguration, Charms,, Astronomy, and Herbology. History of Magic was an E – which was still a good grade in her opinion given how boring the class was – and in Defense Against the Dark Arts, she'd gotten an A.
"How on earth did you get an A in your DADA class?" Edmund asked when she passed it over for her parents to examine. "You should have done better than that!"
Connie made a face. "I couldn't help it!" she exclaimed. "Professor Quirrel was the one with Voldemort in the back of his head! He wore that awful turban, he smelled funny, and he stuttered. I couldn't understand half the things that came out of his mouth."
Mihnea glanced up from his grades. "He did have an awful stutter." he agreed.
"Ah ha." her mother said, sounding like she thought that wasn't a good enough excuse. She looked at her over the top of her glasses. "What's the other letter about?"
The girl turned her attention to the second letter she'd received. It looked suspiciously like the same scrawl Professor Snape used to grade his papers. Sure enough, when she opened it she found it was from the Potions Master.
Miss Stryker,
Be advised that while you have proven proficient at third year potions, there remains two years of material that you must master before moving on. Since you have been moved up, you will have only two years, rather than five, to prepare for your potions OWL. I accept no less than O level students into my NEWT level classes, so you must be prepared to do much more than simply pass your examination. As such, I will require an essay, one per week, on the list of topics I have included with this notice. They are to be delivered to me no later than 3:00pm each Friday. Tardiness in delivery for any reason will result in failure. The grades on these assignments will be tallied into your average in my class next year. I expect the arrival of your first assignment by the end of this week. - SS
Constance glanced up from the letter. "It's from Snape. I have to write essays over the summer to prepare for the potions OWL..." she looked back down at the parchment in her hands. "What's an OWL?"
"Ordinary Wizarding Level exams." Mihnea replied. "You take them in your fifth year. I forgot about you having to take your potions one early..."
Oh, she thought. Well, that made sense. If she had skipped two years of classes, then it would be in her best interests to do assignments over the summer to prove she knew the material, wouldn't it?
"And..." she studied the letter again. "What's a NEWT?"
"Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests." her cousin reported. "Those are seventh year before you graduate."
Aunt Syn sniffed. "Finally. The one time they give something an accurate name."
Constance found herself agreeing. If it was a test required for graduation, then it probably would be 'nastily exhausting'. She looked in the envelope the letter came in and found two more pieces of parchment. One was the list of essay topics Snape mentioned. The second... the second she didn't immediately recognize. It looked like a spare scrap of paper with math figures randomly scribbled on it. It took her a moment to realize it was the paper she'd used to work out whether the potions in Snape's logic puzzle were safe for use. How the devil had he gotten it? She glanced back at Snape's letter and found an additional note at the bottom.
P.S. Ten points from Gryffindor for being negligent in the placement of your decimal points.
Connie's eyes widened. "He... he..."
Her parents exchanged a curious look, then turned back to her.
"Constance?" Integra questioned.
The girl thrust the paper out to them. "He took points from me! And school's over! He can't do that can he?"
"What for?" her cousin asked, leaning over to get a look at the parchment.
When he saw the Potions Master had written, Mihnea snorted and clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing too hard. Connie shot an icy death glare in his direction and he coughed.
"It's Professor Snape." he told her. "He can do whatever he wants." the boy cleared his throat. "You should be happy he likes you. He could have not given you the option of doing extra essays."
She didn't particularly care how much he liked her at the moment. Snape had disciplined her for something stupid that hadn't even happened in class! Her father read Snape's note, then looked at her parchment of figures.
"Jesus, Connie, this is simple Algebra." he chided. "How the devil did you wind up putting a decimal in the wrong place?"
"It was a life threatening situation!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't really worried about writing everything out correctly! I knew what the number was, I just accidentally put the decimal one space too far." she couldn't believe she had points taken off for such a thing. "I wasn't even in class!"
Her father looked at her sideways. "Changing the decimal placement changes the whole number. You know that, Connie."
"But I knew what the right number was!" she insisted. "I was just in a hurry and I wrote it down wrong!"
Edmund quirked a brow. "And what would have happened if someone else had gone from your numbers and didn't go back to check that they were right?"
Constance paused and closed her mouth. Well, considering that everything turned out alright in the end, nothing would have happened. But if the situation were different... it could have turned out horribly. She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.
"Okay, fine." she said. "I made a mistake. But I still think it's stupid to have points taken off over the summer."
"Well, if you don't like having points taken away for something like this, then there's only one solution." her dad told her.
Oh shit, no... she thought. She knew exactly what he was going to say, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Oh please, daddy." she said, giving her best attempt at a pout. "Please don't..."
He shook his head. "Nope. We're going to do two hours of Algebraic equations twice a week for the rest of the summer."
Constance wanted to start crying. She should have just kept her mouth shut and not said anything about it. Now she had points taken off for a stupid reason and extra math classes. She slumped in her chair and banged her forehead against the table.
Someone just shoot me. She thought. Math was awful.
Poor Connie. I totally feel her pain. I would want to shoot myself too after being threatened with that. O_o
Okie dokie, Question and Answer time!
Can Syn age and/or die? - She can die, but she wont stay dead permanently unless she and Alucard are killed at the same time. Since share pieces of their souls, both of them are going to be around until Alucard finds a worthy opponent to kill him, or until they both get tired of living and decide to go on and die. I think, given the connection they have, Syn would have either stopped aging completely when they were first mated, or she ages so slowly that you don't notice any change in her.
Can the guns with spirits magically repair themselves? - No. The spirit of the damaged gun will live on and can move into another gun inhabited by a spirit. (such as when Jackal dragged Lasher off to live in his gun when Radu destroyed Lasher's gun.) The physical gun cannot heal or reform itself on it's own. Syn can build an entirely new gun for the spirit, or create something from the mangled pieces of the original weapon.
Can Mihnea change anyone into a ghoul or a vampire? - Nope. I think this is one instance where Syn's blood actually overpowers Alucard's. Mihnea can't infect anyone with his bite. Although I will say that if he were ever to bite a vampire, it would probably kill/seriously hurt them. :)
Are we going to get to see Mihnea and Constance at home over the summer? - Absolutely! I will say that the amount of important stuff happening at Hellsing over the summer will vary, but we will definitely get to see the kids at home.
Can Alucard impregnate Syn? - No, he can't. Since vampires are undead - and therefore not alive - they can't breed with a living human being. Vampires have children through making fledglings. For the sake of continuity with Blood Heritage, I am going to say that Lorcan D'Eath from Harry Potter cannon was part vampire because his mother was transformed while she was pregnant with him. I don't believe there's any specific mention of exactly how he was part vampire in the books, so I'll go the Blade route. To address the issue of virginity before it comes up - We know that Alucard can change someone into a vampire without them being a virgin. And we know he was capable of this before VanHelsing got his hands on him to do experiments - so it's possible that older, more powerful vampires develop the ability to get around the 'only virgins can be made into vampires' rule.
In cannon it said that vampires are tolerated and not considered a true threat to the Wizarding Community, unlike the Werewolves. They are also classified as beings by the Ministry of Magic. I wonder if they are still true in here? - I would like to point out that just because there are laws granting a certain group rights, that doesn't mean those laws are always followed. Vampires are still considered dark creatures in Harry Potter cannon. They are studied in DADA, there are several mentions in the Harry Potter books of aurors or 'good wizards' encountering and having to fight vampires. During the Quiddich World Cup, someone was showing off for the Veelas and bragging about being a vampire hunter. I think werewolves might be seen as being a bit more dangerous because they have little control over their transformation, but vampires still aren't seen in a very positive light. With as many books that have been written about them, and people claiming to be vampire hunters as a point of pride, I don't know if the Wizarding World doesn't see them as a true threat.
As always, if you have questions, feel free to ask! And I'm glad you guys are still enjoying the story. :D