Part werewolf. That was an expression Walden had never dreamed of using to describe a woman.

"What does it mean, concretely?" Evey asked him.

"I don't know exactly. You've never turned into a werewolf, and you don't feel the urge to howl at the moon, as far as I know, so you're not a true werewolf, but you've developed certain…traits, apparently. You eat more bacon than Sirius and me together, and I've seen you eat bits of it raw, when you're cooking." She blushed slightly at that. "But it still doesn't explain the wounds from last night." It didn't explain much of anything, actually, but that thought wasn't particularly helpful. Evey was a puzzle, and that was the only thing Walden knew for certain.

"Well, that's progress. You know, when this is all over and we're allowed out into the world, maybe we should write a paper about it," she said jokingly. "We'd be famous."

"I thought you didn't want to be famous," he said. Otherwise why would she refuse to let anyone else know?

"I don't want people to think I'm a freak," she corrected him. "Not the same thing."

"You're not a freak," he murmured. "You're just something new, and people always fear what they don't know, what they don't understand. You're a miracle, is what you are." Her blush intensified, for some reason. He was merely speaking the truth.

"That's all well and good, but shouldn't we at least try to heal the wound?" Tony asked nervously, though the puncture marks were shallow and very little blood had been shed. It didn't seem to be infected in any way – werewolves were known to have severe reactions to vampire saliva when they came in contact with it, and vice versa. It was rarely fatal, but it happened, occasionally.

"I doubt it'll work," Walden said, but he wanted to see what would occur. He picked up his wand. "Vulnera sanentur." As expected, nothing happened.

"So, what, it'll just stay like that forever?" Tony's face was even paler than usual.

"Not necessarily," Walden answered. "Maybe it will heal the regular way. It's hard to tell."

"Bloody great," Tony muttered.

Evey patted him on the back. "Don't worry, I'll live. And thank you," she added softly. "I know you dislike biting people, but I just had to know."

"I hate biting people," he said fiercely. "I mean, if the Ancients are so amazing, why can't they feed off animals, like regular vampires? Such a stupid rule," he grumbled.

"It's not a rule, it's a fact. Animal blood won't quench your thirst," Walden said.

"I know that," Tony said through clenched teeth. "I just wish I didn't have to feed off you. Who knows what it's doing to you, what might happen in the long run?"

Walden shrugged. "It won't turn me into a vampire, if that's what you're afraid of. It doesn't work like that. It's only once a week, anyway," he said dismissively. According to Jeanne, Tony didn't need to feed that often – once a month was more than enough – but Walden felt more at ease knowing that his brother was properly fed. Hungry vampires were quite frightening, and Tony was not a mundane vampire. Of course, he still had to drink animal blood to keep up appearances; the others didn't know that he was anything more than a normal bloodsucker.

Tony mumbled something inaudible. "What do we do now?" he asked more intelligibly.

"We wait. There's nothing else we can do," Walden replied quietly.

Evey woke up feeling incredibly energised, as was usual nowadays. Walden was still asleep, and Tony wasn't in the room. She made her way to the bathroom noiselessly. When she was done washing up, she removed the bandage that covered her wrist.

The lesion was gone. It hadn't even left a scar. That should make Tony happy. He'd kept repeating that she should make sure the bandage wasn't obvious, so that Sirius and Mrs Weasley would have no cause to ask what had happened.

When Evey opened the door, she saw that Walden was awake, although he was still in bed. His dark hair was getting a bit long, and it was thoroughly mussed. Tony claimed that his brother twisted and turned a lot in his sleep, unlike Evey, who always slept like a stone. Walden turned his head toward her, scratching at his beard. "Did you check the puncture mark?"

She nodded. "It's gone." She sat down beside him and showed off her wrist. "Smooth as a baby's bottom." Walden delicately traced the spot where the wound had been, and Evey had to hold back a shiver.

"You get weirder by the day," he said teasingly.

"Oi!" she protested with mock indignation. "What happened to me being a miracle?"

"Well, you're a weird miracle," he said with a grin. He didn't smile very often, but when he did… Damn, he's so beautiful, Evey thought longingly. She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks and stood up hastily to hide her face from him. She pretended to get something from the wardrobe to cover the whole thing.

"Evey?" Walden asked from behind her a moment later. There was something odd in his tone.

She turned with a frown. "What?"

He was staring at her, eyes wide. What was wrong with him? He didn't answer right away. "You're…um… V, you're invisible," he said eventually.

She looked down at herself...and saw nothing except the wooden floor. "Holy cow," she whispered, shocked and awed at the same time.

"I take back what I said," Walden said. "You get weirder by the fucking minute."

Evey grinned at him, then realised that he couldn't see it. Uh. This was great and all, but how did she return to her visible self? How had she even turned invisible in the first place? She had simply wished for it, as far as she could remember, anxious as she was to conceal her blush. She tried to focus on being visible and was relieved to see her arms reappear.

"Ah, there you are," Walden said with a smile.

"Do you think it has something to do with the fact that Tony bit me? I mean, that's probably the case, isn't it?" That was the only possible explanation, as far as she could think.

"Very likely," Walden agreed. He whistled through his teeth. "Do you have any idea what that means?"

"That I'm an Ancient?" No, she couldn't be. Could she?

"I don't know about that, but don't you see, V? You've got both werewolf and vampire traits. That's…well, I don't like to use the word 'impossible' in regard to you anymore, but you get the idea," he said with a trace of reverence in his voice. "It's amazing. It's crazy. I can't believe it," he said, shaking his head.

Tony opened the door at that moment and frowned at them when he saw the look on their faces. "What's going on?" He turned to Evey. "Are you alright?" She showed him her wrist, and he blinked. "It's gone," he said blankly.

"You have very keen eyes, master vampire," Evey said with a smirk. "But that's not the best part," she added brightly. Concentrating, she prayed that it wasn't a one-time occurrence and willed herself invisible.

Going by Tony's stare of astonishment, it worked. "How…? What did you…? No fucking way!" he exclaimed eventually.

Evey reappeared and grinned at him. "This is bloody brilliant. I love it. Thank you so much."

"I didn't…" He trailed off, passing a hand through his hair. "Damn, V. What the hell are you?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't have to keep doing strange experiments. Tony, does it mean that I'm an Ancient?" she asked him eagerly.

"I don't…think so?" He paused, considering. "You don't have fangs, do you?"

Evey felt at her teeth. "Nope. But yours only appear when you want them to, right?" She tried to will her teeth to grow, but nothing happened. This was mildly disappointing. Fangs were cool. Well, Evey had always had a thing for vampires. They were quite fascinating.

"I think fangs are a basic requirement for being a vampire, so we can rule that out. Unless…um, do you have a sudden craving for blood?"

Evey shook her head. "Negative. I crave bacon, though. Gods, I'm starving." Her stomach rumbled in agreement.

Tony looked around the room and pointed at a glass of water on Walden's bedside table. "Drink that," he commanded.

Evey raised an eyebrow questioningly, but he simply gestured for her to proceed. She drank some of the water, and they both studied her for a good minute in silence. "What's supposed to happen? It's not holy water, you know," she pointed out.

Tony snorted. "That wouldn't change anything. Religious paraphernalia has no effect on us. That's just balderdash they made up to taunt Muggles. But that wasn't what I wanted to see. If I drink water, I get sick. It's the same with any food and drink, actually. I get cramps and start puking blood and… Well, you get the idea. It's quite messy." Walden nodded, as though he'd witnessed said mess.

Evey felt herself blanch. Merlin, if she'd been forced to give up food… What kind of life would that be? "That's terrible," she said earnestly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." She'd assumed that Tony didn't eat because he had no taste for regular food.

"Tell me about it," he concurred glumly. "Anyway. I think we can all agree that you're not a full vampire. I don't see how that would be possible, in any case. You're alive, for one thing, and you're already partly a werewolf." He trailed off as if he'd suddenly realised something. "Wait. That means you're a werewolf and vampire hybrid! How is that even poss…? Oh no, that's right. We're not using that word anymore."

They were all silent for a moment. "Maybe I should ask Jeanne what she thinks about it?" Tony ventured eventually.

"And how are you going to contact her? She can't come here, the place is protected. And you can't get out," Walden said.

"Actually, she could come. She was at your house, remember?"

Walden frowned slightly. "Right. I just assumed… Um, I don't know. Never gave it proper thought."

"Wait a second," Evey cut in. "Vampires can see places that are protected by a Fidelius Charm?"

"Only Ancients, as far as I know," Tony said. "If all vampires could, we would know about it, I suppose."

"But that's… That means they could barge in here at any moment?"

"Well, no, that's the thing. They could see the house, sure, but they couldn't get in without being formally invited in. By Sirius. Although…" Tony paused, looking thoughtful. "Yeah, perhaps some of us could get in, those with the mind control ability."

Evey stared at him. "Mind control? Ancients can do that, too? Can you control minds?"

He chuckled. "Nah, I got the invisibility thing. Ancients possess…extra abilities, but we only get one each, you see. It depends on your maker," he explained. "Although the Bloodmother has all of them, of course."

"What are the other abilities?" Evey asked with unfeigned curiosity.

"There are four in total. The other two are shape shifting and flying. Shape shifters can only take animal forms. Non-magical animals. Again, excepting the Mother. She can turn into other people, too, I think. The mind control works on people and animals both, but not on us."

"That's so cool!" Evey exclaimed. How had she not known this before? "You really need to tell me who the others are," she said almost pleadingly. She had asked about a thousand times already, but Tony claimed that it would be a breach in secrecy. A worse one than he'd already committed, anyway. Apparently, he shouldn't even use his maker's name, but her nickname instead. He kept forgetting, though.

Evey was met with refusal once again. "Sorry, kid. I really can't tell you," Tony said ruefully.

What was worse, she could tell that he was dying to spill it all out. She supposed she had to consider herself lucky that she knew as much as she did. "Right. Never mind. Can people resist the mind control? Like the Imperius Curse?"

"The Ripper says that it's was pretty efficient. She's never met anyone who could resist it."

"The Ripper?" Evey repeated. "I've never heard of that one. Is she a new one?"

Tony shrugged. "No, she's not new, but she was the last one to be turned before me."

"So she's… We're not talking about Jack the Ripper, are we? I mean, surely, Jack couldn't have been a woman-"

"V, I cannot tell you," Tony said with some frustration. "My, but you're persistent."

"You only notice that now?" Walden remarked with an arched eyebrow. Evey narrowed her eyes at him, which only made him grin. Damn, he has to stop doing that, she thought as she felt her cheeks heat up slightly. She couldn't just keep turning invisible to hide her blushes from him, could she?

Tony cleared his throat. Evey was almost certain that he knew that she had a massive crush on his brother. She would never dare ask him directly, but she hoped that he wouldn't mention it to Walden. That would be beyond embarrassing. "Anyway, back to the initial topic," Tony said. "What happens now?"

"Nothing," Walden replied with a shrug. "Our Evey's got new superpowers, but we don't know much more than we did before."

Our Evey. Damn, he really wasn't making it any easier for her, was he? Thankfully, a thought hit her, temporarily distracting her from Walden. "Hang on a second," she told Tony. "Let's rewind to the part where you can work your way around the Fidelius Charm. Doesn't that mean that you could sneak into Voldemort's hiding place, if we could locate it?" she said conversationally.

It was Walden who answered. "I doubt it. He has other methods of concealing his various lairs. Much darker methods." Well, it had been worth asking. It would have been nice, if all it took to end the war was to send Tony into Voldemort's bedroom to kill him in his sleep. Provided that the dark wizard ever slept, of course.

As they got ready for a new day of doing absolutely nothing, Evey couldn't help but wonder. Could she truly be an amalgam of werewolf and vampire? It was so confusing, disturbing even, though she had to admit that the invisibility ability was pretty neat. What would happen if one of the other Ancients bit her? Would she…absorb their powers, too?

Evey stood daydreaming about the possibility for a long time, until Tony jokingly said that her brain must have been affected after all. Well, for all they knew, it had been.