Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize outside of my writings. Everything you don't, belongs to moi.
Mini-Flashback :-)
"Talk"
'Think'
Warning: very mild reference to The Talk
Apology: Sorry this took forever. School finally ended, but I have been busy because of marching band. I've also started to two other stories involving Harry Potter. One I hope will be up sometime this month. Because this took forever to write, I didn't go through to revise and do some last minute editing like I normally do, so I'm sorry if there's errors. The only thing I did was quickly add the breaks because I going to bed soon. On the bright side, I got a new toolbar that has spellcheck for stuff I write on the Internet which should help. On with the frigging story already. ;-P
Chapter Deux
Happy Birthday, Vixie! …and More
Last time in Some Not So Devious Plotting…
"Surprise! Happy early birthday, Vixie!"
Serenity blinked a few times and said, "Uh… My birthday isn't until Thursday…"
"That's why they said early birthday, sissy," Harry stated without hesitation, completely forgetting who he was mouthing off to. Serenity scowled at him and whacked him hard on the head. "Ow…!"
"You deserved it, Harry. Be nice to Serenity," Danny said calmly and lifted the girl on his shoulders. The others took his action as a signal to start singing to her.
Serenity sweetly said once they were done, "Thanks, guys! Did you get me frosting…?"
Serenity had told Harry that she didn't want him to waste his time making her a birthday cake when all she ever ate off it was the frosting. She said that as long as someone gave her a carton of frosting, she was good.
Harry rolled his eyes as Blaise threw her a carton and almost hit Danny on the head with it.
"That was almost my head you know," Danny whined as Serenity ripped the lid off and started to stick her little fingers in it savagely.
"Hey, dearie…" said Serenity innocently.
"Yes, dear?" Danny answered.
"You have frosting on your face!" She reached down and smeared a good handful of frosting all over the vampire's face.
"Ren… why did you do that?"
"Because I want to lick some of it off." Serenity leaned down and licked his forehead.
"Ew…"
"Purebloods…" Serenity muttered loudly.
"Hey!"
"Get over it and sit down at the table, dearie."
Danny scowled but sat down at the table and pulled the veela on his lap. "Get the frosting off my face, Vix."
Serenity stuck her tongue out and started to wipe the thick, white concoction of his forehead with a napkin. She kissed his lips to get it off his mouth where most of the frosting was.
A little while later, Serenity was licking her spoon clean of frosting while Harry was cutting the cake that she didn't want. Danny slid in the seat across from her with a slice of chocolate cake in hand. "Hi, dearie."
"Hi, darling. Are you sure you don't want any cake?"
"Yes, I told Harry I didn't want one so he wouldn't have to go out of his way…"
"Not even a bite of mine?"
"Eh, I guess so. He did go out of his way and all…" Serenity cut a bite off with her spoon. "Hm, not bad but frosting is still better!"
Danny snorted and started to eat. The couple sat in companionable silence for about five minutes or so until Danny broke the silence with, "You can open your presents once you're done eating, Vixie."
"Does that mean-?"
"No. Harry and I got you a combined gift and then separate ones. We're giving you the one from both of us tonight and the other two on your birthday."
"Pooey, oh well. I can multitask. I'm sitting on you while I open my presents because every girl needs a throne or sexy vampire to sit on while it's her birthday."
"Okay, but you have to wait for me to finish eating then, dear."
"Hurry up, honey…!"
"I am, sheesh."
Danny quickly finished and picked the girl up with ease and sat down in front of the presents. "Guys!" he yelled.
The others looked and quickly scurried over to the rather large pile of presents. You could tell why Serenity was being called the Princess of the Nundus by the press now…
Harry sat next to them and handed the blonde a sloppily wrapped gift. "Here, it's from Dan and I, sis."
Serenity opened it quickly and squealed happily. Danny and Harry laughed when she hugged the package of men's boxers to her chest. Now for those who don't know her well enough, Serenity had this lovely habit of stealing Harry's and Danny's—mainly Danny's recently—boxers and used them as pajama bottoms when she ran out and didn't feel like doing laundry.
"There, now no more stealing our boxers, right darling?" Danny asked playfully.
"Yep! Yay! Thanks, guys!" Serenity put the boxers down and hugged both of them tightly with a kiss on the cheek. "I might still take yours, Dan, though because it's fun!" Serenity squealed with laughter when Danny started to tickle her. "Ah, my chair is coming to life…!"
A few days later, Danny was woken up by a small person pouncing on him. "Happy birthday, lovely," he muttered and sat up. He engulfed the petite veela in a tight hug and kissed her head.
"Thanks, dearie. Come on, chippity chop! Get in the shower! I have had your clothes picked out for an hour, and I was just waiting for you to get up already!"
Danny stood up and asked with a smile, "What were you doing up at five, my pretty, little birthday girl?"
"Waiting for you to get your lazy ass out of bed. That's what, Dan."
"Got my lazy ass out of bed, what's next, my dear?" Danny teasingly asked with a flourished bow.
"I told you to get in the shower already, dearie. Here are your jeans and undies. I'll give you your shirt after breakfast."
"Kay-kay."
"Oh, and you have ten minutes until I flush the toilet."
Danny rushed into the bathroom. He knew that she was probably serious by now…
Serenity shrieked happily when Danny threw her in the air and caught her with simplicity. "Whee…!" She was being thrown into the air by a drop-dead gorgeous, shirtless vampire. What more could a birthday girl ask for?
Serenity felt like a queen when Danny carried her downstairs carefully. She had already fastened the collar around his neck when he got out of the shower along with playing with his hair and applying eyeliner on him.
"Happy birthday, sissy," Harry said as a greeting. "Do you want to eat first or open presents?"
"Presents!" chirped the veela.
"You can go first, Har," Danny said. He knew what Harry was giving her.
Harry handed Serenity a thin package. Serenity carefully removed the paper and opened the box. "Oh my gosh!" gasped Serenity. A few tears of joy trickled down her cheeks as she tackle-hugged Harry. "Thank you! Holy shit!"
Danny smiled at the adoption forms. Serenity would soon legally be Harry's little sister.
"You're welcome. Uh, sis, you're sort of choking me."
Serenity blushed cutely and quickly started to fill out the forms. Danny slipped his gift in front of her shyly. It was nothing compared to Harry's in his opinion…
Serenity stopped filling out the forms and ripped the wrapping paper off. "Ah, you're so sweet, dearie!" Serenity pulled the beautiful picture frame out carefully. It was intricately designed with little lilac and red rose buds that spelled out "Serenity".
Danny ducked his head down with a blush gracing his cheeks. "You're welcome, darling," he muttered timidly.
"Silly. And to think I was thinking that you letting me do whatever the hell I wanted to you was what you were giving me…"
"I wasn't even planning on doing that until a few days ago when I was threatened. I had that hidden in that drawer you always try to hide my presents in every year for a month."
"Wait! I warded that against you…!"
"And you take said wards down after Christmas. How do you think I figured where you were hid 'em?"
"Oh… I think you should serve me breakfast in bed. That's why I got you two up so early. Bring something up for yourself too, dearie! I'm going back to bed now. Wake me up in an hour or so."
"…why didn't she tell us last night this?" Danny asked Harry after the two boys watched her skip up the stairs. "She got you up too?"
"Yep, woke me up while you were in the shower."
"Okay. I guess we have to make breakfast for her now… I can make toast!"
"…and that's the only thing you know how to make."
"I know. I can make that bacon you can microwave too!"
"I'll make the normal bacon for her. You can make your own breakfast."
"I just wanted cereal anyways."
"Good. Can you get the eggs, bacon, bread, and whatever else you think we need from the fridge?"
"Sure."
Serenity sleepily opened her eyes when she heard Danny say, "Harry, open the damn door. My hands are kind of full here."
"Sheesh, keep your pants on, mate."
The door opened and Danny walked in balancing a tray carefully. "Morning again, beautiful," the vampire said as he placed the tray down. "I'll be right back… I need to grab my toast… I think cereal would have been too messy."
Serenity smiled and started to eat. Of course, she was given way too much food. Danny had corrupted Harry and made him agree that she was too thin.
Danny sat next to her on the bed and kissed her head before he started to nibble on his toast.
"Hey, Danny…"
"Hm?"
"Stop eating your toast."
"Why?"
"You said you wanted cereal, right?"
"Yeah…"
"I wanna feed you!"
"What?"
Serenity took his toast, and energy bonds wrapped around the vampire's torso. "You'll eat once I finish."
"Ren…!"
"No calling me Ren and stop whining, or I'll gag you. You're mine for the day. I like that word, mine, especially when I'm using it to describe you."
"…you're scaring me again."
"Shut up, Danny. You're annoying me…!"
"And you're scaring me."
Serenity gave him a look and put a piece of duct tape over his mouth. "Now be good eye candy and be quiet."
Let's just leave where that duct tape came from to the imagination, shall we?
Harry walked in the kitchen to get something for breakfast and blinked at the weird sight in front of him. Danny was sitting down with Serenity on his lap, and Serenity was feeding him cereal. "Sis, what are you doing?"
"Feeding my Danny."
"…why?"
"I felt like it. It's fun."
"I don't think Danny agrees with you on it being fun…"
"So? Today, he is nothing but my possession, so there's nothing he can do. He's mine!"
Danny gulped. What did he agree to? Serenity smiled at him and shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth. "Love, I'm not hungry anymore…!"
Serenity pouted but stopped shoving the spoon in the vampire's mouth. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Serenity stuck her lip out and poked his chest. "Fine, come on, dearie, time to get dressed."
"I'm already dressed."
"Well, I need to get dressed; you need a shirt."
"And to think I was just going shirtless for the day…"
"I want to go shopping, and you can't go without a shirt on, dearie. No shirts, no shoes, no service, remember?"
"Oh."
"Oh is right, dearie. Come on already!"
Danny grabbed her hand and followed her upstairs.
"Sit," stated the blonde once the vampire had pulled a shirt on.
"What?"
"Sit down in front of the bathroom door like a good dearie while I go."
Danny grumbled but sat down. "Happy, darling?"
"No, I can't get in with your sexy ass in the way."
"Well excuse me…" Danny scooted over and let Serenity through. Serenity patted his head before slamming the door with a click of the lock. "I feel like a dog…" the vampire muttered under his breath.
Hermione opened the door and groaned when Ron and Neville were at her door. "What do you want? Please keep in mind that I've read many of Harry's books actually written in English."
"Mione, please come back to the Order," begged the redhead.
"No thanks. I'm staying out of the war."
"With the Nundu as your boyfriend!?" Ron exclaimed.
"Harry doesn't give a crap. He finds it morally wrong to influence people like that. He thinks if he somehow corrupts someone, it's there own fault. That's what happened to Ginny."
"Hermione, please?" Neville asked.
"I'm sorry Neville. I like the Order methods most of the time, but I don't like all of their beliefs. The maniacs my boyfriend is a part of seem to have the right idea but really need to improve their methods. Voldemort… do I really need to go there?"
Neville and Ron both flinched at Voldemort's name. "Don't say that, Hermione!" snapped Ron.
"It's hard to be scared of someone whose own teenaged son calls Voldie while in a good mood and things I am not repeating when in a not-so-good mood. Besides, Ginny isn't scared to say Voldemort. She calls him Moldymort like that Ellie person I met once who immediately started teasing Jamie. What do you want?"
"Can't we talk, Hermione?" Neville tried again.
"I thought we were friends," Ron added hopefully.
"I thought so too, Ronald. You were the one who threw our friendship away."
"Mione… We had so much…"
"Ronald, I never liked you more than a friend and even that was strained at times. Half the time I put up with you for Harry's sake before I realized you were hurting him more than helping him."
"What?"
"Let's just say if you ever see Riddle in a dark alley, run as fast as you can because I can almost guarantee you are on his hit list. Imagine my surprise when he actually wrote a letter apologizing for being cold because he said he was just worried I was just using Harry. Riddle is extremely protective of Harry." Hermione conveniently left out the second part of the letter she received today.
"Can't we please just go somewhere and talk, Hermione?" Neville practically begged.
"Fine… Pull anything and I'll hex you. I have to tell my parents that I'm leaving."
Hermione soon came back out with a car keys in her hand. "Come on, follow me. We're going to the mall…"
"So, sissy, what do you want to do?" asked Harry.
"Shop!" the blonde chirped
"Jamie means 'where do you want to go', darling," Danny clarified.
"…I don't know."
"The mall by where Mi lives is pretty good," Harry suggested.
"Sure, it's somewhere new… I think the storekeepers at our local mall are getting suspicious of me and my snexy dearie by now. You have to take us there, Harry."
"Okay. Are you two ready?"
"Yeah. I am, and I'm the only person who matters," Serenity stated and grabbed her boyfriend's hand tightly.
"Thanks, love," Danny sarcastically said.
"You'll get over it."
"I know."
Serenity rolled her eyes and dragged Danny and Harry away from the arcade again. This was getting annoying…
At least they didn't try to leave until after she visited a few stores. Serenity had gotten a new pair of flip-flops already along with some clothes that were suitable for teaching next school year. Serenity made Harry hold the bags containing the teaching clothes because she wouldn't have even needed them if he hadn't told Dumbles that she would help him teach before asking her…
"C'mon, can't we go in the arcade, sis?" whined Harry.
"After lunch," answered Serenity as she reclaimed her grip on the half-vampire's hand.
"Let's go eat now then," Danny said and started heading towards the food court.
"We're eating at noon."
"But it's eleven…!" whined Danny.
"No shit, Sherlock. Ooh… bookstore!"
Harry and Danny rolled their eyes behind her back as they were dragged into the bookstore.
Hermione was questioning her sanity once again when she found herself eating lunch at the mall food court with Ron and Neville.
"Wow, noon already," Neville commented in an attempt to break the silence.
Hermione was about to say something when she saw Harry and company walk into the food court—both boys carrying bags.
"What is it?" Ron asked and turned around. He seemed angry at the sight of the Nundu leaders. "What are they doing here?!"
"You are aware one of them is my boyfriend, right?"
Riddle seemed to have noticed them by the way he nudged Serenity who nudged Harry who walked in their direction.
"Hi, Mi. What are you doing here with them…?" asked Harry curiously.
"Leave us alone, Potter," Ron snapped.
"You are aware that my overprotective best friend is about five feet away from you right, Ronnikins?"
"Uh…"
"Boo," Danny whispered in Ron's ear. Ron spun around and almost screamed, but the veela had put her hand over his mouth.
"Really now, don't alert the non-magis, Weasley," the blonde said with a roll of her honey eyes. "Dearie, knock it off."
"Sorry, lovely…"
"Bro-bro…! I'm hungry…!" Serenity whined and tugged on Harry's sleeve.
"The world doesn't revolve around you," Hermione snapped.
"It's my birthday, and I'll be a bitch if I want to," retorted Serenity as she continued to try to drag Harry away.
Ron immediately dashed off and headed towards a chocolate store. Danny growled under his breath. "…is there any reason why Ron seems to be so… in love almost with her?" Neville muttered to himself.
"He's easily swayed by allure. I had to learn basic meditation and such to block most of my charm. The trace amounts that manage to escape influence him still for some reason. That or he wants Danny to pound his head in badly."
"Just say the word!" cheerfully chirped the vampire with a smirk.
"I know, dearie. If only we weren't in a public place…"
Neville gulped, and Hermione gave both of them looks. She seemed to be unsure of what to say by the way she hesitantly said, "Uh… happy birthday, Serenity…?"
"Wow, that's the nicest thing you ever said to me, Granger."
Serenity was suddenly spun around by a dazed Ron carrying a small box of chocolates. "You're so beautiful…" he breathed. "Be mine, and I'll treat you right."
"That's my bonded mate you're talking to, bastard," Danny threateningly whispered. "She's already been claimed." He protectively wrapped his arms around the girl gently to Ron's obvious envy.
"Right… Let's go eat somewhere else, okay sissy? I'll call you, Mi. Bye," Harry quickly said and urged his friends to leave.
"Wait…! Don't leave, my beautiful angel…!" Ron called out.
"Ew," Serenity decidedly said once they exited the mall.
Danny was muttering what sounded like threats under his breath in Italian and still had an arm wrapped firmly around the newly sixteen-year-old solar mage.
"I think Ronnikins needs to avoid dark alleys for the rest of his life," Harry quietly said to himself as he glanced at his rather angry best friend.
Serenity smiled dreamily at the vampire slipping in next to her in bed.
"Happy birthday, love," he tenderly whispered and cradled her in his arms.
"I love you, Danny."
"I love you, too, Serenity."
Serenity groaned when she hit the off button on the alarm clock a few days later. Even a morning person and early riser like her didn't like being up at seven on Saturdays…
"Morning, Ren…" Danny muttered as he sat up with his hair sticking up in every direction known to man and some that weren't.
"Good morning, Danny. Nice hair by the way."
"Says she whose hair is all frizzy in the back and looks like an afro…"
"Well… that isn't very good," Serenity said as she carefully popped her contacts in.
"Don't poke your eye out."
"I'm not planning on it anytime soon, sexy."
"Can't a guy worry?"
"You always worry."
"It's my job."
"Right… Are we going to eat here or at your uncle's…?"
"You pick. I don't know what we were on when we agreed to stay the night every other weekend there…"
"It's called you're a prince, and the only way to get him to leave you alone was you visiting."
"Why am I the prince of the bloody Lamiae? Why can't it be Leon or my mother even?"
"Your great-uncle said Leon was too weak, and the Lamiae prefer having rulers that can't get pregnant still. You can definitely not get pregnant, and she can I guess. She's too involved with the war because of your father, love."
"I know… Why can't you be the prince then?"
"I'm not a vampire or a male."
"Princess?"
"Not a vampire."
"I can turn you if you want."
"No thanks. Come on, let's say bye to Harry. If we eat breakfast there, we get more time to talk to Harry before he goes to Granger's."
"Want to dump water on his head to wake him up?"
"I'll check to see if he's awake or not while you get a bucket of water."
"Okay."
"ARGH!" cut through the silence of the once rundown mansion ten minutes later.
"What was that for?!" Harry demanded as he shook the water off him.
"We just felt like it," Danny said mischievously.
"We wanted to talk to you before we left…!" whined Serenity cutely.
"Right… You have to go to the village. I'll have to remind Ginny and Blaise that they'll have to take care of our eight kiddies and guests alone unless they call someone else to help—probably Ellie."
The Nundu leaders were known for taking in abandoned children. Some just stayed for a small period of time, and some were residents of the house. There were eight kids that were always there with a varying number of others each night.
"Ooh! I just remembered that I left a wallet I snatched from some guy on the counter," Danny suddenly said.
"I think you are the only prince in the history who is also a pickpocket," Serenity stated.
"You shouldn't be talking."
"What? I'm not royalty."
"You will be because you're marrying me," Danny stated.
"Oh, am I?"
"We're bonded as boyfriend girlfriend, darling. You can't leave me."
"No, it means you're the only man I can have children with."
"Which you desperately want."
Harry was just watching his friends bicker with amusement. "Stop arguing like a married couple, guys," he said with a smile.
"It's fun bickering like a married couple though," Serenity sweetly replied.
"My relatives keep pushing us to wed in the very near future, too. It's kind of creepy," added Danny.
"They finally dropped the idea of having me turned at least after I threatened to… uh, yeah…" Serenity said. Let's just leave her threat to the imagination.
"They wanted to turn you?!" Harry exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Jamie, I wouldn't let them," Danny soothingly said.
"Okay. I was just worried there…"
'You're not the only one…' whispered Danny's voice in Harry's head.
'Why? Is there more…?'
'They still want her partially turned. I'm trying my best to talk them out of it… I didn't want to worry Ren.'
'Crap…'
'I know…'
Danny carefully let Serenity jump out of his arms after he warped to the village. Serenity grabbed his hand as they walked through the village towards the looming mansion in the center.
"There you two are," a voice said from behind them.
"Hi, Uncle Jerry," Danny said without looking. The king of the Lamiae smiled at his favorite grandnephew and his little mate. He loved observing Dante and the tiny veela clinging to him. He just had to convince the veela to be turned so her veela and emerging elf blood remained with her human side gone… Dante would have to be persuaded also…
"Well, come along," the vampire who wasn't so elderly by vampire terms insisted.
"We got here two, damn minutes ago," Serenity stated.
"Language, Serenity."
"Seriously, you're not my father."
"Don't mind her; she hasn't had her coffee yet," Danny cut in and picked Serenity up again.
"Piggyback ride?" Serenity cutely asked.
"Go ahead."
"Yay!"
Danny let Serenity go and remained until she jumped on his back.
Jeremiah rolled his eyes and waited for the teenagers to catch up.
"Come along, dear," Grandmother suddenly said to Serenity around one. Danny's grandmother and great-aunt were standing in the doorway expectantly.
"…what?" the blonde asked with confusion.
"Really now, do you think we didn't know your birthday was Thursday? Come on now, Izzy and I are taking you shopping."
"Dante, I need to talk to you by the way…" Jeremiah said hesitantly. Danny could tell that he really didn't want to do whatever he was going to do but seemed that he had no choice. Danny felt a foreboding chill go down his spine.
Once Serenity was dragged away literally, Jeremiah cleared his throat. "You see, Dante… Uh… I know your mother probably didn't do a very good job at doing something very important in a young adult's life, and I know that your father most definitely didn't do it."
"…please tell me you're not giving me The Talk…"
"You see… Uh... Well… Do you know what a car is?"
"Yeah…" Danny muttered, not liking where the conversation was going.
"Well, there are cars, and there are garages…"
Danny started to turn pink.
Harry ran his hand through his already ruffled hair as he knocked on the Grangers' door. Mrs. Granger opened the door and cooed, "Ah, hi, Harry. I'll go call Hermione down."
"Thanks, Mrs. Granger."
"Didn't I tell you to call me Emily?"
"Sorry, Miss—Emily."
"It's okay, dear. Hermione! Harry is here!"
Running was heard, and Hermione soon was seen running down the stairs. She said, "Hi, Jamie!" between gasps of breath.
"Breathe, Mi, breathe," Harry calmly stated and wrapped an arm around her.
"Do you want to go upstairs?" Hermione asked. She wanted to ask Harry some things that she didn't want to say in front of her Muggle mother.
"Sure."
"So, what's up?" Harry asked once the teenagers were in Hermione's room.
"Not much. Did you start on the dueling book you were hoping on writing?"
"Not really…"
"Harry!"
"What? I need to finish the mage one since there are hardly any in this realm except for my own private collection. At least I am finding out Monday if Dueling is going to have a requirement of an E or O on your Defense O.W.L at the teacher meeting."
"Why are you doing that?"
"I don't want a bunch of love struck Third Years who just signed up to stare at me wasting my time. I want people who are going to take it seriously."
"…good point. What about your mage class?"
"It's being co-taught by Vixie. I think anyone who just took it to stare at us is going to be weeded out quickly because she is no-nonsense when it comes to education. I may not be assigning homework, but she will definitely be making up for me."
"I still don't know why you're adopting her Harry."
"You haven't gotten through her shell, Mi. Serenity was hardened by her mere two years on the streets more than all nine years at that damned orphanage combined. She doesn't like you for some reason and therefore is harsher and on the edge around you. Around me and Dan, she is cracking jokes, cutely whining, and all that stuff. Ren's a different person if you gain her hard to earn trust. You two actually share a lot in common. That's why I wanted to be friends with you at first because you reminded me of one of my best friends I was sorely missing."
Hermione just looked at him incredulously. "Right…"
"See, it's both of your guys' faults! Neither of you are willing to give the other a chance!"
"Can we change the subject, Jamie?"
"Hey, you started it."
"What are you two bickering about?" a voice asked curiously.
"What do you want, Janet?" Hermione asked.
"Who's Serenity?"
"My adopted little sister or, well, will be," Harry stated.
"Is she a witch too?"
"Nope, mage like I am."
"Mage…?"
"It's complicated. Mages are the other humanoid species with the ability to wield magic. She's also half veela."
"Veela…?"
"Gorgeous, blue-eyed blondes with the gift of an allure, but when angry, veela turn into avian like beasts who throw fireballs. Luckily, Ren's only half veela, maybe third, and only gets talons and throws fireballs when mad."
"I thought she was a hybrid, Harry," Hermione said.
"Her elf blood is starting to kick in. No more of her teasing Dan and I about our pointy ears."
"I still can tease you, pointy ears."
"I noticed, Mi…"
"Who's Dan?"
"His best friend, Janet," Hermione snapped. She wanted her sister to leave.
"Is he a warlock or whatever male witches are called?"
"Sort of and it is wizard… His father is a bad man who did a dark ritual on Danny when he was just an infant… We're still not sure of the full effects though we have a good idea. He's an elf-vampire-human tri-breed for now."
"What do you mean 'for now'?" demanded Hermione. Janet obviously didn't know vampires existed by her paling.
"Our dormant elf blood normally slowly conquers the present blood slowly and evenly. Danny's vampire blood can't be conquered because vampires and elves are both highly magical, immortal beings that are exact opposites. He may well end up being an elf-vampire hybrid."
"Is he hot?" Janet suddenly asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said casually.
"What does that mean, Mi-Mi?"
"Harry, face it, your best friend is more attractive than you. You, on the other hand, have a functional brain and don't act like a toddler. Besides, vampires have mates and his is your sister who already hates me."
"Mi, please don't talk about that… Do you know how hard it is sometimes being compared to your more powerful, more attractive vampire prince best friend?"
"He's a prince!" Janet exclaimed.
"Yep. That's why he currently is in Italy with sissy. His great-uncle, the king of the Lamiae, will leave him alone until after this damn war is over if Dan and Ren stay the night there every other weekend."
"Wow…"
"You don't know much about magic, do you, Janet?" Harry asked.
"No…"
"Jamie, this is the first year I can use magic outside of school," Hermione reminded him.
"I know, Mi. This is the second year for me because I took the tracking wards off. Well, actually, Ren did it…"
"Random, but is she an animagus, too?"
"Yep, she never uses it though. Guess what her form is? It's so ironic."
"…a cat?"
"She's a raven. Guess what her biggest fear and hatred is?"
"A bird animagus is scared of birds…"
"Isn't it ironic?"
"Yes."
"Aniwhatta?" Janet asked.
"Animagus, a magical being whom can turn into an animal at will," Harry calmly said.
"Yeah, right."
Harry smirked lightly before switching to his animagus form, a small, white lion.
Janet gasped and stepped back; Hermione laughed and stroked her boyfriend's white fur.
Another knock was heard making Harry quickly switch back.
"Yeah?" Hermione said.
"Hey, girl! It's Layne!"
"Come in! Janet, shoo."
Harry quickly flattened his hair over his ears as the door opened. It would not be good if he had round ears one day and pointed ears the next time she saw him…
Layne—a childhood friend of Hermione's who was a Muggle—walked in and looked at them suspiciously.
"What?" Harry asked.
"What was with that conversation? Magic?"
"Shit!" cursed Hermione.
"Mi!" Harry said shocked. "Calm down, remember, you had me help you cast those wards at the beginning of summer holiday. The Ministry of Dumbasses won't know because they're blocked out. Besides, I revealed it and guess what? I'm a mage and a wizard, and therefore, I doubt they could tell if I did it anyways, maybe; I hope so anyways."
"I-it wa-wasn't a jo-joke," she stammered.
"Nope," Harry calmly said and ruffled his hair.
"Y-your ears!" Layne gasped in shock at the very pointed ears.
"Well, considering I am quarter elf…" Harry drawled.
"Um… surprise?" Hermione choked out.
"Right, you two talk somewhere… I'm going to figure out where you put all those books I lent you that you said you couldn't find. Did you try Accio yet?"
"I didn't think of that…"
"I can forgive you this one time. I'm still a little irked though when you forgot you were a witch when we were being eaten by an evil plant."
"That was over five years ago! And we weren't being eaten!"
"Close enough…" Harry opened his hand and a book zoomed into it. "Wow, I rock!"
"I'm not sure to yell at you for being cocky or be glad that your self-esteem is finally getting better…" Hermione muttered.
Harry stuck his tongue out immaturely and snuck out of her room towards the library. "Holler if ya need me, Mi," Harry said before he left.
Layne was obviously still shocked by her silence and slightly fearful looks being sent at Hermione. "Her-hermione?"
"Okay, magic is real! Yes there's a whole world hidden from your eyes ever since the Salem witch burnings and the like!"
"…are unicorns real then?" was a slightly hopeful question.
"Yes, I saw some at school and even petted one. All the girls in my Care of Magical Creatures class got to, too."
Layne's eyes narrowed when she said, "You don't go to a gifted school, do you? You go to a school where they teach this magic stuff."
"So? Harry's a new teacher there who's starting this year."
"The world's ending because Mi's dating a teacher," Harry chirped and poked his head in.
"What happened to finding your books?" asked Hermione.
"Found them already!" Harry held up an armful of books to prove it.
Harry dropped them on the ground and snapped his fingers. Layne gasped when the books shrunk before her eyes. "How can you do that?!" the Muggle exclaimed.
"All I did was mix the mage version of magic and the wizard version giving me the power of wandless magic. Now my wand can be used for better things like hitting my obnoxious, half-vampire best friend on the head with. …I need to do that actually because my sister and said best friend dumped freezing cold water on my head this morning to wake me up."
"Harold James Potter! You will not abuse your wand and friend like that, mister!" snapped Hermione.
"Mi, you're my girlfriend, not my mother. Just because I'm an orphan doesn't mean you have to mother me."
"Who will then?"
"Danny frets, and Serenity tries to mother me. I'm fine, seriously."
Hermione was about to say more, but Harry's wand appeared in his hand as he flicked it casually and Silenced Hermione.
"What did you do?!" Layne demanded.
"Cast a Silencing Spell on her."
"So she can't talk?"
"Yeah. Very handy spell unless you accidentally cast it too many times on someone, and they become immune… Very, very bad if your best mate never shuts his big mouth up."
Hermione glared at him. Harry stuck his tongue out again and pretended to be thinking about whether he should take the spell off or not. She stood up and cuffed him, making him quickly lift the spell.
"Thank you, Jamie."
"Ow…!"
"…is he always like this?" Layne hesitantly asked.
"Unfortunately… there's a reason why he's one of the most wanted bachelors in the magical world though."
"I'm right here you know."
Serenity felt her left eye twitch again. Let's see… She was in a foreign country where she didn't speak the native language and was stuck with her mate's grandmother and great-aunt who she barely knew. Both vampires were cooing over her and dragging her into various stores across the nation by warping.
They kept insisting on buying her clothes, cosmetics, hair accessories, jewelry, etcetera that she would probably never wear or use. Hell, she didn't know how to use half of the stuff.
Serenity was sorely convinced that she looked like a hooker after they made her get a "makeover" in which some attendant put what Serenity claimed was dyed goop all over her face, purchased what they called "suitable clothes" that she was literally forced to changed into, and heels which was something she rarely wore even though she was extremely petite. Now, they were trying to convince her to change her hairstyle.
"No."
"But, dear, you would look lovely," Isabella cooed.
"I am not cutting my hair or changing the style. I like my hair as it is."
"Not even a little change?" Danny's grandmother, Veronica, tried in hopes of persuading her.
"Like what?"
"Bangs maybe?"
"…I don't know how to style bangs because I started dancing at a young age."
"At least a different color or whatever you call what Dante has?"
"You mean streaks or highlights?"
"Sure, let's go with that. You would look lovely with darker blonde ones."
"…I guess."
"You're such a dear," Veronica cooed again and gently guided the annoyed veela into the fancy salon.
Danny was very embarrassed at that moment and was hiding in some random room. His ancient uncle gave him The Talk… That's just not right!
A knock on the door shook Danny from his mortified thoughts. "Dante, I know you're in there."
"Leave me alone, Uncle Jerry! I'm scarred for life…!"
The door opened and Jeremiah responded, "How do you think I feel?"
Danny scowled and looked away. "Leave me alone, damnit."
"Respect your elders, young man."
"Respect the youth; we're the future," retorted the younger vampire.
Jeremiah chuckled lightly at that. "Come on, get up, Dante."
"I'm fine where I'm at."
"Go bug Leon or something. Don't spend the rest of the day moping."
"I'll stop moping when my mate gets back."
"Dante…"
"Going, going, sheesh."
Leon had just sat down with a cup of tea after getting home from a stressful day at work when the door was thrown open by his half-brother. "Hi, Leon!"
"Whatever happened to you knocking?" Leon grumbled. Great, the one family member who actually knocked normally stopped bothering.
"Didn't feel like it. Uncle Jerry told me to bug you because he scarred me for life by giving me The Talk."
"He did the same thing to me when I was eighteen but told me to bug Grandma instead. Trust me, you'll get over it."
"But you didn't have a girlfriend who is already bugging you about children at the time, I hope."
"…Serenity is already talking about children at sixteen?"
"Yeah."
"Ouch. Don't you just love how veela like having lots of children at young ages?"
"I didn't even want children. Now I obviously have no choice."
Leon smirked at his younger brother. "Sucks to be you. Speaking of Serenity, where is she?"
"Got literally dragged shopping by Grandmother and Aunt Isabella because they somehow knew her birthday was Thursday. Poor Serenity. She likes shopping occasionally, but she's still a tomboy at heart."
"They're probably using it as an excuse to make her look the part of your consort, Dan."
"She's going to fight tooth and nail though. I can guarantee that."
"You're going to stay here and annoy me until they get back, aren't you?"
"That is my idea."
"What did I do to end up with you as a little brother?"
"You kicked the mayor's dog."
"…what?"
"I don't know! I made that up off the top of my head!"
"Go figure…"
Serenity had never been so relieved to be back at the too posh manor in her life. Now she knew how people felt when she dragged them shopping.
"Sir, where's Danny?" Serenity asked Jeremiah.
"He's bugging Leon."
"Oh."
"I'm assuming you're going to go find him."
"Yes."
"Go along now. Don't get hurt."
"You sound like Danny."
Serenity knocked on Leon's door hesitantly. She had no idea how Danny was going to react to how she currently looked.
"Yes? Yes! You're back! Dan can stop bugging me now!"
Serenity was practically shoved into Leon's living room where Danny had sprawled on the couch.
"Love!" Danny chirped before she even entered the room. He smelt Serenity. His jaw almost dropped at her appearance. The cute teenager was gone and replaced with a sexy, young woman. "Damn…"
Serenity flushed and looked down. Danny smiled gently and picked her up. "What's the matter, darling?" asked Danny.
"Nothing…" was her timid response.
"Right."
Leon reentered and said, "Danny, shoo. I am sick of you, imp."
Danny warped to the entrance of the manor and walked in with Serenity still cradled in his arms.
Harry was sipping his tea at a café by where the Grangers' lived while Hermione quietly explained to Layne after the Muggle got over the initial shock. Harry was the one who suggested they went somewhere else. Harry had carefully erected wards wandlessly that made it seem like the girls were talking about some recent movies to anyone outside of their table.
Hermione had already given her the basics of magic and given her a brief history of events from Voldie's first defeat to now while skipping the first ten years of the teenagers' lives.
She told her how she found out. Harry cut in and retold how he found out because it was much more exciting. Hermione cuffed him when she found out that he had sent a snake on his cousin technically.
"You saved her from a troll?! That's how you became friends?!" Layne almost yelled.
"That's nothing compared to how I befriended my first friend when I was five," replied Harry nonchalantly.
Layne was about to say something else when Harry's communicator went off.
"Hello?" Harry said as he answered.
"Hi, bro-bro!" chirped a familiar, female voice.
"Hi, sissy. Why are you calling me?"
"Can't a girl call her big bro-bro?"
"Sure, but you said you would only call me if it was an emergency when I was at Mi's."
"Granger can go screw herself."
Layne gasped when she heard what the blonde had said. Hermione narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"…she heard that you know."
"That was the point."
"What's the point of you calling again?"
"Um… I felt like it…?"
"Okay, you are in a manor where people are probably literally treating you like a princess, and you're bugging me still?"
"I wanna go home…! These people are crazy…! They dragged me shopping and made me put a skirt on…!"
"I have no idea how a veela can be a tomboy."
"Skirts are evil! They suppress my movement, and I don't like that! I think Danny looked up my skirt, too."
"…are you really surprised about him doing that?"
"Well, no. He's blatantly looking down my shirt right now though and is now laughing at me as I said that."
"Dan, stop looking down Serenity's shirt."
A new, deeper voice entered, "Ah, come on, Jimmy…! I never get to because she's always covered up. She is always sneaking into the bathroom when I'm in the shower and running off with my shirt. Don't I get to look down her shirt then?"
"Hey, dearie," Serenity started though she wasn't talking to Harry obviously, "your great-uncle is eavesdropping!"
"Oh, crap. Uh… hi, Uncle Jerry!" Danny sheepishly said over the phone.
"Um, bye, Harry!" Serenity chirped before hanging up.
Harry closed his eyes and shut the communicator with a snap. "Why did I befriend those two weirdoes…?" he muttered to himself.
"I was wondering that myself, Jamie. I didn't know you went by Jimmy," Hermione said.
"I don't. Danny calls me that even though I tell him not to. I wonder how his great-uncle is going to react to Danny looking down Ren's shirt…"
"…who was that?" nervously asked Layne.
"My best mate, Danny Riddle, and my soon to be adopted, little sister, Serenity. They're dating if you couldn't tell…"
Hermione was still obviously irked by Serenity's statement and was muttering under her breath about the horridness of veela.
"…what are veela and why is Hermione ranting about them?"
Harry smiled lightly and replied, "Gorgeous, blue-eyed blondes with the magical ability to draw members of the opposite gender to them called their charm. Veela, when angered, turn into avian beasts and can throw fireballs. My first best female friend that I'm going to adopt just happens to be part veela. Serenity and Mi don't get along in case you can't tell…"
"You're friends with someone who turns into a monster when mad?!"
"She's only part; she only gets talons and throws fireballs occasionally. I don't know if it has to do with her heritage, but Serenity tends to chuck stuff at people when she gets annoyed. She has thrown many objects at my head. I think the only person who she has ever thrown a fireball at and hit was my best friend and her chosen mate, Danny. He actually finds the fireballs attractive when not thrown at him…"
"Wait, mate?"
"Soul mate I guess is the closest comparison. Veela chose a mate they spend the rest of their lives with. Danny is actually half vampire and has a mate also. Serenity chose him as her mate soon after finding out she was his mate."
"That's romantic…"
"I thought it was ironic personally, but you don't know them."
"Vampires are real?"
"I think I already established that. So are werewolves—my unofficial surrogate godfather is one, fairies, pixies, leprechauns, mermaids, ghosts, and many other species."
"Harry spends too much time around magical creatures…" muttered Hermione.
"And beings. Mi, please don't start calling every non-human a creature."
"Sorry, elfy."
"Oh no you didn't…"
"What are you going to do about it, Jamie?" taunted Hermione despite herself. It was so much fun to tease Harry…
"I'll just have to take a page out of Dan's book and tickle you."
Layne moved back quickly when the elfin teenager started to relentlessly tickle Hermione.
"Harry…!"
"Say you give."
"I give! St-stop it!"
Harry stopped tickling the brunette witch with a bright smile. "Hm, I see why Danny's always tickling Ren now."
Hermione made a face at him.
"Now you're really acting like Serenity."
"Don't compare me to that attention-seeking slut!"
Harry's eyes hardened. "What did you say about her?" he said in a low, dangerous voice.
"Harry! How can you stand her!?"
"Serenity is the second friend I ever had, Hermione. Not everyone lives in a happy, loving family. I will not stand hearing you insult my innocent, little sister who was orphaned before she was even a day old," snarled Harry angrily.
Layne was terrified when she saw his eyes start to glow an inhumanly acid green. "Um… guys?"
"…sorry?" Hermione squeaked out. She had forgotten exactly who she was talking in front of—Serenity's overprotective, big brother.
"You should be pretty damn glad I'm not Danny. He probably would have seriously hurt or killed you for saying that."
"Uh… knock it off," Layne feebly tried again in hopes of getting the magical teens to make up.
Harry stood up and placed a fifty pound note on the table. "Merry Christmas. I'm leaving. We're discussing this after I get control over my emotions, Hermione." Harry stormed out. Hermione was very nervous when she saw the rain start to pick up outside.
"Layne, I think we should go very, very soon. There is an angry mage who can control lightning. I am willing to bet that the fact that it looks like it's going to storm is because of him losing his temper…"
"…can we just pay now?"
"Yeah… let's just use the money Harry threw on the table. I doubt he cares."
Hermione nervously glanced out the window as she waited for the cashier to give her the change. The storm was picking up… Why did they walk? She might have to risk Side-Along Apparition… Could you even do that with a Muggle? Her parents were both at work now, so she couldn't call them. Janet couldn't drive yet, so there was no reason to call home.
"Thanks and come again!" the cheerful man said as he handed her the change finally. Hermione shoved it in her purse and started to go out the door with Layne following.
"If it gets too nasty out, I might have to take a risk and use Side-Along Apparition," Hermione whispered to Layne.
Layne was already told what Apparition was and asked, "I thought it was loud though."
"There are plenty of alleys, and do you think people will notice while it's storming?"
"Good point… I don't even know what it sounds like."
"I just hope it doesn't get too bad…"
Serenity was currently cursing mentally for telling Danny she was okay going to Italy every fortnight when she found herself in some fancy restaurant. Danny had his arm wrapped around her firmly and was quietly translating the menu in her ear.
"…do they have just normal spaghetti…?"
"I'll try. I'll tell you if they don't have that, okay, love?"
"Okay…"
Serenity fiddled with the ring Isabella had forced on her ring finger because the elderly vampires were saying that they wanted to get to know their darling grandnephew's fiancé, her.
The mages weren't sure if they were being given a hint or something on what was expected of them…
"What do you want to drink, by the way?"
"Water is fine, love," Serenity muttered and clung to him.
"I think I'm getting the same thing. There isn't a lot to drink for those under twenty-one."
"Ciao, posso prendere il vostro ordine?" (Hello, may I take your order?) the waitress said as she approached the table.
Jeremiah spoke up and ordered for him and Isabella. "Dante?"
Danny smoothly ordered for him and Serenity after verifying in English if he had Serenity's order right.
"Here," Isabella kindly said and placed a capsule in Danny's hand once the waitress left, "take one of these, and you'll be able to consume a clove of garlic per pill. I would take a couple unless you want to have an allergic reaction."
"They actually make stuff to avoid the whole garlic thing?"
"It took a while, but some Canadian clan did it."
Danny popped a few in his mouth and took a sip of water. He flinched at the taste. "You could have warned me about the taste…"
"It slipped my mind."
The look on Danny's face told her how much he believed her.
Harry sat in the tree broodingly as the storm raged around him. The lightning was striking almost all the time now.
…he couldn't believe that Hermione said that about his sweet, little sister. Harry knew he was being overprotective, but he could help about as much as Danny could.
Serenity was captured almost a year ago by Voldemort… She spent almost four months in captivity as bait leading to Danny's and Harry's eventual capture. That was when Danny learned who he was… and…
Harry's eyes locked on the seemingly innocent light silver "bracelet" on his wrist. Danny and Serenity had matching cuffs. It was actual the rarest, most dangerous magical metal, Imperio Metal.
On the bright side, the dangerous effects of it had been negated. Harry just wasn't able to remove the thing for good yet due to lack of having the mage focus needed to cast the complex spell.
The bittersweet part was that Harry soon would have the mage focus, the scepter.
Problem? It was created in the painful, light spectacle known as a mage's Climax, the mage version of Coming of Age. Harry feared that more than anything at the moment.
He could feel that it was going to happen soon…
Harry was shaken out of his musing when a bolt of lightning almost hit the tree he was sitting in.
"Hey, kid! Can't you see that it's storming out! Go home!" some old person yelled at Harry.
Harry flicked him off and jumped out of the tree. A bolt of lightning hit in front of him, and when the smoke cleared, Harry was gone.
"Hi, Harry," Blaise said without looking up from the book he was reading one of the kids. It was always obvious when one of the Nundu leaders arrived by the tell-tale flash of light.
Harry muttered something under his breath and walked out of the library. He was going to take his aggression out by hexing Danny's punching bag.
"Well, I think someone is in a bad mood," Blaise muttered as he watched his leader and co-ed depart.
"Is Brother Harry cranky…?" the little girl asked as she tried to sit on Blaise's lap again. Blaise sighed and decided to ignore his discomfort of having a little girl sitting on him. As long as one of the kids didn't decide that he was their new father, Blaise was okay. That did happen to Danny, but he already saw her as a daughter so to speak.
"Why do you call Harry, Dan, and Serenity Brother or Sister? I'm curious."
"The other big people told us to do it, so Sister Serenity would coo over us whenever we wanted attention; it would annoy Brothers Harry and Danny, and the big people said they deserved it."
Blaise closed his eyes with a snort. Go figure…
Um... yeah. I'll try to have something posted by the end of the month at latest. Can't gurantee if it will be Chapter Three or not though.