The Hybrid

Chapter 4

The first day of classes went well. Having read all of his books before he walked into the classroom, Zack had a bit of an advantage over the other students when answering random questions. It didn't take long for rumors to start circling about him, starting with him being the first muggleborn Slytherin ever, and ending with his being Snape's nephew.

Hearing about most of them, Zack couldn't help but laugh. Kitala, with her normal quirky humor, always had her own two cents to add in. By the end of the week, the teachers were convinced Zack was a genius, and the students were convinced he was the psychotic heir of Slytherin.

Speaking parseltongue actively in public with Kitala didn't help his case any. Just to be on the safe side, he'd started sleeping with several security charms around the room. If anyone even came near his bed, he'd know about it.

As a Slytherin, he quickly became Snape's favorite student, with Draco Malfoy at a not so close second. Seri, as expected, wrote him everyday, which was a nice distraction. On Tuesday morning, he'd gotten a letter from both Seri and his mother, and on Saturday, he got one from Seri, his mother, and his father.

Selene's pregnancy was advancing well. Zack had been reassured by both Seri and Michael that Selene was being watched, just incase she decided to go on a midnight hunt or some of the crazier stunts she had pulled in the past, mostly just to get everyone riled up.

Draco was still trying to read over his shoulder, but with very little luck, as he only spoke one foreign language, Japanese, as strange as it was. Zack thought the boy's frustration about being unable to dig into his home life hilarious. Kitala had pleaded the fifth, not wanting to give the blond Slytherin reason to try and barbeque her.

It was on Monday morning, however, that Zack messed up and let his guard down. He had just walked out of the bathroom, having showered, and forgotten to bring his clothes into the bathroom with him. Draco, much to his surprise, was up, and staring directly at the scars that riddled his chest and arms.

"What happened to you?" Draco asked, looking at the deep impressions in Zack's skin.

Zack, knowing the boy wouldn't drop the subject, told him the closest thing to the truth he could. "When I was younger my house caught fire and the only way I could get out with my sister was jumping off the balcony and going through the French Doors to our back yard. My sister was fine, but I took quite a beating getting out," Zack explained, using a story he'd concocted years before.

Draco nodded, believing the younger boy. "Are you really a muggle born?" Draco asked, in a spectacular change of subject.

"Descendant of squibs, from what I've been told," Zack said, pulling the curtain around his bed closed, ending the conversation.


"You wizards. Do you even understand what you're looking at?" Kitala asked, watching Zack as he tried to finish his Transfiguration essay.

"Yes, and I would understand better if you would be quiet. We are in a library you know," Zack responded, still writing.

"Ugh, muggle computers are so much more efficient," Kit commented, watching Zack white out an inkblot.

"Kitala, don't take this the wrong way, but shut up." Kitala huffed, but was content to curl up in Zack's over robe in the light coming from the windows. He had just put the finishing touches on the essay when he was nearly knocked backwards in his chair by someone running by. Watching the person, Zack identified it as a first year muggle born Gryffindor. He'd watched her every so often, as she seemed to have a lot of trouble with her fellow classmates.

The girl was smart, the best witch in her year, worthy competition for even Zack. From what Zack had observed, her classmates were jealous or intimidated by her higher than average intelligence and excluded her from the group.

With his acute hearing and sense of smell, Zack could not only hear her soft whimpers but also smell the salt in the girl's tears. Packing up his books and essay, Zack laid his book bag next to the snoozing Kitala, and followed the girl into the maze of bookcases.

He finally found her slumped next to the bookcase for the S section of Charms. "Are you alright?" Zack asked, keeping a respectful distance. The girl looked up, startled, before she started brushing her tears away.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she responded, her eyes puffy and red.

Zack gave her a look that said he knew she was lying. "You don't look okay. Care to talk about it?" he asked. As was said by many psychiatrists, it always made things easier when you talked about it. The girl looked at him like he was insane, which he was in a way, and curled a little further into herself. "Or not. Let's start with proper introduction. My name is Zachary William Corvin. I have a sister named Serenity, and my mother has twins on the way. My dad is a businessman of sorts, and my mom does whatever she feels like when she feels like it," Zack said, thinking back on his mother's most resent hunting trip.

The girl looked back up at him. Zack couldn't recall her first name for the life of him, but he knew she was named after a mythological character. "Your name?" he asked, trying to get her to say something.

"Hermione Granger," she responded.

Zack nodded and offered her a hand. She accepted and he pulled her off of the ground. "It's nice to meet a fellow muggle born," Zack commented. Zack knew that everyone in the school tended to stereotype, so many would be surprised to find a muggle born in Slytherin, outside of the house anyway.

Sure enough, she asked, "Muggle born? In Slytherin?"

Zack shrugged. "I can't help my cunning nature. With a sister like mine, how can I avoid it?" The question was rhetorical, but Hermione looked like she thought he thought he wanted her to answer. "Never mind. Do you have any siblings?" Zack asked.

Hermione shook her head in the negative. "After me, mum didn't want anymore children," she said with a shrug.

"Feel lucky, but I really don't know what I'd do without Seri, so I guess it depends on your point of view. So, can I ask why you nearly knocked me out of my chair when you ran through the library?" Zack asked, surprising the girl with the abrupt change in subject.

Hermione shrugged. "Nothing. Some of the boys in my house were teasing me, and the girls don't like me, so I kind of over reacted," she said, her voice small.

"Ah. Yeah, these houses seem a bit territorial over who fits in and who doesn't fit in, thought the hat didn't have any trouble sorting me," said Zack. Hermione shrugged. A lot of shrugging seemed to be going on in this conversation, but Zack really didn't care. Moving his shoulders a bit wasn't going to kill him. "Right. Well, it's almost time for dinner."

Hermione looked a little dejected at the ending of the conversation and started to turn away, but Zack's voice called her back. "You're welcome to eat with me, or if you don't want to go to the hall, I know where the kitchens are." Normally, Zack wasn't overly nice to people, and was generally very reserved around everyone but his few friends and family, but he felt like this girl had great potential to be a really good friend.

"I would like that," she responded, all smiles.

"Great. Come on then," said Zack, offering his arm to the shorter girl. She took it and they walked, arm in arm, to the Great Hall, where they were met with stares of confusion and horror.


The next few weeks hadn't gone as well as the last, but Zack wasn't one to complain. As a small poster in Seri's room said, 'Smile, tomorrow could be worse!' Zack and Hermione became really good friends, always hanging out and doing homework together. Kitala, with her ever-growing vocabulary, tended to get Zack into trouble with teachers, but more often than not Snape got him out of it.

About a week after Hermione and Zack had started hanging out, some of her housemates had ganged up on her in the library, with the intent of scaring her away from Zack. Kitala, who, on Zack's orders, had been following Hermione around when he wasn't with her, had let her Fire Fox side come to light. Needless to say, the group of teenagers had been sent to the hospital wing with multiple burns.

Halloween came and went with little to no trouble. A troll somehow got into the building, but was killed off by Snape in the girl's bathroom. After that, however, the teachers all seemed very tense and off balance, also, the DADA professor disappeared. On November 1st, an article was published in the Daily Prophet on the disappearance and supposed death of the-boy-who-lived, Harry Potter.

A lot of the pureblood and halfblooded children panicked, but as muggle born children, it didn't mean much to Zack and Hermione. Actually, Zack found the panic hilarious, but Mione seemed less than amused. Add that to the fact that even the teachers seemed a bit off balance, and you had a worried Hermione.

Christmas was fast closing in and Zack and Mione were both looking forward to going home. The last week of November consisted of going shopping in Hogsmead, the wizarding village, and buying gifts. As Hermione's parents were dentists, she steered clear of the candy shop, but Zack felt no guilt in buying a mountain of candy, most of it for his sister, but he had full intentions of keeping a nice sized stash for himself. As a Vycan, his teeth were resistant to things like cavities, but he didn't let anyone know that.

Seri continued to owl him all the time, drawing a lot of attention to him. No other person in the wizarding world had a Snowy Owl, as they were notoriously hard to train and keep alive because of their pickiness of living conditions. Having read up on the owls, Zack was surprised she had even been healthy much less alive when he'd found her in the pet shop.

Some of his older housemates teased him about being a baby because of his continuous letters to and from his family, but that was shot down by a few choice insults. Not soon enough for Zack, he was on the train ready to go home. In a large burst of Vampire magic, he'd shrunk down his trunk, and carried Mione's into their shared compartment. Malfoy, in a strange burst of Malfoyness had decided that Zack was a good person to be allied with and was trying to befriend him.

However, Malfoy had a slight superiority complex as far as muggleborns went, and would have to change his attitude if he wanted Zack's friendship or alliance, or whatever he seemed to want. With an unemotional goodbye between Malfoy, Mione and Zack, Zack led Mione out to the muggle side of the platform, where they nearly ran into their parents, who were standing side by side.

Zack, always having been a 'momma's boy', hugged his mother first, before moving onto his father, then his sister. Mione hugged both of her parents, but not with as much enthusiasm as Zack had hugged his. Zack wasn't surprised, as Hermione had told him more than once that her parents were very privet people and were not one to publicly display affection.

"Mom, Dad, Seri, this is Hermione Granger. Mione, they are my parents and little sister, Selene, Michael and Seri," Zack said, pointing to each in turn. Everyone, including Hermione's parents, exchanged names and greetings. Mione's parent, Janet and Matthew Granger, were very polite, complimenting on the family's teeth of all things. Zack could tell his parents were trying not to laugh as Matt Granger went into a discussion about dental hygiene. It was 30 minutes and many giggles later that Michael and Selene led their children out to their truck, as was most comfortable for Selene to ride in at her stage.

"So how was school Zack? Was it fun?" Seri demanded once they'd gotten into the car.

"Very much so. You're going to love it next year, but beware the people are a little shallow," Zack commented, thinking about the youngest Weasley boy and his almost constant teasing of Mione, as Zack affectionately called her.

"Are you going to have any of your friends come to the house over the break?" Michael asked.

"Can I?" Zack asked. He hadn't thought to give out any invitations to his house because of the characters that hung out there most of the time. The last thing they needed was for a vampire to attack Mione.

Michael nodded. "I don't see why not. Everyone except for a few Lycans and Vampires have been called away on business until after New Years. All together, I think there are about 20 people that are staying at the mansion for the time of your break. Who do you have in mind to invite over?" Michael asked.

Zack shrugged. "Mione maybe."

"Zack has a girlfriend! Zack has a girlfriend!" Seri teased.

"I do not Seri. Everyone else at that school is mean, so she and I figured we'd just hang out together. I'd invite Draco, but he needs to get over his superiority complex. He has a thing against muggles," said Zack.

"Muggles?" asked Seri.

"Non-magical people. For some reason there is a type of prejudice against them in the wizarding world. Stupid if you ask me, but I'm not one to question other people's cultures," Zack explained. Seri rolled her eyes, her brother held no biases, he hated everyone equally.


"Mom! Dad!" Zack yelled. It was early on the 13th of December. Zack knew his mother would be going into labor with the twins at any time, so naturally he was looking for his mother and father.

Serenity was spending the night at a friend's house and wouldn't be back until later in the day, hopefully, so he couldn't ask her where his parents were. Nick, one of the younger Lycans, was the only person Zack had found so far, and he didn't know anything either.

Zack nearly jumped out of his skin when his cellular phone, an early Christmas present to be used in emergencies, went off. "Hello?" Zack answered.

"Zack! Hey, mom's gone into labor. We're at Steph's house, dad's calling an ambulance. Can you meet us at the hospital?" Seri's unmistakable voice asked.

"Where?" Zack asked. He'd be damned if he was going to miss the birth of his new brother and sister.

"Remember the hospital we went to in London? The one that dad was an intern at?"

"I'll be there," answered Zack, flipping off the phone. "HEY NICK!"


"I am never, ever driving with you again!" Zack growled, crawling out of Nick's car. Nick, ever the teenager, liked to drive really fast and had damn near crashed the car 100 or so times. His truck seemed to have enjoyed the ride about as much as Zack had.

"I got ya here, didn't I?" asked Nick, cool as a cucumber.

Zack gave the red haired Lycan a hard look before running towards the entrance of the hospital. He nearly ran his sister over in his haste. "Zack, chill," she said, pushing him back.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing yet, dad told me to bring you up to the third floor when you got here, and he would call when something started really happening," Seri answered.

Zack nodded, some of the tension leaving his body.

"What's up dad?" Zack asked, meeting his father on the third floor of the hospital. Seri stood a few feet behind him.

"Nothing. The doctor kicked me out. He said something about my reactions after the two of you were born," Michael growled, clearly very unhappy.

"You mean, offering to cut us out with a hunting knife after mom started throwing stuff?" Seri asked. Michael nodded. A loud scream followed his nod.

"At least she's not going to be in labor with these two as long as she was with both of you…"


"Mr. Corvin?" A white clad nurse asked, pushing open the door of the delivery room.

Michael stood from where he'd been sitting. The screams of his wife caused him to break out in a cold sweat and he started shaking when the screams stopped. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. "Yes ma'am?"

"Congratulations Mr. Corvin. Your wife has just given birth to beautiful twins. She's asking for you, as well as her other two children," the nurse said, flashing Seri and Zack a cheery smile. Michael nodded his thanks and followed the nurse into a small hospital room on the other side of the delivery hall. Lying on a bed was Selene, pale and sweaty, but happy, holding two soundly sleeping infants.

"Mom!" Seri called out, bounding up to the bed to inspect the twins.

"What do you think Michael? Natalie and Nathan?" Selene asked, ignoring her daughter for the time being.

Michael nodded. "Beautiful Selene. I'm very proud of you," Michael said, kissing his wife on the forehead and lifting their youngest son from his mother's arms. True to all Vycan males, he didn't stir, sleeping like a proverbial rock. "Nathan huh? You'll be a strong little one, just like your bother. A wizard as well maybe," Michael cooed to the child.

"Well Seri, it looks like we're going to have miniature versions of ourselves running around before long," Zack grinned. Seri grinned back.

Selene scoffed. "As if I'd let the two of you corrupt them! You cause enough trouble as it is! I feel bad for Hogwarts and the Mansion if you are able to brain wash them," Selene said, watching as Natalie watched her with her now open blue eyes. With blue-eyed parents and blue-eyed siblings, there was no doubt that the twins would have blue eyes as well.

"You'd be surprised mum," Zack responded with a knowing grin. Selene just gave him a warning glare.

(A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back. Okay, let me relate my adventures over the past month. First off, I live in Florida, and the weather gets really bad this time of year. This said, my school has nearly gotten my killed multiple times over the past 30 or so days. The first time was in Mid-April. A tornado had set down a few miles from the school, and we had just been released. No one bothered to tell the students this, and I was walking home. The second was last week, when another Tornado set down in Port Orange, about 5 miles from my school. They announced this and told us to get to a safe spot right after we were released to go to 4th block. Most of the students didn't even know about it. Thus were the attempts on my life. Now, all of you have probably more or less gathered that my Biology teacher is nuts. Well, to go along with her craziness she told us three things going into the AP exam. Number one was that there would be NO essay Questions on enzymes, and not to study it. The second was that we should study genetics because it would probably be an essay question. The third was that the test didn't start until 9 o'clock. Now that I'm sure you all are laughing your asses off at the situation, allow me to tell you what happened.

First off, not only did we have one question on enzymes, but two questions on enzymes. Luckily for my dearest Biology teacher I studied enzymes anyway. Second was, as I'm sure you can predict, the only mention of genetics was in the form of a single, very easy multiple-choice question. Third, and the reason why I've never hated a teacher more in my life is that the AP test started at 8. At 7:30, I'm in my bed sleeping because I figure that I don't have to show up until about 8:45. Well, my Biology teacher calls me shortly followed by my friends telling me to get my ass to school. So, I wake my mom up, and she drives insanely fast to get me to school. Once again, I get there, walk into my Bio teacher's classroom, and find out where I'm testing. It's now 7:55. After a very brisk run across campus to get to the media center, I find that most of the class was smart and was already there anyway. We, however, have one missing student, Katie. So we sit and wait on her, and wait and wait, and then at about 8:30 she shows up. All in all, and this is what really made me mad, I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off to get to a test that didn't end up starting until 9 anyway! Bangs head on table. Other than that, nothing too interesting. My birthday is on May 14th, so I'm looking forward to my 15th birthday and school is over in 2 weeks. I'm soooo ready for summer. Okay, I'm done ranting now, I need to save some for my Biology teacher tomorrow morning…)

Review responses:

Japanese-jew: Maybe, we'll see.

Adge9631: Thanks. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

Jbfrtiz: Thanks.

UnrealChopsuey: Thanks.

Dark Catalyst: Happy Birthday! My birthday is May 14th, fantastic 15. The AP test was okay, easier than I expected.

Snowlight144: That's one of the reasons I came up with it. I like to be original, and play with my characters.

HecateDeMort: Hmmm…thanks.

Wytil: Thanks. US Forest Service, that sounds like fun, and dumping the kids on grandpa for the summer, even better. I love summer, I'm going to be at the beach like, everyday! Sounds familiar, my parents kind of wish my brother had married differently than he had, but he's been in Iraq for about 6 months now, so I haven't seen any reason why he shouldn't have married the woman he did. They've been dating since early high school.

Shazia)Riavera: Thanks. I thinkg I'm going to make Zack and Draco reluctant friends, not like in LC.

Serenity: Thanks. This is a crossover with Underworld. I try and recap stuff that happened in the movie so people don't have to read my story 5 or 6 times before they understand what's happened.

Applebottoms: LOL! Love the multiples of the same words.

Gual1: Thanks.

ShAdOwAdRiA: Thanks.

Hpever: No problem. Yes, well, I'm kind of in hate with my Biology teacher right now. No, I don't think anyone will know about Zack and Harry being the same person.

Grey8: Yes, I know cats very well. I have two of them, both male, Oreo and Gray. I am there to feed them and let them lick me and sleep on my head when they feel like it. It's good to know that I'm keeping up to my standard. I'd personally like to think I've improved a lot as a writer since I started LC.

ApocSM: Thanks.

Kaaera: Yes, Malfoy will realize just how far back Zack's history goes. I'm still not sure if I'm going to have him switching houses.

Korrd: Thanks. I don't think he will.

William Knight: Thanks.

The Magic Bringer: Thanks.

Alen: Does that mean that my story is good? Cool, you know great minds think alike.

Sarah R Potter: Thanks.

Howling wolf1: Thanks.

Lord Of Treason and Discord: Thanks. I love your pen name, that's great.

Gaia: You're not the only one to not realize it. I'm sorry I forgot to say something…dumb on my part.