Black or White

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; if I did you would know it. Story title is a song by H.I.M. Chapter title is song by Michael Jackson.

June 1966

Mina Isadora Chakano stood glaring with all the angry annoyance that a three-foot-five, six-year-old could at the top of the refrigerator. Her dark purple eyes narrowed and her bottom lip bit between her teeth. She had her arms crossed as she thought of ways to get her self up there to reach her goal. She huffed at the lack of drawers and cabinets surrounding said fridge, a contrast to most of the houses her friends resided in. In the back of her mind she could hear her Aunt Jessinia's admonishment about eating too many sweets, but she really didn't care. Drago would be amused, she knew, if she could work out how to get her cookies. She flicked her long black hair out of her face, stood on her tiptoes, and stretched one honey gold hand towards the cookie jar.

This was an experiment. She had seen her cousin Gitana float things across the room, so maybe she could float her cookies down to herself. She continued glaring, focusing with all her mental aptitude at the jar. She nearly cried out loud in excitement when said jar shifted to the edge of the fridge. She dropped down to her heels breathing deeply and shaking her hands as if they had gone numb. Squaring her shoulders, she reached again and stretched her focus out as far as she could. This time she did not have to wait as long for response as the cookie jar fell over the edge and landed on the floor with a loud thump, followed by the harsh sound of breaking glass. She stared with wide, amethyst-tinged-with-silver eyes; it had worked! Granted, it wasn't nearly as graceful as her cousin had done it, but it had worked.

She moved carefully over to the broken cookie jar and squatted, heedless of her long skirt, and bare feet among the tiny bits of glass. She was just reaching for a cookie that hadn't touched the floor when a soft lilting voice danced throughout the room. "Mina, you know Jess is going to be up set, don't you." Mina snatched her cookie and rose spinning gracefully to face her observer. She smirked and bit into her cookie munching happily for a second before swallowing and responding. "I know… but she will be excited to see how I got them in the first place." She lifted her free hand and waved it at the mess of glass and cookies. When nothing happened she lost her self-satisfied assurance and stared mutinously at the mess. She quickly lost the desire to finish her cookie.

Gitana smiled softly and crossed over to the little girl, her own purple gaze laced with silver. "Now, pet I saw how you did it, never fear, you will get better when you get to Hogwarts. In the meantime we should leave the scene of the crime, Jess will be awake any minute." Mina lifted her amethyst eyes to her cousin-sister and nodded as the woman led her from the room. She did not see the cookie jar repair itself or float back to the top of the fridge. Nor did she see the cookies float over and drop into the trash bin. She paused just outside the kitchen and looked up at Gitana. "Are you going to tell on me?" Her voice sounded small and clearly held the tones of worry. Gitana smiled her fangs pale against ruby lips.

"Now why would I do that, you did magic after all, and while you did it to get cookies, you still did it. That will please both Jess and Drago." Mina's face glowed as her smile returned, all sunlight and innocence as she wrapped her arms around the woman with eyes so similar to hers. "Thank you, Tana. You're the best." She giggled a bit and with the buoyancy of a child she spun out of the embrace, her skirts flying wide with the movement. She giggled again and turned running down the hall to her room to settle for the night. Gitana watched her until she was out of site before turning in the opposite direction, intent on seeking out her co-sires with news of the development.

Jessinia never did punish Mina for taking the cookies. In point of fact, she acted like it never happened. It was not, however, forgotten that the little pureblood vampire could do magic. The cookie incident was the beginning of many varied incidents that ranged from innocent to disastrous. Several times Mina accidentally set things or fire. The relief came, as the fire seemed to be artificial, as nothing was ever damaged. She nearly killed a neighbor-child on two occasions. That drew enough attention that they were forced to pull her from the muggle system. It was difficult to explain but when you nearly drowned a child for pulling your pig tails, well, it was only a matter of time before one must find new ways of doing things. This greatly amused Drago whom had wanted to home school her from the beginning. In fact the twins had argued many nights about the situation. Jessinia insisted that Mina needed to go to the muggle schools to develop social acumen. Drago insisted that she needed to remain at the manor, as she needed to be kept protected.

It was Gitana that found the solution. She suggested that Mina attend the school in Chandrala as opposed to muggle ones. Chandrala was a modernized magic town funded by many beings and mixed breeds located in Central America. The entire compound was known for its unique blend of muggle and magic proclivities. This seemed to give the twins pause and eventually both relented seeing the advantages of the situation. As such, two years after the cookie incident, in 1968, Mina found herself making friends with a motley group of beings much like her, in that they had to keep their conditions secret. It was here that she made her first werewolf friend, one who would later become very prominent in her life, if she had but known it. Zacabry Primary was a somewhat elite school that had been founded by a hag some years prior. Mina had taken to the new school like a fish to water. She found her life had become fascinating in that she could be who she was meant to be with children like herself. This meant that any accidental magic was just smiled upon. It was, apparently, expected.

She had been at Zacabry for four months when her future best friend arrived. He was taller then her, by maybe a couple of inches but it was tall enough that she felt smaller. He stood nervously at the front of the class as her teacher, Ms. Mariah, introduced him as newly moved into Chandrala. His parents relocated to the small compound looking for work. Politics meant nothing to a child and as Mina saw him standing at the front of the room, his eyes on the ground both nervous and hopeful, and his pale complexion making him look almost sickly. She knew that she would be his friend. As Ms. Mariah told him to find a seat she waved him over when she caught his hazel eyes. "You can sit with me." He seemed startled to find her dark purple eyes on him and she smiled even more, her dimple coming into play. "I promise not to bite you."

His lips twitched and he blushed his eyes dropping to the ground. Mina was a vivacious sort of creature as well as studious and so nudged the text that she had been reading from in his direction. "Look here today we are learning about the constellations." He looked at her book and seemed entranced by the rendition of Orion for several seconds before pulling out his own papers and text and nervously setting his stuff up beside her. Mina smiled and helped him find his page and then returned to her own work. "I'm Mina, by the way." The boy glanced at her out of the corner of his hazel eye before replying. "I'm Remus." Mina smiled and continued her somewhat sloppy writing. "Well Remus, lets get this done so we can enjoy lunch and get to know one another better." Remus smiled and the two shifted their attention to their work. This then, was the beginning of a friendship that would carry through well into their adult hood; much to the displeasure of one Drago Tsingani and great joy of the equal and opposite force, his twin, Jessinia.

The two years following Remus' arrival to Zacabry saw Mina spending much time with the werewolf; the two quite oblivious to their differences. Since Mina was used to the environment where some of her classmates would not attend classes once a month she was not stunned when Remus would disappear as well. Nor did he seem concerned that she always avoided contact with him. It was near the end of that second year that several things caused Mina to suddenly become distant. The first was her introduction to what she would become herself. Prior to this she had known she must be careful not to touch her young friends too much because they would grow tired. She had understood what would happen and she understood that she was different and that was why. How different was never clarified, her family had gone to great lengths to keep her essence hidden from her. As such she did not realize that she was a born vampire and she did not know that the way she fed was by stealing the energy from those she touched.

In point of fact, Gitana was her primary source of vitality. Something that the little girl was not aware of; every now and then she might have accidentally slipped and touched her friends but by the time she had met Remus she was aware enough not to touch those that mattered to her. That aside, when she arrived home from her friend's house the day before her birthday, she was not prepared to find Drago, with a strange women laid out across his lap. She froze in the doorway of the study, where she had sought him out to discuss her homework, and silently watched as Drago's fangs pierced the neck of the woman and said woman moaned softly. She found herself entranced by his act of feeding. Something within her shifted and rose beneath her skin. She felt heat wash through her, a biological summons. Frightened she stepped back from him gasping. It was unclear weather this was a gasp of need or fear. Whatever the case, Drago's glowing red gaze found her now shimmering purple ones and pinned her where she stood.

Mina froze, locked in the red of his eyes. Her heart seemed to increase in rhythm and the biological summons surged. Drago lifted his mouth from the female's neck, his fangs red with her blood. Mina's eyes dropped to his teeth. "Mina." His voice was husky and sent another wave of heat through her as her eyes darted back up to his. She tried to open her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Drago watched her thoughts through her eyes and gracefully got to his feet. Mina, realizing his intentions to touch her, felt panic surge and turned from him darting from the room with a speed she didn't know she had. She fled him then, for the first time in her life she was afraid of the man she considered both her father and her uncle. Drago did not come after her as she slipped into her room and closed the door with a sharp snap. She stood leaning against her bedroom door her chest heaving and a confusing bevy of emotions that she could hardly comprehend surging through her. The one thing she did know was not something that brought her comfort. It horrified her even more then the fact that he was a vampire. It was the desire to be that woman that sent Mina to her bed crying.

It was a terrible realization. It made her feel dirty and perverse. It made her wonder what was really wrong with her that she should wish to be in that position. Little girls should be terrified of such things, not desire them. Desire may have been a hazy concept but even a ten year old understood what it meant to want something. To want such a thing as what she had just witnessed was wrong, incredibly wrong. Little girls should not want to be bitten in such away. They should not want to be held in such an… adult way by any man. They should especially not want such attention form an uncle... or a father. Only a sick little girl would want something like that. She lifted her tear stained face to stare out her window as the condemning realization slithered through her skin. None of it changed the fact that she did in fact want it. Slowly, she felt herself calming as she accepted the truth. She would find a way to battle this sickness. She would avoid her uncle until she could find a cure. In the mean time she would wash away such impure thoughts. She climbed from the bed and suited words to action scrubbing her skin until it was raw in her overly hot shower.

It was a shock for her when, several days after her tenth birthday in 1970, she was sat down with all three of her caretakers and handed a bottle of pills. She looked at the bottle, her purple eyes glinting silver before lifting confused eyes to them. "What is this?" Drago studied her eyes for a long time and Mina suddenly felt the heat from days before steal over her. She dropped her eyes from his suddenly embarrassed. She missed the narrowed eyed accusing glance that Gitana shot her sire and she missed his smug smirk in response. Jessinia sent a glare at both her brother and her sister-child before speaking her soft voice soothing the child before her. "Mina." Slowly, Mina lifted her gaze to her aunt and smiled uncertainly, her voice, when she spoke shook with her nervousness. "Yes?" Jessinia smiled her own fangs visible to the child. Mina's eyes dropped to her teeth and Jessinia saw both the horror and the recognition. She sighed a bit and reached over lifting her face so she could capture Mina's eyes again. "We have things to tell you sweet, and you must not be distracted by your fear, it will do you no good."

Mina stared wild-eyed at her aunt and swallowed before speaking. "Are you going to kill me?" Gitana laughed and Mina's eye flicked to her. "Darling, if we wanted to kill you, you would have been dead by now." Drago leaned forward and grabbed her wrist. Startled she dropped the bottle they had handed her as her eyes flew to his. Drago smiled at her, his fangs out and tugged, pulling her into his lap with impressive speed. He brought her hand to his mouth and would have sunk his fangs into her palm when Jessinia snatched her out of his grasp. "Honestly Drago, you have terrified her enough with your games." Mina found herself confused by the out-of-tone-harp-like voice that escaped her gentle aunt. Drago smiled wickedly at his twin. "If I exchange with her she will understand." Mina felt herself pale when she noted his red eyes. Jessinia laughed darkly at her brother. "You are playing a game with her she is to young to understand brother. Gitana… Please take Mina to her room and explain. Do not bite our young sister. My brother and I have some things to discuss."

Gitana silently obeyed taking Mina from Jessinia's embrace and setting her gently on her feet. Mina looked up at her cousin in fearful confusion; Gitana smiled comfortingly at her and led her from the room. The tension of the twins following them as they left, the door snapping shut behind them. They walked in silence to Mina's room and Mina felt her calm composure return. By the time they reached her room she was in much better control of herself. Gitana set Mina on her bed and stepped back pacing for several minutes. Mina watched her silently. Finally pale amethyst met a much darker purple.

"We are vampires." Mina blinked and Gitana continued. "Jess, Drago, me... And you. We are all vampires but you are special." Mina blinked. "I've never had any blood." Gitana laughed then. "That's because you don't need blood yet and your fangs haven't developed. Drago was cruel to awaken you the way he did. He's always enjoyed playing mind games and he has become jealous of all the time you spend with your werewolf." Mina blinked her temper surfacing as she realized that they were talking about Remus. Her voice became sultry without her even recognizing the change as her own internal darkness surfaced for the first time.

"If he goes near Remus, I will kill him." Gitana froze mid-pace and then laughed, her bell like voice dancing throughout the room. "I'm sure you would, however that is neither here nor there. You haven't needed blood because you are a born vampire." Mina felt her temper become distracted and she studied Gitana for several minutes. "How can I be a born vampire?" Gitana studied her younger self. "Through skillful manipulation. Suffice to say until four days ago, you only needed to absorb vitality to stay alive. This is why you had to be careful with whom you touched, but this changes when you turn ten." Gitana pinned her with purple eyes and Mina absorbed this information quietly and with less panic then she expected. Slowly she raised her own hand to her mouth and felt for fangs. She was surprised that all her teeth felt normal. Gitana studied her actions and then smiled her own fangs now visible. "They will grow slowly over the next five years. When you hit fifteen they will still be small but retractable like the rest of us. You'll have a potion to take then." Mina nodded and raised a hand to twist one long dark curl as she thought. "What game is Drago playing?" Gitana pursed her lips then and dropped her eyes to the floor. "Drago likes to play with emotions. Your old enough now to have definite principals, you have a conscious, and your own personality." She lifted her eyes to Mina's. "Now he wants to play with them."

Mina pursed her lips and stared passed her cousin-sister while she thought. "So I just have to get better at the games he plays." Gitana stared wide-eyed. "Oh Mina you don't want to play his games… they always end badly for those that love him." Mina heard the pain beneath the words and her eyes snapped to Gitana's. "He's played these games before, and he hurt you in the process." Gitana froze her face answering for her. Mina nodded and slipped from the bed crossing to her sister-cousin and offering her palm. "Bite me." Gitana stared at her young mirror image and shook her head. "Mina, Jessinia said not to and you were terrified of me less than an hour ago." Mina nodded and moved closer her hand still held aloft. "Yes I was, because I didn't understand. I do now, and this will give you revenge." Gitana stared at her and Mina smirked, much as Drago had before. "He wants to play with me, he played with you, what better way to get back at him then by taking what he wanted." Gitana stayed frozen as she was and studied the girl-child before her.

Mina came to her waist, which wasn't very tall considering how short she was, but she had that regal grace that Jessinia carried. She wore her black hair long and it fell to the center of her back in a loose waterfall of curls. Her heart shaped face would have been better sculpted on a porcelain doll and her purple eyes held flecks of Jessinia's green eyes. Gitana had been ecstatic when she realized Mina's eyes were going to be purple and she had seen hints of silver whenever the girl did magic and she wondered what color they would take when she fed. She wondered what Mina would be like when she got older. The way the child stood demanding before her, she knew Mina would be something terrible and if she knew what future awaited, she felt sure Drago would quake before the defiant temper. She wondered then, what Mina would do when she met Orion? Mina shook her hand impatiently and her voice had grown more full bodied with her impatience. Gitana shivered as she realized this was the darkness with in the child surfacing. "We have to hurry Gitana, this has to happen before they are finished arguing."

Gitana sighed as she recognized that this would pit her against Drago and reached out grasping her sister-child's wrist. Her eyes glinted silver as she looked down into the mirror of herself. "You know that once we do this, there is no turning back. Blood is power in our world, Mina. What you are doing will give me power over you, and it will make Drago climb the walls to know that I have it." Mina studied her and then nodded her understanding. "It would keep me free from him." Gitana shook her head. "He's already had your blood and you have already had his. He will always own a piece of you. This will just cement your unwillingness to bend to him and it will…" Gitana's voice trailed off. This exchange would drive Gitana crazy as well. "There will be future consequences for us both... things you will not be proud of." Mina smirked. "Like desiring someone who was supposed to be a father or an uncle?" It was as much a question as a statement and Gitana found herself nodding. Mina nodded her eyes seeming to have gotten brighter.

Gitana sighed. "Last time to back out of this Mina." Mina nodded and rose on her tiptoes. "I will not let him play with me without consequences." Gitana smirked and sank her fangs into her sister-child's palm. As Mina's blood hit her tongue she knew she was lost. A few years from now things would be laden with secrets between them but when the time was right, it would be glorious. For her part, Mina felt herself go weak at the knees. She would have fallen had Gitana not pulled her against herself. Gitana wound her arm around Mina and sipped lightly from her palm enjoying the honey that was her sister-child's blood. Mina rested her head against Gitana's stomach for several seconds feeling the rush flow through her as well as over her. An awareness she had not been aware of possessing stole over her as Gitana bit her own tongue to heal her bite. Gitana set her back on her feet and Mina swayed with the return to herself. Gitana's eyes were full on silver as they took in the bright amethyst of Mina's. Mina smiled complacently up at her and Gitana pulled her towards her bed.

She set Mina gently on her mattress and reached for the pill bottle that was in her skirt pocket. "I won't give you my blood, pet, but you need to replenish what I took." She opened the bottle and tapped out two pills before conjuring a glass with the hand that held the pills. A second wave and it was filled with water. She dropped the two pills in the glass and glanced at Mina while she waited for them to dissolve. Mina studied Gitana through heavily lidded eyes and Gitana stared pointedly at the glass. "Mina, sweet, you have to remember that I am your sister first, my bite will confuse your emotions." She reached for the glass and handed it to Mina. Silently Mina took the glass and obediently drank as Gitana studied her. There was not much that changed with her petite mirror, but the addictive passion that came from being bitten was evident and it was all Gitana could do not to continue what Mina had started. She knew in coming years it would be much less easy to resist the call that was in her blood now; especially when one considered her own proclivities. Mina finished the glass before setting it with a clunk on her nightstand and sitting up, her normality now nearly returned.

"How often do I have to take these pills?" Gitana smiled, for a ten year old she was surprisingly responsible. A gift from Jessinia she was certain. "In the beginning only as needed, but you will need them more often as you get older. You should always carry a bottle with you because anything can lead to the desire to feed." Gitana paused and then looked away as she continued to speak. "We are a passionate blood line. When you were born we all exchanged blood with you." Without looking she reached out and traced the scar on Mina's face. "Drago was the one that marked your face. I would have chosen a more discreet place if it had been me, but he wanted to prove something to your father."

She realized to late what she had said when Mina shift closer and rose on her knees grabbing her chin and forcing her to face her mirror again. "You know my father." Gitana nodded and answered before Mina could ask. "I can not tell you this story Mina, that is for Drago to answer, and before you try to insist I am blood sworn not to tell you." Mina sighed and climbed from the bed exasperatedly. "Fine, I don't want you to get into trouble." She glanced at the clock and sighed before turning purple eyes back to her sister-cousin. "It's late and I have school tomorrow. Remus will worry if I don't show up." Gitana smirked and rose. "Then you should get ready for bed, pet, and try not to brag to your little friends about what you are. A biological vampire is rare these days." Mina nodded and skipped into her bathroom as Gitana made for the bedroom door. She paused as she heard the shower flick on and sighed her eyes skating over the room. Years before the pink had been replaced with dark shades of red, blue, purple, and green. She glanced at the ceiling where carefully placed stick up stars formed constellations. She wondered what changes would occur once she went of to Hogwarts. With a sigh she slipped out of the room closing the door with a snap.

The next year presented a new dynamic in the household. Neither Jessinia nor Drago knew or realized the bite between their children had occurred but both Gitana and Mina were acutely aware of the connection they had. Both were careful not to give it more heed then it needed and so their relationship stayed primarily the same. Drago delighted in coaxing the darkness out of Mina and used all manner of actions to do so. Several times he would feed in front of her causing those unhealthy fascinations to surface. Other times he would visit her reeking of blood from his hunts. He did everything possible to see the sliver surface in her gaze. Jessinia set about teaching her to control this darkness and encouraged her to strengthen her friendships with her schoolmates. The winter holiday prior to her eleventh birthday she received her Hogwarts letter and found she was nearly afraid to attend the magic school. It was several days after that she caught Remus doing magic and realized that the two of them would be attending together. Naturally, she practically pounced on her friend in an effort to share her news.

Remus was thrown off by the physical contact as when they were younger she avoided all possible physicality with him as well as their other friends. Clearly whatever had been her problem before, it had changed in the last year. As a result he tried not to show his surprise whenever she touched him, which occurred more often then one would expect. They remained firm in their friendship and there were times when he noticed her acting strange. Occasionally, her eyes would flash silver and he could not help the response that flashed through him. He both wanted to own and despise her in those seconds and as suddenly as they happened they were gone. She would smile a secret smile during these times, as if she had known what he was feeling and then pop a pill and it would all return to normal quickly forgotten in the shadow of their friendship. Time passed and soon it was time for them to head off to get their school supplies. The two of them made plans to meet at Diagon Alley and do their shopping together a week prior to catching the train. It was only after that, that Remus was forced to cancel, as he was sick.

A/N: Two for today I as my postings are late. Reviews warm my heart and hasten this version of shadowed dreams.

-DJR