In Heri's eighth year it was time for Pugsley to begin his official magical education. His siblings thought it unfair that he got to start his game earlier than them. Years ago they had agreed that once they were independent and away at school they would play a game involving how much mayhem they could get away with and who could make the biggest statement. Rules were none existent, as long as they did the family proud. Pugsley had a natural talent for chaos that gave him an edge as far as expulsions went. Wednesday and Heri were just too thoughtful and had remained in the same school since infancy (Although the school building had, had to be rebuilt several times – funds provided by the Addams of course). But Heri had them on murder, having started so young. Though he never again wasted a death the way he had Vernon Dursley's.

Pugsley had been invited to Ilvermorny, as was usual for wizards in the area. Heri, himself couldn't wait to attend, what with its connection to the great and interesting Gormlaith Gaunt and his own interest in that particular family line. The fact that it was located near a town called Adams just seemed like fate, although the Addams' would never wish to claim connection the Adams'. The thought was just too frightful.

Wednesday wanted to attend Mahoutokoro and simply couldn't wait to acquire her white robes and then try to prevent them from showing as white. It was too big a challenge for her to pass up, and she so longed to find someone to teach her the 'old ways' of Japan. They did have a small distant branch of relations there, but that would be cheating.

In all honesty, Heri just couldn't wait to be around so many other magical beings. The Addams adults attended the amount of social functions expected of a family as old and revered as theirs, but the Addams children were rarely seen. Morticia and Gomez did not want their children to be exposed to strange thoughts and ideas before they were old enough to know better. It was the reason they had to attend muggle school. Well, that and it seemed prudent to learn the ways of muggles. After all, the Addams Family was usually (even reluctantly), respected among Wizardkind, but Muggles were a completely different kettle of strange, exotic fish.

Heri and Wednesday thought they were doing very well at fitting in with the muggles at school. Of course, they had no friends, only ever associated with each other outside of class and generally disturbed their teachers to the point of writing to their parents every other week, but really it was a concern to their parents just how well they were doing.

The three children would be the first Addams in centuries to attend public Wizarding School and although Gomez especially wasn't happy about sending his children away, both parents couldn't deny that the signs seemed to indicate an oncoming age of great darkness, and they wouldn't deny their children the opportunity to be in the middle of it.

One afternoon Lurch delivered the children home and Wednesday had been given a Star Pupil of the Week certificate for her efforts in science. Their parents had been instantly worried. Where had they gone wrong?

Heri knew that Wednesday was about to be in serious trouble and so decided to intervene – only he and Pugsley could get Wednesday into trouble, not some well-meaning muggle teacher who thought praise might encourage Wednesday to behave and work hard!

Just as Morticia was about to start questioning Wednesday about her certificate, he stepped forward.

"Mother, I know Wednesday is misbehaving in science, but I'm struggling in French. If you misunderstand someone how can you ask what they said?"

"Qu'est-ce que vous avez dit?" Morticia responded automatically.

"Tish! That's French!"

The desired effect was immediate: Gomez latched onto Morticia like a man possessed and within minutes Morticia could be heard moaning as they made their way up the stairs.

Wednesday smiled at Heri:

"Works every time!" she said as they made their way to the playroom.

Later that night, around 1am, Heri and Wednesday sat on the roof sharing a cigarette. They had been trying to quit since they were both 5 years old, but couldn't decide whether they loved the toxic fumes or hated how dependent on them they felt.

"What is it that has you performing so well in science class?" Heri finally decided to broach the subject. He wanted to know if there was a problem. Wednesday glared at him.

"I just understand how helpful the muggle understanding of science can be in developing spells." She replied and Heri beamed with pride; after all what other six year old could be so wise and intuitive. Most spells worked on manipulating the natural order, so knowing how things were meant to work was a necessity if you wanted to create your own spells and not merely copy other peoples'. Muggles didn't have the same scope of knowledge that wizards did, but what they did know was often overlooked by magical folk in favour of learning established wizarding spells, and so they were ignorant of many things that muggles took for granted.

"Well," Heri began, not wanting to discourage his sister, "maybe you could cause a little explosion or chaos during a couple of theory lessons, just to make sure they don't get the wrong idea." Wednesday just gave him that look that told him she thought he was an idiot and had already discerned what he was saying.

To be fair to her, over the course of the last few years, each of the Addams children had developed a passion for experimentation, and Wednesday was probably the most gifted in this field. She was currently trying to develop a way of making grass feel pain, and was determined that she would be able to animate her dolls by the time she was eleven. Heri was inclined to believe it. He could just imagine her army of small demented dolls spreading fear throughout her new school. It was an interesting idea.

Pugsley took after uncle Fester, and it was probably a good thing that he had gone away to school this year. He'd taken the house's durability as a personal challenge and was working on infusing muggle explosives with his own destructive magic in an attempt to breach the outer walls. He hadn't succeeded yet, but Heri thought it was just a matter of time.

Heri's own area of experimentation had been rather narrow ever since his parents had told him about what lay within his scar.

A piece of Voldemort's soul! Grandmamma had discovered it the day after his adoption. His parents thought it would be wrong to take from him something so dark and unnatural without giving him a choice in the matter, and had therefore decided to leave it be until Heri was old enough to make up his own mind.

Pugsley was jealous that Heri had such a gruesome and prominent curse scar, and Wednesday was jealous that he basically already owned someone's soul – if only in part – without even trying. It was like he'd been given a freebee!

Heri was delighted to have a piece of Voldemort's soul and couldn't see himself wanting to be rid of it any time soon. He was utterly fascinated by the man. It wasn't often that you came across a man powerful, charismatic and ruthless enough to change an entire country and make its citizens afraid to even speak his name!

So far Heri had only been able to vaguely sense the magic and essence of the soul. It was wild and destructive and angry – like a raging storm. It was beautiful. He couldn't interpret what it meant though and didn't want to ask anyone else to help him. This just felt so intimate and personal that he didn't want to share it. He couldn't decide whether what he felt was representative of Voldemort's actual essence or if it simply reflected his current state of being or welfare. He obviously knew that Voldemort wasn't dead, the way the people of the United Kingdom seemed to believe, but given how peaceful the UK had been for the last several years, it would seem that he was incapacitated or at the very least distracted. Heri longed to know what happened that Halloween night so many years ago. He was sure he hadn't done anything to the powerful wizard, but everyone seemed insistent that he had vanquished him.

Heri rubbed his scar to alleviate his building headache. He didn't dare prod the soul more directly, because, as fun as it would be to be possessed, he still had things he wanted to do. He knew it would be some years yet before he could practice Occlumency to a sufficient level and just had to be patient.

A few months back, Heri had discovered he had the ability to talk to snakes, another thing much envied by his siblings and after researching the Addams, Frump, Potter and Evans family lines, he'd come to the conclusion that it was most likely a side effect from Voldemort's soul, as he was the last man known to speak Parseltongue so it simply couldn't be coincidence.

One day he had come across Grandmamma levitating an Eastern Coral Snake toward the kitchen. It had taken him a few moments to realise that the indignant protests had been coming from said snake, and had immediately halted her progress in order to investigate. By the end of the day Herido had a new pet snake and dinner had changed to aged beef.

"Heri," Wednesday brought him out of his reminiscing, looking him straight in the eye. "What's it like to kill someone?" Herido smiled fondly at his little sister, which Wednesday returned with a scowl.

"It's the ugliest thing in the world." He breathed out. "You think at first you're just shutting down the biological systems of a body, but it's so much more than that. You're stealing a life, time, dreams, promises, potentials, love and so much more. And you're not only extinguishing that light from the victim, but taking it away from all the people they affected and from the World itself. There is no greater or more precious thing to sacrifice on this Earth." He glanced up as he finished his musings and was greeted with one of her rare, but beautifully breath-taking smiles.

"And that's why our magic is so powerful." She stated. The wind seemed to pick up as she spoke and whipped around the two fiercely. A fork of lightning brightened the sky for an instant and highlighted their swamp. Heri let out a breath of appreciation for everything he had and the beauty he was blessed to be surrounded by.

He stood, taking Wednesday's hand to lead them back inside – it would likely start raining soon and he should probably call in Kitty Cat and uncle Fester. He paused just inside as lightning struck once again and lit the dim hallways. He raised his sister's palm and gently drew a circle on it with his fingertip.

"In a way, dear sister. But blood in your hand, though precious, is just blood in your hand. You have to know how to use it." She pulled her hand back down, but didn't let go of his as they continued down the hall.

"I can't wait to learn." She said finally.

"Me neither." He agreed with a grin.

Nobody could say that the Addams Family wasn't hard working. Sure, none of them worked, but whether they were studying, playing, partying, torturing or relaxing, they did it with everything they had. Life and death were so profound and prominent in the household, that every action and sensation, whether good or bad, was cherished and savoured.

This had the fortunate side effect that Herido and Wednesday could often be seen tired and a little grouchy. They had so much to do after all: muggle school; physical arts lessons with Gomez; music, art, plant and animal care lessons with Morticia; Potions and alchemy lessons with Grandmamma; lessons of explosive and psychological disorder with uncle Fester; and history of the Addams Family lessons with cousin Itt; practicing the things learnt; playing with each other and the victims in the dungeon; working on their own side projects, taking care of their pets and learning a dozen different languages from everyone in the house. Really, sleep was always at the bottom of the list of things they wanted to do.

All of which could explain their heightened annoyance and slightly hasty actions one day in June.

The bright sun and heat of the day wasn't helping, nor was the little girl who had approached the siblings at lunch. School had been a little calm this year, what with Pugsley gone and their classmates generally either afraid or disgusted by the remaining Addams'; they had been pretty much left alone.

And yet here stood a little girl from Wednesday's class. She had blonde pigtails and dimples and Herido kept a cautious eye on her as she attacked Wednesday verbally, noticing a small group of children watching with glee. He wouldn't dream of interfering with his sister's fun, but you never knew when you'd need to remember a face.

Then he heard the attacks move to his family.

"…in fact your whole family is such a bunch of freaks and goths. My mummy says you shouldn't even be in a school with normal children - you should be in a zoo!" His head snapped to Wednesday, who smiled as she noticed a familiar gleam in his eye, one that promised fun.

"I think it's the prey that should be smarter when dealing with dangerous creatures, Emily." Wednesday turned her bone chilling smile to the girl. "See you soon."

"Wh-what?" Emily asked, confused and unnerved. She'd never seen Wednesday smiling before. What did that mean? She looked up to see Wednesday walking away with her hand in her brothers', looking as always as though nothing in the world could bother them.

Later that evening, the children were late arriving for potions class, but they were radiating joy like someone died and it was making Grandmamma a little nervous. Just as she was about to finally push them into telling what had happened at school, Morticia and Gomez came into the basement, looking utterly disappointed.

"Children!" Morticia called, waving a hand and placing their potions in stasis in order to have their full attention. "Is there something you'd like to share with your father and me?"

The children shared a gulp as they turned to face the music. How did their parents always know? Gomez sighed.

"Children, we just saw on the news that a number of your classmates," he indicated to Wednesday, "were found in the middle of a safari park 40 miles from your school."

"Maybe it was someone's birthday." Herido suggested. It wasn't a lie or anything. He hadn't asked the children for their birthdates when they'd left them in the lion enclosure. He heard Grandmamma start cackling behind him and had to use all his will to suppress his own smile. Wednesday looked as unaffected as ever. How did she do that?

"Oh children, how could you?" Morticia asked, looking rather cross. "Thankfully they were rescued before any fatal damage could occur." She looked cross, but still very disappointed. "I'm afraid this time you're to be punished. You simply can't be so thoughtless!" The children looked at each other, both a little taken aback. Wednesday gave the faintest of nods towards Morticia. Heri took a deep breath and tried to shrug nonchalantly.

"L'homme n'est point fait pour mediter, mais pour agir." (Man was not made to meditate, he was made to act). He said, hoping that his mother would reply to his cheek in French, because in an effort to become more fluent in languages it had become habit in the household to reply in whatever language was being used. She took the bait and didn't miss a beat before replying.

"Mais les grandes pensees viennent du coeur!" (But the greatest thoughts come from the heart).

"Oh Tish! That's French!" The children shared the briefest of glances in triumph as they waited to make their getaway. However when they turned back to see how far away their parents had gotten, they found them in the same place – Morticia's hand blocking the path that Gomez was making up her arm. She had a calculating look in her eye that the children didn't like one bit.

"Punishment first, Gomez. French later." He looked up and for a few seconds he stared at the children with something akin to pride. He realised what they had been doing all that time and he had to force his mouth into a straight line. This wasn't the time for praise after all.

"You're absolutely right, querida." He said taking a lit cigar from his breast pocket and puffing gently.

"But Father, we did it for the family honour! We…" Heri started but was cut off easily.

"That's all very well and good, but you didn't think your actions through. How do you think those poor lions felt, being fed those bright eyed children and then desperately attacked by their keepers?" Both children looked down. They actually hadn't thought of that. "Well?" Morticia pressed.

"We're sorry. We didn't think about the Kitties." The children replied in unison. The adults nodded at them and then to their devastation she continued:

"Now, as a punishment you will both be joining an after school club for the remainder of the school year. That's one month." Their mouths fell open in horror.

"That's cruel and unusual…"

"Punishment!" Gomez was the one to interrupt Wednesday this time. "Exactly. A little extra work to show you how pleasant you have it at home, and to hopefully make you think about the consequences of your actions next time." He said, but his voice held a lot less conviction than Morticia's, like he was just repeating an expected phrase and was about to take pity on them any second now. Morticia, wise wife and mother that she was, intervened before that could happen.

"Le travail eloigne de nous trois grands maux: l'ennui, le vice et le besoin." (Work delivers us from three great evils: boredom, vice and want). She gave the children a hard look as she spoke the words, but this time allowed Gomez to continue and led him from the room, leaving their defeated children to finish their potions.

Well, one thing was for sure: at least two after school clubs would be shut down this year!

A/N

White robes at Mahoutokoro indicate a dark witch, so Wednesday wants to be acknowledged by the magic as dark, but then wants to find a way to beat the system and stay out of prison long enough to learn.

Quote wars at the end of the chapter:

Man was not made to meditate, he was made to act – Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The greatest thoughts come from the heart – Marquis de Vauvenargues.

Work delivers us from three great evils: boredom, vice and want – Voltaire. xx