This story is an accompanying fic of my story "Basilisk-Born". It can be read alone, but it contains spoilers for the main story.
Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
… … … …
CHAPTER 3
SANGUINENESS
… … … …
1993
…
Eldred looked at Ana thoughtfully. Ana on the other hand was relining on his chair, seemingly more interested in the ceiling than his companion.
"I have to say that creatures like you are quite interesting," Eldred commented. "I have never met a creature as interesting as you, Sanguini."
Ana hummed, his face twitching at being called a creature.
He normally didn't mind the word 'creature' but with Eldred and other wizards and witches it had gained a more and more negative connotation over the years. Ana didn't like that at all.
"You know, calling me a creature is quite…unflattering," Ana reminded the man. It was something he had said before, but… well, from the looks of it, his reminder had gone right over Eldred's head.
"Sure, sure," the other man said, clearly not listening.
Ana sighed and mentally rolled his eyes.
What an idiot.
"Do you speak other languages than English?" Eldred asked at that moment.
"Of course," Ana agreed, with a shrug.
Qui stultus. Quel idiot. Was für ein Trottel. Che idiota. Sikke en nar. Măi ce idiot.
There.
Ana could say 'what an idiot' in more than one language.
"Interesting," Eldred said thoughtfully. "Is that normal for a vampire?"
For a moment Ana wondered how Eldred would have reacted if Ana had said those words to him directly, then he dismissed that thought. Most magicals didn't even think about learning a second language or two. Wizards were weird like that, after all.
Ana's thoughts turned towards Eldred's question and a possible answer he could give. "If the vampire reaches a certain age, certainly."
Then he shrugged and decided to add something obvious because he knew that wizards and logic often weren't the best of friends.
"Of course," he said. "If a vampire is interested in learning languages, then they can learn just as many or more languages than an older vampire learns naturally over time."
"Interesting," Eldred said thoughtfully, "I have to say that I never saw a reason to learn more languages than English."
Ana nailed it.
Sadly, he was sure that he would have won that bet with at least three quarters of the wizarding world… which was pathetic, in Ana's opinion.
"I have to say that being multilingual has helped me more than once in my life," Ana settled on.
"With your interactions with other vampires?" Eldred immediately asked, perking up at Ana's words.
Ana hummed. "That, too," he agreed. "Not to mention whenever I travelled – and I travelled a lot."
Eldred looked at Ana in surprise.
"You actually don't look like someone who has been travelling a lot to me, Sanguini," he finally admitted. "If I'd thought of someone like that, then I'd have thought of someone unkempt, maybe with a suitcase, a scarf and a blue coat."
Ana blinked.
"Why a blue coat?" he asked, confused.
Eldred scratched his head. "Maybe because whenever I think of a traveller, I see them as a redhead… like the Weasleys or so… you know, people known for having quite a few rowdy children."
"Doesn't explain the blue coat," Ana countered.
Eldred shrugged.
"I think that part is from that legend I heard once. It's about a traveller called Ironbelly. As far as I remember he was part of the War Against Grindelwald on the Eastern Front. Stories always say that he wore a blue coat and that he was travelling the world with a suitcase."
Ana opened his mouth, thought about it more closely, thought about the whole War with Grindelwald and Code Names and Legends and then decided to let it rest.
"Blue doesn't suit me," he told Eldred matter-of-factly, ignoring everything else. "So, no blue coat for me."
Eldred hummed, squinted at him thoughtfully and then nodded. "I have to agree."
Ana felt a bit offended.
But then, Eldred seemed to decide that changing the topic was for the best instead.
"So… when you travel… do you just travel from vampire coven to vampire coven?" he asked. "I mean, you told me that vampires don't really interact with us magicals or the muggles, so how'd you travel?"
"Sure," Ana said happily. "We travel just from coven to coven. We always know where the closest covens are so usually, we get pointed in the right direction by the covens we stay for the night..."
And while Ana started to spin his tale, his thoughts went back to his actual interactions with other vampires throughout his life…
…
… … …
…
1461 A.D.
"I thought you were a vampire," Ana said with a frown, his eyes on the stocky and beefy person in front of him. The man – previously cold in demeanour – stared at him with icy green eyes, overshadowed by black, bushy eyebrows.
His thin face was a mask of emotionless coldness and with his prominent Roman nose it looked like he was looking down on Ana.
"That's what you say when you enter somebody's home?" the other man in front of him inquired coolly.
Ana scratched his head.
"Er… not usually?" he finally offered and then looked around.
They were in an open field with stakes all around them.
To Ana's eyes, it didn't look welcoming at all – not to mention that it didn't look like somebody's home.
He suppressed a frown.
"Then don't you have something else to say?" the other man said at that moment, his voice displaying that he was impatient.
Ana guessed that he could at least do the most basic manners – his Pater had raised him better than he had acted until now, after all.
"Thank you for your… nice welcome," he settled on. "Your house is very… hospitable."
Ana looked at the humans staked all around them.
"Well… even if one might have to get used to the smell," he concluded before he frowned when another thought hit him. "Wait… with all that smell of blood and everything around you… do you even smell anything anymore? Or did you lose your senses' ability to notice all that–" He gestured at the stakes. "– around you?"
The other man raised an eyebrow at Ana's words.
"Most people from outside of my country are more afraid of me," he commented. "You're quite curious for someone who doesn't know me."
Ana shrugged.
"Well… I was looking for the rumours about a vampire around here," Ana said and then crooked his head. "But… I think you're not like the one I was searching for..." He scratched his head. "At least that's what I think since you haven't said anything about being a vampire or not to me."
"Does it matter what I am or not?" the other man asked coldly.
Ana thought about it. "Not really," he answered and looked the other man over. "But there have been rumours in the vampire community that imply that."
The other man raised an eyebrow. "My father was bitten," he finally allowed, his face showing disgust with what had happened to his father.
Ana guessed that whatever happened, it hadn't been done with the father's best interest in heart – and the man in front of him knew it.
And not only that...
Ana looked the other man over.
"So… that's the odd feeling I get from you," he commented thoughtfully. "You're a dhampir."
"If that's what you wish to call me, strigoi," the other man countered.
Ana blinked. As far as he knew, strigoi were troubled spirits that are said to have risen from their graves. Ana vaguely remembered that they were attributed with the abilities to transform into an animal and become invisible. They were also known to gain vitality from the blood of their victims.
He scratched his head.
"Strigoi," he repeated and then looked down at his body. "Do I look like a strigoi?"
The other man raised an eyebrow, clearly having expected Ana to be offended instead of the reaction he displayed.
Ana on the other hand poked his own arm, before looking back at the man in front of him.
"I think I'm too plastic to be a ghost," he decided and then crooked his head thoughtfully. "Or did you expect me to be insulted?"
The other man snorted, clearly a bit amused at Ana's antics.
"Most of those vampires around here would have been insulted and would have attacked," he countered. "It's an easy way to find those who think they are the law just because they're a different species than most others."
His eyes met Ana's. "From what I gained from the vampires abroad, the moment they find out what a strigoi is, a lot of them are the same."
Ana shrugged at the man's gaze. "I was raised on the road. I met a lot of beings and creatures while growing up, but I really can't say that I met enough vampires to build an opinion."
The man hummed. "You're a vampire, though," he said, his eyes looking Ana over with distrust. "Just like those who bit and turned my father."
Ana immediately raised his hands.
"The only thing I did was leave money on one of your fields to see if the rumour is true and that it'll stay there until I return. I don't bite humans for fun – only for survival. And I definitely don't turn humans."
The man snorted. "Were you turned?" he asked, but something in his posture had relaxed a bit.
Ana stared at the other man. "Do I act like I was turned?" he countered unhappily.
"There's a difference between the way a turned vampire and a… are you born?... vampire acts?" the other man asked immediately.
Ana waved his hand in a so-so gesture.
"We born vampires are a lot more comfortable with our powers," he replied. "Most bitten vampires just act… hesitant, if you understand what I mean. I can usually make out a born vampire just by looking at them for a minute or two. The only turned vampires that act as natural with their abilities are those who are turned young – which is another reason why the rule says that vampires should be turned as children."
"I know quite a few where that isn't the case," the man immediately replied coolly.
Ana hummed in agreement. There were always a few. You couldn't expect vampires to be more civilized than magicals or mundanes, after all.
"Naturally," he said. "It's in the nature of every living being, I think." Then he cocked his head thoughtfully. "Every living, human-looking being," he corrected.
His gazes travelled around the room, looking at the dead and dying people, before he looked back at the man and raised an eyebrow.
"Thieves," the man answered coolly. "Malefactors. The worst of humankind."
"Not the way I would have dealt with them, but your empire, your rules," Ana decided.
The man in front of him snorted.
Ana scrutinized him.
"You know," he said slowly. "You're like… totally not what I was expecting." He crooked his head. "I mean, I can't even see why people think you are powerful…"
The other man just rolled his eyes at Ana's comment, clearly not that offended by it.
"Sunt Vlad, Domnul Țării Românești," he countered, his eyes meeting Ana's in a challenge, clearly daring Ana to ask what he had just said.
Ana just blinked. It only took one moment to connect the dots in his mind.
I am Vlad, the Lord of Wallachia. That was one way for Vlad Drăculea, later known also as Vlad Țepeș, or Vlad the Impaler, to introduce himself.
"Huh," he said, surprised. "Weren't you born only a few decades ago?"
The other man snorted. "Don't you have a brain-to-mouth filter?"
Ana thought about that question.
"Sometimes," he admitted. "But not usually around people who remind me of Pater."
"Your father has to be a saint," was the only comment he got as an answer.
Ana grinned, showing all of his teeth.
"And yours must have been a cunning man, raising someone like you," he agreed. "There's been rumours all over Europe through all the vampire communities that a powerful vampire is the Voievod of Wallachia."
Vlad scoffed. "Age has nothing to do with power."
For a moment, Ana thought that actually over, then he shrugged.
"Not when it comes to raw magic," he agreed. "But… it's that ability that makes a vampire powerful – and the older you are, the more experience you have and therefore the more able you are. So, age makes a powerful difference… and not only in vampires, I guess."
"In my experience, even the old ones will fall if you are cunning enough to bait them," Vlad countered. "Or if you have enough power to fight them off."
Ana looked around again.
"True," he agreed and then shrugged. "But there's knowledge hidden inside the really old ones… and sometimes that's all one needs to topple an empire."
The other man raised an eyebrow at that. "You don't want to tell me you're here to topple my rule," he said, disbelief in his voice.
Ana stared at the man as if he was mad. "I'm never, ever trying to rule any country ever again!" he said with feelings.
Vlad snorted.
"Then why are you here?" he asked, instead of commenting on Ana's heartfelt exclamation.
Ana shrugged.
"Because I heard some rumours and it's been a while that I was here, so I thought it's high time to visit my friend Vladdy!" he said brightly. When Vlad just stared at him, Ana sent him an innocent smile.
"I also wanted to know if my money stays on the field, just like rumours say," he said happily. "I'm Anastasius Sanguini, by the way."
At that, Vlad's eyes closed in recognition.
"You're the vampire who bugged my father for years - long before he was turned," he concluded.
Ana pouted. "I don't bug people."
The answer was a snort.
"I beg to differ," Vlad replied and then shook his head. "But then, you're the reason why my father didn't commit suicide the moment he was turned, so I guess I should be grateful."
At that, Ana shrugged. "Very few people are grateful whenever I come by," he confessed. "Don't feel obligated to feel it. I can come by without you feeling grateful, too!"
And with that, Ana found a new friend – well, not forever. Sadly, nothing was forever, but at least Ana ended up bugging Vlad Dracula now and then by snowing by unexpectedly until the man's untimely death sixteen years later.
…
"Pater!"
Ana jumped on his father's back the moment he was close enough.
The other man sighed.
"Hello, my childe," he greeted Ana. "What are you doing here right now?"
"I just came back from Wallachia!" Ana said cheerfully. "I tried out that rumour about the money on the field! Did you know it was true? People actually left it where I put it!"
That stopped his father in his tracks.
"You went to Wallachia?" he asked, mild concern in his voice, obviously not really hearing the rest of Ana's declaration.
Well, Ana didn't really mind talking about Wallachia instead of the money...
"Yep!" Ana immediately agreed. "They have a dhampir ruler at the moment!"
At that, his father Sal raised an eyebrow.
"I heard he was a vampire," he commented.
"Nope!" Ana happily objected. "Old Vladdy was bitten so his son is a full-blown dhampir instead!"
Sal hummed thoughtfully.
"I guess he's using those false rumours to his advantage, then," he asked.
Ana tightened his grip on his father and agreed gaily.
"I think he swallowed a rule-book about being you – just creepier!" he declared cheerfully. "But it's fun talking to him!"
Sal turned his head far enough so that he could see his son out of the corner of his eye.
"Are you telling me, you're toying with him?" he wanted to know.
Ana blinked innocently.
"Would I toy with anybody, Pater?" he asked, his eyes huge and as innocently looking as he could make them.
"You?" his father asked, amused. "After what I lived through with you? Sure."
Ana pouted.
"You don't honestly believe that, do you, Pater?"
"Of course, I believe that!" Sal immediately countered. "Don't forget, I raised you, childe!"
Ana sighed.
"You're no fun, Pater," he said in defeat, before he perked up again. "Hey! Do you want to hear what I did? It's been a fun time!"
And with that, Ana proceeded to tell his father everything that happened in Wallachia – including the time he went back just to hear that Vlad the Impaler had been killed in a battle at the hand of an assassin and then, afterwards, beheaded and his head sent to his enemy, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed from Constantinople.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Vampires gain more and more abilities the longer they live. While human life might find an end in a natural death, a vampire will live as long as he has some earth from where he died always with him. Without said earth, a vampire is as mortal as a human.
One of the best examples, according to my friend Sanguini, when it comes to that was Vlad Dracula. The vampire forgot to take his earth with him once – and was promptly killed by some of his enemies in the middle of a battle.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
… … … … … … … … … … … …
1594 A.D.
Over the last century, Ana had travelled to the other side of the world with a man who was called Columbus. The poor man had been sure to find another way to India. When Ana had returned, his father had calmly informed his son that there was another country in between Europe and India if you went the other way around.
America.
Well, Ana had discovered the country while he was there and he had known that it definitely wasn't India. Notwithstanding, it had been interesting.
It had been interesting, but, after more or less a hundred years on the other side of the world, Ana had been drawn back to known realms. In the end, he had returned to Britain to travel the Isles again.
Nevertheless, the attack on the man by some other vampires in London was something that Ana hadn't planned to come in between.
The four vampires looked wild, uncivilized with blood splattering their clothes.
Ana wondered if they had forgotten their good breeding.
They licked their lips, and stole through the shadows, following a clearly inebriated man who was staggering down the street.
Ana didn't have to think twice to understand what they were about to do, and while he normally didn't care about the feeding habits of other vampires, he was pretty sure that the man wouldn't survive this particular flock of vampires.
At that moment, they jumped the man.
Sadly, Ana was his father's son, so, naturally, he stepped in instead of ignoring it.
"Hey!" he said and when the other vampires hissed and showed him their fangs, he rolled his eyes at them.
"Not scary, boys," he said with a roll of his eyes.
One of the vampires laughed meanly.
"You should leave us alone, or you'll end up bitten next!" he exclaimed.
Ana blinked and then scratched his head in confusion, before smelling his shoulder.
"Huh," he said. "No, I still smell unappetising."
He turned his gaze back on the vampires with a frown.
"How can you even go and threaten me with being eaten if I smell absolutely uneatable?" he asked and scratched his head again. "I mean, I wouldn't eat you even if I'd bathed and scrubbed you first, and I thought the feeling was mutual."
The answer was a scoff.
"Shut up, human," another one of them said. "Or we rip your throat out before drinking your blood."
Ana stared at them, then at the drunken man lying nearly beneath two of them who was looking at them all with confused interest in his eyes.
"Human?" Ana repeated, his eyes returning to the vampires. "HUMAN?!"
He felt offended.
Did he smell like a human?!
Inconspicuously, he smelled himself again.
No, still clearly unappetizing and definitely not human in any way or form.
"Do you have a cold or is your nose blocked from all that old blood on your clothes smelling up your immediate vicinity?" Ana asked them with an unimpressed frown.
"Wha… wha's goin' on?" the drunk barged in at that moment, confused.
The vampires growled and then one of them turned back to the drunk on the ground, clearly intending to kill the man before arguing with Ana further.
Ana sighed and then reached into his pockets, summoning a stone into his hand before pulling it out. It was an Amethyst, which he turned once and then threw onto the ground next to the man lying there.
The moment the stone hit the ground, lightning-like energy cackled up in the air and some kind of shield suddenly sprang up around the man.
The vampires stumbled backwards.
"Oops," Ana said amused.
As an answer, the vampires turned back towards him and hissed.
Ana was not impressed.
"You know… my father can do that better," he commented, unfazed. "And he even makes sense when he does it." Because that was important, too.
As an answer, one of them growled, while another one said, "guess we're going to kill and drink your blood first, then, magician!"
Ana felt really offended now.
"Magician?" he said. "First you accuse me of simply being a human – and now you call me a magician?!"
"Isn't that what you are?" the vampire crowed.
Ana blinked.
"Not as far as I know," he countered, bemused.
He scratched his head. "Did you lose your sense of smell?"
As an answer, two of the vampires jumped him.
Ana dodged one of them, and didn't even think twice about ripping out the throat of the other one with the bare fingers of his left hand.
The dead body of the first vampire fell to Ana's feet and the other one followed suit when the second attacker turned and Ana pulled one of his knives with his right hand and inserted it into the vampire's heart with a stab upwards from below the ribcage.
With an appalled look Ana shook his left hand to get rid of the blood on it.
Eww. Blood.
Ana didn't like the clingy wetness of it at all.
He schooled his features and turned back to the other two vampires who had stayed back until now.
"Still interested in cannibalism?" he inquired and wrinkled his nose in disgust – partly thanks to the blood, partly thanks to the idiots who ensured that Ana had blood on his hands in the first place.
One of the vampires frowned at Ana's inquiry while the other one showed his teeth and clearly tried to intimidate Ana with them. As if Ana would feel intimidated by a baby or two.
"Cannibalism?" the frowning vampire asked, his sharp eyes travelling over Ana's features.
"You know, trying to eat your own species and all that?" Ana elaborated and waved his bloody hand neglectfully, then, he narrowed his eyes at them. "Or do you think it doesn't count as cannibalism because you were bitten and I was born?"
Ana had heard weirder reasoning, after all.
"Wait! Born? Vampires can be born?" the frowning vampire asked confused while the other one, next to him, scoffed.
"Of course, they can't be born," he said. "They're all bitten."
Ana scoffed.
"Actually, more of us are born than bitten," he countered. "And normally, those who are bitten end up being bitten because the vampire in question can't have a childe and wants one, meaning that normally children are bitten and turned, not adults."
He frowned and looked at the vampires a bit bemused.
"I have actually no idea what went wrong with you four, since you don't seem to have been turned as children, like usually," he said.
The vampire who had been frowning before, blinked in surprise and then gestured towards the other vampire.
"He turned us," he said. "And he told us that that's how it's done and what we had to do now to survive."
"In other words: he's an idiot," Ana decided. His realisation didn't seem to sit well with the other, insulted vampire, because he hissed and then jumped Ana just like the other two vampires had done.
Ana didn't even bother with talking, instead, he rolled his eyes and blasted the vampire with a single, well-measured blasting curse. The vampire went down in a splatter of blood.
Ana sighed and used a bit of magic to clean his blood splattered clothes, then, because he felt amiable and a bit offended at the state of the other vampire's clothes, he cleaned them, too.
The remaining vampire flinched.
"What? How?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Maaa-gic," Ana informed him with a roll of his eyes. "Didn't you hear your illustrious leader? I'm a 'magician'."
"I also remember you objecting," the other vampire said and scratched his head.
Ana shrugged.
"Because normally, people with magic are called 'wizards' nowadays – not to mention that I'm a lesser pureblood, meaning I'm a magical creature and not… well, human," he elaborated calmly.
"Oh," the vampire looked at Ana cautiously. "Will you kill me now, too?"
Ana frowned.
"Why would I clean you up, first, before I'd go and kill you?" he asked, confused, before he decided to add. "Well, except you attack me, then I'd definitely kill you."
The other vampire winced.
"I… guess I can live with that," he agreed.
"So… i's ova now?" the drunk asked beneath the magical shield.
Ana turned and looked at the man on the ground.
"Do… you know who that is?" he asked the other vampire.
The man scratched his head a bit embarrassed.
"I think he's a playwright?" he offered up hesitatingly. "I mean, we followed him from one of the stages to the tavern to here."
Ana hummed thoughtfully and then looked the other vampire over.
"Do you still plan to attack?" he asked him.
The vampire opened his mouth to answer, but the growl of his stomach gave an answer in itself.
The way the vampire looked down at it, gave Ana the feeling that the vampire felt offended that his own stomach had betrayed him.
Ana snorted.
"Don't look like that, feeding is well and good," he said with an eye roll. "I do it as well. It's not as if you can solely live of normal food, after all."
"Wait!" the vampire looked at Ana as if Ana had told him he would go to hell right in that moment. "I can eat normal food?"
Ana gawked.
Then he pinched his nose, reached into one of his pockets to retrieve one of his apples. With a mournful look at the apple, he threw it at the other vampire.
"Yes," he said. "Of course, you can eat normal food. It won't give you all the nutrients you need – something about us being unable to pull them out of the food the way the human's do – but you can partly live off it."
The other vampire caught the apple and bit into it with gusto.
Ana swallowed and pouted a bit. That had been his last apple.
"What's your name?" the vampire finally asked while taking another bite from the apple. "I'm Thomas Walker."
"Anastasius Sanguini," Ana answered and looked away from his apple.
"That… sounds foreign," Walker commented.
Ana frowned.
"I'm not foreign," he disagreed with a pout. "I've just lived a bit longer than you, already."
Walker blinked.
"So… you're… older than you look?" he finally asked hesitatingly.
Ana scratched his nose.
"A bit," he finally agreed. "What about it?"
The other vampire hesitated. "Can… if you know all about being a vampire already… can you teach me?"
Ana really didn't want to sacrifice more than his apple to the other vampire, but when he looked around hesitatingly in search of another resolution, he didn't find any.
He sighed.
"Alright," he agreed unhappily and then stepped up to the drunken man on the ground. With a well-practiced gesture, Ana removed the shield and picked up his stone.
The drunken man frowned up at him, not yet really focusing and clearly still a bit inebriated.
"Can you stand?" Ana asked and the man nodded and slowly stood, looking from Ana to Walker to the other, dead vampires.
"Are you actors?" he asked, his voice still a bit slurred but a lot less than before.
Ana rolled his eyes.
"Obviously not," he said, not bothering to lie.
"Then wha're you?" the man asked Ana.
Ana decided that distraction was the best way to go.
"So… you're a playwright," he said and looked the other man over with a judgemental frown.
"There've been several o' me plays on the stages in London for the last two years," the other man said, staring first at Ana then at Walker as if the vampires should have known that.
Ana looked at Walker who shrugged and then at the other man thoughtfully.
"I haven't been in London for a while," Ana confessed towards the human. "What's your name again?"
The man frowned.
"William Shakespeare," he offered up, finally. "Does tha' help?"
"Huh," Ana blinked. "Doesn't ring a bell, sorry."
The other man frowned and looked Ana over as well.
"What… exactly are you?" he finally asked.
Ana scratched his head.
He remembered Pater's lessons that magic should be kept close and away from none-magicals. There was no law to do so, but with the witch-hunts magicals had learned to be careful.
"I'm human?" Ana offered.
The other vampire next to him snorted in amusement. Ana threw him an unhappy look.
Shakespeare meanwhile snorted and looked at the men on the ground behind Ana.
"Somehow… I don' believe ya," he countered, his voice clearing more and more the longer he talked.
Ana figured that he should get rid of the non-magical as soon as possible before the man ended up remembering the whole thing.
"How about we get you home?" Ana finally offered and then looked at Walker. "And we will do nothing else."
Walker gulped, clearly understanding the implication and then rapidly nodded.
Ana nodded as well.
"Well, let's get you home, Master Shakespeare," he decided and then reached out when the intoxicated man stumbled.
"Only if you tell me what you are," he demanded.
Ana rolled his eyes.
"Obviously, I'm the fairy queen," he said, not willing to put up with the inquisitive playwright. Instead, he forced the other man to start walking.
Shakespeare laughed but followed Ana's unvoiced demand and started to lead them towards his home.
"A changeling, then," he decided. "Or is it half-elven?"
Ana gawked.
"Do I look like an elf to you?!" he squawked while keeping the man from walking into a house wall. Walker next to him roared with laughter.
Shakespeare stopped and looked him over.
"I think you're pretty enough," he finally decided. "But I guess that an elf and a fairy are something different, so… no?" Ana gawked.
Then, Shakespeare turned and looked at Walker.
"But you… you're definitely jus' half-elven, or… half-fairy," he declared. "Definitely not pretty enough for a real fairy."
This time, Ana snickered while Walker looked outraged.
"Let's get you home, playwright," Ana decided, and this time when he steered the other man towards walking, Shakespeare didn't object and instead actually returned to leading them towards his home.
"What are ya doin' here, fairy queen?" he asked Ana instead while staggering along next to the two vampires.
"Walking," Ana replied with a sigh. "How far is it until we reach your home?"
"Jus' down the street," Shakespeare assured him and Ana mentally sighed in relief. "Do fairies often walk the streets of London?" he wanted to know from Ana.
"No," Ana said. "This is a special occasion."
Walker snorted.
"Yeah, I bet you were on your way to a wedding," he said amused and Ana rolled his eyes.
"Do I look like that?" he asked. "Honestly – why should I come to London because of a wedding?!"
"Because you're obviously the fairy queen," Walker countered with a snicker.
Ana threw him an annoyed look.
At that moment, Shakespeare stopped in front of a doorstep.
"We're here," he said and opened his door with some trouble.
Ana sighed and then helped the playwright to bed, with Walker following along.
"Alright, and now sleep," he said. "And… well, the best is if you forget the whole night."
"Like… this was all a dream?" Shakespeare suggested, slightly slurring.
"Exactly," Ana agreed immediately.
About a year or two later, Shakespeare's play 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' had its debut.
…
"Pater!" Ana greeted his father happily and jumped on the other man's back.
"Is that a vampire custom?" Walker asked, following Ana in his wake.
Sal, having caught his son, snorted.
"No," he said. "This is an Ana-custom. And I think I'm the only one who is usually squished whenever he sees me."
Ana snickered and clung a bit harder to his father's back.
"Can I bite you? I'm huuungry!" he said, deliberately childish.
His father rolled his eyes.
"Don't teach bad habits to the fledgeling," he countered.
Walker snorted and then sniffed in the air.
"You smell anything but palatable, so I guess he really doesn't mean it and his request is a joke?" he said a bit amused.
Sal snorted.
"Oh, no," he said. "Ana means it – but you're right. I'm definitely not palatable for you."
Walker blinked.
"Then why does Sanguini want to–?"
"He's my father," Ana answered immediately. "I grew up on his blood. Vampires can survive the blood of their parents or sires – but only those."
Walker blinked. "Oh."
"And there I thought you settled down and had a childe of your own," Sal commented jokingly before he held out his hand towards the other vampire. "Salvazsahar Sanguini."
Walker crooked his head.
"You don't look old enough to have a child as old as Sanguini," he decided.
"And yet, I was far over a hundred years of age when Ana was born," Sal countered.
Walker gawked.
"Don't worry," Ana said amused. "You won't end up that old. Normally, vampires live on average three to four hundred years. Some of us live up to six hundred, others just two hundred years. Turned vampires normally don't live as long as born ones."
"Oh, good," Walker said and gulped. "That's… that's good to know. How old are you?"
Ana blinked, crooked his head thoughtfully and then decided on a simple answer.
"Young enough to eat from Pater?"
Sal snorted.
"In that case, you'd always be a child," he countered. "And now let go of me, troublemaker."
"Hey! I didn't cause trouble this time around!" Ana objected with a pout.
"Sure," sadly enough, his father knew better than to believe him. Walker just snickered.
"I think your father knows you well," he commented.
Ana, forever mature, stuck his tongue out at the other vampire.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Vampires don't age. My friend Sanguini for example, was turned into a vampire in his late twenties and even a hundred years later, he still looks that part. A vampire's body is already dead, so it has ceased its function. Vampires are easily recognized by their missing heart-beat.
It is also a well-known fact that over time, the body of a vampire will expire. They can live up to five to six hundred years, but most die young. My friend Sanguini, barely a hundred, is already considered one of the wise ones and admired for his age and wisdom.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
… … … … … … … … … … … …
1668 A.D.
Ana looked at the building in front of him. Its reputation had been spreading over the last year, with magicals of all kinds talking about the treatments it offered.
There had been rumours in the street that Master Healer Avery of London planned to go to the Wizengamot to complain about the newly built hospital, but Ana wasn't really concerned with the outcome. He knew too much about the man running the hospital to feel anything but pity for the Master Healer of London.
For a moment, Ana stood at the front of the building, looking at it thoughtfully.
"Huh," he said to himself. "That's bigger than expected."
"You're not the only one saying that," someone else agreed and Ana turned to see a man leaning not far from him against a wall. The man was clothed in green robes and looked more like he was on break from work than a passer-by.
"You're a healer here?" Ana asked, interested, and scrutinized the other one. The man – more a boy – looked to be around twenty years old, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He looked average.
"I am a healer in training," the young man agreed. "Can I help you with something?"
Ana thought that over.
"I'm looking for Pater," he finally said. "I heard rumours there's a potential issue with the Wizengamot, and I thought I might come by and see if I could help out a bit."
The younger man frowned.
"Pater?" he repeated.
"My father," Ana clarified unnecessarily which gained him an eyeroll.
"I think a name might be more helpful," the younger man countered.
Ana looked at him thoughtfully.
"Most likely," he agreed. "But I suspect that Pater already knows that I'm here. He has a sixth sense like that."
The younger man raised an eyebrow at that.
"So… you refuse to answer?" he asked.
"Give me your name and I'll tell you mine," Ana countered immediately.
The answer was another eyeroll, then the younger man sighed and said, "I'm Mungo Bonham."
"Anastasius Sanguini," Ana answered. "And I'm looking for… well, he's most likely going by Sal-something. Pater has the sad habit of changing his name whenever I'm not looking."
"Master Sal-whatever Prince?" Mungo offered with big eyes.
Ana thought that over.
"Salvazsahar?" he asked the boy and when Mungo nodded, Ana hummed. "Yes, that sounds like it. Pater's original name is Salvazsahar – even if he goes by other names as well since most people seem to have trouble saying his name." He looked pointedly at Mungo who blushed.
"Master Sal offered me that I could call him Sal," he said, still red in the face.
Ana hummed in agreement. "That's because he knows about the inability of people."
At that moment the door to the hospital opened and another man stepped out.
Ana turned and then jumped the man.
"Pater!"
His father didn't even flinch when Ana hugged him turbulently.
"Ana," he returned the greeting. "Good day to you, too."
"I heard that a wannabe Master Healer wants to challenge you in the Wizengamot," Ana immediately told his father. "Are you planning to destroy him?"
Sal raised an eyebrow.
"While I thank you for the news, I think that challenging him in the Wizengamot isn't the right way to go," he said calmly.
Ana pouted.
"But it's a moron trying to challenge you! I mean, the last time you went and forced the whole Wizengamot into compliance they had to give up their dream to rule Haugh's Wards!"
Sal snorted.
"I think that was Grandfather more than me," he countered.
Ana shrugged.
"You boxed through that girls were admitted to Haugh's Wards and you ensured the laws that govern the Wizengamot's interactions with the school were set in stone," Ana said. "In other words: I think that pitting you against that man in front of the Wizengamot sounds like fun."
"Ana…"
"It's true!" Ana pouted.
Mungo on the other hand looked from one to the other with huge eyes.
"You're joking, aren't you?" he finally asked.
Ana waved it off.
"Not really," he said. "So, don't worry about the hospital. Pater will save it, no matter what."
Mungo stared at the vampire.
"I… wasn't even aware that I have to worry," he finally admitted and then frowned at the building. "Is Master Healer Avery really coming after us in the Wizengamot?"
Sal was the one who answered.
"Most likely," he agreed with a sigh. "There have been far too many rumours for it not being true."
Mungo looked at his master with fear in his eyes.
"But… what will we do?" he finally asked. "I mean… what if we're forced to close? We just opened a year ago!"
"Won't happen," Ana said cheerfully. "Pater wouldn't stand for it."
His father rolled his eyes and then reached out to flick his son's ear.
"Stop it, you menace," he said amused. "You're just scaring the kid."
At that, Ana's eyes widened and he turned to Mungo to look him over with new interest in his eyes.
"Are you telling me that slip of a boy is your new favourite, Pater?" he asked with huge, innocent looking eyes. "Does that mean you're abandoning me now?"
His lip wobbled when he tried to conjure fake-tears.
Of course, his father wasn't bothered by his antics.
"That's exactly what I planned," he agreed instead with a fond look at his son. "I go and abandon you just to pick up another troublesome child and start the child-rearing all over again. Fantastic plan, I have to say for myself."
Ana snickered.
"But Pater! Look at those huge brown doe eyes! He's clearly helpless and totally lost without you!"
Mungo blushed.
"I… I don't have doe eyes!" he objected with a stammer. Of course, that just meant that Ana let go of his father to hop towards the startled healer apprentice.
"No?" Ana asked and leaned really close. Mungo reared back. "But I can see them right there! Huge, trusting and oh so innocent! Clearly doe eyes!"
"Ana…" his father stopped him before the healer apprentice ended up changing magically into a tomato to flee Ana's teasing.
Ana turned and looked innocently at his father.
"Yes, Pater?"
"Don't embarrass him too much," Sal continued amused. "I still need his help to run the hospital."
Ana blinked.
"Oh!" he said gleefully without meaning anything by it. "He's really your favourite, isn't he?"
Sal snorted.
"Don't break him," he said instead and then turned back towards the building before stopping and adding another necessary addition to the warning. "And don't break the rest of my apprentices, too, do you hear me?"
"Aye, aye, Pater!" Ana agreed cheerfully before he reached for the healer apprentice and steered him gently towards the entrance to the hospital. "I'll be careful!"
Which basically translated to Ana stalking the apprentices until the next Wizengamot meeting in November – with poor Mungo being his favourite, of course.
…
"Mungo!"
"Gah!" Mungo reared back. "Where did you come from!"
Ana pointed at the ceiling.
"From there," he said. "Now, what are we doing?"
"I am working," Mungo countered with a frown. "I doubt you're doing the same."
"Nope!" Ana agreed cheerfully. "I was never that interested in healing. I mean, I know some… but really, all that oath stuff… nope, not for me, sorry."
Mungo rolled his eyes.
"I doubt anybody would even think of you as a healer," he said exasperated. "Which makes it even weirder that you're here at the hospital. I mean, you're clearly not ill, too."
"No, not ill," Ana agreed happily. "But Pater and you are here – so why shouldn't I?"
"Because you're not a healer, like you pointed out already?" Mungo offered with a frown.
"So?" Ana said. "Doesn't mean I can't be here and look over your shoulder!"
Of course, before Mungo could argue with that, Sal rounded the corner and Ana threw himself at his father with a joyful "Pater!"
Sal just rolled his eyes.
"Don't cause too much trouble, Ana," he said amused. "I don't need more insanity in here than I already have, thank you very much."
Ana just snickered and then followed after his father leaving a bemused Mungo in his wake, who was watching his mentor walk away absolutely unbothered by the vampire clinging to him.
…
"This is the first Wizengamot meeting in November," the Leader of the Wizengamot – Arminius Hermann Selwyn – announced, before he started his usual spiel to go through the announcements for the upcoming meeting.
In the end, he finished with "Does anybody wish to add another grievance to today's meeting?"
At that, Master Healer Avery of London stood up.
"I do," he announced coolly. "I wish to speak up against the illegal settlement of that pseudo-healer in the middle of my territory of London."
At that, quite a few whispers could be heard from the audience.
It was the Lord Potter, who stood up to speak in the middle of the whispers.
"I would like to have an explanation why the Master Healer of London declares the newly opened hospital illegal," he said.
The answer was a scoff from the Master Healer, "the man leading this… hospital… is anything but a healer. If he had been one, he would have ceased with his illegal machinations when I commanded him to!"
"There's just one problem with that," another voice spoke up before the rest of the Wizengamot could react in outrage. The man, sitting in a chair that hadn't been occupied for quite some time, leaned forward. "I do have the oath."
With that, he tipped his chest, displaying his oath for the world to see while the man's eyes never left Master Healer Avery's.
"Now, please state again, why my hospital is illegal," Sal added, his green eyes searching the faces of the rest of the Wizengamot.
Many people stared at him, clearly not sure how to take the fact that he was there and actually having a chair among them.
Avery spluttered.
"You! Why are you here!" Then the Master Healer seemed to register the seat Sal had taken. "And in Slytherin's seat, nonetheless!"
Sal leaned backwards comfortably.
"I thought it was the fitting choice," he said unrepentantly. "And Slytherin is mine – whenever I want to take it, that is."
Not that he had needed to add the second part of his sentence. Just the fact that he was sitting on the chair showed that Sal had a claim to it – otherwise, he would have been unable to take a seat at all.
"You… you didn't announce yourself to the Wizengamot!" the Master Healer spluttered.
Sal shrugged.
"Unnecessary," he said. "I would have done it if I would have wanted to make a great announcement, but the fact is that as long as I took the seat once before, I can return to it without announcement whenever I like. I am Head of the family and this isn't the first time that I've come to the Wizengamot to claim my seat. I didn't need an announcement – and honestly, watching the start of your play from the side lines was far more interesting for me than to announce to you and the world that I still exist."
Not that Sal would announce to anybody here that the seat of Slytherin had split into two – one now under the name Prince – when he had entered today. That had only happened once before with Emrys and Slytherin. Sal guessed that the splitting of seats wouldn't normally happen, if not for a few facts: with Emrys and Slytherin, people forgot that Slytherin wasn't Sal's name, so when his son Myrddin took the Slytherin seat – with him having no right to Emrys – Slytherin was created. Now, with the Slytherin family hidden as Prince, Sal, by entering the Wizengamot today under Slytherin's name, had created another claim since he still was Head of Slytherin even if the Prince family were recognized as Lords in their own way.
Sal wondered if it would have happened like that with any other family, too, or if it had something to do with the fact that no matter what name he claimed, he was still Salvazsahar Pendragon, Heir of the throne.
"If you really are a healer, you'd follow my lead!" Master Healer Avery countered, pulling Sal out of his musings.
Sal raised an eyebrow at the man.
"A healer's oath can't be forged," the Prince Lord said at that moment. "Alone the fact that he displayed it shows that Lord Slytherin is a healer."
Sal could see the other man's lips quirk when he said 'Lord Slytherin'. Of course, Severus Prince – formerly Seraph Severus Slytherin – knew who Sal was. Sal had raised the man, even if nobody would have believed it considering that Sal looked to be twenty while Severus Prince was a dignified old man with grey hair who had left his hundredth birthday behind for some years already.
"Not to mention that there's no law that forbids a healer from practicing his craft if he refuses to submit to the Master Healer of the area," Charles Prewett – formerly Salazar Charles Slytherin and younger brother to Severus Prince – added calmly. "The rules state that the oaths of the healers discern between their ranks. If you want him to stop, you have to force him to submit with your oath."
There was a nearly silent snicker right next to Sal that told him that Ana hadn't stayed home and instead had opted to come with Sal invisibly to the Wizengamot.
With a sigh, Sal nudged the snickering, invisible vampire with his knee in hopes to keep him quiet. From the way it felt, Ana had sat down on the ground next to Sal's chair and was now leaning against it while trying to stifle his snickers.
"I should have guessed that you'd raise them to be evil," Ana whispered after a single turn of a stone ensured that he was only audible to his father.
"I've never raised one of my children to be evil," Sal countered with a raised eyebrow.
"Slytherins, then," Ana said, still snickering.
"That's what they are by birth," Sal countered. "There was no raising in that direction necessary."
"He… he somehow circumvented it!" Master Healer Avery spluttered in that moment, referring to forcing Sal to submit with his oath. "That just shows that something isn't right with his oath!"
"As far as I know, it's experience that matters to the oath," Lord Potter countered. "If he has enough experience then he's not forced to defer to you."
"Which also means that the hospital he has been building in London is absolutely legal," Charles Prewett added.
"I think I should have come by more often when you raised them," Ana pouted. "No matter how much fun it is to watch them take down that moron, they're still so… severe."
Sal nudged his son again.
"Stop it," he said. "You were a bad enough influence on your sister! Leave your brother's descendants alone!"
"Aw… no fun," Ana pouted before he started to grin again. "But… Mungo isn't one of them."
"Ana – no."
"Ana – yes!"
"I am the Master Healer of London!" Avery exclaimed in that moment, interrupting the argument. "I say what is legal and illegal!"
"So… being a Master Healer means you're the new king?" Sal asked dryly, concentrating on the Healer instead of his son.
"I doubt many Lords here would stand for it," Severus Prince said dryly, "not to mention that the fact that you could defy him means that if you wanted to, you might be able to take the title Master Healer of London for yourself."
Sal knew that Severus actually meant 'you could take the title if you just wanted', so he was grateful that his foster son had stayed as vague as he had with his announcement. Nevertheless, he could see more than one Lord eying him before frowning at Avery.
"Well… if Master Healer Avery really likes to, he could do an official determination of rank," Charles offered, "it would be a quick solution and an easy fix if he really doesn't want another healer practicing on his territory."
For a moment, Avery looked at Sal warily, then he shook his head.
"No," he said, clearly unsure if he could win against Sal when it came to a determination of rank. "I think I will pass."
Of course, two years later, Master Healer Avery tried to force Mungo Bonham to submit to him. Mungo rebelled and it came to a determination of rank – one that Master Healer Avery believed to be able to win. It would be the last thing the Master Healer would ever do. Mungo, on the other hand, would continue as a healer of the then newly christened 'St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries'.
…
"Why are you following me?"
"Because you're interesting and Pater likes you!"
Mungo eyed the vampire disbelievingly.
"Don't you have anything else to do?" he finally asked his shadow. "Like… go and suck on a non-magical or four?"
Ana pouted.
"Do I look like a savage to you? Four people! Who do you think I am – Carmilla Sanguina?" he asked unhappily. "No, I really don't need blood to bathe in it and I don't need to suck anything right now. I already ate, thank you!"
"Do I… want to know who this Carmilla is?" Mungo asked, cautiously.
"She's a vampire like me," Ana answered with a shrug. "But I heard rumours that she literally bathes in blood. Which… eww! That's like a non-magical announcing they're bathing in their ragout before eating it – or worse, serving it to their guests. Just eww!"
Mungo looked as disgusted as Ana by the comparison.
Ana nodded gravely.
"Yes," he said as if Mungo had commented on his words from before. "It's that disgusting. So, no, I really don't need to be reminded of her while talking about my food, thank you very much."
"I bet she uses more than four non-magicals," Mungo reasoned.
"But she must have started small once upon a time," Ana countered immediately and Mungo shrugged, not sure what to counter with.
"That still doesn't explain why you're following me through the hospital," Mungo finally settled on.
Ana blinked innocently.
"Being Pater's student doesn't count?"
"Considering that we're all your father's students – no, it doesn't."
Ana pouted but thought it over a bit more.
"Ha!" he finally said. "I'm training you!"
Mungo narrowed his eyes.
"In what?" he asked. "All you have done is walk after me and make comments or startle me by jumping out of dark corners."
Ana crooked his head.
"But…," he said slowly. "That doesn't mean that you're not getting trained by me. I mean, I'm definitely training your reflexes!"
"Whatever for?" Mungo asked, annoyed.
Ana shrugged.
"Everybody does well to have good reflexes," he countered.
Mungo opened his mouth, and then groaned and closed it with a sigh.
"Just… don't distract me," he said and then turned towards his next patient.
"You say you have trouble feeling things with your hand and also holding stuff?" he asked the man.
"That and it hurts," the man immediately agreed. "I dropped my wand mid-spell yesterday because my hand was hurting so much."
Mungo hummed and then reached for the hand, doing a diagnostic.
"I guess you might have a problem with your muscles in your hand," he finally said.
"I'd say his trouble is the nerve," the vampire piped up at that moment.
Mungo sighed and closed his eyes.
"Didn't I tell you not to distract me?" he finally asked his unwanted shadow.
Ana shrugged.
"Well then, apprentice," he said, "don't believe the healer's son with years more experience."
Mungo opened his mouth to object, closed it and frowned.
"What?" he finally asked.
The vampire rolled his eyes and pulled out one of his precious stones. With a twist of it and a hand-movement, a familiar ward – one of Sal's, Mungo knew – extended over the man's hand who yelped at the unexpected magic used on him.
Just a second later, Mungo could see what the vampire meant.
The nerve was pinched.
Mungo stared at the result, then at the smug vampire next to him.
"Told you I am training you!"
And of course, after that incident, Mungo wouldn't be able to get rid of his shadow for quite some time.
… … … … … … … … … … … …
One of the lesser-known facts is that vampires can't enter rooms without being invited in.
They can't cross wards that ensure that beings and creatures have to keep outside and if they're invited into a property, they have to follow the house rules the owner established. This fact can be extremely bothersome if their muggle prey crosses a threshold and the vampire can't follow.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
… … … … … … … … … … … …
1743 A.D.
Ana looked around the manor he had been let in by an opening charm.
"Come in, come in!" a voice from deep inside the manor invited him further.
Ana looked around, shrugged and stepped in. It took a bit until he reached the room the other man was in.
"So… you're Gideon Flatworthy," Ana said the moment he came into view of the lazy, walrus-like man who was laying on a cushion in the corner of a room. For a moment, the vampire's nose twitched at the smell that penetrated the room, then his features lost all expression.
"I am, I am," the man said jovially. "So, you've heard of me?"
Ana stared at the man. It took him a moment to ensure that nothing showed on his face before he answered, "sure."
"Oh! How splendid!" the man said and changed his position on the cushion. "And, of course, you're admiring me!"
Ana blinked and crooked his head.
"What for?" he wanted to know, unable to stop himself. "For your theft of goblin made items?"
Ana had been contacted by the goblins because of that wizard. The goblins hadn't been happy that someone dared to steal from them and they would have long since acted against the man, but Flatworthy had escaped them twice by apparating away and was now hidden away in his manor which restricted the access to him. And while the man was quite happy to invite people in without prejudice, he was still smart enough not to do the same with the goblins.
Sadly, Gideon Flatworthy had no idea that Ana was a vampire – and even less of an idea that Ana had always had a close connection to the goblins. Ana's father was considered an honorary goblin and Ana had grown up with them and therefore knew their culture as well as the human one. Even after nine hundred years, Ana was still considered part of the goblin.
So, of course, he had been called in by them and asked to take a look and maybe find a way to stop the man from summoning goblin made items to get money.
"Theft?" Flatworthy asked with a frown. "I have never stolen in my life!"
Ana blinked.
"Well…" he said slowly. "I think that the goblins see that differently…"
Flatworthy just shrugged lazily.
"They're goblins," he said unconcerned. "They're just a step above muggles."
At that he looked Ana over full of interest. "I guess you're here to join my Accionites?"
"Accionites?" Ana repeated incredulously.
"Yes!" Flatworthy said jovially. "They're my anti-muggle organisation!"
Ana blinked.
"Didn't they disband?" he asked thoughtfully. "I thought I heard something along those lines."
Flatworthy waved it off.
"We can rebuild them," he said unconcerned. "You and me – we could be the first members of the new Accionites!"
Ana frowned.
"And what would I do as a member?" he asked, clearly not sure why the other man was even thinking about offering him membership.
"Do?" Flatworthy sounded appalled. "Why would you do anything? We're Accionites! We're mostly sitting around and just summon stuff! There's no need to do anything!"
Ana scratched his head.
"Summoning stuff like goblin artifacts?" he wanted to know with a frown.
"Sure," Flatworthy agreed. "If that's really what you fancy. But honestly, you could summon everything!"
Ana raised his eyebrow.
"Like what?"
"Like… food!" the other man said and looked at Ana in judgement. It was clear that he thought that Ana's skinny form was far too thin for his liking.
Ana felt offended.
He was perfectly healthy and definitely didn't need to eat more! With a healer as a father, Ana had grown up with a good knowledge about health and healthy living – not to mention that when he grew up, being choosy with food was impossible if you didn't want to starve…
"For someone criticizing me on my food intake, you have very little food lying around here," he countered with a frown.
Flatworthy blinked and then looked around, as if he expected food to pop up if he looked just hard enough.
"It must have gone out, again," he determined.
Ana looked at the nearly bare room and then rolled his eyes, and agreed dryly, "obviously."
The other man frowned.
Ana on the other hand decided to point out the simple solution.
"Have you ever thought about just… summoning more?" he asked dryly.
Flatworthy blinked.
"Oh!" he said and his smile returned. "You're truly a worthy candidate for the Accionites! What a splendid idea!"
With that he raised his wand and called out an "Accio!"
Ana hummed and reached into one of his pockets to twist one of his stones a bit while he watched the other man.
Flatworthy, on the other hand, was clearly waiting for the summoned food to appear. Sadly, even after waiting for ten minutes, no food showed up.
When Flatworthy understood that no food would be appearing, he looked stumped.
Ana hummed.
"Do you think your spell… failed?" he asked innocently.
Flatworthy started and then looked first at the door and then at Ana.
"My spell doesn't fail!" he exclaimed indignantly.
Ana just raised an eyebrow innocently.
The other man glared, raised his wand again and called out "Accio!" with even more force than before.
Ana hummed and twisted the stone in his pocket thoughtfully.
Again, they waited. And again, they waited to no avail.
Flatworthy paled when he had to admit to himself that his spell had failed, again.
Ana crooked his head. "Are you sure you did it right?"
Flatworthy looked at Ana, then at his wand before he took a deep breath and then screamed with as much force as he could get behind his words. "ACCIO!"
Ana blinked and twisted the stone in his pocket again, then he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I think… you might have lost the ability to do that spell?" he finally offered up an explanation.
Flatworthy looked at Ana in horror.
Ana shrugged, his face innocent.
"I guess you might have to do things manually again from now on?" he suggested.
Flathworthy's face looked even more horrified by that suggestion.
"I… I can't have lost my ability to do that spell!" he exclaimed, before he started a panicked litany of "Accio! Accio! Accio! ACCIO!"
Ana just stood by and watched him, twisting his stone in his pocket and humming thoughtfully the clearer it got that Flatworthy was failing his spell.
In the end, Flatworthy dropped his wand, his face full of resigned dejection.
"I… I can't do it anymore!" he whispered in despair. "It's gone! My ability is gone!"
Ana nodded.
"It seems like it," he agreed. "I'm sorry for you, but at least, you won't get into more trouble with the goblins since you can't summon their artifacts anymore."
For a moment, the other man stared at his wand on the ground, then he looked up at Ana.
"But… what about your admiration?" he finally asked as if he was grasping for straws.
Ana blinked.
"Why should I admire someone who can't even do a simple Accio?" he countered and Flatworthy's face fell at that revelation.
Ana just nodded to himself, inclined his head at Flatworthy and then turned and left.
Sadly, Ana hadn't quite thought through his actions.
The next news would contain the fact that Gideon Flatworthy had summoned a farm, some livestock, and a well-stocked larder and had been crushed to death by the bales of hay and cattle when they landed on top of him.
…
"Pater!"
Sal just huffed when his enthusiastic son hugged him.
"I heard you caused some chaos?" Sal offered up after his son stopped squeezing the life out of him.
Ana pouted.
"I just went and played a prank on that man!" he countered. "I mean, he was stealing and the goblins asked me to stop him! How should I have known that the idiot would try to summon stuff again and kill himself while doing so?!"
Sal just raised an eyebrow.
"There's a reason why you should have thought this whole thing through and not just acted," he pointed out.
Ana frowned.
"How do you know that I didn't–"
"Because I know you and you definitely didn't think about possible consequences or the whole fiasco could have been avoided."
"Yeah, well, you didn't have to try and think straight while he smelled up the room!" Ana countered. "Honestly, Pater. The air in there was nearly toxic by the smell alone!"
"Still not a reason, childe of mine," Sal countered with a fond eye roll.
Ana stuck out his tongue.
"It's so a reason!" he declared and then buried his head in his father's shoulder. "Not to mention that the world isn't worse off without him. He was a bigot and a thief."
At least that, Sal couldn't counter.
"It still was reckless," he said instead and then shook his head. "I wonder what I did that I managed to raise a Gryffindor like you when I'm a Slytherin…"
Ana looked at him innocently.
"It's not as if there were Hogwarts' Houses when we grew up," he pointed out.
His father rolled his eyes.
"While you're definitely right about you, I grew up with well-established Houses – at least from the time I was eleven until I was fifteen," he said.
Ana crooked his head.
"Ah, right," he agreed. "I forgot that you grew up far in the future."
"Not that far in the future now," his father said calmly, "in about two hundred years, we will reach my time."
Ana hummed.
"Tell me about it?" he asked.
For a moment, his father looked at him thoughtfully, then the other man closed his eyes.
"Only if you promise me not to taunt Dark Lords anymore," he said.
Ana thought that over.
"I promise I won't taunt Dark Lords without a good reason, anymore," he finally said.
For a moment, his father's eyes narrowed, but in the end, the older man let it slide. Maybe, he shouldn't have, because about two hundred years later, Ana found a very good reason to taunt Lord Voldemort…
… … … … … … … … … … … …
Vampires, just like us wizards, keep hidden from muggles. Sadly, just like with us, muggles kept the memories of those times before the Statute of Secrecy came into being – a Statute that the vampires also signed and agreed to.
According to Sanguini, there was a breach in the Statute by a wizard about vampires in the late 1700. Some of the most important myths about vampires in the muggle world stems from this breach.
(Excerpt from 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires' by Eldred Worple)
… … … … … … … … … … … …
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
…
… … …
Well, this was an idea I had ever since I ended
writing "Basilisk-Born". I started to write it back then, but the story grew
and grew and it took some time until I could get everything in a passable order
and actually write it down into a comprehensible story.
I hope you liked it.
Ebenbild
… … … …. … … … …
Remarks:
1461 A.D.: Historical figure. Fictional character. Vlad Drăculea (1431-1477), later known also as Vlad Țepeș, or Vlad the Impaler, was the Ruler of Wallachia. He was known to impale people. He died in a battle against the Turks where he was beheaded after he died. He is the historical prototype for Bram Stoker's gothic novel "Dracula" – whose main character was based out of Transylvania instead of Wallachia. According to harrypotter-fandom-wikia Vlad Drakul (b. 1390) and (maybe) Vlad the Impaler, his son, were vampires that inspired Bram Stoker to his novel.
Strigoi – Romanian word meaning a being similar to a vampire.
1594 A.D.: Historical Figure. It references William Shakespeare (1564-1616), an English playwright and poet, who wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (written either 1595 or 1596) which has a subplot about the Fairy Queen and King going to a wedding.
1668 A.D.: Fictional event. St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, the wizarding hospital was founded in the 1600s by the Healer Mungo Bonham.
1743 A.D.: Fictional character. Gideon Flatworthy (died 1743) was a British wizard and anti-Muggle extremist. He led the anti-Muggle organisation the Accionites. He died when he tried to summon a farm.