"Are you out of your damn mind?!" Lux raged, stomping up to Fulk's desk the moment the classroom emptied, the door shut firmly behind them.
Fulk arched an eyebrow. "Are you upset?"
"Am I — what kind of question is that?! Of course I'm bloody upset!" She shouted, pressing her hands down atop his desk, meeting his icy blue eyes and cold stare with an expression of pure fury. "Why would you teach such a subject? Do you want everyone to find out about us?"
"Do you want everyone to find out about us?" He asked calmly, sparking her rage even further.
"What are you on about? Of course not!"
"Then I suggest lowering your voice, unless you're alright with the entire school learning of our…differences." He glanced towards the closed door, then back at her.
She pressed her lips together, inhaling sharply through her nose, feeling his nostrils flare as she attempted to simmer her anger. When she felt able to speak without yelling, she did, letting out a breathy sigh. "I don't understand. Why would you teach them about vampires? Do you want to draw attention to our identities?"
"Of course not, my dear Lux." He tilted his head to the side. "Don't you see, if we talk about it, they'll never suspect us. Who would suspect a vampire to talk about being a vampire so openly? It's reverse psychology."
He had a point — Fulk always had a point. He was smarter than her, as much as she hated to admit it, with over a thousands years on his back, he was sure to think things through far better than her. "And werewolves? Why bring them up?" She asked. "We aren't werewolves, and I highly doubt any werewolves are at Hogwarts."
He shrugged. "I felt like it, I suppose. I thought it would be interesting, to add to the conversation."
"You're so strange."
"That, I am." He nodded in agreement, a small, soft smile sliding onto his lips. "Tell me, Lux, how has the first day been? I see you made a friend with Miss Evans."
"Lily isn't my friend." She responded a little too quickly, folding her arms over her chest.
"She isn't? Then why'd you sit with her?"
"She sat next to me, actually. I thought it rude to dismiss her. But we aren't friends. In fact, I fear she might be out to kill me."
"Out to kill you?" Fulk's brow furrowed together. "What makes you think that?"
"She tried to give me grapes." Lux said confidently, though the moment the words left her lips, she realized how strange she sounded. "Er, I think they might've been poisoned. Why else would she give me grapes?"
"Perhaps she was being friendly?" He suggested.
At this, Lux barked a laugh, cold and dry and lifeless. "Oh, Fulk. You of all people should know by now that there's no such thing as a friendly human. They all want something from you, and when you stop being of use, they'll toss you into the flames. They're out to get us, every last one of us."
"Lux…" He stared at her warily. "I don't think—"
"I need to go to my next class." She interrupted him, not in the mood for an argument. She heard Fulk calling out her name, a strange tinge to his tone, but she paid him no mind, as she stormed out of the classroom and slammed the door behind her.
Remus trudged alongside Sirius, James, and Peter to the Quidditch stands, his heart pounding in his chest, though he wasn't quite sure why. After all, Lux was nowhere to be seen, and she was the typical person to make him nervous, anxious, feel the need to attack.
He'd been feeling this way for a while now, the strange, erratic beating of his heart in situations he couldn't quite place. It had started in fourth year, but he'd been able to suppress them, push them aside. Now, it was growing more and more intense, more difficult to manage. Maybe it had something to do with the new hostility he felt towards Lux and Ingelger, but he couldn't be sure.
"Good luck, Sirius." Peter clapped Sirius on the shoulder as the four Marauders separated, with James and Sirius headed towards the pitch, while Remus and Peter went into the stands.
Sirius didn't need luck, Remus thought to himself. He was a brilliant flyer, and even if he wasn't, James was sure to give him a spot on the team anyways. Being Captain came with nepotism, Remus supposed.
Though, the moment they stepped into the stands, he froze, as his gaze was met with a flash of pale blonde hair, and even lighter skin. It was Lux, he didn't have to see her face to know it was her — what the hell was Lux doing here? Why would she want to watch the Quidditch tryouts?
Next to Lux, were Lily and Mary, likely there to watch Marlene. James seemed to notice the three girls in the stands at the same time as Remus had, as he nudged Sirius with his elbow, pointing up at the trio. James gave an obnoxious wave to Lily, while Sirius's lips slid into a smirk, and gave Lux the cock of an eyebrow.
Another weird leap of his heart, though he was certain this time that it meant nothing good.
"Oh, hey Lux!" Peter waved eagerly at the blonde. All three of the girls turned their heads to watch as Peter hopped up the stairs and made his way towards them. Remus sighed, shaking his head, and reluctantly followed.
"Hello." Lux dipped her head in a gentle nod. The most polite Remus had ever seen her, he realized as he observed the simple, yet telling scene in front of him.
Attack. Attack. Attack.
He shook his head, chasing away his urge as he always did. Lux was strange, but harmless. Harmless, he told himself firmly, though a small bell in the back of his head was ringing, telling him that was the last thing the girl was.
"I like your ring." Peter commented as he took his seat next to her.
Remus craned his neck, leaning around his friend to get a look at what he was speaking about. Sure enough, on Lux's middle finger sat a beautiful ring, with gold lining the circle, and a ruby adorned atop it, glistening in the sun's rays.
Lux glanced down at it, pressing her lips together in a thin line, as though Peter had done something to offend her with the compliment. "Thank you."
"Where did you get it?" Lily asked, also staring at the ring with a look of admiration. "It's gorgeous, really."
"It was my mothers." She answered simply, removing her gaze from the ring and staring out at the pitch. "When will tryouts start?"
A shift in the subject, Remus noticed, though if anyone else felt the same as he did, they didn't voice it.
"Any time now." Mary said. "Marls is bound to get onto the team, don't you reckon?"
Lux shrugged. "Wouldn't know."
"Have you ever played Quidditch before?" Peter asked her, eyebrows perked up with interest.
She shifted in her seat, avoiding eye contact. "Once. A long time ago."
"With Professor Ingelger?" He continued asking, despite the fact that the subject of his interest was clearly uncomfortable with the questions.
Lux nodded, not saying a word more on the subject.
The tryouts began quickly, with Remus eventually tearing his gaze away from Lux and back to watching Sirius and James. They were doing well, with James ordering everybody about. Sirius would likely get onto the team with or without James's bias, given his evident natural ability. Regulus had been on the team since his third year at Hogwarts, so maybe it ran in the Black brother's veins.
Lux, on the other hand, didn't seem to be paying an ounce of attention, instead focusing her eyes on her nails, messing about with them as though they'd done something to upset her.
And as she did this, Remus realized he was in some sort of trance, watching such a basic movement for so long, that he'd missed the entirety of the tryouts.
"How did they do?" Remus turned to look at Lily, who returned his state with a confused frown.
"Were you not watching?"
"Er…"
She shook her head, a laugh escaping her. "Of course not. Well, Sirius got in, which I reckon isn't a surprise to you."
"Not at all."
"Oh, here they come now." Lily said, looking off at Sirius and James, who were approaching the stands with identical grins. "I suppose this is my cue to leave. I'd rather not have James propose to me again."
He snorted, and watched as Lily abandoned the stands, just as James and Sirius stepped into them.
"Where's Evans off to?" James asked, a hint of sadness in his tone as he watched the redhead step off the stands and make her way towards the castle.
"Avoiding you." Lux mused, her expression void of any emotion.
"Why would she want to do that?"
No one answered him, though Remus felt the urge to tell off his friend. It was evident that Lily wanted nothing to do with him, and he should know better than to expect otherwise, after so many years of pining after the poor girl. He ought to just give up already.
"So, Luxie," Sirius began, sitting down on the stand next to her, so close that their skin was almost touching. "Do you fancy coming to the party?"
"Party?" Remus asked before she could present an answer. "What party?"
"For tryouts, of course. We always throw a party for Quidditch tryouts, how could you forget?"
"I do my best to push any party you force me to attend out of my mind." Remus rolled his eyes, recalling the last party they'd all gone to, where Sirius had flashed his bare arse to the entire Gryffindor common room. Maybe Moony was a better nickname for Sirius, instead of him.
"So, will you go?" Sirius continued, staring at Lux with hope written into his eyes.
"I don't like parties." She said stiffly, her hands folded nearly into her lap.
"Come on, Luxie, how can you not like parties?"
"I just don't." She turned her head, looking at him through those cold blue eyes, icy like the winter sky. It sent a chill down Remus's spine, despite the fact that her gaze was nowhere near him. "And stop calling me Luxie."
"No can do." He gave her a lopsided grin, before reaching over and grabbing her wrist, just above the finger that held that strange ring. "Come on, you're going to this party whether you like it or not."
Lux decided that, it was best not to draw attention to herself, and if to do that was to attend some stupid party for some stupid tryouts, she ought to give it a shot. After all, what was the worst that could happen?
Though, she couldn't help how uncomfortable she felt as she allowed Sirius to yank her down the halls of Hogwarts castle, and towards the Gryffindor common room. No matter how hard she tried to get her wrist out of his grip, he held onto her tighter, as though he worried she'd run off if he let her go.
He wouldn't have been wrong, but that was besides the point.
"Let the poor girl go, Sirius." Peter said as they stepped into the Gryffindor common room. "She's here now, it isn't like she's planning on running off somewhere."
"Do I have to?" Sirius whined, and as though she wasn't there, he continued, "Her skin is so soft."
Lux gave him a funny look, and this time, when she attempted to pull out of his grasp, he let her go, though he looked dejected as he did, as though he was letting go of something of extreme value to him. "I'm not a pet dog. You can't just touch me and drag me around as you please."
"Oh, I know. If anyone is a dog, it's me." He winked at her, and as she saw Remus, James and Peter stiffen, a frown formed on her face. Was she missing something? It felt like some sort of joke, that she was being intentionally left out of.
"Anyways," James continued, waving his wand and summoning a large bottle of some sort of liquid into his other hand. "Let's get this party started!"
The party did start, and it was in fact one of the most pathetic things Lux had ever had the displeasure of witnessing. She'd never actually been to a party, outside of the balls the Coven would host every year or so. Her experiences in parties relied solely on the movies she'd watch on the muggle telly her and Fulk owned, back in their trailer. Usually, they were rambunctious, with teens stealing each other's underwear while drunk, and making out in corners.
But this was nothing like that. There were a total of fourteen people in attendance — the seven members of the Quidditch team, alongside Lux, Peter, Remus, Mary, Lily, and two other people she didn't know the names of, and didn't care to.
Lux sat down on the couch, staring at the fireplace, which, to her relief, was put out. The inferno would not get her today. Though that didn't stop her skin from itching, burning, like it always did when she thought of flames, and what they felt like against her—
"Hey, Lux." Lily sat down next to her, breaking her out of her trance.
"Hello." She responded with a curt nod. Lily held a platter on her lap, full of various types of cheeses and thick, green grapes. Lux eyed it suspiciously. What was it with Lily and grapes? Why was that always her method of poison? "What's that for?"
"Oh, Marls asked me to cut up the snacks." She explained with a shrug, and only then did Lux notice that in her other hand, the ginger girl held a long, sharp knife.
She immediately slid away from her on the couch, so she was at the edge. Just like poison (unless laced with garlic), a knife couldn't kill her, but it would still hurt if plunged into her, which Lily was certainly planning on doing.
"Shit!" Lily hissed, and Lux didn't have to glance over at the girl to realize what had just happened, as the scent of hot, thick blood filled her.
Lux shot onto her feet, her dead heart pounding in her ears. She had to get out, get out fast, but her legs refused to work, refused to take her away from the scene.
"Are you okay?" James asked, hearing the commotion and rushing over to the pair.
"I'm fine." Lily said, annoyance in her tone. "I just sliced my finger."
"I'll take you to the Hospital Wing." He volunteered.
"I'm fine, James. Really, it's just a little cut. Oi, Lux, are you alright?" Her voice was etched in concern, fake concern, of course, as Lux heard Lily rise from her seat and place a hand on her shoulder. The hand that wasn't bleeding, of course, if it had been, she didn't think she'd be able to control herself.
"I'm fine." She managed to wheeze.
"You look like you're going to be ill." James took a step in front of her, eyeing her up and down. Lux refused to look at him, instead stared down at the ground, inhaling sharp breaths through her nose to calm her dead heart from racing. "And…your eyes. They've gone all…dark."
"Must be allergies." She hissed, finally gaining the ability to move, and wasting no time before rushing away from the pair.
However, Lux didn't get far, when Lily began to chase after her, meeting her stride as she approached the staircase that led to the girls dorms. "What's going on with you?"
Oh God, the scent of the blood, it had every hair on her body standing up for attention. All she could think about was drinking it, grabbing the girl and forcing her teeth into her skin. It had been so long since she'd drank human blood, so, so long. But she couldn't, no matter what. She had to restrain herself, lest she expose her true identity to everyone in the common room at the moment. "Fuck off, Lily."
"Lux—"
"Are you deaf? I said fuck off!" She snapped, shrugging Lily's hand off her shoulder, and storming up the stairs. No one followed her, and by the time she slammed the door behind her and sat down at the edge of her bed, she felt a strange, uncommon feeling in her stomach.
It took a while, to discern what exactly it was, but when it settled in her, she had to hold her breath to stop herself from groaning.
Regret. It was regret.
Lux wasn't alone, when she entered the Forbidden Forest that night. It didn't take long for her to notice Fulk, lingering behind a tree, feasting on the neck of a young deer. It was either dead or close to it, with all its limbs limp and its eyes lifeless.
At her arrival, Fulk lifted his teeth away from the animal, and grinned at her. "Lux. What a surprise."
"Is it?" She cocked an eyebrow, staring down at the deer. "Have you killed it?"
"Does it matter if I did?"
"We can't leave a trail of dead animals around. People may grow suspicious. That large man called Hagrid, he enters the trees often. If he stumbles upon piles of dead animals, he'll know something is wrong."
"It could've been any other beast that lurks in the forest that killed these animals."
"No other beast has our sharp teeth, though." She stared down at the deer, which was now collapsed on the ground. Certainly dead. "You ought to be more careful."
"You ought to worry less, Lux." Fulk took a step towards her, placing a hand behind her head and stroking her hair. "Let me take care of it, if need be. You need to focus on your studies."
Her eyebrows jumped up. "Since when do you care about schooling?"
"Since the Coven has been on our tails. The better you are at magic, the better chance we have at defeating them."
"Defeating?" She gulped, the mention of the Coven sending her skin alight. "I thought we were to simply evade them?"
"That was the plan, yes." Fulk's icy blue eyes shone in the sliver of moonlight that slipped from between the trees, fixed on her, feet below him. "But don't you crave their deaths? Don't you want revenge on what happened with Elias?"
She dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "Don't speak about Elias."
His expression melted into one of sympathy. Pity. It made her skin crawl. "I know you still mourn him."
"You know nothing!" She hissed, clenching her jaw tight. "Nothing. Do not speak about him in my presence again."
"Lux, do you forget I have nearly a thousand years on you? I will do as I please, and you will not object." When she said nothing, he continued, a clever smirk written into his expression, "Elias will be avenged. We will defeat the Coven — because trust me, they will continue to hunt us down. And we will be ready. You will do your best in classes, and learn as much magic as you can. The Coven is a force to be reckoned with, but so are you."