Chapter 1: The Owl

I don't own Harry Potter or Hellsing, and I'm not making any money from this.

Before I get started, I would like to give an introduction to any new readers who may be joining us for the first time. Black Magick is the sequel to my story Blood Heritage, which is strictly a Hellsing fan fiction. I've written this so that it can be enjoyed on its own (hopefully ~crosses fingers~), but there are characters and concepts that were introduced in Blood Heritage you may not recognize or understand without the initial back story.

For those of you who are familiar with Blood Heritage – this is going to be set up in a similar way. The vast majority of this will be following the children through the Harry Potter universe, so Hellsing will pretty much remain in the background until things start heating up later on. With me being the way I am, there are going to be a few changes made to plot lines. While I will try to remain true to the spirit of Hellsing and Harry Potter, some things will be slightly modified, some will be completely changed, and others will be cut out entirely. We're going to be covering a lot of material from the first year at Hogwarts all the way to the end of the series, so there is no possible way for me to include everything that happens. This is going to wind up being much longer than Blood Heritage, but I don't want it to drag on and on for hundreds of chapters.

With that said, please enjoy the story, and let me know what you think! :)

It all started with an owl.

Young Constance Hellsing could remember everything vividly. It had been a Thursday in the middle of July. The weather was hot and muggy, making everyone retreat to the safety of the air conditioners inside. She and her cousin, Mihnea, had just finished their math lesson for the day and her father, Edmund, was giving them a demonstration of how the knowledge of working figures could be useful in a practical sense. Connie hated everything to do with math. It was a trait she inherited from her mother. But watching her dad use relatively simple arithmetic to determine the correct proportions of household cleaners needed to build a small bomb gave her more of an appreciation for numbers. If she could use them to make things like that, then she didn't mind learning. It wasn't as though her parents allowed her to run around making pipe bombs and other explosives all the time. They would never do such a thing. The simple fact of the matter was that they made their home at the headquarters of the Hellsing organization. One never knew when such knowledge could be useful or necessary in a time of crisis. All the adults in the house wanted the children to be able to defend themselves if they had to.

It had been when Edmund was explaining the explosive properties of acetone when her aunt Syn came into the room. Syn Newsom was Hellsing's master gunsmith; responsible for the development and construction of all the custom weaponry they used, and designing the more general weapons which Ed mass produced in his factories, along with all the ammunition. Constance firmly believed the woman could do just about anything. As the only female Nahual anyone knew of, she would go out on particularly difficult missions with the soldiers to act as 'bait' to lure out the vampires. She was also quite an adept hunter herself. Mihnea often bragged about the number of vampire fangs his mother had collected over the years as trophies from her kills.

When the redhead closed the door behind her, they all noticed something particularly strange. There was a large, beautiful snowy owl perched on her arm. It couldn't have been a wild bird because it was behaving like an animal trained for a specific purpose. Mihnea's head immediately shot up in surprise.

"Where did that thing come from?" he asked.

His mother brushed a knuckle across the owl's feathered chest and gave Edmund a look. Connie recognized it as the one her aunt and her dad shared when they knew something everyone else didn't.

"Rebecca saw it outside tapping on one of the windows." she reported. "It was carrying letters."

Constance's father blinked. "You have got to be joking."

"But," the girl began, confused. "No one sends things by bird anymore."

Aunt Syn glanced at her. "The magical world still uses them."

That made the owl's presence even odder. Magical society wanted nothing to do with either of their families, so there was no reason for them to be sending anything to them. The redhead reached into the back pocket of her black cargo pants to retrieve two letters. It looked like they had been carried in the bird's beak. She passed one over to Edmund.

"That one was addressed to us." she told him. The other she held in her hand a moment longer, hesitating before extending it out to Mihnea. "This one is for you."

She looked both perplexed and concerned. It was an odd combination to see on her face, the young Hellsing thought. Constance had always believed her aunt knew everything about everything. Mihnea himself looked taken aback.

"Me?" he took the letter and studied it with caution. "What is it?"

The redhead shrugged. "It had your name on it, so I didn't open it." she replied. "But judging from the seal on the back, I'd say it's an acceptance letter from Hogwarts."

The boy just stared at her in bewilderment. "What's Hogwarts?"

Connie's dad had unfolded the letter Syn gave him to examine it. He looked up from his reading.

"It's one of the best schools of witchcraft in Europe." he said, then dropped the paper on the table and pinned it with a finger. "Connie is on their lists too."

"What?" the children exclaimed in unison.

"A school of magic..." Mihnea went on. "But mom, I thought we were exiled from their world?"

"We are." she said firmly. "Which is why I want to know what the hell is going on." she gestured to Edmund's letter. "This Dumbledore person seems to know everything about our situation and wants to discuss things with us personally. I think we might need to have a family meeting to figure out what to send back with this little guy."

The owl seemed to enjoy her petting him and let out a small cooing noise. Ed modded in agreement.

"I'll tell Integra."

Constance and Mihnea's parents had a long, drawn out conversation about the letters. They eventually decided to listen to whatever the headmaster of Hogwarts had to say. Ed penned a message to arrange a time to meet and sent it back with the owl. When Professor Albus Dumbledore came to the manor two days later, he looked every bit like a wizard out of a fairy tale. Long white hair and beard, half-moon shaped glasses, and long, flowing robes of purple silk... he could have been Merlin from the stories of King Arthur. His twinkling blue eyes, kind smile, and pleasant demeanor made him an easy sort of person to approach and talk to. Nice, but with a small touch of eccentricity.

Since the whole meeting was a discussion about them, the children were allowed to take part. The headmaster explained to them that he felt very strongly that every child who showed magical potential should be provided an education, regardless of who they were or where they came from. Apparently, that was a progressive and extraordinarily liberal attitude to have in the magical world. Mihnea and Constance had already displayed a remarkable amount of skill for their ages, he said, and would be excellent additions to his school. Their classes in witchcraft would provide a firm foundation for the higher level sorcery they learned at home, and would further cement the things they already knew. They could form friendships and gain contacts in the magical world that would be useful to them later on. That was probably the most attractive thing to Connie. She and Mihnea were privately tutored at the manor. The only social interaction they got with others their age was each other. Occasionally they would get to see the children of other knights during events thrown by the Queen, but that didn't really count. Everything else was with adults. She couldn't really complain about that, but it would be nice to be around others her age...

Of course, there were drawbacks. The Newsom family was ostracized and blacklisted from the magical world because of their inherent talent for black sorcery. Even dark witches and wizards thought that was something too evil to be touched. Hellsing wasn't seen as being much better. That they were an organization that hunted monsters was acceptable. The methods they used to do it were not. No one could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hellsing had vampires working for them, but it was strongly suspected. The Hellsing and Newsom families also had a centuries old association with each other, which was equally damning in their eyes. If Hellsing had Newsoms in their employ, they were probably using black magic. The government of magical society probably didn't like the idea of the organization being run by a muggle very much either. Long held beliefs going back for centuries weren't the sort of things that could be ignored. If the magical world as a whole knew who they were, there would be an enormous backlash.

If Constance and Mihnea went to Hogwarts, they would have to enroll under their fathers' surnames rather than their mothers'. As far as the matter of Mihnea being only half human went, the headmaster said it would be his business as to whether he revealed it or not. Hogwarts had never had a vampire within its walls, but they had several former students with lycanthropy, and one who had been half giant. Some had chosen to tell their friends, while others kept it a closely guarded secret. It was always a matter of personal preference.

When everything was boiled down to its simplest parts, the final decision fell on Mihnea's shoulders. Syn and Alucard's opinions on the matter were similar. He had to make the choice himself because he was the one who would have to deal with the consequences. The boy considered every small piece of information that had been presented, then made his decision. He wanted to go. It would be two years before Constance was old enough to attend, but the moment Mihnea made his choice, she piped up that she was going too. She wasn't about to let her cousin run off to a school in the magical world and leave her in the dust.

The next two years of waiting were awful. Constance was used to her cousin being with her for everything and suddenly, he was gone except for winter and summer breaks. It was boring and lonely being the only young person in the house. But he sent back letters and told her stories about school when he was home. He described ceilings enchanted to show the sky outside, staircases that moved around at their whim, and ghosts that roamed the halls and talked to the students. It sounded like a wonderful and amazing place. When her time finally came, Connie was filled to the brim with excitement.

Her father was a member of the Newsom family but was situated on one of the branches of the family tree that gave him the benefit of a different last name. He was the one who had to take them to Diagon Alley to get school supplies. She got all her books, inks, quills, and parchment, and was fitted for two sets of school robes. Then it was time to purchase a wand. When they arrived at Olivander's, the young Hellsing thought she would go in, have a look around, and pick out one she fancied. She was shocked senseless when she had to submit to measurements taken by a living tape measure, then tried out various wands until she found one that chose her. It took a good deal of time, but she finally wound up with one made of pink ivory, ten inches long, with a phoenix feather core. The moment she stepped outside of the store, she let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Dear God, I had no idea it would be that complicated!" she glanced at Mihnea. "What kind do you have?"

He pulled it out. "Thirteen inches, burled bloodwood, with dragon heartstring." he announced proudly.

Her father sniffed. "Had a damn hard time finding it too." he glanced at Connie. "If you think you had it rough, you should have seen him trying out wands. There were only three left in the store he hadn't touched before he found that one."

Wow. And she thought going through twenty-seven was bad.

The next order of business was finding an animal companion. Aunt Syn had explained that witches and wizards sometimes had difficulty drawing up enough energy for their magic than those who used sorcery. An animal companion helped to stabilize their power, and they bonded with their owners better when obtained at a young age. Constance didn't technically need one, but it was a wonderful excuse to have a pet at school.

"Don't get a toad." Mihnea warned. "Only the stupid kids have toads. Pixie would just eat it anyway."

Pixie was the cat he had gotten during his first year shopping excursion. She was a lovely, sleek Ashera – about the size of a medium-sized dog, with black-ringed spots that made her look like a small leopard. She got her name from her habit of running around and making spritely leaps into the air, as if trying to fly. One of her favorite past times was using Alucard's legs as scratching posts, then curling up in his lap to make adorable cat faces until he broke down and petted her. It annoyed the master vampire to no end.

"I don't know how your mother would feel about two cats running around." her father said. "Especially with his being so damn big. How about an owl? You two could use it to send letters home without having to borrow someone else's."

It was a wonderful idea. A pet that would be useful as well. Connie scoured the store and happened across a bird that captured her attention. It was a rather distinguished looking Great Horned owl. The moment she laid eyes on him, she knew that was the one for her. When they got back home, Integra blinked at the sight of the large bird perched in his cage.

"Well, at least we'll know who it's from when it comes pecking at the windows." she commented, then gave her daughter a look. "He's your responsibility, Constance. I don't want him flying around the house making messes everywhere."

The girl nodded. Her mother had given Mihnea a similar lecture when he first brought his cat home. She was very particular about the cleanliness of her house.

"I'll take care of him, I promise." she told her.

The knight nodded, then studied the owl. "Have you picked out a name?"

Connie thought about it. An owl like hers deserved a special sort of name.

"Archimedes." she decided.

Her Aunt Syn grinned. "I like it." she declared. "He does have a philosophical look, doesn't he..."

Her words trailed off when Alucard's voice boomed out from somewhere in the manor.

"Mihnea! Get your goddamn cat before I shoot it!"

The boy looked absolutely horrified for a brief moment, then ran off to rescue Pixie from a violent death. Alucard probably wouldn't actually shoot her, but he could come up with a whole host of other terrible things to do to her.

Everything was ready. Now all that was left to do was wait.

I would totally get an Ashera, but they're too damn expensive. Mihnea is just like his daddy. He has to have the biggest, baddest looking thing around. Even if it's just a kitty. :D

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