“You look healthy, madam, what happened back there?” standing in the elevator under a weird gaze from the black woman Luca hesitated but had to eventually start the conversation somehow.
“Hmm…” the Auror pressed the button and leaned on the wall beside the panel as she rubbed her chin with crossed arms reminiscing, alternating between looking up and at the boy. “Did you know that those wenches could walk under the sunlight?” Luca recalled what he said to the team back then and came to an embarrassing conclusion he was of no help, even directly digging a pit for them because of the assumption about his captors' unwillingness to spend the precious hours of sunlight in the manor since gaining the ability to go outside gained from drinking his blood would keep the vampire women from coming back till nightfall yet another day as usual.
“Yeah, I knew.” he avoided Zuri’s sight in shame.
“...did you know that harlot Catherine became a pure vampire?” after a lengthy pause, the door opened, she went out and stood on the side of the corridor before turning back to ask following timidly Luca the second question.
“How’s that possible, there are no pure vampires in America… No, I didn’t know. But even that shouldn’t make you all helpless to run, right? Teleport out.” Luca did his research on various kinds of bloodsuckers, so he knew a mere team of ten wizards had no chance to resist Catherine if she really evolved, the boy now collapsed inside as his glorious one-man revenge seemed to grow distant without warning. In books, the difference between a low-purity and truly pure vampire was presented in a series of comparisons: lizard to a dragon, civilian to a veteran of five wars, toddler to an adult.
“Mhm, shortly after I got back, Captain was still interrogating Pablo, the rest of squad busy prying open the vault, I went to help them. Imperceptibly, we got trapped inside a space-solidifying circle prepared by some dimensional mage as part of a defence system Isabel laid down. Turns out we luckily or unluckily didn’t strike when there was somebody inside to start it.” Zuri mocked herself and took a breath before continuing. “The fight was short, Captain got ambushed because of no lookouts, we talked a bit when they threatened to kill him if we don’t surrender, of course, nobody would listen to it. Standard procedure when dealing with dark creatures is to assume they lie, so we gathered and fired at the one not holding a hostage. Sadly, the abnormal speed and wings Catherine used as shield made the resistance pointless. We realized she was a pure vampire after three people got punched into the wall, their rings used up in a small trick of growing nails of different lengths to strike and then push her palm forward. Better to risk apparating than become a bloodslave or a piece of meat to butcher, I called to retreat, but the circle stopped us.” she finished narrating to the boy standing on attention as he imagined the situation.
“And then? How was your treatment?” Luca inquired what weighed on his mind the most, he hoped it wasn’t one of the worst scenarios he thought of.
“For some time we were the only ones locked up, they were sure an exchange of ten grown wizards for a no-maj kid would be a no-brainer for MACUSA, but it obviously wasn’t. Adding one by one like that, we got to just lately when they failed even with a three-digit number of prisoners, Isabel argued for the last time that Cathrine’s insistence won’t work, so she finally got to negotiate herself. All hundred of us know you are sending them blood now, but signed an oath to keep it secret.” Zuri paused telling the story to the boy as she leaned on the wall and yawned. “Sorry, we were held up all night, coffee didn’t help much. I want to write replies to my friends before going to bed.”
“It’s fine, I can wait to hear it tomorrow then.” Luca started backing away, stopped by her raised hand.
“Not much more to say, they took our wands and put on dimeritium collars, but the treatment wasn’t bad. Normal food and only a small syringe of blood drawn every week, like they didn’t care as long as we stay a bargaining chip. The hideouts all had decent rooms, and we ate together. The only punishment, if you can call it that, we had to endure Catherine’s daily rants against the wizards, wizarding world at large, other vampire families, malice of the world, and she called us kidnappers in reverse like she didn’t imprison you first. Crazy.” Zuri shook her head in disbelief and straightened up. “See you later, Granger.” she went to her room somewhere further down the corridor.
“Sleep well!” Luca raised his voice, in reply to which he got a wave of hand over the middle-aged woman’s shoulder. This time the boy leaned against the wall to think for a minute. Attitude of the witch lukewarm, it seemed she didn’t hold the slight omission in information against him, but if he also lied about the vampire woman being of high-purity, she was ready to turn her face. Overall, that’s what could be expected of the ten Aurors caught first, the less time spent under arrest, the less strenuous mood. The case turned out fine, nobody hurt, Luca let go of a hanging heart that he could be a fuse to death of a hundred wizards and went out with Bryce holding Ringo in his arm, to attend a match between teams BLU and RED advertised loudly over the entire village.
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‘We are yet again tied in score, ladies, gentlemen, parthenogenetic friends! Our veteran players agreed to exchange blows in the name of love, peace, and money! Don’t forget to buy the updated Singing Tombstone, a eulogy for wizards willing to put their passion before life to provide us with top-tier entertainment! All proceeds go to charity supporting their families in case of untimely demise!’ a familiar announcer beeped in the ears of Iverstead inhabitants, the streets in a carnival of red and blue, literally everybody and their mothers going in the direction of the stadium, Luca felt a hand fall on his shoulder.
‘You know the limitations of that ring? Don’t let it make you cocky, like that little method you heard about from Zuri, there are many ways to bypass it quickly.’ a voice only the boy could hear sounded in his mind as Mr. Grimsditch walked beside him in a rowdy crowd making communication in words impossible, dressed in red robe and shoes, making a statement of support for the RED team.
‘Textbooks mentioned only powerful dark magic, could Sir elaborate?’ Luca disciplined his thoughts and focused on relaying only this sentence, making his conversation partner smile lightly.
‘Mental attack or interference as I do now, Avada of the Unforgivable Curses, flames melt it rapidly, slow transfiguration starting from the floor inside the intended range of barrier, it doesn’t work if your body is the one hitting something either. You don’t have it in knowledge available, after all, we don’t want kids to think the ‘bulletproof vest’ as no-maj would call it, is actually mildly useless against competent people that truly wish you dead. But it can work wonders in the field where thralls and cultists commonly use guns, and give you reaction time against vampires or werewolves. It’s nice to have, definitely saved at least one wizard today. Don’t lose the habit of dodging and caution because of it.’ Mr. Grimsditch relayed his thoughts to Luca as they advanced to see the looming circular Coliseum made of black obsidian melted into one, the boy was impressed with its varied functions, serving as a final bunker and refuge of wizards if ever needed, while hosting quidditch, art expositions, group battles, duels, conventions, and plays on the daily. The bulky building had a sense of mass that other wizarding constructions lacked, Ilvermorny with its aspirations to go higher and pastel colours light in comparison despite occupying roughly the same square feet size.
Going inside after a checkpoint consisting of a row of wizards ready to blast whoever attempts to enter without a ticket, to rows upon rows of seats, the boys went to their sector while Mr. Grimsditch went to a VIP lounge dedicated to the RED team. The match was indeed exciting, rules against physical contact present in the school version suspended, wizards transfiguring a long stick and bashing each other with it a common occurrence. Throwing stones to magnify them into huge boulders, curses to slash somebody’s legs off, and aerial maneuvers Luca was pretty sure he watched on TV used by aircraft pilots were happening all over the stadium, the boys and their cat often observed three different blood-boiling bouts, the Healers on standby earned their pay without a doubt.
During supper, Bryce once again received a copy of ‘Daily Seer’, an amazingly thick, giant letters adorned the top of the first-page spelling ‘V-I-C-T-O-R-Y’, under which the moving picture of Minister Lopez was giving a briefing concerning the unprecedented inclusion of a vampire family under the American wizarding laws, the amnesty granted for all previous crimes on the premise of following the European model, upfront, honest exchange of gold for needed to survive crimson liquid. For the next week, Iverstead was abuzz with discussions, some wizards and magical creatures engaged in duels openly due to their difference of opinion on the matter. Bryce seemed to favour Mrs. Lopez on her decision, Luca had no reason to say otherwise being the bridge between parties.
“Why haven’t you responded when I sent the letter?!” third of July, Miranda and her father Henry came inside the Inn in the morning, the girl ran in a huff to first accuse Luca of wrongdoing, then she laughed and hugged both boys as they sat next to each other to share the newspaper. “Dad got rescued!” she exclaimed again, stealing a piece of diced ham from Bryce’s plate.
“So that was from you, I couldn’t read a word.” Luca complained as he got up to shake hands with Mr. Toll, the man nodding with a meaningful smile.
“We’re here for the Fourth July celebration, ladies stayed to watch over the tiny Dominic.” he started talking about his grandson animately, how he got released mere hours before childbirth, and the ideal weight of a newborn, until Miranda interrupted with a pout.
“It’s a mess out there, Sis abandoned me as soon as she saw the little guy’s face, and nobody can talk on a topic different than raising children. Come on, what’s fun in here?” she complained and asked the boys to entertain her.
“We’re going to watch ‘Back to The Future Three’ in half an hour, wanna join?” Bryce asked, the newest film of the series got converted to a higher definition, magically enchanted screen recently.
“This funny thing called ‘Dolorian’ that goes back in time when reaching sixty-six miles per hour? Let’s go!” the girl was fine with that plan, the group of four left for the entire day, during which Henry bought them a ton of presents with an excuse to celebrate Independence Day, and taught them how to shoot sparks of different colours from their wands, Luca’s tentacle releasing instead durable bubbles curving the light inside them into a rainbow, to the envy of Miranda.
“Where are my girlfriends, everybody abandoned meee…” she fake-cried at supper.
“I think nobody could read those doodles, why even come a day before?” Luca asked both the father and daughter.
“Of course to thank you, ehem, to rest one night without Irene making a fuss…” Henry got slightly embarrassed and replied, tormented by the care of his wife jumping around despite the repeated assurance of feeling perfectly fine.
“Why do you want to thank this good-for-nothing?” Miranda queried slightly surprised.
“At last someone surnamed Toll got full marks at the end of a school year, isn’t that a blessing? Don’t you think I know it’s his credit in ninety percent, yours maybe five, and five from that ghost?” Mr. Toll brought up Luca’s accomplishments he read all about from letters Vanessa gave him to laugh together at. Being reminded of learning in this way, Miranda threw a spoon at her Dad in violent protest.