Narcissa Malfoy neé Black was the epitome of a lady. Her mother had made sure of that. To say she was surprised by the language her son’s mate used was nothing short of an understatement. The girl had a vocabulary that rivaled a sailor’s and seemed proud of that fact. What surprised her even more was the fact that she was a princess. Though she supposed without a mother to teach her it was understandable that she was rough around the edges. Sitting at the table eating a breakfast that the princess had prepared herself seemed surreal to her.
Narcissa turned at the sound of a pop near her seat. She was about to turn to the house elf when Vi screamed and disappeared. She reappeared at the far end of the room wedged into a corner. Narcissa stared at her in shock.
“Fuck,” she heard the young man next to her mutter under his breath. “Please refrain from appearing suddenly near my sister. She associates the sound with Ryoshi and violence. Hence her very visceral reaction.”
“It’s a trauma response,” Regulus told them. “It can be very difficult to overcome especially one so very deeply ingrained.”
She looked at him in shock. She knew pure blooded families would go to extremes in order to instill proper etiquette and values into their children, especially heirs. She’d seen it with Regulus and Sirius, more Sirius than Regulus. But it seemed that anything her Aunt Walburga had done to him paled in comparison to what Vi’s uncle had done to her. She watched as Hadrian made his way to her and knelt in front of her. She watched as the girl flinched away from his touch until he reassured her that he wouldn’t hurt her. It made Narcissa wonder exactly what her uncle had done to her. Narcissa had certainly seen the scars on her back when she’d walked into her husband’s study earlier. At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it. She hadn’t heard the story behind them until Draco had mentioned her exposed back. It was this mention that had everyone staring at the poor girl. Narcissa felt rather protective of the girl and she’d only just met her. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was obviously very powerful; she had reworked the wards around the house and property after all. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact she was extremely smart; she was talking about things like spell development, which confounded many wizards who were very well versed in the subject. She had an understated intelligence and an eloquence in her speech that was unique to her. It was almost like she was speaking in prose. The fact she could apperate already at only 16 showed that she was very magically advanced. Draco and Hadrian had both told her about her transfiguration abilities being on par with if not better than Professor McGonagall. But even though she was intelligent and powerful, she was still a girl who had had a very traumatic life and she still bore the scars, both on her body and in her mind. Narcissa knew that the bond her son shared with her was different than the one he shared with Hadrian. It was clear, to her at least, that Vi was the dominant. She’d been around her son and Hadrian enough in the years since they mated to know that their bond was unique in terms of a typical bosorcoi-dhampir mate bond. It was very rare for females to be dominant and when they were, they didn’t like to share that power. That being said, they also didn’t like it when the line of power were not clear. Narcissa knew Draco and Hadrian shared power in their relationship, which was unusual in itself. What made it even more unusual was the fact that they were both male. While it did happen, it was incredibly rare. So between that and the fact Vi was a dominant, Narcissa knew that they were the most unique of their species. She supposed it could have something to do with the fact that Vi was a kyuketsuki and Hadrian was also a syren but that alone wouldn’t explain all of the rarities in their mate bond.
“Hadrian, after breakfast I would like to speak with you for a moment if that’s alright with you,” Snape’s voice startled her, since she had been watching Hadrian and Vi lost in thought.
Hadrian turned to his head of house.
“If this has to do with the fact that you’re my father, then I would prefer it if I were not alone,” Hadrian answered turning his attention back to Vi.
“Your mates are welcome to join us of course,” Snape told him.
“Wait, you mean to tell me that you’re not James’ son?” Regulus gaped.
“I only just found out myself, Uncle Reggie,” Hadrian told him not looking away from Vi.
“How?” She heard Lucius ask from beside her.
“I told him,” Vi voice was quiet. “Last night, in the common room, his eyes flashed in response to mine.”
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“As a kyuketsuki my eyes change color with my mood or in response to a threat,” she began. “There are other reasons for it to happen but they aren’t important. Because the Japanese don’t have a vampire mythology except what was brought over from Europe, I am more of a demon than a vampire. Now only bosorcoi, or moroi if you want, can flash their eyes in response to a threat or to show dominance. But some dhampir can do it briefly if mated to a bosorcoi. Hadrian’s flashed for no more than 0.2 seconds but because of the color they flashed, I had my suspicions that he’d been blood adopted as a baby.”
“Not to mention that the Potter family has no history of a creature inheritance much less a vampire one,” Lucius scoffed.
“But the Black family does,” Vi countered smoothly. “And James Potter’s mother, Euphemia, was originally a Black if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’re right, Aunt Euphemia was a Black before she married into the Potter family,” Regulus answered. “But she was from a branch that had more werecat inheritance than vampire. Though with how interconnected all the pureblood families are, it’s not out of the realm of possibility however unlikely.”
“Funny because his patronus is a stag,” Hadrian laughed.
“I wasn’t sure if the blood adoption would be completely gone before the bond was complete but when I woke up this morning, it was gone,” Vi concluded.
“And I’m bloody fucking glad it is,” Hadrian growled.
“Why is that?” One of the younger princes asked. “The man raised you, even though he wasn’t biologically related to you.”
“He didn’t raise me!” Hadrian snapped.
Narcissa furrowed her brows delicately.
“He’s hated my very existence. He lashes out at me every chance he gets. If he doesn’t then he’s ignoring me. I spent my formative years struggling to get his approval and love. Love that I would never receive no matter how hard I tried. I think he knew I wasn’t his son and he resented me for the fact that I was a reminder of the man my mother had loved all her life. You try living with that.”
The second prince laughed humorlessly.
“At least you weren’t taken from your family to replace someone else and forced to fit into their mold even to the detriment to your health and brutally punished when you fell far short of that person’s perceived perfection,” he grimaced. “Forced to spy on your own family to try to convince advisers to your grandfather that your sister, your twin, was a danger to the imperial throne and the imperial family. Do you know what that does to a person?”
No one answered.
“It destroys your sense of self until you don’t know where the person you’re forced to be ends and where the real you actually begins,” he growled. “Hell sometimes you don’t even know what the real you looks like!”
Narcissa wondered just what this young man had been through. It was clear from his words that he’d also been abused but for completely different reasons than his sister. From the little she’d been told about their uncle, she could tell he was a very evil man. Possibly on the same level as Voldemort.