The devil in her

Finn liked to use the old guidance office because no one had even bothered to deal with the room since the whole marriage law fiasco settled. And with rumors floating around about Headmaster Hayes, she doubted he would be keen to draw near. There weren't many other draws to the fifth floor, so she felt it was a safe bet, and the fact that it was. Besides, if she did get caught, surely the professor in question would take her need to be in guidance office as a plea for help, and would be more worried about getting her to feel secure in who she was than he would be upset at the trespassing. She could honestly say her 'trespassing' was the worst thing she did.

Besides, you know, drinking blood.

But that couldn't be helped.

The hospital wing supplied vampires with blood taken from patients who needed blood work done. It wasn't often, however, so they also had magically frozen blood brought in from Mungo's as well, where a sector of their blood was set apart just for vampires and for testing. Finn didn't know why she was always so much hungrier at Hogwarts. She had never brought it up to her father, as he was already over-involved in her life, but the blood at Hogwarts never seemed less filling, less nourishing. She felt a bit weaker at Hogwarts, a bit more faint, and the blood craving was much worse. She couldn't figure out why - she knew fresh blood was better, but the blood at home was delicious and her father did not get it from fresh kills. He had his ways too. Her father would never kill though. Not just for food. He only killed bad guys. And only if he had no other choice.

Nevertheless, she had a small box in her bag that she kept with her at all times. Norm had magically enchanted the lock so that only a kiss from Finn's lips could open it - and inside, she kept vials of the blood. She typically sipped on blood when she used the restrooms, right when she woke up, and before she went to bed - always in private, as no one beyond the Hogwarts staff and her two closest friends knew what she was.

But sometimes, it hit her... and it hit her hard. And these were the times she abandoned class or meals or studying and hurried through the halls towards the guidance office.

It was particularly bad today, so she stopped for no one or no thing. Her shoelaces had become untied but she could not stop, or she was certain she would burst. Her breath was coming more and more quickly, as though she was losing breath. Color tinted her neck and cheeks and she finally saw the door that led to the guidance office. With each step, it seemed farther, but she reached it in good time, fumbling to get the door open, closing it behind her in a rush, not bothering to wait to hear if it locked shut.

She stumbled towards the desk, scrambling through her bag. She found the box and set the bag down, lifting the box to her face. She pressed her lips to the cold lock and felt the mechanisms shift, and the box opened with a click. She set it down and her hands glided over the bottles and vials, practically gulping for air now. Something was trying to claw its way out of her belly and she shakily picked up a large vial, pulling off the stopper. She took a deep breath and then tipped the contents into her mouth.

Blood had never tasted like blood to her. It had always been this warm light that seemed to seep into every muscle, every tissue, make her new again. The Hogwarts blood was always cold, because it wasn't fresh, and was typically disappointing. But when the bloodlust was this bad, it did the trick. For a moment.

She sighed and leaned against the desk for a moment, sighing. Breathing more easily now, she pulled herself so she was sitting on the desk. She put stoppered the vial and set it back in the box. Her bottom lip was stained with blood now, her eyes flickering black, her fangs sharper. The disappointment was setting in again. One more - just a small vial this time. Just to last her till bedtime.

She snatched up a vial and pulled off the stopper, closing her eyes as she lifted it to her lips. But before she could taste anything, she heard a noise...

*

It wasn't often that she found herself in these situations, but the times that she managed to get herself caught up in something, it was usually something that was typically a big secret. So, of course, when she found herself in the unused guidance office(boy did that bring back horrible memories)standing there by the door while the other person there drank something from a vial, she couldn't help but wonder what she'd done now that got her into that situation.

What made the entire thing worse was that, even if she tried to lie, she couldn't forget what she'd just seen. There was no way she was going to get herself out of this one. She didn't even have anywhere to hide once the other girl noticed her.

The door was right there, though, but for some reason Hit couldn't bring herself to just turn around and bolt out the door. She knew what she'd just seen. The dark red liquid in the vials, the way she gulped it down, she'd seen it all before. When her best friend had almost lost control of himself from the hunger that plagued him.

She was a vampire.

The idea of a vampire other than Ryo being near her was terrifying but exciting at the same time. That was probably why she couldn't leave. Looking at the girl a little closer, Hit thought she looked familiar. She knew the girl but she'd never really interacted with her, she'd just seen her around. She took a step forward, her shoe almost getting caught in one of the floor boards, causing it to make a clicking noise as she stumbled and tried to catch herself. Crap.

"Um.." the noise escaped her throat before she could help it and she stared at the girl with widened eyes, not knowing that else to do now that she'd given her presence away.

This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening.

Seven years at Hogwarts, and she had only ever divulged her secret to Ducky and Nora, and that had been her choice - technically. There had certainly been some level of convincing from the Gryffindors but she could have lied. She knew she could trust her friends, friends who had worked hard to earn her trust, and they had never done anything to make her doubt whether or not they deserved it. But she had never had a slip, never been so foolish as to let someone witness her weakness, witness her greatest secret.

She was a monster. And now the Mulciber girl knew.

An objective observer to Fiona's life would quickly assure her that she was the farthest thing from a monster, that she had never harmed anyone even accidentally, let alone willfully. She had that hypocritical tendency to give credit to all of the other half breeds, but her singular sin of being a vampire seemed to taint her entire nature in her own eyes. Could she help it though? She had seen her classmates reactions when they studied vampires, had bore witness to classmates questioning whether or not vampires were safe enough to have a place in society.

They saw vampires as monsters. And Finn was a vampire. She could not escape the truth. She had to be a monster.

Her face immediately blossomed red, the flush pinkening at her throat as she stared at the girl, only then realizing the vial was still lifted. She quickly hid it behind her back, her breath starting to quicken, chest rising heavily. "I-" her throat was so dry that her voice broke. She cleared her throat and trembled. "I can explain. It's not... It's not what it looks like."

Hit stared at the girl, studying her reaction, as she returned herself to a proper standing position when she realized she was still leaning forward to keep herself from falling when her foot had caught in the floorboard. She wasn't sure if the other girl was scared or embarrassed, but judging by the way her face had changed color and her movements, Hit thought it was safe to assume that she felt both things.

The worst part, to her, was that she had no way of making it better.

She mentally reprimanded herself for not just turning around and walking right out the door of the office when she had noticed someone else was in there. She couldn't even remember what she was doing on the fifth floor anymore that would prompt her to even walk into the old guidance office. She felt stupid for it.

"T-there's nothing you have to explain.." she trailed off when she thought about what else she was supposed to say to her. A lot of options popped into her head but she didn't think any of them were actually appropriate. Was she supposed to tell her not to worry? That she knew what it was that was in the vials? Having those things said to her would just freak her out, so she doubted it wouldn't freak the Grimm girl out.

Maybe she could start with mentioning that she had a vampire friend?

That was kind of lame.

"I'm not scared of you, y'know." She blurted out without thinking the sentence through. But it was the truth and that was maybe why it sounded so natural when it came out of her mouth. Vampires didn't scare her, not anymore, not since she'd been friends with Ryo and his sister. But that was because they were very calm people and they never liked being vampires so they tried their hardest to live like humans. She didn't know what this girl thought about her being one of them, but she knew that she didn't seem dangerous at all and that reason enough for her to not be afraid of her.

"I know you aren't a monster like most people think." She offered a small smile, awkward as it might have looked it was genuine.

The girl - Hitame, Finn was pretty sure the girl insisted on going by - was just as surprised as Finn was, and it seemed they were going to have a stutter showdown, for neither seemed to be able to properly or confidently get through a statement. There were moments in one's life, moments where just a second or two of consideration could have made things so much better or easier. If Finn had taken a second to ensure the door was locked, or taken a second or two before picking up a second vial, then none of this would have been happening. Her life would have continued on as normal.

(Which some might consider the real tragedy.)

"B-but, I do have to explain," Finn said, her lips trembling as she spoke. "Y'see- it's not-"

But the girl was saying she wasn't scared. Which meant she knew Finn thought she would be. Which meant she knew why she should be. Hitame knew what these vials were and what they meant.

This was not good news.

"N-no," Finn said, still unable to control her trembling voice. "It's still not - you don't understand. I... I..."

But was there a point to hiding? What was the alternative?

She dropped her head, her hands falling at her sides in misery. "Nobody here knows. I don't want people to know. I- I haven't ever hurt anyone. I already hate that I am... this. I don't want any trouble."

Vampires weren't monsters. That was something she'd believed since she was younger, though they had been scary to her for a while. But even the creatures themselves thought of themselves as monsters, thanks to what humans said about them.

The girl still seemed nervous after what Hit said, which made her think that she she wasn't supposed to have said what she had. Guess she had a habit of doing that. But what else was she supposed to do? Stand there stupified (get it?) over what was going on? Maybe she was, but she had felt like that would've just made Finn freak out even more.

Not that she'd helped in that manner at all.

She said no one at Hogwarts knew and the sentence seemed pretty normal to her but something bothered her. Of course not many people would know if someone was a vampire, but there was really no one who knew what she was? She had no friends at all that she'd told?

"No one knows?" She asked softly, her face lowered so she looked at the floor and her feet.

That was kind of sad.

Not many people knew about what Ryo was, but he at least had her to tell. And probably Maura, now. Two people were better than none. Hell, even one was. "Would it really be that bad if I knew?" She started blurring things out without thinking. "My best friend is like you, I know the dangers of being what you are. I might never have experienced what happens to you, but I have a very clear image of the suffering you go through being that.. being a vampire."

Her face didn't life from where it was, her eyes still studying the floor as she spoke. What was she doing? This wasn't helping at all. "I won't tell anyone about this, I promise. It's not like I'd get anything out of anyone knowing."

Fiona remembered the time a baby rabbit got caught in Margham Manor when she was just a little girl. She had chased after it for half an hour before finally catching it and beginning to make it a little bed. Inexplicably, it died in her hands. As her father comforted her crying, inconsolable as she was, he explained that the poor thing had probably been so terrified that it's beating heart went so fast and gave out. Now that Finn was a little older, she suspected the rabbit must have been injured or something, there was something too sad and too pointed about her father's explanation.

Bur right now, she felt like that rabbit.

She wished she could take back the moment of indecision, wished she had waited in her room to do her business when no one was watching. But she hadn't, and now Hit knew.

Hit repeated Fiona's sentiment, causing the Hufflepuff to finally lift her gaze and meet the Gryffindor's eyes, which had filled with something close to pity. Finn swallowed, eyes dropping. "Basically," she murmured, supposing Nora didn't really count now that she was gone and Ducky barely counted as a member of staff. Hit quickly picked up this thread, and if Finn was more outspoken she would have said what she was thinking. Yes. It is that bad that you know.

But the Gryffindor girl persisted, causing a sense of curiosity in Finn. She had never met someone who was... a friend to a vampire. Besides, of course, her father's friends, but most of them were vampires themselves. She had always assumed they were all pariahs of sorts. Hit knew now, but she was willing to keep it a secret, hopefully act as though she had never witnessed this. "Please. I'd really, really appreciate acting as though this never happened."

((I know it's sort of fizzling, so you can time jump at any time if you want to another day/place where Ducky can find Hit.))

Knowing that there was vampire near her at Hogwarts made Hit happy, in a way. It was probably strange, and there were probably many more vampires she didn't know about, but it made the girl think that she could be of some use. Being one of the few that actually got to interact with vampires on a friendly level made it possible for her to know things that other people probably wouldn't even want to try to learn, just because it was about a creature they feared for almost no reason.

She considered herself lucky.

But what she considered lucky, was probably the complete opposite for someone like Finn who seemed like she tried desperately to hide what she was. Hit sighed, her head still lowered, but she nodded at the Hufflepuff's words. "Fine, then. I'll act like I didn't see anything, that I don't know anything. But.." she stopped herself as she pondered a thought.

"Would it be a bad thing if we were friends? We don't have to act close or anything." That was something she rarely did, ask to be friends with someone, but it was different when it came to people like the girl before her. Not just because she was a vampire, but because she seemed like she was really shy too. The thought was funny, that was how she became friends with Ryo too.

--

A few days later, Anabelle Mulciber found herself wandering the Hogwarts grounds without any real idea of where she was headed. She didn't doubt she would end up at the Great Lake, though, as that was where she usually ended up whenever she was wandering. What had happened in the old guidance office was still on her mind and though she had promised she would act as though nothing had happened, that was only when other people were around.

By herself, she didn't have to worry about accidentally telling anyone anything, right?

Of course not, unless the air suddenly came alive. She chuckled softly at the thought as she lowered her face into the red and gold scarf that she wore around her neck. To think that she had finally met another vampire in Hogwarts. She would have never imagined someone like Fiona would be a vampires. "Guess it's true what they say.. It's always the quiet ones." she whispered softly to herself through her scarf with a soft giggle quickly following.

If anyone passed by her, they'd think she was crazy with her talking to herself. But that was okay, everyone probably already thought she was crazy anyways. She continued on her way down the path toward the great lake, figuring that since she was going to end up there anyways she might as well just go that way.

"You what?"

Finn's cheeks burned as she stared at her feet, feeling safe in the confines of the empty study room with Ducky. He often had to come back to the study room to clear it of whatever paraphernalia people left from their study sessions or make out session, both of which happened at a surprising frequency. Finn liked to tag along with Ducky at times, when they were alone and she could feel useful and necessary, rather than... all those other horrible things she felt. Part of her still worried about being seen with Ducky too much, wanting to melt into the background. But she was also desperately thankful for his friendship, and the fact that he was still around.

She sighed, having just finished wiping the chalkboard. "I told her 'why not.'"

"A girl catches you drinking blood and asks if you could just be friends, and you say why not?" Ducky repeated. "Why didn't you just tell her to keep it a secret and leave it at that?"

"I don't know," Finn said, almost an edge in her voice. She sighed, her shoulders drooping. "I mean, I don't think she'll tell, but I'm not about to make her feel... scorned. Or whatever."

Ducky stared at Finn for a second, obviously trying to decide something. "Who is this?" He put his things down, scrambling for his wand and heading for the door, causing Finn to scramble after.

"Ducky, no!"



Of course he had gotten the name out of Finn, and he had put one of his little first year minions on the task of tracking her down. She was reported to be down by the lake and he made no efforts to conceal the fact that he had completely abandoned his work for a personal matter. He knew Hitame, well enough to know she was quiet, and if there was one thing he knew...

It was always the quiet ones.

Part of him was certain she would not say a word, but he knew what it would do to Finn if she was found out. The poor girl was a wreck as it was half the time, she didn't need the school's attention and the label of monster.

Finn Grimm. A monster. It was laughable.

He made it outside and angled for the lake, squinting until he spotted a lone figure. He realized on his approach that he had no subtle way to broach the subject and, even if he had, he had never been one for subtlety. He would probably ruin any sort of plan he concocted anyway.

"Oy! Mulciber!" his voice was its usual jovial, though a good friend might have heard the slight strain. He suspected he would probably frighten her by his sudden approach, but he didn't worry, falling into step alongside her, slinging his arms into his pockets. "Howdy-doody, how are you today? Good weather for a walk, isn't it?" There was something almost pointed in his words, but the easy grin on his face could melt anyone's doubts.

Having a new friend would be enough to make anyone happy and for the most part, it did make her happy. But as she walked down the path to the lake, her mind began to fill with thoughts.

And not the pleasant kind.

Worry began to set in as she thought about how much it meant to Finn for her to keep what she'd seen a secret. She wasn't worried so much about actually keeping it a secret as she was about what would happen to the other girl is she was found out.

She'd always joked with Ryo about telling people what he was. But she never meant it and while he was used to her saying that when she was mad at him, at first he'd gotten scared out of his wits when she said it. It was like a natural reflex, like when you stubbed your toe and you screamed over the pain.

But she figured there was more to it.

Ryo was always just afraid of people not accepting him as a vampire, weird for someone like him, right? But what Hit was curious about was whether there was a reason like that with Finn. She didn't know how to ask, if she asked at all, though. It was probably a touchy subject she shouldn't.. we'll, touch.

Her head turned at the call of her name and with a bewildered look on her face, her gaze fell upon her former housemate, Ducky. "Well it's colder than I'd like it to be, but nothing a sweater can't fix." She answered, extending her arm to see the sleeve of her gray and black sweater. "And a scarf." She added, letting her face sink into the red scarf around her neck.

She looked up at Ducky, a question arising. "What're you doing? Just out on a walk?"