Chapter Text
Far away from any civilisation, on the top of a great hill where the closest village is miles away, sits an old abandoned looking house, crumbling from its foundations. The garden is large and overgrown, stretching for miles until it just blends into the landscape. You wouldn’t expect people to be living in there.
Inside, a teenage vampire listens to the radio, quietly humming along to the tunes that play. The snores of an old man drift into the room through the walls of the old house adding to the calm. It was the middle of the day yet Marceline didn’t have the heart to wake him. She floats to the fridge in search of something to eat, but alas, nothing worth her time. She looked outside, noticing an old looking cat sitting on the garden fence. It had strange markings around the eyes and looked like it was watching her. The cat jumped down and wandered off. Odd cat.
She sighs, floating back to the living room, ignoring the grumbles of her stomach. She’d leave the house herself, but it was a sunny day and didn’t want to take the risk of her skin burning. As the sound of another track died down she heard a screech from outside and then the flapping of the letterbox, Marceline raised her eyebrows in surprise, unused to letters. She went to the door and picked up the letter. She stood, admiring the red seal for a moment, which was imprinted with a capital ‘H’. The front read:
Miss Marceline Abadeer
The biggest room
Old house on the Hill
The Peak district
She opened the letter, muttering the words as she read them, “pleased to inform…Hogwarts …school of witchcraft and wizardry…” Underneath read:
Due to your special circumstances you shall be escorted to Hogwarts by me personally. Expect to be collected from your home on the evening of Saturday, 30th of July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress
Marceline shrugged. ‘Seems legit’ she mumbled before absently drinking the red out of the seal.
The night of the 30th happened to be that very same day. Marceline began rushing about the house, preparing herself for the trip. She realised she didn’t have any of the things on the list of supplies, but that didn’t bother her. She was going to school! Finally she’d be like a normal mortal, she thought. It was something she’d always dreamed of.
She found an old battered trunk in the loft, black on the outside, but on the inside a beautiful rich red. Her stomach grumbled but she vowed never to drink it no matter how hungry she became. She took it to her room where she began to fling her clothes inside, she had a couple of black cloaks which she considered might do as a uniform. She decided to wear her favourite black leather boots for the trip and packed some of her sandals just in case, alongside a pair of heels that were her mums that she had kept for sentiment, but had never worn herself. She took extra care packing her oldest teddy, Hambo, a gift from Simon from when he still had his memories intact. It was old and a sluggish brown now, but she made sure there was space in the trunk for it.
She hurried about the house, making sure it was clean for Simon, and with the last contents of the fridge (two slightly green eggs and questionable mushrooms) she managed to make a slightly off-smelling omelette, which she carried with her to the other room. Opening the greyed door she walked in, and found Simon already sat up in bed, beaming at her.
“Ah, Gunter!” He exclaimed, beaming, “Come up to see me have you at last?”
Marceline’s insides scrunched up when he said that, “No…it’s me, Marceline…do you remember?”
“Of course I remember you Gunter!” His eyes fell to the omelette that Marceline had thoughtfully prepared; he snatched it from her hands and began to guzzle it down. “This is way better than that crap that Vampire girl used to make.”
Marceline sighed and sat at the end of the bed, “listen, Simon. It looks like I’m going to be going away for a while. You’ll have to start looking after yourself.”
“Of course I can look after myself, I’m the Ice King!” The man was clearly deluded. Marceline swallowed, a lump in her throat forming. “Just tell me you’ll me ok? Please?” She blinked several times, forcing herself not to cry. “I’ll write.”
“Yes, yes, just leave me alone now. An old man needs his privacy!”
Marceline closed her eyes as tears began to escape, cursing herself for being so sentimental. She leant forward and kissed the old man on the forehead. Then, without a word she left the room.
After closing the door behind her she found that she could no longer hold it in. She crumpled to the floor and began to sob in silence. The tears were hot and sticky and splashed off the cold tiles as she wept. Then after a good 10 minutes she found herself again, she slashed some cold water in her face and carried on packing.
The family axe was the only thing left, so she went to her room to get it. Her bedroom wasn’t much. Her bedsheets were black to block out enough sunlight for her to rest. The walls that had originally been a soft baby pink now were a pasty white, the colour drained over the years when Marceline had drank the pigment out of hunger, leaving the walls a pasty white. They had been since filled with posters of her favourite bands, making the room look dark, but to Marceline it felt comfy, it was her space, her place to escape from life. She grabbed her bass axe from the corner of the room, the instrument she had made herself from the family axe, and had taught herself to play. She strummed a few chords and sang,
“Goodbye old room /and the memories you hold / you were my only home / I will miss you;
Mr Simon I love you / but it’s time to go / things are going to change / because that’s what people do”
Downstairs she heard a knocking at the door; she took one last look around the walls, air-kissing her posters goodbye. She floated downstairs with her trunk and bass, laying them down before opening the door.
“Good evening Miss Abadeer”
Marceline stared. Standing outside her door stood too figures. The one that spoke was a rather stern looking old woman, wearing glasses and an emerald cloak, her hair scraped back into a bun. Behind her stood a much younger, jollier man, who looked like he was trying to look stern, but failed miserably, breaking into a sort of half grin. As he did so his brown hair seemed to lighten in colour, but Marceline put that down to the lighting, as the sun was just beginning to set.
“I’m your new headmistress, professor McGonagall,” she shook her hand, “And with me is professor Lupin, who will be the new defence against the dark arts teacher. He has had special training from Mr Potter himself.” Lupin diverted his eyes at this, resigning himself to looking at the door frame with avid interest.
McGonagall looked at her sternly, leaving Marceline to wonder if she had done anything wrong. “I’m sure you won’t be any trouble, but before we allow you into Hogwarts we first need to evaluate the risks.”
“Is this because I’m a vampire?”
McGonagall sniffed, “I’m afraid so.”
Marceline nodded. She knew it wouldn’t be that straightforward. Her dreams of going to school were quickly being smashed. Of course they wouldn’t want a vampire amongst the mortal children! I’m bad, and dangerous.
She led them through into the living room. McGonagall and Lupin sat down whilst Marceline hovered just above her seat, acting cool.
Then McGonagall spoke. “Just so you know, I’ve been following you around for about a week now. I have seen no reason not to let you come to Hogwarts. However, before I can make any decisions I first need a second opinion from my colleague here.”
Professor Lupin sat forward, clearing his throat, “Ok, Marceline Abadeer. As we have gathered, you are a thousand year old vampire-half-demon, physical appearance of an 18 year old girl, black hair, red eyes.” Marceline nodded. “McGonagall has witnessed that you do not drink blood, but the colour red. You’ve cared for an elderly wizard for quite some time…with no thanks, as we have witnessed.” Marceline swallowed, was Simon an actual wizard? There are so many things he hadn’t told her, “…and you seem eager to come to school.” He turned to the older professor, “She’s passed my test. And I think it’s only right that she should get this chance. My father would have wanted this.”
McGonagall nodded, and pulled out a letter. “I think you should read this dear.” She spoke slightly kinder this time, passing Marceline the letter.
It was addressed to Hogwarts.
Dear whoever it may concern,
I am writing to ask if you would accept my young friend and companion, Marceline Abadeer, as a student of Hogwarts, just as I was.
This is my last will, I am not sure if or when I will ever be sane again, but I’m telling you that right now, I am sane. She may be a vampire, yes, but it’s all she deserves. I know she has magic too. She has stood by me though my worst psychotic episodes but now I think she needs to get her own life, and go her own way.
I can feel myself slipping away again, please consider this offer. You will not regret it.
Sincerely, Simon Petrikov.
Marceline bit her lip as she read it, feeling the lump forming again. “We received this letter a couple of weeks ago, you can keep it if you want.” She nodded, not saying anything.
The sun had completely set outside now.
“One final thing,” said McGonagall, pulling out a stick which Marceline assumed to be her wand, “We need to make you look like a student.”
Marceline frowned, “Look like a – ? ”
The professor began to transfigure the vampire, changing her eyes to green instead of red, shortening her fangs, making her ears less pointy. “Now these are just cosmetic adjustments. But we’ll need to change your physical age too, which will make you look like an 11 year old rather than 18 year old." McGonagall began chanting under her breath, "You'll need to take this potion too, in order to make these changes last longer" Marceline dutifully swallowed the purple potion.
"Good. Now, these changes will wear off over time, making you to appear to grow slightly each year, just like an ordinary student, the perfect charm.” The professor smiled now, enjoying using this advanced and complicated magic. “This is so you can fit in more easily, you can have the proper Hogwarts experience, just so long as no one knows your true identity.” Marceline wasn’t sure about this, being herself is what she’s all about. “You may find you begin to act like a younger child, but that should slowly wear off too.”
Marceline felt her body shrink, she felt her face and ears, wishing she could look in a mirror to see what she looked like. She also felt a sudden urge to play with dolls, play on swings… and smiled when she remembered she had packed her teddy. The professor also waved her wand at the suitcase, making sure that all her clothes would still fit.
“So…um… what about my equipment? I need all those books and things on the list.”
“We’re going to take you late night shopping.” Said professor Lupin with a grin, “Mr Petrikov left you some money too.”
They travelled in professor Lupin’s flying car. An invention, explained Lupin, which had once been illegal, but had now become quite fashionable amongst wizards and witches who wanted to blend in to both muggle and wizarding worlds. Marceline listened, not quite understanding, but so excited to be part of something.
After a few hours they had been to Gringotts and bought all Marceline’s school supplies. McGonagall became tired quickly, so they decided to stay the night at the Leaky cauldron, before heading back to Hogwarts in the morning. They each had separate rooms of course. Marceline couldn’t sleep, so decided to talk to some people walking about late in the night, and was surprised at how people treated her differently now that she looked like a young human girl.
She sat at a table in the bar swinging her legs, sipping some strawberry juice happily. She had considered red wine but realised that might not have gone down too well with the bar tender. She watched as professor Lupin came and sat down with her at the table.
“Your hair changed colour again.” Marceline stated. The man’s hair was now an unnatural orange colour. “I noticed it before, it keeps changing.”
Professor Lupin smiled, “Yeah, I was trying to keep it normal looking before, but I’m more comfortable with bright colours.” Marceline grinned, “Well it looks awesome.”
“Thanks.”
“So, I guess Hogwarts isn’t a normal mortal school is it?”
“No, it’s a school for people with magical ability. You’ll learn all about magic and how to control it. Luckily for you, you’ve got both magic and vampirism, it’s like double magic.”
“But my dad’s not magic, he’s a demon.”
“Well, maybe your mum was.”
“I don’t really know much about her. I know she was mortal.” Marceline thought for a while, “So…if I had magic, why didn’t I go to Hogwarts earlier? I’m like a thousand years old.”
“Wizards haven’t always been open-minded. Vampires and werewolves are often discriminated against, even now.”
“So that’s why I have to go undercover I guess.” Professor Lupin nodded. “What if I don’t fit in?” Marceline was suddenly worried, after all she had never really had friends besides Simon, and she didn’t really get along with the ‘friends’ her dad had picked out for her.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll find some good friends eventually, just be yousel- … um…”
“Be myself as much as possible, without giving away that I’m a vampire. Got it.” She yawned, “woah, children’s bodies get tired quickly don’t they?” She said goodnight to Lupin, making her way back to her room. She flopped on the bed and slept the deepest sleep she had slept for years.