Minnie & Poppy
Darkness.
That is all the young tribrid can make out as she attempts to open her eyes. She can feel herself laying on a cold, cemented floor but also edging towards a forest. Hope blinks to adjust to the light coming from the building in front of her. As her vision clears, she makes out that it is not a regular building, but a castle. Where the hell did this freakin Paragon take me? She thinks as she stares up at the medieval but almost glittering palace in front of her. Hope can feel the magic radiating from the place in huge waves, engulfing her in warmth even as the night air sends shivers all around her.
As she attempts to get up to survey her surroundings, she sees a small figure standing on the steps that lead into the castle. It was a grayish tabby cat with black stripes. There was no collar for a name or owner. Hope decides to step forward to get a closer look. The feline in question looks as if they are studying Hope’s every move. She can see spectacle markings around the cat’s eyes and they look almost human.
Hope moves forward but jumps back in an instant as the cat, with a large whoosh of magic, turns into an elderly woman in dark green robes that cover every inch of her, a large pointy hat that encompasses the stereotype humans have of witches, and glasses that perfectly frame her eyes.
“How did…?” Hope starts but cuts herself off as she stares at the woman in wonder.
“My dear child, what are you doing at Hogwarts at midnight and in the middle of summer?” The woman looks at Hope confused and a little worried for the random child showing up at Hogwarts.
The tribrid just barely finds her voice after witnessing a cat turn into an old lady. “I’m sorry, but where did you say I was again?”
The older woman replies, “You are at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, dear. How did you end up here?” Hope has absolutely no idea what that is so she is definitely in another universe right now and maybe in Scotland judging by the woman’s accent. As Hope goes to reply, the woman speaks up again. “Oh, never mind that. Let’s get you out of the cold first and to the hospital wing to make sure you’re alright.” The woman gestures her hand to Hope, motioning her to follow her.
The tribrid finally finds her voice in the exchange. “Oh no, I’m okay. I don’t want to trouble you. I’ll find my own way. Thank you, though.” Hope’s decline was due to her untrusting nature and thinking she shouldn’t go into a creepy castle with magic seeping out of the cracks in the walls with a cat-woman she doesn’t know.
The older woman insists again after the dismissal, her voice taking on a demanding and almost motherly tone. “I insist, dear. My name is Professor Minerva Mcgonagall and I am the transfiguration professor here. Currently, it is the summer so there are no students about but I cannot let you go off on your own young lady. The closest place for miles is the Forbidden Forest and it is forbidden for a reason. There are many dark creatures in there and I would not want to see a child harmed on school grounds.”
Hope weighs her options and seeing as she has no other place to go, she might as well take the help she needs so she reluctantly agrees.
The two women walk down the corridors in a comfortable silence. Hope takes in the place and what surprises her the most are the portraits that have people moving inside of them. They chatter among themselves and the tribrid almost gasps as she sees an old man move from one portrait to another. She schools her face to mask her curiosity and utter lack of knowledge of the world she’s been dropped in.
The woman, now known as Professor Mcgonagall, leads her to an entryway with double doors and pushes one open. From what she can tell, it's an infirmary. There are rows of beds along each wall and the room stretches out as big as a corridor and the ceiling is as high as ever. Mcgonagall leads her to the very back where there is a door and knocks. “Poppy? Are you awake there? I need your help.” Shuffling can be heard from the other side before the door is thrown open and a lady in a nightgown walks out. “Minnie, what could possibly be this urgent you have to drag me out of bed this late at night?” The lady, Poppy, grumbles out, clearly irritated for being woken up.
“I was out on patrol and found a young woman passed out in front of the school.” Mcgonagall gestures to Hope before continuing. “I need you to make sure she is alright before I…” Poppy cuts her off in a teasing voice. “Before you do your stern interrogation that has all the first years cowering in fear and the upper years bowing their heads in respect? Ever the diplomat you are Minnie.” Poppy turns to Hope with a frown, her earlier amusement quickly fading, clearly concerned for the girl despite her lightheartedness a moment ago. Mcgonagall rolls her eyes at her friend’s words and is about to reply before Poppy cuts her off and turns her attention to the tribrid. “Come along, dear. Let’s see what we can find before I release you to her clutches. Word of warning, she can be quite catty.” Poppy winks at her and Hope laughs despite herself, enjoying the relationship between the two older women. “I’m Madam Pomfrey, the resident healer at Hogwarts.”
Hope replies simply with her name. To Hope’s bewilderment, the healer brings out a wooden stick but before she can do anything with it, Hope puts her hands up to stop her. “What exactly are you going to do with a stick?” She raises an eyebrow in question at the two women before her who share an odd glance before the professor speaks up. “It is her wand, dear.” Hope grows even more confused at the words so Mcgonagall begins her questioning far sooner than the healer would’ve guessed. “Are you not familiar with this world?” The professor has been curious about the child and has not brought up the fact that she had indeed seen her appear in a bright magical light, not akin to apparition, and land in the dirt. She wanted the child to tell them herself so she could find out more.
Hope is unsure how to answer the question without giving herself away. Something about the two women’s magic seems trustworthy to her but she’s also not sure how well her magical sense, that lets her feel other people’s power and intentions, works in this world. Not seeing a way out, Hope gives a somewhat vague response. “A world where witches use wands? Not exactly.”
Madam Pomfrey is the one to speak up before the professor can ask another question. “If you are not familiar with the wizarding world but know of witchcraft, how did you end up outside a school for witchcraft and wizardry?”
Hope tensed at the well-worded question and tried to think fast for any believable lie she could conjure up. “Before you think of an excuse, I should tell you that I saw you appear in a bright light that exuded great amounts of magic before you woke up. Where are you from, Hope?” Mcgonagall posed the question with an edge to her voice that left no room for lies. Pomfrey let out a quiet hum, thinking over her friend’s words and curious about the girl in front of them.
Hope, deciding that she can’t very well lie, opts for the truth. “I’m not from this world or this universe. I was brought here by a powerful force that oversees multiple universes and who call themselves Paragons. The one who brought me here was the Paragon of Destiny because apparently this world is where I can find peace.”
The two women appear stunned at the new information. Professor Mcgonagall quickly recovers and continues her light interrogation. “And the word you are from has witches, correct?”
“Yes, but we don’t use wands. Our magic is channeled through our hands and many of us channel from the earth for our power. In my world, wands, pointy hats, broomsticks, and whatnot are stereotypes made by humans. We also have other supernatural creatures.” Hope explains.
Pomfrey speaks up this time. “Other creatures such as?”
Hope begins to list the species off the top of her head. “Vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids, heretics, phoenix’s, and some other ones that are less common and almost nonexistent.” She deliberately leaves off her tribrid status in fear of their reaction and instead tries to see how they react to the list she has been given. To her surprise, they don’t seem too put out.
“Well we have some of those too aside from a few. However, I am curious. What two creatures make a hybrid and what in Merlin’s name is a heretic?” Madam Pomfrey seemed to be thinking hard, her brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to picture the possible answers in her head. Hope raises a brow at the name “Merlin” because in her universe, he’s a fictional character in the King Arthur story but she doesn’t ask any questions. She’ll figure it out eventually.
“A hybrid is someone who is both a vampire and a werewolf while a heretic is a combination of a vampire and witch. But you can only be a heretic if you start off as a siphon witch and I only know two of those.” Glancing at the wand-wielders and taking in their puzzled expressions at the mention of siphon witches, Hope begins to explain. “Siphon witches are witches who don’t possess their own magic. Instead they draw it from magical sources including any supernatural creature and objects imbued with it. When a siphoner turns into a vampire they gain an endless supply of magic to draw from so they become both a vampire and a witch.” The older witches listen intently at the knowledge of such beings existing in a completely different universe. “If a regular witch were to turn into a vampire then they would lose their magic because, in my world, vampires are considered abominations of nature because they go against the natural order but they’ve been around long enough to be part of it now. As for hybrids, there aren’t any more in my world and there won’t be anymore since I’m not there.” In her small rant, Hope didn’t catch her slip up in time and hoped, ironically, they wouldn’t pick up on it but as luck would have it, the universe hated her.=
Mcgonagall frowns at the last part. “What do you mean since you’re not there anymore? Are you a hybrid?”
Fear burns through Hope and she tenses at the question. She considers the witches and is wary about telling them the truth. However, coming to the conclusion that her options are to tell them and pray they don’t throw her out, make up a lie and risk the truth coming out in an unfortunate way, or leave and fend for herself in an unknown world, Hope decides on the truth.
“Not exactly Professor.” Hope starts warily. She stands up, slowly, from the hospital bed and eyes the nearest exit at the far end of the hospital wing in case she needs to run out of there after they find out. They are witches and she’s not familiar with the extent of their magic or if she can defend herself in case they turn out to be just as judgemental as the witches back home.
Pomfrey catches her shifty eyes and wary glance and is quick to reassure the young tribrid. “Dear, it's alright. You can tell us.” Mcgonagall nods in agreement before adding, “We are not quick to judge, my dear, especially on something as trivial as species.” That eases Hope up somewhat but the nerves are still there and fear of rejection from two women who have shown her kindness.
Taking a deep breath, she begins to explain. “I’m not a hybrid, but something more.” She pauses for a second, glancing at them. Pomfrey gives her a nod to continue. “I guess to fully understand, you need a little backstory before I tell you exactly. Back in my world, my grandmother was a witch known as “the original witch” because she created the first vampires a thousand years ago, her children, using dark magic and they’re known as The Originals. My father was one of those vampires but my grandmother had an affair with a werewolf in her village, making him a werewolf. So after he turned and made his first kill, he turned into the original hybrid. But my grandmother thought him an abomination and bound his werewolf side so he could never access it. A thousand years later, he unbinds his werewolf counterpart, becoming a full hybrid and meets my mother who was a werewolf alpha. Vampires aren’t meant to procreate but nature found a loophole because my father was also part werewolf and through that loophole, I was born. The world’s first and only tribrid. I’m part witch, werewolf, and vampire. The reason no more hybrids can exist is because my blood is the only thing that can turn a werewolf into a vampire without it killing them. My family, the Mikaelson’s, have been feared for a thousand years. They called my father “Klaus Mikaelson: The Great Evil.” It was only until after I was born did my family finally find some peace.”
After explaining her story to Professor Mcgonagall and Madam Pomfrey, they both stood with a shocked and contemplative look. After what felt like an eternity of quiet and waiting in trepidation, Mcgonagall broke the silence with a diplomatic answer. She wanted more information on Hope to fully understand her so Hope began to answer her questions. Pomfrey on the other hand kept quiet until Hope mentioned how vampire blood can heal wounds. The healer was ecstatic at learning the new information. Hope explained all the properties of being a vampire and she compared notes with the two wand-wielders on the similarities and differences between the werewolves and the witches in her world and theirs.
After explaining, basically her whole tragic life story, including everything that went down with Landon and Malivore, with more dark humor than the older witches approved of, Mcgonagall convinced Hope to stay at Hogwarts and attend as a seventh year. The tribrid went to refuse but the Professor pointed out that if her destiny was in their world then there was a reason she was dropped in front of Hogwarts. What other reason than to go to school like a normal witch. Hope, after being manipulated—not that she would ever admit it—-agreed.
Seeing as it was still summer and the middle of June, Hope had about three months for Mcgonagall to catch her up on everything so she could keep up with the seventh years and hopefully graduate and pass her NEWTs. Since it is almost unheard of for students to join at random years, especially one’s last year, Mcgonagall gave the cover of Hope being her goddaughter which grants her special privileges of being able to transfer in her last year.
As the summer went on, Professor Mcgonagall quickly became ‘Minnie’ and Madam Pomfrey always insisted on being called ‘Poppy’ no matter how many amazing nicknames Hope would come up with including Pops, Pop, Pom Pom, and Frey. The third one was a personal favorite that Hope always snuck in when she got the chance to call Poppy by name.
September 1st was approaching fast and Hope has been on edge. Her nerves are acting up in fear and anticipation. All the young tribrid can hope for is a peaceful year and to make good on the promise to Minnie of trying to make some friends. After hearing about Hope’s lone wolf tendencies, Minnie and Poppy both deemed it unacceptable and added it to their rules for Hope if she was going to be staying under their care.