Trapeze Artist

It’d been a very normal day before she’d been kidnapped by a semi-sentient ball of fire.

Well, the start of the start of a new normal. Dionysus was still getting used to the clown kids, and since Nightshade was only five months and Itsy-Bitsy just turned thirteen, there was a wide variety of things to get used to doing.

Number one-Itsy-Bitsy Spider is the oldest and he looks the most like current Laughing Jack, save for his extra eyes. Despite being a year younger than her he was about six inches taller. His skin is paper white aside from the large black spots everywhere, one right on top of his right eye. He’s named Itsy-Bitsy because when he was born he immediately spouted spider appendicitis’s from his back and began crawling on the ceiling, something he still does today. He’s venomous, and he’s not afraid to bite. Acts like he hates his siblings but is the first to defend them if you insult them.

Number two-Alouette was the second oldest, 12, and he looked the most like Toby’s human form just with Jason’s eyes and grey eyelashes. He also had light mint green freckles that were hard to notice if you didn’t look. He was already proving himself to be a prodigy of mad scientist nonsense, so if he asks to test a new experiment on you don’t say yes because chances are it’ll be one of the most lethal injections in the world. Seriously, she’s watched one of those syringes make a woman’s organs burst from her chest and attack her. He dosent like the twins, but he adores Nightshade and Bo.

Number three-London is the third oldest, 11, and she has grey skin, Toby’s gold eyes, dark freckles and Laughing Jacks black hair. Her and Posies are also prodigy’s, but the terrorist kind. They build explosives of all kinds, so always knock before entering their room because chances are they’re building something that’ll go boom. She’s a tomboy that doesn’t like to take baths, but she can be swayed with promises of using Helen as target practice. Her favorite sibling is Posies and her least favorite is Avignon.

Number four-Posies is also 11 and looks the most like Laughing Jacks colorful form. Despite looking the most like Jack she’s more of a diva than Jason. Her hair is soft cherry red and her eyes are powder blue, with white skin and slightly pointed ears and she has three small red hearts on each cheek in the place of face markings. She also has rainbow stripes on her arms and legs like Laughing Jack. She made herself and London metal finger claws, and don’t underestimate them because they look decorative but they are not. She has a temper too, and will throw fits if she can’t curl her hair the way she likes so it’s better to just help her and get it over with.

Number five-Mortica and Maleficent were twins, 10, and looked the most like Jason, Mortica with red hair and yellow eyes and Maleficent was the opposite with white hair and green eyes. Mortica has quite the temper too which led many to realize she also has quite the set of claws. Maleficent does as well, but she’s leagues more calm. Think of Maleficent as a ticking time bomb and Mortica as one that already went off.

Number six-Bo Peep is 9, and she looks identical to Toby’s changeling form. Long curly purple hair, bright yellow eyes and dark pink freckles with light grey skin. She acts the most changeling too, so you have to be careful about your words and any deals you make with her. It was safest not to make any at all. She also spoke in riddles a lot, so Dionysus had to get very good at bullshiting her answers because if you don’t give her one she wouldn’t leave you alone. Her favorite person was surprisingly Helen.

Number seven-Avignon. Avignon is…Well she certainly absorbed all the demon/changeling magic in the womb. She was 8 and looked like someone made a splat painting using her parents as reference. Pinkish-red hair that faded into purple with yellow highlights, bright green eyes, white skin and elf ears that fanned out into feathers, she was a wildcard. She could teleport, shapeshift into anyone, she had magic similar to Dionysus’s own and worst of all, she could turn invisible as easy as walking. Abomination was her name and chaos was her game.

Number eight was Nightshade, and for being five months she was already quite the handful. She looked the most human while also looking like Jason; soft red hair, light green eyes, pale but not quite white skin and very light lavender freckles. The only thing that told you she wasn’t human was her freckles and the black sclera of her left eye. She would throw a fit if you weren’t holding her, waving her little fists and feet and screaming as best she could. The most they could tell so far was that she was mute and bulletproof. Apparently a random human had been fucked enough to try, and the bullet had bounced off her and back into his skull, which officially made her the youngest person to ever kill someone. Dionysus mourned her title.

Dionysus was usually at the carnival working or hanging out, so with nine new kids running around and her being the oldest, she was given a lot of responsibility real quickly. Not that she minded. Yeah, she made them sound like hell spawns, but that was because they were. And honestly, they were only a few years younger than her. They took care of themselves just fine. She liked being with them, whether they were playing or fighting. What she didn’t like was seeing them get hurt.

The fire had came out of nowhere, literally. One minute she’d been bouncing Nightshade in her arms and the next there was a fire very quickly absorbing her. It felt far too similar to apparation for her liking, so she dropped Nightshade–who was screaming and crying as best she could–and within the next five seconds she was fully absorbed by the fire. For the next three seconds it was agony, and then it was gone and she was standing in the middle of a medieval castle.

There looked to be four long tables next to each other, each a different color. There was another long table in front of the four with what appeared to be a throne in the middle. The tables were all filled, the throne one with adults and the four with kids of various ages. They were all starring at her in silent bafflement and awe, and she remembered she was in her body suit. “…What the fuck.” She said finally, and that seemed to break one of the adults out of his shock.

“Harriet Potter?” He asked, his voice shaking with emotion. She groaned. “Oh my  god, your wizards? You’ve got to be kidding me. How many times are you fucks going to kidnap me? This is like, the twelfth time.” The crowd of students began muttering, and she felt movement behind her. She snapped her neck all the way around to find an old man with a peg leg starting at her in shock, wand raised. Some people behind her screamed and she laughed. “Can I…help you?” She asked him, laughing again when he startled away.

Someone cleared their throat, and she snapped her head around the opposite direction. There was an old man with a beard so long it was touching the floor. He was holding a price of paper in one hand, and a wand in the other. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. “Harriet, my dear—“      “How many times do I have to say it?” She cut him off. “My. Name. Is. Dionysus. Blake.”   “I believe your confused,” he tried again, and she laughed at him for a good while.

“I remember you~” she giggled, “gonna try to kidnap me with portkey envelopes again? You gonna send a mind control hex in a letter about how I ‘need to repent’?” She gave a bark of laughter and pulled out out one of her dads strings. She twirled it in her hand like a ribbon, before she threw it at the wall. It landed in a perfect circle, and before anyone could stop her, she threw two more to make a large X. The Keeper Symbol glowed white hot for a few seconds, before the voice of The Keeper himself spoke from it.

“Katastréfo,” he said, some people crying out and covering their ears. “Your fathers are quite worried about you, and the Toymaker, Jester, and my Proxy thank you for putting their daughters safety before your own.” She bowed her head, “of course, Tall Man. Hey, d’ya think you can help me out here? I’m fairly certain I was kidnapped by wizards again and this time they got me good. I also think I see the Tri-Wizard cup in the front, and I don’t like the implications of that.”

She’d read about the Tri-Wizard tournaments more than once in her homeschooling, and had a fairly good idea as to how it worked. In the realm they had death tournaments all the time. “Yes, that does not bode well for you. I will send a lawyer, as you are an underage wix, and your fathers will come along. The carnival kids are also begging to go and cause mischief, so they and their parents will act as bodyguards.” That was more than enough, and she kneeled and thanked him.

“Consider this payment,” he said, “for everything you’ve done for my Proxies and myself.” Then the symbol stopped glowing, and the giant doors behind her burst open. Her dads walked and floated in first, both looking pissed beyond measure, and she could tell it was papa out and not pop from his posture. Toby, Jason, and Jack followed after, each with three kids next to and behind them. And lastly came Noceda Addams, one of the Tall Mans best lawyers in three dimensions.

The green table broke out into muttering when Addams walked in, but Dionysus paid them no mind as dad and papa began fussing over her. “Did they hex you? Any silent spells, or—burns, Jack said it looked like fire, are you burned?” She blushed and told them that yes, she was fine and no, she hadn’t been hexed and yes, she had weapons on her. Addams began talking with a man in a bolder hat while Jason walked over to them with Alouette on his left and London his right with Nightshade in his arm.

“I usually wouldn’t say thank you for dropping her, but due to the situation I can’t say it enough.” Jason said, handing her a fussing Nightshade who made an airy coo and grabbed her nose. “I think she’s saying thank you too.” Dionysus smiled and bounced Nightshade as the voices of the headmaster and Addams rose. “Did you really think the only thing necessary was an age line?” Addams asked sharply.

“Did you not think that older students would put in younger students names as jokes, or that younger students would pay older ones to be put in? Why was there no physical guard, someone to make sure that students were only putting in their own names?”

Bowler hat man was sputtering and trying to make up excuses, but Addams shut him down. “MACUSA is now involved in this stupid tournament, and by proxy so is The Most Royal and Legendary House of DerMann. We will be sending a team of competent wix to handle the rest of the tournament.”

“With all due respect ma’am,” the headmaster said, “you cannot involve MACUSA, as miss Harriet Potter is a British citizen.” That made everyone, including Addams, laugh at him. “I haven’t been a citizen here for almost fifteen years!” She laughed at him. “Why in the gods names did you think I was?”      “You think he’d know by now,” Dad mussed, his glowing gaze sharp, “considering the amount of times the old fucks tried to kidnap you.”

“And her name is Dionysus Blake!” Papa snapped, practically snarling. “Harriet Potter died the night her parents did~” Dionysus cooed, laughing at the way some people gasped. She was giggling, excited, because she wasn’t allowed to participate in the Underrealms death tournaments, you could only enter is you were over twenty-four. But she’d always dreamed of entering, and now she could. She could play the game the way she’d always wanted to play it, wizarding rules be dammed.

There was another feeling behind her, and she snapped her head around just as everyone surrounded her. Outside the circle of clowns was the same peg leg man from before, his wand raised. “Whatcha doing~?” Bo asked innocently, her eyes too wide and her smile with too much teeth. Peg leg reeled back, shouting, “What the hell are these things!?” Jason, Toby and Jack all moved forward.

“T-They’re not th-things,” Toby sneered, his skin shifting colors and the roots of his hair turning purple, “T-T-They’re children. Our children. The fucks your problem?” Peg leg sputtered as Jason and Jack growled at him, the others throwing in their own insults and jokes. Nightshade was trying to make noises, but all that was coming up was spit and it was making her incredibly fussy. Dionysus bounced and swayed her more as people kept talking and talking around her.

It was gonna be that kinda day, huh?

……

They were in a circus tent in a clearing in the forbidden forest, waiting for her dads to get back from talking with the MACUSA guys. Turns out, there were a few downsides to being a known serial killer and a minor. Who knew? Certainly not her. She was born into this lifestyle, as far as she was concerned this was just the normal way of life. Everything else was just so boring. Especially school. Yeah, she was homeschooled, but that was fun! Formal school? Uniforms? Fuck that.

The headmaster had tried to put her on the register for Hogwarts, but Addams and his parents shut that down real quickly, especially when the man kept saying he’d be her magical guardian. The stupid asshole had though she didn’t have one. He wasn’t happy to learn it was Jason. He kept going on and on about how her parents were “unethical” and “dangers to society” and he’d only shut the fuck is when Dionysus told him to.

She’d then proceeded to tell him, to his face, in front of a reporter, that it was unethical to have a supportive relationship with a nazi and he was a danger to her due to the ungodly amount of times he’d tried to kidnap her. Afterwards the reporter approached her papa and asked if she could ask him a few questions about the kidnappings and other problems Dumbledore caused them over her life. When all that was said and done, she then asked if she could talk to her with their supervision.

So Dionysus talked with the reporter, her parents next to her the whole time, and she thanked her for being the only normal witch Dionysus’ ever met. Rita Skeeter smiled and thanked her for giving her such good dirt on Dumbledore. Dionysus can’t wait to read the article posting tomorrow.

Now, she was being “guarded” by the clowns in a mini-circus Jack created for them, waiting for the yes or no. If they could get her out of the tournament, great! She’d more than ruined Dumbledores reputation and she’d love to fuck off into the oblivion after doing so. If they couldn’t, then she’d leave all the other competitors in the dust. Yeah, she didn’t want to be apart of it, but that’s not gonna stop her from winning.

Avignon cackled and zoomed past her, with Posies and Alouette close behind. “What’re y’all doing?” She asked as Posies threw a fishing knife at her sister. It hit its mark in the middle of Avignons head, who pulled it out and laughed, “Posies seven, Lark seven. A tie, tie, tie!” Oh, so it was a ‘who can stab our sibling more’ sort of game. The perks of being demon-fae hybrids.

She joined in and the three of them chased Avignon with knives and strings, Avignon shrieking in delight every time she was hit. In about an hour they had everyone roped into the game. London even tried to teach Nightshade how to properly stab someone. Nightshade was just happy to wave a knife around. Eventually, after a surprisingly lucky shot, Nightshade was declared the winner after she managed to throw her knife with enough force to go clean through Avignons skull.

Not long after the adults came back, London and Bo began telling their dads about their game. “She has powers, she’s gotta!” London said, hanging upside down on Jacks arms as Bo twirled around Toby. “I am the thrill before a party, elation during a chase, and a shiver before a game—what am I?” She asked. Toby answered “Excit-t-ted!” And Bo beamed and chanted “Correct, correct, correct!”

Dad and pop–he was pop now–pulled her aside. “I’m sorry kit-kat,” dad said, “but that stupid cup has a binding contract attached to it. If we tried to get you out, you could lose your magic or worse. We can’t take that risk. Your gonna have to compete.” She was a little bumped they’d have to stay here longer, but she was certain she wasn’t gonna die. “I’ll use every trick up my sleeve.” She told them, “If I have to compete, then I’ll win, and I’ll do it my way.”

Pop still didn’t like the high death rates the British had, but Dad soothed him by reminding him MACUSA was now involved, and most likely wouldn’t let anything too crazy fly. Pop fretted over her for the rest of the night, asking what she planned to do and if she was using Dads strings or not. She answered all his questions as easily as she could, glad to have an excuse to brainstorm. And to get away from the clowns. Yeah she loved them, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be around them all the time.

Eventually, she went to her tent for bed, and pulled out her phone and called a friend. “Hey Kata!” Alastor Otis picked up on the second ring, and from the sound of things he was at a New Orleans wake. “Heard you got kidnapped again.” She laughed and began telling him about the tournament, how she’d have to compete and what they were going to do next.

Alastor Otis was the son of Helen Otis and Diana Angles, and he was her cousin and best friend. He was younger than her by about a year, but he made up for it by being taller than her. He had his moms blond hair and his dads piercing blue eyes, but he still inherited his moms space eyes in his hands, which looked like space from his fingertips and faded away halfway up his arm. He could create shapes out of space-stuff that came from his hands, and he usually used them to paint or sculpt. He was a big flirt, and had begun taking lessons with Jason in how to seduce a victim, but he’d learned by now that Dionysus wasn’t interested.

“Holy shit!” He said when she finished. “Hold on a sec—Mom! Dad! You’re never gonna believe what happened to Katastréfo! We need to port to Scotland, ASAP!” She laughed at his excitement. They’d always wanted to participate in the death tournaments together, so for him this was probably a dream come true. She distantly heard Helen and Angels voices, increasing in volume when Alastor told them what had happened.

Pretty soon, Helen’s voice took over Alastors. “Katastréfo? Are you alright? Is this why the carnival vanished last night?” She confirmed and told him both Jack and Jason were here, along with Toby and the kids. He sighed. “Ok, I’ll tell you what. Diana says she knows an entrance in Britain that leads to a place called Diagon Ally. Could one of you meet us there? Then we’ll stay and act as support in case anything goes wrong.”   “I’ll tell my dads,” she said, “and I think one of them or the clowns will go and meet you. I know dad will be thankful for the extra arms.”

They planned a bit more before saying goodnight, Alastor making her promise to win. She told him she was insulted he thought she wouldn’t. She went to bed sometime around 10 pm and woke up to the sounds of screaming that, thankfully, wasn’t anyone she knew.