Chapter 19
RECAP (PICKS UP IMMEDIATELY)
Groaning, he flopped back into the pillows.
The Ravenclaw girl smiled at him. “You’re changing things, you know? It’s already begun.”
Koty looked at her in confusion, but didn’t get a chance to reply, as the matron began examining her.
(BACK TO THE STORY)
“Hi, I’m-”
“Koty Malfoy,” the girl said with a satisfied sigh. “A much better name than you had before. My name is Luna Persephone Lovegood.”
It clicked in his mind the second she announced her name. “Oh! You said that you were a veela in the Great Hall, right? I thought you looked familiar.” The slightly silvery shine in her platinum hair made him think of his dad and brother. “Lovegood? I think that makes us cousins, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” she confirmed, still paying Madam Pomfrey no mind as her delicate wrist was wrapped. “My father is your father’s half brother. He took my mother’s last name when they married, as our grandfather thought him too strange to carry the prestigious name of Malfoy.”
“That’s awful!” Koty cried out indignantly. “Even if he is strange, that’s no reason to remove someone from your family!”
“Oh, it’s alright!” Luna said cheerfully. “We’re each other’s best friends! And since Daddy isn’t stuck at the Ministry with everyone else, we get to travel a lot. We found a Gulping Plimpie in Berlin that snuck away from the rest of the colony, but it left before we could take a photo. It was a lot of fun!”
“What’s a Gulping Plimpie?” He asked, unfamiliar with the term.
Over the next hour or so, they talked about all manner of strange creatures, even after the salve had fully absorbed into Koty’s knee.
Eventually, the door to the infirmary was pushed open.
Koty glanced up, only to grin broadly. “Hi!” He called out happily. “What are you doing here?”
Narcissa, Lucius and Draco hurried (because Malfoy’s don’t run) to the newest Malfoy’s side.
“I was going to ask you that very same question,” Lucius said pointedly, eyeing Koty.
“Wh-?” Koty began in confusion. “Oh! My leg was a bit stiff is all. I would have left, but I was having the most fascinating conversation with cousin Luna!”
“Why would you want to talk to Loony Lovegood?” Draco sneered.
Koty and Narcissa frowned, but recognition shone in Lucius’ face.
“Lovegood? You’re Xeno’s daughter?” He asked in surprise.
“Hello, uncle Luke,” she said dreamily. “Daddy said that you used to be swarmed with wrackspurts, but now that grandfather is gone, they seem to have mostly left you.”
“Well,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of Koty’s bed. “You certainly are Xeno’s mirror image. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Lovegood.”
She giggled as Draco gaped.
Narcissa subtly dragged him away, probably to scold him for whining about Luna being a ‘complete nutter’.
After a bit of friendly chatting, the Malfoy family said their polite goodbyes to Luna and began the descent toward the dungeons. As neither one of Koty’s parents cared much for the Headmaster, they were going to use Professor Snape’s floo.
Apparently wanting a ‘neutral but private’ place to talk, they wound up at a very high class restaurant that was covered with privacy wards. Koty learned that one of the types of wards made people’s faces completely unrecognizable to anyone outside their party. Even the wait staff couldn’t tell who they were waiting on.
Bastien Leigalos was, once more, wearing lovely dress robes in various shades of red silk. He happily, yet reverently greeted Koty, bowing as his nephew had done in the Great Hall.
“Please, Mr. Leigalos,” Koty said, blushing fiercely. “You don’t have to do that.” Telling the man to rise felt awkward and demeaning, so he really didn’t want to say that.
“If I may,” Lucius said calmly, taking his seat. “Why do you do that? My son mentioned something similar happening with young Charles.”
Bastien smiled as the rest took their seats. “I suppose now is an appropriate time for a bit of a history lesson as any.”
“The short version, please, Uncle Bas?” Charles begged, then faced the Malfoy family. “Otherwise, we’ll be here till next Tuesday.”
Bastien let out a boisterous laugh while the other adults chuckled. “Quite right. I do have a fondness for history.” He cleared his throat. “The basics then. As you likely know, elves and fae are closely related. Cousins, if you will. There are multiple branches of each, as is true with all magical beings. As such, we elves share common history, policies and traditions with the fae, including some physical features.” At that, he paused to tuck his long hair behind his pointed ear, and looked at Koty expectantly.
Blushing at being put on the spot, Koty quickly swept his hair up into his usual messy bun with the silver chopsticks, revealing his own, slightly pointed ears. It was strange being out in public with glamours, not used to using them at school. His ears hadn’t been glamoured, as his hair was down, but his wings were.
“There is a hierarchy amongst magical beings, as I am sure you know. After all, humans are much the same in that respect. For elves, that list consists of basic elves, house elves, high elves and elemental high elves. Now, clearly, I am an elemental high elf. What this means, is that in accordance with the muggles, I would be considered a lower level royal. Charles here, as a high elf, would be considered nobility.” He paused to let everyone have a chance to digest the information and order their drinks. “Fae are quite similar in their rankings. There are basic fae, elemental fae, and elemental royals, who are also considered lower level royalty. Vampires are a bit different. They are not categorized by power levels as we are, but by ability.”
“But aren’t power levels and abilities the same thing?” Draco asked, fascinated.
“An eager student!” Bastien said excitedly, making the blond preen. “For some, it could be considered the same, but I’ll give you an example. First, at the lowest level of vampire, are the Malkavian vampires. While they possess what is considered super-human strength and speed, they are also the most easily destroyed, through sunlight, magical fires and beheading. They are muggle turned vampires who need the blood of living humans to survive. Second in their rankings are the Diamonds. They are unaffected by sunlight, have skin as hard as marble, and possess the same speed and strength. Why they are considered superior to the Malkavian is not because of their skin, nor their ability to walk down the street at noon. They have mental abilities unique only to them, as well as the ability to survive on non-magical animal blood or muggle blood. Next are the born vampires. Their speed and strength are more prominent than the others, though that isn’t particularly important to them. What makes them more influential is the ability to wield magic. They are just as easily destroyed as the Malkavians.”
“Wow,” Koty breathed. This was so much more interesting than his Defense classes!
“Excuse me, sir?” Draco began politely. “But, I don’t quite understand why you said that the elemental high elves and the elemental royals aren’t just considered royalty. Why are they lower level?”
Bastien beamed. “The same rule applies to every single kind of magical being. All of the highest ranking beings are indeed second to one thing.”
Utterly enraptured, the Malfoy’s leaned in subtly, wanting to know the secret. Koty on the other hand, propped his elbows on the table, his chin resting in his hands.
“Hybrids.” Bastien whispered, eyes flashing.
Everyone turned to Koty, who gaped.
“But why?” He asked, not liking so many eyes on him.
“Because, you, my dear,” he picked up his wine glass and tilted it toward the little Vílaupír. “Should not exist.”
Taken aback, Koty could only blink. “What do you mean?” He clearly existed.
“Hybrids as a whole, are impossibilities made possible.” Taking a sip of his wine, he smiled. “In most people, magical beings are only indicated by the ability to wield magic. That’s where witches and wizards get magic from. If I may use your family as an example, Lord and Lady Malfoy?”
Curious, they agreed. They wanted answers too.
“The Black family, your lovely mother’s family, have a handful of various demons in their bloodline. The Malfoy line, your line, are known for their Veela blood. Despite that, it is nearly impossible to present with features from both. Young Draco may present as either being when he reaches his magical maturity at sixteen, or, like your parents, you may not outwardly display either. The types of magic that make up each magical being are absolutely incompatible with any other bloodline, one overtaking the other. In your specific case, my dear, your magic is so immense that it quite literally overwrote the incompatibilities to create something only seen four times in history. As a hybrid, you are the closest thing the magical world has to a King.”
So he really was a freak. Koty closed his eyes, willing away the desire to cry and scratch his arms. Why did he have to become more and more freakish by the day? Presenting as an impossible thing was bad enough, but on top of it coming five years too early, along with the fact that he was basically the King of Things. It was just too much! “Will you please excuse me?” He asked softly, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. He was going to hide in the loo until he could calm down.
Bastien and Charles both stood until he left the table.
Koty quickly turned, glad for the privacy wards, so that no one could see the tears welling up in his eyes. He just wanted to go home and curl up in his enormous bed, hide under the blankets and pretend that this was all a horrible nightmare.
Wrapping his arms tightly around himself, Koty sank to the floor. He didn’t even react when Bear flopped down next to him, offering silent comfort.
He remembered his mum’s words from the holidays, but he couldn’t help but wish that he was normal like them. Why would he want to be some magical King? All he wanted was to just be a simple eleven year old! Aside from age, he had nothing in common with any other eleven year old at Hogwarts! Even his friends were anywhere from two to five years older than him! He didn’t have anything in common with them either, aside from homework! Why couldn’t his family see that?! Everyone else did!
Most of the kids who admitted their creature blood were now being harassed by Gryffindors and muggleborns, muggle raised and light wing families in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw too! If his diseased blood was so great, then why were so many people so angry about it? It just didn’t make any kind of sense! It was either wonderful or beyond horrible!
Right then, Koty was leaning toward the latter.
A sudden thought popped into his head, and he was furious. Professor Snape, his own mate, had found information on the stupid Vílaupír, but only said that they were thought to be extinct! Why would he lie about it?! Bastien said that there were only four hybrids in history! Was he the one lying?
Eventually, he was brought out of his stupor when someone knocked on the door.
He quickly cleared his throat. “Just a moment,” he said weakly, pushing himself off the cool, tiled floor. Casting a quick glamour over his puffy red eyes, he took a deep breath and rejoined his family and guests.
After picking at his dinner for a while, occasionally vanishing bits when no one was looking, they were finally ready to leave. It was time to crawl into bed. He wished he’d brought his teddy.