Generation 8, Chapter 1
Luna's Point of View
Today the house is quiet, a little too quiet. You see yesterday all of my recently graduated siblings (and cousin) packed up and moved out. It wasn't always this quiet of course. How could it be with five teenagers.
Five teenagers and me that is. Me, the weird one...
Who am I exactly? I'm Luna Taffity.
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I was just a baby when we left Barnacle Bay so I don't really remember it but my siblings talk about it all the time. Of course they also talk about being born in the 1400s and I can't say I've been there done that either. Oh and they're human...
And me? I so am not! Human that is...
Being that my parents didn't actually KNOW any other vampires - they were definitely surprised when I came along. How could they have known that not only could vampires have children but did so regularly?
Of course they couldn't take me to the doctor because no one in Barnacle Bay actually believed in vampires. Or at least they won't ADMIT that they believe in vampires anyway. See, the people on the island started to notice a few quirks about our family - glowing eyes, pale skin, night walkers, an old KING from 500 years ago...just a few things. They didn't outright say anything but everyone agreed it was time to leave for new horizons.
Which is how we ended up in Twinbrook. Due to the perpetually overcast skies, this town is a little less hazardous to Mom and Dad's health on the whole. While they can't spend all day outside, they can venture out a bit to see us at school functions and such. Still, my real daytime companion was my sister Hermione.
While Ro, Bella and Godric were busy doing the high school thing - Hermione would whisk me away to the neighborhood parks and generally be my daytime mommy.
And she was always the first one to get me out of my crib in the mornings too - of course that could have to do with the fact that we shared a room even then. Hard to ignore a crying toddler for long I imagine.
And then everything changed.
Hermione met a boy that I was sure, even then, was totally bad for her. Of course I was only three so she didn't really listen to me at the time. No one listens to a three year old about anything really. But I was right! More on that later though; so she met this guy Flynn at the movie theater one afternoon and he charmed her socks off pretty much.
He's good at that it seems.
Over the next couple years she dated Flynn exclusively - it's a pity he didn't afford her the same courtesy in the long run. But Hermione didn't see his faults the way others did. I remember hearing my siblings talk about the rumors and they tried - a few times - to talk to her about them but she was blind.
Over the course of their rocky relationship, he pulled her further and further down to the point where she was constantly out clubbing and missing curfew. She was grounded more often than not and he always managed to convince her to slip out on some errand so they could meet up yet again.
I will admit that I didn't like him at first because I was jealous of the fact that he was taking away my sister time. Hey I was a kid, I think it's a forgivable offense. I'm not even really sure how I remember my initial feelings about Flynn given that I was so young but there it is.
So while Hermione was off getting into trouble and sucking face with her boyfriend...
I, in all my vampire toddler glory, was left with my mom.
Okay that sounded bad - pretend I didn't say it like that! If I knew now what I knew then, I would treasure those evening walks we took and the trips to the parks.
The problem is everything was done at night. Ya know, because she's a vampire and if left in the sun too long it would just be bad...yeah so by the time we got to the park there was no one else around for me to play with except for the teenagers who would sometimes sit around and smoke. Not for for little ole me.
I had this irrational belief as a child that every birthday would bring me closer to being able to hang out with Hermione again. The problem with this theory, which I didn't grasp at the time, that even as I was aging so was she so it was impossible to close the gap really. Still, I looked forward to my birthdays as much as any kid does! Mom and Dad would even brave the sun if we wanted a party outside - which I always did - so we could have the birthday we wanted.
Though I was then a whole six years old - Hermione still found Flynn far more interesting than she found me...imagine that. Sure I understand NOW that when you're a teenage girl, boys are the best thing ever but I didn't have this precious insight at six.
But I didn't let it get to me (too much). There were amble sources of entertainment now that I was big enough to go to school. The girls at school educated me in the importances of the various Disney princesses - who knew right?
Of course when I related the tale of playing Princess Space Invaders in the tree house, they promptly dropped me as a friend - though not before telling me that Princesses do NOT climb trees or live in space. I could have argued with them on both counts (Princess Leia anyone?!) but decided to drop the issue.
Princesses weren't really my thing I guess. Though, ironically, I WAS a real life princess - sort of. But I couldn't really explain that to THEM. "Hi my name is Luna Taffity and my dad was King 500 years ago!" Yeah that would go over well...
So I retired the princess dress and tried something a little different. Personally I think I was made for space travel...maybe I would be first tree climbing, space-faring Vampire Princess!
In fact my play acting as an astronaut is partially what brought me to my current love of science. I started to ask questions that my parents and teachers couldn't really answer. So even though I was only in second grade at the time, one of my teachers suggested the science club. I was so glad she did too!
And since my siblings didn't really want to play with me, I MAY have made myself a bit of a nuisance. I always finished my homework with lightening speed so I would usually just sit around staring at them until they finished.
"Why are you drinking that?" Bella asked after I slurped the plasma juice again.
"Wha?" I looked at the juice and shrugged. "I'm a vampire...mom says I can't bite people..." Truth was I had no desire at that age to bite people but I knew it would weird Bella out.
She shuddered. "But you can eat regular people food...you know that..." In response I took a look slurp of the plasma juice.
She slammed her homework notebook closed and stomped up the stairs to her room.
It really is a good thing I had other sources of entertainment - in hindsight I'm surprised they didn't all ship themselves off to boarding school just to get away from me.
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Hermione's Point of View
"Yes!" I shouted as I hung up the cell phone. Mom and Dad had left on their trip that morning and as soon I'd mentioned it to Flynn, he had started making party plans. At first I'd protested - I was constantly getting in some sort of trouble and the last thing I need was to add another thing to the list - but then he kissed me and nibbled on my neck and I caved. Yeah I have a lot of will power. By the time he called to tell me to expect most of the basketball team I was pumped about the whole thing.
Bella and Draco helped me get everything ready - it was their party as much as mine! "You need to go upstairs and stay there." I told Luna a little harshly. Okay maybe I was a lot harsh...
"Why should I?" Luna protested. "This is my house too!"
"How much?" I asked as I rolled my eyes. I could tell she was going to put up a fight and the last thing I wanted to deal with was my vampire little sister in the middle of my debut teen party. I passed her the money and a promise to do her chores just as the doorbell rang out. The door was barely closed when it rang again and again. We finally just propped it open with one of the gnomes to save time.
The pizza girl was probably standing in the open doorway for fifteen minutes before someone tracked one of us (Bella) down to actually pay the girl.
After eating, dancing, playing a few rounds of darts, things started to wind down to the point where most of the couples had split off to who knows where to make out...at least I really hope that's all they did. Draco was break hearts as the night wore on and earned himself a few slaps.
It had to be after one AM when I counted at least four people passed out on the floor.
That's also when there was yet another knock at the door. I saw the flashing lights of the police car before I made out the shape of the person standing on the stoop and cringed. I kicked Draco with my foot as I passed him and he sputtered awake. "Huh?" he muttered, blinking under the overhead lights.
"Cops!" I hissed at him as I slowly opened the door. "Officer?" I said, trying to look innocent. He probably went easy on me because he was in and out of the house within a few minutes with a warning to wrap it up.
Unfortunately he wasn't the only one who noticed our little party. The neighbor down the street must have called Mom and Dad because no sooner had I shut the front door then my phone was blaring.
"On our way home" turned out to be just around the corner I guess because I barely got everyone awake before Dad stormed into the house, sending off his scary vampire vibes. Anyone who hadn't made it out the door bolted when they saw him. If only they knew what he really was...of course then they probably wouldn't have come at all.
Flynn was torn between his survival instinct to leave without saying anything and his dutiful boyfriend instinct of staying by my side. He hovered for a moment until Dad turned the full power of his glare on him. "I'm gonna jet." Flynn stammered. He didn't try to kiss me goodbye or anything before leaving.
And then Dad let me have it...
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Luna's Point of View
I remember Mom coming up to tuck me in that night while Dad was dealing with the others. "Why didn't you call us?" she asked.
I just shrugged. "I'm not a rat Mom..."
"But you know they shouldn't have thrown a party right?" she asked. She seemed to be battling with whether or not I should be in some trouble as well.
"Sure, but there wasn't anything bad going on..." I said through a yawn. "Can you read me a story? A chapter from the Titan series?"
With a sigh, she pulled the old book from the shelf and sat on the bed next to me. The copy was ancient - the original copy sent to my great great grandfather (there were probably a few more greats in there) after he published it. Mom kept saying we should keep the original stored but there was something about reading the first edition...
Though she was grounded, Hermione volunteered to take me shopping for new shoes and clothes as an excuse to get out of the house the weekend after the party. Mom and Dad couldn't go so they reluctantly agreed to the plan. Sometimes I think they knowingly ignored the signs in front of them.
As I knew she would, Hermione was on the phone and texting Flynn as soon as we were out of the house. He was waiting in front of the store as we walked up and Hermione nudged me in the direction of the doors as she threw her arms around him. "Barf!" I shouted in their direction. "As if I'd want to stay and watch them make out."
She came up to me nearly twenty minutes later and thrust a new bathing suit in my hands and dragged me toward the register. "We're going to the pool!" she said cheerfully.
"You're supposed to be taking me shopping for clothes!" I protested, gripping the clothes I'd picked up tightly as she pulled me along.
"A swimsuit is clothes!" she said. She started pulling everything from my arms and piling them on the counter. "Besides...you got some great stuff." she said, tapping her fingers impatiently as everything was rung up. I noticed a swimsuit of her own added at the last moment.
As soon as we reached the pool and got changed, Hermione was looking around expectantly so I wasn't really surprised when Flynn walked up and gave me a half hearted wave toward the pool.
Whatever. If I had to be here I may as well have a good time.
While Hermione could count on me not to rat her out, she missed one rather important detail in her half-baked plan.
Bellatrix.
Now Bellatrix could be swayed to do not so right things now and then but on the whole she was just a good person. A bit ironic considering her mother but we didn't talk about that. If it hadn't been for history in school I wouldn't know most of it.
Anyway, Bellatrix was a lifeguard at the pool and she WOULD rat out Hermione for breaking her grounding like this.
And she did as soon as we all got home. I was shooed out of the room again and slipped outside to the small park behind our house.
I let the sand stream through my fingers as I listened to the shouting from inside. Yeah they were THAT loud.
"I wonder if they'd notice if I left..." I said to the octopus I'd just constructed out of sand. "I wonder if they'd care."
So I did what any sensible (read: idiot) ten year old does. I left.
When I reached the end of our street I thought about going back but no one was calling for me, no one was coming for me yet. So I kept walking.
Seeing as Twinbrook is nearly surrounded by creepy foggy swamp, this was not really my most brilliant plan. Not that there had been a lot of actual planning involved.
I was lost in the fog forever it seemed (it was only an hour in reality) and finally found my way back to the big green bridge. By the time I got home I was sure they'd be worried sick but they weren't. I'm not sure they even knew I'd left!
The whole next week after I finished my homework (still before everyone else), I would head out the back door and soon disappear into the fog. My internal clock would always try to tell me when it was growing too dark and each day I pushed against it, staying out later and later.
On the days I had Ballet it was a little easier to stay out longer since I got a later start. I couldn't tell you what it was about the swamps that called to me but I think it was a sense of danger. What if they did find out I was gone, what if they found out where I was? What would they say?
I was even late for Bellatrix's birthday party at the beach because of my little trips. Truth be told, I'd forgotten all about it until it was nearly full dark out. I was lucky it was one of the few days I'd come out on a bike because otherwise I never would have made it in time.
As it was I ran up as she leaned over the cake to blow out her candles.
Rowena and Godric, who'd both been at summer camp at the time of the party, came back to us having already celebrated their birthdays and looking all sorts of grown up. Bella had opted out of camp in favor of her job at the pool.
But there were always birthdays to be had in this house. Draco and Hermione were also celebrating and were graduating early as luck would have it. Draco - despite his bad attitude - was a very smart guy it seems and Hermione just wanted to graduate at the same time as Flynn so she took a bunch of extra classes through the community college that were dual credit.
The series of birthdays was followed quickly by graduation for all five of them - AKA yesterday! We were running late of course - it takes a long time to get five teenagers ready for anything let alone a big day like graduation. I'm not sure what was so complicated since they were all wearing the same thing but I waited on the couch with Mom and Dad as they all ran to and fro getting ready.
Finally we all piled into the car and Dad had barely parked in the parking garage when they burst the doors open and poured out onto the concrete and took off at a run.
Mom and Dad took the parking garage elevator but I trailed after my siblings. Thank goodness for vampire speed or I wouldn't have been able to keep up with them.
The ceremony was long and boring but we've now come full circle.
Next week is MY birthday and I'll officially a teenager. After that I start at the upper school...I can't wait!
End Chapter.
Outtakes
