Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (Nova)

[nova hypatia vector]

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The speediness in which the magical community was transitioning from books to digital was quite fascinating. Nova didn’t believe it would be one hundred percent that way, like their muggle counterparts, but it was getting fairly close at a pace that was rather astounding. There seemed to be a group (or she supposed an individual could do it) that was transcribing quite a lot of the magical texts the average witch or wizard used. Nothing in the cooking section had been done yet, but she wasn’t complaining. Between herself and her aunt, they probably had enough to stock an entire row at Flourish & Blotts. ”I do think muggles are quite innovative with some of their desserts. A lot of them can only be found online though,” Nova offered up in response. Without social media bakers, she would be lost with quite a bit of her seasonal offerings at the bakery.

It was sort of strange to hear that it didn’t matter what kind of blood was used, as it was all the same at the end of the day. Maybe to Lucrezia and other vampires, but not to a regular person. She also wasn’t surprised that her guest made it often enough for her own family. The only part that was a shock was that she was a grandmother. Nova stared at her for a moment, her brain trying to figure out how someone that looked her age already had a grandchild, forgetting that she was a vampire. ”Right, yeah. Well, it’s all ready for it if you’d like to have at it,” Nova stepped to the side so that Lucrezia could get to work. She was definitely not going to stand between a vampire and a blood bag. That seemed…unwise on a number of levels. Plus, she didn’t know what the necessary amounts of blood were.

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

Discussing the internet, Nova talked about how innovative Muggles had gotten with their desserts. There had been food trends even when she had been growing up in Italy; that wasn't new, but Lucrezia was sure that whatever the Muggles found interesting must have increased in creativity and complexity over time. There must have been countless recipes available only on the internet, and Lucrezia found it difficult to imagine exactly what that must have looked like. She would have to get Nova to show her some of her favorites sometime.

Back to the matter at hand, it appeared that Nova was going to leave the handling of the blood bag to her. She still sounded a little uncomfortable, and the human blood was probably part of it. Lucrezia wasn't sure what she could do to fix that, though she could at least step in where prompted. For her, blood was incredibly ordinary.

Lucrezia decided that it would be appropriate to take the amount of blood her usual recipe called for as a starting point. The bag she had brought with her held about half a liter, whereas the recipe she used at home called for an entire liter. The point of her making the pudding with Nova wasn't to waste blood, however; it was a trial run, and they could work out the exact measurement of blood later on in the process if it didn't taste enough of blood.

"I don't want to get blood on anything unnecessary," Lucrezia informed Nova as she looked at how nicely everything was set up. It was as hygienic as blood got, but Lucrezia wanted to remain as courteous as possible. It wasn't her kitchen—and even her own kitchen was never a bloodbath. "We'll want to use the entire bag, I think," Lucrezia explained, "and an equal amount of milk. So, a half-liter of milk and a half-liter of blood… We'll heat those together first." From there, they would be able to add the sugar, dissolve that, and then add in the chocolate, plus any spices to taste.

"I was a Muggle before I became a vampire," Lucrezia volunteered, "so I can't do magic like a witch or wizard." She was, in other words, limited to cooking the non-magical way. "I'm happy to heat it, if you would like me to, but it might be slower than usual for you," she told Nova. She didn't want that to catch her by surprise and frustrate her.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Keeping everything as clean as possible, even without the addition of the blood, was always the goal for Nova. Despite having an arsenal of charms at her disposal that could make everything look perfect within a matter of minutes, reducing mess meant less cross contamination and it allowed her to keep a clearer mind while cooking. The kitchen in the bakery below often looked like a warzone on busier days, with both her and Decima slinging spells and sugar around without a care in the world. But for her own home, keeping things neat and tidy was preferred.

Listening to Lucrezia explain how equal parts milk to blood would be necessary, Nova moved the two-liter cooking pot that she’d already pulled out into place and went to grab the milk from the fridge. As she reached for it, she remembered that the blood bag was sitting right there on the shelf, and she’d need that as well. Mixing milk and human blood…while she’d known that was going to happen, it still sounded so unrealistic to her.

Her guest want on to say that she was a human before becoming a vampire, and Nova’s eyes widened as she appeared from within the fridge with the milk and blood bag (which she held onto daintily from the safety of its corner edge). ”When it comes to new recipes, or in this case trying something out in a way I haven’t done it before, I try to bake the regular way,” Nova explained as she measured out half a liter of milk and poured it into the pot while simultaneously turning on one of her stove’s burners. She stepped aside to allow Lucrezia handle the blood. ”That way if I need to make a lot in one go, I have a clear mental picture that tells any spells I cast how to do things properly.”

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

The way Nova's eyes grew larger, Lucrezia realized that her comment about her origins must have come as more of a shock than she had anticipated. Some vampires were like her, having been entirely non-magical in their human lives. Unlike being bitten by a werewolf, being bitten by a vampire wasn't a death sentence for a Muggle. Being turned was a possibility. (It was a complicated one regardless of one's background, but it was a possibility nonetheless.) Though she spent time around other vampires, Lucrezia only knew firsthand what her experience had been.

While she shared some similarities with Muggle-born witches and wizards, Lucrezia couldn't relate to their lives completely. She was similar to a Squib in other ways, perhaps, but she hadn't had any knowledge of the magical world until she became a vampire. That put her in a strange middle ground where she didn't exactly fit into most categories. Magical spaces were designed for those who could do magic, and those who couldn't do magic or those whose abilities weren't the same as those of the average witch or wizard were sometimes excluded.

Making her way through that confusion as a new vampire had been a time in her life that she didn't care to repeat, but Lucrezia was happy to be in a position to be a resource for others like herself. She felt no shame for having lived for years as an entirely non-magical person. It wasn't a fact that she always had a chance to volunteer, but she knew it was also important to maintain her safety. With how some people were when it came to Muggles, she didn't walk around advertising her beginnings.

Back on the subject of baking, Nova said that she eschewed making recipes the magical way initially where she could. She explained that doing it that way made it easier for her to figure out what she would need to do to make larger batches of a recipe later on, which made sense for someone who made pastries for a living.

"Perfect," Lucrezia replied. It would be easier for her to follow what Nova was doing, since she wouldn't have to keep track of what magic she was doing, and Nova didn't seem to have anything against her inability to do the same kinds of magic as her.

Lucrezia was happy to take over with the blood after Nova had poured the half-liter of milk into the pot, though. For her own personal consumption, Lucrezia wouldn't have hesitated to sink her fangs into the blood bag and puncture it that way. In lieu of that, since she wasn't in a medical setting but still needed the process to be sanitary, she grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and cleanly cut the top off the blood bag as though it were a juice pouch or any similar plastic bag. By far, it was the quickest means of getting all of the blood out of there and into the pot with the milk—and one of the least messy.

As she was working, Lucrezia continued where the one part of their conversation had left off. "My daughter and granddaughter are witches," she told Nova, "so I understand some things." She didn't live in a complete bubble of nothing but vampirism. "And over fifty years of experience in this world helps."

Aware that it was likely to be far less appealing to Nova than it was to her, Lucrezia swiftly poured the blood out and added it to the milk that was already on the stove and ready to be heated.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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The entire process that Lucrezia took to efficiently shear the top of the blood bag off was clinical in nature. Nova couldn't tear her eyes away from it as it was poured, it's thick consistency unnerving and unnatural to her. She only realized now that she couldn't recall a time where she had seen this much blood at once. At least it wasn't her own. That would lead her down a road of dizzy spells and nausea. She took a measured step backwards to give Lucrezia enough room to do her thing though, and despite the gentle pouring, Nova didn't want to be in the range of any splash back. Even the most condensed, controlled pour occasionally had the stray droplet fly off in a random direction. Not that she didn't trust Lucrezia in this situation, but Nova really did not want some random person's blood on her.

She opted to listen to the vampire talk, eyes still laser focused on the pouring blood. It still perplexed her that someone that looked to be the same age could be a grandmother, and that had Nova guessing on her actual age. At least over fifty, as her silent question was instantly answered without having to ask. "I imagine it can be tricky raising witches without having magic yourself," she commented. Though Nova supposed that went for muggle-born families too. Throw in a little dash of vampirism and there was an interesting combination there. "I hope the world is a lot nicer now too. I know that werewolves still have a lot of difficulty..."

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

Nova stated that it must have been hard to raise witches as a non-witch, to which Lucrezia nodded slightly. Raising her daughter as a single mother hadn't been without its challenges, but every parent ended up being challenged in some way. What had been harder was educating Carolina at home while not being able to use a wand or perform the magic that Carolina was expected to learn. She had had to teach herself much of the time, but it protected her from being discriminated against for being the half-vampire daughter of a former Muggle. Meanwhile, Lucrezia knew that couldn't take all the credit for raising her granddaughter, Lucia, though she had moved to London to be closer and help out as needed.

"I hope the world is a lot nicer now too," Nova added. "I know that werewolves still have a lot of difficulty…"

Generally, Lucrezia didn't face any major problems. There were people who were hesitant to deal with her because she was a vampire, and of course there were people who were squeamish about blood and the blood bank. Those were minor, really. She owned her own business and had worked in advocacy prior to that, which meant that she didn't have to worry about any discrimination related to her employment. For full vampires who wanted to hold positions that didn't have to do with vampirism, their experiences varied. The day-to-day challenges came from having to avoid sunlight, above anything, and having to stay hidden from Muggles.

"Honestly? The werewolves have more problems," Lucrezia explained. Being a vampire wasn't perfect, but she preferred it over the idea of being a werewolf. Both were thought of as being "Dark", but they got that reputation in their own ways. "They're treated like animals, even if they use potions." The werewolf inn in Horizont Alley got a lot of use at the full moon, from what she saw. "For vampires, we have control," Lucrezia elaborated. Whether it was morning, noon, or night, they were vampires, with the same abilities as always, as long as they weren't exposed to the sun. "Werewolves, they might bite someone and not realize. Vampires, we don't lose our awareness." There were vampires who forcibly turned others, but they were far less common than non-magical vampire literature might have led Muggles, especially, to believe. That was to say that she wouldn't just snap and go for Nova's neck.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Nova knew that what Lucrezia was saying was true. It really did all come down to control. She had also always assumed that the reason werewolves received more hate, the uncontrollable turn during the full moon aside, was because they weren’t nearly as out of sight or mind as vampires could be. Vampires could only venture out at night or under complete coverage, and that meant the average witch or wizard would never see them unless they happened to be out and about in an area where they congregated. Obviously, living and working in Horizont Alley increased Nova’s own chances drastically. But with the way people treated werewolves…trying to keep them down and in a position of hardship over something most of them never chose to have?

”I suppose all of that is true,” Nova let out a long sigh as she watched her guest finish what she was doing with the pudding mix. Thankfully this brief discussion on the magical community’s ‘darker’ inhabitants had made her forget momentarily about all of the blood that had just been poured into the mixing bowl. ”If you only ever read the news, it would seem like werewolves were out in droves biting people. That’s so drastically far from the truth too.” For as long as she had lived in Horizont, which at this point was the majority of her life, there had never once been an incident surrounding the hotel where most stayed during the full moon. Fear mongering like this was actually going to get innocent people killed. Nova supposed that was what some parties involved in this wanted though. As if everything wasn’t hard enough after the last few years…

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

"I suppose all of that is true," Nova considered in response to what Lucrezia had said about the discrimination against vampires as compared to that against werewolves. "If you only ever read the news, it would seem like werewolves were out in droves biting people. That's so drastically far from the truth too."

"It's exaggerated," Lucrezia agreed as she stirred the contents of the pot on the stove. If it wasn't discrimination against Muggles that was being pushed, it was discrimination against some population of the magical world that didn't have the resources to counteract the claims that were being made against them. Someone within the Ministry of Magic probably did keep the actual statistics about how many people were bitten by werewolves each year, but it was easier for the media to paint werewolves as prone to violence and likely to attack someone else even when it wasn't the full moon. Journalists could take one shocking story and milk it, as they so often did.

"I don't know many werewolves personally," Lucrezia continued. Because of her work, she encountered far more vampires like herself. "But I have no problems with them." Maybe it was simply that she had less fear of them; she couldn't get bitten and turned into a vampire/werewolf hybrid.

Changing the subject back to the sanguinaccio dolce they were preparing, Lucrezia added, "I think we can add the sugar and the chocolate now."

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Anyone with a properly functioning brain could see that the tabloids were blowing the lycanthrope ‘problem’ up more than it actually was. Nova let out another elongated sigh. These were the sorts of issues that they, as a society, were going to have to deal with now. A lot of the distaste for werewolves came from the older crowd – no surprise there – from when they had been fed violent imagery of what a werewolf could do. Having Fenrir Greyback on the prowl surely didn’t help. Nova wasn’t trying to pretend that she knew exactly what it was like to have werewolves as the replacement for the boogeyman, but they were almost in the 2030s already. It was time for everyone to mutually agree that this was all ridiculous. Especially with all of the recent potion advancements that had been made.

Switching gears back to what they were trying to make was abrupt, but also not a bad thing either. They really should have been focusing more on it. Nova was so used to unconsciously casting charms and having her cooking utensils on autopilot, that actually watching what was being done closely was sort of foreign to her at times. Obviously, she still cooked the normal way quite a bit, but not with another person looking over her shoulder. She didn’t want to be making any mistakes today. ”Got it,” she responded to Lucrezia as she turned to grab both.

Without thinking, she used her wand and tapped both bowls, the sugar and chocolate levitating in their respective spots. They started to pour evenly. ”Oh…” Nova muttered as she realized what she had done. ”Well, it should be fine this way. I had wanted to do everything by hand like normal but…” she shrugged. This was fine too, she supposed. A little magic wasn’t going to hurt, and it would speed this part of the process up.

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

Lucrezia understood why Nova had intended to avoid using magic in preparing the recipe for the first time; she had explained as much to her earlier, so she felt her frustration at having slipped up and used her wand when she hadn't planned on it. Fortunately for Nova's baking process, or at least her perception of it, she caught herself before she had done too much magically. It was only that she had poured in the sugar and chocolate that way. "Well, it should be fine this way," Nova decided. "I had wanted to do everything by hand like normal but…"

"It's alright," Lucrezia assured her. It was only a problem for Nova; however the ingredients got into the sanguinaccio dolce, it didn't matter. As long as the ingredients were there to be incorporated into the blood pudding as they would have been by hand, she didn't really care. She wasn't offended because a witch had just used magical abilities that she didn't have. If that were the case, then she would have had a very bitter existence as a vampire, Lucrezia thought.

Since it was a matter of stirring the sugar and chocolate until they were incorporated into the pudding from that point, it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to use magic just to keep it going. It would keep Nova's hand from cramping up, though Lucrezia didn't really have that same problem. "Shall I stir it?" she offered.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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Falling back into using magic like always was definitely a hurdle to overcome daily. Nova was of the opinion that normal, hard work done the muggle way was a good character builder at times. Did that mean she cleaned her apartment by hand weekly? No, absolutely not. Magic made the mundane tasks almost nonexistent. If she hadn't been allowed to do that at least, her apartment would be a mess. Cooking, though, Nova at least tried to do the non-work related dishes and baked goods by hand. She also felt that it was sort of rude to use it in front of Lucrezia, who did not have magic of her own. Her guest said it was fine, and while she wasn't going to dwell too long on it, it still irked her slightly for not outing her wand away earlier.

Back into her pocket it went as the bowls finished mixing into each other and settled down into the countertop once again. Lucrezia offered to stir, and Nova accepted, stepping back to let the vampire do her thing. She knew she wouldn't have to give many instructions, if any at all, considering Lucrezia had made this part of the treat plenty of times. Nova was merely a proxy chef this time around. "I do hope the consistency holds well once it's inside the pastry," Nova mused as she gave Lucrezia room to work. "We don't do a whole lot of cream puff styled goods because they don't usually last the entire day if one or two parts are off." Which rarely, if ever, happened. That was the one benefit of her and her aunt having their fancy little ability. Nova had hoped one of her younger siblings would acquire it as well, or at least a passion for baking, but it was looking slim at best. Only Idele had shown any sort of interest and that was being muffled immensely by Harmony...

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[lucrezia conti]

Summer 2028

Nova stepped back, and Lucrezia stirred the mixture together. "I do hope the consistency holds well once it's inside the pastry," she brought up. "We don't do a whole lot of cream puff styled goods because they don't usually last the entire day if one or two parts are off."

"If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I'll still pay you, and we'll know for the future," Lucrezia decided with a shrug as she kept stirring. Regrettably, she had no experience as a pastry chef, but if they didn't turn out properly, it wouldn't be the end of the world. She would still compensate Nova for the trouble she'd gone to, and she had no doubt that she could find someone at the blood bank who would be interested in their mistakes, if it came to that. Whether vampire or fully human, free food was a draw.

nova hypatia vector

[nova hypatia vector]

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This was a lot less about the pay and more about getting the recipe done correctly. Which, again, shouldn’t have been a concern for her at all. Even though she had never once messed up a recipe (when done correctly by the directions, of course), there was still that little doubting voice inside her head. She had told herself that it was her brain keeping her in check and trying to humble her. Because she could see how quickly such a skill could make her ego inflate and make her incredibly overconfident. Nova only allowed that part of her come out when her talent and work was put into question. Like in every conversation with Harmony. Her stepmother probably couldn’t even make tea correctly without the help of her loathsome house elf. Yet both had the gall to look down on her. As if Midge could make a cake with the same skill and love that she did. Nova had eaten a slice before, and it was dry and tasteless. Just like the house elf’s master.

Watching Lucrezia stir was mesmerizing. The woman had obviously made this part plenty of times before, and it seemed like it was second nature to her. Nova assumed that was how others saw her whilst she worked. She’d heard similar sentiments from friends and family before. The ability to multi-task masterfully while still producing a quality meal or pastry. Usually the wonder always came from something simple, like a sheet of chocolate chip cookies. She could whip up a large batch in a matter of minutes, and that was the part that perplexed most.

”It’ll probably be fine,” Nova said after a moment. Because of course it would be. Everything she had prepped would turn out well, just like it always did. When was the last time she had actually messed up mixing ingredients? Fifteen years ago? Eyeballing the mixing bowl, Nova gave it a long look. ”I think in probably another minute or so, it’ll be ready.”

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