1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

hello everyone, here's a little thing that just sprung to mind a while back and grew. there is a small extra bit that i'll add as another chapter when i remember. i hope you enjoy the fic!

disclaimer: nothing you recognise is mine.

the dracula children came down for

eakfast to find an envelope lying beside each of their plates. ingrid raised an eye

ow as she noticed that vlad had one too."who'd be writing to you?" he frowned."who'd be writing to both of us? anyway, doesn't all the official stuff go through dad until i turn 18?" she shrugged."yeah, i suppose so. why?""this looks pretty official."

they sat opposite each other, regarding their letters suspiciously."well, they don't seem to be dangerous." ingrid raised an eye

ow at him."together, then?" if there was such a thing as garlic ink, she wasn't going to find out for him. they could suffer together, or not at all. he nodded, probably thinking exactly the same thing."on three. one... two... three." they tore the envelopes open.

to miss ingrid dracula,

this is an official declaration of severance stating that all ties to your biological mother, magda westenra, are hereby null and void. you are legally disowned and disinherited by the aforementioned parent, and have no claim on her time, assets or affection.

yours sincerely,

twilfoot, tweed, trickett and swipesolicitors est. 1750

ingrid looked up from the piece of paper just as vlad looked up from his, and their eyes met for a wary second before vlad let out a short bark of laughter."well, thank goodness for that. i thought it was going to be something bad." he held it out to her and she offered him her letter in exchange; a

ief skim confirmed that they'd both had the same message. there were copies of assorted legal documents included, all signed in the right places; as of now, they officially had no mother.

ingrid bit back the twinge of hurt that magda didn't want her, that she would never be good enough for her mother, as if her father didn't cause her enough grief on that account, and grinned at her

other over toast. vlad only ate one slice, then went off to find bertrand for training. she was almost offended that he thought she didn't know what that meant. training, indeed.

she was just folding her letter back into its envelope, scanning over some of the legal documents to make sure her mother hadn't tried to sneak anything past her – she wasn't going to fall into the same trap vlad had last time they'd seen her, she was the clever sibling – when wolfie trotted in and climbed onto the chair next to her.

"look, ingrid, i've got a letter!" he grinned up at her and she smiled absently back as he began to tear it open. "i never get anything in the post. will you read it to me?" the world slowed down for a moment as ingrid realised the envelope in his hand looked familiar; after all, hadn't she just opened one just like it?"wolfie, come and sit on my lap and we'll read it together, ok?" she smiled reassuringly at him and let him settle himself comfortably before unfolding the letter, holding it so that they could both see.