I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA! REVIEW!


LADY OF THE NIGHT: YEAR TWO:

CHAPTER ONE:


I sighed, biting my lip as I waited for C.V. to speak. He'd summoned me to his study fifteen minutes ago, and still hadn't told me why. Finally, he looked up at me over his steepled fingers. "Girl. I have a...formal gathering of sorts tonight. I expect you to attend." He motioned for me to leave, but I didn't move. He looked at me expectantly. "What is it, girl?" I clenched my teeth. Just once, couldn't he call me by name? "Um...this gathering...does it involve...vampires?"

"What intuition you must have." I noted the sarcasm dripping from his voice as he got up to study one of his books. "Indeed, it is a gathering of vampires. You are still expected to attend."

"But-" He whirled around, his eyes turning gold. "Girl, if you wish to remain here, you will do as I say, understood?" I nodded, my mouth suddenly dry. "Very well. Renfield will help you prepare. Renfield!" Immediately, Renny came in, bowing to C.V. "Yes, Master?"

"Help the girl with her wardrobe. I expect her to look presentable for the gathering. If she is not, the consequences will be extremely severe, understood?" Renny gulped. "Yes, Master." He bowed to C.V. again, and led me out of the study.


"I think I can't breathe, Renny." Renny chuckled. "If you could not breathe, you would have a very hard time talking, Miss Gabrielle." I smiled at this. "Point taken."

"There. Finished." I studied myself in the full-length mirror that C.V. had Renny buy for my room. "Not bad, Renny." My hair flowed freely to my waist, and I was wearing a light blue silk dress. I had on white high heels, and my silver crucifix was in place.

"Are you ready, Miss Gabrielle?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me just Gabrielle?"

"Very well, then. Are you ready, Just Gabrielle?" I laughed, smacking Renny lightly on the arm. "Stop that! Yeah, I'm ready."


Two hours later, I stopped at the doors to the grand dining hall C.V. only used on occasions like this. Most of the time, I preferred to eat in the kitchen with Renny. The dining hall could easily seat fifty at a time. I took a deep breath, and nodded at Renny. He pushed the doors open, escorting me inside. Immediately, the hall fell silent as all the vampires turned to look at me. Finally, one vampire, a tall, rather pretty looking female, laughed. "Well, well, well, Count! You didn't tell us you were providing drinks!" Another vampire nodded. "Though I would have expected more than just one." As they began to advance on me, Renfield stepped in front of me, and C.V. spoke in his ice-cold voice. "She is not for drinking."

"Oh? Then why is she here?"

"The girl is my ward." One of the vampires burst into laughter. "Count, you're going soft! Taking in human children!" Before I could blink, C.V. was standing beside the vampire, and ripped his heart out. The vampire immediately turned to dust. C.V. turned to look at the others. "Anyone else have anything to say?" They all shook their heads. "Good."


Five hours later, I collapsed, shaking onto my bed. The "gathering" had just ended, and Renny had to escort me back to my room, to ensure no vampires tried to attack me along the way. I covered my eyes with my left hand. "Why did he make me attend, Renny? What did I do to make him that angry?" Renny sighed. "You have done nothing to anger the Master, Gabrielle. He simply wanted to show you off." I removed my hand from my eyes, sat up, and stared at Renny. "Come again?"

"Apparently, the Master was impressed enough with the potential he saw in you to make him want to show you off." I scoffed. "If he's so impressed with me, why didn't he let me go visit the Weasleys?"

"I really do not know the workings of the Master's mind."

"You told me that last year."

"And it is true this year as well." He pulled out a letter. "Your letter came while you were with the Master in his study." I took it and looked down at the list:

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2

by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

Renny sighed, looking over my shoulder at the list. "Oh, dear."

"What?"

"The Master has never been a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart, especially after he wrote Voyages with Vampires."

"Wise vampire." Renny chuckled. "Yes, that particular book made Lockhart very unpopular in the vampire community, just as Wanderings with Werewolves made him unpopular with werewolves."

"Well, I can certainly see why. That man's an idiot."


Two days later, Renny and I stood in Diagon Alley, when I spotted Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys. "Hey! Guys!" I ran over to them, grinning widely, with Renny following behind. Hermione looked up, and squealed in excitement upon seeing me. "Evangeline! It's so good to see you! Why didn't you answer any of my letters?"

"Um...I guess they didn't find me." They nodded. "All right." We looked over at Mr. Weasley, who was wringing Hermione's father's hand, and inviting them to a drink. Ron told Hermione that we'd meet her back out front, and we headed for our vaults. I felt guilty when I saw the near-empty contents of the Weasley's vault. Harry seemed to have a decent sized amount. But when we reached C.V.'s vault, they stared in shock at how much was in there. "Is your uncle a thief?"

Mrs. Weasley started scolding Ron, especially since Renny was standing right there. Renny chuckled. "No insult taken, Mrs. Weasley. I have simply had many years to accumulate my wealth. Many years." I bit back my laughter at this.


Back outside, we all parted ways. Percy the Prefect muttered about needing a new quill; Fred and George had spotted Lee Jordan; Mrs. Weasley and Ginny headed off to a secondhand robe shop; and Mr. Weasley insisted on taking Hermione's parents to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink. Renny told Mrs. Weasley that he'd keep an eye on the four of us, and she began walking off with Ginny, but not before shouting back at us, "We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your school books." She turned to the twins. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!"

We headed down the street, and I insisted upon treating us to five large strawberry-and-peanut-butter-ice creams. Harry tried to pay, but I told him to "Shut up and eat your stupid ice cream." This caused Ron to begin choking on his ice cream in laughter, and Hermione had to pound him on the back for a full minute before he was able to breathe properly.

After that, we examined the shop windows, and Ron stared longingly at a full set of Chudley Cannons robes in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies before Hermione dragged him off by the collar so we could buy ink and parchment next door. In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, we ran into the twins and Lee, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. In a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered with potion stains we found Percy, deeply immersed in a book entitled, Prefects Who Gained Power.

"A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers. That sounds fascinating." Percy glared at Ron. "Go away."

"'Course, he's very ambitious, Percy. He's got it all planned out. He wants to be Minister of Magic someday." Ron told us quietly as we left the shop.


An hour later, we headed for Flourish and Blotts. We were in no way the only ones headed for the bookshop. A large crowd stood outside the door, trying to get in. I looked up and saw a sign hanging over the door:

GILDEROY LOCKHART

will be signing copies of his autobiography

MAGICAL ME

today 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Hermione squealed in excitement and I rolled my eyes as she bounced up and down. "We can actually meet him! I mean, he's written almost the entire booklist!" I surveyed the crowd, and was unsurprised to see that most of the crowd was made up of witches. A tired-looking wizard stood at the entrance, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies...Don't push, now...mind the books, please..."

We squeezed inside, and each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, then sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "Oh, there you are, good," Mrs. Weasley said while patting her hair. "We'll be able to seem him in a minute..."

He came into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all of them winking and flashing extremely white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue which matched his eyes perfectly. I felt like throwing up. A short, irritable-looking man moved around, holding a camera. "Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron. "This is for the Daily Prophet-"

"Big deal," Ron said, rubbing his foot where the reporter had stepped on it. Lockhart looked up, saw Harry, and lept up. "It can't be Harry Potter?!"
Lockhart dived forward, grabbed Harry's arm, and pulled him forward. The crowd burst into applause. The reporter was taking photos like crazy, wafting thick purple smoke over me, Renny, the Weasleys and the Grangers. Finally, Lockhart stopped wringing Harry's hand, and threw an arm around his shoulder. "Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography-which I shall be happy to present to him now, free of charge-" The crowd burst into applause again, "He had no idea, that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates, will, in fact, be getting the real magical me."

Please, please, please, don't say it.

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The crowd cheered and clapped. I looked up at Renny, and saw his face frozen in both shock and disgust. I had a feeling that I looked the same.

Harry was given the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. He staggered over to Ginny and dumped the books in her new cauldron. "You have these. I'll buy my own." Just then, an all-too-familiar drawl came from behind us. "Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" We turned to see Draco Malfoy standing behind us, his perpetual sneer on his face. "Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page." Ginny finally spoke. "Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!"

A smirk spread across Malfoy's face. "Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" Ginny went as red as her hair when Ron and Hermione walked over. Ron wrinkled his nose when he saw Malfoy. "Oh, it's you. Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley. I suppose your parents will have to go hungry for a month in order to pay for all those." Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books in the cauldron alongside Ginny's and started towards Malfoy, but we grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Ron!" We looked up as Mr. Weasley came over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well-Arthur Weasley." I saw a man approaching that could only be Draco's father. "Lucius."

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear. All those raids...I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached down into Ginny's cauldron, and withdrew a very old copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. His lip curled. "Obviously not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?" Mr. Weasley's eyes narrowed. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy."

"Clearly." Mr. Malfoy glanced over at Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "The company you keep, Weasley...and I thought your family could sink no lower-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, seeing as Mr. Weasley had lept at him. I could hear Fred and George cheering their dad on. Mrs. Weasley was shrieking for him to stop. Finally, we heard, louder than all, "Break it up, there, yeh two, break it up-" Hagrid pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He threw Ginny's old Transfiguration book at her, eyes glittering with anger. "Here, girl-take your book-it's the best your father can give you-" With that, he swept out of the shop, followed by Draco.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur. Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everybody knows that-no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter-bad blood, that's what it is-come on, now-let's get outta here." Hagrid led us outside. The Grangers were shaking with fright, and Mrs. Granger was beside herself. "A fine example to send your children...brawling in public..what Gilderoy Lockhart must have thought..." Fred snickered. "He was pleased, Mum. Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report-said it was all publicity." I snorted at this, then waved goodbye to the others as Renny and I headed off to return by Floo Powder to C.V.'s castle.


WELL, THAT'S IT FOR THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW!