This should be one of the shortest chapters but I felt that it needed to stop where it does. Read and enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, his idea and world belong to J.K. Rowling...I think.
Call of Blood.
By: Izo Cypress
Chapter One
'I Give You...'
Two men walked passed the long line of dancing young adults, all dressed in obscene clothing that revealed more then their parents would allow. Reaching the door the security moved to stop them only for the first man, shorter then the other with a cleanly cut goatee beard and long black hair pulled, from behind him an umbrella, popping it open blocking the security guards view, at the same moment the taller man had reached into his pocket, his black greasy hair swaying with his motions, and pulled a long polished piece of wood, swishing it quickly before placing it back into his pocket.
The first man pulled the umbrella above his and his companions heads, revealing the now dazed guards who had moved to let them in while also blocking a thin cool mist that was being produced from a small sprinkler above the entrance of the door from touching their skin. The men nodded at the guards before walking into the building in a brisk pace, shutting the umbrella as the door opened and almost falling back from the amount light and sound pulsing from the building.
Slowly the shorter of the two men took the lead, walking passed and pushing when necessary to get around the large mass of young adults who were grinding against each other to the beat of the music, their hands swaying over the nearest body to them, sometimes their own. Drinks were raised high above their heads to keep from spilling, or maybe from the hopes to actually catch some of the falling liquid in their mouths.
"This is barbaric!" The taller of the two men snapped as he swatted the hands of a young girl away from him, pulling his black trench coat tight to his body as if he was naked under, though if asked he would say he was as the t-shirt and blue jeans he was forced to wear did nothing to hide his body.
"I don't mind it." His shorter companion yelled back, he was currently enjoying the attention of two very attractive young girls as they ran their hands all along his own t-shirt and jeans clad body, one of them even going as far as to group his privates. "I don't mind at all!" He yelled again as he pulled the girl next to him in order to follow in the ritual of groping and exploring the other girls body.
"Damn you Black, keep moving or I swear to Merlin I'll cut you down where you stand!" Black as the man called tried to wave the other man away only to be ruffly grabbed by the collar and dragged towards the bar, knocking into quite a few people on the way.
"Must you be such a kill joy Severus?" Black asked the other man when he was finally released, Severus only sneered at him before leaning against the bar which had white lights in it, showing the many different drinks that were being consumed by people. Black was about to take a glass that was filled by a bright green liquid with a pineapple slice in it only for Severus to slap his hand ruffly and move the drink away from them.
"You would think that after spending so much time with me that you would learn not to drink random colorful liquids. Or do you like spending weeks in the hospital without any hair and a beak?" Black chuckled at the memory, he had to hold foods above him and drop them into his beak, swallowing them hole. His diet that week had consisted of ice cream and noddles!
"That was one time! And I was drunk and James dared me to drink it." Severus sneered at the man again as he looked around the club. He couldn't understand what the muggles actually saw in a place like this, and more importantly how their parents allowed them to do something this disgraceful. Another women walked up to him from the crowed, sweat and alcohol covering her body which was only covered in a thin dress with no back to it. A scathing glare stopped her from placing her hands on him but she got over it quickly, moving to Black instead who quickly wrapped his hands around to her bare back.
Gagging in disgust he turned to the bar, holding a finger up like he had seen a few muggles do in hopes of a strong alcoholic drink to distract him from the dog who was currently kissing the girl, a green drink with a pineapple slice in it held tightly in his hand, which after looking over proved to be the one that he had taken from Black before.
Finally getting a drink from one of the two male bartenders, he downed the strong clear alcohol in a single gulp, gasping and holding his neck as it burned a path to his stomach. He felt the dull haze hit his head faster then any Fire Whiskey had ever before, then with a solid nod held his finger up too order another drink.
Normally he wouldn't try to get drunk but they were supposed to blend in and he truthfully couldn't care less if they found the man they were looking for, especially if he was actually a frequent guest to a place like this. He couldn't imagine any self respecting wizard to drop himself to this standard of living let alone hold enough power to upset the balance for the upcoming war to their side.
Though maybe power came to those who were either mass murders or clinically insane saviors.
"Severus, my boy, isn't this amazing." Speaking of clinically insane, Severus turned to stare at the man who was responsible for them being here. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Warlock, and so much more was standing before him in short tan cargo shorts, a bright blue shirt with yellow ducks printed on it, and his normally large wild beard had been braided with the use of rubber bands. 'Ladies and Gentleman, the leader of the light!' Severus called sarcastically in his head.
"Where is the man we're looking for Albus?" Severus called, taking his third drink from the bartender and sipping this one as he already had an okay buzz. Black moved to his side with a wild grin on his face and makeup covering some of his mouth and face. His green drink was gone and now he was holding a bright red one that looked to be filled with cherry's. Looking down at the plain clear alcohol in his hand he had to wonder why Black kept getting the colored ones.
"I love this place!" Black yelled, electing a cheer from the near by muggles and even a small whoop from Albus. "I'm never leaving! Screw the Aurors I have enough money to move in and live hear for the rest of my life! WHOOO!" The crowed around them cheered once more, only for Black to be smacked up side the head by an irritated Severus.
"Would you focus Mutt! We aren't here for you to act like a child." Black stuck his tongue out at the man before he actually did focus on Albus who had started to dance in place, swaying from side to side while snapping his fingers while a young girl pushed against his back doing the same. It must have been to much for the man as he began to laugh loudly, calling for a camera as he watched a hundred plus year old man dance with twenty year old girl.
Severus growled loud enough to hear above the music before gripping the back of Black's shirt once more along with Albus's now braided beard, pulling both men to an empty table they could stand at that he had spotted a moment ago. Both men grumbled as they were pulled by the other man but didn't put up much of a fight.
"Where is the man Albus?!" Severus yelled once they reached the table, he suddenly wished he would have downed a few more drinks before as the buzz had fallen away quite suddenly.
"Who?" Albus asked, only to snap his fingers in realization after Severus turned a glare on him. "Ah yes young Conner."
Severus glared at the man as he began to dance in place again, his hand snatching out and grabbing Black who was trying to sneak away only to be pulled back ruffly against the table. "Focus Albus! Let's get this damn man so we can get the hell out of here already."
"Who?" Albus asked again, Black nodding in agreement, resulting in Severus smacking a palm against the table making a loud snap sound that pierced even the music.
"Conner!" He snapped, rubbing his eyes with his now sore hand. He didn't want to come, the damn werewolf was first assigned but Lily had demanded that he be the one to come, she didn't trust the three men to be able to focus. He was beginning to believe that the women was a seer in a previous life or if she just knew that the werewolf would have either lost the other two men by now or have joined them.
"I have no idea where young Conner is!" Albus yelled, pulling Severus out of his grumbling.
"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Severus asked in a low voice, almost unheard due to the music. The older man just smiled, never once stopping his dance that was severely off key to the music.
"Simple that dear boy. I have no clue as to where the boy has gone." Severus was on the verge of pulling his wand and destroying the place, causing Black, who had just started to pay attention again to take his place in asking questions.
"So what do we do?" He asked, Albus was apparently the only one who actually knew what this Conner looked like and he apparently hasn't seen him in almost a decade. They were almost blind here.
Albus barked out a laugh. "Simple! We wait for him to find us." Albus turned away from the two men, dancing in place and watching the youngsters enjoy themselves. His two friends starring in surprise at his back, only stopping when Severus plucked two drinks from a passing waitress, passing one to Black as he drank his in a gulp.
X
Above the bouncing club in a dark and silent room stood a man of average height with deep black shoulder length hair, held back by a silver bandana. Deep gold eyes, protected by round rimmed black tinted goggles, scanned over his work bench which was covered by a variety of different vials and beakers with two large copper cauldrons on each side. Currently he was swirling a thick pink liquid in a small beaker, in front of him one of the copper cauldrons, with a flame below it held a similar pink liquid at a slight simmer.
"The secondary attempt at a self absorbing gel to neutralize the poisonous effect at the accuracy of the Bezoar Stone can be noted as failed. The consistency is still comparable to oil," He paused, moving to the corner of the room where another table sat with a rat paralyzed and stuck to the surface. As he walked a small notepad and pen appeared floating behind him, the pen still writing his words. Coming to the table the man pulled a small needle from his pocket, stabbing the rat in his leg, discarding the needle to the side before drawing a wand from his back pocket and waving it above the rat, who lit up in a dull blue light.
"Medical tests show the subject is infected by a the combination poison consisting of Acromantula Venom and common Rattle Snake venom, a combination that is known to be cured by the Bezoar stone." He paused again pulling the beaker of pink liquid out and pouring the contents on the stomach of the rat, watching as a good portion ran off onto the table, forming a small puddle, and leaving a thin trail of liquid on its body that was slowly absorbed into his stomach. "As stated before the consistency is to thin resulting in the antidote to run off of the subject after being administered. The resulting trail left after the run off was absorbed in less then five seconds after administration, a full two seconds faster then first attempts."
Waving his wand slowly over the rats body sent a new source of information into his mind. "The poisons have been neutralized in the subject but the delivery is to slow and it may require for the potion to be rubbed over a large portion of the subjects skin, which is time consuming and may be to slow to save the lives of patients infected by faster, more deadly acting poison."
A slow smile broke the mans face before he suddenly stabbed the rat with the discarded needle once more, reinfecting the rat with the poison, then pulling a new needle from his robes, which he quickly dipped into the excess potion on the table and stabbed the rat in its stomach once more, directly administrating the potion into the rats system. He waited five seconds before running his wand over the rat once more, smiling at the results.
"Direct application of the antidote to the subjects system results in the cure of the poison combination faster then the direct consumption of a Bezoar Stone, which is eight seconds not counting the actually consumption of the hard stone. It may be beneficial to create a needle and serum injection emergency kit for on duty Aurors and other military, government officials similar to the muggle morphine injection. It may be necessary to test the potion on a magical being to make sure it doesn't have any adverse effects on their cores or control. Pixie's would work nicely. He paused for a second, poking the rat with his wand. " Remember to look into using a Bezoar as a poison, holds credit."
"Only you would think to use a widely used antidote as a poison." The man turned around, seemingly facing a dark corner of the room before smiling.
"The real trick! Is to find a way to have the poison's potency rise the with consumption of Bezoar, I can imagine the healers face now." From the corner a man, slightly shorter then the other, with a thin build and pale skin tone, stepped out shaking his head. He was wearing tan khaki's, the cuffs covering his designer leather shoes, with a light purple button up shirt over his chest, half the buttons undone showing his pale, hairless chest and a small silver cross on a copper chain. His long black, almost blue, hair was pulled into a long ponytail that reached the small of his back, two bangs released from the pony tail to frame his face.
"Then sell the antidote, that you will no doubt make, after a few officials have died for an outrageous price, sprouting the need of rare ingredients as the reason." Conner smirked at his friend.
"Naturally." His pale friend chuckled.
"Only you Conner." Conner winked at the man before turning his back to his friend to clean his lab, touching a rune on the end of the table placed the two cauldrons in a stasis along with insuring the freshness of his ingredients, putting them away would only be counter productive as he would work on this later. The rat was simply banished into a small hole in the wall that would lead to the trash in the back of the building where he had gotten it to begin with.
With his lab in a good enough condition for now Conner took off his black robes revealing black loose jeans and a white tight t-shirt that showed off his rather muscular and strong build. Moving the dark tinted goggles to the top of his head over his bandanna he turned back to his friend, an eyebrow raised asking the obvious question as to why he was there, their normal procedure was to leave him alone while in his lab, only to be disturbed if it was truly necessary.
"We have a problem." He told him, as if that wasn't already obvious.
"Which would be?" Conner prodded as he moved passed his friend to the door near him, going through to a dark room illuminated only by the large wall filled with screens showing different views of the club below them and the streets and alleys surrounding the building, a large control panel below the screens with many blinking lights and switches. He noticed a bottom row screen was frozen on a picture of a group of three men, only one them fitting the clothing and look of the club while the other two, the younger of which was wearing a trench coat inside of a club, while the older of the two wore shorts and a shirt with ducks on it and that's not even counting the fact that the man looked like he should be in assisted living.
"Wizards." His friend said from behind him, his sudden appearance only slightly surprising Conner. "The two younger men used an umbrella suddenly when they walked in, while the other man just appeared from the corner of the room. We are still trying to find how he was able to pull that off and how the other two were aware of the repellent mist."
"Have they caused any problems?" Conner asked as he turned to a live view of the men, the eldest and youngest were dancing in place, while Trench coat was downing another drink, five other glasses on the table in front of him hinted that the man was on his way to being plastered drunk if he wasn't already there.
"No." His friend answered. "We were going to leave it alone until one of the waiters over heard them talking about their search for a man named Conner." Conner nodded in understanding, before suddenly moving to the control panel in front of the screens and zooming the frozen view in closer to get a better look at the old man. Finally getting a good look of the mans face he moved closer to the screen only to curse when he did.
"Do you recognize this man, Dirk?" Conner asked pointing to the elderly man. Dirk looked confused as he moved closer to get a better look, only to shake his head after a view seconds of looking.
"Why, do you?" He asked, he had long sensed thought that his friend was unknown in the wizarding world.
Conner nodded slowly. "I give you Albus Dumbledore." He said with a mock swish of his hand towards the screen before he moved out the room, leaving Dirk to catch up after another quick glance of the screen. He moved back into his lab only to go through another door on the side, this one leading to his store room which consisted of a large wooden table in the middle of the room with two cabinets running the length of the side walls, one with all raw ingredients while the other held finished and ready for use potions.
"Why would Albus Dumbledore be searching for you?" Dirk asked as he leaned against the table, watching as Conner opened a pair of doors to the cabinets with all of his potions, quickly grabbing a small clear potion that was unlabeled, much like the rest of them.
"If I had to guess?" Conner asked as he moved to another section, grasping a green potion which he quickly brought to the table with the previous clear one. "It probably has to do with my father." Jake furrowed his brow as his friend mixed the potions in the air, swishing the liquid back and forth before placing both down, each of which looked exactly the same as the other.
"I thought your father died seven years ago?" Dirk asked as he followed Conner back threw the door to his lab, both green potions in his hands as he lead them back into the security room and through the door that lead to the bar of the club.
"Wrong father." Conner called back as he walked into the bar, the sound of music and flashing of lights bursting through the door to where Dirk had stopped dead in his tracks, a surprised look on his face as he watched his friend disappear behind the door. Shacking his head he moved back to the security room, preparing for three new quests.
In the bar Conner quickly grabbed three glasses, placing two ice cups into the cups along with two grapes and a cherry each before pouring the two potions into the cups at equal height, not leaving a single drop in the vials which he quickly placed in the washing bin to be retrieved later. His bartenders only nodded at him, not asking at what the drinks were nor caring much as they were paid to much to ruin it by asking stupid questions.
He moved to the side where a waitress was already waiting, having seen him pour the drinks a second ago and quickly accepted the drinks, placing them on her tray.
"The group with the old man." Was all Conner said before the girl was moving towards the group, her tray high above her head as to not have the drinks swiped by random costumer. She knew exactly which group her boss was talking about as it wasn't every day you saw a sixty plus year old man in a club like this.
She smiled sweetly at the group, the trench coat wearing man and the other younger good looking man quickly swiping the drinks from the tray and downing the contents like they had done all night. She moved around the table and handed the drink to the elderly man who smiled widely, thanking her over the music, and took a long gulp of the drink. He looked oddly at the drink for a moment before finishing it with a smile, fishing the fruit out as he did.
She moved threw the crowed back to the bar as soon as the drinks were gone. Nodding to her boss as he passed her on the way to the table. Conner smiled at the girls back as she passed him, she was one of his best workers and had never once asked a question to his or Dirk's operations in the club, much like this one. He reached the table just as the trench coat wearing man and his companion fell to the floor, Albus himself had slowly sat to the ground, his back against the pole of the table and a smile on his face as soon as he saw Conner walking towards them.
"Hello Conner." He called over the music just as the potion took effect, his eyes shutting slowly while his body slumped to the ground, his two companions acting as rather nice pillows.
Conner had scowled at the man when he greeted him, knowing fully that Albus knew that he was drinking a potion and had still done it anyway. He was never a fan of the scheming man, he always gave him the creeps, especially when he did things like this.
Taking a deep breath he pulled his wand from his back pocket, and using the table as cover, cast a silent disillusion charm on the men followed by a strong levitation charm to keep the men above the crowd as he moved them back towards the bar and into the back room, knowing that Jake would have already set up a few chairs for their guests.
X
Severus moaned as he woke, his hole body aching with each breath while his lungs burned as calling for much needed air. He knew damn well what the after effects of Draught of Living Death were and these were it. But the drink he had consumed had tasted like grape alcohol, there wasn't a hint of the vile taste that came with root of Asphodel. Yet it was unmistakably the Draught of Living Death, so either the potion did not contain Asphodel which was essential for the effects or someone had come up with a way to completely mask it, a feat never before accomplished.
He attempted to move his hands in order to attempt and rub the sleep from his eyes only for them to widen in alarm when he realized his hands were tide behind the chair he was sitting on. In panic he tried to jump from the chair only for his legs to rub against the rope that restricted them to the legs of the cold steel chair.
"Ah Severus is awake finally." He snapped his head towards the voice of Albus who he found to be in the same position as he was, his hands tied behind another steel chair and legs tied to it, thought even tied to a chair the man still had a damn smile on his face. Black snorted in his chair to the left of Severus, he too was tied down like the rest of them and was also glaring at the elderly man who didn't seem to have a care in the world.
"We were poisoned." Black pointed out to them as if they hadn't already noticed.
"Draught of Living Death." Severus told them, even if he didn't know how it was created, the effects were still apparent.
"Draught of Living Death?" Black asked obviously confused by something. "I thought it knocked a fully grown man out for at least a week?" Apparently he payed more attention to his Auror training then Severus thought.
"Normally it would but the effects can be cut short with the application of..."
"Pepper-Up potion." A smooth voice called from behind them just as a man wearing black jeans, a whit t-shirt, with his long black wild hair held back by a silver bandana and a pair of round rimmed goggles walked in front of them. Severus scowled at the man for cutting him off but also couldn't help but think his voice was vaguely recognizable. "But then again that wouldn't explain the reasoning to why you couldn't taste the Draught now would it Severus Snape." Snape scowled at the younger man who smirked directly at him.
"What did you do?" Severus asked, intrigued with how this young teen, who looked to be just old enough to have graduated from Hogwarts, masked a potion that was previously thought to be unmask-able.
"Well to be fair you were slightly drunk so that may have helped, but I also find that the application of grape tincture, a common enough serum harvested by wine makers, can completely mask the taste of the Draught along with shorten its effects to about seven minutes and thirty eight seconds, give or take a few depending on weight and sex." Severus sat stunned by the boy's casual description of a process that would almost surely get the boy a High Master medal, the highest of honours awarded by the Worlds Potion Society, a society made of the best Potion Masters from the world, Severus was still trying to get acceptance into the Society and had been hoping to be accepted in the next decade.
"Bravo!" Albus yelled, clapping his hands from behind his back. "That was truly magnificent Conner. Bravo indeed."
"So this is Conner?" Black asked from besides Severus as he looked at the man in front of them, completely missing the importance of what he had just heard.
"Ah yes, introductions!" Albus said excitedly. "Conner I would like you to meet Severus Snape Hogwarts most accomplished Potions Master and Auror Sirius Black and current Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts. Severus, Sirius I am proud to present to you the last Heir of the Innocenti Potion Masters," Severus's head shot to look at the boy so fast that the others could actually hear the pop in his neck. Though the man himself couldn't care less as he was now looking at the supposed heir of the supposed to be extinct family of world class and leading discoverers of potions sense the time of the Founders.
"Oh and before I forget I would also like to point out that Conner here just happens to be the first born son of James Potter."
Both men yet again almost cracked their necks as they looked to the smiling Albus to the now glaring Conner, both instantly recognizing the trade mark Potter black curly hair and the distinct curve of James's jaw.
"I give you Conner James Innocenti nee Potter."