A boy, no older than ten, sat in the Interrogation Room of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. It was an odd thing, actually, him being there. Employees walking by kept making double-take glances at him through the glass windows. His kind never came in for interrogation. They were always desposed of without questioning when suspected of breaking the law, sometimes even for no reason. So what was this boy, with black hair, paper-white skin, and black painted fingernails doing in the Ministry at 10-o-clock in the morning?

Gerard Dracule knew quite well what he was doing there. His parents had been killed not two hours before. The Vampire Hunters had finally come to call. Gerard was not bothered by it, as most children would certainly be. Death was not new to him, like all vampires, he had grown used to it. So here he was, sitting with a slightly bored expression, listening to Cornelius Fudge and the head hunter 'talking' outside the door. (they had left the room to prevent him from listening, wich was quite usless really, seeing that he could hear every word they said anyway.)

"But why bring him here?" Fudge was saying exasperatingly.

"You know we can't kill any that are underage. What did you expect me to do? Stake the boy and get arrested in the process?" the hunter sounded equally aggravated.

"But why bring him /here/?" repeated Fudge, "Why not leave him at the manor?"

"Because there's something we need to sort out first," said the hunter. There was a pause in thier conversation as the handed something to Fudge.

"....And what is this rubbish?"

"It's a Will. A member of the team found it in a drawer in the parlour when we were searching for any gold that might have been in the house."

"It's obvious it's a will! But what's the problem? What does this have to do with the boy?" Fudge was starting to sound angry. All this inconvenience over some ruddy vampire's last wishes! Thier worthless posessions mean nothing to him.

"Minister look at the bottom. It says the boy is to go to his /Godfather/".

"And who is that?"

"Lucinda Avery."

"WHAT?" And with that outburst, Fudge stormed back into the room, glaring at Gerard. "Do you know anything about this?" he asked, waving the Will in his face. "Did that meddlesome wretch put your parents up to this?"

Gerard spoke for the first time since watching his parent's staking. "I don't know, Minister. Those things are usually sorted out when someone's born, aren't they? but yes, I did know about it. Always have."

Fudge looked livid. Gerard didn't understand why. Lucinda Avery had never seemed bad to him. A bit insane maybe, a bit of a drunk, but all in all he seemed to be an alright person.

"Lucinda Avery has been nothing but trouble for the Ministry for the past three years! All this vampire rights nonsense he keeps on about! Your kind never worry about OUR rights when you're murdering us left and right!" Fudge almost yelled, as if Gerard had been standing up for Avery out loud.

"You know what's funny, Minister? I was just thinking the same thing." Gerard said bitterly.

Fudge stood there glowering at Gerard for a moment before saying, "Fine. If your good for nothing parents want you with the Avery's, then that's where you'll go. I'll have you a ride to Chillingham Castle in a few moments, and after that I hope not to see you in this Ministry until you're being dragged here in a body bag."

Gerard didn't even flinch at Fudge's words. Nor did he blame him for saying them. Along with growing used to death, he'd also grown used to this sort of treatment by wizards. Although most were just afraid of him. But no matter, he wasn't worried about it. And something told him he /was/ going to be in this building again, long before he was dead.

And hundreds of miles away, an owl was flying gracefully towards number 4, Privet Drive, to deliver Harry Potter's first Hogwarts letter..