Beautiful and Deadly

Part the First

A Story in Three Parts of the Taming a Vile Creature- To Whit, the Vampire

Narrated by Sir Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, First Class (awarded for Bravery)

Edited and Published by The House of Ra Publications, Circa 2029

… … …

The war had ended quite abruptly, at least for me. I mean, when Voldemort was actually defeated by the Killing Curse, everything became one huge, never ending party. Invitations to this ball, pleading demands from friends to be allowed to tag along- hell, I even got some marriage proposals. Which is just weird, cause really- why would you want to marry someone you know nothing about?

Anyway, that is not where I was going with this. What I really have to tell you (or else Hermione would have my head, and I am rather partial to it staying on my shoulders) is how I managed to woo (heh, funny word) the Vampire faction of the population over to the "Light Side". Which has everything to do with the War ending, and nothing to do with marriage proposals.

So, I'd say maybe three months after the End, everything had started to die down, which meant I could go out in public with out starting a riot, and I was enjoying the normalcy. Well, for me, at any rate. I could go out in public, which was cool, and could finally catch up on all the news that the parties, balls, and such had kept me away from. Which is when I learned that since the Death Eaters had all been rounded up, the Public was looking for something else to persecute. What they had settled on was Vampires.

Now, mind you, Vampires have always been a problem in any Wizarding society, simply for the fact that they are attracted to magical blood. However, since Voldemort was gone, and since the papers needed something to report on now, they turned to, and I quote, the "Vampire Menace". Which is ridiculous, since Vampires had not increased their activities, or started being more prevalent than usual. Actually, for Vamps, they were laying rather low. I say it that way because in the normal way of things, Vampires like being in the center of everyone's attention.

And it's a rather deserved attention, since by nature, Vampires are attracted to beautiful things, which means they only turn beautiful humans, who are usually (I haven't seen one who isn't) vain.

Anyway, to get back to the point of this…thing I'm writing, I could go outside. Without being molested. I usually wore a glamour, just incase. But I was still high on the victory, so it took me a couple months to see the increase in Anti-Vamp wards (by law, they have to be visible to the naked eye), to see the decrease of Vampires in the shops of magical alleys, such as Diagon, in London, or Rue de Maurice, in Paris. Which is bad for business, since Vampires are usually really old, with a ton of money, and a desire to spend it on things they have absolutely no need for. No one really saw that angle until later, when sales for the year at very many beauty retailers sank like a stone.

But when I did notice it, the first person I went to was Hermione, my walking, talking information source on everything under the sun. And the Moon, too, as it were. Anyway, she said that it is human nature to find something to devalue and vilify, if only to justify themselves. So I asked her why people couldn't just enjoy their hard won peace, without finding something to screw it up, and her answer was, "People might like the idea of a Utopian Society, but very few of us would be able to live in one."

Direct quote. It's a little scary that the things she says always stick in my head, but for the life I me, I can't remember things my professors taught me.

Um, anyway. Before that point, I hadn't ever met a Vampire, but I went out of my way afterwards to make sure I did. And it was a little surprising (and weird) to see that Vampires treated me with the same respect and deference as the wizarding population.

And boy, you should have see the fuss the papers made about my new friends. "Chosen One befriends Killers!" "Golden Boy No Longer So Golden?" and on they went. Of course, one paper didn't say anything about it, but Luna ran The Quibbler now, so I shouldn't have expected it to.

Anyway, in one year, I had gone from "The Golden Boy, Savior of Us All" to "What's that idiot child up to now?"

But I have never cared for the opinions of those who know nothing of me, and I wasn't about to start now. So, I remained friends with the Vampires, learned about history from them (they are much better at that then Binns), and ignored the papers. Things were going grandly for me, at any rate, until about a year and a half after the War ended. Which is when I ran into Malfoy for the first time in years.

And of all the places I hadn't expected to see him, a Vampire Ball (Humans attendant) was at the top of the list. It was actually a Ball in my honor, which was a little embarrassing, and I was picking my way through the buffet they had thoughtfully provided, chatting with the other mortals there, when I saw him. And you know, I don't think I could think of a minute of two after seeing him.

Because he was beautiful. Gorgeous. Sensual. And very, very surprised to see me. But he glided up to me anyway, and it sort of clicked in my head that he must be a Vampire, for no human could move that smoothly, that effortlessly, that soundlessly.

His voice was like a velvet purr. "I had heard that the Great Harry Potter was slumming, but I didn't expect to see it."

And the arrogance in his voice was completely unchanged from the youth I remembered. Habit kicked in, and I snarled back, "Well, I'd have never expected to hear you refer to a place you grace with your presence as a slum."

He laughed. He laughed, and I really, I mean I desperately, wanted to hit him. "Oh, Potter," he purred again, "how I missed these inane fights of ours." And before I could reply, he'd glided away, and I had to put down my glass before I shattered it.

That meeting quite thoroughly ruined the night for me, even though I still pretended to be light hearted and carefree. When I got home, I Firecalled Hermione. Asleep though she had been, she woke right up when the name Malfoy came tumbling out of my mouth.

After I had explained the encounter, she sighed and said, "Just be careful, Harry, please?"

I promised, and ended the call. But I couldn't sleep the rest of that night, and puzzled over him until early in the morning.

Over the next few weeks, I'd run into him everywhere. I mean, these are the same places I'd always gone, and only now was he showing up? Of course, I knew these meeting were on purpose, to tease me and frustrate me, because they always started with my brain stuttering at the sight of him, and ended with a gliding retreat.

And something began to click in my head. In the two years since I had first befriended a Vampire, none of them had challenged me, none had been anything but nice, hospitable, and a bit, well, scraping. Malfoy, on the other hand, was still himself. Well, himself, but distilled into something so perfectly him that I found I wasn't annoyed to be teased and taunted by him, since I couldn't imagine him being anywhere near as nice as the others I had met.

But it didn't faze me- no, not at all. I liked the stimulation he provided, hell, I probably needed it to avoid getting a big head. (Get your minds out of the gutter. I mean, really.)

Anyway, one day I was sitting in a coffee house with a few Vampiric friends when I cut myself on a knife while buttering my toast. The sudden stillness made me look up, and I froze when I saw the looks on their faces. Need, greedy need, was etched into them, and their hands were clenched painfully tight. Wandlessly, I healed the cut and vanished the blood, and they relaxed, and cast sheepish looks at me, and apologized, but my mind was going down other paths as I told them not to worry about it.

This, I realized when I got up to leave, was the reason the Wizarding population was so afraid of Vampires. Because, no matter how mild and docile they might seem, if blood came into the mix, they became the predators everyone feared.

And I had another realization- Malfoy was different from the others, in a way I hadn't noticed before now. That smooth glide, the mind shuttering beauty, the voice, all of it was a hunting mechanism. And I wondered what he would do, if he got a sniff of my blood.

Now, what I had started planning wasn't as foolish as you might think. I had practice fighting Vampires- they had been Voldemort's favorite shock tactic, and living the good life for two years could not possibly dull the edge of a blade that had been sharpened in war since I was eleven. If he reacted badly, it would be the work of a moment to kill him.

I was prepared for our next meeting, and when it came, and I had the opportunity, I 'accidentally' cut myself on an envelope. There was no reason to tell him it had a sharpening charm on it.

But as blood seeped out of the cut, I looked at his face, waiting for the moment when he smelled the tang of it. And when he did, his face was a marble statue, carved full of longing and desire and a strange, burning light in his eyes.

I healed the cut, of course, and vanished the blood, but Malfoy's face remained unchanged. But for the flicker in his eyes that gleamed brighter, nothing changed. And then he was gone, and I was left with more than enough to keep my mind occupied.

… … …

Here endeth the first part of our publication. The next part will be printed with in the next few days. It is the hope of The House of Ra Publishers that you enjoyed this first installment, and will anxiously await the next.

Enjoy the rest of your day!!