I walked towards the dark house, fearing the worst. Usually my wife would be singing in the kitchen, attempting to cook. But the front door was open, and I could see the curtains blowing in the wind through a broken window.
Sending my patronus off to Kingsley at the Aurors office, despite having just come from there myself, I approached my house with caution. I instinctively took a defensive position, narrowing my visible profile as I walked towards the front door.
The various enchantments and protections on my house were still in place, so that either meant it was someone skilled, or an inside job, or perhaps both. I did keep a lot of wealth in the house, as I had been barred from Gringotts. Something about stealing a dragon, but it sounded more like whiney bitching to me than any real complaint.
My wand, the Elder Wand, founds its way into my hand. The ancient wand served a better purpose to me than it would buried in a granite tomb. Thoughts of the recent Auror training missions that I participated in today circled my head - combat tactics against vampires had been our week long mission. Pointy things to the heart, decapitation, and fire killed them quite easily, but that is fairly standard amongst most creatures. It's the speed and stealth you got to watch out for.
It's with that chilling thought I made my way inside. Pieces of furniture lay strewn about, and I was careful to not step on the broken glass for fear of making a noise. Still, it was hard to keep my breathing under control or stop my heart rate from accelerating.
I stopped at the entrance to my living room, carefully listening for an out of place noise. It was dark, the only light being from the partial moon outside. Instead of turning on the lighting in the house, I silently released a ball of light from my wand.
Illuminating the room, I immedietly noticed to motionless form of my wife on the ground, surrounded by glass.
"Daphne! No, no, no!" I rushed over to her, sliding onto my knees to check her vitals.
But in the one moment of panic, I had abandoned my defenses.
Something hard smashed into my back, and before I could even turn around to see my attacker, my arms were pinned to my side, and I was on the ground with a heavy weight on my back. I couldn't move a single inch. My wand disappeared into the darkness as the light went out.
"Harry Potter... I hope your blood tastes as well as your wife's!" The voice said. It was chilling and cold. Fear welled up inside of me. Vampires are strong… and insatiable.
"What do you want?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"I can read your mind. Fear not, whelpling. I will not rape you like I raped your wife. My taste doesn't go that way…. But blood is blood, and I desire your blood. I desire the blood of the great Hero of the wizarding world. Look at you… Beg for your life! Beg! But know that you will receive no mercy from me!"
I waited for the inevitable pain that I knew was to come. But it didn't. Instead, I heard a small, human sounding, laugh coming from behind me. And it slowly got louder.
And then all at once the lights in the house turned on and a dozen people jumped out from hiding. Daphne got up from the spot on the ground where she laid slain moments ago and joined in with the rest.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" they all shouted. I stared at them all with my mouth wide open.
I rolled over and saw my best friend, and Auror partner, Ron Weasley standing over me. He held a hand out towards me. Bewildered and confused I took it and he helped me up to my feet.
"Happy Birthday mate." Ron said jovially. "Mum baked you a cake."
"What the fuck? What the fuck? You came in here, pretending to be a vampire, pretending to kill my wife, pretending to kill me, on my fucking birthday!"
"Hey mate, it was just a joke. Calm down."
"Calm down? You have to be joking."
"Please mate, it's your birthday. Look, all your friends are here. Luna, Neville, Hermione, Fred, George, Katie, Kingsley, Tonks, the lot. We are going to party, get drunk, tell embarrassing stories…"
I ignored his words and got right up in his face. "Want to know how I got this scar?" I asked venomously, pointing to the thin white line running from my chin to my eyebrow.
"No," Ron croaked, his demeanor shifting to one of fear.
"I got this from protecting your FUCKING SISTER from Draco Malfoy. That pussy may have been a weak piece of shit, but taking sectumsempra to the face is not exactly my idea of fun. Do you know what I did to him, after stopping your sister from getting raped?"
"Wh-what?" Ron asked nervously.
"I fucking killed him. I tore out his fucking heart with his own goddamned arm. I don't even like your sister, but no one deserves to be raped, yet you fucking joke about it!"
"Sorry mate, I wasn't thinking –"
"There's a fucking surprise. The great Ronald Weasley not using his brain!" I take a look around the room after I started to calm down. All my friends were there and all of them looked very nervous and worried.
"Harry, please, forgive him." Daphne pleaded. She looked hot, with fake blood on her face, and pouting.
I nodded my head. "Alright. Let's forget this and eat," I said, surprising everyone with my sudden switch in emotions. "Mrs. Weasley makes a hell of a cake."
Ron looked relieved if his body language was anything to go by.
"Oh, and Ron?" I asked. "Sorry about your nose."
"What?" He asked confusedly.
I reared back my fist and smashed him in the face, sending blood everywhere and knocking him to the ground.
"Don't fucking talk about my wife like that again. Ok, who's hungry?"
A/N Check out my profile for updates on what I am currently working on.