Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Harry Potter

A/N: Right, this is the start of my first long fic, so please review and as my plot is a little free at the moment ideas are helpful! This is going to be harryxdraco SLASH so if you don't like, do not read! This is an AU and will involve the supernatural and a bit of magic, and will also features vampires, werewoves etc. I am also very sorry if it looks as if I have taken someone else's ideas, I don't mean to and if I do accidentally, I am very sorry! Now, enjoy!

Warnings: Will contain swearing, light limes in future chapters, SLASH (boyxboy), AU, and vampiric themes.

A dark dark night

The night was dark and deep, and the heavy clouds rolling across the sky obscured even the stars from view. A wind rustled through the decaying trees and twirled its way up the road, making a rusty swinging gate whine on its hinges before fading, and leaving all still.

A night on the dark of the moon always seemed to create this effect. Causing blackness so deep, it seemed to consume all surrounding light till nothing could be seen at all. And it was through this velvet night that creature's long forgotten began to stir.

The wind picked up again. Stronger this time, enough to carry the fallen leaves from their piles at the side of the road up into the air. The sound of the swinging gate once again pierced through the darkness. Odd, as every other possible sound seemed smothered by the night. Almost as if it had a mind of its own, and most definitely wanted its activities kept unseen and unheard.

Nevertheless, one other noise managed to be heard. It was a very faint, barely discernable sound. A light patter of footsteps could be heard making contact with the paving of the road, and were slowly growing louder as the source of them drew closer. Then, above it, the unmistakable sound of laboured breathing rattled through the air. They were quick, sharp and short, and the person they belonged to was obviously in some kind of distress.

The swinging gate rattled back against its hook with a clang and the footsteps came with greater speed. The patter had now become a clicking snap against the stone and the breathing became harsher with every footfall.

The pace was a rhythmic thud and echoed like a heart beat around the enclosed road. Getting faster and faster until-

The wind died down again, and there was silence as the night consumed any sound from the air. The footsteps faded as well, the lack of any noise oppressive. The blackness seemed to congeal and coalesce, getting even thicker, until only a small dwindling window of view could be seen; the swinging gate whining open once more, battering its hinges.

Harry's eyes snapped open. Before shutting them again just as quickly. Unfortunately for him, his alarm clock still continued to shriek its deafening wail.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

With a groan Harry dove back under his covers, as if that would keep the light of day away from him. And shut up the most infernal invention ever thought up, of course.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Suffice to say, it didn't. With another heart felt groan Harry removed himself from his bed long enough to shut the damn thing off. He then proceeded to fall back on top of his still very warm and comfy blankets and stare at the ceiling with an expression of utmost lethargy. He was just starting to nod off again when there was another dreaded noise rang in the silence, echoing off the cheap flat board walls.

Cursing to himself, the young brunette clumsily tumbled out of his bed, in his search for his ringing mobile phone. When he finally found the thing (which had somehow ended up down the back of his headboard), he saw that it was Hermione calling him and let the largest groan of the morning yet.

"Mione? What do you want at this time of the morning", he checked his watch, "at 7.15? In the morning!" he asked appalled.

"Harry!" came the indignant reply " you should be up already anyway, and who said I wanted something! I am one of your best friends, can't I just be calling for a friendly chat?!" exclaimed Hermione.

"No. Whenever you call me, it always ends up with something work related, or book-related now that I think about it." he mused back to her.

"I do not!"

Her reply was an eye roll, not that she could see it.

" Well, is it? Work related that is?"

". . .

. . . Yes"

With an exasperated sigh, Harry gave into the inevitable and decided to just go along. This time.

"Just come down to the office as soon as you can and I'll explain. Don't worry, it's really good this time, even Ron says so," she said, correctly interpreting his silence as acquiescence.

"Fine, I'll be there in a bit, if it's not just you excited at the prospect of working, it can't be too bad" he responded before closing the connection.

With a sigh this time, Harry rolled of the bed and stood up, checking his reflection lazily in the mirror. Hermione was just too damn chirpy for such an early time like this, stupid morning people. However Harry was not nearly as bad as Ron, the only reason Hermione could get him up at all was because of his not so secret crush on her.

Harry sighed yet again as he stumbled into the shower, hoping to wake himself up with the cold water. As he scrubbed himself down, he thought of his life so far and how wholly unsatisfying a lot of it had been.

He had lived with his Aunt (his mother's sister), her husband and his cousin since he had been a year old, after his parents died in a car crash after they had been drunk, leaving him on the doorstep of his hard working relatives. However this story seemed quite dubious to Harry considering all of his family, whenever his parents were mentioned (which was hardly ever), were always spoke of, as freaks or weirdo's and both his aunt and uncle were very tight lipped on the subject. It had taken till he was eight years old to get that much information out of them, due to their number one rule, don't ask questions! Harry had not had the best childhood under the Dursley residence that was for certain.

He had gone to the local comprehensive for secondary school, and there met his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They had their struggles through the 7 years they were there but at the end of it were still the best of friends. In fact they had planned their entire Gap Year together. After which Hermione and Harry had planed to go to university whilst Ron was going to join his family business (which dealt with electricals, which Ron claimed stemmed from his fathers obsession with plugs). They were going to travel the world together and do odd jobs along the way to help pay for it.

One way or another, they had somehow been placed with the job of investigating a report of some rare wild animal. Harry was still not sure to this day how they had landed with that one, especially as it was dealing with an oversized spider of all things (though Ron's expression had been well worth it). Nevertheless, do the job they did and, fortunately or unfortunately, all three of them became hooked from there on in. There was just something very satisfying about it all. In fact, they became so engrossed in investigating, reporting and recording the odder side of life that they ditched what they were planning to do and decided to set up their own business on just that.

Now, it wasn't some kind of investigators team where they searched for clues in old haunted castles and said 'let's split up!' at the worst times but if there was a puzzle that needed solving, none of them could resist it. It didn't bring much money but it was what they lived for.

Or used to live for. At 22 Harry was already beginning to tire from it. Constantly travelling and having to care about other people's business was really beginning to wear him down. He was just so, tired of it. The things they had to investigate and report on were just so mundane most of the time; they never got anything he was really interested in anymore.

Harry had always believed in ghosts, ghouls and the supernatural. Well, suspected anyway. Whether it was a shadow or something else, he just felt that there was something more under the surface of normal, everyday life. Of course, he was a realist as well. If he didn't see it, he didn't believe it. There were plenty of people out there who just made everything up. It wasn't that Harry was a believer exactly, more that he wanted to believe.

Harry finished washing and turned off the water with yet another sigh before throwing some clothes on. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

Harry was quickly out the door of the tiny rented flat he was staying in and only briefly stopped on his way to the 'office' to grab a cup of morning coffee. The 'office' was really just a couple of cheap rental rooms bound together by nothing more than the near constant stream of people rushing around them. From the start, they had managed to 'collect' people who tagged along on their travels and became a part of their 'team'. Harry snorted, how absolutely tacky his thoughts were this morning.

He turned off the pavement and jogged up some stairs to a slightly run down building; the paint was peeling and the some of the glass was cracked in the windows.

As he entered, Harry paused to mutter a quick, "Hi Luna" to the vacant girl as she passed by and slipped through the door. Only to be met immediately by the bright face of Colin Creevey.

" Hiya Harry!"

Colin was a small boy, who was never seen without his camera round his neck and seemed to worship Harry for reasons he had never been able to figure out. As soon as they had been introduced Colin began his obsession of everything Harry, he just seemed fascinated with every single thing he did. His musing's on Colin's inner mentality must have shown on his face as Colin asked,

"Are you all right Harry, you look distracted" in a concerned voice.

Harry snapped out of his daze,

"Oh! Yes, I'm er, fine Colin"

He quickly sidestepped Colin and ducked around the corner to escape. As he walked down a makeshift corridor of cardboard walls, he thought of how most of the 'staff' were taken on by Hermione. Colin definitely was, Ron thought he was weird and Harry tried to avoid him as much as possible. Luna, on the other hand Harry rather liked, despite her . . . oddities in thought.

The last member was Ginny, Ron's little sister, who had joined them temporarily last month. Harry often tried to avoid her as well. As nice and lovely as she was, she had a rather nasty crush on him and he wasn't in the least bit interested. He hoped she would leave soon, she couldn't seem to take the hint and everyone else thought it was hilarious.

For you see, Harry wasn't really interested in girls. At all. In fact he. . .swung the other way so to speak. Ginny either didn't know this, or was in a constant state of denial. Hermione had invited her to stay as well, now that he thought about it.

He paused as the thought that Hermione was taking over the running of their little business like a glorified mother hen, passed through his mind. He shook himself of the thought and turned into the only solid part of their impromptu centre of business.

Hermione was seated at a desk, nose-deep in papers she was going over. As she heard him approach, she looked up.

"Oh hey Harry, you were quick. Sorry everything is so messy, we're packing up right now."

Harry felt a stab of irritation that he had not been told that they were moving on again before shoving it down to find out what Hermione had decided to call him in so early for.

"Well, we just got a new job last night, and you know that we have that case in Italy, about the Museum they want us to report on?" she continued without waiting for a reply " well we have to got to do that, but this new request, we just can't ignore it, so I was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing this one by yourself?"

This question annoyed Harry.

"Why can't any of the others do this one? If it is a one person job I'm sure Colin or Luna could do it" he snapped.

"Well, it just doesn't interest them and um yeah . . .." she trailed off not too convincingly.

Harry just silently stared at her, knowing that this was not the real reason. Hermione was always terrible at lying.

"Oh fine!" she said, looking rather flustered as she straightened the papers on her desk.

"The others, well, don't want to do it. They're, um, too . . . frightened" She hissed in a low voice.

Harry raised an eyebrow, much more interested than he was at the start. If all the others didn't want to do it, it must be very dangerous indeed. In their line of work you see, there sometimes was a risk factor. The higher the risk, the higher the pay, but as Ron once said, money is no good if you're dead.

Harry always liked a bit of risk. It kept things interesting and got his heart racing. Yes, he was now definitely interested in what Hermione had to say.

A/N: So what do you think, should I just stop now? Well, please review and tell me what you think!