Chapter 1: A New Friend
"It's here!" Ginny screamed, "The letter's here!" She ran excitedly through the house, the first time that she would do so without distributing letters amongst the rest of the family because this year she was finally going alone and she couldn't wait to get to school with no brothers watching over her. She was popular, and without a question why. Her fiery red hair framed her smiling face and she always had her radiant optimistic personality. It seemed that every time she laughed, you couldn't help but smile, at the very least.
Furiously tearing through the parchment of the second letter, a badge slipped out and crashed to the floor, the collision barely heard at all over her newly started screams. "I'm Head Girl!" She continued to shriek, stopping now to stare shocked at the badge between her feet, "Mum! I'm Head Girl!"
By this point Ginny had woken everyone up, who had stayed for the summer, and they came flooding out of the doors, rushing down to see the cause of her excitement. Charlie patted her groggily on the back in congratulations and Ron rolled his eyes at her, muttering as he walked past, "God-damn, early-rising over-achieving…"
She didn't catch the ending and decided to ignore him, not able to let his bad morning-mood ruin her exhilaration. Harry murmured a 'congratulations', rubbing his eyes and straightening his glasses as Hermione held her in a tight hug, babbling on about how wondrous it was and what she would have to do. However, nobody was near as ecstatic as Mrs. Weasley. "Ginny! My baby, the Head Girl! Oh this is wonderful! We'll have to get the family over, and a party, and oh, this is just too much!"
Finally making their way over to the table, drawn mainly through Charlie and Ron's wailing for breakfast, Mrs. Weasley began to cook a feast as Ginny sat herself between Hermione and Charlie, glancing shyly at Harry. Awkwardly, he returned an embarrassed grin, the two of them still not-quite-normal since their breakup.
Shaking off her embarrassed feeling, Ginny asked her mom, "Am I going to need much from Diagon Alley?" Her voice was nonchalant, but you could hear the hint of her not wanting to use her brothers' old school supplies.
"Why don't you go back to where you left it and get the list, dear?" Mrs. Weasley answered, not looking back from the mountain of French toast she was building. Shooting up the stairs to fetch it, Ginny returned less than a minute later to hand it to her mother.
* * *
The rest of the morning passed tranquilly, as did the trip through Diagon Alley, or at least as tranquilly as it could be with four teenagers and an immature dragon-tamer. Ginny was flitting through the stores, trying on every dress she could before her mother finally bought a gorgeous classy little black dress. While they were out, Mrs. Weasley sent an owl to Bill and Fleur to invite them to dinner, and, after they had helped set up outside, Ginny volunteered to fetch Fred and George and tell them to come.
Using her fairly under control ability to apparate, Ginny disappeared only to reappear in Fred and George's joke shop—if only for a moment. The instant her feet touched the floor, it was as if a bomb went off and a powerful burst of pressure sent her hurtling backwards, crashing through the door and into the street, the curious eyes of many shoppers in Hogsmeade turning to watch her as she stood up. Infuriated, she shrieked at the shop, "Fred! George! What the hell was that about?!"
Storming into the shop, she wrenched the door open, still fuming. "Hey, bookends!" The two looked up, innocent smiles plastered on their faces. "What do you mean by casting some nonsense spell and getting me blown out of here?! I could have broken something you idiots!"
The two gave each other a quick glance before bursting into laughter, some wary shoppers still eyeing her with interest. Her face matching her hair, the two started gasping for their breath, choking out words. "So you were the one who tried to Apparate in here?"
"Yes," she answered through gritted teeth.
"Calm down, calm down," Fred patted her head as she angrily swatted him away. "It's just a little precaution. We don't want anyone getting in here, so we put a spell on it, if you try to apparate directly inside, you get blasted out. Relax."
George leaned onto the counter, his elbows crossed as his arms gripped the opposite elbow as he casually ignored the customer who was waiting for him to ring up some puke pastilles. "What did you come here for anyway?"
She sighed, the last of her anger ebbing away as she explained to them about becoming Head Girl and how their mom wanted everybody to come to dinner as a celebration. Not wanting to be blasted away once more, she made her way towards the door to disapparate but Fred stopped her again.
"Hey, why's mom telling us so late? What if we've got plans?"
Glad to have the last word, Ginny called back sarcastically, "Because she knows you two losers will never have anything better to do!" Pushing the door open, she stepped into the warm summer breeze. During her time inside, the sun had finally set entirely beneath the horizon and the moon was starting to wash its pale white light over the town. When she made to disapparate, a stranger came up to her in the darkened street, calling, "Wait!"
Ginny turned in a flash, whipping her wand out to hold menacingly at his throat.
"Whoa," he held up his hands in mock surrender, his grin not fading, "Don't shoot. I just wanted to see if you were alright, I saw you get blasted out of that shop."
She lowered her wand, her eyes flicking over him. A suspicion crept into her that whispered she had been inside for a few minutes but then, she reasoned, he could have been a shop and taken the time to buy his items and leave. "I'm fine," she answered, forcing a smile, always ready to make new friends.
The boy smiled broader, his brilliant white teeth flashing. "Great, could I buy you a drink?" He shifted his weight uneasily from foot to foot, and Ginny fought the urge to laugh, assuming he was nervous about asking her. She had to get home but, she thought, some butterbeer would be good to warm her up.
"Okay," she started to walk with him, heading towards the Three Broomsticks. As they walked he seemed to calm a little, no one would have guessed that he was really stressing about the fact that he would have to pull her away from the crowd, lead her off somewhere so he could knock her out, drag her lifeless body back to his coven to share with the others for dinner.
His mind wandering at the thought, he realized how pathetic his way of life was. Vampires, hunted so that they now only risked eating one human a day, split between five, six, ten vampires? Centuries ago, they had been feared more then the bubonic plague. They were the real Black Death. If even a whisper of them reached a village, it would tremble and fall to pieces as people desperately packed up to find a new home. Now, they lived in caves, foraging for food only at the point of starvation. He was jerked from his reverie as the girl leaned next to him, grabbing his hand. Her warmth flooded his body as she clasped his left hand in both of hers and he jerked away a little too quickly. "Well?" She seemed almost annoyed with him.
"Hmm?" He realized that she had been talking with him, "I'm sorry, I was just…brooding. What was that?"
She laughed a light and bubbly laugh as her eyes sparkled. "What's your name?"
"Oh," he forced a light laugh; inside he was really growing angry with himself for not focusing. He was supposed to be hunting, not reflecting. "It's," he paused, realizing his real name would make no sense. It had, after all, been nearly two hundred years since anyone used it, let alone in England. "Dwayne Ellwood."
Reaching the pub, he pulled open the door and bent forward slightly, sweeping a hand across himself as he said, "Ladies first."
Giggling slightly, as their weren't very many extraordinarily polite gentlemen that she knew, Ginny gave a small curtsy as she walked inside, trying her best not to seem as if she were mocking him and felt him close behind her as she walked, seeming somewhat detached from the rest of the room. She knew she was always overly involved and enthusiastic, but he was so…separate from everyone, his eyes seemed to see past what was in front of him and his skin had an almost ethereal faint blue tint to it.
Looking about, she found an empty booth as a couple, hands entwined, vacated it and she grabbed his wrist loosely to pull him over. "Let's sit here," she plopped herself down on the soft seat, releasing his hand.
Her date, in actuality named Ryuu, sat down opposite her, feeling an odd reluctance as she let go of him. A waitress passed them, balancing a platter with dirty glasses on it pressed against her hip and between her arm and he reached for her arm as she passed, asking for two butterbeers before she nodded and walked away.
"So," he turned back to Ginny, his head on his hands as he propped his elbows on the table. "How about you?"
As he said this she felt herself suddenly intrigued that she could see his whole face. He had midnight black hair that spiked up, a few orange bleach-stained streaks that gave him an interesting edge to his appearance in the way that was popular among Asian people and he had fair skin with a sharp face and thick eyelashes. Most intriguing, however, about his appearance, were his eyes. They were a magnificent blue, cold and somehow lifeless but with this entrancing promise in them. They were menacing in an icy way but oddly charming, always daring you to come closer, that they might see into your soul but without giving away what lay behind them. Just looking at him for a few brief seconds, Ginny felt delightful chills racing down her spine.
"My name's Ginny, Ginny Weasley."
"Really?!" He fought from bursting with laughter. That joke shop is your brothers'!"
She felt a slight blush creep into her cheeks and muttered, "Hey, what about you? What kind of a name is Dwayne Ellwood for an Asian guy?" A slight guilt crept into her and she started to apologize when he cut her off to answer.
"No, you're right, it is weird. Only my dad's from Japan, he came here and married a European girl and so, he didn't know and she raised me herself." He realized it was a lie, but how would she know?
"Oh, I'm—" Ginny started.
"Don't apologize," he commanded. "I loved growing up with my mum."
"Hmm," Ginny mused, "I guess she's the cause of those blue eyes."
"Oh," he brought a hand up to his face, as if to touch his eye before remembering what color they were. He lied again, "Yeah, well, I guess they would have to be from her half. Magic is too, must be why my dad left, if she did tell him about me at all, that is."
"If you were born here," she continued to pester him as the waitress put their butterbeers down, pausing only for a sip, "where do you go to school? Certainly not Hogwarts, I know I've never seen you there."
He sipped his drink before answering her. "You're right, never been there. I'm actually not from here; I just graduated from Beauxbatons last year."
"Wow," Ginny whispered delicately, attributing his manners to being from France, "what's it like there? I bet it's gorgeous."
A grin spread across his face, he was enjoying his new self that was able to talk with her so casually, without the idea of her blood spilling over his tongue racing to the front of his mind. "It is, the school is magnificent and everything is so elegant. I'll assume you go to Hogwarts then. What year are you in?"
"I'm a seventh year, I was awarded the Hea—," she paused, hearing the bell toll and glanced at the clock on the wall which, to her horror, read eight o'clock. It had been barely minutes past seven as she left the twins' shop but she was going to be in so much trouble, and this dinner, starting any minute, was for her! "Dwayne, I'm so sorry, my family was expecting me back half an hour ago!"
He had a disappointed look on his face as she scrambled to stand and called out to her before she could rush off, "Can I see you again sometime?"
A wide smile broke across her face and she breathed, "Yeah," before disapparating on the spot. Suddenly realizing what he did, he smacked his forehead and slumped back in the chair, shoving the butterbeer away from himself.
"Stupid!" He murmured, dragging a hand down his face. Ignoring the possibility of people staring, he began to talk to himself as he threw a tip down on the table and stepped into the street. "Had to get caught up in your little game and ask her out again, didn't you? You couldn't just let her go and you couldn't get her blood and now you have to see her again. Way to go, Ryuu." But what now, he thought, where to find some new blood?
Finally out of sight of the shop, he wandered aimlessly until a drunken wizard stumbled out of the Hog's Head and he quickly cracked an elbow against his skull, successfully knocking him out and heaving the man on his shoulders before he began to run, faster than any mortal could imagine, at the speed of darkness, as he brought the body back to his coven.
Mere seconds later, he was greeted by his family, the glowing eyes piercing the darkness as he entered the cave in the side of the rock face that they called home and dumped the body at his feet. "Dinner's ready," he said, making a bit of a face as a bit of drool trickled out of the drunk's mouth.
"Brother," one of the vampires excitedly clapped him on the back, "you never fail us." He could see them all beginning to lick their lips while eyeing the parts of his body where you could see his exposed veins and instantaneously the small group swarmed him, his last drops of blood rushing down their parched throats before a minute was out.
Cleaning the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, Ryuu licked at one of the drops while exiting the cave, finding a tree a few hundred feet away and lying against one of the topmost branches, his hands behind his head as he watched the moon in quiet thought.