Ashes to Ashes

Chapter Two

By Mell8

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Ginny:

I've spent two weeks at school and I have only one thing to say about my time here; the Gryffindors taste good! At least, their blood tastes good. Some of the male Gryffindors don't like to take showers more than once a week and their skin tastes awful.

The nurse, Madam Pomfrey, thought that a blood epidemic had hit the tower and was looking for the person who had dared to use the curse that drained so many students of their blood. Apparently anemia was bad. This meant that it was becoming dangerous for me to take blood from the Gryffindors. Dante had taught me a simple spell that healed the skin where I bit so the nurse didn't know that a vampire hunting was the cause.

But two weeks of the same exact way of taking blood was getting boring. I just found a lone Gryffindor, caught them in the power of my gaze, bit their neck, filled my stomach, and erased their memories. Boring! Tonight I was going to have a little fun! I'm going to find people outside of their houses after curfew and drain them. Plus, I want to practice everything I had learned at Dante's knee.

With a sigh I went to get my books for charms. I still had to wait for night to arrive before I could have a little fun. Until then I need to pretend that I'm still the little sister of Ronald Weasley. Being Ginevra- the Vampire of Hogwarts had to wait.

III

"What do you think Dumbledore meant last night?" Ron asked his two best friends as they walked together to Potions.

"He said that we are to look for a vampire around the school. If we find him we need to tell Dumbledore immediately!" Hermione replied.

"But how did a vampire end up in our school and why do we have to look for it?" Ron wailed.

"You're just afraid of vampires Ron," Harry said, joking around with his friend. "The big bad vampire is going to jump out in front of us any minute and will say "vet me drink your blood" ". He adopted his best Dracula voice for the last part and Ron laughed uneasily.

Hermione suddenly looked thoughtful. "Harry, do you think the blood disease that all of the Gryfindors got was really a vampire?"

"No, we would have seen fang marks in everyone's necks if it was a vampire," Harry answered, shaking his head. "Anyway, it's much more fun believing that the Slytherins are the culprits."

"Dirty Slytherins," Ron snarled.

"Dirty, Weasley? I think you would know dirt intimately. After all, your family lives in a pig pen with the pigs," Malfoy snickered from behind them. His large friends from Slytherin joined in minutes later.

Ron fumed, his face turning red.

"Leave us alone Malfoy," Hermione snarled.

"Oh look! Weasley's got himself a girlfriend. Maybe she can give you some of her balls, Weasley. You certainly need some." With that said, Malfoy swept into the Potions classroom, his friends trailing behind.

III

Draco:

I laughed quietly as I walked into Potions. I nodded politely to Professor Snape and took my usual seat. Luckily today would be a review class so I don't really have to pay attention. I had a lot to think about at the moment.

Surprisingly enough, it had been Potter and his friends that had given me an idea and a hope. When Granger had said, "He said that we are to look for a vampire around the school," in her snotty know-it-all voice, my father's dreams had come true. The childe I was searching for was definitely hiding around Hogwarts, which meant that I was the only one of those searching who has a chance of finding the childe and bringing him to Voldemort. My father would be very pleased.

Plus, the vampire had attacked Gryffindor Tower first. It didn't really matter that there weren't any visible bite marks, I was sure that the childe was either in Gryffindor or detested Gryffindors with a passion. It didn't really cut down on my large list of possible suspects but it was still some information about the childe. Tonight I was planning on patrolling around the tower. After all, what's the use of being a prefect if I couldn't abuse my privileges?

With a small self-satisfied smile I started to pay attention to the class. The fun would begin tonight.

III

Ginny:

With a smile plastered firmly to my face, I quietly slipped out of the Portrait Hole and started walking down the hallway. The first person I saw would be my victim tonight.

I needed to practice once in a controlled situation so things didn't get out of hand. Once I was sure that hunting on my own along the hallways of Hogwarts was safe enough to hide my identity I would start having lots of fun. For tonight, I was going to take the first person I saw.

"Going somewhere Weasley?" I froze and my smile faltered.

Okay, so not the first person. Maybe the second would be better.

"Sneaking out after hours. That's against the rules," Malfoy tutted behind my back. "To think, the littlest Weasley, breaking rules. Who would have thought?" I could feel him smirk behind me. I wasn't going to take this any more. With a snarl I turned around and walked up towards Malfoy.

Once I was less than one step away I pushed a finger into his chest. "You leave me alone." I poked him with my finger at every word. Then I spun on my heel and stalked off. Once I turned the corner I sighed. "Stupid Malfoy. Ruining my good mood like that."

"Like what Weasley?" he said from behind me. I jumped and spun around to glare at him. I had not heard him come up behind me. Either he was that quiet or I was that preoccupied.

"What do you want Malfoy?" I asked with a sigh. He didn't answer.

I looked up at his face and noticed that he looked confused. Could it be that he wasn't sure what he wanted. The stupid prat just wanted someone to bother. I guess I was the lucky one he chose.

"I don't really know what I want. You want to go to the kitchens with me while I think about it?" he asked with a smirk. I sighed and nodded. I guess going to the kitchens for a bit wouldn't hurt my feeding time.

We walked off down the hallway together. He still looked a little perplexed. Now that I thought about it, what had prompted Malfoy to ask me to the kitchens? What had prompted me to agree? My mind shrugged at me. It was one of those unanswerable questions in life, or in my case, afterlife.

III

I stumbled back up to Gryffindor Tower at dawn. Surprisingly, Malfoy was very good company. Once we had broken the ice, we had spent the entire night joking and laughing with each other over cups of hot chocolate. We had only stopped when Malfoy had looked at his watch and gasped.

"Ginny! It's nearly five o'clock. We should get some sleep before school tomorrow."

Now it was about five thirty and things weren't looking good. I wasn't tired. Powerful vampires don't need to sleep. They just need an hour to rest their bodies. I was in bad shape because I didn't have any time to feed last night. My stomach was empty and my veins were crying for blood. I had to hope that the blood lust didn't rise during school. I sincerely hope that my control was finally strong enough to suppress it. If I couldn't, someone would die with my fangs at their throat.

III

Draco:

The Slytherin common room was deserted when I finally went to bed for two hours of much needed sleep. Unfortunately, when I was lying in my bed, trying to get to sleep, all I could think about was how stupid I had just been. I had invited a Weasley to spend time with me and I had enjoyed it. I had actually laughed with her and it hadn't been my fake, all knowing laugh I used among the Slytherins. I had even smiled at her once instead of my usual cold smirk.

I had smiled at Ginny. I had smiled at the red hair that looked like it hadn't been kissed by the sun in years. I had smiled at her dark brown eyes that pulled my soul out with their beauty. And those red lips had smiled back at me.

When she had so innocently asked me not to call her Weasley I had eagerly decided to call her Ginny.

There was something about her that called to my soul; something that I craved and something that she was offering. I am going to take every thing that Ginny wants to offer and hope that she will take every thing I will be offering back. In the end, Ginevra will be mine! I am going to make sure of it.

III

Ginny:

School was difficult. I couldn't concentrate.

My body was screaming for blood. I needed blood now.

My head shot up from where it had been lying on my hands. I was in the middle of my last class of the day, Transfiguration, and I had dozed off in the middle of Professor McGonagall's lecture. I don't need to sleep so why had my body forced me to go dormant? I needed answers.

No I needed blood.

Luckily class was dismissed a few minutes later. The minutes had seemed like hours, every second ticking by as my mind struggled to contain the monster that shrieked for the life that ran through every body in that room.

Blood.

It whispered in my head, growing stronger as the time passed by. I couldn't wait until nightfall to take blood. I needed to find someone now. I looked frantically around the hallways packed with students and I knew that I couldn't take blood from them. Not right now where anyone could see. My body was forced to wait a few minutes longer.

I pushed open the trap door in the Honeydukes basement five minutes later. Ron had shown me the secret passageway last year when he realized that I was out of ink. He had taken me through the passage and out into Hogsmeade.

Unlike that time, when it had taken fifteen minutes to walk to Hogsmeade, I had used some of my new powers to increase my speed. I was still a little slower than I could be when I was finally able to harness all of my powers, but making the journey in five minutes was pretty fast.

I crept up the stairs into the store and found it crowded with people. The store was having a sale on huge blocks of Honeydukes' special chocolate and many adults had come over after work to stock up.

I walked over to the closest person and tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, mister, but could you help me. I can't reach the box of chocolate on that shelf."

The man turned around and smiled at me. "Of course. Show me which box you want."

"This way," I called to him with an answering smile. I walked to the back of the shop and into a darkened corner.

"I didn't know that there was chocolate back here." The man shrugged. He was very confused. I couldn't help smirking. The man smelt like food.

"Look at me," I whispered, power filling my voice, forcing the man to comply. My brown eyes began to shine through the shadows of the corner as I filled them with enough power to ensnare my prey. "Bend down," I hissed. He knelt.

I pushed his head to an angle where I could easily reach his neck and placed my mouth over the large vein. My teeth pierced the skin with ease and when the first drop of blood touched my tongue I was lost to my surroundings. My vampiric side took over.

Warm blood rushed down my parched throat and filled my empty stomach. I could feel my veins fill with life and my powers increase to full capacity.

The man's heart beat frantically as he realized that his blood was being drained and he could do nothing to stop me. I drank every drop that spilled into my mouth.

Soon, his heart slowed. There wasn't much blood to pump any more. I slowly pulled away from the man and I licked my lips. The man fell to the ground in a boneless heap. He was alive, though just barely.

I pulled out my wand and whispered a quick healing spell that regenerated some of his blood and fixed the wounds in his neck.

With a satisfied smile I walked back to Hogwarts. The man had been a good snack. Maybe tonight I could get a full meal out of one of the unsuspecting students. I licked my lips in anticipation and I crept down into the basement of Honeydukes. Tonight I was going to have some fun and this time, Draco Malfoy wasn't going to stop me.