Chapter 2

"Do you think he'll snap again?"

"Probably. No one wants to be told he's a vampire."

"Especially not by Leo."

"Hey. He's my cousin. Plus, I think I handled it quite nicely."

"You gave him a lolly."

"It was a Blood Pop! If I became a vampire, I'd like to be given a Blood Pop as a welcome into the blood sucker society."

"Merlin's beard, I hope you don't become a vampire. We'd never have a moment's peace."

"Oh shut it, the lot of you." All talking abruptly ceased as Anthony opened his eyes and sat up again to face his cohorts. They were all still there, still watching him uneasily, except Leo, who looked disgruntled. It didn't take a lot for Leo to get disgruntled, it would seem; Anthony knew that first hand. "What happened? Again."

"Well, you sort of went mental on us and you had to be sedated," Cho Chang explained cautiously.

"And restrained," Mandy Brocklehurst added. He tried to move his hand only to discover that he was, indeed, chained to the bed. "You're a bit stronger now, Anthony, so you should probably not do things like that again." The others nodded in agreement, shifting uneasily. He noticed that they seemed to be sitting a bit further away from his bed. Anthony supposed it was a true testament to their friendship that they were all still there at all, even if they weren't exactly as his bedside. The thing was, declarations of friendship weren't necessarily what Anthony needed at the moment. He needed to not be a vampire.

"It won't be so bad, mate. You already hate people, so you'll only have to see them half as much. And it'll be night, so they'll probably be drunk," Roger said, hopefully.

"And immortality should be all right. You'll always know whether the history books are correct or not," Eddie Carmichael pointed out.

"I think we're all forgetting the superhuman-like power he's going to have. Super strength, super speed, super senses. You can be like one of those muggle book heroes! It'll be brilliant!" Michael Corner said, excitedly. Everyone collectively rolled his or her eyes. Including Terry Boot, the other muggle born among them, who usually found opportunities to remind them of the similarities between muggle life and wizard, whether the comparisons were welcome or not.

"I hardly think that being a muggle book hero is on Anthony's list of priorities," Leo sneered. "And you thought the Blood Pop was bad."

"It was bad," the others chorused. Leo made a face, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know what to say," Anthony muttered. And he didn't. This was all so sudden and overwhelming, and his friends prattling on about the perks of being a vampire was not helping in the slightest.

"Anthony, love, Leo owled your parents. They should be here soon," Cho said kindly, patting Anthony's hand carefully. She flinched when he moved to catch her hand in his, but smiled when she realized what he was doing. "We'll stay here with you until they come."

"You don't have to do that."

"We want to. And if these idiots are done with their Stupid Facts About Vampires chat, we actually brought helpful books with information about vampires," Jonathan Summers said, putting a stack of books in Anthony's lap. Anthony glanced down at them, before pushing them aside. He was getting angry now, angry that this wasn't a joke, angry that they were still talking like this was no big deal, angry that he was suddenly really damn hungry.

"I'm hungry," was the problem that he expressed vocally. Everyone pushed back their chairs in unison. "What?"

"No offense Goldstein, but that goes beyond the friend thing," Roger remarked, adjusting in his seat.

"What are you going on about?"

"Blood sucking, my dear cousin. They, and I'm sorry to say I as well, though I do love you, do not wish to become victims." Leo did look rather apologetic saying this, and he gave the others a dirty look, perhaps because he hadto say it.

"Also, while we're on the subject of unfortunate news, the uh, the Ministry will be sending someone over to register you," Eddie added, hesitantly. He shifted uncomfortably, a move that looked greatly exaggerated to Anthony but was probably done at normal speed. If he didn't get used to them soon, these enhanced senses were going to drive him insane. "You're considered a magical being now."

"I'm considered a what?!" Anthony forgot that he was chained to the bed and the handcuffs cut into his wrist. He looked down, expecting to see blood, but all he saw was a black tar like substance oozing from the gash. "Oh god, that's horrendous!"

"You're still a wizard to us, mate," Jonathan reassured him, trying not to look at the goo that was supposed to be Anthony's blood. "You know the ministry, bunch of gits and the like. Not offense Roger, Leo, Eddie, Terry."

"None taken," the addressed quad responded. "We've insulted your way of life plenty of times," Roger added.

"What? When?"

"All the time, really," Leo replied, waving a dismissive hand. "You're the arse of most of our jokes when you're not around, actually." Jonathan looked crushed by this news, which made everyone else laugh.

"I'm so glad you're taking my grave misfortune as an opportunity to tell Jonathan how worthless he is," Anthony growled.

"Worthless?!"

"I'm sorry, Anthony, I know it seems like we're making light of your situation," Cho began, ignoring Jonathan. She smoothed down her apron, nervously. "But—"

"But we're just trying to show you that it doesn't change things," Mandy cut in.

"Not much, anyway. You'll need a new job, of course, and the Ministry'll watch you like hawk, but you still have us. And your family," Terry said. Anthony glared at him. This was all nonsense. They couldn't possibly know what it meant to have your life completely turned on its head while heading to a stupid poker game in the middle of the night.

"This is your fault, Roger." Roger jumped back, clearly not expecting this new revelation to come from Anthony.

"My fault? Are you out of your blood sucking mind?"

"You and your stupid Auror spells made me miss the mark when I apparated! I ended up in the damn forsaken alley."

"How is it my fault that you don't know how to apparate properly?"

"I can apparate fine, it was your stupid spells—" Anthony rattled his bindings menacingly. If he was supposed to have super strength, according to Michael, how was it that he couldn't break free from some simple handcuffs?

"Now really, Anthony, you're being a poor sport—" Leo interrupted.

"Oh shut up, you great pillock. I don't need to hear it from you. The worse you've had to deal with is that nonsensical affair with Harry Potter—"

"That was a very stressful time of my life and I'd thank you not to belittle it—"

"Shut it, Leo!"

"Everyone shut it!" Cho shouted, hands on her hips. She suddenly looked like the very authoritative healer she was supposed to be. With Anthony's magnified hearing, she might as well have magically enhanced her voice and yelled into his ears. He touched his ear to make sure he wasn't bleeding from the head. "You're all being ridiculous! Anthony is going through something terrible right now and all we can think about is ourselves." They were deathly silent for a moment until Jonathan cleared his throat.

"For the record, I was trying to make him feel better until I was viciously ganged up on," he said. Cho growled and pointed at the door.

"Ugh. Get out of here, the lot of you."