Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any associated characters. This is a work of complete fiction and is not endorsed by J.K. Rowling in any way.

Summary: After the Department of Mysteries incident, everything should have gone back to semi normality, right? It didn't. All kinds of secrets have been floating about for ages, hurting everyone in their path. Now, it is time for revelations, and retribution. HP/RW, HG/GW, RL/SB Former JP/SS, SS/LM. Rated M for safety, character death, and lemons.

Deadly Secrets

Chapter One: Self Harming Vampires

Ron sighed softly at the lake, forcing himself to concentrate on his friends and ignore his abuser's call. When Malfoy threatened his dearest friend, and his one love, he was resigned to defeat. Standing, he headed up to the castle. Malfoy stood in the entrance hall. They walked down to the dungeons, where Ron's latest torture began. Meanwhile, Crabbe and Goyle stood ever faithful watch over the door, not because they liked Malfoy in the least. No, they stood guard for fear of getting the same treatment as Ron. It was they that faithfully carried the red head to his sister every night, where she healed his wounds and nursed him for another day, trying and pleading with him to tell Harry and Hermione. Ron was proud, however, and he would not admit to his friends that he was being tortured and raped almost weekly.

Crabbe and Goyle looked down at the mess Malfoy had left. They would need the expertise of an experienced healer to fix his wounds. Malfoy appeared to have raped him with various objects, ranging from a light bulb to a broken fire whiskey bottle. They had no choice now but to go to Snape.

Running down the hall as fast as they dared, Crabbe and Goyle twisted through passages that they had been running since their first year. Weaving through the obscure part of the dungeon, they found their Head of House in his office, dutifully stirring a potion with Blaise Zabini at his side. They burst into the room and stared their headmaster down, bringing Ron's injuries to their minds so that words would not fail them. He nodded, gave instructions to Blaise, and rushed off to see the damage. When they arrived at the room, there was blood and pieces of glass everywhere, but Ron was gone.

Ron stumbled and slipped his way up the stairs to the tower. He began to look for the portrait hole when he realized that the setting sun was the wrong way. He was in the East Tower, the most forbidden place in all of Hogwarts according to Fred and George. Not even they wanted to touch it, for fear of Dumbledore's wrath. Ron looked down and saw his life blood leaking on the floor and realized that he had no other option. He twisted and turned, looking for some classroom with some teacher in it that could get him to the Hospital Wing. What he found was what appeared to be a dead end. Suddenly, the ginger hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and Ron stared straight up at the trapdoor that Snape had just been through. As the last light faded from the corridor, Ron pointed his wand at the lock and uttered a feeble Alohamora beforeswaying slightly and falling to the ground in a heap. He did not stir as a single young vampire swooped down on him from above, and stared at him in pity. She took her wrist in her mouth and bit down. Squatting beside Ron, she tilted his head and prodded his lips open. She tipped the blood down his throat, picked him up, and rose back into the tower.

Snape raced up to the most observant person in the school only to find a bewildering sight before him. Angelic Blaire, rumored to have been fathered by the cruelest vampire since the First, was looking down at the waylaid Gryffindor with an expression of utter pity on her face. Then, she bit down on her wrist, and fed him a little of her own blood, setting him well on his way to healing. Never before had he witnessed a vampire's Healing Blood spell. In truth, it really hadn't been done by too many. Snape went rigid in his boots as Angel picked Ron up from the floor and flapped her wings downward, sending her and her precious package straight back into the tower. The trapdoor closed behind her, but the lock did not replace itself. Snape was not there to notice that minor detail, since he was sprinting down to the Headmaster's Office.

"Albus, I implore you, have a look in your niece's tower. Ron Weasley is currently experiencing a degree of healing none before him have ever witnessed. I promise you she is safe," Snape argued.

Dumbledore, against his better judgment, stood and headed out of his office. Together, he and Snape walked to the deserted corridor of the East Tower. Looking up, Dumbledore noticed that the padlock on the trapdoor was hanging, unlatched, from the small hook. He pulled it out and opened the trapdoor, prompting a silver ladder to be dropped from above. He climbed up carefully, and stood on well cleaned ground. The animal like refuge that he had seen last, when Angel was first locked away, was gone; in its place stood a wonderfully clean and well lived in space. He realized that he had not visited with his niece in years, and she was, after all, the most perceptive to changes in the atmosphere.

"Uncle Albus!" Angel shrieked quietly.

Rushing over to hug him, he noticed that she had her own blood on her hands.

"Whose blood is that?" Snape asked worriedly.

"Some of it's mine. Some of it is that poor little boy's over there," Angel replied as she moved to wash her hands.

"What happened to him?" Dumbledore asked out loud.

"From what I've gathered from his moans, I believe he's been being raped by the Malfoy boy. He keeps moaning out 'Don't tell them. I don't want to see them disappointed in me,'" Angel replied as she dried her hands on a towel and hung it back on the rack.

Reaching under the sink, she grabbed a clean rag and whetted it down with cold water. She returned to her patient and placed the rag on his forehead, cooling him substantially. Then, she went into a near-by room, only to return with several potions and herbs. She pulled out a small cauldron from beneath the table, and picked a dusty old book off the near-by shelf. Opening it and flipping through until she found the right page, Angel set the book on the near-by stand. Snape, who had taught the girl everything he knew, beckoned for the Headmaster to sit down and enjoy the show. Angel consulted her book, grabbing a bottle of red potion and a bottle of clear liquid. She poured the two in together, and then added a pinch of a pinkish herb. She turned the cauldron four times clockwise and fifteen times counter clockwise, plus a final clockwise turn. She then lit a blue fire beneath the pot and threw four white roses and a black one into it. The technique she was using was not part of anything Snape had taught her, and he was intrigued to say the least. Angel waited until the roses had burned down before adding a daisy and a lily to the flames. She smiled softly, before extinguishing the flames and bringing the smoldering ashes to Ron's bedside. Angel then returned to her potion, turning it four times clockwise, and then four times counterclockwise. She poured the potion into a bottle and then moved to sit on Ron's bedside. With a smile and a wave of her hand, Ron awoke to find a beautiful woman before him. She smiled, showing slightly elongated canines, and then handed him a bottle.

"Drink that. One sip a day for a week is all you need. Presuming that I'm still alive by then, I would like you to bring the leftovers back to me," she said in her magical voice.

Ron had known on the train in first year that he had not liked girls. Hermione was pretty then, and had turned out beautiful, but the boy he wanted would never want a second rate ginger like him.

"I wouldn't think such thoughts Mr. Weasley. You never know what fate has in store. Now go on, drink up. I'm going to go warm up the Pepper-Up Potion I've got left over. Don't you move from this spot, I don't care what Uncle Albus or Snape say," she laughed mirthfully.

Standing, she walked over to the counter and lit a blue flame. She held a bottle of swirling potion over it for thirty seconds before moving back to Ron's bedside.

" Did you take your sip of that yet? I promise it doesn't taste as bad as it looks." In truth, the pinkish white swirling liquid didn't look all that bad. Ron uncorked the bottle and smelled it. It smelled a lot like Hermione; like vanilla and strawberry. He took a swig and found that it tasted better than it smelled. Angel smiled at him before handing him the green bottle. Ron drank a little before handing the bottle back. Angel walked back over to what was obviously her healing table and picked up a few herbs of different colors. She chopped them fine, cleaned the cauldron with a flick of her wand, and put them in the pot. She took a coconut from the cupboard beside the sink and stuck a sprayer nozzle into it. She squirted the coconut milk into the cauldron and then offered some to her guests. Dumbledore took it and sprayed it into three glasses, one each for Ron, himself, and Snape. Angel had since then taken out some whipped cream and put it into the cauldron. She stirred nine times clockwise and three counter clockwise.

"This is a salve for the bruises that haven't mended tomorrow, and I assure you that there will be a few around your more private areas. You need to put this on those areas, not eat it. I repeat, don't eat it. When you've made a full recovery, and if I'm still around, I'll send you a hot fudge sundae with the works. But you don't get it unless you don't eat that," Angel replied.

Dumbledore smiled. His niece always had been a charmer, and she was very proficient in healing, defense and offense. The more he turned his idea over in his head, the more it sounded good.

"How would you like to meet one Mr. Harry Potter?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'm not allowed out of the tower," Angel replied.

"Well, I think you've proved that you have much improved your self control," Dumbledore smiled.

"Ok? When?" Angel beamed.

"How about now? I want you to start training him in Legilimency, Healing, and Defense, plus maybe some curses here and there. His friends should learn them as well, including Mr. Weasley here," Dumbledore told her.

"Ok! Just let me tidy up a bit, and Mr. Weasley is staying out of the line of fire. He hasn't had nearly enough time to heal yet!" Angel cried as Snape and Dumbledore started down the trapdoor.

"My name's Ron," Ron told her as she hustled about, sweeping herbs off the floor and cleaning her cauldron and sink.

"Alright, Ron, I'm Angel," she replied.

"You look the part," he replied.

"I'm old enough to be your grandmother," Angel admonished.

"I didn't mean it like that, and you can't be that old," Ron replied.

"How did you mean it, and yes I can, I'm an immortal," Angel shot back.

"I meant you would make a good angel for someone whose sick or hurt," Ron replied, ignoring the immortal comment.

Angel smiled softly and went back to getting some rogue dust bunnies out from under the table. Before long, there was a loud knocking as Dumbledore asked if Angel was ready to receive her guests. She could smell the apprehension in the air, and straightened her robes, reminding herself that the two that were about to come up believed her to be exactly what she was; a monster in a woman's body. Ron sat on edge, waiting for Harry's reaction to the beautiful girl before him.

Harry came up right after Dumbledore, and he stopped in his tracks. He did not look her up and down, as Ron had expected him to do, but stared straight into her crimson eyes. She stared back, holding his gaze for as long as she dared. Finally, Hermione cleared her throat, ending the staring match in a draw. Angel smiled softly at him before reaching down to give Hermione a hand up. When they stood facing each other, Ron found that Hermione was much more intrigued by the girl's obvious beauty than Harry had been. For some reason he couldn't pin, that knowledge pleased him to no end.

Hermione shifted her gaze to Ron, who was laying in bed holding his bottle of potion and his salve. She raced to his side, asking fervently if he was alright. Angel simply smiled on before showing Snape out.

"Apparently, I'm supposed to show you the finer points to Legilimency, Healing, and Defense and Offense. I think Mr. Potter here has Legilimency down to a tee, if you don't mind my saying so," Angel said.

"What makes you say that?" Ron asked.

"From our little staring match. He was trying to figure out why I was staring at him earlier. You three always look most peaceful by the lake. I can't help but stare at how nice of a picture it paints," Angel replied.

The room fell silent as Angel grabbed some butterbeer from the refrigerator and handed each of them a bottle. Angel then traipsed back to her room to gather several potions ingredients. She came back out and unleashed a mighty cackle.

Ron shot out of bed like a bolt of lightning. The dream had been so vivid. He could see her smiling face as she told him instructions for the potions. Turning his head, he found a tube of salve and a potion on top of a note.

Dear Mr. Weasley,

Apparently the thought of all the ice cream I promised proved too much for you to handle. Uncle Albus would like me to remind you that you, Mr. Harry Potter, Ms. Hermione Granger, Ms. Luna Lovegood, Mr. Neville Longbottom, and Ms. Ginny Weasley are implored to come to tea at my small abode this afternoon after classes. Remember to take the pink potion that tasted better than it looked once a day in a small sip in the morning, the Pepper-Up Potion (the swirling green one) only when you need it, and apply the salve after exiting the shower each morning. You may also wish to cushion your chairs to prevent further damage. To do this simple point your wand at the chair and whisper Pennatatai to make the chair feel like a feather bed. Don't bother reversing it, since the spell wears off in two hours.

Yours Truly,

Angel

Apparently it all hadn't been a complete dream. Ron sat staring at the note for a half an hour before Harry came over to sit with him.

"Apparently you took a nasty fall down the steps and landed on a bottle someone left in the halls. You were supposedly looking for the Hospital Wing when you stumbled into the East Tower. I don't know what happened from there," Harry said.

"... Yeah... right... I remember now," Ron replied.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, concerned for his friend.

You're not alright Ron. You can't lie to Harry, admonished the voice of Angel.

"I... I'm not too bad, but I think I'm going to catch some more shut eye. Wake me in time for breakfast, will you?" Ron asked as he fell back on his bed.

"Yeah, Ron, I will," Harry replied.

"Hey, wait. You, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna are invited to tea in the Eastern Tower!" Ron called.

"Really?"

"Angel asked me to remind you in this note," Ron said as he held up the note.

Harry nodded, saying that he would inform the others. Ron fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the door to close. When it came, he leaped out of bed and grabbed his clothes in a hurry. Racing to the showers, he cleaned as quickly as he could before flying out of the common room and into the hall. Taking off toward the rising sun, Ron found that he had to see if it was real.

"You shouldn't run, Ron," came a beautiful voice.

"Angel?" Ron asked.

"You know my name..." she whispered as she walked around him, keeping him in a trance so he wouldn't move.

"HEY! GET AWAY FROM OUR FRIEND YOU BEAST!" shouted Harry.

Ron immediately snapped out of it and stood, arms spread, in front of Angel. Harry looked at him mutely, as if he knew that if he waited long enough, he'd get his answer.

"She healed me. She's a friend, not a beast," Ron said in Angel's defense.

"Harry's right. I am a beast. A beast in a woman's body is all I am," Angel whispered.

"NO! You're not! No beast would've helped me like you did last night! I owe you so much. If you hadn't come along, I'd be dead," Ron replied.

"You ran down here much to fast for having mortal injuries just last night. Only Healing Blood could cause such a swift recovery, and only vampires can do Healing Blood," Harry deduced.

"Moony taught you well," Angel replied.

"You knew Lupin?"

"I knew him, your father, Sirius and the traitor. I could smell it in his blood that he was up to no good. They were two years younger than me at my time here. I knew Lily too. She was the only person that knew my secret. My parents, well, my dad at least, worked for Voldemort. I didn't want to, so I kept my dad's identity a secret and lived inside the walls during summer break. I learned all year round, training with my healing abilities. I came by it naturally from my mother, and she prompted me to train. When she died, I almost murdered my father. It was his fault for her death. Lily kept that a secret too. She was a good woman, and I hope to get a crack at Pettigrew one day," Angel replied.

"Run along," came Severus' cold voice.

Harry and Ron took off toward the stairs, but the hair on Ron's neck pricked up again, and he turned to see Snape advancing on Angel. She kept backing down, her arms held out in a defensive position. Then he felt it. A dull thud against the back of his skull. He turned to see Malfoy, whose wand was pointed at Snape. Angel had known.

"NO!" Angel growled.

She landed a roundhouse kick to Snape's ribs and launched herself at Draco, only to stop short with a smirk on her face. Draco looked confused for a moment, until he felt himself get pulled up by his ear.

"I told you not to try and best your superiors, Draco," came Lucius' icy voice.