Bittersweet Symphony

By: Amanda

Chapter One

Sight.

Speed.

Strength.

Hearing.

Hunger.

Fear.

Panic!

Harry Potter found his throat burning as if someone had dumped Firewhisky into his mouth. Although, he'd never had Firewhisky but whatever had the word fire in it, was a perfect example! He was hungry and he felt a pull as his eyes narrowed on the passing woman with a small boy. He could smell and hear the blood in their veins, behind that sheet of tender skin. His teeth snapped together and he reared back as if to pounce but his mind came to a screeching halt before his feral instincts could grab a hold of him.

Oh, he was hungry. What did he do? He couldn't kill an innocent person! He couldn't watch the life drain out of a little boy or a mother screaming for the mercy of her child. He felt guilt but he didn't feel sick like he normally would, nothing inside of him stirred or clenched. It seemed that all of his feelings were revolving around his head, around what he knew was right and wrong.

Did he even have a heart anymore?

Harry peered down at the bloodied shirt instinctively and knew his own answer to that question.

He had a heart but it had stopped.

He turned away and held his breath. It was uncomfortable, he didn't exactly need to breathe but it was nice. It was an hour before he breathed out and hissed as scents rolled down his hollow throat flaring him to life.

Fuck! Harry hissed inwardly. What did he do? What did he do? He chanted over and over in his mind. The scents left him only to be replaced by another scent, one very close by and clearly of blood.

He purred softly as footsteps neared.

Take, take! Eat, fulfill. A non-existent voice chanted in his mind. It revolved around him like a disco ball.

He tried to refuse, he tried to say no, this couldn't happen, he couldn't… but his legs and arms sprung before he could hold them and he pounced onto the back of a squealing human. Instant instincts, told Harry to shut him up and he effectively snapped his hand over the boy's mouth and heard a crack of his jaw break before sinking his teeth into the easy to break flesh and he moaned in pleasure as liquid of sensational delicacy flooded his mouth. The thrill of the hunt, the kill, his prey, all his…

It was a high, like an addiction to a drug. His eyes began to sharpen and everything around him began to come back into focus and he gasped as he dropped the figure that he drained and it fell with a plop to the grass.

He cast glances around, using his hearing to make sure he wasn't spotted before pulling the person into the bushes with him to conceal him. He closed his eyes as he deftly flipped the person over and when he reopened them he shot back in horror, back hitting a tree hard enough to make it vibrate and snap.

He stared.

"Shit," he hissed. Irony of it all, he thought blandly as he stared down at the lifeless form of his cousin.

He rubbed a hand over his face and flicked the blood that was still glittering. He draped his hands over his knees and continued to stare on, wondering why he felt panicked and not guilt.

He never had much love for Dudley Dursley but never did Harry want to kill the boy. Well, okay, scratch that maybe he had thoughts but they were just passing frustrations.

He peered up into the hazy clouded sky, his mind rolling with what to do in this situation. He remained still like a statue for how long he did not know but finally, he sighed with resolve.

There was no use dwelling on it now, he thought, what was done was done and there was no undoing it.

Instead, Harry began to plot. Somehow, he had to get a hold of his appetite, he couldn't go into a frenzy like he had before and he knew that if he was partially satiated that he could probably control it. He had resisted killing several people before this one showed up.

Harry looked at it carelessly. He couldn't use magic in fear of the Ministry, he didn't need them on his back at the moment. The best thing he could do was perhaps wait till night fall and haul Dudley off into a more secluded area; a place that he didn't roam at night and perhaps set a bonfire and burn him before burying him. He would make it impossible to be traced back to him. If his body was charred, they wouldn't be able to tell that he had a high amount of blood loss.

The human instincts were telling him that it was wrong but the creature that he was told him that it was survival. Harry Potter was human no longer and he shouldn't pretend to be something he wasn't.

Hadn't he been complaining about this very thing before this shit happened? All that was needed was that he would have to control his thirst. He could not keep killing around his streets. If the Ministry of Magic got wind of it – or Dumbledore.

For Merlin's sake! Harry thought in disgust. How the fuck would Dumbledore not find out? He rolled through his options before settling on the only idea that came to mind. He had to get to Knockturn Alley. A famous haunt for strange people and beings. The Dursleys wouldn't miss him; they would think he had run off with all his freaks as they so put it.

He growled lowly as he thought about them.

Muggles. Disgusting. He actually felt a shred of sympathy for Voldemort when it came to them. He stared down at the dead body and curled his lip.

Oh, well, it was his final thought on the matter.

At half past midnight, Harry hoisted Dudley onto his back, marveling at the odd sense of lightness as he poked out from behind the bushes and then set off with fast speed and insane reflexes. His body reacted before his mind, jumping over things and dodging trees that got into his way.

The wooded area he got too was about ten miles from the Dursleys and the area was known for its run down risky behaviour. Harry scanned the area, seeing nothing and then set to work until he realized he had nothing to burn him with. He threw Dudley carelessly onto the ground, causing him to roll lifelessly.

He stood there, thinking swiftly before coming up with an idea when he smelled smoke from a few miles away. He smirked, feed and steal, his instincts told him and he was off in a flash.

The ragged human was once again male; Harry didn't stop as he rushed by and swept him up by the waist before the person had time to acknowledge what happened. He broke the stranger's neck, sank his oddly normal looking teeth into the flesh as he stepped just on the inside of the woods and drained him to death before snagging his lighter.

He didn't know if vampires left prints or not but it wouldn't matter being burned anyway, would it? He thought setting to work making a fire and as he did, he wondered why he didn't care. He peered down at the unknown man and deduced he was about twenty-five.

He probably had a wife and kids.

Again, Harry felt nothing and he knew that without feeling remorse that he was some kind of monster. He had to be.

The former Harry never would have done this. He would be a crying heaping mess and he knew it. He could see his 'human' self hunched over sobbing uncontrollably. Unconsciously he set blaze to the pile of wood before first dumping the new one on top, being thinner he would be consumed quicker. He didn't even flinch at the smell of burning flesh nor did he turn away as the heated flames of orange, red, and dabs of blue smoldered the body peeling away his clothing and attacking the flesh until it melted and then burned black.

The scent was potent, oh yeah, but Harry wasn't sickened more than he was annoyed. He heaved Dudley onto the fire and once again, remained motionless throughout the destruction of evidence.

He checked around the area for any remains that could possibly have his fingerprints if vampires had them to begin with before disappearing out of the wood.

He was satiated and the latest scent of a human didn't make him so hungry. Sure, he wanted to leap and pounce but that was easily taken care of. He took an alternate route back to Privet Drive and froze when he stepped into the backyard of the still house. He could smell them, he could smell the neighbors, and even Mrs. Figg and her cats and it was as he was thinking about the squib and her annoying felines that he came to a realization.

Animals had blood.

He would have slapped himself on the forehead but he resisted. How thick of him! Why hadn't he thought of it before? He grumbled and berated his sense of stupidity. Oh, Snape would love to hear this, he thought darkly.

Quickly and swiftly, he held his breath and rushed through the house. Not a sound was heard, not even the creaking of the steps as he moved like liquid to his room that hadn't been touched since the dawn of the day before.

He tore off his shirt and stuffed it into his trunk and he thought briefly about going to bed when he realized that he wasn't tired.

He sat there for how long he didn't know but he glared at the half crescent moon strung in the sky until the sun rose and that was when he actually moved an inch.

What a waste of a night, Harry thought darkly as heard movement from his aunt's bedroom and talk about how Dudley hadn't come in last night. He heard them so clearly that they could have been sitting right next to him. It was as if the walls didn't exist at all.

It was as he flipped open his trunk as gently as possible when he paused at the reflection in the mirror. In movies and fantasy books he knew that vampires could not see their reflection but Harry was going to chalk that up to bull-shit entertainment and stared blankly while surprised buzzed around his head. He straightened and stalked over and stared a few inches away into the full length mirror hanging on his wardrobe.

The first thing he noticed was the bloody crimson that swallowed the whites and black pupil of his eyes. Another prominent thing was, he was taller and perhaps a little more filled out than he had been when he was human.

It was like his genes had completely altered and with his glasses gone he looked… different. The scar was gone having healed over completely. He brushed his fingertips to his forehead instinctively and broke off into a smirk. That was a plus and that didn't count the speed and other inhuman assets he now possessed.

His hair was almost the same, what changed was the fact that his face was sharper and well defined at the edge of his jaws and curved up his cheek and the dusty black hair that was usually a mop like mess was more like a swept back inky black contrasting drastically with his pale skin.

He did not look like a child but he didn't look like a full grown adult either. His height was easily above five foot nine. He was somewhere in between a teenager and an older teenager. He could pass for nineteen at best.

He flexed his hands faster than humans could and leaned in closer to inspect the rest of his body and then he stilled and remained like that way for quite some time until he clearly heard Uncle Vernon actually kiss his aunt (he shuddered) and take each and every step out the door and onto the pavement. He unconsciously followed the movements and even heard the silent wheezing from the man's breathing.

He could hear his aunt making phone calls and he could even hear the woman on the other like, Mrs. Polkiss who had no idea where Dudley had went off too and promised to call a couple of his friends that lived nearby.

He attempted to tune them out but it was hard, it wasn't like a radio that he could flip on and off, they were always there.

He grumbled and fished through for some old clothes, swiftly getting into them and tying a cloak around his frame aware of how small it was but it was enough to cover his head. He grabbed some gold, invisibility cloak, and his wand before waiting for when Petunia went out to get the mail. When he did, he efficiently slipped out the backdoor and rushed through the forest at blinding speed.

He allowed himself a small smile, running like this was almost like flying. His feet barely touched the ground and no tree would ever get into his way again. He was so swift and silent that not even the birds took flight in surprise.

He was easily the world's most perfect hunter.

He hissed through his teeth when he approached the sidewalk in perfect human strides. He held his breath refusing to breath in the air as he hesitated briefly, he could hear the brushing of a rag along a bar counter and would guess that it was Tom the Innkeeper and he could hear and smell the flow of Magical Blood and he remembered what the vampire had said, Magical Blood was poison.

It smelled delectable, Harry thought easing out some breath between his teeth. He sucked it up once more and pulled the door gently open, and stepped in.

Tom gazed up and was about to greet him with a toothy smile but he shrank back as if his instincts were calling out to him that Harry was dangerous. He bowed his head and didn't even speak and for that Harry was glad.

He maneuvered around the empty tables and took note of the only two people in the pub which were a young couple that were older than Hogwart's students. He eased out the back silently, they hadn't even noticed. He tapped his wand along the alley and it opened revealing the cobblestoned alley for all its glory but Harry didn't stay to enjoy the sights that had been closed off to him since he was fourteen and instead took the detour down the aged brick passage that took him into beyond the rusted copper gates of Diagon Alley and into dark and water dripping street of Knockturn.

He ignored Borgin and Burke's knowing very well that there was nothing there that would help him in the slightest. Harry continued beyond tugging his hood to hide his features from any tramp on the street. He found Potions shops and even an age-old wand shop with a dimly lit light. He hummed in his head briefly at stopping in after he found a bookstore.

Odd trinkets of things Harry didn't want to know about, strange heirlooms that were rolling with cursed magic and even tainted with a blood that Harry wouldn't touch if he were on the brink of insanity. He didn't know if vampires could die of thirst or not and he didn't want to test it but he would like to find out.

He wanted to know all the facts and fictions of his species and perhaps how to go about hiding some of his most prominent features.

Harry stopped when he saw an aged sign, "Hsian Scrolls."

There were two pulses inside, one in the back and the other most likely at the counter. He could hear flipping of pages and stared blankly down at a rat that had dared to scuttle by. He was checking for any followers and there was one and she was a squib and a whore.

She came up behind him at the exact same time that he reached around ignoring whatever assets she had behind a trench cloak and drew her close causing her to gasp and give a strangled, 'ooh,' before his mouth sank into her neck.

No one was on the street not that they would care anyway; he kept his hood up and drained her until the life left her body. He frowned, knowing he probably shouldn't have done that before shoving her up against the wall and tilting her head so that it looked like she were passed out drunk rather than sucked dry for entirely different reasons than what she ever had in mind.

He shook his head quicker than he should have, what a waste, he thought apathetically. He turned on his heel after wiping the blood from his mouth and entered the shop, thankful no tinkling noise of a bell above like most shops.

The man didn't even look up; he was aged and haggard with a well worn expression on his face.

Harry scanned the rows of books from where he stood making out the titles perfectly, he could even see the thin layers of dust and smell it and he was sure if he had been human he'd have sneezed.

He found all legal books on the outer shelves before walking up to the man and tapped his finger causing him to huff and glare up only to freeze when Harry barely lifted his hood to reveal blood red eyes.

"Interesting books," Harry said with a sideways smirk and at the same time showing off pearly white teeth that gave the man no doubt to what he was.

He shut his own book and stared around before motioning for Harry to follow. He didn't ask for a name and Harry didn't offer one but he was taken to a massive area in the very back inlaid with volumes of immense perfection and rarity.

"All you shall find on everything you shall ever need," he rasped out.

"Thank you," Harry said coolly and stood where he was while scanning each copy under his hood. He was left to his own devices and he searched for the other heartbeat to see that it was still in the very back where it belonged.

He would allow no one to sneak up on him, not now.

He walked to the end and turned to the right and disappeared between the high shelves and found what he was looking for on the corner wall. He pulled them, opening each and flipping through with insane speed.

Vampires and Lich

Traditionally, vampires are transcendence from Muggle to a creature with a capable ability similar to magic. Bringing over their strongest traits as they passed, some become exceptional wielders of their developed powers and can notably pass off as a witch or wizard. However, typical vampires cannot use wands for they do not have a magical core. They have mere instincts and abilities that followed them over.

However, the Lich is an entirely different species all together. A rare and often extinct species that requires an inherit amount of Magical Power to survive. In laymen terms a Lich is a wizard or witch who has been turned by another vampire. Very few live through the excruciating experience to become one with immortality. The taste of Magical Blood to an ordinary vampire is poisonous and is fatal.

The Lich however is an exception to the laws, their power strong enough to maintain a stability with their magical cores while taking on all the traits a vampire would acquire such as: inhuman reflexes, speed, sharp eye-sight, enhanced hearing, strength, and the capabilities of a predator so dangerous that the Ministry of Magic have deemed them to be excluded from laws pertaining to Beasts and Beings.

The Lich is not often found and those who become Lich and hide their powers are referred to the Magical World as Warlocks for their powers exceed that of a wizard greatly. Below are a list of known myths from Lich and Vampires that have stepped forward in pride.

Myth:

All forms of daylight burn or destroy a living Lich/Vampire: This is not true, many Lich/Vampire prefer the day over night however good their sight may be. The only consequence the direct sunlight has on a Lich or Vampire's stone like skin is the fact that it illuminates in a way that a human could only dream of.

Crosses, Holy Water, Stakes, and other forms of so-called 'tools' for a vampire/Lich execution: No, Vampire/Lich are named immortal for a reason, the only true way to execute a vampire is to rip each and every limb apart starting with the head and burning every piece together before they can reform back to themselves or a once muggle vampire coming in contact with a witch and wizard and being too weak to sense the blood of a magic wielder. Vampire/Lich is feared for a reason.

Lich/Vampire have permanent amnesia on their former lives: While this may be true for a muggle turned vampire but this is not true for a Lich. They retain memories that are foggy in the beginning due to the amount of magic and venom that spreads through the body shifting and molding it together to make a place for the two separate entities to coexist with one another.

Lich/Vampire can feed off humans freely without causing death or harm so long as they don't drain: Very wrong, both a Lich/Vampire consume blood and go into a frenzy, once the blood hits their mouths they are locked and nothing else matters until the blood has been drained entirely or the Lich/Vampire becomes full and satiated from hunger. There is no such thing as taking a small drink and stopping.

Lich/Vampire have fangs: No, they don't. They have pearly razor sharp teeth that look very human. The difference in these teeth however is that they form a poisonous venom that they can freely inject into their prey to hold them still, drink, or attempt to turn should they be able to resist the frenzy.

Lich/Vampire can eat normal food and drink: No, they cannot. If they swallow anything other than blood it will have to come back out. Lich/Vampires detest human food and keep away from it as much as possible. It may smell good but to the taste it is anything but appetizing.

Harry stared at it in shock. The page went on, talking about how their bodies were coated in venom stilling everything human that they possessed on the inside of their bodies except for the brain which is the only part that remains human and kept from becoming mindless living dead known as Inferi.

The Dementors are also known as corrupted sort of Lich that were created by an unknown dark wizard in the early 1600s.

He closed the book and took several more from the stash before walking out and placing them on the desk.

He eyed all six. "One hundred galleons."

Harry dropped the bag with fifty extra in it and disappeared out the door without another word. His mind was whizzing and tumbling with all the information. It would take some time to absorb. He didn't so much as cast a glance at the whore slumped in the same deadened position he had left her in and instead stepped over her sprawled legs and headed toward the wand shop.

Perhaps Knockturn Alley would have something special for him?


A/N: I hope that explains some of it for some of you who don't know. I did add my own stuff to it, but I really do like the idea of Vampires looking normal without the fangs. That's mainly what I adopted, the Lich is what I got off of, yes, if you didn't guess already it is from World of Warcraft but as I said I put another spin on it. (laughs)