Guest - thank you so much! And it's ok you don't review but I always appreciate when someone does!
-YDHP-
Narcissa's movements were slow and clunky, a world away from the exuding elegance Vlad would normally associate with her. She obeyed his command with no protest but the distinct scent of fear. Harry eyed them strangely, clearly wondering why Vlad was having the woman remove her clothing. Vlad held a finger to his fangs, waiting until the dress hit the floor. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the curse burns on her skin. Vlad lifted up his jar of phoenix tears, grit his teeth to prepare to ignore the scent of blood, the feel of body heat.
"I can't have her smelling like fresh blood all the time, I'll go bats."
The woman barely seemed to register that Vlad was brushing healing magic across her injuries, the phoenix tears practically airbrushing her skin so nobody would ever know she had been hurt. Her body held no physical appeal to him, though he still felt uncomfortable touching a slash that touched from collar to breast.
Her dress laid on the ground - Narcissa Malfoy would never be so careless, he knew. There was some form of magic operating on her still. She didn't even notice the wand holstered to her thigh. Digging into his trunk, Vlad produced something Harry raised an eyebrow at - one of Ingrid's dresses.
"Laundry mix up. My guess is the elves just flung away vampire stuff so quickly they didn't notice. Ingrid's a little taller than her, but it should do."
Only when Narcissa had redressed and Vlad had tossed the dress into a small fire, the sounds of magic crackling as spells broke, did he explain.
"Tracing and tracking charms on her dress. Riddle will be seething."
"Interesting approach. Think he expected you to try and save her?"
Vlad nodded, shrugging.
"He knows I wouldn't sit and watch them take turns on her. For once, I don't mind something being a predictable part of my behaviour. It means Riddle knows I have more integrity than his lackeys."
"So... what do we do with her? I mean, we have a spare bed but I'm not keen on having eyes on us twenty four seven."
Vlad shrugged. Harry clearly noticed Narcissa wasn't really present, the confusion writ on his features but he was learning quick to speak like something didn't worry him.
"Honestly wasn't thinking that far ahead. I'm open to ideas."
"Hm. We'll figure something out. First I'd like to know what's made her a zombie."
"It's not Imperius. Or hypnosis. Beyond that... I'm not sure right now."
He conjured a chair, asked Narcissa to sit in it. She complied silently, stared blankly toward him as though awaiting further orders without knowing Vlad was even there. It was deeply unsettling. He disarmed her, just in case. He didn't think she was acting, but feared she might hurt herself if left unattended.
Of course, they weren't expected back outside for a while now they had... acquired Narcissa Malfoy.
"Can you watch her? I won't be too long and I doubt she's even going to move unless you ask her to."
Harry nodded and Vlad smiled gratefully, coating himself in protection against the sun and casting several glamours across his appearance, dabbed surge spray over his neck. It was the matter of only a few seconds, and then he was apparating to Diagon Alley's Apparition Point. He'd sort of forgotten one thing in particular...
To the Wizarding World at large, Harry Potter was missing.
Posters of his face were splashed across the windows of stores, staring down at passerby.
As did Vlad's own. Except his were wanted posters, claiming his allegiance to Voldemort. And, unsurprisingly, his species. Vlad hadn't considered being outed as a vampire, but knew it was realistically inevitable since the Ministry knew. The VHC would be pissed, but the bat was out of the belfry.
"Kidnapped by his best friend for you-know-who, can you imagine?"
"Awful isn't it?"
Vlad cringed inwardly as people asked him to sympathise with it, having no idea who they were talking to under his scruffy blonde hair and brown eyes, with a charm patterning freckles across his usual marble skin and a spritz surge spray even imitating scent and heartbeat and body heat. A vampire would regard him as human, and his jeans and jumper were fairly nondescript.
Several stores were mobbed, like the apothecary and the bookstore. Vlad supposed people were stockpiling. He slipped, unnoticed, through swarms of people to the store he'd purchased Samael's trunk from. It specialised in magical interiors, like tents and trunks that contained entire houses within.
That was Vlad's goal. Far easier - and cheaper - thanks to magic, than purchasing Muggle equipment and installing them with no training or anywhere specifically put them. The store was surprisingly empty, but at least Vlad wasn't worried about anyone noticing the Romanian-Welsh inflection rather specific to the Dracula siblings.
He perused the options listed along one shelf, spying an innocuous looking tent. Three trunks between them was a stretch. Vlad would feel daft getting a fourth. He tapped the options on the interactive moving image, selecting kitchen and bathroom and two bedrooms to generate the pricing.
Then it was simply a case of handing over the galleons to the storekeeper, who asked gruffly what it was for.
"Family want to go camping back in Sweden" his transfigured features allowed Vlad to fairly easily claim Nordic ancestry and many people were probably going to think about skipping town and/or country soon "and I'm the only one who wasn't afraid to come out."
Done with that, Vlad slipped into Honeydukes to stockpile Harry's favourite sweets. There was a sale on Blood Pops, which Vlad suspected was down to the sudden anger against vampires because of him. He bought a case, said they would be decorations for a Halloween party when the shopkeeper eyed him suspiciously.
"Not supplying that Dracula are you?"
Vlad shook his head, using a light hypnosis just to get the transaction over with. Technically he wasn't supplying a Dracula - they were for personal use.
Done in Diagon Alley, Vlad headed to the apparition point, then changed his mind and left through the Leaky Cauldron to Muggle London. They had no clue what was coming, bustling about their day like nothing had changed.
Feeling truly bizarre, Vlad went to buy food they could cook in their tent kitchen. Bought kettle and dinnerware, surreptitiously putting everything in his backpack when he got into a side alley. The sunlight was oppressive, drained him until he felt shaky and sweaty. Gritting his teeth, Vlad had one more trip to make, which was reminiscent of going clothes shopping with Ingrid; he needed to be able to play Narcissa Malfoy off as a vampires property. Dressing her correctly was essential.
"Hey."
Harry smiled when Vlad returned, book on his chest and Narcissa Malfoy having not moved from the chair. Vlad dropped his glamour magic, relaxed in the lacking sunshine at last.
"Hey. Did you know I'm a wanted man and you're officially missing?"
Bemused, Harry shook his head. Vlad elaborated on Diagon Alley as he handed over a sweets bag to Harry, then began digging through all the things in his bag to find the tightly wrapped tent. Harry quirked an eyebrow as Vlad contemplated how best to situate it, since Riddle would want an explanation should he suddenly see a tent in their room.
"Can you Fidelius the tent?"
"I could, but it seems a little dramatic."
Harry frowned in thought.
"Not really. Especially if Samael's trunk goes in there, then he's always safe."
"Actually, that's a fair point. You know how to do the charm?"
Sheepish, Harry shook his head with a chuckle. Vlad set up the tent, a narrow, tall and innocent looking canvas one-man from the outside, barely more than a blanket on sticks. Inside wasn't extravagant, but it was practical and spacious enough for the two of them. Harry lifted Samael's trunk by himself, muscles in his arms visibly tightening through his jumper and Vlad watched with interest.
Then he walked Harry through the quite bizarre actions of placing the Fidelius on the existence on the tent. If he did it on location, simply moving the tent could break it. It was a finicky, difficult charm, but Harry performed it perfectly. Now even if they had to go on the run, they had somewhere safe.
"Home sweet home?"
He asked, and Vlad nodded.
"For now. Feel free to redecorate. I'm going to go be the most domestic vampire there is and fill the kitchen."
The inside of the tent was like a quiet oasis, and Harry hissed happily upon seeing the bathroom contained a bath as he explored. Reptile preference, Vlad supposed.
"How does it work?"
"Magic? Honestly, I don't know but it just does. Let's just be glad it works I guess, since it's good to have something portable and UV proof."
Harry nodded, watching Vlad fill the chilled food storage and other stuff, chuckled as he produced kitchenware. Muscled arms curled around Vlad's waist, Harry's body broad and warm-ish against his back.
"I'm happy to call this home so long as you're here."
His stilled heart quivered, smile stretching over his face.
"Me too. Make tea if you want, I'm going to go see if I can work out what's wrong with the Malfoy matriarch."
Harry grinned when Vlad turned around, mind blanking from thoughts of anything but how beautiful his mates smile was.
"For a Romanian who lived in Wales, you sure are pretty English."
Vlad rolled his eyes.
"It is time."
Harry had known this was coming. He'd had a few weeks grace now, practicing his blue steel on Vlad and learning to temper emotion in his voice until he could sound bored even when disgusted by the sight in front of him.
"You'll have to give us a minute to put her away."
Narcissa Malfoy lingered at Vlad's side, stood behind his chair looking as blank as ever. Vlad had painstakingly unraveled multiple spells and magics working upon her mind, discovering that Narcissa hadn't really been herself for quite some time. Diagnostic charms showed healed injuries, which after what had happened to Draco, didn't really surprise them. Lucius Malfoy had used his fists almost as liberally as his wand.
She was now hypnotised, but only out of their rooms. It worked with the rune-imbued necklace Vlad had draped around her neck, ensuring she didn't have present thoughts to spy while the protective runes shielded deeper thoughts.
Otherwise, she stayed in their tent. Quiet and scared, she wasn't terribly engaging but Harry discovered she liked baking, which Vlad kept her supplied with... supplies for. They'd often find her humming to herself while stirring this or icing that, and it was lucky Vlad's vampirism and Harry's Basilisk metabolism could handle so much sugary sweetness.
It was still surreal. But they didn't quite trust her enough to send her to Malfoy Manor just yet, so 'keeping her' was their only real option. Vlad dressed her like a vampiress, used a Tongue-Tying charm to prevent her mentioning Vlad and Harry's relationship. All the possible precautions had been taken.
They dropped Narcissa back at their room, inside the tent before rejoining Riddle and the others in the main room. Harry had avoided being Marked so far, but they were expected to dress the part at least and both teens took the cloaks and masks waiting for them. The mask stayed on with no support, almost uncomfortably tight to his face and the cloak was heavy, weighing him down like the oppressive darkness around them.
"Where are we going?"
Vlad asked, mask held at his side.
"You will see."
"I need to apparate Harry. Since he's going to miss that class."
Gritting his teeth, Riddle turned and a cocoon of the followers moved with him, ripples of fabric somehow deafening in volume against the silence.
"Cornwall."
Harry didn't know if that was far. He wasn't specifically sure where they were now to compare. All he knew was that wherever they were going, he wasn't going to like what happened. Vlad grabbed his wrist almost surprisingly gently, lifting the mask to his face and Harry disliked not seeing his boyfriends face. The side-along was warming through the phoenix magic, but he could taste the dark tinge on Vlad's magic that said the Dark Mark led the apparating person.
They landed easily, though Harry feigned a slight stumble and heard a laugh or two before Vlad hissed. Even cloaked and masked, some backed away from an irate teen vampire. It was dark, only white masks and Riddle's smooth, hairless head reflecting the moonlight as he looked around, heart sinking into his stomach.
A muggle village. Quiet. Quaint. Full of sleeping families who had no idea what was coming.
"Now, we shall truly celebrate. Make a show. We want to attract the Aurors."
Riddle's voice was ice even when he crooned happily, and Harry knew the want for Aurors was to display Harry as a 'willing' participant in whatever atrocities would be committed tonight. Vlad hung back as several Death Eaters stormed forward, selecting homes and shamelessly blowing the front doors away. The sound was horrendous, air soon full of shrill screams and cruel laughter.
"Not joining in Vladimir?"
The vampire lowered his mask, faced Riddle properly.
"Too noisy. Spend a day with bat hearing and see how you like it."
"Ah. True. I'll have one brought to you, silenced? You and Potter shouldn't miss out on the festivities."
Harry was impressed how blank Vlad looked, and grateful for the mask covering his face to hide the revulsion as Riddle smiled, the word not really doing justice to the feral, sickening sneer but he supposed in his own way, the psychopath was happy.
A teenage girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen and already bleeding from a gash on her arm, was dragged before them, tears streaming down her cheeks and mouth stretched around a silent scream. Vlad's eyes dilated, turning fully black as his fangs descended at the scent of blood; Harry knew he hadn't fed on blood that day and that a pulse quick with terror mixed with the smell would tug at buried primal instincts.
He didn't use a spell, opting instead for the silent vampire power. His fist clenched around thin air, but the terrified girl reached to clutch at her throat like he was physically holding her airway. Those around them jeered as she scrambled to pry away invisible fingers, crumpling to the floor in the foetal position as her face changed colour rapidly. Vlad let go, watched her gasp for air silently and sob violently, which probably didn't help.
"The Aurors are almost here."
Vlad looked up, face impassive as the girl trembled at his feet.
"Pity. We were having such fun. Potter, your mask."
Side-eyeing, Vlad gave Harry a nod and with a concerted effort, Harry schooled his face and pulled the mask off. It was the first proper breath he had taken since putting it on. He wished he hadn't, the air thick with the smell of blood and torture and Merlin knew what else.
A signal must have been passed through the Dark Mark, judging by how Vlad rubbed his chest and most of the Death Eaters cleared out. Just in time for the Aurors to turn up, not terribly stealthy as they found dozens of injured, several dead and Riddle stood with two cloaked teens. The girl Vlad had hurt was still alive, deep purple bruises forming already on her throat as they backed up a few steps.
"Dracula!"
"Love to chat, but I have a prior engagement. Come on Harry."
Understanding why he was there before they even arrived, Harry turned to let the Aurors see his face. Cloaked and standing over the traumatised victim, surrounded by carnage, it couldn't look good. They gasped, actually stopping.
"Mosmordre! Until next time peasants."
Vlad wrent the night sky with the Dark Mark a little dramatically, then grabbed Harry's wrist and they disapparated with a quick blink. Landing back in the headquarters, Harry felt himself yanked as politely as possible away from the crowd as they awaited Riddle's arrival. Vlad slid the cloak off immediately, let it fall to the floor and Harry followed suit.
"Hardly respectful."
"We didn't drop out of Hogwarts to wear another uniform."
Harry quipped, covering for Vlad who was, visibly to Harry but nobody else, struggling to speak. He liked that everyone eyed him so warily, unsure how to respond to his presence. Riddle harped on about how the Aurors now knew he had acquired Harry, turned him. All the while Harry clamped down on his revulsion, the utter abhorrence for the man and his ideology.
"Well, I'm spectacularly bored and you'll complain if I start chewing on your lackeys to alleviate that, so we'll be off now you got what you wanted."
Vlad spat with contempt, and Harry followed before his boyfriend cracked under the facade, waiting until they were behind their warded bedroom door to growl and curl up in a tight ball, clutching his head. Harry watched, aching to help him somehow.
"I know that wasn't easy for you Vlad."
"That's the scary thing. For a part of me, it was the easiest, most natural thing in the world to hurt this fragile, innocent, weak creature on the ground. Then the rest of me feels sick, disgusted with myself. I'm scared one day I might like it."
Harry couldn't honestly promise his boyfriend that wouldn't happen, because he didn't fully understand what the Chosen One vampire transformation could do, but he could probably make him smile all the same.
"If that happens, just practice on the Death Eaters instead."
Vlad let out a low chuckle, refusing to touch Harry until he'd showered and changed his clothes. Narcissa made Harry a cup of tea while he waited, yet another baked confection filling the tent with mouthwatering scents. Finally the vampire returned, all but crawled into Harry's lap and curled up to wrestle with his own mind in the comfort of his mates embrace.
It would all be worth it, but Harry found himself wondering again just how high a price the two would have to pay.
-YDHP-
Hey so I have plans for Narcissa Malfoy if you were confused. That might be a bit of a spoiler but I'm sure you'll all forget it soon.