Chapter 3

Harry was stunned by the woman. Her long raven-black hair was shining in the moonlight. The woman descended the stairs with grace and dignity. She was as impassive as she was elegant. Her face betrayed nothing of what she was feeling and Harry found that disconcerting. The boy looked from Kit to the woman who had just joined them. The trio stood in silence for a few minutes. It was as if Kit was having a conversation with the lady, although Harry didn't know how.

"Harry Potter, this is Yu Xuanji. She is the owner of this estate and the leader of my coven. She is an ancient poet from China. Please, show her some respect." Kit introduced rather formally. Harry began to bow before the poet before him spoke,

"There is no need to bow, young one. We are all friends here. I am glad to meet one of our Kit's descendants. You are welcome here, on my estate, anytime. Please, join us in the dining hall. You can meet some other members of the coven and have some diner; I'm sure you are hungry." Her voice was like tiny bells jingling in the air. Harry was captivated and Kit had to elbow him rudely to get him moving again. The young wizard blinked and saw that Yu Xuanji was already half-way up the stairs.

"Woah, she is fast." he murmured under his breath. Kit just chuckled and led him up the white marble stairs.

They pair walked into the old fashioned mansion behind Yu Xuanji. The doorway opened up into a magnificent greeting hall. More marble stairs were in front of them, leading up to what Harry assumed would be the bedrooms. The floor was black marble with white flecks to accent the inky darkness. A hallway led back farther into the mansion, fading into darkness as no lights lit the hallway. Two rooms were on each side of the trio. One looked like room one would see hundreds of people dancing in and the other like dining room. Yu started towards the second room. As they neared the doorway voices floated out of the room. Suddenly, Harry didn't want to enter the room. If what Kit had said was true, then the room was full of vampires. He wasn't sure he was ready to meet them all yet; after all, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the fabled creatures actually existed.

"U-um, do you think I could just go and rest before meeting…whomever you want me to meet? I did run a long way and I am…uh…tired." Harry stumbled, hoping to put off meeting the other vampires for a while yet.

"Of course, wouldn't want you to be so tired that you wouldn't remember any names, now would we? Kit, please escort young Harry to a room. I believe that the Gold Room is set for guests." Xuanji said kindly, looking sharply at Kit, not unkindly but definitely reprimanding. Harry wondered why Kit would get that look. Had he done something wrong? The young wizard didn't want to think about it at the moment, however. He had some things to figure out.

Kit nodded to Yu and motioned for Harry to follow him as he started up the long set of stairs that was in front of them. Harry was briefly reminded of Hogwarts before he realized that his relative was now at the top of the stairs looking down at him. Shaking his head, the young wizard jogged up the stairs to meet Kit. It was going to take him a while to get used to the speed of the vampires and probably time to discover the other abilities that the vampires undoubtedly had.

Harry began following Kit down the hallway towards where what Harry assumed was going to be his bedroom was. They passed door after door and Harry was about to ask if they were almost to the bedroom when Kit suddenly stopped and opened a door.

Said door led to a dark room but, as the light was flipped on, Harry was awash in golden light. While everything wasn't gold, mostly everything at least had a golden trim. Now he knew what 'Gold Room' meant. The light was reflecting off of the different golden pieces, giving the room a sort of heavenly glow.

"Well, here you are. Take all the time you need to. We aren't going anywhere." Kit said, interrupting the boy's thoughts abruptly.

Harry simply nodded to the vampire as Kit slipped out of the room and back down the hallway. Letting out a breath, Harry went to sit on the giant, four-poster bed. The bed had a black comforter with golden embroidery. The sheets were a simple white silk. As Harry fell onto the bed, he sighed. He had never felt a more comfortable bed. He could get used to this if he were to live there.

Twenty minutes passed in silence. This was something new for the wizard as he was always surrounded by noise whether it was his cousin Dudley was whining about one thing or another or his uncle Vernon was yelling at Harry for something else. This silence was heaven to the boy who was used to noise 24/7.

Suddenly, there was a quiet knock at the door and Harry sat bolt upright in the bed and cast a wary glance at the door. A minute passed and there was another knock. Cautiously, the boy walked to the door and cracked the door. Outside stood a short, dark-skinned girl with sweet looking, dark brown eyes. Her hair was braided in loops and she smiled brightly up at Harry.

"Hello."

"Uh…Hi…who are you?" Harry asked with a guarded demeanor.

"I'm Kaiulani. It's nice to meet you, Harry." Kaiulani said, still smiling as she registered Harry's surprise at her knowing his name. Honestly, she didn't look surprised. Knowing that she probably expected it, the wizard couldn't help the next question that escaped his lips.

"How do you know my name?" He asked and the grin on Kaiulani's face grew.

"We all know who you are. You are the last remaining member of Kit's family. We all try to be his family but his transition to our life has been hard. So, it's great to see him smiling again. He hasn't truly smiled since he failed to protect your parents. Welcome to our home." Kaiulani replied sweetly as she curtsied.

Harry smiled a little at that thought. All the peop—vampires—here seemed to really care for each other. So not all the theories and stories of soulless, blood-sucking vampires, were true. That was a relief, at least. He was also glad that he seemed to be so welcome. Living with a group of aggressive vampires probably wouldn't have been a good idea.

"Well…thank you, Miss Kaiulani. I hope I won't be in the way or anything." Harry replied. He didn't really know what else to say to the woman standing outside his door.

"Just call me Kaiulani or Kai and you will not be in the way," Kaiulani said, "I'll leave you to get settled. Have a good day, Harry."

"Thank you, Kaiulani. I appreciate it." Harry replied, nodding his head in thanks. Kai turned and seemed to float down the hallway and melt into the darkness. Sighing, Harry shut his door and traipsed back to the bed he had been given. Kai had seemed nice, despite her being a vampire. She had the same timeless feel about her that Kit had, but she was more open then Harry's ancestor. Maybe she was younger than Kit. That was a viable option.

Everything seemed quiet now. Nothing seemed to be moving. Suddenly, a yawn came out of nowhere and Harry felt his limbs grow heavy with sleep. About to get ready for bed, Harry came to the realization that his trunk was still downstairs.

Harry sighed and rummaged for his wand. He would summon his trunk from downstairs, not wanting to actually go down and get it. Before he could use the necessary spell, another knock on his door interrupted him.

Grumbling, the boy got up and stomped to the door. Opening it, he was about to snap at the visitor when he realized it was Yu Xuanji outside, he bit the side of his cheek to stop a rude comment from escaping.

Yu was carrying a silver tray with food on it. As if on cue, Harry's stomach let out a mighty roar. It had been a few days since he had eaten anything decent. The Dursley's never fed him enough. The only place he was ever actually full was at Hogwarts. He also felt safe there. If someone attacked him, he could simply whip out his wand to defend himself. There he could be open about what he was: a wizard.

"I thought you might be hungry. There is apple cider, steak and mashed potatoes. Just come downstairs if you need anything else. Anyway, I will be seeing you tonight. Sleep well. Oh, and the curtains are lined so that the sun doesn't shine through them. Enjoy your sleep." Yu said, interrupting his thoughts.

Blindly he held out his arms and the woman deposited the tray on his arms before nodding her head and whisking herself down the hallway in an instant. Shaking his head, Harry entered back into the room and kicked the door shut with his foot. There was a resounding 'smack' and the boy winced, hoping he hadn't woken anyone up. He set the tray lightly down on a round, mahogany table and pulled up one of the chairs lying placed around the room. As he sat, his mouth began watering as he anticipated the delicious tastes about to assault his taste buds.

The metal top came off in a quick movement and Harry was cutting the steak. He chewed as he cut his steak into more and more pieces. The young wizard knew that he shouldn't eat so fast but he couldn't slow himself; only when half the steak was in his stomach, did he slow his pace.

He tried the mashed potatoes next. By that time Harry's mouth was getting dry so he took a sip of the cider. The taste was tangy with a hint of cinnamon. Ten minutes later, his plate was clean and the boy who lived was sitting back in his chair, contentedly full, for once. His next line of business was to get his trunk.

With that in mind, Harry stacked the plate and everything back on the metal tray and put it near the door while he opened the balcony door and raised his wand. Harry cleared his mind and pictured his packed trunk. He really hoped it wouldn't cause any damage coming up the stairs.

"Accio Trunk!" Harry said calmly and clearly. He waited a minute and was about to try again when a whistling sound came from outside his door and there was his trunk…aiming straight for him. Harry dove out of the way in time to hear his trunk thump onto the floor. Now he could go to sleep in comfort and safety.

The wizard opened his trunk and pulled out some pajamas. They were ragged PJs but they would see him through the night. Besides, the blankets looked warm enough to keep him warm through another ice age.

With that thought, Harry climbed into bed with his old PJs on and curled up under the covers. For once, he didn't have any problems falling asleep because, somehow, he knew that he would wake up to an evil uncle waiting to strangle him until he was dead. Yes. He was safe now. Or was he?