Chapter 7

"Why didn't you check that there were vampires here Malfoy," Ron hissed to the blond young man beside who gave him a slight snarl at the accusation. Hermione watched Eric as he smirked slightly in amusement.

"It's not like I had time to," Draco defended, "On top of clearing things with the Ministry and work, who paid for everything? I had to get all of the finances and paper work in order to come here. Why didn't you check Weasley?"

"I also had to clear things up with my job so that I had permission leave," Ron practically yelled back before a realization came over him. Draco seemed to have come to the same conclusion because they looked to Harry simultaneously. Harry had an innocent look on his face before he realized what they were trying to insinuate.

"Don't look at me like that," Harry began, "I can barely even remember my middle name, let alone know where to begin research on vampires."

"Draco and Ron know that Harry. That's why they are going to take the responsibilities for themselves and not blame you," Hermione said as she glared at the two taller boys. Eric wasn't sure if they were just humoring her because they hadn't seen her for so long as they gave her an admonished look, or if they were genuinely scared of her. He suspected it was more the latter than anything.

"How long will you three young gentlemen be our guests here in Louisiana," Eric asked, bringing their full attention back to him. He wanted to be closer to Hermione, to feel her warmth radiate towards him, but he got the next best thing by being directly across from her and being able to see all of her facial reactions. She looked at him, a slightly confused expression caused by his question.

"The Ministry gave us two days. It was supposed to be a simple in and out job. So we'll be gone the day after tomorrow," Draco answered, his tone very business like as he spoke. That's when Eric recalled where he had heard the name Malfoy from.

"Your name is Draco Malfoy," Eric asked, his voice low as he began to remember some of his time in England. Vampires were not wholly welcome in the magical community there, but because of his wealth and connections, there were a few that tried to cash in on his name. Malfoy was one of them.

"Yes it is," Draco replied and Eric noticed that he didn't say it exactly with pride. He remembered from his brief stint with the Malfoy family that they were all very prideful, but this young man wasn't. He suspected that the other three, especially Hermione had something to do with that.

"I had met one of your ancestors a while back when I was in England. His name was Septimus Malfoy I believe. Do you recognize the name," Eric asked, watching closely the three young men's reactions. Draco gave a slightly shocked face as Hermione rolled her eyes. She knew he was trying to go for some sort of shock value. Draco stuttered slightly before he was able to get his speech back.

"That was in the 18th century," Draco replied, making Harry and Ron stare at him in confusion. Draco then began to shrewdly look at Eric, "How old are you exactly?"

"Oh, it's really hard to say exactly," Eric said, smirking at Hermione as she just stood there and watched, "But I have been around for over a thousand years or so."

"A THOUSAND YEARS," Ron, Draco, and Harry all cried out at the same time before the turned to look at Hermione.

"You're staying with a thousand year old Vampire," Ron bellowed, making Hermione roll her eyes once again. Eric wondered how many times she could do that before they rolled out of her head.

"You barely bat an eyelash at the fact that he was a vampire," Hermione began, "But as soon as you hear a thousand you freak out." She sighed when she finished and Eric realized how tired she looked. She was slightly pale and he could vaguely see purple circles under her eyes. She slouched slightly, the corset the only thing keeping her back straight. He could tell that she hadn't slept properly in days and he quickly made a decision.

"Pamela," Eric said in a regular tone even though she was still quite a few ways back. She was beside him in less than a second, making Ron gasp slightly before Eric continued, "Please take these young men to a hotel and make sure everything is taken care of. When you're done with that you'll be taking over the club tonight."

"What will you be doing," Pam asked before Eric and she glance over at Hermione, making Pam scoff slightly and pout.

"Very well," Pam said before turning to the boys, "How did you boys get here?"

"By broom," Draco was the one to answer. Eric could see that he was a natural leader, as Harry would be if he had all of his memories.

"Very well," Pam replied before heading towards the door, "I'll go slow so that you three can keep up. Follow me." Pam stepped out, waiting for the three young men to follow. Before they left, much to Pam's irritancy, they all said their good byes to Hermione first. Ron hugged her first, then Harry, and the last to hug her was Draco. He held onto her the longest, making Eric force himself to not growl at him.

"We'll see you soon Hermione," Draco said, "Stay safe."

"I'm always safe," Hermione replied, a small smile on her face as she watched her three best friends walk out of the club. She realized that the door was still broken down and quickly fixed it with a spell. Eric watched her graceful movements as she waved her wand and the door reattached itself to the hinge. Hermione noticed the intense way he was watching her and lightly blushed before looking him in the eye, "What are you doing that Pam has to watch the club?"

"I'm taking you back to the house and making sure you get some sleep," Eric said as he moved towards Hermione to pick her up so that they could leave. She placed her arms out in front of her to stop them, but he kept moving forward so that they landed on his chest. All though she knew that he was a vampire and vampires are cold and don't have beating hearts, she was still slightly surprised at how cold he actually was and the lack of feeling the thump thump of his heart.

After she broke out of her surprise she spoke, "I don't need any sleep Eric." It was a lie and they both knew it, but she didn't want to leave. She has a job and she will perform that job to the best of her ability.

"Quit the bullshit Hermione," Eric nearly growled out before stepping forward once more and grabbing her gently but firmly by her forearms, "The only thing keeping you up is that corset and the only thing hiding the dark circles under your eyes is the make up. You need sleep, and I'm going to make sure that you do."

"I am not a child Eric Northman," Hermione hissed as she pulled her arms out of his and glared at him. She looked so menacing, her tired eyes full of fire. She actually looked a bit crazed and knew that if she didn't sleep properly starting now, she'll go insane.

"Stop acting like one then Hermione Granger," he replied, looking down at her as she harrumphed at him. He wrapped his arms around her, encasing her. She began to fight back; kicking and trying to punch him, but it was very ineffective. Eric just held her, waiting for the moment that she would stop. After another minute or so she stopped fighting and rested her head on his shoulder, a tired sigh escaping her.

"Why won't you sleep my little witch," Eric asked softly, his deep voice soothing her. She sighed again as she closed her eyes. They had felt so heavy and it was such a relief for her to finally give them a rest.

"The nightmares would wake me up anyway," Hermione replied, her voice sounding tired and almost child-like. Eric had this sudden urge to protect her. She was his responsibility and he would protect her. She was such a weak thing, but she was also strong and he knew that could lead her into some very dangerous situations. He ran his hand down her hair, taking a deep breath to take in her smell. She smelled of old parchment, ink, and chocolate.

"Sleep now my little witch. I'll protect you from the nightmares," he told her, but she didn't even hear him because she had already fallen asleep. Eric's face remained expressionless as he placed one of his arms under her legs so that she was being cradled by him. Her head was on his shoulder so that her face was in the crook of his neck. He felt the light warm breath and it felt as if it was warming him from the outside in. This girl was changing him, and he didn't know whether or not he liked it.

All Hermione remembered was feeling arms and a comfortable darkness.

~0~0~

When Hermione awoke next she noticed it was still dark out. She breathed a sigh of relief before she realized that there was a heavy arm around her waist and a tall Viking sleeping next to her. Well, pretending to be asleep. Hermione tried to stand up his arm remained locked around her, keeping her in the same spot next to him.

"Eric," she sighed out in exasperation, "Let go of me."

"No," he answered simply, keeping his eyes shut. Hermione rolled her eyes at him before trying to pry his arm away from her. She tried first to wiggle out of his grasp, but that didn't work. By the time she stopped wiggling she was huffing from lack of breath and he was smirking as usual. She pouted slightly before grabbing his arm with both hands and trying to pull it away from her but it was almost as if his arm was super glued to her. She wasn't able to move it an inch and then she remembered she could just use her wand. The thought quickly became a disappointing one when she saw her wand was all the way across the room on her vanity.

"Eric," she nearly whined but she tried to keep her toned sounding annoyed, "Please let me go, I have to use the bathroom." Eric opened his eyes and looked at her, his face almost innocent looking as he blinked at her.

"Why didn't you say so," he replied before lifting her up and taking her to the bathroom. They were there in less than a second, much to Hermione's chagrin. She placed her hands on her hips, glaring up at the tall man in front of her.

"I could've walked her myself," she began angrily, "It's not like I'm some sort of invalid!"

"Why don't you just go to the bathroom and then thank me afterword," Eric told her, humor in his voice as he spoke to her. It made her even angrier but she took a deep breath to calm herself before sighing again.

"I can't go to the bathroom while you're in here Eric," Hermione explained, using one of her hands to gesture to him and then the bathroom. He noticed that she was getting some of her fire back, and was very thankful for it.

"Sure you can Hermione," Eric countered and couldn't help but laugh when she punched his chest. He barely felt it but he knew she tried to hit him as hard as she could. She grumbled slightly, rubbing her knuckles to remove some of the sting that she felt. Eric grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips. Hermione's breathing increased as the coolness of his lips soothed her slightly bruised knuckles. Eric looked up into her brown eyes and didn't look away after that. After a moment he brought her hand to his cheek, making her open her fist and cup his face.

"Thank you," Hermione said softly, but Eric could hear her perfectly, "Thank you for helping me sleep."

Eric just stared at her for a moment. The color was coming back to her face, and she stood up a bit taller now. Even though she still looked tired her eyes didn't look dull anymore, as if she had died. She was too young to seem as if she were dead.

"You're going to be sleeping with me for the rest of your time here," Eric told her, making her facial expression become one of shock.

"I will not," Hermione began, her face becoming red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "Not only is it highly inappropriate, but I'm fine by myself."

"Ok, then I'll sleep with you for the rest of your time here," Eric countered. Hermione was about to nod in agreement when she grasped what he had said after words and began to splutter in anger.

"We will be doing neither because I can sleep by myself," she replied. She looked at him, thinking that she had triumphed, but as she looked in his eyes more and more she realized that she hadn't won at all, "I can't believe I'm actually arguing with you over this."

"Then don't argue with me and just do it."

"Or you could not argue with me and let me sleep by myself. Why are you pushing this so much any way? Aren't you supposed to be the big bad vampire that doesn't care about anything or anyone," Hermione told him. Eric simply raised a single blond brow while the rest of his face remained emotionless and silent. Hermione was going to say more when she finally remembered that she had to go to the bathroom quite badly, "Out! We'll talk when I'm done."

"Fine," Eric conceded, "Although there is nothing to talk about since you will be sleeping with me for the rest of your time here."

Hermione opened her mouth to reply but Eric was out the door in a matter of seconds. He had even shut the door behind himself, leaving Hermione alone in the quiet bathroom. She mechanically lifted the toilet cover and sat down, still slightly surprised by what had just happened.

"That man is insane," she whispered to herself as she finished peeing. As she washed her hands she looked at herself in the mirror. Somehow the make up she had on was taken off, Eric probably did it for her. Her hair was slightly disheveled, but a lot of the curls from earlier still held. Her skin still looked a bit pale, but not as sickly as it had a few days before. The purple bruises from lack of sleep were nearly gone from underneath her eyes. She almost looked herself again. She hadn't seen this version of her for a long time.

Eric was sitting on the bed when she stepped out of the bath