Thank you again to all those who have reviewed my work, I really enjoy writing the this story so hopefully updates will be quite quick- hopefully. I'd like to thank:

SeverusSnapeGirl5690,

angelkitty77,

hemotem,

and

queen of death and vampires

I really appreciate all of the reviews made, please enjoy the next chapter

Chapter Seven

Harry stumbled into the Common Room, the wound in his bicep had caused his entire right arm to go numb. The room was deserted, Harry kept walking until he reached the boys stairs. When he entered the dormitory he went straight to the bathroom ignoring any movement from the other lads.

Harry dropped his cloak on the floor and ripped the sleeve back on his t-shirt to reveal the wound. A simple stab originally, however the silver of the blade had immediately reacted with Harry's blood. Now the slash oozed black blood that stung as it ran down Harry's arm. The only thing Harry felt slightly relieved about was the fact the lesion had completely missed the black markings inscribed there

Harry pushed the tap on the sink and cold water gushed out into the large basin, he dipped his arm into the icy liquid, a gasp tore from his throat on contact with the water. Harry washed the injury gently ensuring it no longer stung, it was still bleeding though. Harry raised his arm and summoned a medical box from his trunk, it flew into his hand. Harry placed it on the floor and pawed through it looking for a bandage

--

Harry hadn't noticed that Neville was awake and Neville had stayed silent as Harry had hurried through the room, through the bathroom door he had heard the tearing of fabric. Neville stayed in his bed not sure what to do, however when the medical kit had zoomed past, Neville decided it was definitely time to go and investigate.

He walked slowly to the closed door and knocked on it lightly

'Harry' he called hesitantly 'Are you ok?'

'Yeh!' came an abrupt reply through the wood

Neville frowned in disbelief 'did I just imagine the medical kit then! If you're hurt you should go to Madam Pomfrey'

Harry gritted his teeth in annoyance as Neville stayed outside the door

'Harry!' Neville called again

'I'm FINE!' yelled Harry in frustration

Harry waited to hear footsteps retreating but Neville didn't move, Harry could hear his breathing as he waited.

In annoyance Harry yanked a bandage from the box and wrapped it hastily around his bloody arm wincing as he bound it. Neville knocked on the door again, more impatiently this time

'Harry are you hurt?'

Harry gritted his teeth and cracked the door open slightly so he could just see Neville

'Please go away!' he implored exasperated

'I only want to help!' Neville replied tensely, all he could see of Harry was his pale face through the crack of the door

'I'm fine' Harry repeated his voice softer this time though 'I appreciate your concern, but it is unnecessary, I have a small cut that's all. You should go back to bed'

Neville looked unconvinced, he knew Harry hiding something but he didn't look like he was in a sharing mood

'If you're sure?' Neville asked unconvinced

'Definitely' Harry insisted slightly impatiently

Neville nodded and turned away towards his bed, he looked back sceptically at Harry but didn't say anything Harry waited until Neville had returned to his bed before closing the bathroom door.

Harry leaned against the door and blew out a breath

'I have to be more careful' he whispered quietly

-----------------

Harry didn't exit the bathroom until about twenty minutes later, when he went back into the dormitory Neville was still awake, the room was dark but Harry could see his eyes watching him. Neville didn't say anything though, and neither did Harry instead he just got into his bed and drew the curtains blocking Neville from sight.

In his own bed Neville was in turmoil, he didn't know what to do, it was obvious that Harry had been hurt but for some reason he seemed unwilling to get checked. It was evident that Neville would get no answers tonight so he turned open and tried to sleep

Dream

When he opened his eyes he was standing on the edge of a high cliff, scrubland covered the ground and the half moon shone in the night sky, Neville breathed in the scent of seawater revelling in the freshness.

A noise to his left alerted him immediately and he drew his wand in defence

'Relax, it is only I' a voice called from a distance

Neville did not lower his wand but he relaxed his hand slightly, a figure came into view, Neville recognised it straight away to be the Lord of the Vampires

'It is you I should guard myself most around' replied Neville

'Maybe' replied the Lord 'but not tonight, tonight we have business to attend'

'I heard a few of your minions were witnessed being killed by your elusive Blood Slayer' Neville taunted

'They were foolish' this statement brought the only break in composure from the vampire 'If they had lived through the attack, make no mistake they would be dead now'

'I'm sure they would be' denigrated Neville

The Lord of the Vampires face hardened as he gazed at Neville with unnerving red eyes, Neville could feel nothing towards this obvious lack of hostility instead he felt his mouth twist into a cold smile

'You know Lord Riyak you should seriously consider organising your followers in more productive manner, I find it useful'

'Thank you Lord Voldemort, next time I need advice I'll be sure to ask you' the vampire replied acerbically 'in the meantime we still need to locate the slayer before he joins with Neville Longbottom, shouldn't that be your priority?'

Neville inclined his head in agreement 'If they join forces it will mean trouble for us all'

'I need to alert Magdalena' the vampire said decisively 'she wants to be involved in the eventual destruction of our nemesis'

'Are you any closer to finding his identity?' Neville asked coolly

'No' Lord Riyak replied 'however we are soon to be entertaining a young Assassin and we can be persuasive in interrogation'

------------------------------

Neville woke with a start, the hunger filled expression of the vampire still displayed in his mind

He pulled the curtains back gently and looked around the dark room, snoring came from Ron's bed and heavy breathing came from Dean's. Another sound drew Neville's attention, he glimpsed over to Harry's bed, the curtains were drawn and a slight moaning was coming from inside the drapes.

'So this was what Harry had meant when he said he understood about bad dreams' Neville thought

He glanced at the clock on the wall, it showed it to be after 4:30am, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep Neville grabbed a jumper and headed out of the room. As he reached the door he stood on a slightly creaky floorboard, the sound immediately brought silence from Harry's bed and Neville realised immediately that he had woken the other boy

Harry's head poked out of the hangings guardedly as he surveyed the room to find the source of the noise, his gaze rested on Neville who squirmed under his stare

'Sorry' apologised Neville 'I didn't mean to wake you'

'It doesn't matter' Harry relieved the noise had only been Neville 'I've been asleep for long enough anyway'

Neville gauged the time in his head, if Harry had gone to sleep as soon as he had got into bed then he had only had three hours sleep. He knew though that his opinion would not be appreciated so he just nodded at Harry's words

'I have to go and do something' Neville said hastily pulling the door open 'sorry again for waking you'

When Neville had retreated from the room Harry looked down at his arm, it was stinging slightly but other than that he thought it was okay, well okay considering. Harry knew sleep was beyond him and the ghost of his nightmare still clung to him the stench of bloody corpses vivid to him as if he was seeing them all over again.

Harry suppressed a shudder and opened his trunk softly pulling out a pair of trackie shorts and an elbow length t-shirt that covered his arm, he put them on a quietly left the room

----------

Harry met no-one on his journey through the castle, not even the moody caretaker was skulking nearby. He stepped through the entrance doors and breathed in the fresh air, it cleared and brushed the cobwebs from behind his eyes. Setting off across the grass he headed to the lake stretching as he walked, when he reached the water he set off at a slow jog (to everyone else a quick run)

While he ran Harry felt free from the confines of the castle and lost in his exercise he remained oblivious to all else, merely focussing instead on the rate of his breathing

-

Sirius had been sitting in his office, also unable to sleep as the night wore on, worry for Harry had wired him up as tightly as a spring and he tapped is fingers restlessly on the desk as he examined the marauders map watching the dots that frequented Hogwarts a dot labelled 'Neville Longbottom' hurried down one corridor heading towards another dot labelled 'Albus Dumbledore'

After Neville had left the tower another dot left at a slower pace this one was tagged as 'Harry Potter' interest sparked in Sirius and he got to his feet with the intention of talking to Harry

Sirius followed Harry on the map as he walked towards the grounds of the school. His first glimpse of Harry was a lone figure, sprinting around the perimeter of the lake in the moonlight. Sirius watched him sadly wishing that James could have been there with him, so they could both watch Harry

Though if James was here then Sirius would probably know everything about Harry, they would never have lost him

Harry was half way around the lake and it would take another thirty minutes at least before Harry would make it back to were Sirius stood. Sinking down onto the grass Sirius sat on the hard earth and watched his Godson in the distance

----

Harry jogged steadily his breathing even and controlled, he focused entirely on the ground beneath his feet and each connecting step, nothing less, nothing more.

He had nearly finished the expanse of the lake and was making his way slowly back to his starting point, rustling got his attention, a slight noise that he nearly missed

Swinging his eyes around he searched the grounds for the cause of the sound, his eyesight allowed him to make out the stature of a man, he increased his speed slightly. Harry wasn't concerned about being attacked, but it was better safe than sorry

It was only as he neared the person he realised it was Sirius, the man's eyes watched him carefully, even from this distance he felt apprehensive at what Sirius might say, especially after what had happened the night before, summoning up his determination he ran forwards closing the gap between the two of them.

As Harry drew level Sirius got to his feet opening his mouth as Harry halted

'Hi Harry, you okay?' he asked sincerely, he looked less worried than he had earlier, but there was still the tell tale stress signs, such as the creasing on his forehead as he frowned

'Yeh I'm fine' Harry replied 'thanks for coming to look for me earlier, I never did thank you'

This time Sirius smiled at Harry but it was a sad smile 'Coming to look for you in a forest is nothing compared to when I didn't look for you'

'I didn't realise they let prisoners out to go looking for missing Godchildren' smiled Harry

'I was wondering' Sirius said changing the subject 'if you're not going with your friends would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me on Sunday?'

Harry thought it over in his head, a day in Hogsmeade getting to know his Godfather could not be viewed as bad

'Ok the' Harry nodded 'Sunday in Hogsmeade'

At this Sirius's face broke out into the first true smile and he looked much younger 'that's great' he grinned 'I'm looking forward to it already'

Harry laughed at Sirius's excitement 'if that's all then?' Harry asked 'I have to get changed before breakfast'

Sirius nodded in understanding 'see you in breakfast then'

Harry smiled and turned back to the castle as he neared the doors he looked back at Sirius in the fading night, Sirius was faced towards the lake his back to Harry

---------

Harry reached the bathroom before the other three boys had gotten up, Neville was still absent from his bed.

In the bathroom Harry stripped out of his sweaty running clothes and pulled the bandage off from around his arm, and stared at it in shock

For the first time he could ever remember his arm was infected, not by the silver but an infection nevertheless. His arm was swollen and the gash in his bicep oozed yellow pus, it also smelt funny. The stench made him nearly gag, he had forgotten to tune a few of his senses down and the effect was not nice. It was slightly worse than a normal infection and Harry feared that the blade had been laced with something.

Harry had not gotten super quick healing as one of his vampire traits an annoyance certainly, he could heal faster than the average human but not equal to one of the undead. Harry had though an extremely high pain tolerance and could ignore even life threatening injuries for long periods of time.

An infected cut would not bother him much unless someone or something hit him very hard, Harry just hoped it would heal on its own he didn't want to got to the matron again. Stepping into the shower he turned the water up to scalding and washed the grubbiness of vampire and forest away.

---- -------

The journey to Dumbledore's office was not a pleasant one, in his mind Harry went over all the outcomes. Worst case scenario would be getting expelled, then he would have to return to Finland without the results from Britain, he would have failed. Harry could just picture what Joe would say if he found out Harry was expelled.

Harry reached the stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office, he stared at it for a moment or two before speaking

'Harry Potter, here to see the headmaster'

There was a moments pause before the gargoyle sprung open, Harry studied the stairs for instant before walking forwards. Voices reached his ears as he approached the inner door of Dumbledore's office

'I think it would be best Neville' Dumbledore was saying calmly 'At least we have reason to believe he'll contact you. But now it is time for you now to get on with your Saturday, I'm sure you've got plenty to do and I have student to talk to'

Footsteps neared the door as Harry drew near to it, the door opened before Harry reached it and Neville emerged he looked surprised when he saw Harry but he acknowledged Harry with a smile and kept walking

Harry knocked on the slightly ajar door and pushed it open, Dumbledore smiled at him as he entered the room

'Harry please come in' he said twinkling 'take a seat' he gestured to the chair by his desk

Harry sat down hesitantly and watched Dumbledore waiting for him to speak

'You know why you're here' Dumbledore said the humour gone from his eyes 'usually this would be a matter for your head of house, however as a recent exchange student I decided to handle the issue myself'

'I didn't mean to cause any trouble' Harry said truthfully 'I didn't expect anyone to notice that I'd gone'

Dumbledore looked sad at these words 'I understand Harry that you have no legal guardian, no one to notice if you go?'

Harry nodded his head what Dumbledore was saying was true but by choice he preferred people not to notice he'd gone 'after I got off the streets I had a guardian but he died'

'Who has custody of you then?' Dumbledore asked perplexed

'My guardian…' Harry chose his words carefully in case Dumbledore put the pieces together 'he looked after other children as well as his own daughter, when he died his sister looked after us, but she is not my guardian she just makes sure I have an education and a home'

Dumbledore inclined his head in understanding 'Sirius is your legal guardian if you are willing while you are in this country you have to have one and if you need someone to care for you will find him extremely eager'

Harry nodded his head but didn't say anything, Dumbledore seemed to understand as he changed the subject

'You broke school rules in your walk' he admonished getting to the reason of why they were there 'you need to be punished I'm afraid'

Harry breathed a silent sigh of relief, he could live with a punishment just not expulsion

'As punishment I think a fortnight in detention with the DADA department' decided the headmaster 'and next time you should feel inclined to take a walk, please let us know'

-----------

Harry went to breakfast purely for the post, the apprehension and concern he had felt earlier had now magnified into gut clenching fear. Kay was one of the people he held the most trust in, if anyone could help Alyssa it was him, but miscalculations did happen. And Harry didn't know what he'd do if something happened to Alyssa, she was like a sister to him.

The Hall was half full when Harry entered, a tired Neville sat halfway down the table opposite Hermione, he was whispering to her quickly and secretively. Both were dressed in weekend clothes like Harry such as jeans and emblazoned tops. Harry decided to do the polite thing and listened in.

'Voldemort's worried the Blood Slayer's going to join with me' Neville was saying

This definitely perked Harry's interest, why would this big bad wizard fear Harry, his fight was with the vampire community.

'He should be worried' Hermione whispered back 'As they've joined forces I wouldn't be surprised if the two of you did'

'Yeh' Neville stated 'but we haven't got a clue who this guy is, it could be anyone!'

'He might even be someone we already know' agreed Hermione 'I mean he's about our age isn't he?'

Harry unease fill him, if they found out what Harry was then they would put him and themselves in danger. He also had no intention of joining in with another war, he had his own to contend with already

'Harry!' someone from behind called

Turning Harry saw Ron approach him 'morning' he replied brusquely

They reached the table together and sat down, Hermione turned to look at them, she regarded Harry doubtfully

'I'm glad you're fine after your disappearance' she said reproachfully

Harry smiled at her 'I never expected to cause so much fuss' he replied ruefully 'it was a heck of a surprise to find everyone looking for me'

Ron grinned 'all the teachers were looking, and…'

He was cut off by the screech of owls overhead, Harry jerked his head up and studied the group. One immediately caught his attention, it also caught the attention of many other people

It was Ivy's bird, she was the 'sister' Harry had mentioned to Dumbledore. If she was writing to him then things must be bad and to send her phoenix with the letter only implied that they were about to get worse

The phoenix swooped down and Harry rose to his feet holding out his arm for Jenks to land on, the phoenix perched on Harry's arm and stuck out his leg, Harry grabbed the letter with his free hand and tore it open, instead though of a written message, Ivy's voice ripped out across the hall

'HARRY!' it screamed 'STAY AT HOGWARTS! WHATEVER HAPPEN'S STAY AT HOGWARTS! I HAD TO SEND THIS MESSAGE AS I RAN OUT OF TIME. WE ARE NOT SAFE AT THE HOUSE. I'M STILL TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ALYSSA, AND SHE IS STILL AT PANAJ'S HOUSE! I MEAN IT HARRY, STAY! YOU'LL ONLY BE IN DANGER IF YOU LEAVE. WERE MOVING OUT OF GANNAN, I'LL CONTACT YOU'

The voice cut off suddenly and the hall remained silent all staring at Harry who had gone white and looked scared out of his wits, he didn't move for a few seconds and a couple of teachers stood up intending to see what the letter had meant

Some teachers including Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus wondered exactly what Harry was keeping from them all, from the sound of the letter it hadn't sounded good

Harry was shocked beyond belief, the message had been clear. The mission had failed Alyssa was still in Japan and people were looking for her. What Harry really wanted to do was leave Hogwarts and look for her, Ivy had realised Harry would want to do this and had expressively warned him not to leave, if it had been anyone else he may have ignored the instruction, however he respected Ivy and her judgement.

Harry stretched his hand out and cast a wandless, silent spell, a piece of paper appeared in his hand along with a pen, leaning on the Gryffindor table he wrote out a quick reply in Finnish cursing Ivy for speaking English in her message, though if she was stressed she always reverted to English.

Ivy,

Staying at Hogwarts, alert me if anything changes, if A isn't back by Halloween I'm going to look for her! Be careful

Harry

He attached it quickly to Jenks leg, the phoenix flew off immediately, back to the long journey it had just finished

Now the phoenix was gone Harry noticed the stares he was getting, he ignored the concerned looks from the three Gryffindors and began to walk from the room, conversations immediately started again as people went back to their breakfasts.

---------------

Harry went straight to the grounds of Hogwarts and sat down on the smooth lawn, he was only there a short while before footsteps sounded behind him, Harry thought it was initially Ron, Neville and Hermione. However when he turned he saw Malfoy walking towards him a slimy smirk on his face

'Awww!' he said 'did Harry get bed news, did mummy have to tell him to stay safe'

he laughed coldly and the two goons either side echoed the sound

Harry gritted his teeth in anger 'my parents are dead Malfoy, if my 'mummy' was writing me letters then something impossible happened;

Malfoy didn't look the slightest bit perturbed at Harry's sentence 'I saw you all alone and decided to get my own back' he spat 'no-one embarrasses a Malfoy!'

'Strange' Harry replied forcing a smile on his face 'I thought I did'

Malfoy's face lost the humour and the boy pulled his wand out, pointing at Harry 'fight me and I'll show you exactly what I mean'

'Don't bother' Harry said disgusted not getting up 'it's not worth me beating you again'

Anger flashed across Malfoy's face and Harry realised the boy wasn't going to leave voluntarily. Harry really couldn't be bothered to fight with Draco, he was worried about his family and the cut on his arm had started to burn painfully, the long sleeves of his black t-shirt were also to warm

Draco pointed his wand at Harry and shouted 'Reducto!'

Harry remained sitting on the ground deflecting the spell easily as if he was swatting a fly. Draco's pale cheeks flushed with rage, out of the doors emerged a small first year, the girl took on look at the situation before running straight back into the hall shouting 'FIGHT!'

'You might as well stop now or you'll just humiliate yourself' Harry said annoyance creeping into his voice

Students began pouring out of the main doors all interested in seeing the tussle, Malfoy raised his wand high above his head and began to scream 'LECI…'

Before he could finish the hex Harry flicked his wrist and disarmed him casually, teachers were also making their way to the front of the crowd, Remus and Black in the lead

Malfoy looked at his empty hand and back at his wand, he made to go towards it bur Harry summoned it to him in the flash and broke the wand in two

'You broke my wand!' Malfoy yelled his hair falling out of place

'You attacked me' Harry replied evenly 'it's my right to destroy your weapon'

Harry thought argument was over, as did many of the students who were whispering excitedly, Ron, Hermione and Neville were also battling the crowds to reach Harry

The teachers were nearly upon them but Malfoy was so incensed he forgot all wizard fighting and instead seemed intent on a good muggle brawl. He sprung on Harry his fist raised, he was attacking without experience though. As he got close to Harry's face Harry launched into action, some combat was just what he needed to distract him

Harry pushed up span a kick into Malfoy's legs, the blow knocked him to the ground and he pushed himself back up determined not to beaten by Harry again, he lunged at Harry aiming for his throat, Harry easily deflected the blow with a block and cracked a punch out knocking Malfoy back onto his arse without hurting the boy.

Malfoy was about to get up again so Harry decided to end the fight quickly, he placed his foot on Malfoy's neck and forced him back down

'Do you yield?' Harry asked patiently

'What the fuck do you mean? Yield?' Malfoy spat

'Uneducated and inexperienced' Harry said loudly enough for the crowd to hear, sniggers followed his words

Lupin and Sirius finally reached the fray, they both went forward and tugged Harry gently off Malfoy

'He's not worth it' Lupin said quietly

Harry nodded in agreement and lifted his foot away from Malfoy who was burning with humiliation

'Snape can sort your punishment out' Sirius said disgusted to Malfoy

'But he attacked me!' Malfoy responded plaintively

'We all know that's not true' Lupin answered quickly, he glanced around and saw the majority of the pupils being shipped back into the castle by McGonagall and Flitwick

Eventually only the teachers, Harry, Malfoy, Ron, Neville and Hermione remained

Snape strode up to Malfoy annoyed 'My office Draco NOW!' he hissed angrily

Malfoy left immediately followed by Snape and Crabbe and Goyle

Harry looked at Sirius and Lupin 'I guess I just attract trouble' he joked lamely

Lupin and Sirius both smiled 'just like your father' Lupin said

'He seemed to attract trouble as well' agreed Sirius

Lupin sniffed the air distracted, the same smell of blood he had smelt last night reached his nostrils this time with a sent of infection, it was definitely coming from Harry's arm reaching out he touched it gently with his finger, Harry flinched at the touch. Sirius looked concerned at Harry's reaction but realised when he looked at Lupin's finger

It was covered in blood