Alright, here we go again. I've been working extremely hard on this story, I promise, because I've found that my Harry Potter readers point wands at me when I don't update in a timely manner, and I'm a-scared of getting cursed into next month.

By the way, if you're looking for something a little more dangerous, with plenty of vampire action and a little more skin from Snape, sometime in the next two months I will be posting a story online entitled Master and Apprentice: The First of Many Things to Come. The summary will be posted in the story and on my profile.

Come check it out, but beware; it just might bite back.


Chapter Eight- The Vampire, the Werewolf, and the Snake

While Draco and Harry were being roughly yanked back to the castle by an irate Sirius who was completely confused on why he was following orders from a seventeen year old, Aurora Serpentus was about to come face to face with her actions. Judging by the panicked mindset her mother had to be in while she tried to gather everyone up for a preemptive strike to counter her daughter's preemptive strike, Victoria Snape was having huge troubles shielding her mind. She'd allowed one last memory to slip through the cracks, revealing that she could, quite possibly, be enacting a plot that was fifteen years in the making. Aurora silently sprinted through the forest, sensing deep down that as soon as she made it to the warded circle that was the camp ground of the Phoenix Guard, every single one would rush to her.

As she moved, she felt her emotional pain melt into tangibility. She made a point to run where she could see branches and needles sticking out, ready to poke at her. By the time she made it halfway to the clearing, she was a bloody mess. She kept the smirk of satisfaction from her face by sheer force of will as she felt others, Phoenixes and the Wolves who had answered her summons, fall in beside her, keeping pace with her by the same power holding back her smile of pleasure. Aurora had always been fast, in every thing she did. This time, she knew it would cost her dearly.

She skidded to a stop within the camp ground, taking in the numerous tents and pavilions, as well as the smell of fresh cooked rice. As soon as she broke the barrier, she knew that Angel, at least, would have apparated back. Spike would be only minutes behind him (trying madly to pretend like he hadn't just sucked the former off). Panting heavily, she went to the food pavilion, where half the Guard was situated. Silently, seventeen Phoenixes and Wolves followed her. When she entered the pavilion, everyone stood as a sign of respect, one that she waved off. She took a deep breath and threw her head back, closing her eyes. She could still see the look of fear on her mother's face as she raced to Godric's Hollow, the despondent hate and desperate anger that filled her when she realized that she had, in her attempt to save Lily and James, confirmed their location for Voldemort. It was then that she understood how her mother and father had met, and why, despite the mutual attraction and brilliance in their paring, they'd never mated. She'd given herself to the Snake, performed the only action that she'd ever seen fit to object to when her daughter suggested doing it herself. Everything she'd been through seemed suddenly to make sense.

And, another memory floated to the surface, one that Aurora knew was her own.

"You dreamed of Voldemort's mind?" she asked softly, looking deeply into Harry's emerald green eyes. They weren't darkened with lust, unlike the few other times that the pair had been on that particular couch.

"Not always. I had normal nightmares, too," Harry replied, seeming to think that that made everything alright.

Ro wrapped her arms around him, trying not to cry as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You shouldn't be having nightmares at all, Harry. Is that why..." she trailed off, pulling back to brush her fingers across the fading bags under Harry's eyes.

"I've gotten used to it," Harry whispered, pressing his lips to her temple as if to comfort her.

Ro was suddenly and inexplicably angered. Her eyes darkened with rage as she crushed Harry to her chest, holding him for all she was worth. "Shouldn't... be... used... to... it... damnit!" she managed to grind out, reminding herself at the last minute that she could break Harry in half like a toothpick if she wanted.

"Ro..." he whispered, pulling away slightly. Even though every fiber of her being told her to hold onto him as tight as possible, she let him go. "I didn't mean... to make you angry..."

Drawing in a deep breath, one that made her shake with the force with which she drew it in, she closed her eyes. "M'not angry at you. I'm angry at those godforsaken people you call family!"

The whole common room seemed to shake as she slammed her fist into the wall above and behind Harry's head. There were several shouts of surprise before Ron could be heard calming the crowd, saying it was probably one of Hagrid's beasts.

Harry, although he looked every bit as frightened as he felt, laid a hand on her bicep. "Better?"

"Much," Aurora admitted, letting go of a breath. She didn't bother going into the fact that she didn't feel better because of the hit, more because of the pain in her fist. They fell silent for a time, Harry simply commfortable being in Aurora's arms, before she spoke again. "Harry?"

"Mhm?"

"Can you... do you remember any of them?"

"I remember one... it... it's about the night my parents died. It's always through someone elses eyes, though. She's running toward the house, and every time she closes her eyes, we can see Voldemort as if he's mere steps behind her. When she finally makes it, she yells at my dad to get my mom up, and then she starts throwing food and baby formula in a bag. She throws it to my mom on the stairwell before she closes her eyes one more time to see what's going on. She... she thinks I didn't know he was so close as she sees him coming into the house, looking at my dad. And then... then my dad tells my mom to go. But, he... he gets killed by Voldemort anyway, with the... the most awful... desperate curse imaginable. And then... then he looks at me, and suddenly I'm me again, looking at this... this beautiful vampire woman kneeling on the ground as my dad's blood flows towards her. And, when she looks up... I expect for blood lust to be in her eyes, only... it isn't there. Instead, there's only hate and anger and pain. She lunges for him, but he sweeps her aside. Then, he turns his eyes to me... and... then he..."

"He kills you," Aurora said softly.

"How'd you know..."

"Because I've had the same dream."

Aurora turned to see Angel and Spike standing at the edge of the pavilion. As she headed toward them, a thought crossed her mind, a thought that suddenly made her feel very foolish. What if I was just remembering the dream again? What if she never really thought those things?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, an angry voice countered; You've never had that version of the dream before. It's impossible for you to remember a dream if you never had it.

"What's going on? You said you were going to spend the day with Harry," Angel said softly as she came within speaking distance. He wrapped one bare arm around her shoulders, leading her off to the tent in the camp that served as her confrence room.

"My mother isn't shielding her mind very well, probably because of the stress of fighting a war. The same thing used to happen when I was younger, when she still spoke to me. I'd sometimes hear things that she was thinking instead of what she was saying."

"What did you hear this time?" Spike asked.

"I saw a memory," Aurora whispered as she slipped inside the tent. She dropped into a chair and crossed her legs, closing her eyes as she let all facades of leadership fall away. She suddenly looked every bit of seventeen. "She was running toward's Harry's house at Godric's Hollow, thinking about how she had to get there to warn Lily. Every time she'd close her eyes, she'd see Voldemort... almost as if-"

"He was one step behind. Ro, you've been having that same dream for years," Angel said.

"Will you let me finish?" she roared suddenly, standing abruptly. Every ounce of teenage angst poured from her face. She was suddenly the same terrifying presence she'd been the night before. "She was a spy for us in the first war, putting her life on the line because she mated with Voldemort under an assumed name. After everything that happened in that house, she had a thought. She believed that there was no way we could defeat him while we openly worked against him. She believed that the only way to beat him was to make him think that we believed him. What if she's only doing this to get in with him?"

"Why wouldn't she have told you?"

"She's horrible at Occlumency, damnit! You know how easy it was for me to get into her mind. Why would she risk a good plan by telling me about it?"

"What if she's trying to get you to doubt yourself, hm?" Spike said softly. "What if all this is simply a ruse?"

"Look, I'm not saying we don't go to war with her," Aurora said softly, closing her eyes and quelling her anger. "All I'm saying is that we need to think logistically here. If a stray curse or sword kills her in battle, that's a risk we all take. However, I can't condone executing her without knowing the truth, and this is something we do not tell the council about, understand?"

Angel nodded, but Spike didn't move an inch. "What if we capture her, then, hm?" he asked.

"We interrogate her under the influence of a double dose of Verituserum."

Harry sat silently in the Great Hall, fuming darkly as Draco paced back and forth, reasoning aloud.

"She wouldn't have run off without us for just anything. If she simply... needed to talk to the Guard, she would have been more than happy to let us in. Hell, if diplomats were coming, she would have asked us to go. She's an excellent politician when she needs to be. The only thing that makes sense would be her having to tell them something that she didn't want us to hear... more specifically you," Draco said, looking at Harry quickly before returning to his pacing. Sirius rolled his eyes. "It has to have something to do with the assassination of her mother."

"Wait a minute? Assassination of her mother?" Sirius asked.

"Well, her birth mother, actually. McGonagall's more her mother now. However, long story short, her mother switched sides abruptly and now Aurora's at war with her so that she can get all of the VNU on Harry's side."

"She's going to commit matricide for Harry?"

"Yup," Draco said, although his mind was in an entirely different place.

"That's dedication."

"Doesn't matter," Harry said finally. "I already knew about it. What would she have to hide?"

"Before she slipped off the log, she looked like she was remembering something. What if it was a memory that wasn't her own?" Draco said softly.

"Keep talking," Sirius said, standing up.

"Vampires always have strong mental connections with mates and family members. Aurora used to tell me stories about being able to hear what her mother was thinking, rather than what she was actually saying. She told me one about a rather nasty incident when she heard her mother thinking about killing-"

"Her, and she responded to the thought instead of her mother's words," Harry finished. "What does that have to do with the memory?"

"She could have seen something her mother remembered," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Something that would bring doubt into her true allegiances. Something that would, perchance, explain her recent actions."

"It would make sense. Severus used to talk about how alike he and Victoria were. I assumed he meant in personality, but there could have been more to it than that. He wasn't exactly a happy camper when he found out Aurora was going to kill her, on sight, no matter what."

"That makes even more sense, though. Snape doesn't want her becoming a mindless killer like him," Harry interrupted. "She could very well have really switched sides."

"Doesn't matter. Even if the memory was a plant, Aurora wouldn't kill her mother unless she has absolute proof of her betrayal," Draco said. "As if an attempted assassination isn't enough proof. Anyway, she would be forced to give in and capture her mother, rather than kill her. And that would be dangerous business indeed. If she captures Victoria, and Victoria gives away their location, Voldemort would be on them in minutes."

"But if she kills Victoria and then finds out that she was really a spy, Aurora'd feel awful," Harry countered.

"It's a no win situation and circular reasoning is only going to make both of your heads hurt. Let's just wait for her to come back."

"But Dumbledore's locking down the castle, right?" Harry asked.

"Only for the night, or until Aurora gives him the all clear. Apparently, they have a system set up that only the two of them know about," Sirius replied.

Aurora slipped away from the camp silently. She'd claimed that she needed to get some outside air, but, really, she was headed deep into the forest. She could feel, in the back of her mind, her mother's presence growing closer. And, she was alone. In the sleave of the over large sweatshirt of her sparing gear, Aurora had concealed a vial of vampiric truth serum, double the legal dosage. Being a Phoenix, after all, had its perks.

Things, she knew, were about to change drastically.

Without a word, the young vampire slipped into a seated position. The clearing where she sat was directly in the line of her mother's current path. She would stumble across her, one way or another. Taking a deep breath, Ro allowed herself to simply feel. She had a knife concealed at her waist, her wand was tucked into her hair, and the vial of truth serum was safely tucked away in her sleeve. She was safe.

It had been a long time since Ro had held a civilized conversation with her mother. The last had been at the age of ten, when her mother had calmly told her that she was not to practice magic. It had also been the last time that the words "I love you" had slipped past the vampire queen's lips. The year after, the purple mark on the back of Victoria Snape's neck had begun to fade. She'd become cruel and despondent, torturing those around her with words and violence. The acts themselves were interchangable, and Aurora had usually been at the epicenter. During the experience the young girl had felt nothing but anger and contempt for her mother. It hadn't morphed to pure hatred until her fourteenth birthday, when her mother hadn't even bothered to say a word to her, except to call her an absolute slut. Of course, she'd gotten caught sneaking her favorite Weasley twin out of the Ice Palace, so, naturally, that made her a slut. They really hadn't done anything; that'd been the last time she'd seen Fred Weasley outside of school and the last time she'd even touched him period. The extent of it was the kiss they exchanged as he left, a passionate one that let her know that, if she ever wanted to have another tryst with anyone, he was to be the first on her list. He had been her last, right before she found out that the princess gene was going to activate.

Aurora slowly opened her eyes as her mother stepped into the clearing. Instantly, she leapt to her feet and cast a containment charm, locking them in the clearing and everyone else out. She felt three presences catch the magic she'd cast; Remus Lupin, Angel, and, naturally, Voldemort himself, who was on the other side of the forest, waiting for Victoria.

So stupid. He'll know now. I don't know if I can hold him off for long. Better make this quick.

"I should kill you for what you've done," Aurora heard herself say. She'd gone completely on autopilot; anything that came out of her mouth now was the truth, the ugly, ugly truth. "I should chop you to bits and feed you to the younglings."

"You should," Victoria replied. "But you won't. You're too soft for this life."

"Not now. I have something to fight for."

Victoria seemed to catch sight of the mating mark on the inside of her arm even as the young woman was raising her arm.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

She fell, flat as stone, and her eyes roved wildly. She seemed to have forgotten that her daughter was an exceptional witch. Aurora went to her and pried her lips open, forcing the vial of potion down her throat even as she drew the knife and released the spell.

"What is your name?" she asked sharply.

"Victoria Serpentus Snape," the queen replied, drawing back from the knife at her throat.

"Where do your allegiances lie in the Wizarding War?"

"With Voldemort," she said, trying desperately to stop her lips from moving.

"Why?" Aurora asked, tears filling her eyes.

"I needed you to kill me," Victoria answered. "I needed you to want to do it. I knew, when you were born, that you were destined to be Potter's mate. I knew that if I drove you away quickly, you would grow up the way you needed to, rather than the way everyone before you had. But... I began to see so much of Severus in you... Severus, who would never be mine. I... I began to hate you."

Aurora closed her eyes softly. She wanted to kill her mother, so badly, but, somehow, she knew it wasn't the oppurtune moment. "Obliviate."

Aurora stood abruptly as Angel and Lupin skidded into the clearing. She threw up simultaneous shield charms around herself and the clearing, preventing them from hexing her and anyone else from hexing them. She closed her eyes, knowing that she had some questions to answer and yet willing them to go away. As they huffed, breathing heavily with the run, she gathered her thoughts.

"What we say here does not leave this clearing."

Harry didn't see Aurora until the next morning, when the doors of Hogwarts opened once more. She came out of the forest into a beam of bright sunshine, and Harry was hit suddenly by how much he really loved her. In a short spanse of time, he'd begun to rely on her presence simply to function. The eighteen or so hours she'd spent in the forest seemed suddenly to rear their ugly heads as he contained the urge he had to run to her. He knew this would be ill advised; Angel was fuming, and Spike didn't look very happy either. Aurora had made a decision that could potentially get a lot of people killed. Something told him that she'd run into her mother in the forest.

Only when Aurora was on the steps did Harry finally break. He quickly kicked himself into a sprint, leaping at her when she opened her arms with a small sigh and a placant smile. He jumped into the porcelain cage as if his life depended on it and breathed in the heady scent of fields of heather and mountains of pure snow. It was a combination that almost made his knees buckle.

"I have to see Dumbledore. Can you spare me for thirty minutes, or have I pushed your limits enough for the night?" Aurora asked softly.

"I could last thirty minutes, but I'd rather not. I want to know-"

"In time, my love," she replied, cutting him off. "This is not going to be a pleasant discussion and the rage of three vampires is not something you are ready to witness. I'll fill you in when I get back, hm?"

Harry, although he felt the sting in his chest, nodded anyway. Despite their obvious audience, she dipped him down into a passionate kiss, nearly bringing them to the floor as she did so. Even as she was standing them up, her tongue danced with his. When she pulled back, Harry realized that she'd gotten a new addition since their last heavy make-out session; she'd snuck out and had her tongue pierced at some point.

"Be careful," Harry said softly, pressing his forehead against hers as the whistles rang out and he tried to catch his breath. She kissed his nose, as she was becoming wont to do when she felt he needed reassuring, and stepped away, headed off to Dumbledore's office.

"You made a tactical errror in judgement! Admit it. He now knows exactly where our planning is taking place!" Angel roared, shaking the ornaments in Dumbledore's office.

When Aurora had told Harry that he didn't need to witness the rage of three vampires, she was not referring to herself, Angel, and Spike. She was more concerned with Naobi's reaction than anyone elses. After all, if her mother believed she was at the Ice Palace, Naobi would have to start carrying weapons full time again, something very difficult to do with the style of dress that Aurora was famous for.

Aurora herself was simply sitting calmly in the chair before Dumbledore's desk, a cup of tea nestled in her hands as she listened to Angel and Spike rant.

"Boys, I think you're forgetting who you're talking to," Naobi said finally, pushing off the wall beside the floo. "Ro here has always been a master strategist. It's something she's not lost with her humanity."

"That doesn't give her the right-"

"The council ordered-"

"It doesn't matter what the council ordered," Aurora said quietly. "The people have not put it to vote yet, and if they ever ask that is what we tell them. However, that is not the sole reason I let her go."

"Don't tell me; you had a sudden-"

"WILL YOU LET ME FINISH A FUCKING SENTENCE!" she shouted darkly, standing up. The tea cup went to the floor with a crash. "I gave her the Verituserum. She is allied with Voldemort, out of desperation more than anything. Her cruelty towards me was based on my father's love for Lily Potter. That is beside the point. If I were to have killed her, then and there in the forest, Voldemort would have known, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where the Guard was doing its business. I planted a memory of her running into a lesser servant and torturing him for information. I specifically planted the idea that I had fled to New York."

"Why ever for?" Dumbledore asked.

"I spoke to the Americans. They are ready to intercept him if he does go there to elliminate me. If he sends any Death Eater, they are not to be touched. When they enter the fl-apartment there, VNU operatives will apprehend them."

"Why would you risk-"

"Because; if the Americans stand up against them, he will be forced to retreat. They have the largest defense system of any nation, now and forever. He would not be able to get inside without laying siege, something he can't afford right now. He needs to think that I am weak."

"Why must you always appear as less than you are?" Dumbledore sighed.

"This time, it is a tactical move. If I put off even the slightest bit of self doubt, he will believe that he can sway me. He will search me out specifically without the intent of killing me. When the time is right, he will come with the intent to persuade me to join his cause."

"You plan on using that to get Harry close enough to kill him," Naobi said softly, looking at her. "It's a dangerous plan that could get you both killed."

"No more dangerous than anything else. It's either this, or I go after him myself. Harry doesn't go anywhere near snake-face without me.

In another part of the castle, Remus, Sirius, and Harry sat silently around a jar of Hermione's magic flame, all staring pensively into the blue fire. They had been there ever since Aurora left for Dumbledore's office, with Remus running in right behind them.

"What happened out there?" Sirius asked finally, turning to Remus.

"I'm afraid I can't divulge that, Siri. Aurora has chosen a dangerous play that could prove fatal, but if it works... oh, if it works."

"She's a whiz at chess," Harry said despondently, as if that said it all.

"What's wrong, cub?" Sirius said softly, sliding closer to his godson.

"She thinks I'm weak," he said simply.

"She does not," Remus said sharply, causing godson and godfather to jump. "She's keeping you out of this to protect you. Really, her plan centers entirely around you. If she didn't think you were strong, she wouldn't have done that."

"What do you mean?"

"As she said, she will fill you in later. She will tell you everything, with time. You must trust me on that."

"How do you know her, Remi?" Sirius asked suddenly, looking into his friend's auburn eyes.

"I... I..." Remus fumbled for an answer. Shortly after he started, he realized that it was all or nothing. "I've been training to become a Great Wolf."

Harry and Sirius both looked at him, wide eyed, before Sirius busted up laughing. "I... I think you're... a great... wolf... Moony," he howled.

"Bloody hell, Sirius. Do you even know what that means?" The remark came, not from Remus, but from Harry. "Do you even know how dangerous that process is, and how many things could possibly go wrong?"

Sirius stopped laughing abruptly, looking at his godson. "What do you mean?"

"Great Wolves, along with Vampyres, came to being in the beginning of time, when life on this planet first began to evolve. They were placed here by the gods to protect the sanctity of life. However, when humans came into being, they realized that, while they could befriend us, father us, and even mate with us, they could never be like us. They couldn't die. They could never return to the divine world from which they came. So, they sent a demand to the Goddess. If she did not find a way to make them mortal, they would no longer fight for her. Around the time that the first true ancient civilization came to its feet, Great Wolves and Vampyres dissappeared from all lore, all records, and all mythology. Werewolves and the modern vampires came to be because of the original protector races, which only exist in small amounts now. Great Wolves form packs, ruled by one central pack that has the true Alpha. Vampyric blood lines run only in the royal family of the Vampiric Nation United and occasionally some council men and Phoenix Guards. Werewolves can revert back to their Great Wolf forms, but if one step of the process isn't fully completed or if one thing goes wrong with the potion, they can be permanently stuck in the form of a wolf," Harry replied sharply.

"How do you know that?" Remus asked.

"Aurora told me. She said her dad heard from someone who wanted him to brew the potion that would allow him to become a Great Wolf. I never thought it'd be you, though," Harry said softly.

"I asked... I asked Snape..." Remus said softly.

Harry bit his tongue.

"Yeah... about that..."

"You have failed me."

Although it sounded like velvet, the voice that uttered the dangerous words sent a shiver down Snape's spine.

"My Lord, Dumbledore himself does not know where the Vampire Princess has hidden herself," Snape hissed softly. "All he knows is that she is rumoured to be in the States somewhere, perhaps on the East Coast."

"And her name?"

"I... I do not know."

"CRUCIO!"