Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, review or simply enjoy my story. I hope my writing will not disappoint anyone, please enjoy. A special thanks to:
Waiting not so Patiently,
alwaysariyana,
angelkitty,
Fabrielle,
SeverusSnapeGirl5960,
twiterpated,
queen of death and vampires,
hemotem
and
-Vandos-Girl-
Enjoy
Chapter Nine
The grounds were empty as Harry sped across them, the only sign of life was the light in the window of Hagrid's hut. Harry hidden by the darkness was invisible to all who weren't looking for him, he entered the shade of the Forbidden Forest and slowed down to a walking pace.
Retracing his steps from the night before Harry wound his way back to the clearing slowly he kept glancing around guardedly in case a violent creature decided to taste him, he reached the clearing, this time it was empty, not a threstral in sight. Spiders ran across the floor in a single direction. Harry ignored them though and headed instead in the route he had come the previous night
Soon he reached the tree he had buried his weapons underneath, checking again for dangers Harry looked around, before turning back to the base of the tree. Leaning down he scrabbled at the loose earth that had blown across the hollow, digging his weapons out of the ground. He pulled them free and strapped them back on wishing he had a cloak to conceal them, they would not so easily be explained away if he was caught.
Harry turned his senses up to full tuning his sight, scent and hearing up to maximum, feeling his eyes change colour he breathed in the woody scent and glanced around looking for a suitable prey. His eyes at highest working order detected small flies as they flittered through the air, his ears heard the pattering of ants on the ground, his nose smelt centaur's roughly two hundred metres away.
Harry swept along the leaf strewn ground and hunted.
Ten minutes later a suitable victim made itself visible, an Achten grazed ahead of him
- An Achton was a member of the unicorn family, though unlike the sacred unicorn it was more likely compared to the poor second relations of the pure unicorns, it was not considered wrong to kill these creatures just slightly pointless as they were incredibly fast
The Achten looked like a cross between an antelope and a unicorn (without the horn) it was a glossy black colour and was barely visible to the untrained eye. Harry drew a blade silently from a sheath and advanced on the hapless animal. Harry skulked close to the ground keeping quite, the creature raised its head and took a step forward. Harry froze instinctively and waited for the animal to settle
When it ceased moving Harry took his chance and lunged forward, he slammed the knife hard into the creatures flank driving it in deep, the animal barely had time to react before the injury brought it to its knees. Harry pulled the bag open and yanked out the vials filling each quickly as the blood flowed out of its side, the smell would soon attract other animals, some of which Harry did not wish to meet. After he had capped the last jar he lent down and drank some of the warm blood
The taste of any magical creature's blood was drastically better than any non-magical creature. The only thing Harry hated doing was consuming the blood in such a primitive way, being a blood drinker did not mean you had to drink in squalor, it was just that Harry had run out of options this time having consumed too much of his blood to quickly.
Harry felt the blood coarse through his body renewing his energy resources and facilitating in his healing. The strength Harry felt run through him on drinking the blood, made Harry realise just how badly he'd needed it.
Harry wrenched his knife out of the animal and wiped it on the ground removing most of the gunk, replacing it in his sheath Harry turned and ran back to the edge of the forest pleased his small task had been a success.
When he reached the edge of the forest he searched around for any movement, detecting none he sprinted across the grounds his heart thundering at the prospect of discovery.
Harry approached the open window of the Hospital Wing and glanced up at it.
'How the shit am I gonna get back up there' he thought to himself
He touched the side of the wall, it had quite a few footholds imbedded in the rock. Formulating a plan in his head Harry dug his foot into one of the closest tractions, using his powers he floated slightly off the ground removing most of his weight from the equation, Harry then dug his fingers into gaps in the bricks and pulled himself up quickly ignoring the tenderness in his right arm. To anyone watching it would have looked like Spiderman was breaking in, instead of a sixth year pupil
'Breaking into a Hospital ' Harry muttered to himself 'I must be mad'
Harry reached the window and jumped into the empty Wing, Madam Pomfrey was still working in her office, Harry could tell by the light pooling out beneath the door.
Harry looked at the clean bed and then looked at himself, he was covered in dirt, his clothes were grimy with tiny splashes of blood on the t-shirt, his converse's soles were red with animal blood and brown with dirt, his jeans seemed ok though. The bandage on his own had faded to a slight gray, but otherwise looked okay
Harry vanished the dummy from his bed and pulled on the clean pyjamas, they were black PJ bottoms with a black short sleeved t-shirt decorated with a band screaming 'Rock Music Lives On!'
Harry pushed the clothes into the now empty laundry basket and the weapons into the wooden box along with the blood. Turning to his bed he sunk into the welcoming embrace of sleep
Dream- 3 years ago -Canada
Harry stood at the edge of the Niagara Falls next to the Lake Ontario. Around seventy vampires closed in around him, Harry waved his own sword threateningly at the closest vampire
'Rhys!' he screamed in a child's voice 'What do I do?'
'Protect yourself!' came the yelled reply
From Harry's position he could make out Rhys fighting desperately with his sword, battling Riyak current Lord of the Vampires, It was a loosing battle and Rhys knew it, he was low on energy and even if he won more vampires would come. He swung round frantically to see Harry blocking Riyak with a blow from his sword
'Blood!' he yelled concealing Harry's true name
Harry screamed back 'Yes?'
Rhys cursed himself for getting into this position, he could either save himself or save Harry not both of them, the world needed Harry, Rhys was getting old anyway he didn't have to many years left in the game. A suicide mission would save Harry
'CATCH!' he called launching his blade to Harry and drawing his reserve sword
Harry caught it with one hand 'Why are you giving me this?' he cried
'It's yours now' Rhys yelled smashing a fist into Riyak's face to the vampires curses 'JUMP DOWN THE WATERFALL!'
'I'll die!' screamed a panicked Harry
'Trust me' yelled Rhys 'I'm proud of you Harry, I always will be! I love you! Tell Ivy and Alyssa I love them as well!'
Harry watched as his guardian slew two more vampires
'How sweet' mocked Riyak 'Love won't save you though'
With that the Vampire stabbed his knife into Rhys's back bringing the man to his knees
'JUMP!' the man yelled to Harry with his last surge of energy as pain converged in his body, Rhys knew he was going to die all alone on an open rock with only the devils creatures for comfort
Not thinking twice Harry jumped off the edge of the waterfall, looking back he saw Rhys being swamped with Vampires from all sides
'I love you to' whispered Harry as the water crashed over him
---
Harry jerked awake his ragged breathing breaking the silence of the Hospital, trying frantically to get the image of Rhys out of his head he grabbed the glass of water by his bed and took a long drink looking at the clock it revealed the time to be three in the morning
Meanwhile
In the library Hermione poured over reference books, heaping more on the desk she was working at every minute, ripped pieces of paper and scribbled notes littered the area around her work space. Her hair fluffed frantically as she brushed it out of her eyes impatiently
The inscriptions on Harry's arm were fascinating, it had taken her all day to identify the language that had been used, it was more like ancient, ancient runes than anything else. Even with the proper books some of the symbols were unidentifiable. Hermione was relying on some educated guesswork to classify some of the markings
It interested her more in the reason why Harry had it on his arm. It hadn't looked like a tattoo, more like a magical emblem which were rare but not unknown (they appeared on their own)
An hour later Hermione sat back and read the caption she had deciphered
He is
Half of one, and Half of another
Half of Light, Half of Dark
Half of Living, Half of Death
Half of Heaven, Half of Hell
Half of Love, Half of Hate
Yet Goodness Prevails
It took a Hermione a second to process what she was reading and even then she had a hard time believing it, if she was to believe this than Harry was something she would never have suspected
Though thinking about it made her suspicions reasonable, his behaviour after Lupin's class, his avoidance of mealtimes, she even recognised his voice as the one that came from the crystal globe
Hermione rubbed her tired eyes and wondered exactly she was going to do with her discovery
----------
Madam Pomfrey was utterly bewildered the next day as to how Harry had managed to ruin his bandage
'You were in bed all night' she insisted 'yet you look like you've been trekking'
'I haven't though' Harry answered slightly impatient in his need to leave the Hospital Wing 'Can I go now?'
'Yes off you go' she agreed 'Just be careful with that arm and try not to destroy the new bandage
--
Harry made his way back slowly to the common room dressed in the clothes the house elves had left clean on his bed, it was still early enough for the sun not to have fully risen outside. As he passed the library a curly headed figure jumped out at him
'I don't know how it's possible' Hermione garbled at Harry
'How what's possible?' Harry asked, but a sinking feeling had already filled him
'You're him' she burst out 'The Blood Slayer. The markings on your arm, it shows everything'
'That's just a tattoo I got last year' Harry lied calculating in his head how he was going to get out of it
'It's a magical inscription not a tattoo' Hermione said impatiently 'allow me to know the difference'
'Have you told anyone else?' Harry asked urgently looking round and checking they were alone
'Of course not I…'
'Obliviate Suggestiva!' Harry cursed flicking his wand at Hermione with regret
A listless fell over Hermione's features and she gazed at Harry as if in a haze
'You did not find out what I was' Harry proposed to Hermione 'instead you ran to the library to do some revision on Charms, you fell asleep at about midnight and stayed in the library all night'
'In the library' repeated Hermione
'That's right' agreed Harry 'I'm really sorry I had to do this Hermione, and I'm really sorry about this, Sleepus!
Hermione fell limp and Harry caught her deftly in his arms, he walked back into the empty library and set Hermione at a desk propping her head on her hands. He then summoned lots of N.E.W.T charm books and spread them around her, open at random pages. Walking over to Hermione's previous workplace Harry pushed all the paper balls into a pile and cindered them with a fire spell. Collecting all of the books up Harry stacked them back on an empty shelf, taking one last look to check everything was ok before leaving
Sadness filled Harry, he really hadn't wanted to do that, Harry had hoped to miss detection completely, however that seemed ever more impossible. Harry just supposed he had better not let Hermione see his arm ever again, or risk another reveal
-----
Harry entered the Dormitory silently the other boys carried on sleeping in blissful ignorance. Harry replaced the box under his bed and headed into the bathroom, he pulled off the bandage and dropped it in the bin, he had stopped bleeding yesterday, so he didn't need a bandage. The wound was looking just like a normal gash, no sign of the puffy mess that had been there before.
Harry stepped into the warmness off the shower and considered what had happened downstairs, if anyone found out what he had done then he would be expelled, not to mention discovered. Shame filled him as he thought of Hermione, though he had only been protecting himself he thought dully.
Harry dried his hair with a towel and pinned it in a ponytail at the back of his neck, going to his trunk Harry pulled out a pair of black jeans, another pair of black converse, a white vest-top and a black long-sleeved shirt. Dressing quickly he also added a mix of knives to the outfit, hidden all over his body - he left out the sword and Holy Water bombs, they sang of 'slight overkill' for a trip to Hogsmeade in the daytime
By the time Harry was dressed the other lad's had started to stir Ron shoved his head out of the hangings and stared blearily at Harry
'What time is it?' he groaned
'About quarter to eight' Harry answered
Neville climbed out of his own bed and stretched his arms over his head
'We've got to find Hermione' he said to Ron who had slumped back into bed
'Why?' came the tired reply
'She wanted to tell us something' Neville shrugged 'she said it was urgent'
Harry felt a pit of ice fall in his stomach as he listened to the conversation
'I can go and find her if you want'
'Hang on minute and we'll come' Ron answered grabbing a pair of socks of the floor and brushing the fluff off
'Yeh' agreed Neville as he stumbled into the bathroom 'just give me five minutes'
----
Fifteen minutes later they eventually left the Gryffindor Tower and headed to the library after finding Hermione to be absent from the common room
As they walked to the library, Harry hoped his spell had worked, they usually were foolproof until last year when a Dwarf's memory's were triggered by a raw steak.
Neville entered the library first and spotted Hermione asleep in a chair, he gestured over to her
'Who wants to wake her up?'
'Not me' Ron grinned 'last time she hexed me, took me ages to get rid of the boils'
'Harry?' Neville asked
'No thanks' Harry smiled 'I make it a rule never to wake anything that's asleep on purpose'
'Guess it's me then' muttered Neville walking over to Hermione, when he reached her he shook her gently 'Hermione, wakey, wakey time'
Hermione jerked up and grabbed for her wand, Neville jumped behind a stack of books
'Oh calm down' she said yawning 'I wouldn't curse you on purpose'
'Didn't stop you last time' Ron murmured under his breath
'What was that?' Hermione demanded
'Nothing' Ron said quickly
'What did you need to tell Ron and Neville' Harry asked uneasily
'Oh that' Hermione said looking over at the desk she had been 'working' at 'It was something to do with the Charms homework we were set, but I'm not quite sure what I was going to tell you'
'You got us out of bed on a Sunday morning for homework, and then you can't even remember what it was you were going to tell us' Ron said exasperated
'Sorry' Hermione said 'it mustn't have been that important'
Harry let a silent sigh of relief out. His spell had worked, Hermione did not remember her discovery
'Let's get some breakfast' Neville suggested heading out of the library 'I'm starving'
'I'll catch up with you' Hermione answered 'I have to get something from the common room'
'See you later then' Neville said going through the door
'Meet us by the main doors for Hogsmeade' Ron added before following Neville 'are coming later Harry?'
'Sirius asked me to go with him' Harry replied 'it's so we can get to know each other'
'That's great' Neville's voice floated back to Hermione through the open library doors 'Is Remus going as well?'
-
Hermione quickly gathered her bag up and quickly headed out of the Library heading in the opposite direction to the one taken by the three lads. She sped to Dumbledore's office
'Hermione Granger' she breathed 'here with important information regarding the Blood Slayer'
