Midnight is the Witching Hour
Chapter Nine
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It was midnight and the cold winter wind was whipping through the branches of a lone tree that stood on a hill over looking a village. The village was dark and quiet, the only sound a faint whistle that seemed to chill you as much as the cold breeze that created it.
Standing under the tree, the moon through the branches casting shadows on his face, stood a thin and gaunt man. He was dressed in black robes that hung awkwardly off his sickly frame. He looked like he was about to die of hunger, but instead of a hungry or pained look on his face, the man wore a smile. It was the kind of smile that sent a shudder through your body; a smile that made your hair stand on end.
He was soon joined by other black robed people, who appeared in thin air with faint pops. They stood around him in a half circle looking from one to the other; they each looked into the others faces as if mentally taking roll to see who showed up. But, they finally turned their attention to the man.
One spoke up after a few moments of silence, "We shouldn't be meeting in the open; it is dangerous." His voice was ruff, like sandpaper, "lying low, that's what we should be doing."
"I have been lying low," snapped the thin, strange man, "why do you think I look so thin?" He raised one long finger and stabbed himself in the chest with conviction, "I have been living on the streets, trying to blend in and find out what I can about the situation."
The gruff man spoke up again, "what do you think we all have been doing? Living in the lap of luxury?" He laughed in a bitter way and shot venomous look at the sickly man with his eyes.
"That is why…," the pale, thin man who was clearly shaping up to be the leader, straightened his back and squared his jaw, "…I have come up with a plan. I have done enough eavesdropping that I have gathered that the Golden Boy has disappeared, again."
He looked around the circle, "he vanished during the battle, but later made contact once with the ministry. Now, he is gone again. No recorded movement since he bought a house outside of London, but even that is abandoned. It would seem impossible to find him, BUT I have decided to get him to come to us."
A women's voice piped up, shrill and harsh sounding, "How in the hell are we supposed to get him to come to us?"
The smile on the man's face grew at her disbelief. He cut his eyes at her, "we are simply going to take something that he will be sure to come after, something valuable. It must be something easy to take and very important."
"And I'm sure you have already thought of this... this thing?" The lady crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips.
"Why of course. We are going to capture and hold his friends. The blood traitor and the mudblood are very important to him and are not very well protected at the moment." The thin man couldn't seem to stop smiling madly, his eyes gleaming.
"Everyone thinks they are safe, but even though we are few there are still enough of us left and we will finish off Harry Potter. We will see him dead and our master avenged." The man chuckled and then looked around the circle once more, snapping, "We must prepare! Meet me here again tomorrow night."
The howling of the wind smothered the pops heard as the cloaked figures vanished until it was only the lone man standing on the hill once again. He rubbed his hands together. Yes, he thought, Potter was going to pay dearly for what he had done. He would come for his friends and when he was at the mercy of the death eaters... he would watch his friends die before he was allowed the privilege of death; he would suffer. Harry Potter was going to regret the day he defeated the Dark Lord.
With one last smile the man disappeared. The wind seemed to die down as the tree was left alone again, alone on its hill, the village sleeping peacefully below.
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Harry was camped out on the far side of the library. He had chosen a random book off the shelf and had just decided to plop down in front of the book case to read it. With his feet stretched out and his back against the bottom rows of books he read silently, his eyes the only thing moving.
Draco and Alexander hadn't come back yet, but that was normal, he figured. A quick glance at the grandfather clock told him it was only 2:30 in the morning. Harry had turned back to his book when he felt a chill. It was like a slight breeze had swept across the room sending a shiver up his spine. Harry glanced around the library, but saw nothing off about the scene before him. His senses and his training instincts were telling him that something wasn't right, however.
Before he could stand up or even scan the room a man appeared before him out of nowhere. Harry started violently, but didn't scream. The person in front of him looked to be a man in his early thirties, distinguished, dirty blond hair, with aristocratic features. He was broad in the shoulders, thin in the waist, tall, with honey colored eyes. Harry looked him up and down. The man was definately a vampire. Now that Harry knew what to look for, it was obvious.
"Can I help you?" Harry decided that he would try being nice first.
The man looked down his nose at Harry, "I'm looking for Alexander. I assumed he would be here. Malfoy is the only person he visits…"
The man trailed off, talking more to himself than Harry. He soon turned his attention back though.
"Who are you?"
Before Harry could answer the man walked mighty close to him and sniffed. He felt fingers thread through his hair. Shivering in disgust, Harry stood up and tried to walk away from the man, but the vampire only came closer.
The man spoke again, "You smell… human. What're you doing here? Alexander doesn't mess with humans, nor does the young Malfoy."
The man sniffed the air around Harry again, "You do not smell like you are bonded, you are not a sang offrende. Hmmm…"
Harry tried to edge his way over to the door, but an arm came up to his left, blocking his way.
"Where are we going?" The guy sounded amused.
The man ran a finger over Harry cheek, "you don't have the blood of another in you, so that means you are free game."
Harry was starting to get angry, forcing the initial uneasiness of fear to leave. He was not a play toy and this man was taking liberties with him that weren't his right, the pompous, arrogant… Harry curbed his thoughts and focused. His magic flowed in his veins, gathering strength. He called out to Draco and felt an immediate response. Harry relaxed a little knowing Draco was only seconds away, but he still needed to do something with his magic that was building.
Harry thought for a second and decided to teach the rude vampire what happened when you messed with Harry Potter. Without too much guilt, Harry pooled his magic into his open palms by his sides.
The pompous guy was too busy running his finger up and down Harry's neck to notice the energy gathering in Harry's open hands. Quickly, Harry brought up his hands and shoved his open palms against the vampire's chest. Caught off guard, the vampire was stunned into silence as the air was forced out of his lungs on impact. He yelled once he realized he was being thrown into the air though.
Harry held his hands up, magic still connected from his hands to the guy's chest. He held him in the air for a second and then with a jerk of his arms to the right, he closed his hands. The magic connection broke just as the vampire went careening into the bookshelf. He hit and crashed 8 feet down, landing in a limp heap on the floor.
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Draco had felt Harry's slight unease a few minutes before the distress call. He freaked out the minute he heard Harry's voice shouting at him to get to the library as soon as possible. Draco had grabbed Alex explaining briefly and they had both shimmered into the mansion immediately.
Running up the steps and throwing open the door, Draco saw a man pressing his body up against Harry's. He had one arm thrown up to block his mate from moving and the other hand was busy making tracks over Harry's body. Draco gave a deep growl and immediately his fangs lengthened and his entire body started to shimmer. He saw red, plain and simple, that vampire, and he could tell that it was a vampire, was going to die for touching his Harry.
But before Draco could even make a move, the vampire was thrown up into the air with a screech. Harry was glaring at his form, suspended in mid air. Draco could see Harry's magic, like lightning bolts threading from the vampire's chest to Harry's hands. It seemed Harry was just going to let him hang there, but with a jerk of the brunette's hands the vampire went sailing into a bookcase and crashing to the floor.
Draco heard a whistle from his right and he had to admit that he was just as impressed as Alex was. He had seen Harry defeat the Dark Lord, but other than that, Harry had never really intentionally hurt anyone. At least, Draco had never seen him project anger like that before.
It took a lot of focus and power to make your magic manifest like that. To bend it to your will without a spell, was incredible. Draco was still stunned… and proud. His mate was so powerful and beautiful standing there fuming and crackling with unused power.
Draco walked over to Harry while Alex messed with the knocked out vamp.
Harry looked a little surprised when he finally turned to look at Draco. He had never seen him glow or radiate as the vampires called it. It was a physical manifestation of their emotions. Usually when they where very angry, they would express all of their vampire traits at once: the glowing, the fangs, their eyes... It could be scary, but Harry just looked amazed.
Draco reached out and touched Harry's cheek and their aura's met, clashing together, but finally swirling as one. Pearly white met shiny emerald and then as he and Harry started to calm down the glow receded. Draco's fangs returned to a more normal length and his silver eyes sparkled their true color once more.
"I called for you." Harry smiled and tilted his head into Draco's palm.
"And I came as soon as I could, but, to be honest, it looks like you had the whole thing under control."
Draco smirked as Harry laughed and shrugged, "It felt good."
"I bet. That was some powerful magic. Are you tired? Do you feel sick? Do you need anything?"
Harry just laughed and waved off Draco's habit of mothering him. It was annoying, yet welcoming at the same time. He shifted his green eyes to see Alex dumping the still blacked out vampire on the couch. Harry moved over; closer to the fire.
"His name," said Alex "is William."
Harry nodded his head, "He said he was coming to see you. Something about you always being at Malfoy's if you weren't at your place or something. He smelled me and I think he thought he had rights to me because I didn't smell bonded. He could smell that I was still human and mortal. I guess he thought that I was some kind of servant."
"Well, some vampire's have human servants to feed off of and to help with the household. Lazy, I say, the lot of them. Like they can't bother to go out and hunt for food." Alexander looked down at William, "He should have known that if you were a human living with either Draco or myself that you were important, certainty not a servant."
"Yes, he did mumble something about you and Draco not associating with humans usually." Harry shrugged.
Harry, while outwardly appearing nonchalant, was internally having a lovely guilt trip. He was smart enough to catch that William came on to him because he hadn't bonded with Draco or allowed himself to be immortalized. Harry would be facing more issues like this the longer he waited, the longer it took him to accept the change.
Draco was in tune, as always, to what was going on inside Harry's mind. This time, however, he had decided not to interfere. He could reassure Harry, but in truth, this could happen again, might happen again, if Harry didn't accept him fully soon. Draco didn't want to be cruel in letting Harry beat himself up, but he needed to realize the consequences that came with skirting the edge. You either needed to be in the human world or the vampire world. Trying to inhabit both was dangerous because it was hard to tell where you stood.
And Draco wanted Harry to know exactly where he stood… right beside Draco.
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Draco had insisted that Harry go upstairs. The blond vampire wasn't having any of Harry's protests and demanded that he eat a little something and that he take it easy for the rest of the night. So, with whining and griping, Harry retired early to their bedroom, with Draco not far behind. This left dear William in the care of Alexander for the night.
Alex watched over his tentative friend until he started stirring. William had been an old business associate of Alex's and had helped him deal with his human and immortal assets. The term friend was a loose way of describing their relationship. William thought Alex was soft for not having servants and weird for choosing to live alone. Alexander just thought Will was an idiot. He treated his human servants poorly, though not cruelly, and while very good with other people's money, flaunted his unnecessarily. Vain as a peacock, that's how Alexander would describe the man in front of him.
Will groaned as he came around, automatically bringing a hand up to the back of his head as he sat up.
"Why do I feel like I have been hit with a ton of bricks?"
"Because," Alexander chuckled at Will's discomfort, "you just came on to Draco Malfoy's unbonded sang offrende."
"What! Oh, yes, now I remember, but I don't remember Malfoy even being in the room when I turned my charms on that delicious little brunette."
"That's because we didn't arrive until he already had you in the air and careening towards the bookcase." Alex laughed at the sour look on William's face, "That 'delicious little brunette' happens to also be Harry Potter, the most powerful wizard of this age… and I don't think he liked your charms very much."
Will made a face in his direction and then moved to swing his legs over the side of the couch so Alex could have a seat.
"So, what brings you here anyway?" Alex sat and stretched out his legs.
"I was bored, thought you could use some company. But, of course, you weren't home and I figured you had to be here."
"You were bored?" Alex raised a red brow, "with that cute little thing you just acquired occupying your bed? I doubt you got tired of him that fast? He was beautiful and young from what I recall… 17, you said?"
"Yes, and very spirited, he loved being with me, once he got adjusted that is."
"You have only had him for a few months. What is with all this 'I'm bored' nonsense?
"Well, if you must know, he has refused me the last few nights. You know that I can be tough, but I'm not about to rape the boy… although I'm sorely tempted, the imp."
Alex cut Will a sharp look and he held his hands up, "I'm joking. It's just that I accidentally told him the story of sang offrende and now he wants to be mine." Will ran fingers through his hair in an exasperated motion, "I mean he just isn't who I pictured, you know, plus he is WAY to bloody young. I mean, he thinks it's romantic for heaven's sake, I just…"
Alex laughed as Will trailed off. Will had always liked them young; girls, boys, it didn't matter. He never went lower then 16 or 17, he wasn't a pedophile in any life, but Alex just guessed that it made him feel young. Even though he would always look 32, the decades had worn on his soul and he liked to surround himself with youth. The fact that he was rich and handsome didn't make finding willing young adults and teens very hard. The aristocrat had never taken one of them as his offrende though. Alexander figured that, like himself, he had never found anyone special enough, no one had felt right.
"I think you need to gently let this kid down. Tell him your reasons for holding out and then if he doesn't understand, let him go. Wow, I just sounded like I was giving you a speech on abstinence." Alex laughed.
"Hardy, har, har, you jackass." Will stood up and looked down at Alex.
"It was good seeing you. I'll let you know how it goes. If Reed, the imp, doesn't like what I have to say, then I'll give him to you."
Before Alex could say anything or protest, Will was out the door and gone.
"Bloody Twit," Alex murmured, but nobody heard him.
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So, what do you think? Good chapter… I wanted to give Harry a little bit of a power trip, he was acting a bit too un-Harry like for my taste. He is a submissive in this story, and he is emotionally shy, but he has reason for that I think, and he is by no means helpless. So, there it is. I think most of you where for Snape and Alexander, so stay tuned for that. This means that Blaise will not be in the story at all and I am sorry to report that I just don't have room for Sirius or Remus… I hope no one is too mad. Much love.
Ash
P.S. I must say again that I am taking my first trip in May of this year to Europe. I will be going to London, Edinburgh, and Paris. I was hoping for some tips or advice from any of you locals out there. E-mail me or stick it in your review because I would love to hear from you….