Okay, seeing as how it is now summer and I don't have anymore school, that means that I can update this story nonstop, right? WRONG! My cousins here and I have to plan everything throughout our day so we can have fun before they leave. Plus…my parents think I'm spending too much time on the computer playing "games." I don't think they consider my writing special. I don't play games…I write.
Anyway, thank you to all who reviewed!
Note: I realize that the Potion does the exact same thing as the drug but I didn't feel like changing the name, so just bare with me here.
Freaker1605- Thank you for your motivating reviews! I really need them I'm extremely lazy.
Molly- Thank you! And…yeah, it does take me 5 weeks to write a chapter. I have it in my head and all…I just don't type it until my friends threaten my life.
Brokn Innocence- SENSEI! Yay! You have reviewed, I'm so happy! Thank you so much! My eyes leak with joy!
Sarah- HERE IS CHAPTER 11! JEEZ, IMPATIENT MUCH? GOD!
Andrew- You are welcome. I don't like the Harry/Ginny thing either. So in my story…ANYTHING HAPPENS! IN THIS FANFICTION…I AM GOD! MWUAHAHAHAHA! FEAR ME! HAHAHAHAHA!
Here's chapter 11 everybody!
Daytime Talks, Evening Rows, & Nighttime Hunting
The week for Sophie went by quite well. Happy that she finally found the Room of Requirements, she felt that she was more than ready for Friday.
She even had her cravings in check. Whenever she had the urge to drink blood, she would reach into the pocket of her robes and take out one of her lollipops.
However, since the moon was coming in less than a week, her blood cravings were becoming more frequent. In Potions class on Monday, the students had made a potion that could drive a man insane with one drop and when brewed correctly, it turned blood red.
Sophie had to excuse herself to go to the bathroom so she wouldn't have to see it and once there, ate at least five lollipops…the most she's ever eaten.
In Herbology on Tuesday, Neville had received a deep cut on his face from a rather nasty plant and Sophie dropped her bowl of gillywater that they were supposed to water the plant with, and dove under the table to collect the shattered pieces. She ate three lollipops instead.
By Wednesday she realized she was running low and swore to herself that she would only eat them if she needed to. But now, she ate them for no reason at all and by Thursday, she had none.
It was Defense Against the Dark Arts and Sophie was beginning to feel nervous and anxious for Friday. She was also starting to feel fidgety and kept drumming her fingers on the desk.
I need some of those lollipops but I ate them all! I'm starting to get the craving for blood even when I don't see any! What am I going to do? She thought and drummed her fingers even faster.
"Ms. Florence," came the voice from Professor Snape. He obviously heard her drumming, "this is Defense Against the Dark Arts class—not a music class. Cease your fidgeting or risk detention." He then turned his attention back to the class; all of who stopped at stare at her, and continued to read the lesson on how to use high-level jinxes in a duel.
"Hey," whispered Roger who was sitting next to her, "are you all right? You seem jumpy today. Plus you look paler than you were last week."
"I'm fine," she replied, "don't worry about me, Roger." He looked at her skeptically. "You sure?" he asked. She nodded. "Yes," she said, "positive."
"Ms. Florence," said Professor Snape yet again, "if I have to speak to you once more, you and Mr. Davies will get detention. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Professor," they said and followed along with the lesson.
"All right, lunch time. I'm starving!" said Blaise as he, Roger, Sophie, Pansy, and Draco walked up the stairs towards the Great Hall.
"I wonder what's for lunch," said Pansy. She was practically glued to Draco's arm and from where Sophie was standing; it looked like she was cutting off his blood supply.
"I have no idea, but it smells excellent," answered Roger, "I can almost taste it." He licked his lips hungrily.
"What about you, Florence? You must be hungry as well," said Draco, looking at her. True she was hungry but not for the food that awaited them in the Great Hall. She wanted to settle a different kind of hunger.
"Yeah, I'm starving," she said. They had reached the Great Hall and taken their seats at the Slytherin table which was filled with dish after dish of mashed potatoes, Shepherd's Pie, (A/N: the best damn dish in the entire universe!) sausages, roast beef, roast chicken, roast pork, and lamb. There was also Yorkshire pudding and Toad-in-the-hole. (A/N: Don't ask me what the hell that is, cause I have no clue. But I do know that it's English.)
"Food!" yelled Blaise as he grabbed every dish of food within his reach and started slapping large amounts on his plate. "Mmmm, so…delicious," he said as he shoveled mouthfuls of Shepherd's Pie into his mouth.
"Sophie, you don't have that much on your plate," said Roger. He had noticed her put only a small amount of Yorkshire pudding and roast lamb on her plate. "Didn't you say you starving? That doesn't look like it could fill you up."
"You need to eat more, Sophie," said Pansy, "you haven't been eating a lot of food lately and…well, you're starting to worry us. You're getting paler by the day too. Is there anything wrong? You're not sick are you?"
"I'm fine," she said looking at them all. By the look on their faces, she could tell that they didn't believe her at all. "Really, I am. Anyway, I think I'm just catching a cold that's all. I mean, cold weather is coming, it's pretty normal."
They continued to stare at her. "A cold?" said Blaise, skeptically. "Colds don't make you turn pale every day," said Pansy.
"The Ebola virus can kill you, so that could be a reason why you're pale," said Draco. He smirked. Sophie glared at him and said, "Well, since you're pale everyday then you must have it as well. Hopefully your case has progressed more than mine so with any luck, you'll die within the next hour or two."
Everyone laughed.
"Very funny," he said darkly and stabbed his Yorkshire pudding with his fork. "Oh I find it hilarious," she said with a wicked grin.
He was about to answer back when Roger gave a loud belch, excused himself, and asked Blaise what they had after lunch. "Draco, Sophie, and I have Double Potions next. I don't know about you though, mate," he said.
"Oh yeah that's right, we have different classes. I think I have Divination next," said Roger looking at the ceiling. Bright sunshine leaked through and clouds drifted lazily by. "Yup, I'm almost positive."
"You're taking Divination?" asked Malfoy in disbelief, staring at Roger. "Yeah," he said gloomily and looking at Malfoy. "Since Dumbledore didn't make Trelawney's sacking official last year, she still has her job…and I'm stuck with her."
"And on this bright and beautiful day too," said Pansy sympathetically, also looking at the ceiling.
"Mmm-hmm," said Roger. "Anyway, all I'm going to do is sleep the entire class since she never puts out that fire and it's always so freaking hot in there."
The bell rang for class and they all went their separate ways: Roger to his Divination class, Pansy to her Advanced Astrology, and Sophie, Malfoy, and Blaise to their Potions lesson.
Potions class, as usual, went by with Slughorn praising Harry on his success at making the Potion of Ecstasy—which is supposed to give the drinker immense energy in everything he/she does—and giving Gryffindor House twenty points, while the Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hermione and Ron all sulked.
"Now I would like you all to put your potions in a vile and hand them in and hopefully I will give out your grades by next Thursday," said Professor Slughorn as the class got up to grab a vile.
The bell rang for break and everyone scrambled out of the classroom. "Sophie, are you coming?" asked Blaise. He and Malfoy were at the door and stood waiting for her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still in the classroom as well.
"Why do I have to wait for her? It's not like I want to," hissed Draco to Blaise. "Besides Pansy's waiting for me."
"Well, Pansy's going to have to wait—"
"No she doesn't, Blaise," said Sophie from their table. She was busy cleaning up her mess and putting her things away. "You two go on ahead, I'll catch up."
"Don't have to tell me twice. See you later, Blaise," said Draco and left. Blaise watched him with a mixed look of anger and amusement. He turned his attention to Sophie instead.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait up for you? I don't mind," he said. Sophie looked over the table as she was on her hands and knees because she had dropped her notes. "I'm sure," she said. "Go on, I'll be right there."
Blaise nodded and left her and the three Gryfindors alone. "What are you three doing here? I thought you left with the others," said Sophie, under the table, to the three of them.
"We're doing what you're doing: cleaning," said Ron looking at her. "Well you'd best hurry if you don't want to miss break," said Slughorn from his desk.
"Well, we're also here because Hermione wants to ask you something Professor," said Harry. "Does she now?" said the teacher. "What of?"
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me about…" she hesitated. "Come now, don't be bashful," said Slughorn urging her to say more. "Well, I was hoping that you might be able to tell us more about…" she hesitated again.
"About what?" said Slughorn.
"About vampires."
BANG!
They all turned to see what the noise was and saw Sophie emerge from under the table rubbing her head.
"Ow," she said. She looked at the four of them, all staring at her wide-eyed. "Oh, don't mind me," she said in a falsely cheery voice, smiling. "I'm almost finished here anyway. I'll be out of your way in no time. Just pretend I'm not here."
"Are you all right?" asked the Potions Master. "Oh yes sir," she said in the same voice and stuffing her papers in her bag. "I'm fine, it's just a bump. Nothing to worry about. Carry on with whatever it is you were discussing."
They all stared at her as if she was insane but Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned to face Slughorn anyway. He looked at Hermione and said, "Why the sudden interest in these creatures, Miss Granger?"
"Oh no, I'm not interested in the creatures themselves," said the bushy haired girl, "I was just wondering if they could ever fall in love with a human and have children."
"Where are you going with this, Hermione?" asked Harry out of the corner of his mouth so only she could hear. She ignored him.
She looked at Slughorn hopefully. He stared at her for a moment, fingers laced together under his nose.
"This is a question for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he finally said.
"Which is why I came to you, Professor," said Hermione, "I mean, you were formerly a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher weren't you?" He nodded, a smile playing across his lips.
"Yes, you're right about that Miss Granger," he told her. "Now, to answer your question…I suppose it is possible."
"Is it rare for a vampire to fall in love with a human?" she asked him. Slughorn sighed. "Oh yes, it's quite rare," he said.
"Then how is it possible?" questioned Hermione.
"Because you see, vampires don't usually fall in love. The only way they can survive is by drinking the blood of a human of the opposite sex, and usually what's going through their minds is just repopulating their species."
That's not true, thought Sophie. She was silently still, listening to every word they were saying, vampires do fall in love; my cousin was a victim of it. I don't think he was trying to 'repopulate the species.'
"The same goes for a human," continued Slughorn. "But if the vampire does happen to fall in love, then yes, the human and the vampire can have children. But it's not likely. One hundred people—out of the entire population of the world—has vampire blood in their veins."
And I'm one of those one hundred people, Sophie thought. And the world is freaking huge, so I'm not surprised that only one hundred kids are exactly like me.
"Can you easily spot them?" asked Ron, his eyes wide with interest. Sophie's insides turned to ice. She had no idea what they were trying to do, or even if they were actually talking about her. But if they were…then they know. She shuddered. If they know…then she would have to kill them.
She prayed that they weren't, so she would have to keep the promise she made to her uncle. It seemed that it was so long ago she had made that horrible pact, but it was really only two weeks earlier.
"Oh, no," said Slughorn gravely. "They can pass as easily for a human as a gecko can pass for a newt."
"But there are differences," said Hermione, "between a gecko and newt."
"As sharp as ever, Miss Granger," said the Potions Master with a smile.
"So…if there are differences between a gecko and a newt," said Ron slowly, "then there must be differences between a real human and a fake one."
"There is no such thing as a fake human, Mr. Weasley," said Slughorn. "You must remember that although the child in question does have vampire blood in them, they still have human blood. They are still human."
"Okay, you lost me," replied the redhead, "but anyway, keep going. Hermione will fill me in on the rest." She rolled her eyes.
"What are the differences between a half-vampire and a human?" she asked. However, before Slughorn could utter another word, the bell rang, signaling them to go to their next class—Herbology.
Harry turned to ask Sophie if she was ready to go to Herbology, but stopped in mid sentence. She had gone.
"Hey, Harry, how come you didn't say anything when Slughorn was explaining all that cool stuff to us back in Potions?" asked Ron.
It was ten o'clock and he, Harry, and Hermione were in the Gryffindor common room finishing up their homework for the night. Ron was lying on his stomach on the floor, and Harry and Hermione were at a table.
"Yeah, Harry, I thought what Professor Slughorn said was rather interesting. You should've joined in," said Hermione.
She was finishing up an Ancient Runes essay, while Harry and Ron were struggling with their Charms homework. ("How to cause extreme nausea without having it backfire on the Charmer.")
Harry couldn't bring himself to say anything. He didn't know why, but he was seething with anger. He knew Hermione was up to something, but he just couldn't put his finger on it and it was driving him mad.
What made him even angrier was that Hermione refused to say anything about it. Not that he asked her to, because of course she would deny it. But on top of that, Ron was completely clueless to the whole thing.
He was so angry, that he couldn't hold his quill steady and kept making ink blotches all over his parchment.
"Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione tentatively. She was looking at his parchment and saw the ink marks. Unable to control his anger anymore, Harry slammed his hand on the table, making the inkbottles near his and Hermione's papers topple over, spreading the dark liquid everywhere. Ron looked up from his work in alarm.
"Harry!" screeched Hermione, "What on earth has gotten into you?" She snatched up her parchment, took out her wand and started erasing the pool of ink on her parchment leaving nothing but the words she had written.
She looked at Harry who glared at her, then at Ron looking panic stricken. "Harry, what the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he asked his friend.
"You're up to something, Hermione," said Harry, still glaring at Hermione. "What?" she said, her face turning pale pink. "No, I'm—"
"And don't even try to deny it, 'cause I know you are!" yelled Harry. "I don't know exactly what it is you're doing, but I know two things: whatever it is, the library's definitely part of it, and another," he lowered his voice at this point, "I think it has something to do with Sophie Florence."
Ron and Hermione stared at him. Ron's eyes were as wide as saucers, and Hermione was trying to look shocked.
"Ron," said Harry looking at him, "do you remember when Hermione wanted to talk to us about Sophie last Thursday? How she thought—or thinks—she might be hiding something?"
"Yeah," said Ron slowly, nodding. "But Harry, why are you getting all worked up about Sophie—"
"I think you're trying to find out what it is," said Harry, ignoring Ron and turning to Hermione and glaring. She was trying desperately to look as shocked as she could, but she knew that Harry had found her out.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She took a breath to calm herself and said, "So what if I am? I have a right to, don't I? What if I'm right?"
"What if your wrong? Then you'll just meddle in Sophie's life and probably make it a living hell. The same way that you're trying to find out about the Half-Blood Prince and nagging me to stop using my Potions book."
"That's different, Harry—!"
"No, it's not! There is absolutely no difference about it!"
Silence passed between all three of them. Ron appeared to have lost his voice, Harry was again teeming with anger, and Hermione was glaring at him.
"If you want to meddle, fine," said Harry packing his things. "But I don't want any part of it."
"I wasn't going to ask you anyway," snapped Hermione. He ignored her. "I'm going to bed," he said and walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
"I really think she's hiding something, Ron," said Hermione once Harry had left. "You think so too, right?"
Ron sighed. "I think," he said, getting up and packing his things as well, "you're on your own this time Hermione." He looked at her, and Hermione could see his blue eyes were filled with sympathy.
"In fourth year it was the house-elves, and Harry and I let it go. But this time…" he sighed. "…I don't know. This is someone's life we're talking about and someone just butting his or her head into it, just doesn't feel right. I'm sorry, Hermione but I'm with Harry on this one."
He picked up his bag and followed Harry's lead, with Hermione watching him go. She flopped down on her chair, and ran a hand through her bushy hair.
"I'm going to find out what she's hiding," she said to herself, "and Harry and Ron aren't going to stop me."
Two hours later, while the entire castle was asleep in their beds, dreaming of the day to come, a figure stirred in the darkness. Reaching inside the pocket of her robes, Sophie took out the Marauder's Map Harry had given her yesterday.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she whispered and watched patiently as lines began moving from her wand tip throughout the parchment and formed themselves into the words:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are Proud to present
The Marauder's Map
"There it is," she said eagerly and, stuffing the map in her pocket, she headed for her destination. It was time to hunt.
Checking the map frequently to make sure she was headed in the right direction, Sophie zigzagged her way through Hogwarts, the thirst for blood fresh inside her, and adrenaline rushing through her veins.
"Found it," she said as she reached her destination, "the Ravenclaw Tower."
Filled with a high that she had never felt or experienced before, she looked at the map and saw the familiar little ink dot labeled Sophie Florence. A speech bubble appeared next to it with the word, "Rutilus Astrum."
She said the password to the sleeping occupant in the picture. "Fine, fine," he said, without opening his eyes. "But if anyone asks," he yawned, "I didn't let you in."
Dashing inside the portrait hole, Sophie looked at the map one last time to find the dormitory she was looking for. Girls' were on her left; boys' on her right. She took the stairs to the boys' dorm.
Opening the dormitory door as quietly as she could, she snaked her way to through the boys' dorm.
There were beds with their occupants in them all around her, but she wasn't interested in them. She already had a person in mind. She just had to find him.
Bed after bed she searched, looking down at the trunks at the foot of each bed for the person's initials. Finally she found the one she was looking for. She looked down and sure enough, there were the initials:
J. P.
"Jason Pilney," she whispered with a relish of excitement. She silently crept up to where his head lay on his pillow and she could see him sleeping soundly, the moonlight casting an eerie glow on his face, making him look deathly white.
She removed the covers so that only a part of his neck was visible, and the jugular vein was shown, a pale purple in the light. Sophie could see it pulse as the blood moved through it, and her mouth watered with hunger.
She smiled greedily, and in the pale light of the moon, her long canine teeth shown like daggers. It was time.
She bent over him; her lips parted and pressed her teeth against the skin. Once broken, the blood rushed into her mouth. To a normal person, blood would taste salty and not very appetizing. But to her, the blood tasted sweet and tangy—it was way better than those stupid lollipops.
She hadn't drunk much when she heard someone stir in their bed. She stood up in alarm and fear. With the adrenaline now worn from her body, and the high she had felt earlier now gone, she had more sense of her surroundings.
Her heartbeat quickened with fear and dread once she realized what she had just done. Without wasting any time, she quickly but quietly left the boys' dorm and rushed out of the Ravenclaw Tower.
Checking the map again, she followed it to the Slytherin Dorm, and said the password in exasperated breath. It was only a matter of time before someone will notice Jason and scream for help.
Numb with fear, dread, and shock, Sophie walked down the beige colored staircase and seeing one of the familiar black couches, immediately flopped down in one of them.
What have I done? She thought.
You have done what your ancestors have done for centuries, said a voice in her head. And admit it—you liked it.
That was true. She had liked the feeling of the hunt, the high she had gotten and the taste of fresh blood in her mouth. But she had broken the promise to her uncle. She had drunk the blood of a human.
She started to shake uncontrollably and she felt tears some to her eyes. She wiped the blood from her mouth, buried her face in her hands, and wept.
I am so sorry for the late update! Please forgive me! I had huge writer's block and couldn't think for like two weeks! But I'm happy that I got this up, and on my birthday too. But anyway, I am so sorry for keeping you all waiting and feel free to yell and scream at me in your reviews. I deserve them.
Oh, and I'd like to thank three other reviewers—Silent Twilight, Niles Chiku, and liesofadarkheartedangel. Thanks a bunch!