Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own characters.
Note: Alright, last chapter for now, probably until next Friday or Saturday. Enjoy! Hope to see lots of comments!
Compulsion
"So, vampires?" he said in an shocked tone as we sat in a nearby café.
"Yep" I replied as he let out a loud whistle. "I knew they existed, I just, I thought they mingled with their own kind" he said.
"They do, some genius thought it to be cool to let the halves see how humans live before making that final decision" I explained, sipping my tea.
"Courtney and Matt" he said, recalling the names I had mentioned when rushing through the past two years.
"And Melinda is engaged?" he asked shaking his head as I nodded, wishing my tea had a little fire whiskey in it. "I see you don't have a ring" he said nodding at my finger. I wiggled my fingers at him, I hadn't told him about Fate.
"Maybe once Burnner is dead" I told him.
"I know you don't need to hear me say this, but, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't' act like the boyfriend I was supposed to when we were together" he said as I nodded, I didn't want to hear it, but, it was in the past, we both knew that and that was the reason why it was okay to hear.
"You've heard of the Fates, right?" I asked, deciding to just put everything out there. He was my friend. He nodded. "They stalked us last year" I said with a little laugh, it sounded unreal saying it aloud. "We ruined some density path when Burnner didn't stay dead and then ruined another density path when we met Matt and Courtney" I explained.
"They can make more paths, they're The Fates" he said.
"They should, but, they won't, they want to eliminate the problem" I told him as he quickly caught on.
"The vampires and halves" he said as I nodded. "I have a feeling you told them to shove that idea somewhere inappropriate" he said as I smiled, at least he expected me to react like I did. "How bad?" he asked.
"Unless we kill Burnner I'm going to die" I said as his face disappeared of any sign of humor or playfulness.
"Fred is holding up well considering" he said after a long pause.
"He's not stupid, if he breaks it means he gives up and doesn't trust me. I can't afford that right now" I explained.
"Speaking of…" he said nodding toward the door as Fred came in. "Hey" he said as we both stood up to greet Fred.
"I thought I saw you" Fred said wrapping his arm around my waist.
"Yeah, I was explaining our crappy situation to Oliver" I said as Oliver gave him a friendly harmless smile.
"How's the Quidditch stuff going?" Fred asked.
"Good, saw Lee in Australia a few weeks ago, we watched the game together, caught up, stuff like that" Oliver explained.
"Cool, and your family?" Fred asked, his tone still friendly and normal.
"They're somewhere around here, dad liked the shop, mum's kinda horrified about some of the stuff" he said with a laugh. "But, she's writing up an article, comparing your shop and the other one. I think she's purposely writing extra good things because knows we were friends" Oliver said with a laugh.
"Are, we are friends Ollie, Quidditch for life" he said as I felt myself close to crying again.
"Speaking of Quidditch, where is Harry? What has done to my team?" he asked as I laughed, Fred shaking his head.
"Well, there's a half vampire on the team now, so, we might stand a chance if he's any good" I said.
"What position?" Oliver asked, his tone going to his captain like voice.
"Beater" I replied.
"You sure like Beaters" he teased.
"Beaters like her" Fred corrected.
"Anyway…" I glanced at my watch. "You two stay and chat, I have to go meet Melinda, I'll see you later" I said giving Fred a light kiss on the lips. "Ollie" I said turning to him, hugging him before he could say anything.
"Good to see you Tammie, I'll see you again, I'm sure of it" he said as he gave me a tight hug. I smiled, again feeling overjoyed that the two of them were talking again. I nodded once more and hurried out of the café. I closed the door I hurried down the steps and made my way to the entrance to Knockturn Alley. I stood and looked around, hoping Melinda would pop up, she knew how much I hated this alley. When she didn't appear I gathered my nerves and headed down the narrow alley, careful to avoid looks from strangers.
"Hey, you there, girl," I heard someone shout, but I ignored them and continued on my way. "Humans, always ignoring suspicious people who just want some money" the person grumbled. I felt myself stop, but didn't let myself turn around; still, I could hear the person moving closer. "You got some money you'd like to share girly?" the voice said as I felt a chill run down my spine, this was a female, a female full vampire.
"Um, yeah, here" I said pulling out my coin purse and handing over some money. "Here you go, I hope it's enough" I said as I went to walk away but she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer.
"You're beautiful," she said pushing hair away from my face and then leaning closer to smell me. "I smell…is…that…" She sniffed me again; I could feel myself slightly panicking as I wondered if vampires could pick up other vampire's scents. I hadn't showered since the previous day, before dinner. "I smell Knacks, Courtney—no, ahh…Damon…" she said as I gulped. "Then you must be the famous Tammie Allen" she said as she continued gripping my hand. For a minute I thought maybe she was Burnner and her appearance change finally got to me—after all she had gotten in my head—but then I saw the fangs. "You'd make a beautiful vampire you know" she said as I managed to pull out of her grip. "Don't worry, I'm not one of those against you, you better be glad for that. I'm just here for snacks" she said nodding back toward the main alley.
"Wha?" I said even though I knew very well what she meant. "You killed that woman last night?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"Eating is important" she said as I backed up. "Run along deary, there's nothing to see here" she said as I stared at her. "You don't know about any vampires feeding here" she said as I continued her What the hell was she trying to do? I wondered as she moved closer and examined my face. "You're a Seer, aren't you?" she asked as I shook my head, mostly out of instinct. "I can't compel you, of course, Matt's a Seer too. He can probably compel you" she said. "But the stupid boy refuses to practice any vampire lessons" she with a sigh and then turned away. "Be off, before I do get hungry" she said as a warning.
I didn't hesitate and was down the alley in a heartbeat, almost missing the sight of Dean who was waving at me. "Hey, Melinda said if you're looking for her she'll be in Gringotts" he said. No, of course she would be. I thought sarcastically as I thanked Dean and made my way back to the main alley, taking the long route to avoid the vampire. Still, the fact that she looked so ordinary scared me. It meant vampires could be anyone, they weren't all gorgeous.
"Hey," Melinda said as I arppached her.
"Hey, I need to talk to you—"
"Draco should be here anymore, I'm nervous, I…I wanna tell him everything, I wanna tell him I love him" she said, her words catching me completely off guard.
"What? You're joking right, you really wanna murder him, right? I'll pretend to be counting my money in my change bag and you'll smack Draco for his stupidity for the year, right?" I asked but she shook her head.
"I wasn't exactly thinking of smacking him. I told you, I'm just going to tell him like it is," Melinda said with a shrug.
"Okay, fine…" I said slowly, licking my lips to go on. "Melinda, listen, I saw—" I started again but she caught me off.
"Here he comes" she whispered as we caught sight of a blonde hair boy leaning against the wall of Gringotts.
"Draco," I said as he approached us.
"Tammie," he replied stiffly. "Melinda," he looked at her, narrowed his eyes and then looked back at me, as if surveying us. "You wanted to talk?" he said. I started to say something as we moved to a more isolated area, but noticed something weird about Draco. His tone mostly.
"Sit, please" Melinda said as we sat on the bench, I was just glad it wasn't freezing and the bench was cleaned off.
"You had your chance, chances, multiply chances. You keep ruining every one of them, you keep messing this up. I'm happy, and you're ruining that," Melinda said, unexpectedly to me.
"Wait, I thought we going in the opposite direction—"
"Melinda, I know—"
"No, I'm not done; do you plan this? I mean, seriously Draco, do you just enjoy torturing me? Did you give me this ring just to torture me?" she asked pointing at the necklace which, the engagement right transfigured into a raven around her neck.
"Apparently, because that's all I want to do" he snapped at her, much to her surprise. "I thought you wanted to tell me something important, but I come here and find out you just wanna argue again" he continued.
"No, stop arguing, please, it's not like that, she does care Draco—"
"Tammie, stop talking" Draco snapped at me, hurting my feelings a little. "It doesn't matter Melinda, I thought it did, I thought you loved me, I thought you wanted something, I wouldn't have given you the ring otherwise. I thought we had something going" he said, his tone and mood way off.
"Maybe I don't" Melinda replied, her voice shaking.
"What the hell? That was whole point of this meeting" I reminded her but then turned my attention to Draco. "Stop it, whatever the hell you're on or thinking or drank, force yourself to stop and listen to Melinda. You don't get another chance here" I hissed to Draco, slightly of Melinda's earshot.
"Nothing is wrong with me, I just don't know why I'm still fighting for a girl that doesn't want me, that has someone else" he said as I shook my head.
"Because you love her you idiot" I reminded him as Melinda moved closer to us. I started to say something but she held her hand up.
"Do you care? Do you even care anymore?" she asked. I waited for Draco to say the same thing he had said in the hospital wing before break, but then I realized I was waiting. He shouldn't have had us waiting.
"I dunno anymore Melinda" he said as I shook my head.
"What the hell happened to you between last night and this morning?
"I opened my eyes? I realized what exactly I was doing" he said. I started to shake my head again but a sudden thought came to me. "How long have you been outside?" I asked him. "Who have you seen? Have you been down Knockturn Alley?" I asked, shaking him a little.
"Yeah, I had to get something for mum" he replied.
"Draco, tell me everything you did this—"
"Why does that matter?" Melinda asked.
"Because there's vampires here, real vampires," I said as both of them hushed up. "I met one when I was looking for you" I said nodding at Melinda. "She tried to compel me but it didn't work" I explained.
"And you think she compelled me? I don't remember talking to anyone, I wouldn't be compelled" he said.
"So, what, these are just your real feelings for me?" Melinda asked.
"Guess so" he said sarcastically as I pushed him back.
"We're going to the Manor, tell Mrs. Weasley and others where I went, I'll be back this evening" I said as I continued pushing Draco away but then stopped and went back over to Melinda. "Listen to me," I said turning her to face me. "That's not what he thinks, you know that, I know that, go back to the house, take a nap, whatever you need to but don't take this personally" I said as tears sprouted. "Don't cry, not now, please" I said before running back over to Draco, continuing to push him along to the nearest shop with floo powder and a fireplace.