WEDNESDAY JULY 13, 1994

The Netherlands was a much easier country to navigate thanks to Harry having already learned Dutch. Sirius and Luna soon learned Dutch as well when Harry asked for directions, distracting a muggle long enough for the two of them to sneakily cast the charm.

It wasn't far to the home of the Van Helsings, so they decided to take a leisurely stroll. They stopped at a local bakery on the way for a bag of pastries then at a nearby park to eat while watching the local children playing.

Sirius wolfed his food down first, then transformed into Padfoot to go play with the much more mature people already playing. Usually children loved playing with Padfoot. Sirius had told Harry that, when he was a baby, he used to ride on Padfoot like a horse, then somberly informed him that he was a little to big to try that now.

The children reacted oddly. Instead of screaming in delight, they were screaming in fear and running from the big black dog.

"It's Old Red Eyes!" they screamed, "He'll eat you if he catches you!"

A sulky looking Padfoot returned and Harry gave him one of his pastries to cheer him up.


Lord Sanies Sibilus, Lady Luna Lux, and a large black dog stood imposingly in front of an elderly couple.

"You are the Van Helsings, the family of dark creature hunters?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry, but we're retired. Our active members work out of the Vatican."

"We shall see them soon then," Harry said, "For now, we'd just like to talk. Hopefully you will be more reasonable than Adrian was."

"So you're the one who defends the monsters," the old lady looked at him shrewdly, then down at the large black dog.

"I only defend the innocent," Harry replied, "It seemed to me that your family does not care what is done by those you slay, only that they are not human." Harry scratched Sirius behind the ears. "In my experience, dark creatures are like humans. There are those like me and those like you. I kill to protect things. You kill indiscriminately. I am just here to offer up a warning. If your family continues hunting those of the creatures that are innocent, I may find that you are too dangerous of a family to let continue. Have a good day, ma'am. And, pass along my warning to the rest of your family."

The woman slammed the door in his face.