all characters belong to JKR

Part XXIX: March:

Hermione and Carina:

Hermione felt contentment. She thought it was strange that she should feel such a positive emotion right now, but that was what she truly felt. She hadn't felt that way, or anything resembling happiness, for such a long time that she almost didn't recognize it. Now she greeted it like a dear old friend. She knew her fleeting happiness could only be attributed to the little baby she rocked in her arms, and who was born just six weeks ago.

The baby was perfect in every conceivable way, and Hermione was certain that Draco would fall in love with her at first sight. She had wisps of brown hair with nary a curl. Blue eyes, which Hermione knew was likely to change, although she hoped not. Chubby cheeks, ten toes, ten fingers, and already a disposition that rivaled the best and the worst of both her mother and father's personalities. Harry said she was already a tiny force to be reckoned with, but yet, she already had him, Ron, and both Grandfathers wrapped around her perfect little fingers.

Hermione sighed. Yes, Carina was perfect in almost everyway, except for one. She was without a father. Hermione tried not to dwell on that for too long. The fact that he was gone marred Hermione's otherwise perfect life right now.

In a strange way, she was becoming accustomed to Draco's absence. It almost felt normal to go to bed alone, eat alone, and wake up alone. She hated that fact. She didn't want to become used to being without him. She still missed him terribly, but the pain of missing him had subsided considerably, so much so that the gaping wound that was once her heart was finally on the mend, thanks to her baby.

She rocked the little one back and forth, when she heard a man clear his throat at the doorway of the nursery. Hermione didn't look up. She knew who it was. She whispered, loud enough for the man to hear, "Looks like your daily visitor is a bit early, Carina." Lucius came to see his grandchild every single day. He had not missed one day since she was born. At first, it irked Hermione, but now, in an odd sense, it endeared him to her.

She was nobody's fool. She would never completely forgive him for all the atrocities he had committed during their lives, but whatever fault, or sins, the man had had and committed, one fact remained evident: He loved his family. He was loyal to a fault. And his grandchild was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment.

He walked over to the pair, and placed his index finger gently on the baby's head, stroking her downy soft, fine, brown hair. He said, "Too bad she's not blond."

"I heard Draco was bald until he was a year old. At least she has hair," Hermione said, looking up and smiling at him.

"And at least it's not curly," he said. He looked at Hermione and smiled, so she would know that he was making fun at her expense.

Hermione stood, handed him the baby, and he took her place in the rocker. She said, "Your humour is wasted on me."

"So my son always said," Lucius retorted. "Speaking of Draco, have you tried to contact him again?" After hearing that Hermione and Nick Boot were able to contact Draco the night the baby was born, he had been after her to do so again. She hadn't tried again, because she didn't see the use. She didn't know what she would say besides, 'please come home'.

She leaned against the rocker, touched her daughter's cheek and said, "I haven't even tried, and I don't intend to, so please stop asking." She moved to look out the window and said, "It's too painful."

Lucius said, "Potter's here, and he's brought someone to talk to you."

"Who is it?" she asked, turning around.

"I wouldn't know, nor do I care," he said in his haughty way.

Hermione knew that Lucius Malfoy's men, the Brotherhood of the Raven, the Order of the Phoenix, and the Aurors, were carefully watching her house, her person, and her baby so she could only assume that the person was a friend, or at least, someone Harry trusted.

She started out of the room, and Lucius said, "Be careful, daughter. It's a vampire, and they aren't to be trusted."

"I don't know any vampires," she said, stopping before walking out of the door.

"That may be true, but he claims to know you, and he's woven quite the tale to Potter," her father-in-law stated.

"I thought you didn't know who it was, and you didn't care," she said back, flippantly.

He laughed. She shook her head and walked down the stairs, to find out who this visitor was, and what he wanted.

She saw a tall, thin man, very pale, with long hair. His skin was so pale it was almost translucent. He was paler than Malfoy! She reached the bottom step where the strange man and Harry both looked her way, from their place by the front door.

She did recognize him. She hadn't seen him for so very long, and even then, she had only met him once, at a Christmas party. "Hello. Mr. Sanguini, correct?" she asked. She held out her hand.

The vampire looked at her hand, and then at Harry. He looked back toward Hermione and said, "You know, Vampires don't usually shake hands, as a rule."

"I'm sorry to offend," she said, placing her hands behind her back.

He held out his and said, "I rather think it's because people are afraid to touch them, not the other way around." She shook his hand. It felt cold.

She looked at Harry, the question in her eyes was, "What's this man doing here?"

Harry answered her silent question by saying, "Mr. Sanguini has something he wants to tell you, Hermione. He's already told the story to me, and believe it or not, it seems very credible, because he told me things that I know are truths."

Hermione pointed toward the living room. The three walked in the room, with Harry and Hermione taking the couch, and the vampire taking one of the chairs.

"You are as beautiful as I remember…Mrs. Malfoy, correct?"

"Yes, and you remember me, how? I mean, we only met once, years and years ago, at a party that Horace Slughorn threw, while I was at school," Hermione said. The puzzle pieces, however, were starting to fit together. She met this man during her sixth year at school, which was where Draco was at this moment.

Harry stood up and said, "He's has something for your ears only, apparently, so I'll go up and see Carina and Lucius."

"Harry?" she questioned. She stood up, walked toward him and whispered, "Is it okay for me to speak with him?"

Harry nodded and said, "I believe so. He seems trustworthy and I've searched him and he doesn't have a wand on him, and the house has wards. There are also Aurors outside the house, just in case, though." Harry smiled and walked up the stairs.

Hermione sat back down and said, "Excuse me, but what would you and I have to discuss?"

"Your husband, your life, and Helena Boot," the vampire said.

Apparition Lessons:

Ron was going on and on about how excited he was to learn to apparate. Harry, however, seemed nonplus. He was more interested in staring at Malfoy. He leaned over to Hermione, as they all stood in the Great Hall, awaiting their first lesson, and said, "He's up to something, I know it. I've been watching the map, and he keeps disappearing, but he can't apparate yet, can he? Besides, a person can't apparate in or out of the school."

Hermione looked over at Draco along with Harry. She said, "I don't know." She didn't even know if that was an appropriate response to Harry's ramblings, because she wasn't really listening to him. Ron continued to chatter on the right of her, Harry continued his soliloquy on the left, and in the meantime, she kept quiet and continued to watch Draco.

He looked up at her, and then at Potter, and then gave them a deadly glare. Blaise leaned forward and said, "What's with Potter?"

"He thinks I'm a Death Eater," Draco said in hushed tones.

"Well, you kind of were the first time you were here, I mean, you are, now, aren't you?" Blaise said.

Draco looked over at him and said, "And your point is, what?"

"Never mind," Blaise said. Then he leaned toward Draco again and said, "Any sign of Paul Boot?"

"No, it's like he's fallen off the face of the earth," Draco sulked.

"And what's with Granger and you these days. You haven't seen her for almost two months. For a while there, you two were good buddies," Blaise said.

Draco turned to the other man and said, "Well the first time we lived this year, we weren't, were we? So we aren't now, are we?"

"Whatever, mate," Blaise said, hands in the air. "You know I'm just here to help."

"You're here to spy on me for my father," Draco spat.

"I'm here to help, plain and simple, but the point is, I came under the blue moon too, so I'm stuck here until you and big brother Boot go home, so at least be civil to me," Blaise said. Then he said, to himself, "How the hell am I suppose to act like I DON'T know how to apparate, when I've been doing it for years?"

Draco looked back up at Harry, who was no longer beside Hermione and Weasley. He was moving closer to Draco. It was bad enough that he had to worry about Hermione's safety, but now he was having 'actual' trouble with the cabinet. When he found out that Ellen and Paul might have come into Hogwarts using the cabinet, he broke the damn thing again. He never thought that he was actually disabling the thing so badly that he would have trouble fixing it again, so he was spending a lot of time in the Room of Requirement, and just like the first time, Potter was constantly on the prowl to catch Draco doing something. It was maddening!

Potter was standing right behind him now. He turned to look at him. "What do you want, Potty?"

"Nothing, Malfoy, nothing at all," Harry said.

The apparition lesson went by slowly for Draco. He didn't even attempt to try to apparate, mainly because like Blaise, he already knew how, and also, he wasn't able to do it the first time, so there was no reason to pretend now. After a boring hour-long lesson, everyone started to file out of the Great Hall.

They crowd of sixth year students were all heading toward the doors at once, when a girl suddenly screamed. Draco, who was taller than most, looked above a small crowd, which was standing in a circle, around someone on the floor.

Draco, Blaise, and Harry all ran to the circle. On the floor, in obvious pain, was Hermione, and beside her, Ron. Ron looked up at Harry and said, "She's bleeding! We were leaving the hall, and she cried out, and now there's blood coming from her leg."

Professor McGonagall and Professor Boot came running into the hall. Don caught Draco's eyes. McGonagall asked if anyone saw anything, as Don crouched down beside Hermione.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was walking out, and I was jostled from behind, and I swear, it felt like someone sliced my leg open," she cried. There was a large pool of blood by her leg. Beside the blood was a silver dagger.

"Everyone back up, and no one leaves this room," Don said. He picked up the dagger and then told Ron to pick her up and take her to the Hospital Wing. Harry started to run to the door and Don said, "Stay here, Mr. Potter."

"But, sir," he started.

"As soon as we ascertain what happen, you can go with her, too," Don assured.

Harry looked over at Draco. Draco couldn't help himself, he walked up to Harry and said, "It couldn't have been me, Potter, because you were with me the whole time, which by the way, reminds me, why were you with me, when you should have been with her? I told you she wasn't safe."

"You did something, I know it," Harry accused.

"Sure, from across the room, with my wand in my pocket!" Draco shouted. A small crowd formed around them, consisting mostly of Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"You had someone do something, then!" Harry said.

"I warned you," Draco said back. Blaise walked up to Draco and held his arm. He whispered in his ear, something that no one else could hear. He told Draco not to reveal anything.

However, Pansy looked across the room and smiled at someone. They smiled back, and nodded their head once.

After everyone was questioned, and no one claimed to have seen anything, the teachers let everyone leave. Harry ran up to the Hospital Wing. Don walked over to Draco and said, "I'll go see what happened. Did you see anything at all?"

"No, because Potter was on me like a rotting pimple on my backside, stupid Scarhead," Draco hissed. "I hate that man more today than I did when I was here the first time! He should be watching her!"

"We all should be," Blaise said as he leaned over. "I think I have a clue as to what's going on, and I need to go question someone." With that vague statement made, he left.

Don ran up to the Hospital Wing. Professor McGonagall said, "Professor Boot, did you and the other teachers find out anything?"

"No, ma'am, now, what's going on up here?" Don asked.

"Oh my, well, Poppy says that she must have been cut, along the back of her right calf, with that goblin forged silver blade that you found. She said the blade must have been cursed, because she can't get the blood to stop. It won't even clot. If she can't get it to stop soon, she'll have to send her to St. Mungos."

Don frowned and said, "Professor, has Dumbledore told you why I'm really here this year?"

Professor McGonagall said, "He was informed of the reason for your visit by your brother last month, I believe, and he told me very little, just that it had to do with Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy, and that Professor Snape was aware of everything."

Don smiled and said, "Then if I ask you to watch out for Hermione, a bit extra, you won't think that's strange?"

"My dear boy, I've always watched out for her, a bit extra, don't you know," the older woman said with a smile.

She left through the doors as Don started in. Snape started out as well and stopped him. "I've used every potion I can think of to stop the bleeding, but nothing will stop it. She's already needed two replenishment potions. I've tested the blade, to see if a potion or poison was used on it, but I believe it must have been cursed, not poisoned."

"Where's the laceration?" Don asked.

"Below her knee, the back of her calf and it's quite painful," Snape declared. "I have to go look in the storerooms to see if I have anything else I can use."

Don was about to go to Hermione's bed, but then he had an idea as to how to help her. He ran down to his office, to use the Floo.

He was walking back up from his office when Draco approached. "Well?"

"I'm in a hurry, Draco, and I really don't have anything to tell you. Someone sliced her leg open with a goblin forged, knife, apparently."

"And?" Draco urged.

"Goblin forged knives are known to be cursed. Her wound won't heal. She's bleeding, and she's liable to bleed literally to death. Snape and Pomfrey can't seem to come up with an antidote," Don explained.

Draco gasped and his hands went to his friends shoulders. "I have to see her!"

"You can't, and you know that. Harry and Ron haven't left her side. Listen, I had an idea, and I had to Floo Nick, and he's coming and he's bringing someone who may be able to help her," Don said.

Draco blanched and said, "What the hell can Nick do?"

"Listen, stop being a jealous fool and go down to your dorm, or better yet, ask around and see if anyone saw anything that they didn't want to tell the professors. If someone thinks you're pleased by what happened, they might be more apt to talk to you." Don patted his back and ran down the hall.

Draco had to fight the temptation to run after him. Instead, he went back to his dorm, to ask if anyone saw what happened to 'the mudblood'.

An Interview with a Vampire:

"Where to start, where to start," the vampire said, standing from his chair, and circling the room.

"Start at the beginning, that usually works," Hermione said with a hint of condescension.

"I think it's odd that I went to bed last night, Mrs. Malfoy, with hardly a memory of you at all, and then when I woke this morning, I seem to have a memory of an encounter with you, which I have never had before. You see, vampires are different from mere humans in many ways. For instance, time means different things to us, well, it would, wouldn't it, since we're immortal. You see, I remember every single second of my very long life. Time travel and alterations in time don't affect us the way it would you. If something changes the past, it might change the future, but you wouldn't be any wiser. You would merely know the way things are now, not the way they should be, or had been. Am I making sense?"

Hermione said a resounding, "no."

"Let me put it this way, a few months back I had what I thought was a dream if you will. I dreamt that I helped you one day in the forest, along with a young man, and a panther. I was protecting you from a woman named Helena Boot. I do suppose she rings a bell, right?"

"Her, I've heard of," Hermione said. She stood up and said, "Tell me, please, what new memory of me you have suddenly had?"

"First, may I?" he asked, and he held out his hand again. Hermione placed her hand in his. He held her wrist to his nose. "Yes, I remember the smell." He kept her hand and said, "You were stabbed when you were in school, in the leg, by a goblin-forged dagger. The wound wouldn't heal, and you were on the verge of bleeding out, when a young friend of mine named Nick Boot received a call from his brother."

The vampire kept Hermione's hand lightly in his hand. His hand was cold, but his grip light. Hermione knew that he could easily break her arm in two, if he wanted to. He continued. "I visited you in the school's infirmary, with Nick Boot, and I helped your blood to clot, by using a natural coagulant that's found in vampire's saliva."

Hermione made a funny face and asked, "What did you do to me?" although, she had an idea.

He smiled a perfect, toothy grin, and said, "I stopped the bleeding my dear, which means I've tasted your blood, by licking your wound with my tongue."

She looked disgusted. She said, "I can assure you that never happened. Where was I stabbed?"

"Your right leg, behind your knee."

Hermione lifted her pant leg, and looked behind her knee. There wasn't a scar. She said, "There's nothing there. I don't understand what it is that you're trying to tell me."

"The magic, which your husband and his friend are relying on, protects not only them, but the rest of you as well, at the moment, anyway. The moment that the spell of the blue moon is to end, which is on the first full moon of the fifth month of this year, the protection that it evokes will end, that is, if they don't come home. If they don't return at that precise time, then everything that happened between the two phases of the blue moon will have really happened. If you die in that time, come May 27th, you'll be dead here, and it will appear to everyone that, that is how it always was."

"Okay, but if things are already changing in the past, why is it that I'm not aware of things changing?" she asked.

"I told you, the magic's different for me. As an immortal, my realm of existence is altered differently. The blue moon's magic doesn't affect me, so I recall the new events as well as the old, thus the rub." He still had her hand. He pulled her closer and said, "I saved your life back then, so I think you owe me."

Hermione said, "What do you want, a medal?"

He laughed and said, "Goodness, no, what would I do with a medal. No, I discovered something with my newfound little memory. I discovered exactly why Helena Boot is after you again."

"Why?" she asked.

He smiled, and his fangs extended. He said, "You'll find out." Then, he touched her cheek, and she fell over like a rag doll. He held her up easily, and looked out toward the open doorway. He wondered if Potter was telling the truth when he said there were two Aurors outside the house. Well, he would soon find out, when he left. He picked her up, and started to the door.

Harry started down the stairs and shouted, "Where are you going with her?"

"I told you not to trust anyone, Mr. Potter, when I told you my story. It's a wonder that you decided to trust me. You would think that the man who vanquished the Dark Lord would have better wits about him," the vampire said, with Hermione thrown easily over his shoulder.

Lucius stood at the top of the stairs, and Harry partway down. Both men drew their wands. The vampire laughed and said, "I haven't lived this long to be brought down by a simple wand, gentlemen. Don't worry; she'll be safer with me than with either of you. We can only hope her husband keeps her just as safe in the past." He opened the door, threw up his hand, and in wisp a red smoke, he was gone.

Harry was incensed! He trusted the man when he told Harry his story, and Harry and Lucius had both placed powerful wards on this house, yet the vampire disapparated with her right under their noses. Harry Potter was disgusted! With the vampire, but also, with himself.


Personal notes..stop reading if you want.

I am having my surgery on 1/23 to remove the neck mass, and then they will do another biopsy, and figure out the exact type of treatment that I need, whether it is chemo and radiation, or a combo, or neither. (I vote for that). Thanks for everyone's personal messages to me! They've meant alot, sincerely.