Chapter Fifty-One: Good-bye Dean

Harry ran towards Ron and pulled Ron's wand out of his hands.

"What are you doing?" he yelled.

"Killing myself. I have no reason to live!" Ron shouted back.

"Don't be stupid! You can't do that. Even if Cassandra dies, that doesn't mean that you need to die too, okay? Cassandra only came into your life this year. Besides, you've still got me and Hermione. It's not like you'll have no one to talk to after she dies – if she dies..." Harry trailed off.

"You think so?" Ron asked a bit calmly.

"I think she will die – but it's best if we don't talk about it. You better not kill yourself Ron! I'm warning you!" Harry shouted.

"Okay, I won't commit suicide. Cassandra wouldn't want me to do that. She said so," Ron decided.

Harry's face suddenly relaxed.

"Thanks Ron," he said.

Ron put away his wand.

"Know what?" he asked.

"What?" Harry questioned.

"We've got Divination homework," Ron said.

"And this means we make everything up?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Of course," Ron replied simply.

"Great!" Harry sarcastically exclaimed.

He pulled out some parchment and took a quill and began to furiously explain how a Mars and Neptune alignment meant that he would have a bad Charms Class.

Meanwhile...

~*~

Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, and Parvati Patil were standing at the edge of the Forbidden Forest lashing out at each other.

"Draco! Excuse me, but I thought that we were going out. Why were you hanging around Cassandra's death bed?" Parvati screeched.

"How did you know about that?" Draco asked suddenly.

"I went up to Madam Pomfrey to deliver a vat of Gerbellium Weed Solution from Professor Sprouts and I saw you looking at her like an ice cream cone..." Parvati explained, not too kindly.

"No, she was just a friend a while ago..." Draco trailed off.

"A friend? Just a friend? That's a laugh in it's self Draco Malfoy!" Pansy exclaimed.

"Shut up Pansy!" Draco said with a glare. He rubbed his temples and looked as if he needed to take a seat.

"Oh, so she was more than a friend, huh?" Parvati accused.

"Maybe she was...... Maybe she wasn't......" Draco suddenly said.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Parvati questioned. "You know what Draco? Right now, you're going out with me! You're not going out with Cassandra. Cassandra's going to die – the whole school knows it! So, why don't you give up on the little attention wanting prat and focus on me for a change?"

"Excuse me, but you're a bigger snob than Miss Cassandra Nicole Taylor, over there!" Pansy shouted.

"Both of you need to shut up! I'm leaving!" Draco yelled.

And with that he ran back into the castle.

~*~

"Jupiter shifts it's orbit which causes my owl to eat my Potions homework," Harry mumbled.

"And that makes Snape hit you on the head with a cauldron," Ron added.

"Oh yeah! Good one Ron," Harry replied.

They were still sitting in the common room, finishing their Divination homework. Suddenly Hermione popped through the door.

She had calmed down reasonably and had a serene look present on her face. Her hands were filled with books. She dropped them with a thud and sat down.

"What are those for?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I'm doing some reading up on different creatures. Creatures we need to be aware of. I had the strangest dream. I've been having dreams again..." Hermione trailed off.

"Again?" Ron questioned with a bewildered look on his face.

"Yes..." Hermione replied hesitantly.

Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. Ron didn't know a single thing about Hermione's dreams and they certainly couldn't drop them on him now.

"I think I'm going to go up to my room for a few minutes to freshen up," Hermione decided suddenly.

"Yeah, me too," Harry called after her.

Ron gave them a look – as if he suspected something. Harry and Hermione both offered wry smiles and ran upstairs.

At the cross intersection, Harry slipped into Hermione's room.

"What was it this time?" he asked anxiously.

"A vampire," Hermione replied nervously.

"What??? What happened?" Harry asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it was a vampire... I mean, I never got to see the face, so I think it's a person at Hogwarts... but the creature – er, vampire never revealed himself. His face was always covered behind the hooded cape he was wearing. It was a blood red cape. He were midnight black pants with a shiny belt and the most lurid black shirt. His dragon boots had weird markings in them. And he kept whispering words under his breath. I never got a clear sound of his voice, but is was definitely a male voice that I heard," Hermione said.

"Well, what happened?" Harry inquired.

"We were in the Forbidden Forest. For some reason I was there. It was the middle of the night and the only thing to give us light was the moon – which was covered by many clouds. I was trying to leave but vines started grabbing my feet and pulling me back. I was frozen stiff. There was nothing I could do, so I stayed there. Then the vampire started coming closer and closer. Then I saw his lips. They were blood red – just like his cloak. In fact, there was blood dripping from it – as if it had already drank the blood of another person... It was extremely scary. Then he opened his mouth, his fangs oozing with blood as well, and nearly suck his teeth into my neck. I was trying to scream but no sound came out of my mouth! It was quite frightening, and quite frankly, it was rather grotesque. I was scared out of my wits. So, that's about it. Then I woke up," Hermione finished.

"This is creepy! Your dreams certainly have a knack of coming true... I wonder who at our school is a vampire. If your dreams are recent then it must be someone we just met..." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Well, whoever it is, I'm reading up as much as I can on vampires and how to protect myself from them. If you ask me, you should too," Hermione advised.

"All I have to do is wear some garlic around my neck," Harry teased.

"I'm serious Harry! We've got to be careful. I have a feeling this guy's doing work for Voldemort..." Hermione insisted.

"Yeah. Besides, would you want to kiss me if I smelt like garlic?" Harry joked.

"Harry! Be serious! Please!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Okay, okay," Harry replied.

He stared out into space for a minute, and then looked back up at Hermione.

"Who do you think it is?" he asked.

"Well, someone new... Someone strange... That would be my guess," Hermione replied.

"You're such an air head Hermione. I'm surprised you didn't think of it sooner," Harry suddenly said.

"What do you mean? Do you know who it is?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Of course. It's the new kid – Xander!"

~*~

Who did Narcissa think she was? It wasn't fair. Xander was better than any of them, even the stupid Dark Lord. He could control the world if he wanted to. Why was he doing dirty work for his dinky mother? Of course it was better than working for his idiotic, good-for-nothing, stupid father! How could Severus have abandoned Xander's mum? It wasn't fair – not fair at all!

So, what was Xander going to do?

He paced the foot of his bed anxiously, waiting for a plan to come to him.

Then he suddenly had it! He was going to do something horrible, something very horrible. It would get rid of several people. This would give him more power – and it would get rid of several people... several people...

~*~

"Xander! Oh, of course! You're right Harry. I truly am an air head!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I was only kidding, and I knew from the beginning that Xander was a creep!" Harry replied quickly.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure. I wonder who the first person was that he attacked, but he's obviosuly going to be after you next," Harry said.

"I can't believe it! He was paying so much attention to me. He was totally evil. I'm astounded at myself! I should have been able to spot it before!" Hermione cried.

"Well, you didn't. But don't worry about your faults, okay? It's not going to help right now. Let's just go to the common room and sit down with everybody else. Let's pretend everything's normal, okay?" Harry suggested.

"All right. I can do that," Hermione replied calmly.

They walked back to the common room. Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati had presently joined Ron. Parvati was looking quite depressed and Lavender seemed to be doing her best to cheer her up.

"You look lovely today Parvati," Lavender said.

"Quit sucking up!" Parvati snapped.

Lavender was apparently taken back. She sat firmly in the couch after glaring at Parvati.

"Hey guys," Hermione and Harry both said.

Everybody waved. Only Seamus and Ron smiled.

Suddenly there was a loud slam of the portrait hole. Ginny Weasley ran in with her face as pale as ever!

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! You guys won't believe what just happened! Great wizards! Would you believe it? I don't believe it! How could this have happened? This is the worst thing in the world!" Ginny exclaimed as the burst into the Gryffindor common room.

"What's the matter Ginny?" Hermione asked, obviously bewildered.

Ginny ran into Seamus' lap. She began to sob dramatically.

"What's wrong Ginny?" Seamus asked softly.

"You had better come quick. They think that Dean is dead!"

~*~

"WHAT?" Seamus exclaimed, jumping out of the couch.

"Yes, I know. It's horrible!" Ginny cried.

"How? How Ginny? Do you know?" Seamus asked, grabbing Ginny's wrists tightly.

"Well, I'm not sure. Madam Pomfrey knows that Dean's blood count is extremely low. He had sharp gashes across his neck. Madam Pomfrey is almost positive that it was the work of a vampire. Professor Lupin found him at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, fainted. He carried Dean back up to the castle and straight to the Hospital room. Then Madam Pomfrey tended to him. Cassandra's doing much better so she was able to do a few things for him. She was trying to help out so much that she passed out again. They're both being hospitalized. There's only shallow breathing coming from both of them, so I have no clue what's going on... All I know is that Dean is nearly dead because a vampire bit him. Those things are lethal, you know," Ginny finished breathlessly.

"I've got to go see him!" Seamus exclaimed.

He ran out of the portrait hole.

Harry and Hermione exchanged positively shocked glances and ran after him. Ron, Parvati, Lavender, and Ginny were close behind them.

Finally they reached the hospital.

Seamus rushed to Madam Pomfrey at once.

"What happened? Is he okay?" Seamus begged.

"I'm sure you've heard the news from Ginny," Madam Pomrey said with a pressed look towards her. "And what I have to say next isn't good at all. Dean is truly dead. I'm sorry to say, but there was nothing I could do for him."

"What? He can't be dead!" Seamus exclaimed.

He just lost his best friend and felt as though he was at the depths of despair.

"Are you serious?" he pleaded.

"Quite so Mr. Finnigan. I'm extremely sorry and I acknowledge your loss. You are permitted to going and seeing him. All of you are, as you were all his closest friends here. His parents have been notified and they will be coming shortly," Madam Pomfrey explained.

She opened the door towards Dean's bed and let them all inside. Then she closed the door behind them and went back to her seat sadly.

As they all peered at Dean's frozen body, tears slipped out of everyone's eyes.

"They're all going away. Everyone's leaving us. Everyone's dying!" Hermione cried.

Harry let her sob onto his shoulder. He attempted to soothe her, but nothing was working.

"I mean, is it too much to ask that everyone be safe? What did Hagrid do wrong? What did Cassandra do wrong? What did Dean to wrong? They did nothing wrong! Nothing at all! I can't believe that this could happen to them! And what did your parents do wrong? Nothing again! This isn't fair! I hate Voldemort! I hate Slytherins! I hate Xander!" Hermione exclaimed.

She ran out of the room and Harry followed after her.

Ginny had a puzzled look on her face.

"What does the new kid have to do with Dean's death?" she asked in a soft whisper.

"I don't know," Ron said thoughtfully, "but I'm planning on finding out!