Chapter Nineteen: A Not So Damp Squib

Remus acted quickly, he didn't have much choice. He grabbed hold of the suitcase and gripped his wand. 'Homenum revelio,' he whispered, and felt a burst of energy woosh out of the tip. He saw the shadow of a figure - like a brief outline picked out in small lights - appear in front of him, Sirius in his bedroom - but no other people were revealed. He and Sirius were the only people up here.

But still - he was going to take every precaution. He flicked his wand towards his own body and cast a disillusionment charm over himself. There was an unpleasant sensation - like an egg being cracked over his head and the yolk dribbling down his neck - and then he was camouflaged, chameleon-like, blending in with his background.

He cast the silencing charm on the creaky door hinges, took a deep breath, and then stepped out onto the gloomy, star lit landing. Keeping to the shadows - although he couldn't be seen - he hurried along the hallway until he reached Sirius' door. He was sure he could feel the eyes of the paintings following him. They couldn't see him but … maybe they could just catch a glimpse of the movement, a ripple in the air as he passed them by.

His knock on the door was only gentle - and he held his breath, praying that Sirius would hear. He didn't want to knock any louder, for the portraits would hear even if the Countess was out of earshot - and no doubt they would inform her the dirty vukodlak was out of bed and on the move.

The door opened, the hinges creaking loudly in the silence of the corridor - and Remus, with his heart in his mouth, cursed himself for not casting the silencing charm on them before he had knocked.

'Who's there?' Sirius' voice hissed, sounding suspicious.

'Padfoot, it's me - let me in.' He pushed past and went inside. Sirius' room was much like his own - except the creepy portrait of one of the creepy Orlock ancestors was still on the wall. Remus silenced it and took it down, putting its face against the wall as he had with his own.

'Moony? I can't see you.'

'I used a disillusionment charm - here, let me do you.' He flicked his wand again .. and suddenly Sirius was as invisible as he was.

'What's going on?'

'We're escaping. You know those things they hunt - the Vukodlaci? They're werewolves. It's the local word for them.'

'How do you know?'

'It was on my wanted poster - I just realised, when I heard them talking. The Countess tried to give me a sleeping potion, she was planning on caging me up with the others.'

'Sorry.'

'That's nothing - she was going to let her nephews eat you.'

'Oh … We should probably escape then.'

'Come on.' This time, he remembered to cast the silencing charm - and the door opened much more quietly, and together they crept out onto the landing, making their way towards the stairs. They sped up a little … bats flitted past the open window.

They had just rounded a corner - and the stairs were in sight, when a bat flew through the window … and suddenly one of the nephews loomed out of the darkness. 'Going somewhere?' he asked. He raised an eyebrow, there was a dangerous smirk on his face which showed every one of his sharp teeth.

'Perhaps the vukodlak grows weary of the nice room we offered him,' another voice said from behind them. The boys whipped around, the other nephew was stalking closer towards them … looking at them as if they were very much his prey. 'Perhaps it wishes to join his brothers - in the accommodation more fitting to his kind.'

'Well then - we would be remiss, as hosts, to not give him what he wants.'

And Remus suddenly felt himself seized by Ionut, while Florin lunged at him from behind, pushing Sirius out of the way to get to him, so he was now held tightly between them and unable to raise his wand. He struggled of course - but it was no good. They were strong - far stronger than Remus; far stronger than any human.

'Let him go,' he heard Sirius yell - though he could barely see him because of the disillusionment charm. 'Let him go right now or I'll…'

'Or what?' The vampires laughed at him. 'Go back to bed, muggle. You have no power to protect your dirty friend … and you have bigger things to be worrying about than him.'

They began to drag Remus away, he fought and kicked but it was no use … His wand was trapped uselessly by his side, and though occasional sparks shot out of it, it could do no damage down there. And he was powerless in the vampires' iron grip.

He could hear Sirius' footsteps pounding after them. 'Get off him! Let him go!'

But the vampires only sneered again. 'Mudbloods don't give orders - you have no magic. You have no power.'

'Stupefy!' Remus heard Sirius yell … absolutely nothing happened. The vampires only laughed louder, as they dragged Remus away.

'Petrificus Totalus!' Again - nothing. And the vampires were howling with laughter now.

And then Sirius bellowed a charm at the top of his voice . 'Aguamenti!' he screamed, jabbing his wand with so much force, Remus could actually see it moving through the air despite the disillusionment charm. There was a split second of nothing … and then with a great, roaring sound like a tidal wave, a huge flood of water exploded from the tip of his wand, bursting forth and gushing out like a geyser. The force of it knocked the three of them off their feet - it was like a fire hose had been turned on them and the vampires fell to the floor, gasping and floundering.

Keeping his wand trained on Remus' captors - the water still pouring forth in biblical amounts - Sirius slipped and slid his way through the puddle, grabbed hold of Remus, hauled him to his feet and together they fled down the stairs. Remus squelched with every step, he was soaking and panting, he was breathless, and bruised from the fall - but he was free.

They ran down the stairs, jumping three at a time and landed in the great hall … where the sickly, green flames had long since been extinguished. The portcullis was still raised and they ran towards it.

The large moon hung in the sky, just outside the gateway … and as they headed for it, a bat was suddenly silhouetted against the silver disc. It flapped its leathery wings, growing bigger and bigger, until it flew right inside the Keep … and transformed into Countess Orlock.

She did not look remotely beautiful now. Her hair was no longer smooth and slicked back, but snaked around her head in wild tendrils that seemed to move independently. Her waxy face was corpse like, but her cheeks were mottled - and her lips were dark, blood red. Her eyes were angry gimlets and her already sharp teeth had elongated into fangs. 'So…' she said.

The portcullis slammed shut behind her.

The two men froze.

'You think to escape? You think the magic of a vukodlak is enough to get past us?' She clapped her hands - and the disillusionment charm on them vanished. They blinked at each other in surprise, now they were both clearly visible.

The Countess looked at them almost pityingly. 'We are as ancient as the darkness. We commanded magics and armies hundreds of years before you little boys were born - no wonder you cling together like children, in your sleep, for you are powerless in the face of us. It must be so terribly frightening - to be so terribly powerless.'

Remus raised his wand.

Countess Orlock threw back her head and laughed, wild and long, sounding almost deranged. 'Take your best shot,' she spread her arms wide, inviting attack.

'Stupefy!' Red light shot out of the tip. It hit her square in the chest … She didn't even blink.

'When you are as old as us - a simple wizard's curse can do no harm. We have grown beyond that. Only a stake through the heart can harm us now. You are trapped, little boys … and while both of you have filthy blood in your own way, the fear should add a fine bouquet - make the taste of you most piquant … well, the fear and the deliciousness of men who have never been touched. It's not often we get that. Not these days. Heroes with their virtue still intact are rare … morals are so much more lacking than they used to be.'

There was a noise on the stair - and then the two nephews appeared, still soaking wet. Their Aunt frowned at them, 'you let them get past you… but, no matter. I was here to stop them.'

Sirius was looking between the vampire men and the Countess. 'You said you were harmless,' he said to them - his tone was almost accusatory. 'You said you were wrongfully persecuted.'

'We were - we never took what was not ours to take.'

'You were planning to kill us.'

'No, no - we were simply planning to drain you. You could have been like us, little boy, immortal - eternal…'

'Blood thirsty. And what about Remus?'

'A vukodlak can never be a vampire. It is a beast - we are not wrong to kill them.'

'And the people who chased you out of the Carpathians? The angry mob?'

She flushed angrily, her mottled cheeks becoming a dark purple. 'We never took anything that was not ours to take. Sanguis noster primitiva sua.'

'Blood is our birthright.'

'Indeed. Your blood - filthy and tainted with muggle as it is, became ours for the taking, as soon as you straggled your way onto our mountaintop. We only take from those who come willingly to our hearth. If the humans do not understand that - it is not our fault. Our ways are as ancient as the -'

'Darkness. Yeah - we heard.'

'And yet you think to escape. It cannot be. You drank our wine, you ate at our table … your life is ours now. Sustenance for sustenance, we struck a bargain.'

'But you didn't tell us!'

'You didn't ask.' She raised her voice. 'Grab them,' she commanded her nephews.

Immediately, Remus was seized … but once again, Sirius whipped his wand out and bellowed 'aguamenti!'

Curses might be powerless against the ancient hide of a vampire … but they were still subject to the laws of physics - and a tsunami of water, focused straight on them, would knock them off their feet - same as any human.

Sure enough, Florin went down like a bowling pin, and Sirius turned his wand and took out the Countess - who fell to the ground with an angered shriek. The spray hit Remus and the other vampire where they tussled - and they too fell to the floor. Remus threw a punch. If his wand wouldn't work against a vampire, he would do some muggle duelling … Ionut punched him back - and they rolled over in the puddle of water.

Now the vampire was on top - and Remus raised his head off the ground and head butted the man square between his eyes. The vampire cried out and clutched his face … and though Remus too was seeing stars, he took the moment to roll them over - so once again he was on top. He threw another punch.

He was aware of Sirius yelling at him from behind him, telling him to get up and get out - and of him maintaining the flow of water, keeping the other two vampires at bay.

He started to struggle back to his feet, but Ionut grabbed hold of his left wrist and yanked him back down … And then he wasn't quite sure what happened next.

It was like a panicked blindness descended, like a fog on his mind … and, unbidden, his grip shifted on his wand, so he was holding it in a way he had never held it before. He now had it clutched tightly in his fist - around the middle. A wand could not cast curses at a vampire successfully … but it was still sharp, and made of wood … and without even meaning to, he brought his right arm back - his fist raised high in the air … and then plunged it down with all his might, driving the tip of his wand straight through the vampire's chest - and into his heart.

The vampire shrieked in agony, his eyes rolled back in his waxy face - he began to spasm and jerk on the floor, his legs kicking uncontrollably … and then he went still.

Remus pulled his wand out of Ionut's chest … and then it was like the fog lifted - and he was aware of the man lying dead on the floor, in a puddle of water which was slowly turning red.

And then he was aware of the Countess shrieking in pain and anger. 'Murderer! Murderer! You had no right! You'll pay…'

And he was aware of the shocked silence from Sirius … the sound of the water summoning charm sputtering out.

His hands began to tremble, the blood thrummed through him, so every inch of him was flooded with heat and tingling - and he backed away from the body … He hadn't meant to … hadn't knowingly done it … This was so much worse than killing an Erkling ...He fought the urge to be sick. More blood seeped into the water.

'Murderer! Murderer!' and The Countess was suddenly crawling towards him across the soaking floor; tears were falling from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin … But when she reached him she simply pushed him aside and collapsed, sobbing, on the chest of her nephew. 'Ionut! My Ionut!'

Florin was beside her, stroking her hair - tears streaming silently down his cheeks.

Remus scrabbled away backwards, shaking his head. 'I'm sorry - I didn't mean…'

He felt Sirius take hold of his elbow and haul him to his feet. 'They were going to kill us, you had every right to - come on.'

And with the two remaining vampires now lost to their grief, he pulled Remus towards the portcullis, lifted Remus' wand hand for him so that his wand was pointing at the bars and murmured 'reducto'. Sparks shot out - and the iron gate was reduced to nothing but dust. Remus was still numb and bewildered, but Sirius grabbed the case and towed him out of the Keep and back across the moat.

The Countesses' desperate cries of 'murderer! murderer!' followed them all the way back through the enchantments and out onto the muggle mountaintop.

...

They kept on walking through the night, though Remus was barely aware of it - his mind was still frozen in horror, his thoughts still in the vampires' castle … like he was still staring at the man he had just murdered. He was very vaguely aware of Sirius at his side, holding onto his elbow, guiding him. His own wand was raised - and the tip was glowing - and he could only assume, like back when they had escaped, Sirius had given the command but borrowed Remus' magic to make something happen … for he had no recollection of saying 'Lumos' .

He stumbled and staggered as his numbness caused him to struggle to put one foot in front of the other - and had it not been for Sirius' strong, guiding hand, he was sure he would have tumbled from the narrow mountain path and fallen... Possibly to his death.

'I know it looked bad, Moony,' he could hear Sirius' voice as if it was coming from a very great distance. It was unusually gentle for Sirius - but persistent. 'And I know there are rules against killing vampires. But those three were trying to kill us. They have killed many humans - so much that they got chased out of their real home. And there are rules about killing werewolves too, but they boasted about doing that. Honestly, Moony, no one will blame you - even if someone finds out, no one will blame you … And no one will find out. No one ever needs to know. We won't tell anyone - we can keep it a secret...'

'I … I killed him .'

'He would have killed you,' and Sirius' voice had become firm. 'Don't think about it - forget it ever happened.'

'But ... he's dead ... because of me.'

'He was a vampire. He was already dead. He died hundreds of years ago - what was left was some ghoul walking around in his corpse, killing other people to keep itself alive. Believe me, Moony, the world is a better place with him not in it.'

'But if the Countess complains - to the Ministry - they'll come for me. I'm a werewolf, no one will listen to my side.'

'The Ministry are already looking for you - you're already in serious trouble.'

'But I'm not guilty of that! Sirius!' He stumbled to a stop. 'I just murdered somebody! That matters. That's important.'

'Look,' Sirius came to a stop, gripped both of Remus' elbows and peered intently into his face. His voice was urgent - as if he were determined to make Remus understand. 'We were perfectly happy to spend a night in our sleeping bags by our fire. That crazy old bat and the moron twins invited us inside specifically so they could murder us. It was kill or be killed...'

'You didn't kill anyone!'

And then Sirius had let go of Remus' arms and pulled him into a tight, one armed hug. 'Forget it,' he said. 'You did nothing wrong - they started it, you did what it took to get us out of there alive. Countess Orlock can't report what happened without admitting what she was doing - and then the Ministry would find all the werewolves she has caged up in the basement. You heard her - she seeks justice in her own way. Because she doesn't want the authorities checking up on her any more than we do. So we're going to get to the bottom of this mountain, we're going to get the hell out of this godforsaken country and we're going to forget all about it. And no one else will ever have to know what you did. OK?'

Remus didn't move.

'OK?' Sirius asked more forcefully - and he broke the hug so he could peer into Remus' eyes, demanding agreement.

Eventually, Remus sniffed - and then nodded. 'OK.' Sirius hugged him again and then picked up the case and started walking. Remus followed on after him, trying to do as he had been told and put the whole thing out of his mind. 'Well,' he said after a while, trying to fight his way through the fog in his brain and latch onto something else. 'At least we can safely say you've mastered the water summoning charm.'

Sirius gave his bark of laughter, 'yes - it's time for me to start practising something else.'

'Maybe something easier - wingardium leviosa … or a simple transfiguration.'

'It's going to be a pain in the backside if I have to go through the whole seven years of the Hogwarts Curriculum just to get back to where I should be…' His brow furrowed for a moment - and he looked awkward, as if there was something he wanted to ask but wasn't sure he should bring it up.

'What is it?' Remus asked him.

'Nothing.'

'If it's nothing, why are you frowning?'

'I was just thinking ... wondering ... about something she said back there.'

Remus blanched, as his mind flew back to the castle on top of the mountain, and the dead body he had left there; the man he had killed, lying in a pool of reddening water...

'Forget it,' Sirius muttered, 'we don't have to talk about it.'

'No - it's alright,' he said, closing his eyes and trying to force away the visions of Ionut's death spasms. 'If we're going to pretend we were never here, then we can't still be wondering about things that happened here. Once we're off the mountain - we'll never think of it again, or talk about … what I did . But until then - I suppose we can't forget while we're still here. We may as well talk it through.'

'It wasn't your fault, Moony,' Sirius said, his voice was soft, but had the same urgency from before.

But Remus just shook his head, not wanting to get into it again. He was too tired and too horrified and the fog was too thick - he couldn't face it, he couldn't face talking about it. 'What was it you were wondering?'

'Well - it was just when she said we would taste nice because - well, because we'd never been touched ... what do you think she meant?'

He blushed - and some of the horror receded to be replaced by embarrassment, but his voice was calm and matter of fact when he spoke. 'I think she meant that neither of us had ever ... Well, you know. Which we haven't.'

Sirius, however, did not seem remotely embarrassed by this. 'Yes - I thought that's what she meant as well.' His voice was thoughtful, his eyes were distant. 'I wonder how she knew.'

'Well I certainly didn't tell her.'

There came the laugh again, 'ha! I didn't think you did… I wonder if everyone can tell?'

'How could they? Can you tell who's - you know - and who hasn't? Unless they have children … I suppose that's a bit of a give away. Anyway - it isn't anyone else's business is it?'

'No it isn't. And I'd say it doesn't matter at all, anyway - only…'

'Only what?'

'Well - if we taste nicer because we haven't … you know . Then maybe we should … you know - for protection? Against vampires?'

Remus stumbled to a stop again and looked around. 'We're on the side of a mountain,' he said incredulously. 'There's only us here! Don't you think we need some girls? And anyway - no girl would ever touch me, and it turns out you didn't even fancy the two girls you've kissed. So we're about as far from square one as it's possible to be.'

Sirius was just shaking his head.

'What are you doing that for?' Remus snapped. Between trying not to think about the man he had just murdered, and the sudden overwhelming jealousy as he realised that Sirius was seriously considering making love to some ... woman somewhere, he really wasn't in a very good mood.

'Clueless,' Sirius said to him.

'What?'

'You. You're clueless. Utterly clueless.'

'About what?'

He sighed, 'nothing, come on, Moony - let's keep going.'

...

They reached the foot of the mountain just as the sun began to rise. An hour later, and they could see the spires and rooftops of Zacaranivac … and wearily, they limped their way towards this next wizarding town.