AN: So this is my first serious attempt at writing a fanfiction. I am so excited and I hope that it is enjoyable. This is an OC.
AN2 6/21/20: I updated it to reflect the change I mentioned in the 10th chapter. So, I took out a few things, changed a few things, and added some things. I think it's a little better and the final tally is I've added an additional 355 words of content!
Summary: What happens if a fellow student at Hogwarts is a vampire?
Book 1: Harry Potter and the Girl who Died
Chapter I: Before the Beginning
Here I was, living my normal life, doing my normal job, and perfectly content with normality. Then, one hot summer day, I was crossing the crosswalk, after having looked both ways, and a car comes careening out of nowhere and hits me. The world went black.
The first thing I became aware of was lying on my back on slightly uneven ground. Uneven, the pavement wasn't uneven, it seemed perfectly flat to me. The second thing I became aware of was soft feathery things falling on my face and on my hands. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a forest, it was nighttime, and it was snowing. I shut them again. I'm dreaming, I must be dreaming, or I'm dead and this is what the afterlife is like. I lay still with my eyes closed and began to notice a few more things. I could feel that I was wearing different clothes than what I normally wore….some type of robe? I was also quite thirsty. I was surprised that I wasn't in any pain, but maybe that meant all the more that this was some sort of afterlife. I didn't think there'd be any pain there.
Then, I heard shouts "There she is!" Running footsteps.
"Oh, dear me, it doesn't look like she's breathing" a matronly Scottish sounding woman said. Just then I realized that I wasn't breathing and that I didn't feel the need to take a breath either. This astonished me so much that I didn't react as a pair of fingers were laid hard against my neck.
"She has no pulse." A man with a voice that was as rich and smooth as cream announced. What? I'm…I must not be in the afterlife then, if this is unusual. I don't think I'm dead either, because I'm thinking.
"Oh, the poor child. Whatever will we tell her parents?" I didn't want to cause them too much alarm by dramatically having my eyes snap open so I pretended to stir and I let out a low moan. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself staring at the sky through the dark branches still. So, I turned my head and saw the astonished faces of Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall.
Professor Snape let in a sharp intake of breath and I realized he was looking at my throat "Minerva, look!"
She bent closer and gasped, "We've got to get her to Madam Pomfrey."
Severus looked grave, "I'm afraid it may be too late."
Meanwhile, I was still just trying to process the fact that I was in the Harry Potter world. I didn't know whether or not I should be excited or scared. I closed my eyes again. I didn't know what the heck they were talking about but it did register that they knew who "I," this girl, was and that they had been looking for me. While I knew who they were I didn't have any memories of this girls' so I decided my best course of action was to pretend that I had lost all of my memories and didn't even know who they were.
Just as I made up my mind to speak to them Severus picked me up bridal style and my eyes flew open as I automatically put my arms around his neck.
He looked to the side, "I'll take her to the hospital wing. I think you should go get the Headmaster."
He looked at me and I finally spoke in a faltering voice. "Sir, could you tell me what my name is? I don't seem to remember anything." He stopped dead in his tracks and Minerva, who had gotten a little ahead of us, turned around and looked at me in shock.
She looked at Snape and said, "Right, one thing at a time." She looked at me, "Let's not repeat conversations dear; wait until we have everyone gathered." Then she turned back around, transformed into a cat, and started running. It was my turn to be shocked, running, at her age? I remembered seeing her walk quickly in the movies, but I didn't remember her ever running. This would probably be a good time to mention that I have only ever read the books once and that was ages ago, and that I haven't even seen all the movies. Snape picked up his pace a little too but we weren't going anywhere near as fast. I looked around at the dark forest and deduced that we must be in the Forbidden Forest? Or was it called the Forbidden Woods? Oh goodness, how am I going to change things for the better if I can barely remember how things were in the first place? To my surprise we exited the woods, forest, whatever, not very long after that, so I hadn't been very far in.
About fifteen or so minutes later we arrived at the infirmary where McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Dumbledore were all waiting. Snape gingerly set me down on the bed in a sitting position. For a moment no one spoke, Snape was recovering his breath and everyone else just looked so very worried. I felt a twinge of fear, I didn't feel like my health was in bad shape, besides for the thirst and not breathing. Wait….does this mean I'm a vampire?
Dumbledore broke the silence, "Child, do you really not remember anything?"
"No," I answered immediately, "I don't know who I am or how I came to be here."
Severus spoke up, "Your name is Esmira Thorncrow and you are in my house."
I gaped, "This castle belongs to you? Thank you, kind Sir for rescuing me." Snape, who had probably never been called a "kind Sir" in his life, looked halfway between laughter at my question and bewildered at the latter.
McGonagall rescued him from having to answer and said, "No, Esmira, the castle is a school. You had just started your first year here. The first term is over and you were one of the few students staying in the castle during Christmas break. Hogwarts, that's the name of the school, is divided into four houses with one Professor leading each house. We can tell you more about everything later, but you were, I mean, are, in the house that Snape is in charge of."
Dumbledore said, "You just rest now while we get in contact with your parents."
Madam Pomfrey burst out, "But what about-"
Dumbledore cut her off, "We don't want to overwhelm Esmira, we'll talk more in the morning."
000
(A little while later in the Headmaster's office)
Minerva was not a person who was easily shaken, but she was clutching her teacup now as if the thing could prevent her from drowning in this mess.
Again, Dumbledore was the one to break the silence. "She is undoubtedly a vampire."
McGonagall set her teacup on her plate and covered her face in her hands, "Oh dear….." She trailed off. Snape began to pace from where he had been standing.
"Now, we have had two werewolf students and were able to manage that-" Dumbledore began.
[AN/ Sorry for the interruption here, but I thought I should explain that in the app Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Mystery another werewolf student is introduced, so I thought I'd include that as canon, that they've had more than one]
Snape whirled on him "That was only a once a month thing and they didn't rely on human blood to survive. I've tried contacting the girl's parents by floo powder and they didn't respond so I will be sending an owl immediately after this meeting and awaiting their answer. I can only hope that they do the sensible thing and take her home. They are reasonably well off and will be able to find a way to provide for her I am sure." Dumbledore looked uncomfortable, but didn't disagree and Minerva merely snatched her teacup again and took a big gulp.
"Well," Dumbledore said, "Perhaps you had better get started on that letter then. I'm certain it will take you some time to word it just right."
000
(Meanwhile…)
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Madam Pomfrey. You must be feeling tired."
"Yes, I do, but I don't think I'd be able to fall asleep just yet. Could you hand me a mirror? I don't remember what I look like."
She hesitated, then a resolute expression crossed her face and she said, "Of course." She went and got one and then handed it to me. I was unsurprised to see that I looked like a twelve year old, since they said I had just started school here and that I had a different face and different hair, I also wasn't really surprised at what else I saw, though a cold feeling of dread did fill me. There were blood encrusted bite marks on my neck, my skin was unnaturally pale, my face was rather gaunt, which was very unattractive, and my eyes glowed red. They're actually glowing! It isn't even that dark in the room, just a little dim and I can still tell they are glowing! I swallowed, which only reminded me how thirsty I was, and I noticed Madam Pomfrey eyeing me nervously. I handed the mirror back to her; my hand was shaking slightly.
"Could I have a book to read please? I need to get my mind off of things. Like I said, I don't feel like I'll be able to get to sleep right away." She nodded, left my field of vision, and brought me a book. "Thank you." I said automatically as she handed it to me, not even looking to see what it was. Then she got a little towel, dipped it in some water, and gingerly cleaned my neck.
After she was done, she turned on the lamp by my bedside and said, "Just stay here reading and you'll be fine." Then she turned out the lights and left, maybe to go to her office nearby or wherever it was that she slept.
I could still hardly believe it. I'm really here. I'm really at Hogwarts. Then, A vampire? Really? I vaguely remember one vampire being mentioned in the books and that nothing much was said about him. Vampires must not be very common. I can only hope that they aren't treated worse than werewolves. Even though Lupus was fired after he got found out at least he wasn't locked away in a cell somewhere. I really, really hope that they don't lock me away somewhere. That would be a miserable existence anyway, let alone knowing that you are in the Harry Potter world and that you could be learning how to do magic and everything. Then I decided that worrying would get me nowhere and I looked at the book in my hands A Beginner's Guide to the Healing Arts. I sighed, but I had nothing better to read so I started to read it. I read for perhaps a half an hour, but then I decided I really should get some sleep. I thought that my mind would be racing too much to fall asleep quickly, but before I knew it I was opening my eyes in the morning. When the sunlight entering the room didn't kill me, I took that as a good sign. It did make me feel very weak and tired though.
Professor Snape entered the room and sat in a chair beside my bed.
"Esmira, I've sent an owl with a letter to your parents. I expect to hear back from them today. Since you don't remember anything, if they decide to let you come back to school, you'll have to start your first year over." He paused, I nodded.
"I'm very thirsty. I don't suppose an animal would work?" I looked at him hopefully.
"Oh…you figured it out then. No, that's been tried before." He looked regretful.
I sighed, "How long can I…erm, live, without drinking blood?"
"I don't know," Snape said, "It might vary from vampire to vampire, not a lot is known."
"Could you take me on a tour of the castle?" Snape looked a little surprised, but agreed. We spent a good three hours walking around the castle, with the last place we visited being the owlery. No owl with a letter awaited us there. Severus looked worried.
"They really should have responded by now."
"Who?" I asked, having forgotten.
"Your parents."
"Oh."
"Well," he said "I'll show you to your dorm room. I imagine you'll be more comfortable in the dungeon where there is less light." I nodded gratefully, for most of the time we had been inside, but whenever we had so much as passed a window I instantly felt tired enough that I had wanted to sit down right then and there, which I knew would have been stupid, because then I would have been sitting in the sunlight. That got me thinking, it seemed likely that was how sunlight killed vampires in this world, it made them too tired to move, and maybe if they had been out in it all day they still wouldn't be able to move as night set in, so they couldn't hunt, and then by the time they were feeling better dawn would approach and the cycle would repeat until they starved to death.
Well, however things worked here, I was glad to be shown my dorm room. There was only one bed with belongings by it so I moved over to stand by that bed and I looked back as Professor Snape silently left. I quickly rummaged around until I found my books and I was delighted to pull out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I also found a pointed witch's hat, which I thought would probably help a bit to keep the sun off me. Even better, I found a pair of dragon-hide gloves, I didn't care if they weren't for normal wear; I resolved to put them on the next time I went out of the dorm. I climbed onto my bed and I started to read the book right away.
000
Professor Snape went to see Dumbledore. "Her parents haven't sent a letter in response. I know that it is rude, but I think the matter is urgent enough that I will use the floo network to drop by unannounced." Dumbledore nodded in agreement. Severus went over to the chimney, used the floo powder, and soon found himself in what was normally probably a very nice house. It didn't seem so nice anymore, because in the room in front of him, were the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Thorncrow. He immediately went back to Hogwarts, not wanting to disturb anything in the room.
Dumbledore looked at him, startled, "That was quick."
Snape went to a chair and sat down. "They're dead." He said, heavily.
Dumbledore looked alarmed. "I'll notify the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." He went and used the floo network. After some moments Severus stood up to go inform Esmira.
000
When Snape told me the news I was very surprised. My parents were murdered, probably on the same night that I was made a vampire, that seemed very suspicious.
"Well," I floundered awkwardly, while rubbing the back of my neck with my hand, "I can't say that I miss them because I don't remember them, but that certainly is awful that they were murdered."
It was only after Professor Snape had left that I began thinking more about what it meant to not have any parents in this world. I'm really all alone. I realized suddenly. I don't have anyone I can confide in. Not that I'd have told my "parents" that I'm reincarnated from a different world. However, they would've hopefully loved me, and I could have talked to them about, well, everything else. School, my feelings, etc. I began to get a little depressed. I ran out to the hallway. "Professor Snape!" I called, relieved to see that he wasn't out of sight yet. I ran up to him, "Could you show me where the library is again? I just, need something to cheer me up."
"Very well." He said in a long-suffering voice, not looking too happy about being forced into the role of tour guide. I immediately felt bad for needing his help, but at the same time I didn't want to get lost, so I followed him in silence.
It was hours before Dumbledore returned. In fact, it was nearly nightfall. Snape came and got me and we headed up to the Headmasters office. Even though I already knew what would happen, I didn't have to fake the impressed look on my face at the spiraling staircase, it was really cool.
Dumbledore looked very weary as we all sat down, McGonagall was there too, and before he even began speaking I said to him, "I don't know everything you've done for me, but I want to thank you, and you Professor Snape, for being so kind to me."
At this Dumbledore looked a tad less tired and began to speak. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement have no leads on the culprit. Your parent's funeral will be in three days. It has all been arranged. Their will, will be read in two days, though you are their only child so everything will probably pass to you as you have no living relatives. You are now an orphan, but I have already started the process to have the school adopt you."
"The school!?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.
"Yes," Dumbledore said, "After all, Esmira is immortal, but she is only twelve, no one would hire her even after she graduates because of her apparent age or her condition. She will have to be like Professor Binns, tied to the school, perhaps a few years after she graduates, she can even take over teaching that class for him. After all, important history has happened since he died that he doesn't teach."
"I…I am very grateful." I stuttered, the full severity of my situation hitting me like a ton of bricks. Yes, living here was an adventure right now, but I didn't want to be stuck here forever. For that matter I didn't want to live forever either, even if I could leave Hogwarts, I imagined that life would get very dull after a few centuries. I would probably get tired of reading eventually, then I would get tired of the next hobby, and the next, and the next, and eventually life would just be completely tedious, with no joy at all, especially if I kept on making friends and they kept on dying.
I was almost walking in a daze as Snape escorted me back to the Slytherin dorm, I couldn't remember the way yet. Everything happened as Dumbledore predicted, I inherited everything, my parents were buried, though I did not attend the funeral, because it was not yet public knowledge that I was a vampire, and Dumbledore wanted to finalize the adoption procedure before it was made known. The days passed rather quickly as I read or thought about my situation. The more I thought about it the more I considered that perhaps the girl whose body I am inhabiting wasn't supposed to have been made into a vampire. Certainly, if the vampire who had bitten her had meant it, that vampire would have stuck around long enough to, I don't know, make certain that the process was complete or talk to her after it was. Perhaps she died because of the attack and my soul has come here, inhabited her body, and made her be undead. I just don't know enough about how vampires "work" in this world. Is getting bitten enough to turn you? Or would you have to be bitten and then drink some of the vampire's blood?
The very next morning an incident happened that led me to learn that the second scenario was the case, although I am ashamed to recount what happened. I had been at Hogwarts for six days, and this was the morning of the seventh. When morning came, my vision turned red, as if I was looking through red-colored glasses. My throat burned unbearably and I went mad with thirst. I started to look to see if I could find any blood in the room. I know how irrational that sounds now, but I wasn't thinking straight. I threw pillows and blankets off of all the beds, I opened all the drawers, I crawled over every inch of carpet in search of a drop. I was near the door when it opened. I jumped on the human, and sank my fangs into its neck. That was when I discovered the properties of vampire fangs, they were solid before, but they hollowed now, and I drank like drinking from two straws, directly into my veins. Before I had time to fully appreciate the logic of that, because it really doesn't make sense, to swallow blood down your throat, where it would just end up in your stomach, when it needs to replenish your veins, I was forcefully detached by a strong punch to the gut. I tumbled to the floor, my vision returned to normal, and I saw Professor Snape staring down at me in disgust. Oh. He had come to get me, like usual, to take me to the breakfast table so that I could have some semblance of a normal life.
I scrambled to my feet, "I'm sorry-"
"Don't bother." He snarled and left.
I was absolutely miserable for the rest of the day. I spent the entire morning cleaning up the room which had taken me such a short time to make a complete mess. I was too ashamed to try to find him and apologize again or to try and confide in any of the other professors, including Dumbledore. If I could have wept, I would have, but I found that I couldn't even do that. The day after that Dumbledore himself came and told me that as the students were coming back soon for second term, they had decided that I should move back to the infirmary with my belongings so that the students of my year wouldn't find out, or at least that they wouldn't find out as soon.
The next couple of months were not the happiest of my life. I wasn't allowed to leave the infirmary, and whenever there was another student there, the curtains around my bed were always kept shut and I had to hide under the covers for good measure if the student was brave enough to risk the wrath of Madam Pomfrey to see who was in the bed behind the curtains. She became my only link to the outside world, and she brought me lots and lots of books. I don't know where she got it, but she also provided me with blood every seven days. Professor Snape came and visited me briefly after two months. I had been dreading this moment, I really didn't want him to be my enemy or to hate me.
As soon as I saw him I profusely apologized. He paused, then said, "You are forgiven. I am unharmed, no permanent damage done."
"Oh, I am so glad. I was so worried." I hastily said.
"However," he continued, and his gaze darkened considerably. "If you ever do such a thing to anyone else again, no matter how desperate you are, I will expel you as is my right as your Head of House. I have also come to inform you that the adoption process is going very well, due to the unusual circumstance of the school adopting you though, it will probably be several more months before everything is finalized."
"That's good." I said, relieved. I didn't want the process to fail, I didn't know if Dumbledore would be forced to offer me up for adoption to any Slytherin families because that would be very bad. The threat of expulsion had also made me realize that if I was expelled and no one had adopted me yet, I had no idea where I would go. I suppose there must be orphanages in the wizarding world, especially what with all the children that Voldemort had orphaned, but I didn't want to go to an orphanage either, even if it was a wizarding one.
A few months later Dumbledore came and announced "The adoption process is complete! Also, the term is ending soon. Most of the professors leave over the summer break but one or two always stay. I believe that this time around it will be Professors Flitwick and McGonagall. Oh, and Madam Pomfrey will stay just for you, though she normally goes home. You will no longer have to hide in here and you will be starting school next term as a first year."
I nodded and grinned. I had gotten thoroughly bored of reading in this room. Occasionally I practiced simple spells with my wand. I had asked Madam Pomfrey to tell me a spell on the grounds that I wanted to make certain my wand still worked for me and she had taught me Wingardium Leviosa. I was very relieved to find out that yes, my wand worked, and that yes, I could do magic. Though it did bother me a little that I didn't know what my wand was made of.
Summer passed by quicker than I expected it to. I talked with McGonagall a lot about what it was like for her to be a student at Hogwarts. I played dozens of games of wizard's chess with Flitwick, though I nearly always lost and the times that I won I couldn't help but suspect he was just being nice. I also learned that Madam Pomfrey wasn't always severe and that she enjoyed a good game of wizard's chess too and I won against her more often than I did against Flitwick. I repeatedly expressed my gratitude at everything she was doing for me.
I was nearly bursting with excitement by the time the night of the sorting came. The professors had come back a week or so before. Poor Quirrell nearly fainted when he met me and immediately asked Headmaster Dumbledore if I could be excluded from his class but Dumbledore put his foot down and said there would be no nonsense of that sort, that I was perfectly civilized. I gave a faint smile at that, but truthfully, I almost wished that Quirrell had gotten away with excluding me from his class.
It was decided that I would stand with McGonagall at the top of the stairs and await the new first years. I nearly jumped up and down with delight when I saw that among them was the Boy who Lived.