A/N: I just started another semester of my Master's program, so I probably won't be able to update very frequently for the next little while, but I'm not abandoning this story!

Chapter VI: Halloween

The next morning, Friday morning, saw me in the Slytherin Common Room, anticipating Professor Snape's arrival with Filch. A few minutes later we were in Snape's office.

Filch spoke, "I found her in the Potions classroom after being led on a merry chase by a couple of students out of bed. She won't tell me who the other students were."

"Explain what you were doing in the Potion's classroom Miss Thorncrow." Snape said in that imperious voice of his.

"I wanted to get away from the light. I had been in direct sunlight for a good hour and a half yesterday and my first instinct was to go somewhere very dark." I paused, then added glaring at Filch "I don't know about any other students out of bed. I just wanted some peace and quiet away from the light."

Filch grunted in disbelief, then looked at Snape.

Snape said, "Even with your special condition Miss Thorncrow, I don't think we can make any special allowances for students out of bed, you'll serve detention in my office after classes today."

I frowned, "Yes sir."

"You are dismissed." I went to the Great Hall and looked for Draco. Once I spotted him I headed over and tapped him on the shoulder, since the two seats beside him were filled by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hey." I said. "How was detention with Professor Snape yesterday?" He cast an annoyed glance at me and a quick one at Crabbe and Goyle but when he saw they were busy eating and not paying attention his face cleared.

"Boring mostly, you're lucky you didn't have to serve it."

"Well, I have to serve detention with him today."

"What? Why? I thought you serving it with Madam Hooch covered it."

"It did. Except I was out of bed last night and someone told Filch that there were students out of bed and I got caught." Draco wasn't yet schooled enough at hiding his emotions from his face because he looked sheepish so I pounced "Oh, it was you? Whatever for? I'm guessing there were other students out of bed because I didn't think anybody would notice if I was missing, well, some of the girls might but anyway who else was out of bed?"

Draco said, "Potter and Weasley that I know of, I was trying to get them into trouble but it seems it didn't work. I left a note in Filch's office saying that I knew some students were going to be out of bed but I didn't say who in the note because well, it made sense at the time, but I thought if I did, he'd be less likely to believe the note and not go searching at all."

"That's okay." I said, "I'll let you get back to your breakfast." I wandered over to the center of the Hall where I had a better view of the Gryffindor table and I saw Ron and Harry talking but Hermione seemed to be giving them the silent treatment in favor of talking to…Neville? Neville looked worried and a bit scared. What had happened? How had Draco known they were going to be out of bed? I had forgotten to ask. I'd ask Draco later about how he knew and as for finding out what had happened to the Gryffindors, maybe it was time I finally told Hermione why I had stopped her from raising her hand that first day of Potions. So I went and tapped Hermione on the shoulder to get her attention.

"What?" She said.

"Can you spare a moment?" I asked, while tilting my head a bit to the side and pointing with my chin to show that I wanted to talk to her over by a random tapestry, alone.

"Alright." She stood up and we walked to the tapestry.

I began, "I've been meaning to tell you. That first day in Potions, I'm sorry I glared at you, I just couldn't think of any other way in that moment to stop you from raising your hand without saying anything to you. I've lived at the castle for quite some time now, so I've gotten to know Professor Snape, and I could tell that he wasn't really looking for the answers to those questions. I don't know why, but I think that he does dislike Harry for some reason, so I was concerned that you raising your hand would somehow make it worse for Harry, and I do want to be your friend. I think you're really smart and you've been a good partner to have in potions. Also…." I looked down, "I'm not friends with any of the Slytherin girls, a few of them have been nice, the ones in second year that knew me before I became a vampire, but I can tell they also find it awkward to be around me, that they're comparing me to how I used to be, a me that I don't even remember. I'd like to be your friend, if you don't mind that I'm in Slytherin." I paused and looked up.

Hermione looked stunned, "I-I'm sorry." She stuttered, "It's just that I never would have thought to receive an offer of friendship from a Slytherin. You're different from them though aren't you? Seamus and Neville whispered to the other Gryffindors after you had left that you said that you didn't do it for Slytherin. You're also the same in some ways though, you were rather mean to Draco, but then again, I guess he was mean first, not that it makes it right what you did. I-okay, I was just doing my thinking out loud for a bit, sorry. I think I could be your friend, maybe…"

"That's good enough for me for now." I said hurriedly. Then, as if I had just remembered something, I said, "Oh, and….when I was walking over to come talk with you, I couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be giving Harry and Ron a bit of a cold shoulder. Did something happen last night? It's just that, Filch caught me out of bed last night because he'd been looking for some other students. That wouldn't have happened to be them would it?"

"Well…maybe it was and maybe it wasn't. Sorry, I just don't know you well enough just yet."

I was disappointed that she wouldn't tell me, but at the same time I nodded and said, "I understand. Well, I'll let you get back to your meal. If anyone from Slytherin asks why we were talking, can you just say we were talking about Potions? You can tell anyone from Gryffindor the truth of course."

"Okay."

Then I left to go to the Slytherin Common Room to gather my books for classes. I didn't end up speaking to Draco again all that day and before I knew it I was in detention with Snape. To my surprise I wasn't the only one there, there were two Ravenclaws as well. Snape just set us to writing the same sentence one hundred times, "I will not break the rules at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The other students wrote furiously, having to pause now and then to rest their hands when they got cramped. At first I wrote more slowly and with every sentence I tried to do a different handwriting style for fun, then when I was about thirty sentences in I saw that I was taking forever and that I had run out of unique styles that I could think of so I just switched to my handwriting and picked up the pace at which I was writing. All in all, it was pretty boring, like Draco said.

The two Ravenclaw's left before I did and as I was heading out Professor Snape spoke up "Remember to come with me after dinner to the Headmaster's office."

I turned back and said, "Oh thank you! I had already forgotten about that."

After dinner I followed Professor Snape to Dumbledore's office.

We were all sitting comfortably when Dumbeldore began, "Now, Esmira. You have two options. There are a number of classes which still have room for another student, and I am certain you could catch up on the homework on account of you not needing to sleep…." I nodded. Dumbledore continued, "Or Professors Snape and Sprout have both expressed a desire at this rare opportunity of having a potentially willing vampire to see what different effects, different from humans that is, if any, various plants or potions would have on you."

"Oh." I said. "The second option certainly sounds more interesting." My first instinct was to want to work with Professor Snape, since I was more familiar with him, but then a thought came to me and I spoke, "Well…I think it would make more sense if I accepted Professor Sprout's offer, because a few potions are entirely plant based, so if the plants had no effect on me individually, I doubt they would have any effect on me combined in a potion. That would narrow down the number of potions Professor Snape would want to try." I glanced at him and he nodded.

"Very well then." Professor Dumbledore said, "I shall inform Professor Sprout to expect you Tuesdays and Thursdays."

000

The next day I found out from Draco that he knew Potter and Weasley would be out of bed because he had challenged them to a duel. I also remembered that I had gotten so caught up with my day to day schedule that I had forgotten to try to find a way into the Gryffindor dorm room. I wanted information and it looked like for now sneaking might be the only way to get it, waiting for Hermione to trust me would take too much time. I waited until during dinner, then I went out by the Great Hall doors and cast the disillusionment charm, hoping that this time would go better than last time with Quirrell, who incidentally, now completely ignored me in class, which was a little annoying but mostly fine. I followed a group of Gryffindor students, when they lead me straight to the portrait of The Fat Lady I was relieved, I had been worried that they might have gone somewhere else.

I heard the lead student give the password "Hobgoblins" and decided that I wouldn't try to sneak in with the group, since I was very worried about bumping into someone. I went a little ways away where the painting couldn't see me and I dismissed the charm.

Then I approached The Fat Lady and said "Hobgoblins".

She scowled at me, "I think I would have remembered seeing a vampire Gryffindor before now. You may know the password but you don't belong. I'm not letting you in. Ah, now I remember you. You came with Professor Snape before, you must be a Slytherin. You aren't the first Slytherin to try to get in here and I daresay you won't be the last." Annoyed, I stuck out my tongue and then ran away. I didn't feel like trying again tonight, but tomorrow I would.

The next night brought no success either. I was under the disillusionment charm again. I tried several times to sneak in after the last student of a group had entered but the portrait closed too quickly. Several other times, when there was only one student entering I tried to go in at the same time, but I could never quite manage to get the timing right since the students entered at different speeds and in one instance a student accidently elbowed me and I stumbled back. The student never even noticed, continuing on. It seemed the only way I would get in is if I was invited in. That's when I thought of Neville and Seamus. It took me several days to work up the courage to speak to them about it. However I was left feeling foolish after that encounter, I had put them in an awkward position, they weren't certain if it was even allowed, of course they couldn't let me go in with them even if I was the most helpful Slytherin they knew (I had helped them a couple more times in Potions) since I wasn't a Gryffindor, and so on and so forth. I decided that it was time I admitted defeat, at least for the time being.

Word somehow spread that I had agreed to conduct experiments with Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff house. The Slytherins couldn't fathom why I had agreed, since to them the connections I could have potentially made in a class far outweighed the one connection I was making with a Hufflepuff professor, even if she was Head of House. The Hufflepuffs thought that I was being extraordinarily kind to submit myself to being experimented on, and the Gryffindors thought that I was brave to do so, the Ravenclaws approved of my adding to the knowledge base about vampires. In short, my decision made me popular with roughly three fourths of the student body, something that I had not expected when I had made it. I don't think the same thing would have happened had I instead went with Professor Snape.

The experiments would have been more interesting if something of note happened during them, but the end result of everything we tried was that it had no effect. That was very interesting for Professor Sprout, but rather boring for me. Although at times it was also a relief, we rubbed various plants on my arms, expecting different rashes to appear and none did. I smelled the fumes of other burning plants and nothing that was supposed to happen did happen. I drank herbal teas and decoctions to no effect. We were both fast coming to the conclusion that I was, well, dead, and dead things don't have living reactions. Professor Sprout assured me though that she'd be able to write a nice long paper from what we were doing and that it was still worth it to continue, just to be sure.

It was a week and a half later that Hermione approached me and asked me if I would like to come over to the Gryffindor Common Room to play a card game that night. She explained that while she did have friends in Harry and Ron, she was a bit like me in that she wasn't friends with any of the girls of her own House, and we got along so well in Potions, that perhaps we could give it a try.

I said, "I think that's a great idea. I don't think I'll be able to invite you to the Slytherin Dorm Room ever though, it's a bit of a dangerous place. People aren't friendly there."

She said, "I understand."

That night saw me in the Gryffindor Common Room playing Exploding Snap with Hermione. It was the first time I played so she had to teach me.

I opened up with small talk, "What's your family like?"

"My father is a dentist and my mother is a stay at home mom. I don't have any siblings, what about you?"

I paused, overwhelmed by the sudden grief that filled my heart as I thought of my family back on Earth, or back in my dimension I guess, since this is also Earth.

Hermione mistook my look of sadness to be for Mr. and Mrs. Thorncrow and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, how thoughtless of me to forget."

"No, it isn't that." I said. "I don't remember them. I was just imagining what it would be like to have…" I trailed off, knowing Hermione would probably complete the sentence in her head as "a family." but what I really thought was my family here with me. I squared my shoulders and smiled more brightly than I felt "Anyway, do you think they will allow costumes on Halloween? I don't have one, but then I don't need to dress up in order to be a vampire." I smiled at my own comment, amused.

Hermione smiled too, "I don't know if they will or not." We had a pleasant evening but it was nearing time for me to get back to my dorm when Hermione said, "Alright, I'll tell you what happened that night. Harry and Ron were so stupid to attempt to go to a wizard's duel with Draco. You didn't know about that did you?"

I shook my head, "Not until afterwards."

"Well Draco didn't show up and we were chased by Filch and we found this room with this large three headed dog that was standing on a trap door!" I gasped, I hadn't realized that I'd missed that. "I know!" Hermione said, "We might've been expelled because it was that forbidden place that Dumbledore said we weren't supposed to go to!"

"That's awful." I said. A door slammed, we both jumped and turned to see Fred and George Weasley enter the room. I stood and turned to Hermione, "I think I'd better be going now." She nodded. I brushed past the twins, hurrying out the door.

000

The castle was transformed Halloween morning. Carved pumpkins were everywhere. I always tried to make it six days before getting my dose of blood, but truthfully I started to get hungry every four days. It was like going a few hours without food when you are hungry, except in my case it was two days and sometimes weakness overtook me. This was one of those times, especially seeing everyone else enjoying Halloween treats so much during the day. In the morning I had resolved to be strong and make it the six days, but after seeing everyone else enjoying themselves so much during breakfast and lunch I went to Madam Pomfrey at dinnertime to get my blood. When I exited the infirmary, making my way to the Great Hall, I saw a large group of students in the distance following what looked like a prefect. Oh my goodness, is the troll tonight? The one day I miss dinner (usually I have my packet during breakfast) the one day. I had remembered that the announcement from Quirrell would come at dinnertime, just not which dinner.

Now I had a dilemma, go save my friends or go to the forbidden corridor and try to catch Quirrell. I knew they had made it out alright in the books, but that was just dumb luck, it wouldn't necessarily pan out the same. Another thing was the corridor was in the part of the castle that I couldn't get out of. I'd need to be holding a teacher's or a student's hand in order to get away. That would mean explaining why I had been in an area I knew that I couldn't get out of. On the other hand, I knew exactly where the forbidden room was and was fairly certain I could get there quickly even with the shifting staircases and things. I didn't know which girl's bathroom Hermione was in, and there were a lot. I could search through all of them and not get to the right one in time. That decided me, I went to go catch Quirrell.

Instead of heading to the forbidden room, I continued to the Great Hall. I had to dodge a couple of groups of students, but luckily no one saw me. Hopefully I would get to the Great Hall in time to see Quirrell leave it. Halfway there I changed my mind, what if he detected me following him again? I didn't want that to happen. I changed course and headed to the forbidden room, it was now closer than it had been before anyway. I arrived and realized I had a problem. I didn't know if I was the first one to arrive or not. The only way to find out was to enter the room and I really didn't want to do that. I was fairly certain that even if I was under a disillusionment charm Fluffy would be able to smell me. I cast the charm anyway, at least it would protect me from human eyes.

I eased the door open, Fluffy began growling, but didn't pinpoint me in the time it took me to peak around the room and then close the door. I went to wait beside one of the pillars in the hallway near the door. It was then that I realized I hadn't needed to use Alohamora to open the door. Snape was probably already inside waiting for Quirrell. Before I could go and maybe say something to him, or station myself in the room so that he didn't have to deal with both Quirrell and Fluffy alone Professor Quirrell appeared, panting slightly. I drew my wand as he rushed to the door and opened it.

He took one step inside as I cast "Petrificus Totalis." Quirrell ducked, but he didn't turn my way. He had to have been avoiding something, whether a spell cast by Snape or…Fluffy, who was barking now. Whatever reason, he had by luck dodged my spell as well. Now he was out of my line of vision. I quickly stepped forward and located him, he had his wand out and cast a nonverbal spell to somewhere in the room that I couldn't see. I didn't want to cast Petrificus Totalis again because I might hit Fluffy or the still invisible Snape.

Instead I moved a bit closer, to give a better chance of success and cast "Carpe Retractum." It was a third level spell but it was quite easy for me to cast, I grinned in satisfaction as Quirrell was caught by the trailing rope of light from my wand. Then I remembered that I had to do the "heavy lifting" of pulling Quirrell towards me, which I dutifully started to do. Quirrell, distracted by the rope of light, wasn't looking at Fluffy when the dog jumped on him, knocking him flat and clawing at the back of his head and legs. I saw a howling spirit leave the body. I screamed, it was a high pitched cry, and yanked my arm back holding the wand, Quirrell didn't budge an inch, I wasn't strong enough. I canceled the spell, suddenly Professor Snape was there. Perhaps because he had just seen me use it and couldn't think of anything else in the thick of the moment Professor Snape cast Carpe Retractum and forcefully dragged Quirrell to safety.

The turban was ripped to shreds and Voldemort's injured face was visible. His eyes were closed and his face was slack. Snape knelt and checked Professor Quirrell's pulse, first on his neck, and then on his wrist.

"He's dead." He intoned as he turned to me, his face mottled in anger. I don't know when the spell hiding me had stopped but it was obvious he could see me. "You shouldn't be here. This is your fault."

"It isn't my fault that you decided to have a savage three headed dog here! Nor is it my fault that Professor Quirrell was up to no good! Besides, I saw him dodging a spell that I didn't cast, you were casting spells too!" I emphatically ended with, "One of your spells could have just as easily been the reason why Quirrell didn't react to the dog in time."

He clinched his jaw, but paused, and cast his patronus, presumably to tell Dumbledore. He turned back to me, "I can't take the time to escort you out because I should stay here. What you saw is not to leave this corridor, do you understand?"

"Yes." I said faintly.

"We need to inform the wizarding world that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, I saw his spirit leave the body wailing, so I don't think he's completely dead."

I nodded, still shaking from the shock of having witnessed someone die, even if that someone was an enemy.

A/N: So I don't know if this is the best place to end this chapter, but I felt the need to get it posted because like I mentioned in the beginning A/N I've started another semester of my Master's program and I won't have much time to work on the story for the next little while.