Disclaimer: A long, long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away I was pretty damn sure I knew where I was going with this disclaimer. Ah well. J.K. = owner of everything Harry Potter. Me = adult, who should be writing her essays and reading syllabus books rather than writing HP fanfiction and reading more HP than can possibly be healthy.
Chapter Three: Blood Suckers
Harry looked up into a familiar face with a long white beard and hair, Dumbledore. He felt terribly nauseous and his chest was throbbing as painfully as his scar did at time for some reason. He looked down at his chest as someone lifted him to his feet and realised he was bleeding heavily from the wound. Someone poured something down his throat and held his jaw until he swallowed, he felt slightly better for it.
"You'll be alright, sweety," said someone who Harry also knew, Medea.
Her mass of auburn hair was slightly scorched though and her piercing, blue eyes were filled with tears. Her freckled skin was stained with her tears and smeared with what looked like ash, beneath the freckles and ash though she was almost white. She looked scared to death – Harry had never seen her look at all scared before.
"'S matter, Medea?" he asked, his mouth dry, but at the same time tasting terribly of blood.
She burst into tears and hugged him very tightly. Harry could feel her tears soaking into his shoulder and he knew that she was getting his blood all over her. He couldn't understand why she was hugging him at all.
"Let him go, Medea," said sharp voice that he recognised too, but it had never been this tense before. "I need to see the Blood Circle."
Harry was released and he was lowered back onto the stairs. Medea sat beside him and grabbed him hand tightly. He turned to her and frowned. He wasn't exactly in pain, it had gone beyond pain, it was like he was detached from his body and there was just the distant suggestion of pain. Someone touched his wound though and he turned to see who it was, Snape. He appeared to be trying to mop up the blood.
"It's been cut right down to the bone," he muttered. "It isn't going to heal in the near future."
Harry looked down at his chest, from which a lot of blood had been cleared and he appeared to be bleeding much less. But he could see something on his chest besides the blood though, a very pale ring on his skin. To his horror he realised he could see the bone. Medea squeezed his hand tighter and then he saw someone else he knew, Sirius.
"You'll be okay, Harry," he told him. "Don't worry – Snape is good for some things."
"Excuse me, could you perhaps try not to insult me while I am trying to save your godson's life," snapped Snape, but there was still that frightened tension in his voice.
Harry heard dimly the conversations of the others around him as Snape did his best to stop the blood. He knew he wouldn't die of course, it was meant to torture the victim to the brink of death, but never all the way there. The blood would stop just before it was fatal and he would recover, that was the point of the Blood Circle. Voldemort had explained the idea of the torturers' aid to him before the Blood Circle had been burnt into his skin.
Suddenly he was lifted up off the stairs and as his was carried up to the Hospital Wing, he knew the way by now, his head lolled back to see all those following. There was Snape, who was trying to comfort to distraught Medea. Brizo was walking slowly towards the back, she was pale and shivering. Arabella walked beside Mad-Eye Moody, her face grim and set. Remus was there too, walking along next to him, looking at him with incredible concern in his eyes. Sirius was carrying him of course and Dumbledore was leading the party. There were others too, but Harry couldn't see them with his head spinning as it was.
He was laid down on a bed in the Hospital Wing and Snape lifted his head to slip some disgusting substance down his throat. He coughed and spluttered as he was dropped back into the pillows and he drifted off to sleep. Occasionally as he slept he felt a twitch in his chest as poultices, charms and potions were tried by the assembled witches and wizards. He'd have the Blood Circle forever though, just like his scar. A snake biting it's own tail, the symbol for eternity, in the Blood Circle it meant eternal pain and Harry wondered if he really would suffer as badly as that.
*****
Harry landed on the paved stone front of McKinnon Castle and dropped his invisibility cloak. There were definite pros to flying under the cloak, he could fly during the day-time for a start, on the down side it was very stuffy under the cloak and he could not fly like he would on a pitch.
He folded up his cloak and slipped it into his pocket and threw his broom over his shoulder. His broom was handmade, a rarity in the modern magical world. It had been a gift from the England team when they had won the World Cup with his now legendary and highly dangerous manoeuvre, The Phoenix Ascent, named after the tattoo on his back.
Trivia slid to the ground and the right head glared at him, "Are you incapable of flying in a straight line, Harry?"
"I thought it was wonderful," said the middle head. "The way we shot down that valley at top speed! We would have never had anything like that back in the jungle."
"It was a good decision," said the left head. "Apparating is not a wise thing to do with us coming along too."
"Yes! It gives me an absolute headache," snapped the right head.
"Are you agreeing with something I chose to do, Trivia?" asked Harry, grinning.
"Wha - no! Don't be stupid! Of course I'm not agreeing with you."
Harry laughed and walked up to the large wooden doors with Trivia at his heels. He knocked on them with his broom handle. After a few minutes the door was answered by a shorter than average House-Elf with large green eyes and a nose bent so that it turned up a little at the front. Harry immediately grinned and the little House-Elf grabbed him about his middle in a tight hug.
"Master Potter, you have returned to McKinnon Castle! So many adventures Master Potter must have had. Will Master Potter tell Luri of them?" she asked in her high, squeaky voice.
"Sure, Luri," said Harry, stepping inside. "Where is everyone though?"
"Master and Mistress Black are down at the lake with the young Mistresses Black," said Luri.
"Great," said Harry. "I'll just nip down to see them then. Come on, Trivia."
The right head, who had been making a few choice comments of Luri's attire, was silenced by the left and Trivia slithered after Harry through the house and out to the grounds with Luri scurrying after them all. The grounds were mostly forest besides the paved bit at the front few avenues through-out the forest and the lake at the bottom of the glen. Surprisingly enough though, Hogwarts was less than twenty miles away and when Harry had been at school he had often made the flight by broom at Christmas and Easter.
"Look at the bluebells," said the middle head. "Aren't they beautiful – and look there's a deer through the trees."
"We could eat a deer!" snapped the right head. "And this isn't so great. It's just a forest in a temperate climate. If our jungle had been in England then it would have looked just like this."
"You're missing the point," said the middle head earnestly. "It is beautiful because our jungle was not in England."
"Yes, but if our jungle had been in England – or even in this part of the hemisphere, then it would have been just like this. Though the species might have varied slightly."
"Us for a start," snapped the left head. "The Runespoor species is native to Burkina Faso and that is not going to change. There are a few of us in the Cotê D'Ivorie I understand though."
"And in Greece, they used to like Runespoor there," said the middle head. "They used to have white Winged Horses too! They are meant to be beautiful – I've thought a lot about Winged Horses. Flying is so glorious…"
Harry left Trivia to her argument and broke into a jog down the path to the lake. He spotted the silhouettes through the trees and sprinted down to the bank and was immediately embraced. Medea McKinnon took a step back and looked him up and down critically before saying, "Your hair's too long, sweety."
"Oh, thank-you," said Harry.
"Harry!" yelled Astraea, running forward with her too sisters.
Harry grinned and swept up Astraea, throwing her high into the air, "Hello, Astraea," he laughed. "And how are you?"
"We're catching Burach-Bhadi in the lake," she said excitedly.
"Really?" said Harry. "I used to do that when I came here for the summer and Easter."
"Come on then," said Hespera, grabbing onto his hand.
Autonoë grabbed his other arm and pulled him along the bank to where her father was standing on the pier. He embraced Harry and beamed at him and then looked over his shoulder. Harry turned too to see Trivia's right head hissing at him. Harry laughed at his companion's complaints about the children as they leapt into the water and translated for his godfather.
"Interesting company you keep, Harry," said Sirius, patting him on the back. "While we're on that subject by the way. Where is Gabrielle? I thought she was going to be exposed to the horror of the Black household."
"London, seeing a friend of hers… I was in Italy recently by the way," said Harry as they walked down the pier. "I talked to Remus and Lyca – Giacomo's getting quite tall now you know – and he mentioned something about the patter of tiny feet once again… You haven't been keeping things from your godson again have you, Sirius?" asked Harry, grinning as he rarely got his godfather to blush.
"I may have mentioned it – in passing," he added quickly.
"Sirius wants to see if we can have a boy," said Medea, appearing between the two of them.
"May have thought of it," muttered Sirius.
It was widely known through-out the magical community how much Sirius Black adored his children. He was embarrassed about the whole thing though, for years he had been feared and before that he had been considered to be an incredible ladies' man, a lot of people had been rather shocked to discover after all that he wanted to be a family man. Remus, Arabella and Brizo had teased him and Medea – another one notorious for their single life – for weeks when they had discovered they were getting married. Harry had seen a lot of bets cashed in though.
"Any names?" asked Harry, grinning even more.
"Do you want to be pushed into the lake?" asked Sirius, glaring at him.
"Boys, stop acting like boys now," said Medea, grabbing both their arms. "And remember never to fall in love, Harry, or you too will want the same. You're just lucky you inherited Herne's Grove when you were sixteen or you might even have got a – mortgage!"
"God forbid," said Sirius, smiling at Harry. "The dare-devil England Seeker can't get married – think of the horror it might, nay would, inflict upon Snape when they started school."
"I am not –" began Harry.
"Go and help the kids catch Burach-Bhadi, Harry," said Medea. "And I will be able to have a discussion with my dear husband about insulting my brother."
"Half-brother," pointed out Sirius quickly.
Harry laughed and bounded to the end of the pier before he was caught up between Sirius and Medea. He pulled off his boots, socks and jacket before diving off the end pier into the water. The lake at McKinnon Castle was smaller than the one at Hogwarts and since there were no Merpeople living below the surface there was quite a lot of inhabitants that wouldn't survive with them. Among them were Burach-Bhadi, eight eyed eels that were very fast and hard to catch. The game was to try and see how many you could catch before they started trying to suck your blood. The Black children adored the game, especially since they could hear the stories of when their parents had done this while they were at Hogwarts.
*****
"So what did my brother have to ask you then?" asked Ginny, as she stacked books in Flourish and Blotts.
"Oh you know, the usually sort of thing," said Hermione with a happy sigh.
Ginny turned to her with a grin, "So just eating lunch with my brother had that effect on you? I must talk to one of his old girlfriends about his effect on women – this has never happened before to my knowledge."
"You know what he asked me don't you," said Hermione, narrowing her eyes.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," said Ginny, straightening a row of Intermediate Transfiguration copies. "Course it is none of my business what my best friend and my brother get up to."
"Who told you?" asked Hermione, sitting down heavily on a little stepladder.
"I guessed," said Ginny and Hermione snorted. "I really did! It was entirely deduction… Ron is not in the habit of discussing his relationships with me – come to think of it, I don't think he's ever used that word."
"Ginny," scolded Hermione. "That's hardly very supportive."
"Nonsense," said Ginny, turning her head and then turning back and adding, "Any woman who gets tied up with any of my brothers has my deepest sympathy."
"And how're thinks going with Jonathon what's-his-name?" asked Hermione with a smile. "The Seeker for the Montrose Magpies isn't it…."
"It's Jonathon Murray and if you're at all interested it is going very well," said Ginny, turning around. "He's really sweet."
"I couldn't imagine you being Mrs. Murray though," said Hermione, now grinning. "Now Mrs. Potter has a wonderful ring to it doesn't it."
"Don't, Hermione," said Ginny turning around. "He doesn't like me. He ignores me whenever we meet and it just makes it even more embarrassing if you keep making insinuations."
"Fine," said Hermione. "I've been working at International Magical Publishing for too long…. Too much gossip."
Ginny started stacking up the new editions of Fantastic Beasts Through The Ages and Hermione flipped open one of the new novels that had just come in. After a while she snapped the book shut and went over to Ginny, she leaned against the shelf and smiled at her mischievously.
"He's back."
Ginny frowned, "What?"
"Harry – he got back last night. I was talking to my friend at the Daily Prophet this morning, you know the Sports Correspondent and he said that Harry was coming back to play Quidditch. For England that is – your boyfriend is going to have a bit more competition than he bargained for…."
"With Quidditch or – stop it, Hermione!" said Ginny, resting her head against a stack of Hogwarts: A History. "Now you've got me thinking about it."
"That was the point," said Hermione.
Ginny turned to her with a scowl, "Is it just me or are you less than timid when it comes to relationships. You ought to watch that, Hermione, or you might end up like Rita Skeeter."
Hermione waved a finger under her nose, "Don't even joke about things like that, Ginny… Anyway, this is for your own good, if you don't get it together with Harry it will never happen."
Ginny turned to her completely and grabbed her shoulders, "Listen, Hermione, it's quite simple. I, Ginny Weasley, do not like Harry Potter as anything, but a friend…. The only reason I am remotely annoyed with him is because he ignores me and I don't know why," she said and turned back to the shelves. "If he just told me he didn't like me I could take that, but he just ignores me and that makes it so much more worse."
Hermione put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "There's this thing next week you know – at Hogwarts, to celebrate the start of the European Quidditch Cup, in England. Are you going with your boyfriend, Jonathon?"
"Yeah," replied Ginny, looking fixedly at a limited edition of The Alchemist's Apprentice.
"Harry will be there and he'll probably be coming back with me and Ron – he usually does after these dos. You'll be able to talk to him then if you like. He won't be able to escape either 'cause I haven't had my apartment hooked up to the Floo Network yet. The boy will be all yours."
"I –"
"Don't say 'no'," said Hermione quickly.
Ginny turned to Hermione, "I was not going to say 'no', Hermione," she laughed.
"Good," said Hermione and picked up her bag. "Then we'll be able to find out what the hells been going on."
"Bye, Hermione," said Ginny.
"Bye, Gin," replied Hermione.
Ginny watched her best friend leave and wondered if she should try and corner Harry to get an answer out of him. He was hardly very talkative with even his best friends, she had noticed, she could be imagining the whole thing. But then she recalled Fred and Angelina's wedding. Harry had gone out of his way to ignore her, even voluntarily getting into a conversation with her father about plugs and batteries. Ginny was going to find out what was the matter with him if it was last thing she did.
A/N: Hermione is a bit driven isn't she. I figured I know a lot of nice and intelligent women who can become surprisingly driven and a bit obsessive when they want to get something done and Hermione always struck me as that type. If you object to that just tell me – I won't change to chapter, but I'll bear it in mind in the future. And yes you did read correctly, the auburn haired, blue eyed Medea is Snape's half-sister, don't worry about that either, I'll explain it soon. It wraps in with an interesting idea to why Snape hated James too.
