Prologue: The Visit

Title: Harry Potter and the Secret of the Vampire

By: dark_rogue/ Gabrielle Soria

I did edit it a bit. I hope you like it! Oh, and please read and review! Give me five reviews and I'll give you the next chapter!

Prologue: The Visit

It was a wet and rainy Saturday morning right in the middle of summer. A young Sirius Black was walking behind his new stepmother, grumbling away cheerlessly.

"Why does he have to come? You told me he was a bad person. Can't you get dad to change his mind?" he whined, amazed at how good and persuasive he sounded for a young man of twenty.

"Sirius honey, you know I can't. It was your father's decision to begin with. He feels that your grandfather needs to spend more time with you guys. That he never gets to see you anymore," Sirius' stepmother Samantha replied, shifting the new baby, Katrina, to her other arm. Sirius smiled at his small sister, who looked back at him.

" Hey Katrina!" Sirius cooed to his sister. The baby smiled. Turning back to Samantha he argued, "That's a good thing! Come on Samantha. He's a murderer! He doesn't need to see us! In fact, it's probably safer if he doesn't."

"Oh Darling. Come on! Be more open. You know he loves you," Samantha argued, walking into the living room.

"Samantha! Normal grandfathers don't take pleasure in seeing dozens of people killed and tortured in front of him! Normal grandfathers like playing golf, drinking beer, and watching football games! There is a difference!" Sirius complained, following her.

Just then the doorbell rang. Sirius groaned. "We're all going to die!" he moaned, hiding his face in his hands and taking cover behind the couch, pulling his younger brothers, Terence, who was thirteen, and Alex with him. "I can't watch."

"Are we going to die?" whispered eleven-year-old Alex.

"Of course not!" growled Sirius' father, who'd overheard his young son. Tall, muscular and imposing, Luke Black-Riddle was a firm but gentle father, at times more one than the other. In this case, he was being more firm. "Get out from behind there now!"

"Fine! Terence, Alex, go on. I'm fifteen though, and I value my life," Sirius retorted. He was seized suddenly by the collar and pulled over the couch. "Jeez! Sorry dad, I didn't know this meant so much to you," he mumbled.

"Sit down," Luke muttered, putting his wand back into his pocket. Sirius heaved a theatrical sigh and flopped down onto the couch beside five-year-old Jonathan, who gave him a cheery smile and a chocolate chip cookie.

The doorbell rang again, and this time the door was opened. Luke stared outside, looking for his father, Tom. Luke's children had chosen to take their mother's maiden name for their own last name, saying that Riddle would be too suspicious. Samantha had agreed.

"Hello?" called Luke. A group of passing old ladies gave him a nervous look and hurried away. No one was there. Luke stared for a moment, then reached out his hand. It caught something. Carefully Sirius' father pulled whatever he had in his hand inside. Then he closed the large oaken door, smiled, and said simply, "Have a seat Dad." Sirius peered around his youngest brother, two-year-old Kevin, who had suddenly decided that instead of finding a better place to sit, he'd sit on his older brother.

An invisibility cloak dropped onto the floor, revealing an older man in his late fifties. He had salt and pepper hair, with more pepper than salt. Cold, dark, eyes stared at each of his grandchildren in turn. Then, slowly, he sank into a chair.

This was not the man Sirius had expected. He had seen pictures of his grandfather before, but they'd been in the news, when he'd been Lord Voldemort. But this was not that man. This was Tom Riddle, the handsome, fun but sneaky man that had been Sirius' idol before he had become sinister. The man that had had a reputation at Hogwarts for being a troublemaker, not unlike Sirius himself.

Samantha nervously handed her new father-in-law a cup of tea. He smiled his gratitude. That smile was the icebreaker. Suddenly everyone started to talk at once.

"Grandfather! I have this new model plane I got for Christmas that I just finished building this morning. Would you like to see it?" Alex asked excitedly. At his grandfather's nod, the little boy ran off to get it.

"Grandfather, do you like cookies?" That was Kevin, who had a large plate of fresh-baked cookies in his hands. "I made them all by myself!"

"Better not eat them then. Last time I ate something he made 'all by himself', I was sick for days," Sirius muttered. Grandfather Riddle, who heard him, laughed and pulled Kevin into his lap, looking Sirius in the eye.

"So young man, I've heard you're quite a troublemaker," Sirius nodded. "Ah. Have you ever tried the any of the secret passages in Hogwarts?" Sirius had, and raced upstairs to grab the map he and his friends had been working on. It was a detailed diagram of Hogwarts School, complete with moving dots that represented people in the school. The Hogwarts Four had been very pleased when it was finished, and each summer one of them took it home. Sirius liked to see what everyone was doing over the break when no one was at the castle.

Upon returning to the living room, he found Alex demonstrating how his new plane worked. Sirius pried Terence out of the seat he'd been occupying and waited for Alex to be finished. Once he'd finished, Samantha sent him and the other little kids (Brats Sirius liked to call them) outdoors, since the rain had stopped.

Then Sirius headed over to talk to his grandfather. Cautiously he handed the older man the map, not sure what he'd have to say about it.

"My God son! Did you make this yourself?' asked Grandfather. Sirius nodded, and went on to explain the whole story. His grandfather listened attentively, not interrupting Sirius at all. In the corner of his eye, Sirius could see his father beaming happily, Samantha in his arms.

Everyone was disappointed when an hour later, Grandfather announced that he had to leave, turning away Luke's offer to stay with them. However, they did have one memento to remember that day by. Luke had set up the camera tripod so that it could take a family picture of them all. Grandfather had protested, saying that once he left that they wouldn't be able to see him. Luke had guffawed and taken the picture anyway.

Later, when Sirius was slightly older, he remembered that day with the fondest of memories. Or at least, he diduntil his grandfather did something Sirius could never forgive. He killed Lily and James Potter.

Samantha had had the hardest time keeping Sirius in control after that, especially after Luke had died. He had burned all of the pictures of Grandfather that they'd hadall except the one that had been taken on that long ago day. The one that Samantha had cleverly hidden in a book that she knew Sirius would never look in, using a hiding charm that could only be activated by someone besides Sirius. The only one that had all of them in itthat they could remember forever. The one that Harry Potter would find fifteen years later