"How dare you lay one hand on my son!"
"I didn't touch him, Mister Malfoy. It's your ancestors' bloody fault, which you know as well as I do."
Lucius Malfoy's hand plunged into his robes and drew out his wand. "Then what were you doing in his room when he was found?"
"A question we would all appreciate an answer to, I believe, Melissa."
"Fair enough, Professor Dumbledore," she said, turning to him and casting a glance at the unconscious Slytherin lying in the Hospital bed. "I had come to offer Draco a way out of his little situation, but he refused me. So I stuck around to watch my kin at work," she added with a wicked smile. "I must say, his technique almost makes up for his lack of strength."
Professor Snape and McGonagall, upon hearing this, looked away in disgust as their imaginations got the better of them. The latter, Melissa noted, turned an interesting shade of green.
"I've heard tales . . . " Snape muttered.
Melissa smirked. "Children's stories compared to this, I assure you."
Draco stirred and Madam Pomfrey hurried to his side though he did not wake. The momentary distraction was brought to an end as Melissa heard a voice inside her mind.
Go to Hermoine.
She spun and stared at the Headmaster. A small twinkle was in his eye and Melissa backed up unwittingly.
Now.
Melissa frowned and fled the room.
"All right, Hermoine, what's going on?" Harry demanded the moment he and Ron entered the Gryffindor Common room.
Hermoine looked up at the boys and sighed. "Malfoy's in trouble. An ancient pact made by his family and a line of vampires has come back to haunt him."
Ron nodded slowly and sprawled himself out on a couch. "And we should care why?"
"Just listen to me, Ron," she said, exasperated. "Over a thousand years ago, the Malfoy's had no money, no property, and no standing in the wizard community. In return for an enormous amount of wealth, they made a deal with some vampires."
"What did the vampires get out of it?" Harry asked.
"One child each generation would be taken from the family and turned into a vampire."
Ron let out a low whistle. "That's nutters."
"Exactly, but it hasn't come up in the past few hundred years. There's been no claims on the kids so the Malfoys figured the vampires had been hunted down and killed."
"But here's what I don't get," interrupted Harry, "why would the vampires want a Malfoy?"
"They were rumoured to be a great bloodline," said a female voice from the back of the Common room with a chuckle. The three jumped up to face the intruder.
"Melissa!" said Hermoine in surprise.
"You know her?"
"She told me about all this in the first place. She's working with Dumbledore to try and find a way to save Malfoy."
"Why would you want to save Malfoy?" demanded Ron.
"Because the vampire claiming Draco has tainted blood," explained Melissa slowly. "By what, we can only guess. But we do know one thing, while the blood would turn him into a vampire, it would also render him insane -- "
"And he might come to kill you in a crazed fit of rage, Harry," finished Hermoine anxiously.
"Or anyone else," Melissa added. She then paused, narrowed her eyes, and glanced about worriedly.
"Stay here," she ordered the three, "and do not leave unless Dumbledore himself comes to get you."
"What's happening?"
"I don't know exactly. That's what frightens me." With that, Melissa vanished from their sight.