Miss Isabella Mayfair

As Harry sat on his bed in Dudley's second bedroom, he thought about 'The Order of the Phoenix' and what they were doing, how different his life would become after his seventh and final year at Hogwarts and he wondered if he and Cho would stay together afterwards. He also wondered whether he would find someone else, if she didn't want to continue their relationship, because Cho was one year older than him and she had finished Hogwarts last year. 'Both Dumbledore and Sirius were killed in the battle against Voldemort,' Harry thought. 'What a loss!' In his anger and grief he tossed a pillow across the room. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a ring at the door and Aunt Petunia's shrill voice yelled, 'Answer the door!' Nobody else was home, so Harry ran down the stairs and opened the door. A pretty woman, she looked about twenty years old, maybe less, was standing on the doorstep, holding a measurement cup in her hand. 'Hi, I was wondering if you had some sugar?' she asked, smiling at him. Petunia was curious about who had come to visit (as usual) and when she saw the woman she hurried to greet her. Shoving Harry out of the way, she shook hands with her and invited her in. 'What do you need sugar for?' Petunia asked the newly arrived guest. 'Er - I was baking and when I started mixing the ingredients I noticed that I had no sugar,' she said, taking a good look around Petunia's very clean kitchen. 'Oh - right, happens to the best of people,' Petunia said. 'Are you new in the neighbourhood?' 'Yes, I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself,' the stranger said. 'My name is Isabella Mayfair. And your name is -' 'Beg your pardon, my name is Petunia Dursley,' she replied. 'Oh, and this is Harry Potter.' Petunia nodded towards Harry's direction. Petunia handed Isabella Mayfair the measurement cup back. There was some small talk, which Harry didn't listen to, and then Isabella Mayfair said she had to go to save what was left of the cake. On the doorstep she turned around and said, 'Would you and your husband, and of course your sons, like to come to dinner tomorrow?' 'Yes, we would be delighted! And he is not my son. He's my nephew, his mother died and we took him in,' Petunia answered. 'You must be very kind to take in another boy, boys are so rampant,' Isabella agreed. 'Then I'll expect you at six?' 'Yes.' 'Great, see you then.' And with that she left.

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The next day at 5:30 pm.

'Hurry up!' Uncle Vernon bellowed at Harry. 'We're going to be late!' 'Yeah, yeah - keep your pants on,' Harry mumbled to himself. 'What was that?!' Uncle Vernon bellowed again. 'I said yes!' 'Good.' Harry hurried down the stairs, he tried to run past Vernon, but he failed. He was grabbed by his Uncle, who dragged his nephew closer to him. 'Now boy, I don't want any funny business at this dinner. Your Aunt seems to like this woman very much and I don't want you to "spook" her away with anything - unusual,' Uncle Vernon warned him. 'And be assured that the only reason that we're taking you with us is because Miss Mayfair invited you with us!' 'If you mean magic, then - yeah, whatever. And I'm really grateful that you are letting me come with you.' Harry said this in a sarcastic tone. Vernon's face got even redder than usual and his moustache started to twitch. 'You will not say that word in this house and you will show me -' His voice trailed off as Aunt Petunia descended down the stairs with Dudley thumping behind her, nagging about Harry and why he had to come.

It was a quarter to six now and they hurried down the street. They stopped in front of a house similar to their own. Petunia knocked on the door, they waited for a minute or two and then the door opened. Isabella Mayfair was standing in the door-frame. She was even more stunning than she had been the day before; she was wearing a green dress (Slytherin green, Harry couldn't help but think) with broad shoulder-straps and a V-neck. The skirt of the dress was wide at the bottom and rather tight at the hips. She wore a silver brooch that looked like a snake, and silver earrings. Her eyes were the same colour as the dress (Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin! Harry thought) with some mascara and eyeliner high-lighting them, her lips were painted red; her thick black hair fell down her back like a dark waterfall.

'How nice to see you. Please, come in,' she said merrily. 'Thank you,' Petunia said and she and Harry and the Dursley's stepped inside. Isabella helped them with their coats and steered them into the dining-room. 'Dinner will be ready in about five minutes.' Isabella left them to sit down and wait. She returned with the food; pan-fried chicken breasts and pasta and she put it on the expensive looking dining-table. She went back to the kitchen and brought back a bowl of salad and a bottle of red wine, Coke and Sprite. They had barely started to eat when they heard a knock and Isabella rushed to the door. There was laughter and when she returned she was accompanied by a blond haired man. He was wearing an Armani suit, his eyes were violet blue and his hair was shoulder long and very blond (God, Harry thought, he's like Draco Malfoy, yet older!). 'This is a good friend of mine. His name is Lestat. He happened to be in the neighbourhood and decided to drop by,' Isabella added with a smile. 'I hope I'm not interrupting,' the man named Lestat said; he had a faint French accent. 'Is it all right with you if he joins us for dinner?' Isabella asked. 'Of course it is!' Aunt Petunia answered. 'This is Petunia Dursley,' Isabella said while pointing at Harry's Aunt, 'and this is Vernon Dursley, Petunia's husband.' 'I'm pleased to meet you,' Lestat said, reaching to shake their hands. 'This is Dudley Dursley, their son,' Isabella continued and Lestat reached to shake his hand with a smile. 'And this is Harry Potter.' Lestot looked at Isabella (Harry didn't notice, because he was studying the newcomer's profile) and then his eyes travelled to Harry. He made a remarkably fast recovery from what looked like shock (again, Harry did not notice anything), then smiled at Harry and shook his hand like nothing had happened. His hand felt abnormally cold, Harry noticed. Lestat sat down beside him and helped himself to some chicken and pasta, and of course some red wine. The dinner went smoothly with no other distractions. Isabella and Lestat cleared the table and brought in tea and coffee, a hot cake and ice-cream with them. 'How many cakes do you have?' Dudley said rudely. 'Only this one, Dudley.' Isabella answered. 'One? You've only got one?' Dudley continued in the same rude manner. 'Yes, and it is quite enough for the six of us.' Isabella said obviously insulted by Dudley's rudeness. 'I'm terribly sorry.' Petunia apologised. 'He is usually such a nice and well behaved boy.' 'Well, I didn't think that another cake would be needed, so I didn't bake one.' Isabella said as her temper dropped. After an hour and a half of small talk, Isabella and Lestat cleared the table for the second time. It was half past nine. Harry waited for a few minutes and then followed them into the kitchen. 'Are you sure?' Isabella said in a hushed voice. 'Yes, very sure,' Lestat replied. 'He is recruiting vampires.' 'How do you know?' 'I've been picking it up from their minds when I came close to them. Of course, they didn't know I was there, for they are young. They are not strong enough to sense me. I'm sure there will be some disagreement with the Older ones, concerning how we will act in this delicate issue.' 'Mm - well, can you talk to someone, like Marius or Armand? They are on our side of this, aren't they?' 'Yes, I think they are. Pandora and my "children" are too. I may have to call in favours from Armand, but Marius is definitely with us.' 'You, call in favours from Armand?' Isabella exclaimed in an amused voice. 'I thought you two hated each other!' 'Well, we did, I did something to him a few years ago.' 'Yeah, a few years ago - what year was that? 1788?' 'No, that was the year I was orphaned,' Lestat said in a hushed voice. 'Okay, 1789.' 'I don't remember exactly, but yes, something like that,' Lestat whispered. 'Well, I hope -' Isabella began, but she was interrupted by Lestat. 'Shush!' Then he disappeared and much to Harry's amazement he felt a vice-like grip on his upper arm. Harry spun around and found himself facing Lestat. 'Let's go into the kitchen,' Lestat said. Harry was led into the kitchen by Lestat, who sat him firmly on a stool. 'I can't believe that you couldn't hear him Lestat,' Isabella exclaimed. 'I mean, you can hear a needle drop a mile away, if you want to, but you can't hear a boy standing in a doorway, eavesdropping on you.' 'Hey, I'm sorry. I'm not perfect.' 'Yeah, that's painfully obvious,' Isabella snapped. Then she turned to Harry. 'Okay, Harry. How much did you hear?' she questioned. 'Not much, Miss.' 'Let me be the judge of that.' 'You were talking about someone recruiting vampires, and about somebody called Armand and another one called Marius. And a woman you called Pandora and - er - children.' 'Okay,' Isabella said and she added sharply, 'Is that all you heard?' 'Yes.' 'You know, I could -' 'No, Lestat! You won't,' Isabella said firmly. 'What?' Harry asked. 'Oh - just something called mind reading,' Lestat replied dreamily. 'Nobody can read minds, it's impossible!' 'Who told you that?' Lestat inquired. 'A professor at the school I attend,' Harry shot at Lestat. 'And what Hogwarts professor would that be?' Lestat shot back, his temper rising. 'What?!?' 'Did you really think we didn't know that you are attending Hogwarts?' A quiet voice spoke, this time it was Isabella. 'Okay, this is an informational overflow,' Harry said. 'Are you of the wizarding world?' 'She is, but I'm not,' Lestat answered. 'Alright, so she is, but you're not. Are you a Squib, then?' 'No, because if I was I would be part of the wizarding world, wouldn't I?' 'Are you a Muggle?' 'Not quite.' 'What are you then?' 'Hrm - are you sure you want to know?' Lestat asked. 'Yes, I want to know.' 'Okeedokee, this will definitely feel weird, but I cannot say it out loud,' Lestat replied.

'I'm a vampire.'

It started quite faint, but then it grew in Harry's mind like a tidle wave. 'I'm a vampire.' And then he got the full blast of it. 'I'm a vampire.' 'Bloody hell! You're a -' 'Stop right there,' Isabella said. 'There is a good reason that Lestot didn't say it out loud. We've got Muggles in there.' She pointed at the door. 'And I don't think they would take it too kindly, knowing that there is a you-know-what in the same house as they are.' 'Why did you invite us to dinner?' Harry asked. 'Is it because of me?' 'No, it was a coincidence I went to your house,' Isabella informed him. 'I was being polite. And besides, I like having guests.' A wide smile followed her remark. There was a knock on the kitchen door and Petunia's head was peeping in. 'Is everything alright?' she asked. 'Yes, Harry was helping me in the kitchen,' Isabella answered, still smiling. 'I'm glad he could help, he's useless at home,' Petunia sent him a poisonous glare. 'I'm off then.' 'Yes, you do that.' Isabella waited until Lestat gave a signal before she proceeded with the questioning. 'I believe that you heard nothing more than you told us, and I must implore you not to tell anybody.' 'Okay.' 'Please go to your Aunt and Uncle in the living room,' Isabella ordered. 'Yes, ma'am.' Isabella and Lestat waited for a few moments after Harry had left and then followed him. When they walked into the living room, Petunia stood up. 'It's getting late, we must be going,' she said. 'Oh, do you have to?' Isabella said. 'Yes.' Isabella led them to the door, they said there farewells and walked off. Isabella stood in the doorway for a wile and then went back inside. 'You do know that this will have some serious consequences?' Lestat said. 'Yes, I have realised that,' Isabella replied as she sat down opposite him. 'What will we do about it?' 'Nothing. At the moment we will wait and see what only time can show us.' Lestat stood up and walked to the kitchen window. 'I will be going to New Orleans and then I'm going to hunt down Armand,' he said. 'Are you going tonight?' 'Yes, the night is young and I have business to attend to.' Lestot walked out of the kitchen, followed closely by Isabella, took his coat and opened the door. He turned when he was outside, gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and disappeared.