Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 6: Welcome to Bran Castle
When the swirling colours and the howling stopped and everything came into focus, Harry and Hermione, instead of finding themselves in an inn surrounded by the Weasley horde or in a town, they found themselves in a graveyard and the sun had just set.
"Uh, Hermione, I don't think we're supposed to be here," Harry said as he took out his wand.
"You're right, we're not in Kansas anymore," Hermione said as she followed suit and drew her wand.
"We were never in Kansas to begin with," Harry said and he lit his wand so they could get a better view of the area around them.
"Really Harry, haven't you seen the Wizard of Oz?"
"No I haven't. Do you think I get to watch movies or TV when I'm staying with the Dursleys?"
"No I don't think so, now let's find a way to get to the town where we---," Hermione was about to say, but she never got to finish because at that point, they heard a ghoulish moan coming from behind them.
They turned around and saw a bunch of corpses rising from where they lay and making their way towards them. Each of the corpses had tattered clothing hanging off of some of their limbs and their skin was rotten. It was clear that they all had been dead for some time.
"Now what do we do? Do we run?" Hermione asked, looking at the zombies advancing on them.
"We can't, we're surrounded. Look around you," Harry said, as he noticed that the corpses in the graveyard had all risen surrounded him and Hermione.
"Well, looks like we have to fight our way out. Do you know what spells we could use?"
"These corpses are rotten already, so fire spells would be the most useful," Harry said before firing a fireball at the nearest zombie.
The zombie burst into flames and let out a ghostly moan before falling to the ground and turning into dust. When Hermione saw that, she immediately started firing balls of blue fire out of her wand, the same spell that she used to set Snape's cloak on fire during the Quidditch match in their first year.
They continued to set zombies on fire, however, there were too many of them and since they were attacking from all directions, Harry and Hermione had to stand back-to-back as the circle of zombies closed in on them.
"There are too many of them and I can't hit all of them at once. How are you holding up Hermione?" Harry asked her as he went through his mind trying to remember some of the elemental magic that he learned earlier that summer.
"I'm alright for now, but they keep coming. Do something! I can't think of anything while I'm busy with these things," she replied as she fired another blue fireball at a zombie, which fell to the ground and turned to dust.
Just then the spell Harry needed came to him. The firewall spell, it was a low level spell and so it wouldn't take as much energy to cast it but it would keep the number of sides the zombies could attack from down and maybe burn a few of them in the process.
Harry pointed his wand at the ground in front of him and said "Ignis Murus" as he flicked his wand up.
Immediately, a wall of orange flames rose from the ground in front of him and set fire to the zombies that were coming towards him. When the zombies fell and turned to dust, the remaining zombies hesitated and stood there. Harry then turned to Hermione, however, she wasn't firing fireballs anymore. Instead she was standing there with her wand at her side.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked with concern since they were still surrounded, even though the fire wall was still burning brightly behind him.
She pointed straight ahead with her hand and when Harry looked at her face, it was contorted in horror. When Harry looked up, he saw a vampire that was dressed in brown robes that were just hanging off its body. Its skin was a deathly pale, and it had large fangs that he could see in its mouth. The eyes of the vampire and it made a movement with its hands. Hermione then started walking slowly towards it as if in a trance.
"Hermione, come back here!" Harry yelled, but it didn't do any good. Hermione was under some type of hypnosis spell that the vampire must have cast on her. Oddly enough, it didn't affect Harry, though it was probably because the vampire didn't like to drink the blood of 15-year-old boys.
Harry started thinking of every spell he learned during the summer, however, to make matters worse, the vampire let out an ear-splitting shriek and the zombies started moving forward again. This time, they ignored Hermione and went towards Harry instead.
Harry was at his wit's end. He couldn't use the fire shield to help Hermione, because she'd get burned and Harry couldn't use the firewall because he wouldn't be able to get to her. Killing the vampire, perhaps, but what could he kill it with. She was already half-way to the vampire, so he had to act quickly.
*Fire? That could work, but the zombies would just keep coming and I would die. Well, its either your life or Hermione's. You promised that you'd protect her, even at the cost of your own life. Maybe the spell the vampire used had something to do with the eyes.. BLIND! THAT'S IT! * Harry thought.
Harry then put up two more fire walls on his right and left side. Now he only had to deal with the vampire and the zombies in front of him. Harry then pointed his wand at Hermione and said "Caecus" to cast the blind spell he learned from his elemental book. A flash of white light hit Hermione and she screamed. Harry then ran up to Hermione and grabbed her round the waist. He then withdrew back, but the vampire, who was now angered at having lost its prey leapt up into the air towards Harry.
Harry had just pulled Hermione towards him and was holding her protectively when he noticed the vampire coming towards him. He couldn't do anything as it came since he realized he dropped his wand when he was trying to grab Hermione.
*So, this is it. I get killed by a vampire and get turned into one of its slaves. Some job I did of protecting Hermione. At least she won't see what kills her. I'd hate to have such a great person as Hermione see what the vampire does to her. * Harry thought hopelessly.
Harry then felt a gust of wind above him and another ear-splitting shriek. When he looked up, he noticed the vampire that was attacking him had been thrown back with a long spear made of bone impaled in his stomach. The vampire made an attempt to get up, but another spear, this time with a green glow added, came and struck the vampire in the heart. The vampire screeched again before both spears vanished and the vampire turned to dust. The remaining zombies, seeing the death of their master, withdrew into the darkness.
Harry then removed the blind spell from Hermione and she opened her eyes.
"Harry? What happened?" she said as her vision returned, though she was still groggy from not having been able to see anything for a while.
"You were under a spell that the vampire cast on you. I blinded you so that you'd snap out of it," he replied as she looked up at him and noticed that he was holding her, but she didn't mind.
Harry looked around and saw that his fire walls were still up, so he made them vanish and he noticed there that there were two people standing in front of them.
One was dressed in black plate armour with a skull on each shoulder as a shoulder guard. He also was wearing arm length gauntlets with a ruby gem encrusted in each one at the wrist, knee high steel plated boots with 2 more skulls to serve as knee guards, and he carrying a kolombotavich stylet in one hand. His hair was a greyish-white and fell to his shoulders while his skin was pale, from not being exposed to the sun.
The second man was slightly taller than the one wielding the dagger, but he was also dressed entirely in black, only he wore a black, medieval era, studded leather jacket and a black, floor length cape with a ruby- encrusted pentacle as a clasp. His boots were made of black leather and he was carrying a large broadsword with a dragon emblem on the hilt in a black sheath at his side. His long hair was black and was slicked back so it fell just below his shoulders. To Harry, he looked like a nobleman and the other man, despite his odd attire, must be his bodyguard.
They went came over to Harry, who, still worried about being attacked, grabbed Hermione's wand since his was still laying on the ground a few feet away, and pointed it at them.
"Forgive us if we frightened you," said the man in the studded leather jacket, looking at Harry, as he walked towards them. "Those zombies can be such a nuisance and that vampire is scum that deserves to be damned to eternal suffering in hell. Vampires such as him do not deserve to walk on this earth because they drink the blood of whomever they please."
By then, Hermione's senses returned to her and she asked him who the man coming towards them was.
"How stupid of me to forget my manners. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Vladimir Sepet and my friend over there," he said pointing to the man standing behind him, "is my loyal servant, Walter Laikov. You'll have to forgive his depressing attire. He is what others would call a necromancer, but don't worry, he only uses his abilities to protect me and will not harm either of you."
He then squatted down beside Harry and asked him if Hermione was alright.
"I'm fine, but we need to get to the town of Bistritz. We're meeting a friend there," Hermione said before Harry could respond to the question.
"Ah, that is unfortunate. It is going to take at least a day to get there and it is already late. I have a castle nearby and you both are more than welcome to come and stay for the night. Walter can then take you to Bistritz in the morning," said the Count.
"Thank you, your grace, we are grateful for your hospitality," Hermione said.
"You're welcome, but let's not waste anymore time here. These graveyards aren't safe at night and although we defeated the ghouls, more will come later. Walter will help you with your belongings," he said as he stood up and helped Hermione to her feet.
She in turn helped Harry to his feet as Walter went over to one of the graves and made a symbol in the dirt. He mumbled something and Harry and Hermione watched in horror as a skeleton rose up from the grave. Walter then went over to another grave and performed the same ritual. A second skeleton rose up from the grave and Walter commanded them to get their trunks.
The skeletons went over and each one picked up a trunk and followed Walter.
"I have a carriage waiting nearby, we will be able to get to my castle from there," said Vladimir, now that their attention had been shifted away from the skeletons.
Harry ran over to pick up his wand before following Hermione and the Count to the carriage with Walter and his skeletons leading the way.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got to the carriage, Harry noted that it was drawn by two black horses, unlike the horse-less carriages they had at Hogwarts. The skeletons loaded their trunks on the back of the carriage as Walter opened the door and allowed Hermione to step in first followed by Harry. The Count then stepped in and Walter closed the door behind him.
The seats in the carriage were black leather and Harry could see that it was well maintained. As the carriage got to a start, Hermione, who was sitting to Harry's left, immediately started a conversation with the count.
"So how is Romania? What is it like here?" she asked enthusiastically.
"Well, it's a pretty country. The people are happy, as long as they're not being attacked by anyone and I like to think that the people who live on my lands are content. Occasionally, I'll have a disturbance, but it's nothing that I can't handle," replied the Count.
"So how did you two arrive here and what were you doing in that graveyard so late at night? You two could have been killed and enslaved as one of the undead for eternity, even though this young man has some really powerful magic at his command," the Count said, nodding his head in the direction of Harry who turned a bit red at the last comment.
"Well, you see, we were supposed to take a portkey to Bistritz, but we ended up in the graveyard instead. At least we ended up somewhere in Romania. The reason why we were there at night is because we didn't want to be noticed by the townsfolk and burned at the stake or something like that," Hermione explained.
"I see, well, portkeys are very unpredictable and they don't always drop you off where you're supposed to go. You two look pretty young, where did you learn how to do magic and I don't think I caught your names earlier."
"Oh, I'm Hermione Granger and this is my best friend, Harry Potter. We both learn magic at Hogwarts in England, and we know that portkeys are very unpredictable. Harry has had some rather unpleasant experience with portkeys before," she said, looking over at Harry, who was now looking uncomfortable since the Count's attention turned to him.
If Harry was expecting the Count to gaze at his scar and give him the million questions routine, he would be surprised as the Count only held out his hand, which Harry took and shook it.
"Mr. Potter, I have heard quite a bit about you, however, I trust that you don't wish to be reminded of that from your expression on your face, so I will leave it at that, but I do wish to thank you for your brave exploits against Lord Voldemort. Since his return, I have been very busy in eliminating his followers in my territory, such as the ghouls and the vampire you met in the graveyard. Creatures like those follow him without any question and the fewer followers he has in my lands, the safer it is for my subjects," said the Count.
Harry was quite surprised that the Count said Voldemort's name without flinching since most people he met in the wizarding world flinched at the name as Hermione did when the Count mentioned it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They soon arrived at the Count's castle and Walter opened the door of the carriage allowing them to get out. The Count got out first, followed by Harry who then offered his hand to Hermione, which she took as she got out. The Count then led the way, with Harry and Hermione following. The two skeletons that Walter created earlier once again took their trunks and followed them as Walter stayed behind to take care of the carriage.
They had to cross a long bridge before getting to the front gates, however, the Count was walking ahead with such energy that Harry and Hermione had to almost run to keep up. They finally came to a large tower, which had several small vertical windows overlooking the bridge, probably to shoot invaders that even got to the bridge. There were two large wooden doors, which looked very heavy served as the entrance to the castle, but to their surprise, the Count was able to open the large doors with ease.
"Welcome to Bran Castle," he said as he stepped aside and allowed Harry and Hermione to enter. They were now in a large hall lit by large candle chandeliers, which had a large statue made of granite of a knight on a horse, pointing his sword into the air in front of him and there were two marble staircases that led to the second level, one on each side of the statue.
"You two must be hungry as you probably were hoping to have supper with your friend," he said before turning to the skeletons and telling them to take their trunks to their rooms, which they obeyed immediately.
"Follow me, I'll show you to the dining room. The chef can prepare whatever you wish to eat."
They followed him to another door on the right and they were now in a long corridor lined with suits of armour and paintings from the Renaissance. They walked down the corridor and about halfway through, there was another pair of large doors made of wood. The Count opened the doors and they revealed a well-furnished dining room. There was a fireplace on the opposite wall and there was a painting of the Count above it. The dining table was fairly large and it could probably seat up to about 30 people, but for the occasion, the table only had 2 places set on the right end of the table.
Hermione sat down on one side of the table, with her back to the fire, while Harry sat across from her. The Count sitting in between them at the end of the table in a richly decorated chair with a velvet cushion on the seat and a coat of arms on the front of it. The chairs they sat in were not as richly decorated, but they were also had a coat of arms and were still fairly comfortable. Harry looked down and saw that the dining ware was made of gold and not silver, and the plates in front of Hermione and himself were similar to the ones in Hogwarts. When Harry looked over to where the Count was sitting, he saw that he only had a goblet in front of him, made of gold and was encrusted with rubies similar to the one on his clasp.
"Will you be joining us for dinner?" Harry asked the Count.
"No, I ate previously, but I will join you for a drink and a chat," came the reply. "Order what you want and it will come."
Harry ordered some lamb chops with gravy, while Hermione ordered a steak and some roast potatoes. A few minutes later, two short imps came with their orders on gold plated platters and placed them on the table before bowing and leaving. Two more imps who came with their drinks followed this. They poured what looked like red wine into the Count's goblet before pouring some butterbeer into theirs and left in the same manner as the first pair.
They started eating while the Count talked to them about the castle and it's history. Hermione seemed very interested in the history aspect and asked the Count an overwhelming amount of questions, and Harry was surprised that the Count had the patience to answer each one. Soon they were finished with their dinner and the Count thought they should retire for the night.
"One final note before you go off to your rooms, this castle has many rooms and corridors, some of which even I haven't explored yet. There are corridors and rooms filled with booby traps and creatures that haven't eaten in a while, so they wouldn't mind an early meal. Take care that you don't wander too far at night. Walter will show you to your rooms. Good Night Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," said the Count before getting up and exiting.
"What do you think of the castle Hermione?" Harry asked.
"It's not unpleasant but I think I'll feel safer when we get to where we're supposed to be," she said as Walter came in, still dressed in the same attire he was in earlier and motioned for them to follow.
They went back to the main hall where they had entered and climbed the stairs to the right of the statue. There they went all the way down until they were right above the castle entrance. They found another wooden door, which Walter opened and revealed another long corridor. At the end of the corridor, they turned to the right and found two doors across from each other.
Walter opened the door to Hermione's room and showed them in. Her room had a queen-sized bed in the middle of the left wall with a red canopy and 4 wooden support poles with dull red curtains on each pole. There was a vanity in the right corner of the room and a candle stand next to it with 3 lit candles on it. To the left of it were two glass doors that opened to a balcony and to the left of that was a dresser made of oak. On top of the dresser was a candelabra, which was also lit. Finally a large tapestry dating back to the Turkish occupation of Romania was hung on the wall to the left of the door.
"This your room Miss Granger, I hope you like it and I trust your stay will be pleasant. If you need anything, please ring the bell," said Walter in a deep voice, which Hermione found a bit frightening, and pointed to a rope next to her bed. "Mr. Potter, your room is across from hers. This way please."
They left Hermione and Harry was shown to his room. It was decorated in a similar manner, only his bed didn't have a canopy and there was a large mirror where Hermione's vanity would be in the other room. Where the candle stand should be, to the left of the mirror, there was a statue of a gargoyle made of obsidian holding two unlighted candles in its claws.
"Your room Mr. Potter. It is among one of the best in the castle. I think you will find the mirror in your room interesting," Walter said with a smile before bowing and leaving.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry was pacing the room in his blue pajamas for a while, thinking of what Walter said, when he realized his amulet was glowing and a short time later, he heard Hermione's voice coming from the amulet.
"Harry, I love my room. How's yours?" he heard her ask.
"It's like yours only there's a large mirror where your vanity should be. It looks as if it's supposed to do something. Walter did say I would find it interesting, but I don't know what it does," he said into his amulet.
"You think we should figure out what it does?"
"I don't know. It may turn out to be a trap. I mean the Count and Walter have been very kind to us, but you think they could be spies for Voldemort?"
"Oh Harry, I think you're just being a little ungrateful. If they wanted to turn us over to Voldemort or kill us, they would have done so already don't you think? I mean they could have left us in the graveyard with that vampire instead of saving us. Besides, when are his henchmen so nice?"
"Yeah, but remember Barty Crouch? He helped me for the entire year as Mad-Eye Moody before he decided to kill me."
"Well, aren't you at least a little curious as to what the mirror does?"
"I guess."
"That settles it then. I'm coming over there and we can take a look at it," she said and Harry's amulet stopped glowing.
A few seconds later, Hermione came through his bedroom door, dressed in a pink shirt with arm length sleeves and jeans. Her wand was in her hand. They stood in front of the mirror and looked at it, but since it was too dark, Hermione decided to light the candles on the gargoyle statue.
She went over to the statue, pointed her wand at the candles, said a spell and blue flames shot from her wand, lighting the candles. She then returned to looking at the mirror. Harry was busy searching the mirror's frame, looking for some type of switch or lever, while Hermione was looking at the floor near the mirror for any hidden switches. Unfortunately, neither of them noticed that the gargoyle statue was starting to move.
The gargoyle statue first moved its claws holding the candles, dropping them to the floor. The candles went out when they hit the floor and Hermione was the first to notice the change in lighting.
"Harry, did you leave the window open?" she said, still looking at the floor.
"No, I didn't, why?" he replied as he was looking at the bottom right corner of the mirror.
"How come the candles that I just lit, got blown out?" she said and looked up at the gargoyle statue to see that it was now moving and she screamed as it attacked her.
Harry turned around at the sound of Hermione's scream to see Hermione on the ground and the gargoyle attacking, it's left claw coming down to strike her. Hermione threw an arm up to block it, and the gargoyle's talons cut through her sleeves and cut deeply into her skin. She yelped in pain and blood splattered on the floor as it swiped at her with the other set of claws, but she managed to back away just in time. She quickly recovered from the shock of being attacked and fired a blue fireball at it, but the gargoyle wasn't affected. Instead it just enraged it even more. Unfortunately, Harry didn't have his wand out and he quickly looked through his pajamas for it.
The gargoyle continued to advance, swiping at Hermione again, this time ripping her clothes and cutting across her stomach causing more of her blood to splatter on the wall to her right. She then managed to fire a full body-bind spell at it, despite her injuries. The spell slowed the gargoyle down a bit, but it still kept coming since apparently obsidian gargoyles were resistant to magic. She then backed away again up against the wall as another claw came down and smashed the stone floor, making a huge crater in the stone tile where she was just a few seconds before. By then, Harry had found his wand and quickly pointed his wand at the gargoyle as he said the incantation for the ice bolt.
Shards of ice came forth from his wand and hit the gargoyle, freezing it instantly just as it was standing on it's hind legs, preparing to strike Hermione, who was still up against the wall. The gargoyle fell over sideways to the right and smashed into a thousand pieces. Now that the threat of the gargoyle was over, Harry went over to Hermione and attended to her injuries. Hermione's shirt was now soaked with blood and it was now spreading on the floor from the cuts in her arm and across her stomach and formed a pool on the floor where she was sitting with her knees up, but still conscious.
"Here, let me take a look at those injuries. Give me your arm first," Harry said, as he took Hermione's arm and moved his wand over her injuries while saying the healing spell. The wounds closed up and vanished without a trace. Harry then did the same thing with the cuts across her stomach. He could now see Hermione's skin exposed through the shredded clothing despite the blood and quickly looked away, turning red in embarrassment.
"Harry, now I'm really wondering where you learn all of that magic because I don't think you learned any of it in the library since you were so busy with the Triwizard Tournament," she said, looking up at him when he finished.
"Um, Hermione, I have something to tell you, but promise that you won't tell anyone," Harry said with a guilty look on his face.
" (sigh) Let's hear it first, then I'll decide if I should tell anyone," she replied in an overbearing tone as she glared at him.
"Well, I went to Diagon alley to talk to Sirius and I went to Flourish and Blotts. As I was looking around at the books, I found this book called the Book of Elements and I looked through it. There aren't any spells in there that are taught at Hogwarts except for a levitation spell and the finite incantatem spell. I spent all of summer learning how to do all of the spells in the book," Harry finally said.
"Anything else you'd like to tell me? You don't normally go to Diagon alley, much less look at books for no reason. Why'd you go visit Sirius?" she asked, still glaring at him.
"Hmm, nothing gets past you Hermione," Harry said with an innocent smile.
"I've known you for four years, if you think I don't know if you're withholding information from me, you're dumber than you look. You also shouldn't have been roaming around. What if Voldemort caught you out in the open? You could have been killed," she said as she scolded Harry for his reckless behaviour.
"Alright, I went there because I wanted him to teach me how to be an animagus. I went to buy the advanced transfiguration book I told you about at your house and I found the elements book behind it."
"So you're an illegal animagus?"
"Yeah, I have two forms, a phoenix and a basilisk king. I can transform into the phoenix, but I'm still trying to learn how to transform into the basilisk," Harry said as he looked back at Hermione, whose face expression softened as she accepted his answer.
"Okay, now that you've told me everything, I've decided that I'll keep your secret unless you do something that can put you in grave danger, and if you promise to teach me how to do those spells," she said, looking Harry in the eyes as he nodded his head affirmatively.
She continued to gaze into his emerald eyes for what seemed like years before Harry said something.
"Hermione, are you alright? You looked lost for a moment," Harry said, confused as to why Hermione was gazing into his eyes, not that he didn't mind gazing back deeply into her brown eyes as well.
"Oh sorry," she said as she broke her gaze and looked over at the shattered gargoyle statue. She noticed a dark purple amethyst gem that had a marquise cut in the remains and pointed it out to Harry.
"Harry, there was a gemstone in the gargoyle. What do you suppose it's for?" she asked, pointing at the purple coloured stone in the middle of the pieces of obsidian.
"I don't know. It might have something to do with the mirror," Harry suggested.
Hermione went over and picked it up and they went over to the mirror. They looked around the frame of the mirror and Harry noticed a hole at the bottom of it that was the exact size of the gemstone. He pointed it out to Hermione who then put the gem in the hole. Immediately it started glowing and as they stood together in front of the large mirror, it started to distort the reflection of the room, swirling them around in a colourful rainbow before coming together again, forming an image that was very familiar to both Harry and Hermione.
A/N: This is probably the longest chapter yet. There may be a few items mentioned in either this chapter or the previous chapters that you may or may not know what they are. If you don't, please tell me in your review (yes, I do read them, thank you all so much) and I'll add a glossary or something where you can look them up. Well, r/r plz!
Messages to some ppl who reviewed (answering your questions):
Promy- No I didn't read your fanfic, so I don't know if this has a lot in common with it or not. As for whether or not Hermione likes Ron, well you'll have to read on to find out. =)
Alexandria Draco- No, I don't play Dungeons and Dragons.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 6: Welcome to Bran Castle
When the swirling colours and the howling stopped and everything came into focus, Harry and Hermione, instead of finding themselves in an inn surrounded by the Weasley horde or in a town, they found themselves in a graveyard and the sun had just set.
"Uh, Hermione, I don't think we're supposed to be here," Harry said as he took out his wand.
"You're right, we're not in Kansas anymore," Hermione said as she followed suit and drew her wand.
"We were never in Kansas to begin with," Harry said and he lit his wand so they could get a better view of the area around them.
"Really Harry, haven't you seen the Wizard of Oz?"
"No I haven't. Do you think I get to watch movies or TV when I'm staying with the Dursleys?"
"No I don't think so, now let's find a way to get to the town where we---," Hermione was about to say, but she never got to finish because at that point, they heard a ghoulish moan coming from behind them.
They turned around and saw a bunch of corpses rising from where they lay and making their way towards them. Each of the corpses had tattered clothing hanging off of some of their limbs and their skin was rotten. It was clear that they all had been dead for some time.
"Now what do we do? Do we run?" Hermione asked, looking at the zombies advancing on them.
"We can't, we're surrounded. Look around you," Harry said, as he noticed that the corpses in the graveyard had all risen surrounded him and Hermione.
"Well, looks like we have to fight our way out. Do you know what spells we could use?"
"These corpses are rotten already, so fire spells would be the most useful," Harry said before firing a fireball at the nearest zombie.
The zombie burst into flames and let out a ghostly moan before falling to the ground and turning into dust. When Hermione saw that, she immediately started firing balls of blue fire out of her wand, the same spell that she used to set Snape's cloak on fire during the Quidditch match in their first year.
They continued to set zombies on fire, however, there were too many of them and since they were attacking from all directions, Harry and Hermione had to stand back-to-back as the circle of zombies closed in on them.
"There are too many of them and I can't hit all of them at once. How are you holding up Hermione?" Harry asked her as he went through his mind trying to remember some of the elemental magic that he learned earlier that summer.
"I'm alright for now, but they keep coming. Do something! I can't think of anything while I'm busy with these things," she replied as she fired another blue fireball at a zombie, which fell to the ground and turned to dust.
Just then the spell Harry needed came to him. The firewall spell, it was a low level spell and so it wouldn't take as much energy to cast it but it would keep the number of sides the zombies could attack from down and maybe burn a few of them in the process.
Harry pointed his wand at the ground in front of him and said "Ignis Murus" as he flicked his wand up.
Immediately, a wall of orange flames rose from the ground in front of him and set fire to the zombies that were coming towards him. When the zombies fell and turned to dust, the remaining zombies hesitated and stood there. Harry then turned to Hermione, however, she wasn't firing fireballs anymore. Instead she was standing there with her wand at her side.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" he asked with concern since they were still surrounded, even though the fire wall was still burning brightly behind him.
She pointed straight ahead with her hand and when Harry looked at her face, it was contorted in horror. When Harry looked up, he saw a vampire that was dressed in brown robes that were just hanging off its body. Its skin was a deathly pale, and it had large fangs that he could see in its mouth. The eyes of the vampire and it made a movement with its hands. Hermione then started walking slowly towards it as if in a trance.
"Hermione, come back here!" Harry yelled, but it didn't do any good. Hermione was under some type of hypnosis spell that the vampire must have cast on her. Oddly enough, it didn't affect Harry, though it was probably because the vampire didn't like to drink the blood of 15-year-old boys.
Harry started thinking of every spell he learned during the summer, however, to make matters worse, the vampire let out an ear-splitting shriek and the zombies started moving forward again. This time, they ignored Hermione and went towards Harry instead.
Harry was at his wit's end. He couldn't use the fire shield to help Hermione, because she'd get burned and Harry couldn't use the firewall because he wouldn't be able to get to her. Killing the vampire, perhaps, but what could he kill it with. She was already half-way to the vampire, so he had to act quickly.
*Fire? That could work, but the zombies would just keep coming and I would die. Well, its either your life or Hermione's. You promised that you'd protect her, even at the cost of your own life. Maybe the spell the vampire used had something to do with the eyes.. BLIND! THAT'S IT! * Harry thought.
Harry then put up two more fire walls on his right and left side. Now he only had to deal with the vampire and the zombies in front of him. Harry then pointed his wand at Hermione and said "Caecus" to cast the blind spell he learned from his elemental book. A flash of white light hit Hermione and she screamed. Harry then ran up to Hermione and grabbed her round the waist. He then withdrew back, but the vampire, who was now angered at having lost its prey leapt up into the air towards Harry.
Harry had just pulled Hermione towards him and was holding her protectively when he noticed the vampire coming towards him. He couldn't do anything as it came since he realized he dropped his wand when he was trying to grab Hermione.
*So, this is it. I get killed by a vampire and get turned into one of its slaves. Some job I did of protecting Hermione. At least she won't see what kills her. I'd hate to have such a great person as Hermione see what the vampire does to her. * Harry thought hopelessly.
Harry then felt a gust of wind above him and another ear-splitting shriek. When he looked up, he noticed the vampire that was attacking him had been thrown back with a long spear made of bone impaled in his stomach. The vampire made an attempt to get up, but another spear, this time with a green glow added, came and struck the vampire in the heart. The vampire screeched again before both spears vanished and the vampire turned to dust. The remaining zombies, seeing the death of their master, withdrew into the darkness.
Harry then removed the blind spell from Hermione and she opened her eyes.
"Harry? What happened?" she said as her vision returned, though she was still groggy from not having been able to see anything for a while.
"You were under a spell that the vampire cast on you. I blinded you so that you'd snap out of it," he replied as she looked up at him and noticed that he was holding her, but she didn't mind.
Harry looked around and saw that his fire walls were still up, so he made them vanish and he noticed there that there were two people standing in front of them.
One was dressed in black plate armour with a skull on each shoulder as a shoulder guard. He also was wearing arm length gauntlets with a ruby gem encrusted in each one at the wrist, knee high steel plated boots with 2 more skulls to serve as knee guards, and he carrying a kolombotavich stylet in one hand. His hair was a greyish-white and fell to his shoulders while his skin was pale, from not being exposed to the sun.
The second man was slightly taller than the one wielding the dagger, but he was also dressed entirely in black, only he wore a black, medieval era, studded leather jacket and a black, floor length cape with a ruby- encrusted pentacle as a clasp. His boots were made of black leather and he was carrying a large broadsword with a dragon emblem on the hilt in a black sheath at his side. His long hair was black and was slicked back so it fell just below his shoulders. To Harry, he looked like a nobleman and the other man, despite his odd attire, must be his bodyguard.
They went came over to Harry, who, still worried about being attacked, grabbed Hermione's wand since his was still laying on the ground a few feet away, and pointed it at them.
"Forgive us if we frightened you," said the man in the studded leather jacket, looking at Harry, as he walked towards them. "Those zombies can be such a nuisance and that vampire is scum that deserves to be damned to eternal suffering in hell. Vampires such as him do not deserve to walk on this earth because they drink the blood of whomever they please."
By then, Hermione's senses returned to her and she asked him who the man coming towards them was.
"How stupid of me to forget my manners. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Vladimir Sepet and my friend over there," he said pointing to the man standing behind him, "is my loyal servant, Walter Laikov. You'll have to forgive his depressing attire. He is what others would call a necromancer, but don't worry, he only uses his abilities to protect me and will not harm either of you."
He then squatted down beside Harry and asked him if Hermione was alright.
"I'm fine, but we need to get to the town of Bistritz. We're meeting a friend there," Hermione said before Harry could respond to the question.
"Ah, that is unfortunate. It is going to take at least a day to get there and it is already late. I have a castle nearby and you both are more than welcome to come and stay for the night. Walter can then take you to Bistritz in the morning," said the Count.
"Thank you, your grace, we are grateful for your hospitality," Hermione said.
"You're welcome, but let's not waste anymore time here. These graveyards aren't safe at night and although we defeated the ghouls, more will come later. Walter will help you with your belongings," he said as he stood up and helped Hermione to her feet.
She in turn helped Harry to his feet as Walter went over to one of the graves and made a symbol in the dirt. He mumbled something and Harry and Hermione watched in horror as a skeleton rose up from the grave. Walter then went over to another grave and performed the same ritual. A second skeleton rose up from the grave and Walter commanded them to get their trunks.
The skeletons went over and each one picked up a trunk and followed Walter.
"I have a carriage waiting nearby, we will be able to get to my castle from there," said Vladimir, now that their attention had been shifted away from the skeletons.
Harry ran over to pick up his wand before following Hermione and the Count to the carriage with Walter and his skeletons leading the way.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got to the carriage, Harry noted that it was drawn by two black horses, unlike the horse-less carriages they had at Hogwarts. The skeletons loaded their trunks on the back of the carriage as Walter opened the door and allowed Hermione to step in first followed by Harry. The Count then stepped in and Walter closed the door behind him.
The seats in the carriage were black leather and Harry could see that it was well maintained. As the carriage got to a start, Hermione, who was sitting to Harry's left, immediately started a conversation with the count.
"So how is Romania? What is it like here?" she asked enthusiastically.
"Well, it's a pretty country. The people are happy, as long as they're not being attacked by anyone and I like to think that the people who live on my lands are content. Occasionally, I'll have a disturbance, but it's nothing that I can't handle," replied the Count.
"So how did you two arrive here and what were you doing in that graveyard so late at night? You two could have been killed and enslaved as one of the undead for eternity, even though this young man has some really powerful magic at his command," the Count said, nodding his head in the direction of Harry who turned a bit red at the last comment.
"Well, you see, we were supposed to take a portkey to Bistritz, but we ended up in the graveyard instead. At least we ended up somewhere in Romania. The reason why we were there at night is because we didn't want to be noticed by the townsfolk and burned at the stake or something like that," Hermione explained.
"I see, well, portkeys are very unpredictable and they don't always drop you off where you're supposed to go. You two look pretty young, where did you learn how to do magic and I don't think I caught your names earlier."
"Oh, I'm Hermione Granger and this is my best friend, Harry Potter. We both learn magic at Hogwarts in England, and we know that portkeys are very unpredictable. Harry has had some rather unpleasant experience with portkeys before," she said, looking over at Harry, who was now looking uncomfortable since the Count's attention turned to him.
If Harry was expecting the Count to gaze at his scar and give him the million questions routine, he would be surprised as the Count only held out his hand, which Harry took and shook it.
"Mr. Potter, I have heard quite a bit about you, however, I trust that you don't wish to be reminded of that from your expression on your face, so I will leave it at that, but I do wish to thank you for your brave exploits against Lord Voldemort. Since his return, I have been very busy in eliminating his followers in my territory, such as the ghouls and the vampire you met in the graveyard. Creatures like those follow him without any question and the fewer followers he has in my lands, the safer it is for my subjects," said the Count.
Harry was quite surprised that the Count said Voldemort's name without flinching since most people he met in the wizarding world flinched at the name as Hermione did when the Count mentioned it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They soon arrived at the Count's castle and Walter opened the door of the carriage allowing them to get out. The Count got out first, followed by Harry who then offered his hand to Hermione, which she took as she got out. The Count then led the way, with Harry and Hermione following. The two skeletons that Walter created earlier once again took their trunks and followed them as Walter stayed behind to take care of the carriage.
They had to cross a long bridge before getting to the front gates, however, the Count was walking ahead with such energy that Harry and Hermione had to almost run to keep up. They finally came to a large tower, which had several small vertical windows overlooking the bridge, probably to shoot invaders that even got to the bridge. There were two large wooden doors, which looked very heavy served as the entrance to the castle, but to their surprise, the Count was able to open the large doors with ease.
"Welcome to Bran Castle," he said as he stepped aside and allowed Harry and Hermione to enter. They were now in a large hall lit by large candle chandeliers, which had a large statue made of granite of a knight on a horse, pointing his sword into the air in front of him and there were two marble staircases that led to the second level, one on each side of the statue.
"You two must be hungry as you probably were hoping to have supper with your friend," he said before turning to the skeletons and telling them to take their trunks to their rooms, which they obeyed immediately.
"Follow me, I'll show you to the dining room. The chef can prepare whatever you wish to eat."
They followed him to another door on the right and they were now in a long corridor lined with suits of armour and paintings from the Renaissance. They walked down the corridor and about halfway through, there was another pair of large doors made of wood. The Count opened the doors and they revealed a well-furnished dining room. There was a fireplace on the opposite wall and there was a painting of the Count above it. The dining table was fairly large and it could probably seat up to about 30 people, but for the occasion, the table only had 2 places set on the right end of the table.
Hermione sat down on one side of the table, with her back to the fire, while Harry sat across from her. The Count sitting in between them at the end of the table in a richly decorated chair with a velvet cushion on the seat and a coat of arms on the front of it. The chairs they sat in were not as richly decorated, but they were also had a coat of arms and were still fairly comfortable. Harry looked down and saw that the dining ware was made of gold and not silver, and the plates in front of Hermione and himself were similar to the ones in Hogwarts. When Harry looked over to where the Count was sitting, he saw that he only had a goblet in front of him, made of gold and was encrusted with rubies similar to the one on his clasp.
"Will you be joining us for dinner?" Harry asked the Count.
"No, I ate previously, but I will join you for a drink and a chat," came the reply. "Order what you want and it will come."
Harry ordered some lamb chops with gravy, while Hermione ordered a steak and some roast potatoes. A few minutes later, two short imps came with their orders on gold plated platters and placed them on the table before bowing and leaving. Two more imps who came with their drinks followed this. They poured what looked like red wine into the Count's goblet before pouring some butterbeer into theirs and left in the same manner as the first pair.
They started eating while the Count talked to them about the castle and it's history. Hermione seemed very interested in the history aspect and asked the Count an overwhelming amount of questions, and Harry was surprised that the Count had the patience to answer each one. Soon they were finished with their dinner and the Count thought they should retire for the night.
"One final note before you go off to your rooms, this castle has many rooms and corridors, some of which even I haven't explored yet. There are corridors and rooms filled with booby traps and creatures that haven't eaten in a while, so they wouldn't mind an early meal. Take care that you don't wander too far at night. Walter will show you to your rooms. Good Night Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," said the Count before getting up and exiting.
"What do you think of the castle Hermione?" Harry asked.
"It's not unpleasant but I think I'll feel safer when we get to where we're supposed to be," she said as Walter came in, still dressed in the same attire he was in earlier and motioned for them to follow.
They went back to the main hall where they had entered and climbed the stairs to the right of the statue. There they went all the way down until they were right above the castle entrance. They found another wooden door, which Walter opened and revealed another long corridor. At the end of the corridor, they turned to the right and found two doors across from each other.
Walter opened the door to Hermione's room and showed them in. Her room had a queen-sized bed in the middle of the left wall with a red canopy and 4 wooden support poles with dull red curtains on each pole. There was a vanity in the right corner of the room and a candle stand next to it with 3 lit candles on it. To the left of it were two glass doors that opened to a balcony and to the left of that was a dresser made of oak. On top of the dresser was a candelabra, which was also lit. Finally a large tapestry dating back to the Turkish occupation of Romania was hung on the wall to the left of the door.
"This your room Miss Granger, I hope you like it and I trust your stay will be pleasant. If you need anything, please ring the bell," said Walter in a deep voice, which Hermione found a bit frightening, and pointed to a rope next to her bed. "Mr. Potter, your room is across from hers. This way please."
They left Hermione and Harry was shown to his room. It was decorated in a similar manner, only his bed didn't have a canopy and there was a large mirror where Hermione's vanity would be in the other room. Where the candle stand should be, to the left of the mirror, there was a statue of a gargoyle made of obsidian holding two unlighted candles in its claws.
"Your room Mr. Potter. It is among one of the best in the castle. I think you will find the mirror in your room interesting," Walter said with a smile before bowing and leaving.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry was pacing the room in his blue pajamas for a while, thinking of what Walter said, when he realized his amulet was glowing and a short time later, he heard Hermione's voice coming from the amulet.
"Harry, I love my room. How's yours?" he heard her ask.
"It's like yours only there's a large mirror where your vanity should be. It looks as if it's supposed to do something. Walter did say I would find it interesting, but I don't know what it does," he said into his amulet.
"You think we should figure out what it does?"
"I don't know. It may turn out to be a trap. I mean the Count and Walter have been very kind to us, but you think they could be spies for Voldemort?"
"Oh Harry, I think you're just being a little ungrateful. If they wanted to turn us over to Voldemort or kill us, they would have done so already don't you think? I mean they could have left us in the graveyard with that vampire instead of saving us. Besides, when are his henchmen so nice?"
"Yeah, but remember Barty Crouch? He helped me for the entire year as Mad-Eye Moody before he decided to kill me."
"Well, aren't you at least a little curious as to what the mirror does?"
"I guess."
"That settles it then. I'm coming over there and we can take a look at it," she said and Harry's amulet stopped glowing.
A few seconds later, Hermione came through his bedroom door, dressed in a pink shirt with arm length sleeves and jeans. Her wand was in her hand. They stood in front of the mirror and looked at it, but since it was too dark, Hermione decided to light the candles on the gargoyle statue.
She went over to the statue, pointed her wand at the candles, said a spell and blue flames shot from her wand, lighting the candles. She then returned to looking at the mirror. Harry was busy searching the mirror's frame, looking for some type of switch or lever, while Hermione was looking at the floor near the mirror for any hidden switches. Unfortunately, neither of them noticed that the gargoyle statue was starting to move.
The gargoyle statue first moved its claws holding the candles, dropping them to the floor. The candles went out when they hit the floor and Hermione was the first to notice the change in lighting.
"Harry, did you leave the window open?" she said, still looking at the floor.
"No, I didn't, why?" he replied as he was looking at the bottom right corner of the mirror.
"How come the candles that I just lit, got blown out?" she said and looked up at the gargoyle statue to see that it was now moving and she screamed as it attacked her.
Harry turned around at the sound of Hermione's scream to see Hermione on the ground and the gargoyle attacking, it's left claw coming down to strike her. Hermione threw an arm up to block it, and the gargoyle's talons cut through her sleeves and cut deeply into her skin. She yelped in pain and blood splattered on the floor as it swiped at her with the other set of claws, but she managed to back away just in time. She quickly recovered from the shock of being attacked and fired a blue fireball at it, but the gargoyle wasn't affected. Instead it just enraged it even more. Unfortunately, Harry didn't have his wand out and he quickly looked through his pajamas for it.
The gargoyle continued to advance, swiping at Hermione again, this time ripping her clothes and cutting across her stomach causing more of her blood to splatter on the wall to her right. She then managed to fire a full body-bind spell at it, despite her injuries. The spell slowed the gargoyle down a bit, but it still kept coming since apparently obsidian gargoyles were resistant to magic. She then backed away again up against the wall as another claw came down and smashed the stone floor, making a huge crater in the stone tile where she was just a few seconds before. By then, Harry had found his wand and quickly pointed his wand at the gargoyle as he said the incantation for the ice bolt.
Shards of ice came forth from his wand and hit the gargoyle, freezing it instantly just as it was standing on it's hind legs, preparing to strike Hermione, who was still up against the wall. The gargoyle fell over sideways to the right and smashed into a thousand pieces. Now that the threat of the gargoyle was over, Harry went over to Hermione and attended to her injuries. Hermione's shirt was now soaked with blood and it was now spreading on the floor from the cuts in her arm and across her stomach and formed a pool on the floor where she was sitting with her knees up, but still conscious.
"Here, let me take a look at those injuries. Give me your arm first," Harry said, as he took Hermione's arm and moved his wand over her injuries while saying the healing spell. The wounds closed up and vanished without a trace. Harry then did the same thing with the cuts across her stomach. He could now see Hermione's skin exposed through the shredded clothing despite the blood and quickly looked away, turning red in embarrassment.
"Harry, now I'm really wondering where you learn all of that magic because I don't think you learned any of it in the library since you were so busy with the Triwizard Tournament," she said, looking up at him when he finished.
"Um, Hermione, I have something to tell you, but promise that you won't tell anyone," Harry said with a guilty look on his face.
" (sigh) Let's hear it first, then I'll decide if I should tell anyone," she replied in an overbearing tone as she glared at him.
"Well, I went to Diagon alley to talk to Sirius and I went to Flourish and Blotts. As I was looking around at the books, I found this book called the Book of Elements and I looked through it. There aren't any spells in there that are taught at Hogwarts except for a levitation spell and the finite incantatem spell. I spent all of summer learning how to do all of the spells in the book," Harry finally said.
"Anything else you'd like to tell me? You don't normally go to Diagon alley, much less look at books for no reason. Why'd you go visit Sirius?" she asked, still glaring at him.
"Hmm, nothing gets past you Hermione," Harry said with an innocent smile.
"I've known you for four years, if you think I don't know if you're withholding information from me, you're dumber than you look. You also shouldn't have been roaming around. What if Voldemort caught you out in the open? You could have been killed," she said as she scolded Harry for his reckless behaviour.
"Alright, I went there because I wanted him to teach me how to be an animagus. I went to buy the advanced transfiguration book I told you about at your house and I found the elements book behind it."
"So you're an illegal animagus?"
"Yeah, I have two forms, a phoenix and a basilisk king. I can transform into the phoenix, but I'm still trying to learn how to transform into the basilisk," Harry said as he looked back at Hermione, whose face expression softened as she accepted his answer.
"Okay, now that you've told me everything, I've decided that I'll keep your secret unless you do something that can put you in grave danger, and if you promise to teach me how to do those spells," she said, looking Harry in the eyes as he nodded his head affirmatively.
She continued to gaze into his emerald eyes for what seemed like years before Harry said something.
"Hermione, are you alright? You looked lost for a moment," Harry said, confused as to why Hermione was gazing into his eyes, not that he didn't mind gazing back deeply into her brown eyes as well.
"Oh sorry," she said as she broke her gaze and looked over at the shattered gargoyle statue. She noticed a dark purple amethyst gem that had a marquise cut in the remains and pointed it out to Harry.
"Harry, there was a gemstone in the gargoyle. What do you suppose it's for?" she asked, pointing at the purple coloured stone in the middle of the pieces of obsidian.
"I don't know. It might have something to do with the mirror," Harry suggested.
Hermione went over and picked it up and they went over to the mirror. They looked around the frame of the mirror and Harry noticed a hole at the bottom of it that was the exact size of the gemstone. He pointed it out to Hermione who then put the gem in the hole. Immediately it started glowing and as they stood together in front of the large mirror, it started to distort the reflection of the room, swirling them around in a colourful rainbow before coming together again, forming an image that was very familiar to both Harry and Hermione.
A/N: This is probably the longest chapter yet. There may be a few items mentioned in either this chapter or the previous chapters that you may or may not know what they are. If you don't, please tell me in your review (yes, I do read them, thank you all so much) and I'll add a glossary or something where you can look them up. Well, r/r plz!
Messages to some ppl who reviewed (answering your questions):
Promy- No I didn't read your fanfic, so I don't know if this has a lot in common with it or not. As for whether or not Hermione likes Ron, well you'll have to read on to find out. =)
Alexandria Draco- No, I don't play Dungeons and Dragons.