Midnight! It is my realm and I am master. Of all the night dweller I am the one feared by all. But in my darkness there is one feared more. All my breed and heritage fear him, he controls and binds! I fear they may be a war and I fear that vampires will be just one weapon out of the many that he will use. When the time come I may be called, but which side will call me first.
Lucrius Next
Hogwarts Room of Requirement, 11:30 PM 16th January
Once again Lucrius had risen from bed and had made the long journey to the room of requirement. He had made a mental map of the castle and the patrols of Filtch and the other teachers. Lucrius now feared to sleep, he was very aware of spells to pear into other people's minds; he knew enough of them himself. But unfortunately he had only discovered recently that his mind only opened when he slept. And what he found inside that mind that invaded him he did not like. There was no feeling only an anger that burnt away. He did not spend long enough in the mind to discover at what but he presumed it was at his father. And so rather than risk invasion again he spent the nights practising with his knives. He had them arranged in the pockets of his harness so that he could remove them in the claw shape and attack with them all in one smooth movement. And so he practised, extending his vampire heightened senses to the limit. His muscles burned with use and he swapped between all his weapons as he attacked dummies of all sizes and breeds. He missed only one kill spot as he had labelled them. He knew even his heritage and position in the council could not save him from some fanatics and so he wanted to be trained in his own defence. Even though he did not like the mysterious circumstances of which they arrived.
The Gryffindor common room was empty and only the constant crackling of the fire slumped down in a high-backed chair was Ginny. Her normally tied up hair was flowing over her shoulders and showed a length that she didn't normally show. She was not ashamed of her hair colour but was still tapping her hair every few minutes to change the colour. Eventually she settled for her normal hair colour. This seamed to amuse her as she picked up a mirror and rearranged her hair so it all lapped over one shoulder and she brushed it endlessly. It was wavy and in public she tied it up, nothing particularly fancy just for convenience. But often when she was alone or at least away from others, she would brush her hair and play with it. She was incredibly proud of her hair and loved they way it took very little time for it to look great In her eyes. But she was starting to wonder if she should do more, she had undeniable feelings for Harry, but she had no idea whether or not he felt the same way. The past few months had been hard, ever since the Halloween ball she had been wondering the same question, and it had almost consumed her. But somehow she had stayed strong and held her tongue. If only she could somehow find out what Harry felt.
Deep inside the Hufflepuff common room, it was quite far from the portrait hole for reasons known only to Helga Hufflepuff. Lucy was sitting alone; she held open a muggle book and was intently reading it. She was up so late as she could only read muggle books at this time, as otherwise the other students, out of curiosity, would take them. But she could not keep concentrated on her book, her mind kept slipping to other places, people. Ever since she had left the great hall she had been thinking of Lucrius. She did not understand why, she had only known him a few weeks and she wasn't one to rush into things, but somehow she couldn't keep her concentration.
Harry lay in bed wondering he did this often now or often enough. His mind kept flipping to Ginny. It was the only way to describe it, he would be thinking about something and suddenly without his knowing she would creep in. He knew he didn't feel anything for Ginny, so why did she keep coming back. Harry tossed and turned but still he could not get her out of his head. He eventually swung his legs over the bed and looked over towards the door. He suddenly notice Lucrius' bed was empty and so he got out of bed silently. He went to the window but it was still shut tightly and had not been moved and so he headed out of the boy's dormitory and went into the common room. Ginny slid down in the chair and hoped Harry would not come over to see what was going on. But Harry was too blind; he wished only to discover what was wrong about Lucrius and so was oblivious to the roaring fire. He walked to the painting and as he walked towards it, it swung open. After he left he quickly checked he hadn't woken any of the paintings up, and began on his way down the corridor towards the great hall.
Lupin, having arrived at Dumbledore's request to help teach the NEWt defence against the dark arts class, was wandering around the corridors becoming reacquainted with his old school. He had already come across the house ghosts and visited two of the house paintings. There was a particular wolf painting on the way to the Gryffindor common room that had a habit of rearing up and howling as he walked past but this was nothing that surprised him. He continued on his way travelling the corridors wondering about how Harry and his friends were doing, he also wanted to meet Lucrius, after all he had caused quite a stir in the Wizarding community with his entrance into the Wizengamot. But still he thought he would have to try to teach him in the same way that he would every other student. This would be difficult and he would have to be careful.
After Ginny watched Harry leave she hurried to bed. She couldn't risk being caught out of bed, as it would entail a lot of questions she would rather not answer. As she was settling down to sleep or at least stay there until morning she realised, she had noticed she wasn't the only one who no longer slept. At breakfast the would be at least a dozen faces looking sleep deprived but no one would say anything and life would continue as normal. But as she was doing this Lucy was starting her walk down the corridor and towards the upper floors where the Gryffindor common room was situated. She did not know why but her feet just carried her there. And as she rounded the corner she ran straight into Harry.
Lupin put his hand on the door to the room of requirement and wondered where it led. He drew his wand and opened the door with a click. As he opened the door and the light of Lucrius' training ground had been exposed his face seamed to rip out of it self. His senses heightened as his face became half man half wolf and he turned his face to the sky and let out a howl at the half moon. Lucrius, his face snarling and biting at the air, his fangs now in full show seized his opportunity and put away his knives he ran straight at the door way and jumped running on all fours on the wall next to Lupin's head. And as he burst out Lupin managed to get a grip on himself and stop howling and as he turned he followed Lucrius' movement with intent as he darted up towards the ceiling and disappeared into the stone rafters where he ran towards the Gryffindor common room. From the black a pair of flame eyes watched him and laughed a deep evil laugh. Harry held Lucy as she started to fall she was white as a sheet, but then so was he, and shaking. When Professor McGonagall arrived she found them lying in the corridor close to the wall holding each other for fear of anyone else.