Chapter seven
(Lol! Yes, Loki, ickle Draco is evil now and it is because he is a vampire. I read 'Salem's Lot and that's what happened to them. Something about their soul… I liked ur idea! And just to say now, I couldn't decide on an ending so I'm using both… makes the fic longer though! A BETA reader is someone who reads the fic before I put it up to make sure it's OK, in an answer to my Canadian friend's question.)
In this chapter:- Harry and Ron work out that Draco is a vampire (Was going to be more but this has ended up longer than I thought, so the other part will be chapter 8, OK? It's another long chappie! I do spoil you lot! LOL!)
Draco stood in front of the chipped, moss covered, mahogany door for a long time. Telling him… pro, he won't hurt me as bad and he will help me. Con, he will probably hit the roof and kill me… dammit! Damn it all!
Draco found himself walking into the room before he realised what he was doing and be able to stop himself. The room was nice and hot but the atmosphere was anything but warm and welcoming, there was still that coldness about it.
Draco walked in and looked around the room. Muggle paintings always freaked him out because they were still and lifeless, with those eyes always staring at you and even though they didn't move, their eyes seemed to follow you as if watching your every move.
Draco was so involved in looking at the paintings, he wasn't looking where he was going and tripped over something lying on the ground. He sat up and stared, only to see a pair of yellow eyes staring back at him into his. He had rudely awakened Nagini. Nagini hissed at him and showed her own long, sharp and venomous fangs, she slithered closer to Draco.
Draco crawled backwards from her. "G-Good snake, stay back! er… I-I'm sorry I tripped over you… j-just go back to sleep and don't eat me!"
There was a strange hissing noise and Nagini backed away and returned to her sleep. Draco looked up and saw Voldemort standing in front of the fire. The flames lit up his pale face a light, sinister orange/red and made his eyes glitter with more malice than was usual.
Draco jumped up and bowed quickly. "So very sorry to intrude master but I have some important information." Draco sounded calmer than he was.
"This had better be good news Malfoy!" Voldemort hissed.
Draco froze for a second. "…er… just before I tell you… hypothetically, say it was bad news and it was as bad to the extent of the plan close to failing… what would you do to me?"
Voldemort stared at him for a while before rubbing his forehead with his fingers and growling, "What did you do?"
Draco flinched. "I dealt with it! No harm done!"
"Not yet anyway!" Voldemort snarled as he drew out his wand.
"Let me explain!" Draco cried hurriedly taking a leap backwards, landing on the end of Nagini's tail. (Do snakes have tails or are they just all one long, living tail?)
Nagini hissed loudly, almost screamed, and swiftly lunged at Draco with her sharp teeth. She sunk her teeth deep into Draco's lower leg.
Draco cried out, "Bloody snake! Get the hell off, you over-sized flobber worm!" Draco prised Nagini's jaw off his leg. Draco looked, expecting to see blood like was his normal reaction but he saw nothing. He looked under his black robes to see and only saw two large puncture holes and the yellow venom oozing back out of them. Draco glared, "Bitten twice in one week am I cursed? You are so lucky I don't have a bloodstream, you know that?" he added glaring at the snake. Nagini just glared back and flicked her long, black tongue out at him.
"Start explaining before I decide not to be merciful on your behalf," Voldemort sat down in his armchair, spinning his wand around his long, spider-like fingers.
Draco jumped back up and began, "Well… you see… it's like this… I was talking to Donato a-and Potter saw us. He had sneaked into the Slytherin common room and he had been listening to what we were saying… he ran away and I chased after him but that damn sunlight stopped me from catching him!"
"And now he knows about you and the plan?"
"No. But he does know that something's up… and so did Dumbledore."
Voldemort stared blankly. "Did?"
"I saw to it that Dumbledore will not tell or interfere, it's Potter who I can't get to…"
"That doesn't matter. You're blunder has actually helped my plan…"
Draco blinked. "Helped?"
"Think again about this. Dumbledore out of the way, Potter is the only one who suspects anything… this should make it easier to get him."
"How?" Draco was getting confused.
"Use your head, boy! You know our plan involves getting Potter on his own, so he won't have anyone to help him and you have the trust of one of them!"
It was as if somebody had lit a fire in Draco's head. The understanding came to him and a plot had already formed in his mind.
"The Mudblood!"
"She must be on your side for this to work out!"
"How can I do that? She would trust Potter's word over mine any day!"
Voldemort laughed. "My dear boy… you have the gift to make people believe you and make them on your side. It happened to you! This way, we can be sure that she won't help him and she will also be of a little help to us."
Draco thought and then grinned at his master once he'd figured it out.
"As you wish master." With that, Draco bowed and disappeared from sight, remembering to 'accidentally' step on Nagini's tail again. Nagini hissed but couldn't do anything as Draco had already disappeared.
*~*~*~*
"I don't like this… I really don't like where this is going, Harry!" Ron shook his head continually.
"We can handle this! We can do this without Dumbledore's help, we have done it before!"
"Dumbledore didn't seem like he even wanted to know, he's never done that on us before!"
"Our best plan is to keep an eye on Malfoy's every move. That way, we can stop him from doing anything that will-"
"What are you two planning now?" Hermione was leaning against the wall with an eyebrow raised.
Ron jumped up and ran over to her. "Hermione, are you OK? What's going on? What day is it? What's your favourite colour?" Ron was shaking her by her shoulders.
Hermione looked nothing less than terrified at this. "I should be asking you if you're OK! What's going on?"
"I'm just going to cut the crap and tell you simply that your little Slytherin friend is nothing but a no-good, evil spy who wants to kill Harry!" Ron shouted.
Hermione stared at him for a minute. "Right. OK… What's this got to do with my favourite colour?"
"Malfoy put a spell on you Hermione! A spell to make you forget something because he knows that you know something important that he knows about a plan that he is involved in to kill Harry!"
Even Harry blinked at this, confused. Hermione didn't look any different.
She opened her mouth to say something but seemed to change her mind and stayed silent before she decided to talk. "Alright, now I know that you two hate me being with Draco and you have tried to put me off him in several ways, but this time, you've really crossed the line! Trying to kill Harry is he? He just nearly got killed himself a few nights ago! Besides, if he was trying to kill Harry, he would've done it before now. Look at all the times the two of you were together Harry!" she turned around to look at him.
Harry sighed. "I found it hard to believe too Hermione, but I went down into the Slytherin Common room to check things out and he was planning something, he's still on Voldemort's side. The whole near to death thing was just an act to make us think it was Voldemort who ("Stop saying his name!" Ron piped up in the background) attacked him because he wanted us to trust him that he was on our side. I'm sorry Hermione but… but he's not…"
Hermione's mouth opened and closed several times, obviously lost for words not knowing if to believe them or to think it was some kind of joke. Guess which thought won?
"I-I… I can't believe this! Draco isn't like that, he's too nice to me! He's changed, I can tell by that look in his eye! He couldn't be, it's…" Hermione was trying to find out which she believed in but she couldn't find a logical answer. She wanted to believe that all of this was just her friends' plan to stop any relationship between Draco and herself, yet part of her believed them. She remembered that strange feeling she had that made her think that Draco wasn't telling her something.
"Where have I heard this before?" Ron muttered looking over at Harry grinning.
"Hermione, I know it's a bit of a shock, but you HAVE to believe us on this one! Don't go near him, he could try to get you to believe him and act against us!" Harry continued.
They could see that Hermione was near tears by this. "I don't know what to do!"
"Just stay away from him… please!" Harry walked towards her and gave her a hug. "Please, we don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else. Promise me!"
Promise me. Hermione felt as though she had heard those words said in the same pleading tone somewhere else. Things like these had been haunting her for the whole day. Visions and 'flash backs' that she knew where familiar but she didn't know where they were from.
Before Hermione could reply, there was an urgent tapping and scratching on a window that made them all jump. Each of them stared wildly around the room looking for the source of the noise.
"Look!" Ron exclaimed pointing to the window was positioned beside the long desk. Harry and Hermione looked to where he was pointing and stared. "Hey, ain't that Fawkes?"
"It is… why is he out there, it's raining!" Hermione ran over and opened the window.
Fawkes chirped his thanks and ruffled his feathers up to shake off the rain water. Harry knelt down and began to stoke Fawkes' smooth, feathered head and neck. Fawkes seemed to purr like a cat at the attention he was getting as Ron and Hermione joined in, stroking his tail and wings.
"What are you doing the whole way down here, eh?" Hermione cooed.
At that, Fawkes started squawking and flapping his wings.
"Shhhhh! Fawkes, you'll wake up the whole house!" Harry leapt forwards and grasped Fawkes' beak firmly.
"Oh Fawkes, I wish you could talk!" Hermione sighed.
"Wonder what's wrong, he's never done this before. Perhaps Dumbledore send him, maybe he wants to speak to us!" Ron looked up at Harry.
"Maybe!" Harry stood up excitedly. "Come on, we'll take the invisibility cloak!"
"You coming Hermione? It might give you some answers to this whole Malfoy the secret spy thing!" Ron smiled getting up too.
Hermione nodded reluctantly and followed, Fawkes took flight and led the way.
*~*~*~*
When they had reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office, they saw al crowd of teachers in their dressing gowns and slippers standing and the foot of the stairs. Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other in a confused way. All of the teachers were chatting in panicked voices but none of them seemed to know what was going on.
Finally, they heard Professor Lupin's voice (A/N:- I like him and wanted him back ok!) calling from the top of the stairs as he descended down them to rejoin the teachers. "Somebody run and get Madam Pomfrey, quickly!"
Professor Sinistra turned on her heel and ran as quickly as she could towards the hospital wing. There was a wave of even more panicked stricken voices. Harry, Ron and Hermione were beginning to get worried too.
"Stop the stalling Lupin! What's going on?" Snape roared.
Lupin replied calmly. "I don't mean to alarm anyone… but it seems to me that Professor Dumbledore has been attacked!"
Harry had to fight against yelling out loud, Ron and Hermione seemed to have the same problem. Hermione's face had gone the colour of chalk.
"Attacked?"
"By what?"
"Is he OK?"
"Attacked?!"
Lupin waited until the muttering stopped before he carried on. "I took this up with me," he held up an object that looked to Harry like a small lava lamp, "It told me that dark magic had been used."
More muttering and then a familiar soft voice could be heard above all the others.
"Ah yes! I foresaw this happening this morning during my own quiet time at breakfast." Professor Trelawney told the rest of the teachers.
"Well, if you foresaw it then maybe you could tell us who did it!" Professor McGonagal snapped bitterly.
Professor Trelawney replied in her dreamy voice, "Ah, but I can't reveal anything like that! It is not to be known yet, the fates have warned me not to tell!"
Professor McGonagal looked as if she was going to strangle Professor Trelawney but Professor Sinistra came running up with Madam Pomfrey close behind.
"Oh dear lord… this can't be happening… the headmaster…" she muttered to herself as she walked past the three of them.
She ran up the stairs and some teachers followed, others weren't sure if they wanted to see.
Harry nudged Ron and gestured that they left to discuss this is the common room.
*~*~*~*
"Now what do we do?" Ron shouted. "The one time we need him, he gets attacked!"
"A bit suspicious really. All these events, they're bound to be connected! Dumbledore was our only means of protection and now he's gone, this could be the start of Malfoy's little plan!" Harry sat down beside the fire, which was now burning itself out.
"I'm going to bed!" Hermione said quickly as she ran up to the girls' dormitories.
"She must be shocked at this… I feel the same way… I'm starting to get a little scared actually…" Ron admitted.
"Don't worry, tomorrow morning at breakfast, we'll get it out of Malfoy what's going on and find a way to stop it!" Harry thumped the arm of his chair with his fist.
"Not again! Isn't fighting the forces of evil once enough for one year?"
*~*~*~*
The next morning was one that all the students would never forget. They were all told by Professor McGonagal that Dumbledore had been attacked. Many students shrieked in panic and fear, others were just plain speechless but the Slytherins were grinning and giving each other looks of satisfaction, this made anger boil up inside Harry. He had to clench his fists and bite his bottom lip to control himself. He couldn't wait to let out his anger on Malfoy, even if it resulted in detentions for the rest of his school life. Lessons had been cancelled that day due to distressed teachers and terrified students. Harry and Ron couldn't see Draco at the breakfast table.
"Bet he knows that we know and he's too cowardly to show himself!" Ron said as they left the Great Hall.
"I say we go and drag that ferret out of his hole!" Harry turned off and went down into dungeons. Ron soon followed.
*~*~*~*
"Why did you do it? Are you bloody mad? Now everyone will know that there's something up!"
"The master seemed pleased enough so just you keep out of it!"
"I don't see why he wanted to use you when there are more experienced and intelligent in the group! You're just gonna mess it all up Malfoy!"
"You're just jealous because I'm getting all the good tasks and praise while you are stuck 'keeping guard in the forest for anything suspicious'!"
Harry and Ron tip-toed down the corridor when they heard the two voices. Harry recognised them as Draco and that boy who was with him last night.
"Why don't you just go back down the dark hole you came from Donato, I have everything under control here, I do not need you to tell me what to do!" Draco yelled.
Harry poked his head around the corner in time to see the boy called Donato lift Draco up off the floor by his collar and hiss, "The master will soon see through you, he will find out and destroy you quicker than you can blink!" with that threat, he disappeared making Draco fall back to the floor.
"Now!" Harry whispered to Ron.
Draco had barely stood back up when he was suddenly thrown back face down.
"What the hell… who...?" Draco struggled.
"Spill it Malfoy! What are you up to?" Harry spat as he sat on Draco's back and twisted his right arm up behind him.
Draco's face screwed up in pain but he refused to give Harry the satisfaction of yelling.
"If I am up to something…what makes you think that I'll tell you?"
"You will tell us or I will break every fucking bone in your body!" Harry hissed as he jerked Draco's arm up further, this time Draco let out a small yelp of pain.
Ron knelt down beside Draco and put his wand to Draco's head. "And if you still won't tell… we'll just have to use other measures, won't we Harry?"
Draco smirked and said in a low, hissing voice, "Don't mess with things you don't understand. You will just get hurt!"
Harry was about to reply when something caught his eye. On the palm of Draco's right hand a bright blue ball of what looked like ice with lightning shooting around inside was quickly forming. Harry stared at it unbelieving. It came to Harry what was going to happen a split second before it did.
The ball of ice flew up and hit Harry in the face and then he was thrown backwards into the wall. Draco took his chance and jumped up to run away, but Ron was too quick for him.
Ron hadn't managed to stand up in time to catch Draco so instead he grabbed Draco's foot, making him fall back down.
"Don't even try it Malfoy!" he grinned. "It's time to start the aggressive interrogations!"
Harry could hear bone grinding punches being thrown and a lot of swearing and threatening. He couldn't see because of his position and he couldn't move, the spell had frozen him too. He didn't even have an idea who was getting hit or who was winning.
"OUCH! Little help here would be useful Harry!" Ron yelled.
"I have problems of my own right now Ron!" Harry yelled back. "I'm stuck!"
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Harry heard Ron shout and then the sound of hurried footsteps… silence.
Harry lay staring at the ceiling in the silence. "I'll just wait here shall I?"
*~*~*~*
Draco had lost his concentration from trying to get away and now he was lost, not knowing where he was going or coming from. He was just turning corners and running through doors at random now. This is all going wrong… very wrong!
Draco ran through another door, slamming it behind him in Ron's face, and carried on running up a flight of stairs for a few seconds before realization dawned on him. He looked up the stairs and saw the arch leading from the dungeons up to the Entrance Hall. Mid-afternoon sun-light was sending long, golden bars of light through the arch and up against the wall. Draco was safe on the dark, shadowed staircase at the moment but he heard the dungeon door open up behind him.
Oooo! You're truly fucked now aren't ya mate? A voice rose up in Draco's head. Draco chose to ignore it and then- Wait a minute! I'm a vampire… I can disapperate in the Hogwarts gr-
Before he had even finished his thought, Ron had thrown a curse at him which had lifted Draco off the ground and sent him spinning up the stairs. Draco landed hard on the stone landing, but it wasn't the harsh landing that was hurting him.
The sun-light blinded Draco, it had been a while since he had been near strong sun-light. A burning pain spread over his body, worse than he had ever imagined it to be, worse even than the Cruciatus (?) curse. He couldn't move with the pain, he couldn't cover himself with his cloak or crawl away to save himself. He didn't even have the strength to disapperate.
Ron ran up the stairs, lifted Draco up by the back of his cloak and forced him against the wall, holding on to Draco by one shoulder. Ron was holding his wand in the other hand and it was pointed straight at Draco. Most of Draco's body was now shielded from the light, but his face was still exposed to it.
"Nice try Malfoy. Now, are we going to do this the easy way and you tell us your plan like a good little ferret or are we going to have to do it the painful way?"
Oh believe me, it couldn't be as painful as this! Draco could feel the skin on his face begin to crack. He had to get away now, back into the darkness, away from the fatal light. Draco had to think quickly but no matter what he came up with, he had to give himself away.
Ron was looking at Draco strangely. Was it just the trick of the light or were there deep, red cracks appearing over Draco's face and hands? Ron blinked and he was so distracted, what happened next happened quickly and came as a shock.
Draco had bared his fangs in attack and swiftly ducked his head and struck Ron in the hand that was holding him to the wall. Ron yelled in pain, surprise and disgust as he pulled his hand away, letting Draco fall sideways and down the stairs back to the safety of the darkness.
Although the fall hurt a lot, he felt stronger being away from the sun-light and managed to stagger back to his feet and disappear in a wisp of fine mist.
Ron was still standing on the landing in shock. He stared down at his hand, blood covered most of it and the blood wasn't dripping out but streaming. It must've been very deep to do that. But Ron had another worry on his hands, had he seen right or was it just another trick of the light? Had he seen two of Draco's front teeth grow into fangs? Ron was getting scared now, the cracks on Draco's face when he was in the light… those teeth… Ron swallowed hard at the thought of it but decided not to jump to conclusions just yet… he needed to see Professor Lupin first.
*~*~*~* (A/N:- I had to re-write that scene SO many times it's unbelievable!)
"What the hell happened to you?" Harry asked once he saw Ron's hand. Ron had just about remembered to unfreeze Harry.
"I'll explain as soon as we fang- I mean- FIND Professor Lupin…" Ron stammered in a hurried way that reminded Harry greatly of Professor Quirrel.
"Are you OK?" Harry asked in concern.
"I'm fine… everything's great… just need to talk to Professor Lupin about something…"
Harry knew better than to believe Ron but he also didn't ask any questions. "OK, let's go. He'd probably be up in his office trying to work out what attacked Professor Dumbledore with that lava lamp thing."
Ron looked at Harry, "Lava lamp?"
"Doesn't matter…" Harry sighed and ran out into the Entrance Hall.
*~*~*~*
Lupin paced up and down his office yet again, holding the spell detector in one hand and his wand in the other. When Ron and Harry peered around the doorway he was taking a huge skitso on it.
"I know it was dark magic, OK! What spell was it you stupid piece of sh- oh, hello there Harry… Ron… how can I help you?"
Harry and Ron stared at each other and then back at Lupin.
"Ah, yes, ahem, sorry about that boys… this situation is putting pressure on us all and it's starting to get to me now!" Lupin pushed his greying hair out of his eyes and sat down, gesturing for Harry and Ron to do the same.
"It's OK professor, we understand." Harry reassured. "Ron needs to ask you something."
Lupin looked surprised but said, "Go ahead," anyway.
Ron took a deep breath. "Do you know how you can tell if someone is a vampire or not?"
"Of course! And so should you, I taught you all about them in third year! Why?"
Ron lifted his blooded hand, which was now covered with Ron's tie, and asked, "Could you tell me if this is a vampire bite or not?"
Lupin looked at Ron strangely, so did Harry, but he took Ron's hand anyway and undid the tie.
Lupin's eyes widened when he saw the two deep teeth marks in Ron's hand and the blood surrounding it.
"How did this happen?" Lupin asked in a fearful voice.
"I-I was chasing after Malfoy and-"
"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" Lupin interrupted.
"Yes, anyway, I chased him up to the Entrance Hall and- Professor?"
Lupin wasn't listening to what Ron was saying. He had that distant, thoughtful look about him and he was running his fingers through his hair over and over.
"Professor? What's wrong?" Harry repeated.
"Of course… it all fits…" Lupin spoke in a low whisper.
Harry and Ron looked at each other with one eyebrow raised.
Lupin stood up and walked over to the window, peering out over the lake and forbidden forest.
"Excuse me sir… but what all fits?" Harry asked and broke the silence.
"People thinking he was dead… he wasn't breathing and didn't have a pulse yet he was alive… the scar on his neck… Ron, was it still there?"
Ron hadn't thought about it but now that he did…
"No… gone."
Lupin was silent for a moment more before saying, "And, it was him who did that to you?"
"Yes."
"Then yes, it is a vampire bite. Draco Malfoy is a vampire."
(Dun Dun DUN! A round of applauds please, they have finally figured it out! That took forever to write, deadly uncomfortable! Anyway, what do you guys think? Review please! As I said, it would've had more in it but it's all going into the next chapter. They now have to convince Hermione that Draco is a vampire and she gets herself into a spot of bother involving Draco. Hope you all had a nice Christmas and a happy new year to you all!!!!)
