Author: Innocence
Title: Scelto Per Qualcosa
Disclaimer: Don't sue, all belong to JKR, except Faruiza – she's mine.
Thanks to reviewers Loki, Dirty Angel, whoever anonymous is, violent delight, and AngelofDarkness27.
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A plain white ceiling swam exceedingly slowly into focus above Draco's head. He waited, and lay still as it came in completely, not wanting to even try and think until he at least knew where he was. The ceiling came into focus after a few moments, but the sanitary blank white of the ceiling made his eyes ache. He closed them and went comfortably back to the darkness behind his eyelids. One thing was for sure though, thing was definitely the infirmary.
He turned his head to the right. That was a mistake, as pain shot through his neck and shoulder he let out a low moan, before turning his head back to the previous position. He could hear some footsteps making their way towards him, so he carefully opened his eyes.
Madame Pomfrey's face loomed above his, her lips twisted into a small smile, "I'm glad you're awake Mr. Malfoy, the Headmaster will be pleased to hear that," She bustled around to the other side of him and bent down to look at his neck. Draco had to watch her through the corner of his eye, because there was no way he was going to lean over that way again.
"Why am I here?" he croaked out, his throat was dry and it burned a little to talk.
"You don't remember?" The medi-witch asked him a curious look on her face, she waved her hand to dismiss the question, "The Headmaster told me to wait until he came to say anything. I expect he'll be here any minute. There isn't a thing that goes on in this castle, Dumbledore doesn't know about," She told him, now touching his neck gingerly.
"What are you doing?" He demanded gruffly, trying to swat one of her hands away. As he moved the pain came again but softer that time.
"Don't try moving Mr. Malfoy," She scolded, "You must wait for Professor Snape to bring the potion to clear these up, before you do." He was about to ask 'Clear what up?' when to the door to the infirmary gave its distinctive creak and groan, letting them know someone had arrived.
Just as Madame Pomfrey had said, Professor Dumbledore walked grandly into the room McGonagall and Snape only a step behind. Seeing Draco the old mans eyes lit up in a twinkle, "Ah, Mister Malfoy, glad to see you could join us, how is he doing Poppy?"
"Doesn't remember a thing," She shook her head in a grave fashion before leaving Draco's side to take a glass vial from Professor Snape, "Open your mouth," She addressed him. He did as she told, as every Hogwarts student knew it was officially better to do as she instructed then to take the alternative. Whatever it was.
She poured it down his throat, and he almost choked on it, sputtering and coughing he did manage to swallow it down. Slowing he tried to move his head and was pleasantly surprised to find that he could now look at the three Professors straight on. He opened his mouth to ask a question but was cut off for the second time as Professor McGonagall spoke.
"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" She asked woodenly. He nodded slowly, glaring at her for cutting him off, "What happened?" He asked quickly, to make sure nobody cut him off this time.
Dumbledore came closer and sat on the empty bed next to him, "You, Mr. Malfoy, were in Care of Magical Creatures, does that sound familiar?"
Draco looked puzzled, "Yes, sir, Hagrid brought a vampire to class today," and realization dawned on him, "Something happened to me with the vampire, didn't it?" He suppressed the panic in his voice, but his eyes widened as he stared at the Headmaster.
"Yes, as it seems," The man nodded slowly, surprised that for someone with no recollection of what happened he had easily pieced something together, "The vampire in question bit you, she would have gone farther but Miss Hermione Granger of Gryffindor was able to knock her over the head with a book and send someone for help,"
Draco was absolutely surprised by that, though he didn't show it, but then something occurred to him. He chuckled a little. The Headmaster raised a white eyebrow at this, in surprise that anyone could see humor after finding that out, "Something humorous?" Draco looked up at the much older man, "It would figure that Grangers weapon of choice would be a book," He smirked at Dumbledore and could see a mischievous twinkle enter the mans knowing blue eyes.
"As ironic as that is Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall came forward icily, "The fact still remains that she saved you from death,"
"Why didn't you just saw she saved my life?" The Slytherin asked, looking up to his teacher.
"That brings us to our next point," Dumbledore had lost the twinkle in his eye and his voice had turned grave, "The vampiress, Faruiza, had been intending to turn you into a vampire," He let this sink in before continuing, "She wasn't allowed to finish, but we are certain that you were half turned. You may very well be half vampire,"
Snape had stayed quiet all through this, waiting for the famous Malfoy temper to rear it's head but all that came was a cool, even, "What does it mean if I was?" This shocked Snape to words, he was the boys Head of House after all, he should have been helping with the explanation.
"It means that you would have the strength and speed of a vampire. As well as their hypnotism, immortality without bloodlust, and as Faruiza tells us many more talents that 'ignorant and stupid hack writers' have failed to document," Snape drawled, not expecting the next question.
"You didn't kill her?" Draco asked in a, what could be called happy, voice.
"No, she warned us that if not properly trained to use your powers they could over take your wizard side, so we had no other choice but to cage the beast," Snape spat out, he always loathed vampires.
Draco's eyes narrowed viscously, "She is no beast," he snarled with venom, surprising himself more then the professors.
Professor McGonagall nodded to herself, "That will the Sire/Childe bond kicking in," (a/n: from BtVS)
"Yes it would, wouldn't it," Dumbledore said softly, "I think you should head down to the Great Hall Mr. Malfoy to get some dinner; it should be starting soon,"
"Shouldn't I go see Faruiza?" He wasn't very eager for food at the moment.
"There will be plenty of time for that tomorrow," McGonagall said, looking at him with a mixture of pity and dislike, "But now you should get your strength up, you lost more blood then anyone ever should," She turned towards Snape and walked out the door, the potions master following her. He had never moved more then three steps from the door.
Draco sighed inwardly, thanking whatever powers that Slytherins were not ones for compassion. He practically shivered thinking of Snape tucking in his covers and fussing over him in a motherly way.
"You must promise me that," Dumbledore addressed him, shaking him from his 'Snape as a Mom' nightmare, "That you will not go looking for the vampire tonight. You must eat then go straight to your dormitory and rest, Madame Pomfrey won't have it any other way."
"Yes sir," Draco answered shortly. The Headmaster nodded, before sweeping from the room, his cobalt robes flowing behind him. Draco smirked a little before pulling the covers down and stepping out of the hospital bed. He looked down to find he was in the generic hospital pajamas. His eyes searched the room before they landed on his school robes folded messily on a bench across the room. He made his way over to them, only to find that they had dried blood all over them.
"Damn, these were expensive too," He whispered quietly, though not really caring whether they were ruined or not. His wand poked out from under his pants so he pulled out and pointed it at his clothes, "Effacer tache," The blood was gone.
Hastily he checked to make sure Madame Pomfrey wasn't going to come walking out of her office anytime soon, there was no way in hell he was going to be caught dead undressed by anyone, much less a member of the Hogwarts staff. She appeared to be doing paper work, so he took his chance to pull off his clothes and scramble into his uniform.
He didn't bother with his tie, just shoved it into his robes pockets. He was bitten by a vampire, people could deal with one hour of semi-casual Draco he decided and let the hospital wing quickly.
As he walked silently towards the Great Hall, he let his thoughts wonder. Granger had been the one to save him, of all people, and he remembered her flash of brown eyes. He could imagine Crabbe and Goyle just standing there stupidly and Pansy screaming her little pugish head off but not doing a single thing to help. Potter and Weasel had probably tried to keep everyone away from saving him as they cracked up and sang "No more Draaco Mal-foy, No more Draaco Mal-foy!" But she had saved him, the one he had put down all those years and called a Mudblood, even after he stopped aspiring to be a Death Eater just like his father.
Then his thoughts drifted towards his new found self. Half vampire. Half pureblood wizard, half vampire, Lucius wouldn't be happy at all about that. There was no way he would settle for an heir that was anything but pureblood wizard. Draco smirked slightly at disappointing his father, then even more when he realized there was absolutely nothing he could do to him for it. No way could correct it.
He spotted a mirror hanging on the wall ahead and couldn't resist stopping to look in it. Again he thanked the powers, this time that those Muggle writers had been completely wrong about vampires not having reflections. He was a slight bit paler then he had been in the morning, but that could have been from the blood loss. His silver blonde hair was sticking out at slightly weird angles, but was easily smoothed down. Then he saw his neck. There were to raw scares on his perfect alabaster throat. Snape's potion had healed them up and had a quick painkiller, but there wasn't anything that could take away vampire bite marks unless they faded. It was a pride thing and a symbol of power.
His eyes had changed, if they looked astonishing before, they were faint-inducing now. Their metallic shine had intensified to look like Faruiza's, an unearthly glow and shine about them. The silver and blue in them didn't blend anymore, they looked they were fighting for power over the other. He grinned, now Granger really had something to stare at.
Reluctantly he left the mirror and continued to the dining hall. When he reached it he walked silently inside he could tell that dinner was half over, then all eyes turned to him. Every person in the entire hall was staring, gaping, and in some peoples cases, glaring at him. He looked at them back, his face expressionless, before walking over to take him regular seat between Crabbe and Goyle.
The schools eyes didn't return to their plates as they usually did when someone blew them off. He started to get angry; no one stared at a Malfoy like some common side show. He kept staring then let his eyes wander to the Gryffindor table. She was watching him carefully, with what seemed like…relief in her eyes. Her friends however were glowering at him, and he smirked back.
"Attention everyone," A smooth voice turned everyone's gaze towards the faculty table, away from him, "As all of you obviously know, Mr. Malfoy had a run in with a particularly nasty creature today," Dumbledore stated easily, "And he survived, but you should all return to your meals and let him eat in peace," Draco glared slightly at the old man for telling them to leave him alone, he could fight his own battles.
"How come nobody killed that bloody vampire that bit him?" Shouted some Ravenclaw Draco didn't know.
Dumbledore regarded the question for a moment, "The vampire is not a threat to any of you, she already has what she wanted, and has been placed in a secure location in the castle where no one can get to her and is under the supervision of our gamekeeper. You do not need to know anymore,"
Thankfully the students followed Dumbledore's instructions, and left him to eat. He was surprisingly hungry.
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"I can't believe that git didn't die," Ron fumed watching Malfoy eat, "Remind me again why you stopped that vampire?" He asked Hermione for the at least seventieth time.
She didn't give him the speech about 'cannot let another student die' again, because she didn't want to lie. She had no idea why she had saved him, but she had been horrified from the very second he had started walking towards the vampiress. And could have died from choking as her heart leapt from her chest to her throat when she had bit him so primally.
"I'm going to go to bed," She stood up suddenly, Harry and Ron looked up at her in surprise, "It's been a long, trying day and I just want to sleep," She offered in explanation. They nodded and she spun on her heel to leave the dining hall, very careful not to look at Draco as she passed him by.
As she left, she let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and continued walking to Gryffindor common room.
"Wait Gran- Hermione," Called a voice from behind her, she knew that voice.
She turned, "Mal- Draco," She replied, giving him the same treatment he had given her. His first name felt foreign as she said it. That was only natural after almost seven years of calling him by his surname.
He approached her and started to say something, stopped, then started again, "Dumbledore told me it was you who stopped Faruiza, so I just wanted to say, I'm new at this but, thanks for saving me from becoming a full fledge vampire,"
Hermione's face grew in a slow grin, "All that trouble to say thanks," She teased, knowing that when Malfoy wasn't being a git it was best not to be one back.
"Well it's not something I do everyday you know," He said huffily, before smirking, "Did you use your special battle book to save me?"
Hermione glared at him, "You are insufferable, you know," He kept smirking, "What do you mean full fledge vampire?"
"You mean there's something Hermione Granger doesn't know? Even if it isn't written in a book, I thought you would be all knowing," This time it was his turn to tease. Hermione glared at him again.
"Alright if you must know, she apparently tried to change me into a vampire, but you interrupted, so know I'm only half," She jerked her head up to look at him in disbelief. Draco Malfoy was half-vampire?!?
"A vampire? That's why they didn't kill her! They need her for you!"
"Exactly, I need to control my new abilities or I'll be a half vampire with no wizard side," Draco said effortlessly, like he had been dealing with it all his life. Hermione gaped at him.
"What can you do?"
"I don' know, strength, speed, hypnotism, other stuff," He shrugged easily and smiled at her, "Tell all your Gryffindor pals okay? By lunch everyone will know then, and they'll all be scared of me,"
"Only you would what that, Malfoy," She laughed, and he brushed by her.
"I have to go, but remember, tell everyone," He winked at her before disappearing behind a corner. Had she just had a normal, tolerable conversation with Malfoy! Yup, her brain reminded her. He could be civilized; she smiled, then headed back to the dining hall to perform what had been asked of her.
One drop of the story to Harry and Ron and the news would spread like wildfire through the school within hours.
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TBC. Wow long!!! Did anyone catch the clues in the first chapter about what was going to happen? Please review, but don't flame!!!!