"Conscience commands; love inspires. What we do out of love, we do because we want to do it. Love is, indeed, one kind of desire; but it is a kind that takes us out of ourselves and carries us beyond ourselves, in contrast to the kind that is self-seeking—a kind that includes the desire for the "extinguishedness" of Nirvana." - A.J. Toynbee
Prologue Part Two
Harry stopped running in a deserted hallway and gave a password to a seldom-used study in the North tower. He ducked inside and collapsed on the couch, casting an Incendio charm to warm the room. Less than a moment later, the fire blazed in the hearth and he sighed. He was unaccustomed to fighting his friends in such a manner, but he couldn't tell them anything. And he resented their annoying inquisitions. They didn't care. Only one person truly did.
The door opened again and the vampire stepped in. He was dressed in wrinkled dark robes and his blonde hair was mussed. "What is it, Harry? I was asleep."
"This isn't in English?" he asked, holding up the book.
"I thought it was," the other yawned. He walked over to the raven-haired human and kissed him on the crown of his head, smoothing the trademark unruly tresses gently.
"Well, Hermione can't read it. And you know her, she can read most of the languages in Western Europe, as well as recognizing the rest of the world's," he replied pedantically.
"I'll have a look at it later, okay Harry?" the vampire asked, collapsing on the couch next to Harry. "Far too tired now to deal with something that trivial now."
"You aren't the one regrowing blood cells," Harry countered.
"No. But I'm nocturnal. I need the sleep as much as you do," the vampire replied, laying back against the arm of the sofa. "Go to sleep. I've been mostly dead all day."
"Me too," Harry said, leaning against the vampire, encircled in the other's strong arms.
It was late afternoon before they awoke, and Harry left to return to the Common Room about 30 minutes afterward. They had searched the book, but found no real explanation for the earlier confusion. Harry kept the book, as the other had given it to him, and Harry was only about a third of the way through the thick tome.
He nicked a bit of food from the kitchen, to allay the other's fears about him not eating anything all day and went up to his bed. He found Ron and Hermione already in there, as he suspected, making out. He cleared his throat and said, "Hermione, you have your own rooms. Why don't you two go have a snog in there?"
The two jumped and parted, looking at Harry and adopting equally sheepish expressions. "We were… um… waiting for you to come back."
Harry emptied his pockets, revealing a wrapped sandwich, a red apple, a handful of carrot sticks and a cherry turnover. "You must have been waiting a long time," he replied simply.
"Harry, we're sorry about earlier. You're right. We have no right to accuse you of hiding something like that," Hermione said.
Harry lay down and picked up the apple, shining it on his jumper. "Whatever," he said, opening the book again.
"We don't understand. You've never shut us out like this before, even the night before you faced Voldemort," Ron said, moving toward the edge of his bed. They both remembered how he went to the North Tower and sat there for hours, hoping that the dawn would never come.
"Then maybe I should have," Harry countered darkly, biting into the apple.
"Harry, what is wrong with you?" Ron asked harshly.
"Like I said before. It's nothing. I'm fine."
"If you don't tell us, we may have to tell your godfather and Remus. We're really concerned," Hermione said.
Harry bit back the mean response that was fighting to come out. Instead, he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Bloody hell."
Hermione saw that they weren't getting anywhere. "Ron, let's go to dinner," she said, taking her boyfriend by the arm and walking out of the room.
Harry flipped angrily to the page where he had left off earlier. They were so wrapped up in each other, his welfare readily fell by the wayside. He didn't mind. He had far too many people worrying about him, as he had mentioned earlier. Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Pomfrey, McGonagall, his yearmates, the entire Weasley clan, the Gryffindor Quidditch team and younger Gryffindors all belonged to that list. The vampire was never officially part of that list, as only Harry knew what the vampire thought about him.
Hermione and Ron were the quintessential item in Gryffindor house, and what did it matter if the triangle that was once equilateral was now shaped differently, with Harry at the far end, by himself.
Harry shook his head and read from the book's pages.
'The relationship between that of a vampire and his blood consort is a formalized one and may sometimes become so much more. Although a consort is usually chosen from among the friends or family of an Accursed vampire, it is a special person who is chosen. The consort must be loyal and selfless. The sharing of life's vital fluid is not only a great sacrifice, but it is a sign of emotional closeness and often leads to deep bonds of love and caring between the two. The servant will be endowed with resistance to the infectious nature of the Bite, although he will have to devote himself fully to gain this protection.
'When the master requires the servant, the human can be summoned, even out of a sound sleep, but will not respond if comatose or near death. Summoning is a function of telepathy and some blood servants will learn the vampire dialects, such as the one written here, through their closeness with their Master…'
"That's it…" Harry breathed, nearly dropping the apple. He picked up the sandwich and continued to read all night long.
At two in the morning, Harry felt yet again pulled to meet with the vampire. This time, he found himself in their secret study.
The vampire was already waiting. "A beautiful night, isn't it?"
Harry nodded, saying, "Indoors tonight?"
"I didn't want you to freeze, Harry," he said, as Harry dropped the cloak from around his neck. Harry had realized that the vampire couldn't feed through a turtleneck, so he had worn a short-sleeved t-shirt.
The vampire gently touched Harry's arms where the bruises fell below his sleeves. "This was my doing?"
Harry hesitated, and then nodded reluctantly. "They really don't hurt that bad, except when Ron grabbed them."
"What a prat. I promise to be more careful about how I hold you when I feed from now on. I shall endeavor to be more gentle, Harry," the vampire said, pulling Harry into a passionate kiss. He raked his long fingers through the unkempt raven black hair and held Harry gently with an arm looped around the small of his back.
"Ron and Hermione are getting suspicious… of me," Harry added as they parted. "I like your cologne," he murmured.
"Well then, my beloved Gryffindor, we shall have to be less conspicuous with the bites." He pushed Harry onto the couch and exposed the other boy's right collarbone. "Better?"
Harry smiled. "Much better."
The vampire waved his hand and lit a roaring fire in the fireplace. He bent down, placing his right knee between Harry's legs and drank of his servant again.
Harry, for his part, lay back against the cushions and warm blankets and waited for the end, which came rather quickly.
The vampire pulled away and maneuvered the lighter man into his lap. Harry once again fell asleep, in the arms of his vampire master and the warmth of the fire.
The blonde was gone when Harry woke up. Harry stretched, popping his right shoulder in the process and yawned. He looked down at the position of the latest mark. He had sweaters that would cover that easily, but the spell for healing bruises would take longer than that for skin. He would have to set aside at least 15 minutes to heal both before the others wouldn't notice. He idly glanced at his watch, then looked again and swore violently. It was 10:37 in the morning. And he hadn't made it back to the Gryffindor Common Room all night long, or in the daylight hours either. To compound the matter, there was blood on his shirt. He was screwed.
He summoned his Invisibility Cloak and ran back to the Tower to change. Just outside the Gryffindor Rooms, he came across Sirius, Hermione and Ron.
"I don't know, Hermione. You could be overly suspicious, and I'd like to think that Harry would come to me if there was something more than usually wrong with him," Sirius said. Good old Sirius. Faithful and trusting to the bitter end.
"Sirius, he's a lot more distant than he used to be. And it's not like he left the dorms this morning. He has been gone since sometime after midnight. And he hasn't come back yet," Ron protested.
Sirius looked the both of them over. "From what I understand, the two of you are a couple now. Harry's probably trying to give you space. It's what I did when his mum and dad hooked up."
"Then how about the injuries he won't tell us about? He's got something wrong with both arms at least," Hermione countered.
"All right," Sirius replied, sighing and running his fingers through his dark hair, a gesture that reminded them of Harry. They were a great deal alike. Solitary, somewhat tortured by their pasts and yet mischievous beyond belief when inspired. "I just wish that we had something more concrete than what could be a Quidditch injury and a bout of snogging in the Astronomy Tower. That's all." He paused. "And I've got to find him first. Does he have the Map?"
"Yeah. It's in his trunk. But I don't know the words to unlock it," Ron replied.
Harry ran through the open portal and grabbed clothes from his wardrobe. He rushed into the bathroom to change and wiped away the blood with a wet washcloth. It was lucky that Gryffindor colors were scarlet and gold. His washcloth wasn't stained a different color after he was finished.
By the time he had finished, there weren't 3 people in the room besides him. A fourth had joined them, unannounced. Remus Lupin.
The three standing near the foot of Harry's bed were talking softly until Hermione squeaked, "Harry?"
Harry sighed. "Yes?" But his expression changed from annoyed to panicked as he saw Remus reading a familiar and rather dangerously incriminating book.
Remus was pale and drawn from the previous full moon. His robes practically hung off his body, as though they were somebody else's. But instead of the normally gentle expression, he looked absolutely furious as he looked at Harry. Amber eyes smoldered and Harry was truly afraid of what the lycanthrope knew.
"Harry, we need to talk. Now. Sirius, let's go," Remus said, in a calm tone, but Harry could hear the raging emotion fighting for dominance.
Sirius draped his arm around Harry's shoulder, and the trio of Potter, Black and Lupin left the dorm. Hermione and Ron could only watch as they departed.
Next part of the prologue… explanations with canines, and loud arguments!
A/N See my profile for the name of my Yahoo Group. Join today, and you'll know when I next post!
This is a repost… several of my favorite lines were excluded by accident. It's fine now, though.
*Shameless Plugging Alert. If you haven't already, please check out my other fics. "Tears of the Wolf", "Nepenthes", and "The Silver Serpent" are up now. Coming soon, "Heron"!