Disclaimer: Unfortunately none of these wonderful characters belong to us
sniffle . They do belong, however, to the magnificent J. K. Rowling.
bows and does the 'we're not worthy'
Banesclaw Chapter 3:
A/N: Ok, regardless of what 'smack' said about her part being no good or what ever, she's full of crap, I thought it was great. tosses smack a few chocolate frogs and a pepsi And I would still shoot her with a sedative dart thingy if she hadn't wrote chapter two. I mean I was dying of boredom and well, I'm sure anyone could understand. It was pure boredom!! But that's not the point, wait I don't have a point. (smack: just so you know Mrs. Chapman would be happy about the umm digressing thing, but as I'm sure you already know, she would have given you negatives for your atrocious spelling...just kidding, I would be there to back you up.wacks Mrs. Chapman with a club and sics rabid squirrels on her, while petting Kiiara like Dr. Evil pets his hairless cat, and just so you know I think your going to laugh at me when you read what I wrote,lol, or maybe you won't catch itevil grin)...and on with the story.
Light poured into the rooms of the stone castle as the sun rose above the clouds, but no one was awake. No classes, no reason to wake. The castle sat as it had for centuries, silent, except for a few creaks and snores here and there.
But as the sun rose, the light became bright, filtering through dark shutters and bed hangings. Soon things in the castle began to change.
Randi woke first, followed by Sam, and then Audrie. The three stumbled down the winding staircase to the kitchen in search of something to wake them up. Their eyes still growing accustomed to the early morning light.
Sam brewed herself a cup of hot tea and shuffled sleepily to sit on a bar stool. Rand and Audrie, however, both decided they needed more sugar than tea could offer, and made themselves some chocolate milk, extra chocolate.
"What are we doing today," Sam asked sipping her tea, silently grateful the answer could not be clean.
The three girls pondered a moment or two before Randi offered," How about going to the beach?" Audrie got one of her wicked smirks and the other two girls decided to join in at the thought of all the fun they could have swimming.
The shuffle of feet in the doorway called their attention to Harry and Kelsey who were still both yawning and stretching. "How does a day at the beach sound to you two?" Randi asked, now wide awake from the chocolate. Harry blinked away the sleep in his eyes, and nodded, while Kelsey managed a weak, "yes."
"Guess that's settled." Said Audrie, standing to leave, having barely touched her drink. "Yep, that's that," Sam agreed, then noticing Audrie, " hey, where are you going?" "To get ready for the beach," answered the curly redheaded girl completely nonchalant.
Sam looked around at everyone still in their pajamas. "What, now?" she asked a little confused. "Well, yeah. I have to make a tanning charm and brush my teeth and ... well you know, get ready." "Good point, hey how do you make a tanning charm?" Sam asked, Randi and Kelsey both perked up and looked at Audrie.
Looking at her friends, Audrie laughed, "I'll make us all one. How bout you Harry, want one?" Harry hadn't been paying attention. "Huh, want one what?"
"A tanning charm," Audrie repeated not hiding her sarcasm or the roll of her eyes. "Sure, whatever." Harry answered sleepily.
In almost an hours time, they were all suited up and ready to go. Audrie handed them all a silver chain necklace with a Celtic looking charm on each one.
"Let's go, I'm ready to catch rays and waves," Audrie whooped, turning to run down the wooded path in what could only be called their backyard, her towel around her neck. Harry and the rest of the girls, laughing after her.
Harry and the girls had left the castle long ago. All of them forgetting momentarily about their mischievous kelekri, but it was ok for Harry, Kelsey, and Audrie to forget. Randi and Sam were the ones who needed to worry. Rispa and Kai had woke before any one in the castle, anyone on the island, even before the sun had come up.
Rispa's golden mask shimmered in the dawn light, behind her Kai crept.
Rispa was pearly white, her face a golden mask like that found at a masquerade with jeweled emerald eyes. Her ears and tail too held strands of the same golden color as her mask.
Kai was black, his stomach and stripes a shade lighter. Upon his shoulder what seemed a tattoo of flames.
Both mischievous kelekri headed to the same destination, Headmaster Gaven's office.
They crept past the room of sorting. They snuck past empty class rooms and professor's offices, rounding silent corners. Stopping at the bottom of a statue of Gromel the Great, the first official auror.
Kai and Rispa checked left and right swishing their tails in unison. No one, the hall was empty. Rispa climbed to the top of Gromel's head, leaned down and pulled one of the loose arrows in the statue's stone arrow bag. Then he relayed the arrow to Kai, who placed the heavy arrow in Gromel's empty crossbow, and pulled the trigger.
However, instead of shooting down the empty hall, the arrow was sucked back through the crossbow and appeared once again in the arrow bag. Gromel's statue began to turn, and the two kelekri jumped to the floor, where they waited for the statue to move aside.
Where the statue once stood, there was now a cylindrical brass elevator. It's doors opened, Rispa and Kai walked in, and the doors closed behind them. Kai looked at the side panel where the elevator buttons would be, but there were none. In its stead was a glass compartment that housed a very large, gold skeleton key. Rispa used her long gold flecked tail to open the glass compartment, but found that it was too short to grab the key. She looked at her partner in crime and did the equivalent of a smile. Kai knew this to be his cue for action.
Staring at the key, Kai willed it to his furry fingers. Within seconds the key shivered and floated down into his open paw. Rispa did her smile again, and with a gurgling voice she announced," Gaven's office."
At once the elevator began to descend, and opened its heavy metals doors to a torch lit hallway. At the end a small wooden door stood. Kai and Rispa scurried down the corridor, and used their tails to insert the key into the door. As the lock clicked the key disappeared, and the door swung open without a sound.
Inside the large office gizmos whirled, pictures moved, and what interested the kelekri's most, large oak cabinets and book shelves lined the walls. In the center of the room, Gaven's desk set piled with papers and books of all sorts.
The kelekri nodded to each other and began ravenously searching the contents of all the oak cabinets.
Kai soon let out a shrill cry and motioned for Rispa to come quickly. He had found Gaven's secret stash of candy. A whole cabinet of candy. It hung on the walls and lay in buckets. It hid in drawers, and to the amazement of the two candy loving creatures it filled not only one cabinet but three huge cabinets.
Without a single thought about Gaven or Lupin or even their friends, they tore into the candy. Diving in buckets, shimming into drawers, and rolling in the wrappers as they devoured piece after piece of candy. Sugar rushing through their tiny bodies, they raced around the room tearing the moving pictures from the stone walls, throwing the screaming occupants to the floor.
The papers upon Gaven's desk didn't have a chance. They were covered in chocolate paw prints, torn to pieces and tossed in the air like confetti. The drawers of the desk were pulled out, contents dumped on the floor. The two kelekri used quills to draw and scribble on what was left of the moving pictures. They reeked havoc through out the office, and when they were finished, they used the pieces of torn paper as bedding in the desk drawers. Taking a short nap before they left.
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The sun began to sink as Harry and the girls gathered their things off the beach and made their way back up to their castle.
When they arrived back at the castle, Harry was the first to take a shower, how ungentlemanly of him . Following him was Kelsey, then Audrie. Sam had gone to her room to take a shower and said she was coming back when she was done to watch a movie on their muggle tv.
Randi went up to her room and turned on her stereo that was charmed to play whatever she felt like hearing, which usually turned out to be American muggle music. Luckily for the rest of the group, the walls in the castle were sound proof, so unless the doors were open you could hear nothing.
Not that they didn't like to hear her music, but they all seemed too tired to do anything but lay around. No parties tonight.
She grabbed her towel from the dresser and made her way into the bathroom, as she opened the glass shower door a thought entered her head. "There's someone here." At once she knew what had happened. Sam was talking to her with her mind. They had been doing it since they had met. Sam was telepathic, she would send Randi all kinds of thoughts. Sometimes they would hold entire conversations with each other without so much as a peep. Although this power did seem to cause a lot of problems in a classroom.
Using her mind Randi told Sam she would be down in a minute, she had to take a shower first and change. The only thing she could get from Sam, however, was "hurry."
"What is it?" Randi thought, but still Sam said nothing.
She finished her shower as quickly as she could, and ran to her room to change. Hurriedly she put on a pair of long cloth black pants with two thin red stripes down the legs, and a black spaghetti tank. Then she brushed out her hair, and ran down stairs, forgetting the music.
When she entered the room Maelor's window was in, she saw why Sam had sent the 'hurry' message.
On the long couch they had put there, a guy around her age sat quietly observing the people around him. His skin seemed abnormally pale. His hair was short, black, and spiked, his eyes a beautiful shade of incandescent green. He was extremely good looking, but also a complete and total stranger.
Randi felt as if she had interrupted something. The room was too quiet. She looked to Sam and used her mind, feeling that to disturb the silence would lead to chaos.
"Who is he?" she asked.
Sam did not turn to her, but continued to stare at the young man on the couch. "He is our new room mate." Sam answered her voice quivering in fear as she spoke it only with her mind.
Randi turned her attention back to the stranger, and without further consulting Sam she moved forward to greet him. Extending her hand to his, "Nice to meet you. I'm Randi. And you are?"
He looked at her outstretched hand as if not sure to take it, and glanced up at her face. Beautiful eyes, green like Harry's but so much prettier. He took her hand in his and spoke only his name, "Aris.", before quickly releasing it.
Randi looked down at the hand he had taken. It was cold, he was cold. This was all so extremely odd, it was the end of summer. She herself was burning up.
Smiling at Aris she sat down beside him. Sam gave her a look of pure shock. Now she was confused, why was Sam shocked. Why were they all staring at him. Thoughts flooded her mind, why, why, why. But through them all came Sam's voice, screaming in her head. "He's a vampire."
"A vampire?" she questioned, already knowing that he was. "That's right a blood sucking dead guy. They're supposed to be evil, you know dangerous?" Sam shouted desperately through her mind. "Get away before he tries to eat you or something!"
Randi shot Sam a stop-it-your-acting-stupid look, and turned back to Aris, who was now looking at her. "So you are our new roommate?" she said a genuine smile on her face. Now everyone was in complete and total shock. She was talking to him like an equal. He was dangerous, a killer, and she wasn't even scared.
Randi could tell the other girls were scared. Harry seemed to be a little angry. Audrie, although still in shock, moved forward. She was obviously scared, but she introduced herself .
Aris seemed to have loosened up a little, he even gave a weak smile at Audrie's forced effort's of politeness. However, unlike the rest of the group, Randi did not seem in any way afraid of Aris' fangs. They merely interested her more.
Here before them sat a creature of magic, darkness, and intelligence. Of course he was dangerous, but if he killed someone here he himself would surely die as well. Headmaster Gaven would make sure of it, so would Lupin. So in all logic there was no reason to fear Aris. He couldn't hurt them, but why allow a vampire to become an auror?
A small noise emitted itself from the doorway as all the kelekri scurried into the room, finding their partner's. The last kelekri to entire the room was the only kelekri that had not linked with someone. But this time she was different, she glowed, just as the others had when they had chosen. Everyone watched as Aris kneeled down and extended his arm for Letra, who crawled up it onto his shoulder. Letra nuzzled into his neck and purred like a kitten at her new found friend, "Letra is Aris' friend, Aris' friend forever," She gurgled into his ear.
The rest of the group watched, some smiled as they remembered how they too had bonded with their friends. By now the shock of what Aris was had begun to wear away. The kelekri , Gaven, and surely Lupin as well all seemed to support him, regardless of what he was, or else he wouldn't be here.
Silence again filled the room, no one new where to begin. They either had to accept Aris or deject him. It was obvious that Randi approved of him, and Audrie seemed to as well.
"Sam, come on, introduce yourself." Randi said silently pleading to Sam with her mind. Sam hesitated a moment before she to walked toward their newest member, hand outstretched in greeting. Then looking back at Harry and Kelsey, jerked her head in Aris's direction. Together they too made their way to him. --------------------------------------------
The night wore on, the moon rose high above the castle, but it's occupants still had not gone to bed. Everyone had moved to the third floor den, mostly to avoid the prying eyes of Maelor, but also because the third floor offered more comfort.
The room was dimly lit by torches, and the t.v. flashed the different scenes of a movie Sam had put in.
Each of the people in the room sat comfortably stroking their kelekri, but all their eyes seemed to focus on their newest member.
Aris, however, acted as if he didn't mind or even care about these intrusive stares. He carelessly scratched Letra's dark ears to her pleasured contentment, waiting on someone to speak to him.
It was Harry that spoke first. "So, Aris, where are you from?" It was obvious he didn't know where to start the conversation, but his curiosity over the newcomer was eating away at him.
Aris stole a glance at the girls, only to find they too were raptly awaiting his answer.
Clearing his throat, something he did more out of habit than necessity, he answered, "Australia." Unlike before when he had said only his name, his accent came through. His voice beautifully lilting.
Harry's face fell a little when he realized Aris wasn't going to continue, and was about to ask another question when Randi beat him to it. "How old are you?"
Aris smiled, his fangs glinted in the torchlight. He knew this question was going to come up.
"Hmm, do you mean now or when I was made?" he asked, prolonging the wait. Randi hesitated, something in his voice. It seemed haunting almost.
Sam answered for her, "both."
Aris turned his incandescent eyes on her. "Ok, "he said with a slight nod of his head. "I was 19 when I died, the same age as you." "And now?" Randi pried eagerly. Aris turned back to her, he was smiling again. "And now I am 157 years old."
Audrie made an almost inaudible gasp. "157 years old!" Aris gave a small laugh, "I'm young for a vampire, my maker was almost 500 when he was vanquished."
"But that's still old," Kelsey gasped.
"And your body doesn't age either does it,"Harry asked, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
"No, my body does not age, but it doesn't change either. My body won't allow it. I looked exactly like this when I died," he said, then remembering," Except my hair, it was longer."
"-wait, I thought you said your body doesn't change. So why is your hair short now?" Kelsey cut in. However before Aris could answer , he was interrupted again.
"He cut his hair shorter, come on Kelsey its not that hard to see." Audrie said sarcastically.
"Yes but I read that if a vampires body changes in any way after it is made, the vampire blood forces the body back to that form." Kelsey explained. "If he were to cut his hair it should have gone directly back to the way it was before."
Aris had begun to laugh, his eyes glittering in the torchlight.
Everyone snapped their attention back to him. "What's so funny?" Kelsey asked, sounding hurt. "Maybe you should let him finish," Randi suggested as Aris continued his short fit of laughter.
"You can't learn everything you need to know about a vampire from a book. It took me over a year of being one, just to me to survive like this. Books are of some help, yes, but hardly."
Sam sent Randi a silent message of, "Good thing Hermione's not here," making them stifle laughs of their own.
Aris, however, continued unaware of their silent messages.
"My vampire blood does force my body back to the form it was in when I was made, but it takes time. When I awoke tonight I cut my hair short. It is the style I prefer now, but by tomorrow night it will be long again. If you like I will show it to you before I cut it.
Kelsey nodded in understanding and acceptance, but Randi's mind had raced on to something else. Although she was more hesitant to ask this question.
"Umm, Aris," she said calling his attention back to her, "What about blood? Don't vampires need blood to survive?"
The room became totally silent. It was one of those moments you would expect crickets to start chirping or something. Randi feared she had upset the newcomer. But when he looked at her, she saw her question had surprised him, not angered him.
"That is not a question I'm asked often. A lot of people actually fear that question because they believe that the even the faint mention of blood will make me go at them." He smiled, as their faces blanched. "But I assure you it does not faze me."
"I made a contract with Gaven that if he allowed me here I would not take blood of any of the students under penalty of death. Not that I needed that contract to begin with, the only blood I drink belongs to the purest of evil, always."
Harry's gaze pierced the vampire as if trying to determine the truth in what he said, and the other young man was in no way fazed by this. Harry did not realize how often this very look had been given to Aris for what he was, but somewhere inside his literally cold, dead heart the feeling of being misunderstood and hated ate away at him.
Finding no reason for Aris to lie, Harry finally nodded his head in acceptance. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake by letting a vampire into their home, assuring himself that all friendships started with trust, and so far it had worked without fail. His gut instinct said why not trust him, he had trusted Lupin, a known werewolf, why not a vampire.
---------- It was almost two in the morning. Yawns by now had become a frequent occurrence since midnight, and on more than one occasion Kelsey had dozed off.
Harry stood, stretching his lean muscles, and said his good nights. Kelsey, seemingly still asleep, followed Harry stumbling slightly over her own feet.
Audrie and Sam had followed suit, saying their good nights and making sure it was ok with Randi, if she helped Aris settle in.
The two sat silently for a moment, listening to the sounds of the night, before Randi smiled and asked, "So you want to see your new room?" And without waiting for an answer she stood pulling him up with her.
"Come on it's this way." She said leading him out into the hall and making a bee line to the empty room.
Shoving open the door she gave the vampire another smile and said in a game- show host kind of voice," Welcome to your humble abode."
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A/N ok I'm dyin' here. I have writer's block so bad it's not even funny. And I feel like everything I've written reeks of shit.(excuse my perfectly bad American) ok I'm sorry, and Smack I take back everything I said to you about your chapter. I mean I thought it was great but now I know how you feel when you said you thought what you wrote sounded like crap. I promise that my next chapter will be better, I'm really sorry I have issues with bringing in new characters, and life is so getting' in my way. argh stupid life.
Banesclaw Chapter 3:
A/N: Ok, regardless of what 'smack' said about her part being no good or what ever, she's full of crap, I thought it was great. tosses smack a few chocolate frogs and a pepsi And I would still shoot her with a sedative dart thingy if she hadn't wrote chapter two. I mean I was dying of boredom and well, I'm sure anyone could understand. It was pure boredom!! But that's not the point, wait I don't have a point. (smack: just so you know Mrs. Chapman would be happy about the umm digressing thing, but as I'm sure you already know, she would have given you negatives for your atrocious spelling...just kidding, I would be there to back you up.wacks Mrs. Chapman with a club and sics rabid squirrels on her, while petting Kiiara like Dr. Evil pets his hairless cat, and just so you know I think your going to laugh at me when you read what I wrote,lol, or maybe you won't catch itevil grin)...and on with the story.
Light poured into the rooms of the stone castle as the sun rose above the clouds, but no one was awake. No classes, no reason to wake. The castle sat as it had for centuries, silent, except for a few creaks and snores here and there.
But as the sun rose, the light became bright, filtering through dark shutters and bed hangings. Soon things in the castle began to change.
Randi woke first, followed by Sam, and then Audrie. The three stumbled down the winding staircase to the kitchen in search of something to wake them up. Their eyes still growing accustomed to the early morning light.
Sam brewed herself a cup of hot tea and shuffled sleepily to sit on a bar stool. Rand and Audrie, however, both decided they needed more sugar than tea could offer, and made themselves some chocolate milk, extra chocolate.
"What are we doing today," Sam asked sipping her tea, silently grateful the answer could not be clean.
The three girls pondered a moment or two before Randi offered," How about going to the beach?" Audrie got one of her wicked smirks and the other two girls decided to join in at the thought of all the fun they could have swimming.
The shuffle of feet in the doorway called their attention to Harry and Kelsey who were still both yawning and stretching. "How does a day at the beach sound to you two?" Randi asked, now wide awake from the chocolate. Harry blinked away the sleep in his eyes, and nodded, while Kelsey managed a weak, "yes."
"Guess that's settled." Said Audrie, standing to leave, having barely touched her drink. "Yep, that's that," Sam agreed, then noticing Audrie, " hey, where are you going?" "To get ready for the beach," answered the curly redheaded girl completely nonchalant.
Sam looked around at everyone still in their pajamas. "What, now?" she asked a little confused. "Well, yeah. I have to make a tanning charm and brush my teeth and ... well you know, get ready." "Good point, hey how do you make a tanning charm?" Sam asked, Randi and Kelsey both perked up and looked at Audrie.
Looking at her friends, Audrie laughed, "I'll make us all one. How bout you Harry, want one?" Harry hadn't been paying attention. "Huh, want one what?"
"A tanning charm," Audrie repeated not hiding her sarcasm or the roll of her eyes. "Sure, whatever." Harry answered sleepily.
In almost an hours time, they were all suited up and ready to go. Audrie handed them all a silver chain necklace with a Celtic looking charm on each one.
"Let's go, I'm ready to catch rays and waves," Audrie whooped, turning to run down the wooded path in what could only be called their backyard, her towel around her neck. Harry and the rest of the girls, laughing after her.
Harry and the girls had left the castle long ago. All of them forgetting momentarily about their mischievous kelekri, but it was ok for Harry, Kelsey, and Audrie to forget. Randi and Sam were the ones who needed to worry. Rispa and Kai had woke before any one in the castle, anyone on the island, even before the sun had come up.
Rispa's golden mask shimmered in the dawn light, behind her Kai crept.
Rispa was pearly white, her face a golden mask like that found at a masquerade with jeweled emerald eyes. Her ears and tail too held strands of the same golden color as her mask.
Kai was black, his stomach and stripes a shade lighter. Upon his shoulder what seemed a tattoo of flames.
Both mischievous kelekri headed to the same destination, Headmaster Gaven's office.
They crept past the room of sorting. They snuck past empty class rooms and professor's offices, rounding silent corners. Stopping at the bottom of a statue of Gromel the Great, the first official auror.
Kai and Rispa checked left and right swishing their tails in unison. No one, the hall was empty. Rispa climbed to the top of Gromel's head, leaned down and pulled one of the loose arrows in the statue's stone arrow bag. Then he relayed the arrow to Kai, who placed the heavy arrow in Gromel's empty crossbow, and pulled the trigger.
However, instead of shooting down the empty hall, the arrow was sucked back through the crossbow and appeared once again in the arrow bag. Gromel's statue began to turn, and the two kelekri jumped to the floor, where they waited for the statue to move aside.
Where the statue once stood, there was now a cylindrical brass elevator. It's doors opened, Rispa and Kai walked in, and the doors closed behind them. Kai looked at the side panel where the elevator buttons would be, but there were none. In its stead was a glass compartment that housed a very large, gold skeleton key. Rispa used her long gold flecked tail to open the glass compartment, but found that it was too short to grab the key. She looked at her partner in crime and did the equivalent of a smile. Kai knew this to be his cue for action.
Staring at the key, Kai willed it to his furry fingers. Within seconds the key shivered and floated down into his open paw. Rispa did her smile again, and with a gurgling voice she announced," Gaven's office."
At once the elevator began to descend, and opened its heavy metals doors to a torch lit hallway. At the end a small wooden door stood. Kai and Rispa scurried down the corridor, and used their tails to insert the key into the door. As the lock clicked the key disappeared, and the door swung open without a sound.
Inside the large office gizmos whirled, pictures moved, and what interested the kelekri's most, large oak cabinets and book shelves lined the walls. In the center of the room, Gaven's desk set piled with papers and books of all sorts.
The kelekri nodded to each other and began ravenously searching the contents of all the oak cabinets.
Kai soon let out a shrill cry and motioned for Rispa to come quickly. He had found Gaven's secret stash of candy. A whole cabinet of candy. It hung on the walls and lay in buckets. It hid in drawers, and to the amazement of the two candy loving creatures it filled not only one cabinet but three huge cabinets.
Without a single thought about Gaven or Lupin or even their friends, they tore into the candy. Diving in buckets, shimming into drawers, and rolling in the wrappers as they devoured piece after piece of candy. Sugar rushing through their tiny bodies, they raced around the room tearing the moving pictures from the stone walls, throwing the screaming occupants to the floor.
The papers upon Gaven's desk didn't have a chance. They were covered in chocolate paw prints, torn to pieces and tossed in the air like confetti. The drawers of the desk were pulled out, contents dumped on the floor. The two kelekri used quills to draw and scribble on what was left of the moving pictures. They reeked havoc through out the office, and when they were finished, they used the pieces of torn paper as bedding in the desk drawers. Taking a short nap before they left.
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The sun began to sink as Harry and the girls gathered their things off the beach and made their way back up to their castle.
When they arrived back at the castle, Harry was the first to take a shower, how ungentlemanly of him . Following him was Kelsey, then Audrie. Sam had gone to her room to take a shower and said she was coming back when she was done to watch a movie on their muggle tv.
Randi went up to her room and turned on her stereo that was charmed to play whatever she felt like hearing, which usually turned out to be American muggle music. Luckily for the rest of the group, the walls in the castle were sound proof, so unless the doors were open you could hear nothing.
Not that they didn't like to hear her music, but they all seemed too tired to do anything but lay around. No parties tonight.
She grabbed her towel from the dresser and made her way into the bathroom, as she opened the glass shower door a thought entered her head. "There's someone here." At once she knew what had happened. Sam was talking to her with her mind. They had been doing it since they had met. Sam was telepathic, she would send Randi all kinds of thoughts. Sometimes they would hold entire conversations with each other without so much as a peep. Although this power did seem to cause a lot of problems in a classroom.
Using her mind Randi told Sam she would be down in a minute, she had to take a shower first and change. The only thing she could get from Sam, however, was "hurry."
"What is it?" Randi thought, but still Sam said nothing.
She finished her shower as quickly as she could, and ran to her room to change. Hurriedly she put on a pair of long cloth black pants with two thin red stripes down the legs, and a black spaghetti tank. Then she brushed out her hair, and ran down stairs, forgetting the music.
When she entered the room Maelor's window was in, she saw why Sam had sent the 'hurry' message.
On the long couch they had put there, a guy around her age sat quietly observing the people around him. His skin seemed abnormally pale. His hair was short, black, and spiked, his eyes a beautiful shade of incandescent green. He was extremely good looking, but also a complete and total stranger.
Randi felt as if she had interrupted something. The room was too quiet. She looked to Sam and used her mind, feeling that to disturb the silence would lead to chaos.
"Who is he?" she asked.
Sam did not turn to her, but continued to stare at the young man on the couch. "He is our new room mate." Sam answered her voice quivering in fear as she spoke it only with her mind.
Randi turned her attention back to the stranger, and without further consulting Sam she moved forward to greet him. Extending her hand to his, "Nice to meet you. I'm Randi. And you are?"
He looked at her outstretched hand as if not sure to take it, and glanced up at her face. Beautiful eyes, green like Harry's but so much prettier. He took her hand in his and spoke only his name, "Aris.", before quickly releasing it.
Randi looked down at the hand he had taken. It was cold, he was cold. This was all so extremely odd, it was the end of summer. She herself was burning up.
Smiling at Aris she sat down beside him. Sam gave her a look of pure shock. Now she was confused, why was Sam shocked. Why were they all staring at him. Thoughts flooded her mind, why, why, why. But through them all came Sam's voice, screaming in her head. "He's a vampire."
"A vampire?" she questioned, already knowing that he was. "That's right a blood sucking dead guy. They're supposed to be evil, you know dangerous?" Sam shouted desperately through her mind. "Get away before he tries to eat you or something!"
Randi shot Sam a stop-it-your-acting-stupid look, and turned back to Aris, who was now looking at her. "So you are our new roommate?" she said a genuine smile on her face. Now everyone was in complete and total shock. She was talking to him like an equal. He was dangerous, a killer, and she wasn't even scared.
Randi could tell the other girls were scared. Harry seemed to be a little angry. Audrie, although still in shock, moved forward. She was obviously scared, but she introduced herself .
Aris seemed to have loosened up a little, he even gave a weak smile at Audrie's forced effort's of politeness. However, unlike the rest of the group, Randi did not seem in any way afraid of Aris' fangs. They merely interested her more.
Here before them sat a creature of magic, darkness, and intelligence. Of course he was dangerous, but if he killed someone here he himself would surely die as well. Headmaster Gaven would make sure of it, so would Lupin. So in all logic there was no reason to fear Aris. He couldn't hurt them, but why allow a vampire to become an auror?
A small noise emitted itself from the doorway as all the kelekri scurried into the room, finding their partner's. The last kelekri to entire the room was the only kelekri that had not linked with someone. But this time she was different, she glowed, just as the others had when they had chosen. Everyone watched as Aris kneeled down and extended his arm for Letra, who crawled up it onto his shoulder. Letra nuzzled into his neck and purred like a kitten at her new found friend, "Letra is Aris' friend, Aris' friend forever," She gurgled into his ear.
The rest of the group watched, some smiled as they remembered how they too had bonded with their friends. By now the shock of what Aris was had begun to wear away. The kelekri , Gaven, and surely Lupin as well all seemed to support him, regardless of what he was, or else he wouldn't be here.
Silence again filled the room, no one new where to begin. They either had to accept Aris or deject him. It was obvious that Randi approved of him, and Audrie seemed to as well.
"Sam, come on, introduce yourself." Randi said silently pleading to Sam with her mind. Sam hesitated a moment before she to walked toward their newest member, hand outstretched in greeting. Then looking back at Harry and Kelsey, jerked her head in Aris's direction. Together they too made their way to him. --------------------------------------------
The night wore on, the moon rose high above the castle, but it's occupants still had not gone to bed. Everyone had moved to the third floor den, mostly to avoid the prying eyes of Maelor, but also because the third floor offered more comfort.
The room was dimly lit by torches, and the t.v. flashed the different scenes of a movie Sam had put in.
Each of the people in the room sat comfortably stroking their kelekri, but all their eyes seemed to focus on their newest member.
Aris, however, acted as if he didn't mind or even care about these intrusive stares. He carelessly scratched Letra's dark ears to her pleasured contentment, waiting on someone to speak to him.
It was Harry that spoke first. "So, Aris, where are you from?" It was obvious he didn't know where to start the conversation, but his curiosity over the newcomer was eating away at him.
Aris stole a glance at the girls, only to find they too were raptly awaiting his answer.
Clearing his throat, something he did more out of habit than necessity, he answered, "Australia." Unlike before when he had said only his name, his accent came through. His voice beautifully lilting.
Harry's face fell a little when he realized Aris wasn't going to continue, and was about to ask another question when Randi beat him to it. "How old are you?"
Aris smiled, his fangs glinted in the torchlight. He knew this question was going to come up.
"Hmm, do you mean now or when I was made?" he asked, prolonging the wait. Randi hesitated, something in his voice. It seemed haunting almost.
Sam answered for her, "both."
Aris turned his incandescent eyes on her. "Ok, "he said with a slight nod of his head. "I was 19 when I died, the same age as you." "And now?" Randi pried eagerly. Aris turned back to her, he was smiling again. "And now I am 157 years old."
Audrie made an almost inaudible gasp. "157 years old!" Aris gave a small laugh, "I'm young for a vampire, my maker was almost 500 when he was vanquished."
"But that's still old," Kelsey gasped.
"And your body doesn't age either does it,"Harry asked, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
"No, my body does not age, but it doesn't change either. My body won't allow it. I looked exactly like this when I died," he said, then remembering," Except my hair, it was longer."
"-wait, I thought you said your body doesn't change. So why is your hair short now?" Kelsey cut in. However before Aris could answer , he was interrupted again.
"He cut his hair shorter, come on Kelsey its not that hard to see." Audrie said sarcastically.
"Yes but I read that if a vampires body changes in any way after it is made, the vampire blood forces the body back to that form." Kelsey explained. "If he were to cut his hair it should have gone directly back to the way it was before."
Aris had begun to laugh, his eyes glittering in the torchlight.
Everyone snapped their attention back to him. "What's so funny?" Kelsey asked, sounding hurt. "Maybe you should let him finish," Randi suggested as Aris continued his short fit of laughter.
"You can't learn everything you need to know about a vampire from a book. It took me over a year of being one, just to me to survive like this. Books are of some help, yes, but hardly."
Sam sent Randi a silent message of, "Good thing Hermione's not here," making them stifle laughs of their own.
Aris, however, continued unaware of their silent messages.
"My vampire blood does force my body back to the form it was in when I was made, but it takes time. When I awoke tonight I cut my hair short. It is the style I prefer now, but by tomorrow night it will be long again. If you like I will show it to you before I cut it.
Kelsey nodded in understanding and acceptance, but Randi's mind had raced on to something else. Although she was more hesitant to ask this question.
"Umm, Aris," she said calling his attention back to her, "What about blood? Don't vampires need blood to survive?"
The room became totally silent. It was one of those moments you would expect crickets to start chirping or something. Randi feared she had upset the newcomer. But when he looked at her, she saw her question had surprised him, not angered him.
"That is not a question I'm asked often. A lot of people actually fear that question because they believe that the even the faint mention of blood will make me go at them." He smiled, as their faces blanched. "But I assure you it does not faze me."
"I made a contract with Gaven that if he allowed me here I would not take blood of any of the students under penalty of death. Not that I needed that contract to begin with, the only blood I drink belongs to the purest of evil, always."
Harry's gaze pierced the vampire as if trying to determine the truth in what he said, and the other young man was in no way fazed by this. Harry did not realize how often this very look had been given to Aris for what he was, but somewhere inside his literally cold, dead heart the feeling of being misunderstood and hated ate away at him.
Finding no reason for Aris to lie, Harry finally nodded his head in acceptance. Hoping he wasn't making a mistake by letting a vampire into their home, assuring himself that all friendships started with trust, and so far it had worked without fail. His gut instinct said why not trust him, he had trusted Lupin, a known werewolf, why not a vampire.
---------- It was almost two in the morning. Yawns by now had become a frequent occurrence since midnight, and on more than one occasion Kelsey had dozed off.
Harry stood, stretching his lean muscles, and said his good nights. Kelsey, seemingly still asleep, followed Harry stumbling slightly over her own feet.
Audrie and Sam had followed suit, saying their good nights and making sure it was ok with Randi, if she helped Aris settle in.
The two sat silently for a moment, listening to the sounds of the night, before Randi smiled and asked, "So you want to see your new room?" And without waiting for an answer she stood pulling him up with her.
"Come on it's this way." She said leading him out into the hall and making a bee line to the empty room.
Shoving open the door she gave the vampire another smile and said in a game- show host kind of voice," Welcome to your humble abode."
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A/N ok I'm dyin' here. I have writer's block so bad it's not even funny. And I feel like everything I've written reeks of shit.(excuse my perfectly bad American) ok I'm sorry, and Smack I take back everything I said to you about your chapter. I mean I thought it was great but now I know how you feel when you said you thought what you wrote sounded like crap. I promise that my next chapter will be better, I'm really sorry I have issues with bringing in new characters, and life is so getting' in my way. argh stupid life.