Chapter 1
Going Under
It was just after two a.m. when he found her, pale as the moonlight and cold as death on the forest floor. He had told her not to go this deep into the forest, the leaves he needed were on the outer edge of the forest; she didn't even have to go past the boundary to get them. The creatures must have found her. But how did they get here? They were almost never found in this part of the forest. Maybe one of them had gotten lost. This was going to be a difficult situation. Her body was still, no breath moving her small chest. But then, there wouldn't be.
"Where did you find her, Severus?" asked Madam Pomfrey when Snape arrived at the Hospital Wing with Hermione.
"She was in the forest," said Severus.
Pomfrey paled. "Was she near the colony?"
"No," he said. "But I believe she encountered one of them regardless."
Pomfrey nodded. "Lay her down and go find Albus. He'll need to know."
Hermione woke the next morning with a burning sensation in her eyes. She pulled the blanket over her head, but the burning still persisted. It was too hot, she was burning up, she was on fire.
"She's waking up," a female voice said. "Severus, close the drapes."
The burning left and a comfortable chill went through her body. She flung the blankets away.
"I need some water," said Hermione in a raspy voice. "So thirsty."
Pomfrey gave her the water, and Hermione drank it in one gulp, but her thirst persisted.
"More," she said.
The resident medi-witch shook her head. "Water is not what you need."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione groggily. "What happened?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" Dumbledore asked, with no sign of a twinkle in his eye.
"I was in the forest . . . " Hermione began, thinking about the previous night, "Ron left me . . . someone came . . . then . . . oh good god, no, I've had a nightmare, that was a nightmare."
"It wasn't a nightmare, Hermione," said Dumbledore. "You were bitten by a vampire."
She sank back into the pillows, trying to ignore the ache in her jaw. "So is that why I'm so cold? Is that why I don't need water?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore.
"So what do I do now? How do I tell Harry and Ron?"
"How you tell Harry and Ron is up to you, my dear," Dumbledore replied. "But I believe that you need someone to teach about what is happening to you right now. That is why you will be having regular meetings with Professor Snape."
Hermione laughed out loud. "Snape as a vampire, Ron would be proud."
"I am pleased that Mr. Weasley has such a high opinion of me," said a silky voice from the corner.
"Why Professor Snape," said Hermione sarcastically, "I had no idea that you were here."
"That does not surprise me," Snape said in an equally sarcastic manner. "You have much to learn, Miss Granger."
Hermione began squirming in her bed. The ache in her jaw was more persistent now, sharper. She was picking at the sheets, rubbing her feet together in irritation. "I'm . . . hungry," she gasped out.
"She needs a donor," said Snape.
"May I see Harry and Ron?"
Dumbledore nodded. "I will go and find them."
Hermione sat in the room, in the painfully white bed. She looked at her skin. It was almost as white as the sheets she was lying on.
Then she smelled it. It was sweet, but salty at the same time, like the smell of metal, but warm. It smelled like heaven. Or hell. She could take her pick, as long as she got some of the blood she was smelling. Her rate of breathing increased. She was so hungry, so thirsty. She could smell food, just inches away from her. She ached to feel her powerful jaw massaging someone's flesh, their sticky-sweet life-fluid, flooding down her throat. She pulled her hair in frustration.
"Relax," said the voice. "We will find you a donor soon."
"I'm hungry," she said.
"You will always be hungry," said Snape. "It is your nature now."
"I don't want to be hungry anymore."
"You will adjust."
Hermione was about to shout at him when Harry and Ron walked through the door, followed by Dumbledore. Their scents came with them and Hermione almost lost her control.
"How are you doing, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry I left you out there, I shouldn't have done it, I don't know how you could ever forgive me. I'm sorry. It should be me in that bed, not you," Ron blurted when he saw Hermione in the hospital bed.
"It's all right, Ron," said Hermione through clenched teeth. It was taking all her will to stay where she was, and not sink her teeth into the bulging veins on his neck. "It would have been worse if you'd been there. I should have left with you."
Silence for a moment, torturing Hermione with a cacophony of smells. Everyone had a different scent, and all were equally enticing.
"What happened to you out there, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I met a creature," said Hermione. "It was a vampire. It bit me. I passed out, woke up here. That's the basic version."
The boys gaped at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Harry was the first to speak. "So you're -- "
"Yes," Hermione hissed as she crawled over the bed to the place where Harry was standing; she practically crawled up him until her face was level with his, her hands clutching his robes. "And the smell of you is driving me crazy." She eyes a pulsing vein in his neck that only she could see, leaning in towards it, lips parted.
Suddenly, strong arms were pulling her off of the warm-blooded flesh and pinning her to the cold sheets. "NO!" she screamed. "HE'S MINE! I'M HUNGRY!"
"Calm down," Snape said. "I know you're hungry, and you will feed, in time. But not now. Control yourself."
Hermione struggled underneath him as he held her down on the mattress.
"Control yourself," said Snape again before releasing his grip on her shoulders.
As if coming out of a trance, Hermione's head snapped towards Harry and Ron, the naked fear evident in their eyes. "What did I do?" The memory came back to her like a cold gust of wind. "Harry, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's all right," said Harry in a small voice. "You didn't hurt me."
Hermione stared at him through shadowed eyes. "You have no idea how close I came."
"You will learn control in time," said Snape. "For the moment, however, you should be confined to the isolation wing of the hospital."
Hermione nodded, feeling her throat clench as though she was going to cry, but no tears came. "I understand."
"Potter, Weasley," Snape snapped at Harry and Ron; "I need to speak with you."
"What do you want?" asked Ron. He saw it as partly Snape's fault that Hermione was now a vampire.
"Shut it, Weasley. I trust you are both aware of the fact that Miss Granger now requires a certain amount of human blood on a regular basis to sustain herself. Now she can't very well go hunting through the Hogwarts halls, can she?"
Harry and Ron stared at Snape blankly.
Snape sighed. "She needs a blood donor. One of you would be the best choice, as you are both close to her and aware of her situation."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. "I'll do it," said Harry.
"Me, too," said Ron. He started to make his way back to Hermione.
"Not now, Weasley," said Snape in a low growl. "She needs to feed, she's been too long without nourishment. Which of you wishes to donate immediately?"
"I do," said Harry before Ron could say anything. "What do I do?"
"Ah, Potter, always the hero. Roll up your sleeve."
Harry obeyed, but glared at Snape.
Snape produced a small knife from somewhere within his abundant robes and drew it along Harry's exposed forearm, making a cut dangerously close to the vein.
"Hold your arm down!" Snape snapped. He held a cup to Harry's arms, collecting the blood drop by ruby drop. The drops soon turned into trickles and the trickles soon filled the cup. Snape performed a healing charm on the cut, closing it so that not a mark remained.
"Here, Miss Granger," Snape offered the cup to her.
Hermione snatched the drink from his hands and greedily gulped the sweet crimson liquid. "More," she said when she had finished the contents.
"No more," said Snape.
Hermione glared at him. Then she looked down at her sheets. "I'm sorry," she said. "Thank you, Harry."
Ron looked surprised. "How did you -- "
"The smell," said Hermione.
"It's high time you boys left," said Madam Pomfrey. "Hermione needs her rest."
Hermione and Snape snorted in unison.
"Go on, boys," said Dumbledore. "I will follow you shortly."
The boys left after saying good bye to Hermione and wishing her a pleasant day, promising to see her later.
"I have duties to attend to," said the Headmaster. "You will be fine with Severus, my dear," said Dumbledore to Hermione. "He will make your adjustment easier."
"I doubt that," said Hermione.
"I suspect you'll be surprised," said Dumbledore before he left.
"Well," said Madam Pomfrey, "it's time to move you."
"Move me to where?" Hermione asked, a trace of fear in her voice.
A cloud shadowed Pomfrey's features. "To the isolation ward," she said. "Until you can better control yourself, it would be safer to keep you away from the general student population."
Hermione looked down at her sheets again, her throat getting tight.
"It's just for a few days," said Madam Pomfrey, hesitantly putting a hand on her shoulder.
Hermione's throat tightened even more and the muscles in her chin began to spasm. No one used to be afraid to touch her before. But now they were, she could smell it in their blood. They were scared of her.
"Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey," she said sniffing automatically, though there was really no need. "I just fed, remember?"
The hand withdrew quickly from Hermione's shoulder.
"Come, Miss Granger," said Snape. "I have much to teach you."
A/N: Okay, just so everyone is clear, Hermione is probably going to be VERY OOC in this story. It's because becoming a vampire has changed her and will continue to change her. Tell me what you thought of this chapter! Did you like it?
It was just after two a.m. when he found her, pale as the moonlight and cold as death on the forest floor. He had told her not to go this deep into the forest, the leaves he needed were on the outer edge of the forest; she didn't even have to go past the boundary to get them. The creatures must have found her. But how did they get here? They were almost never found in this part of the forest. Maybe one of them had gotten lost. This was going to be a difficult situation. Her body was still, no breath moving her small chest. But then, there wouldn't be.
"Where did you find her, Severus?" asked Madam Pomfrey when Snape arrived at the Hospital Wing with Hermione.
"She was in the forest," said Severus.
Pomfrey paled. "Was she near the colony?"
"No," he said. "But I believe she encountered one of them regardless."
Pomfrey nodded. "Lay her down and go find Albus. He'll need to know."
Hermione woke the next morning with a burning sensation in her eyes. She pulled the blanket over her head, but the burning still persisted. It was too hot, she was burning up, she was on fire.
"She's waking up," a female voice said. "Severus, close the drapes."
The burning left and a comfortable chill went through her body. She flung the blankets away.
"I need some water," said Hermione in a raspy voice. "So thirsty."
Pomfrey gave her the water, and Hermione drank it in one gulp, but her thirst persisted.
"More," she said.
The resident medi-witch shook her head. "Water is not what you need."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione groggily. "What happened?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" Dumbledore asked, with no sign of a twinkle in his eye.
"I was in the forest . . . " Hermione began, thinking about the previous night, "Ron left me . . . someone came . . . then . . . oh good god, no, I've had a nightmare, that was a nightmare."
"It wasn't a nightmare, Hermione," said Dumbledore. "You were bitten by a vampire."
She sank back into the pillows, trying to ignore the ache in her jaw. "So is that why I'm so cold? Is that why I don't need water?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore.
"So what do I do now? How do I tell Harry and Ron?"
"How you tell Harry and Ron is up to you, my dear," Dumbledore replied. "But I believe that you need someone to teach about what is happening to you right now. That is why you will be having regular meetings with Professor Snape."
Hermione laughed out loud. "Snape as a vampire, Ron would be proud."
"I am pleased that Mr. Weasley has such a high opinion of me," said a silky voice from the corner.
"Why Professor Snape," said Hermione sarcastically, "I had no idea that you were here."
"That does not surprise me," Snape said in an equally sarcastic manner. "You have much to learn, Miss Granger."
Hermione began squirming in her bed. The ache in her jaw was more persistent now, sharper. She was picking at the sheets, rubbing her feet together in irritation. "I'm . . . hungry," she gasped out.
"She needs a donor," said Snape.
"May I see Harry and Ron?"
Dumbledore nodded. "I will go and find them."
Hermione sat in the room, in the painfully white bed. She looked at her skin. It was almost as white as the sheets she was lying on.
Then she smelled it. It was sweet, but salty at the same time, like the smell of metal, but warm. It smelled like heaven. Or hell. She could take her pick, as long as she got some of the blood she was smelling. Her rate of breathing increased. She was so hungry, so thirsty. She could smell food, just inches away from her. She ached to feel her powerful jaw massaging someone's flesh, their sticky-sweet life-fluid, flooding down her throat. She pulled her hair in frustration.
"Relax," said the voice. "We will find you a donor soon."
"I'm hungry," she said.
"You will always be hungry," said Snape. "It is your nature now."
"I don't want to be hungry anymore."
"You will adjust."
Hermione was about to shout at him when Harry and Ron walked through the door, followed by Dumbledore. Their scents came with them and Hermione almost lost her control.
"How are you doing, Hermione?" asked Harry.
"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry I left you out there, I shouldn't have done it, I don't know how you could ever forgive me. I'm sorry. It should be me in that bed, not you," Ron blurted when he saw Hermione in the hospital bed.
"It's all right, Ron," said Hermione through clenched teeth. It was taking all her will to stay where she was, and not sink her teeth into the bulging veins on his neck. "It would have been worse if you'd been there. I should have left with you."
Silence for a moment, torturing Hermione with a cacophony of smells. Everyone had a different scent, and all were equally enticing.
"What happened to you out there, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"I met a creature," said Hermione. "It was a vampire. It bit me. I passed out, woke up here. That's the basic version."
The boys gaped at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Harry was the first to speak. "So you're -- "
"Yes," Hermione hissed as she crawled over the bed to the place where Harry was standing; she practically crawled up him until her face was level with his, her hands clutching his robes. "And the smell of you is driving me crazy." She eyes a pulsing vein in his neck that only she could see, leaning in towards it, lips parted.
Suddenly, strong arms were pulling her off of the warm-blooded flesh and pinning her to the cold sheets. "NO!" she screamed. "HE'S MINE! I'M HUNGRY!"
"Calm down," Snape said. "I know you're hungry, and you will feed, in time. But not now. Control yourself."
Hermione struggled underneath him as he held her down on the mattress.
"Control yourself," said Snape again before releasing his grip on her shoulders.
As if coming out of a trance, Hermione's head snapped towards Harry and Ron, the naked fear evident in their eyes. "What did I do?" The memory came back to her like a cold gust of wind. "Harry, I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry."
"It's all right," said Harry in a small voice. "You didn't hurt me."
Hermione stared at him through shadowed eyes. "You have no idea how close I came."
"You will learn control in time," said Snape. "For the moment, however, you should be confined to the isolation wing of the hospital."
Hermione nodded, feeling her throat clench as though she was going to cry, but no tears came. "I understand."
"Potter, Weasley," Snape snapped at Harry and Ron; "I need to speak with you."
"What do you want?" asked Ron. He saw it as partly Snape's fault that Hermione was now a vampire.
"Shut it, Weasley. I trust you are both aware of the fact that Miss Granger now requires a certain amount of human blood on a regular basis to sustain herself. Now she can't very well go hunting through the Hogwarts halls, can she?"
Harry and Ron stared at Snape blankly.
Snape sighed. "She needs a blood donor. One of you would be the best choice, as you are both close to her and aware of her situation."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. "I'll do it," said Harry.
"Me, too," said Ron. He started to make his way back to Hermione.
"Not now, Weasley," said Snape in a low growl. "She needs to feed, she's been too long without nourishment. Which of you wishes to donate immediately?"
"I do," said Harry before Ron could say anything. "What do I do?"
"Ah, Potter, always the hero. Roll up your sleeve."
Harry obeyed, but glared at Snape.
Snape produced a small knife from somewhere within his abundant robes and drew it along Harry's exposed forearm, making a cut dangerously close to the vein.
"Hold your arm down!" Snape snapped. He held a cup to Harry's arms, collecting the blood drop by ruby drop. The drops soon turned into trickles and the trickles soon filled the cup. Snape performed a healing charm on the cut, closing it so that not a mark remained.
"Here, Miss Granger," Snape offered the cup to her.
Hermione snatched the drink from his hands and greedily gulped the sweet crimson liquid. "More," she said when she had finished the contents.
"No more," said Snape.
Hermione glared at him. Then she looked down at her sheets. "I'm sorry," she said. "Thank you, Harry."
Ron looked surprised. "How did you -- "
"The smell," said Hermione.
"It's high time you boys left," said Madam Pomfrey. "Hermione needs her rest."
Hermione and Snape snorted in unison.
"Go on, boys," said Dumbledore. "I will follow you shortly."
The boys left after saying good bye to Hermione and wishing her a pleasant day, promising to see her later.
"I have duties to attend to," said the Headmaster. "You will be fine with Severus, my dear," said Dumbledore to Hermione. "He will make your adjustment easier."
"I doubt that," said Hermione.
"I suspect you'll be surprised," said Dumbledore before he left.
"Well," said Madam Pomfrey, "it's time to move you."
"Move me to where?" Hermione asked, a trace of fear in her voice.
A cloud shadowed Pomfrey's features. "To the isolation ward," she said. "Until you can better control yourself, it would be safer to keep you away from the general student population."
Hermione looked down at her sheets again, her throat getting tight.
"It's just for a few days," said Madam Pomfrey, hesitantly putting a hand on her shoulder.
Hermione's throat tightened even more and the muscles in her chin began to spasm. No one used to be afraid to touch her before. But now they were, she could smell it in their blood. They were scared of her.
"Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey," she said sniffing automatically, though there was really no need. "I just fed, remember?"
The hand withdrew quickly from Hermione's shoulder.
"Come, Miss Granger," said Snape. "I have much to teach you."
A/N: Okay, just so everyone is clear, Hermione is probably going to be VERY OOC in this story. It's because becoming a vampire has changed her and will continue to change her. Tell me what you thought of this chapter! Did you like it?