Chapter 9: The Vixen
NOTE: The big chunk of italic text is a dream sequence. :)
The moment he'd spotted his sister, Ron's heart exploded with relief. The cell was dark even with the open door emitting a small amount of light, but who would miss an open dungeon door and who could overlook his sister's flaming red hair? Weasley hair! "Ginny!" Ron called.
He dashed into the small cell but stopped short of his sister to examine what lay next to him. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the cell, but once they had, he saw Draco Malfoy, all silver hair, lanky body, and expensive clothes of him— unconscious and sprawled across the cell floor. He looked very pale and a puddle of blood was on the floor next to him. On closer inspection, Ron noticed blood speckled all over the front of Draco's white undershirt. His face was paler than normal and even while he lay unconscious on a dungeon floor, his hair still seemed to lay on his head in an elegant fashion. Elegant as it was, however, it was damp from sweat and his face was soaked and dripped sweat as well. Ron kneeled down to get a better look at him. His shirt had damp perspiration spots on the front and back. Ron used the back of his hand to nudge one of Draco's hands to see if he was just sleeping in an inconveniently bloody spot on the dungeon floor, but he still lay motionless. Draco looked feverish yet his hands were deathly cold.
Ron had always imagined finishing off Malfoy in a manner similar to this, but no matter what his fantasies were, he never intended on doing those things… unless he was provoked into doing them, that is. He arched an auburn eyebrow and turned to his sister who was still attached to the cell wall by her left hand. "Ginny," he began, but he was at a loss for words as was she, but he found his tongue soon enough. In what was a voice filled with horror and glee melted in, he exploded, "Ginny! You killed Malfoy?!"
Ginny began mouthing wordlessly and shaking her head, her shiny red hair swaying from side to side as she did so. "Draco— he opened the door— unlocked— he— he— he fainted and—"
"Move," Evra's serious voice said as he rushed past Ron and knelt beside Draco. It was enough to calm Ginny and to make her stop stuttering. Ron moved out of the way and noticed that Harry and Hermione had arrived at the cell as well and they were somewhat speechless as they stared on with interest. Hermione was clutching Harry's arm.
"What's wrong with him?" Ginny finally asked in a tiny voice.
Evra didn't answer. Draco's head was now on Evra's lap and he touched Draco's forehead with the back of his hand and instantly drew it away. "Blankets." Evra said. He looked up and pointed to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "You, you, and you, take your cloaks off and cover him up." He would've asked Ginny as well, but she couldn't remove her cloak since her arm was still attached to the cell wall.
Alarmed by Evra's grave tone of voice, the trio obeyed his requests obediently and covered Draco with their cloaks. Harry's was placed directly on Draco, Ron's on top, and Hermione's in the middle of the two. When Ron bent down to cover Draco with his cloak, he noticed that Draco was shivering and his body quivered so slightly that it was only noticeable this close to him.
Evra's next action startled everyone just a bit. Evra moved Draco's long tendrils of platinum hair away from his forehead and spit on him! Ron's mouth fell open, Hermione held onto Harry's arm even tighter, and Harry and Ginny gasped. Now Evra blew on the saliva on Draco's head and seconds later, the spit dissolved into Draco's head!
"What are you doing?" Ron finally asked. He was thoroughly grossed out now.
Evra didn't pay any mind to Ron. Instead, he groaned and addressed Ginny. "Has he fed yet?"
"What?" Ginny stuttered.
"Blood. Has he had any human blood yet?" Evra asked, irritated now.
"What?" Ginny said again. "Why would he have—"
"Draco's a vampire!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione told her all at once.
"What?" That seemed to be Ginny's favorite word at the moment. Draco was a vampire? Ginny was already sitting, but now she leaned back against the wall. Draco had been untied all this time whilst she had been tied to a wall… yet he hadn't even tried to bite her once! Was this out of kindness? No way out of kindness; Draco Malfoy was anything but kind! Or perhaps it was out of refusal to be controlled by his new thirst for blood— that is, if he was in fact a vampire.
"Alright, who wants to give him some blood? A tablespoon or so will be good enough to wake him up again." Evra looked up at everyone.
Ginny suddenly felt a wave of guilt pass over her. She felt that this was somehow her fault. Maybe he'd fallen ill like this because he was resisting the life-preserving urge to bite her neck. "I'll give him some," Ginny suddenly said. "How can I—"
"No!" Hermione finally spoke letting go of Harry's arm. Harry looked down and he seemed to realize that Hermione had been holding his arm the whole time. Even in the darkness, Ron noticed Harry's cheeks change to a hard-to-notice shade of light pink. "You can't feed him blood unless he wants to drink the blood!"
"Why not?" Evra asked.
"Who cares about that?! Ginny, why in Godric's name do you want to let Malfoy here drink your blood? Are you insane? It's a good thing you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw!" Ron snorted.
"I—"
"What? Have they finally found a smart Ravenclaw?" Draco mumbled in a raspy-soft voice. He was still unconscious, but he was hearing everything everyone was saying. He smacked his lips a bit and went still again.
Everyone was frozen and speechless so Ginny was about to try and explain herself once again, but Hermione was busy stopping Evra from slitting someone's throat. "Once a person is blooded and becomes a vampire, as soon as he or she drinks even a drop of human blood, that individual will remain a vampire forever. However, I heard that there are ways to reverse the vampire effect."
Evra frowned and nodded. "Yes, there is a way to reverse the vampire effect. Not ways, mind you, but a way." He emphasized that there was only one way to reverse Draco's ordeal. He half snorted and through his serious expression, a grin broke out across his face as he looked at Ron. "It still involves blood-sucking though."
"I think I'm going to be sick—" As Ron uttered the words, Hermione quickly conjured a bucket before him just in time.
* * *
Lucius waited in his parlor. His posture was as straight as his silky hair and his clothes looked as though they'd just been ironed. The effect on the clothes, however, was from a simple elementary spell that he always used to look nice and presentable. Under his right arm he held a long, mahogany cane with a silver snake's head placed on the top. The snake had its mouth open from which two sharp fangs could be seen.
A faint pop was heard. "Lucius, sir."
Mr. Malfoy turned to see behind him. Tom Riddle knelt on his right knee and in his right hand, he held two identical vials, one with a sort of purple colored liquid in it and another with pitch black liquid in it. His hair was dark as ever, his skin deathly pale, but… he wore Muggle clothes! In his current form, Riddle looked like a teenage boy probably around Harry's age, so he wore baggy blue jeans and a long-sleeved, black, and hooded pullover sweatshirt with the number "05" stitched onto the front in thick white letters. He wore white socks and brown boots. His hair looked as though he had tried to spike it up, but alas, it appeared as though he'd decided to stay with his normal casually messy look.
Lucius' face contorted at the sight of Tom. "Get up! Why do you insist on frolicking about dressed like that?"
Tom's left eye began twitching. He cared very much about his appearance and though he also hated what he was wearing at the moment, he didn't appreciate Lucius' reaction to it. "Yes, well, I had to get a drink, and I suppose I overindulged and left my meal fully drained and dead and can you believe that kid was dating a blind girl? Well, she came over and her blood was exceptional too, but—"
Lucius waved a silencing hand at Tom; he'd heard more than enough. When he turned back to face Riddle, his old and faded Slytherin robes had magically replaced the Muggle clothes. Lucius grunted. "The vials. Give them here," he ordered, holding out a hand to receive them.
Tom had an urge to chuck them at Malfoy's forehead so that the tiny glass vials might break and make pretty patterns all over Blondie's forehead, but he restrained himself and handed them to Lucius instead.
Lucius turned the vials over in his hands and sniffed the air haughtily. "I suppose I ought to go get things done myself since someone can't seem to do them correctly the first time around." Mr. Malfoy exhaled and looked at Riddle with an authoritative glare before he suddenly vanished from the parlor room with a mass of black smoke following his departure.
Now that Lucius Malfoy had left the room, Riddle rolled his eyes and walked over to the fireplace. He still wore the old Slytherin robes, but now he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall on his right side. He stood next to the blazing fire and looked into it while the light from the flames chased one another on Riddle's face. The fireplace supplied the room with the only source of warmth and this peculiar lighting made Tom look tan— almost human. Almost, mind you.
"Tom?"
Riddle lazily abandoned his elegant and relaxing pose on the wall and came to stand in front of the enormous fireplace from which flames were licking all about what looked like someone's face— Lord Voldemort's face.
"I am here, Lord," he said yawningly.
"What's this? Have you lipstick on your lips?" Voldemort asked, amusement apparent in his voice.
Riddle cocked an eyebrow and ran his tongue across his lips. "Forgive me, I did not have anything to wipe my mouth with after dinner."
"Forgiven," Voldemort hissed. "I am good at forgiving, am I not?" The Dark Lord gave an evil chortle.
Tom interrupted Voldemort's pleasure with a fiery outburst. "I am the Dark Lord too, am I not? Why does that Malfoy insist on treating me like the underside of a giant's foot? Why do I have to follow that dumb blonde around? Why do I have to follow his orders and why—"
"Calm down, Mars! It is unfitting for evil minions to whine like children." Voldemort smirked. Though they were technically the same age, Tom was still in the body of a teenage boy.
Tom made a face. "Even though you're my older self, do not call me by that pet name!"
"Love is somewhat blind, is it not?" Voldemort taunted his younger self. After several moments of silent staring, the Dark Lord continued. "Yes, well, just follow him around a bit longer. He's almost served his purpose. It is his son that we need now… since you were not able to get the Weasley boy. But I'm sure Malfoy won't be able to get a hold of him either with Potter around." Voldemort snorted then added, "But you can have Lucius Malfoy over for dinner after I'm done with him if you desire."
Tom licked his lips in response.
"And before you go, Mars," Voldemort smirked as Tom's left eye began twitching, "check the table in the hallway. I believe a note for you has been placed atop it."
Tom stalked out of the room, cursing his senior self. On the table in the hall lay a folded piece of parchment sealed with dark green wax on which the Malfoy family seal was stamped. Riddle ripped the note open and read aloud: Tom, the garden needs to be tended to and there are some dirty cloaks in the wardrobe that need cleaning. Since I am out doing significant errands, I trust this won't be too troublesome for you. –Lucius Drakon Malfoy VII.
Riddle's fingers immediately emitted fire from their tips and the note burned away in two seconds flat. "Curse you, Malfoy," he muttered as he made his way toward the greenhouse.
* * *
Draco fumbled about and looked around, but everywhere he looked was dark; he was locked in the darkness and there was no way out— not a single exit, door— not even a stray ray of light could be seen. Where was he? Draco listened and he heard faint voices— not the voices that had recently moved into his head, but familiar voices.
Potter? Weasley? The Mudblood and Ginny too? What was going on? Why was it that he could hear their voices, faint as they were, but could not see them? Wait... he couldn't be blind, could he? Since a Malfoy never panicked, Draco began frantically running around and yelling for help instead.
Suddenly, Draco stopped where he was. Two red specks could be seen on the horizon of the far away darkness. He had a feeling this wasn't exactly the type of help he wanted.
Draco began coughing again and though he was in a dark place like this, he could tell he still wasn't stable; everything around him was becoming blurry again, even though it's hard to tell when darkness is blurry. When he looked up again, the red eyes were only inches away from his face. Draco saw the eyes and gave out an alarmed cry as he jumped back. He would have fallen over, but something had stopped his fall.
His vision wasn't doing too well and his legs were wobbly now, too. Draco cautiously backed away from the two figures before him and now that his eyes were more accustomed to the darkness, he scanned the figures before him.
He looked at them from head to toe. His mind was beginning to feel groggy now. He tried to get a closer look, but this was the best he could get. From the figure on the left, he was feeling some serious evil black magic aura and the figure on the right emitted a very pure and unsoiled type of white magic aura. Their glowing red eyes made Draco rather uncomfortable as well. The two auras mixing together was beginning to make him feel like he was swaying back and forth even though he was standing still… or was he?
Both figures standing in front of Draco were females. They looked identical, but small differences in trivial attributes such as height made it clear that they were just uncannily similar looking. Both girls had flaming red hair, fair skin, and piercing eyes. That was all Draco could take note of, however, for a moment later, both women now approached him— almost gliding towards him.
Draco tried to back away, but lost his footing and as he fell, the girl on the left, the one with evil aura, caught him. He felt as though he was struggling to get out of her arms, but his arms and legs hadn't budged at all.
Now the girl from the right, the pure one, approached him. Her face lowered to his sagging body and her lips came closer and closer to his neck. Just as she opened her mouth, the girl that was holding him had swooped down and dug her teeth into his neck!
Draco's eyes flew open and he opened his mouth to scream, but no sound would come out. A shocking rainbow of colors ran across the backs of his eyelids and the pain was almost unbearable. His breathing became more rapid and he felt as though his brain was rolling around in his head. He began coughing again— it was more like wheezing since it was hard to cough with the girl stuck on his throat. He felt warm liquid come up from his throat, coat the backs of his teeth and splatter about his shirt, but he didn't care now. He just wanted to get away now— anywhere warm with light… a fire… because it was so terribly cold where he was now.
The girl holding him finally removed her mouth from Draco's neck, blood trickling down the left side of her smiling mouth. Draco wanted to put his hand to his neck so that he could stop some of the bleeding, but he was drained of all his energy. The evil woman suddenly let go of Draco and watched the top half of his body fall twelve inches or so to the ground. She smirked and disappeared with a faint popping sound.
Now what was he supposed to do? Draco lay helpless on the ground for a few seconds, not even enough time to relax his breathing, before he saw the blurry face of the other redheaded girl.
Draco was so cold now, but as she came nearer, his fingers began tingling, then his arms, and the rest of his body; she emitted such warmth.
Draco wasn't able to speak, he couldn't move, and he couldn't even see properly. The one thing he wanted more than anything now was for that warm woman, whether she was evil or not, to hold him… hold him very tight. As if his wish had been answered, the girl's face began to come closer to his; Draco thought she actually might put her arms around him, but that is not what happened. This vixen went for his neck as well.
Draco's stomach lurched and he closed his eyes and tried to tense his muscles and prepare himself for the bite from her, but within seconds, he opened his eyes again. Was she… the redhead was kissing his neck?!
Try as he might, he still could not move his body, but as soon as the pure woman's head began backing away from his neck, a sense of relief passed over his body, but not because she had retreated, but because the pain in his neck was neutralizing!
The girl then took the index and middle fingers of her right hand and touched them to her lips. She looked at her fingers and then looked at Draco. She finally spoke, and her voice seemed to penetrate the darkness and echo throughout the space that he was in, even though he wasn't sure if there were walls around him to cause the echoing. "Do you not bleed?" She asked him.
However, before he could even answer, the image of the redheaded girl was completely washed away from his vision.
Draco felt some of his strength surge back into his body and though his eyes were closed, he felt as though he was in a different place. It was cold, but it was considerably warmer than where he had been. He could hear choking and gurgling sounds from someone, a deep voice chuckling, and a feminine voice making remarks in a worried tone.
Slowly, he moved his left arm to his neck and felt where the girl with the dark aura had bitten him; he felt a healed scar beneath his fingertips. Draco kept feeling the scar mark; it frightened him a bit since he had never injured his neck before… unless you counted his dream.
He finally decided to open his eyes a bit, but he closed them quickly due to the new lighting conditions. He opened his eyes a bit more gingerly this time, blinked a few quick blinks before he tried to sit up. He lifted his head a bit, but he was angry to discover that that was all he could manage at the time.
"Draco, you're up!" A voice whispered softly in his ear.
Draco slowly rolled his head over to see who it was. Ginny Weasley. Then he suddenly remembered in a flood of memories what had happened before he had blacked out.
Ginny was still attached to the wall— but her brother was here! Surely he could have freed her!
"Weas—" He'd begun to say, but he choked on the words instead. He'd also turned his head to look at Ron, but the quick motion he'd used to turn his head over had left his earlobes drumming and the rest of his head dancing to the beat— or rather offbeat.
"Draco, how do you feel?" Ginny said in a more solid but caring voice.
"Like shit."
"That's good, be glad you can feel at all," Evra piped in with a grin.
"Where'd you get this clown?" Draco asked Ginny.
"He's not a clown, he's a snakeman. His name is Evra Von and he saved your life." Ginny clarified.
"Mmf, good for him," Draco said tiredly.
Everyone had noticed Draco was conscious again, and began moving a bit closer to him. Hermione was debating whether or not she wanted to go see Draco; Ron was still preoccupied with the bucket. She decided to help Ron first.
Draco tried to go for a genuine Malfoy smirk, but he only got a weak grin out of his efforts. "How do I look?" He asked Ginny.
The question caught her off-guard, but she recovered quickly. "Pale," she'd replied with her own smirk.
"And?" Draco asked.
"And that's all," Ginny said, choosing not to play into his egotistical games at the moment.
"Still dating the wall?" Draco asked her.
She looked at her arm and realized Draco was trying to be funny. She exhaled, rolled her eyes, and responded, "At least I'm not stuck to you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked with a light cough.
Ginny's eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists. "It means I'd rather stay stuck on this wall forever than to have you roll over and die trying to Alohomora these locks open! That's what I mean! You are such a frickin' idiot, you know that? You nearly killed yourself and you're practically half dead now and your pants come with wands and you insist on cracking jokes about me dating the damn wall?!" Ginny began breathing loudly; she'd just screamed at Draco and most of what she'd said had had nothing to do with her 'dating the wall'. She was angry with him, but she began blushing furiously when she realized everyone in the cell was staring at her.
Ginny looked back at Draco now and he slowly turned his head away from her and closed his eyes. He didn't even want to look her now.
There was a pregnant pause, but it was finally broken. Ron sheepishly looked up from his bucket. "He buys his pants and wands together?"
Just about everyone cocked an eyebrow at him whilst Draco chose to remain motionless; he was enjoying the warmth of the atmosphere about him… he could feel it… such a warm aura…
* * *
Tom was finished with his garden chores after the fully-grown mandrakes had been fed. He tucked his wand away under his robes and stormed across the greenhouse grounds, kicking a tipped over bucket through a glass window on his way out. He groaned and was about to reparo the window when he nearly slipped on something on the ground.
He hadn't fallen on his bum since he had grabbed onto the trunk of a nearby tree. Forgetting the window, Tom lowered himself to the ground to see what he'd stepped on.
Whatever it was, it glimmered even in the dimly lighted greenhouse. Riddle scooped some of it into his fingers. Slime?! He thought to himself. He gingerly moved his hand toward his nose and sniffed the slime; it had no odor. Then in one quick motion, Tom ran the tip of his index finger across his tongue to see if he could taste it, but immediately began coughing out the slime that had touched his tongue.
"Snake!" Tom scowled aloud.
"Mmmmmm," a deep, velvety feminine voice drawled. "Evra's back," she said, excitement and pleasure apparent in her tone.
After Tom had finished spitting out the rest of the snakeman's slime, he stood upright again and addressed Blaise Zabini with a curt nod. She was dressed in a long and finely ornate black and dark emerald dress that fit rather tightly from her waist up. Her hair was twirled into ringlets and the curls tumbled over one another as Blaise moved around. Tom had always liked her sense of fashion. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, you know, I was just in the neighborhood." Blaise smirked.
"And baldy?"
This caused Blaise to suddenly laugh. "He likes to go by 'Headmaster' these days!" Tom allowed a faint snort to escape him, but remained unperturbed, nonetheless. "Yes, but he'll be coming soon. He's got two or three more people to take care of, I believe," she said thoughtfully.
"Brilliant," Tom said, thoroughly pleased. "Shall we go then?" Tom asked, offering his right arm to Blaise.
Author's Note: This chapter was written before the release of the fifth Harry Potter book, so I had no way of knowing that a character mentioned in chapter 8 of this fic would be the one to die! But don't worry! I've figured out a way around it, which will be presented either chapter 11 or 12! Now you know! And isn't everyone glad Draco's okay? ^_^
Chapter Ten: Look! We're into the double digits! *rofl* Well, in this next chapter we see a character that was mentioned before just briefly. No, it's not the person who died in OotP, but another person… only Erika caught it. :) But that'll happen only after Draco gets some strength, and who better to give it to him than—?!
Yosh! Joya's evil! I'm not going to tell who Draco's getting strength from! But this chapter summary will be a walk in the park compared to the end of the next chapter! *evil grin* Eiko will be having a poor lil heart attack by then... ^^;
Thanks to Bubble, Madussa, MelissaAdams, Erika, Janel, Guess *cough*, Faith, bitchy brunette, and Lily Among the Thorns–89 for the comments! So many commenters!! *cries tears of joy* I'm drunk on ego-boosts! Some of you actually stuck me in your favorite fics section?! *stares* Whoa… ^^;
NOTE: The big chunk of italic text is a dream sequence. :)
The moment he'd spotted his sister, Ron's heart exploded with relief. The cell was dark even with the open door emitting a small amount of light, but who would miss an open dungeon door and who could overlook his sister's flaming red hair? Weasley hair! "Ginny!" Ron called.
He dashed into the small cell but stopped short of his sister to examine what lay next to him. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting of the cell, but once they had, he saw Draco Malfoy, all silver hair, lanky body, and expensive clothes of him— unconscious and sprawled across the cell floor. He looked very pale and a puddle of blood was on the floor next to him. On closer inspection, Ron noticed blood speckled all over the front of Draco's white undershirt. His face was paler than normal and even while he lay unconscious on a dungeon floor, his hair still seemed to lay on his head in an elegant fashion. Elegant as it was, however, it was damp from sweat and his face was soaked and dripped sweat as well. Ron kneeled down to get a better look at him. His shirt had damp perspiration spots on the front and back. Ron used the back of his hand to nudge one of Draco's hands to see if he was just sleeping in an inconveniently bloody spot on the dungeon floor, but he still lay motionless. Draco looked feverish yet his hands were deathly cold.
Ron had always imagined finishing off Malfoy in a manner similar to this, but no matter what his fantasies were, he never intended on doing those things… unless he was provoked into doing them, that is. He arched an auburn eyebrow and turned to his sister who was still attached to the cell wall by her left hand. "Ginny," he began, but he was at a loss for words as was she, but he found his tongue soon enough. In what was a voice filled with horror and glee melted in, he exploded, "Ginny! You killed Malfoy?!"
Ginny began mouthing wordlessly and shaking her head, her shiny red hair swaying from side to side as she did so. "Draco— he opened the door— unlocked— he— he— he fainted and—"
"Move," Evra's serious voice said as he rushed past Ron and knelt beside Draco. It was enough to calm Ginny and to make her stop stuttering. Ron moved out of the way and noticed that Harry and Hermione had arrived at the cell as well and they were somewhat speechless as they stared on with interest. Hermione was clutching Harry's arm.
"What's wrong with him?" Ginny finally asked in a tiny voice.
Evra didn't answer. Draco's head was now on Evra's lap and he touched Draco's forehead with the back of his hand and instantly drew it away. "Blankets." Evra said. He looked up and pointed to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "You, you, and you, take your cloaks off and cover him up." He would've asked Ginny as well, but she couldn't remove her cloak since her arm was still attached to the cell wall.
Alarmed by Evra's grave tone of voice, the trio obeyed his requests obediently and covered Draco with their cloaks. Harry's was placed directly on Draco, Ron's on top, and Hermione's in the middle of the two. When Ron bent down to cover Draco with his cloak, he noticed that Draco was shivering and his body quivered so slightly that it was only noticeable this close to him.
Evra's next action startled everyone just a bit. Evra moved Draco's long tendrils of platinum hair away from his forehead and spit on him! Ron's mouth fell open, Hermione held onto Harry's arm even tighter, and Harry and Ginny gasped. Now Evra blew on the saliva on Draco's head and seconds later, the spit dissolved into Draco's head!
"What are you doing?" Ron finally asked. He was thoroughly grossed out now.
Evra didn't pay any mind to Ron. Instead, he groaned and addressed Ginny. "Has he fed yet?"
"What?" Ginny stuttered.
"Blood. Has he had any human blood yet?" Evra asked, irritated now.
"What?" Ginny said again. "Why would he have—"
"Draco's a vampire!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione told her all at once.
"What?" That seemed to be Ginny's favorite word at the moment. Draco was a vampire? Ginny was already sitting, but now she leaned back against the wall. Draco had been untied all this time whilst she had been tied to a wall… yet he hadn't even tried to bite her once! Was this out of kindness? No way out of kindness; Draco Malfoy was anything but kind! Or perhaps it was out of refusal to be controlled by his new thirst for blood— that is, if he was in fact a vampire.
"Alright, who wants to give him some blood? A tablespoon or so will be good enough to wake him up again." Evra looked up at everyone.
Ginny suddenly felt a wave of guilt pass over her. She felt that this was somehow her fault. Maybe he'd fallen ill like this because he was resisting the life-preserving urge to bite her neck. "I'll give him some," Ginny suddenly said. "How can I—"
"No!" Hermione finally spoke letting go of Harry's arm. Harry looked down and he seemed to realize that Hermione had been holding his arm the whole time. Even in the darkness, Ron noticed Harry's cheeks change to a hard-to-notice shade of light pink. "You can't feed him blood unless he wants to drink the blood!"
"Why not?" Evra asked.
"Who cares about that?! Ginny, why in Godric's name do you want to let Malfoy here drink your blood? Are you insane? It's a good thing you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw!" Ron snorted.
"I—"
"What? Have they finally found a smart Ravenclaw?" Draco mumbled in a raspy-soft voice. He was still unconscious, but he was hearing everything everyone was saying. He smacked his lips a bit and went still again.
Everyone was frozen and speechless so Ginny was about to try and explain herself once again, but Hermione was busy stopping Evra from slitting someone's throat. "Once a person is blooded and becomes a vampire, as soon as he or she drinks even a drop of human blood, that individual will remain a vampire forever. However, I heard that there are ways to reverse the vampire effect."
Evra frowned and nodded. "Yes, there is a way to reverse the vampire effect. Not ways, mind you, but a way." He emphasized that there was only one way to reverse Draco's ordeal. He half snorted and through his serious expression, a grin broke out across his face as he looked at Ron. "It still involves blood-sucking though."
"I think I'm going to be sick—" As Ron uttered the words, Hermione quickly conjured a bucket before him just in time.
Lucius waited in his parlor. His posture was as straight as his silky hair and his clothes looked as though they'd just been ironed. The effect on the clothes, however, was from a simple elementary spell that he always used to look nice and presentable. Under his right arm he held a long, mahogany cane with a silver snake's head placed on the top. The snake had its mouth open from which two sharp fangs could be seen.
A faint pop was heard. "Lucius, sir."
Mr. Malfoy turned to see behind him. Tom Riddle knelt on his right knee and in his right hand, he held two identical vials, one with a sort of purple colored liquid in it and another with pitch black liquid in it. His hair was dark as ever, his skin deathly pale, but… he wore Muggle clothes! In his current form, Riddle looked like a teenage boy probably around Harry's age, so he wore baggy blue jeans and a long-sleeved, black, and hooded pullover sweatshirt with the number "05" stitched onto the front in thick white letters. He wore white socks and brown boots. His hair looked as though he had tried to spike it up, but alas, it appeared as though he'd decided to stay with his normal casually messy look.
Lucius' face contorted at the sight of Tom. "Get up! Why do you insist on frolicking about dressed like that?"
Tom's left eye began twitching. He cared very much about his appearance and though he also hated what he was wearing at the moment, he didn't appreciate Lucius' reaction to it. "Yes, well, I had to get a drink, and I suppose I overindulged and left my meal fully drained and dead and can you believe that kid was dating a blind girl? Well, she came over and her blood was exceptional too, but—"
Lucius waved a silencing hand at Tom; he'd heard more than enough. When he turned back to face Riddle, his old and faded Slytherin robes had magically replaced the Muggle clothes. Lucius grunted. "The vials. Give them here," he ordered, holding out a hand to receive them.
Tom had an urge to chuck them at Malfoy's forehead so that the tiny glass vials might break and make pretty patterns all over Blondie's forehead, but he restrained himself and handed them to Lucius instead.
Lucius turned the vials over in his hands and sniffed the air haughtily. "I suppose I ought to go get things done myself since someone can't seem to do them correctly the first time around." Mr. Malfoy exhaled and looked at Riddle with an authoritative glare before he suddenly vanished from the parlor room with a mass of black smoke following his departure.
Now that Lucius Malfoy had left the room, Riddle rolled his eyes and walked over to the fireplace. He still wore the old Slytherin robes, but now he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall on his right side. He stood next to the blazing fire and looked into it while the light from the flames chased one another on Riddle's face. The fireplace supplied the room with the only source of warmth and this peculiar lighting made Tom look tan— almost human. Almost, mind you.
"Tom?"
Riddle lazily abandoned his elegant and relaxing pose on the wall and came to stand in front of the enormous fireplace from which flames were licking all about what looked like someone's face— Lord Voldemort's face.
"I am here, Lord," he said yawningly.
"What's this? Have you lipstick on your lips?" Voldemort asked, amusement apparent in his voice.
Riddle cocked an eyebrow and ran his tongue across his lips. "Forgive me, I did not have anything to wipe my mouth with after dinner."
"Forgiven," Voldemort hissed. "I am good at forgiving, am I not?" The Dark Lord gave an evil chortle.
Tom interrupted Voldemort's pleasure with a fiery outburst. "I am the Dark Lord too, am I not? Why does that Malfoy insist on treating me like the underside of a giant's foot? Why do I have to follow that dumb blonde around? Why do I have to follow his orders and why—"
"Calm down, Mars! It is unfitting for evil minions to whine like children." Voldemort smirked. Though they were technically the same age, Tom was still in the body of a teenage boy.
Tom made a face. "Even though you're my older self, do not call me by that pet name!"
"Love is somewhat blind, is it not?" Voldemort taunted his younger self. After several moments of silent staring, the Dark Lord continued. "Yes, well, just follow him around a bit longer. He's almost served his purpose. It is his son that we need now… since you were not able to get the Weasley boy. But I'm sure Malfoy won't be able to get a hold of him either with Potter around." Voldemort snorted then added, "But you can have Lucius Malfoy over for dinner after I'm done with him if you desire."
Tom licked his lips in response.
"And before you go, Mars," Voldemort smirked as Tom's left eye began twitching, "check the table in the hallway. I believe a note for you has been placed atop it."
Tom stalked out of the room, cursing his senior self. On the table in the hall lay a folded piece of parchment sealed with dark green wax on which the Malfoy family seal was stamped. Riddle ripped the note open and read aloud: Tom, the garden needs to be tended to and there are some dirty cloaks in the wardrobe that need cleaning. Since I am out doing significant errands, I trust this won't be too troublesome for you. –Lucius Drakon Malfoy VII.
Riddle's fingers immediately emitted fire from their tips and the note burned away in two seconds flat. "Curse you, Malfoy," he muttered as he made his way toward the greenhouse.
Draco fumbled about and looked around, but everywhere he looked was dark; he was locked in the darkness and there was no way out— not a single exit, door— not even a stray ray of light could be seen. Where was he? Draco listened and he heard faint voices— not the voices that had recently moved into his head, but familiar voices.
Potter? Weasley? The Mudblood and Ginny too? What was going on? Why was it that he could hear their voices, faint as they were, but could not see them? Wait... he couldn't be blind, could he? Since a Malfoy never panicked, Draco began frantically running around and yelling for help instead.
Suddenly, Draco stopped where he was. Two red specks could be seen on the horizon of the far away darkness. He had a feeling this wasn't exactly the type of help he wanted.
Draco began coughing again and though he was in a dark place like this, he could tell he still wasn't stable; everything around him was becoming blurry again, even though it's hard to tell when darkness is blurry. When he looked up again, the red eyes were only inches away from his face. Draco saw the eyes and gave out an alarmed cry as he jumped back. He would have fallen over, but something had stopped his fall.
His vision wasn't doing too well and his legs were wobbly now, too. Draco cautiously backed away from the two figures before him and now that his eyes were more accustomed to the darkness, he scanned the figures before him.
He looked at them from head to toe. His mind was beginning to feel groggy now. He tried to get a closer look, but this was the best he could get. From the figure on the left, he was feeling some serious evil black magic aura and the figure on the right emitted a very pure and unsoiled type of white magic aura. Their glowing red eyes made Draco rather uncomfortable as well. The two auras mixing together was beginning to make him feel like he was swaying back and forth even though he was standing still… or was he?
Both figures standing in front of Draco were females. They looked identical, but small differences in trivial attributes such as height made it clear that they were just uncannily similar looking. Both girls had flaming red hair, fair skin, and piercing eyes. That was all Draco could take note of, however, for a moment later, both women now approached him— almost gliding towards him.
Draco tried to back away, but lost his footing and as he fell, the girl on the left, the one with evil aura, caught him. He felt as though he was struggling to get out of her arms, but his arms and legs hadn't budged at all.
Now the girl from the right, the pure one, approached him. Her face lowered to his sagging body and her lips came closer and closer to his neck. Just as she opened her mouth, the girl that was holding him had swooped down and dug her teeth into his neck!
Draco's eyes flew open and he opened his mouth to scream, but no sound would come out. A shocking rainbow of colors ran across the backs of his eyelids and the pain was almost unbearable. His breathing became more rapid and he felt as though his brain was rolling around in his head. He began coughing again— it was more like wheezing since it was hard to cough with the girl stuck on his throat. He felt warm liquid come up from his throat, coat the backs of his teeth and splatter about his shirt, but he didn't care now. He just wanted to get away now— anywhere warm with light… a fire… because it was so terribly cold where he was now.
The girl holding him finally removed her mouth from Draco's neck, blood trickling down the left side of her smiling mouth. Draco wanted to put his hand to his neck so that he could stop some of the bleeding, but he was drained of all his energy. The evil woman suddenly let go of Draco and watched the top half of his body fall twelve inches or so to the ground. She smirked and disappeared with a faint popping sound.
Now what was he supposed to do? Draco lay helpless on the ground for a few seconds, not even enough time to relax his breathing, before he saw the blurry face of the other redheaded girl.
Draco was so cold now, but as she came nearer, his fingers began tingling, then his arms, and the rest of his body; she emitted such warmth.
Draco wasn't able to speak, he couldn't move, and he couldn't even see properly. The one thing he wanted more than anything now was for that warm woman, whether she was evil or not, to hold him… hold him very tight. As if his wish had been answered, the girl's face began to come closer to his; Draco thought she actually might put her arms around him, but that is not what happened. This vixen went for his neck as well.
Draco's stomach lurched and he closed his eyes and tried to tense his muscles and prepare himself for the bite from her, but within seconds, he opened his eyes again. Was she… the redhead was kissing his neck?!
Try as he might, he still could not move his body, but as soon as the pure woman's head began backing away from his neck, a sense of relief passed over his body, but not because she had retreated, but because the pain in his neck was neutralizing!
The girl then took the index and middle fingers of her right hand and touched them to her lips. She looked at her fingers and then looked at Draco. She finally spoke, and her voice seemed to penetrate the darkness and echo throughout the space that he was in, even though he wasn't sure if there were walls around him to cause the echoing. "Do you not bleed?" She asked him.
However, before he could even answer, the image of the redheaded girl was completely washed away from his vision.
Draco felt some of his strength surge back into his body and though his eyes were closed, he felt as though he was in a different place. It was cold, but it was considerably warmer than where he had been. He could hear choking and gurgling sounds from someone, a deep voice chuckling, and a feminine voice making remarks in a worried tone.
Slowly, he moved his left arm to his neck and felt where the girl with the dark aura had bitten him; he felt a healed scar beneath his fingertips. Draco kept feeling the scar mark; it frightened him a bit since he had never injured his neck before… unless you counted his dream.
He finally decided to open his eyes a bit, but he closed them quickly due to the new lighting conditions. He opened his eyes a bit more gingerly this time, blinked a few quick blinks before he tried to sit up. He lifted his head a bit, but he was angry to discover that that was all he could manage at the time.
"Draco, you're up!" A voice whispered softly in his ear.
Draco slowly rolled his head over to see who it was. Ginny Weasley. Then he suddenly remembered in a flood of memories what had happened before he had blacked out.
Ginny was still attached to the wall— but her brother was here! Surely he could have freed her!
"Weas—" He'd begun to say, but he choked on the words instead. He'd also turned his head to look at Ron, but the quick motion he'd used to turn his head over had left his earlobes drumming and the rest of his head dancing to the beat— or rather offbeat.
"Draco, how do you feel?" Ginny said in a more solid but caring voice.
"Like shit."
"That's good, be glad you can feel at all," Evra piped in with a grin.
"Where'd you get this clown?" Draco asked Ginny.
"He's not a clown, he's a snakeman. His name is Evra Von and he saved your life." Ginny clarified.
"Mmf, good for him," Draco said tiredly.
Everyone had noticed Draco was conscious again, and began moving a bit closer to him. Hermione was debating whether or not she wanted to go see Draco; Ron was still preoccupied with the bucket. She decided to help Ron first.
Draco tried to go for a genuine Malfoy smirk, but he only got a weak grin out of his efforts. "How do I look?" He asked Ginny.
The question caught her off-guard, but she recovered quickly. "Pale," she'd replied with her own smirk.
"And?" Draco asked.
"And that's all," Ginny said, choosing not to play into his egotistical games at the moment.
"Still dating the wall?" Draco asked her.
She looked at her arm and realized Draco was trying to be funny. She exhaled, rolled her eyes, and responded, "At least I'm not stuck to you."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked with a light cough.
Ginny's eyes narrowed and she clenched her fists. "It means I'd rather stay stuck on this wall forever than to have you roll over and die trying to Alohomora these locks open! That's what I mean! You are such a frickin' idiot, you know that? You nearly killed yourself and you're practically half dead now and your pants come with wands and you insist on cracking jokes about me dating the damn wall?!" Ginny began breathing loudly; she'd just screamed at Draco and most of what she'd said had had nothing to do with her 'dating the wall'. She was angry with him, but she began blushing furiously when she realized everyone in the cell was staring at her.
Ginny looked back at Draco now and he slowly turned his head away from her and closed his eyes. He didn't even want to look her now.
There was a pregnant pause, but it was finally broken. Ron sheepishly looked up from his bucket. "He buys his pants and wands together?"
Just about everyone cocked an eyebrow at him whilst Draco chose to remain motionless; he was enjoying the warmth of the atmosphere about him… he could feel it… such a warm aura…
He hadn't fallen on his bum since he had grabbed onto the trunk of a nearby tree. Forgetting the window, Tom lowered himself to the ground to see what he'd stepped on.
Whatever it was, it glimmered even in the dimly lighted greenhouse. Riddle scooped some of it into his fingers. Slime?! He thought to himself. He gingerly moved his hand toward his nose and sniffed the slime; it had no odor. Then in one quick motion, Tom ran the tip of his index finger across his tongue to see if he could taste it, but immediately began coughing out the slime that had touched his tongue.
"Snake!" Tom scowled aloud.
"Mmmmmm," a deep, velvety feminine voice drawled. "Evra's back," she said, excitement and pleasure apparent in her tone.
After Tom had finished spitting out the rest of the snakeman's slime, he stood upright again and addressed Blaise Zabini with a curt nod. She was dressed in a long and finely ornate black and dark emerald dress that fit rather tightly from her waist up. Her hair was twirled into ringlets and the curls tumbled over one another as Blaise moved around. Tom had always liked her sense of fashion. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, you know, I was just in the neighborhood." Blaise smirked.
"And baldy?"
This caused Blaise to suddenly laugh. "He likes to go by 'Headmaster' these days!" Tom allowed a faint snort to escape him, but remained unperturbed, nonetheless. "Yes, but he'll be coming soon. He's got two or three more people to take care of, I believe," she said thoughtfully.
"Brilliant," Tom said, thoroughly pleased. "Shall we go then?" Tom asked, offering his right arm to Blaise.
Author's Note: This chapter was written before the release of the fifth Harry Potter book, so I had no way of knowing that a character mentioned in chapter 8 of this fic would be the one to die! But don't worry! I've figured out a way around it, which will be presented either chapter 11 or 12! Now you know! And isn't everyone glad Draco's okay? ^_^
Chapter Ten: Look! We're into the double digits! *rofl* Well, in this next chapter we see a character that was mentioned before just briefly. No, it's not the person who died in OotP, but another person… only Erika caught it. :) But that'll happen only after Draco gets some strength, and who better to give it to him than—?!
Yosh! Joya's evil! I'm not going to tell who Draco's getting strength from! But this chapter summary will be a walk in the park compared to the end of the next chapter! *evil grin* Eiko will be having a poor lil heart attack by then... ^^;
Thanks to Bubble, Madussa, MelissaAdams, Erika, Janel, Guess *cough*, Faith, bitchy brunette, and Lily Among the Thorns–89 for the comments! So many commenters!! *cries tears of joy* I'm drunk on ego-boosts! Some of you actually stuck me in your favorite fics section?! *stares* Whoa… ^^;