Please forgive me for the wait, but the horrid evils of RL and writers block came knocking at my door at the same time coming for a bit of a visit.
I'd like to thank my lovely reviewers, Altariel Eldalote, ironic-humour, CuriousDreamWeaver, Tamielion, bob, Kage Mirai, elvenwolf123321, Immortal Memories, NettieT and Fallen Pheonix 721 for giving me incentive to keep going. No H/D yet, but it will be all the better for the wait. I'ts all on its way...
And without further ado...
Chapter Five
Ginny looked up from where she had fallen asleep on the couch when she heard the whoosh of the floo opening and the unmistakable sound of her girlfriend falling over and knocking something down with her. Ginny quickly got up from her comfy position and ran over to her girlfriend and pulled her into a tight hug, which was reciprocated more fiercely than Ginny had expected.
"I missed you Nym," Ginny whispered into Tonk's ear. "I'm so glad you're alive." She turned Nym's head towards hers and pressed her lips softly against hers, giving her a chaste and loving kiss before pulling her upright and taking her to the kitchen. Ginny sat down on one of the chairs and pulled Tonks into the seat beside her.
"Your mum sent me an owl, something about taking you to Hogwarts?" Tonks asked. Ginny nodded, and braced herself for telling Tonks just what she was planning. She was nervous about her response, and not sure if she wanted her girlfriend to get jealous or not.
"Well, I'm assuming you know about Harry going all vampy?"
"Yeah, I happened to be the one who found him on the battleground and got him to Hogwarts." Tonks answered with a shudder. "D'ya know how freaking creepy it was to see him look all dead and stuff and then know that he's up and about almost like normal now? And the spell we did to give his soul back was one big shebang of ancient magics, that's for sure." Ginny took Tonks hand in hers and gripped it to show her sympathy.
"Well, you know that he needs someone to be his, what would you call it—personal blood bank—for a while, and till he finds someone else I want to be that for him. He's like another brother to me, and I've never been able to help him as much as he's been able to help me. He saved me from Riddle back in the chamber and I want to be able to give something back." Ginny waited for a response from her girlfriend, and it she didn't have to wait long.
"D'ya know how dangerous that could be! He doesn't know control yet and I don't want you to get hurt. Plus, isn't him sticking his fangs into you neck just a tad intimate?" Ginny could tell Tonks was getting upset, as her hair was turning black and her hand was shaking in hers.
"Nym, this has nothing to do with me liking him romantically or anything, I got over that silly infatuation when I was twelve. Plus, I trust him not to hurt me. If he's gone to ridiculous extremes to stop me dying before I doubt that he'll do something so stupid as to drain me to the death. Plus, I'll take a blood replenishing draught straight away and I'll be as good as new. And I want you there with me anyway; just to make sure nothing goes wrong. I love you honey and I don't want to lose you over this, but I have to do this for him. He's family." Ginny latched on to her girlfriend and made her look into her eyes as she said this, willing her to see the truth in the statement. Tonks nodded resignedly, but then gave Ginny a sly smile, obviously inherited from the Black side of the family.
"So you love me eh?" She raised an eyebrow at the blush that was staining Ginny's cheeks and decided to do something she hadn't done for anyone before. She turned into her real form. Her cheekbones lengthened and her eyes turned into a piercing blue. Her nose was small and aristocratic, the arch of her eyebrow most elegant and the curve of her lips slightly less pronounced than she usually wore them. Her skin was a creamy shade of milky coffee and must have been inherited from her muggle family, as her mother's side all had a very pale complexion. Ginny both could and couldn't see why she never wore her natural form. She was stunningly beautiful, but the resemblance to the Black family was obvious, and you could easily see she was related to both her aunts Bellatrix and Narcissa.
Ginny took her beautiful girlfriends face between her hands and traced the features with her slightly calloused fingers. She looked into Nym's eyes, leaned in and kissed her softly. "I do," was all that Ginny replied. Tonks smile seemed to light the whole room as she kissed Ginny back. "Me too. Come on; let's get to Hogwarts."
ooooo
Ron looked morosely at his girlfriend with a cross between a grimace and a self-depreciating smile upon his freckled face.
"Ron! What happened to you? How did you lose your leg? When did it happen? Why did it happen? Are you okay?" Hermione exclaimed, obviously trying to get all the facts straight before forming a plan to do something about it. Ron smiled his first real smile since being bedridden at his girlfriend's familiar antics.
"Um, repeat questions slowly and one at a time so I can attempt to answer them, please? As you can see, my leg got chopped off after a curse went bad and would've eaten by body up or something."
Hermione grimaced and looked at Ron with sympathy. "When, where, and are you okay?" She repeated so he'd understand.
"A week ago, at the Ministry. I was there with dad for some reason and Death Eaters decided to have a bit of a party. Got hit with some curse, but dad got A-K'd. But yeah, I'm fine." Ron said bitterly.
"Your dad's dead?" Hermione asked in shock.
"Yeah, Charlie is too. Got told yesterday." Ron said stoically.
"Oh that's horrible Ron!" Hermione said with tears in her eyes, and she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug that rivalled Mrs Weasley's.
Hermione wondered if the wizarding world would ever recover from the disastrous effects Voldemort had wrought upon them all.
ooooo
Harry paced restlessly around the small white room. It had been at least twelve hours since he had woken up, and he had slept for six before then. He was starting to feel the effects of the potion wearing off sooner than Snape had predicted and wondered how long he'd last until he went crazy with need.
So he paced. And paced some more, trying to use up the restless energy that was coursing through his veins in the absence of fresh blood. His eyes darted towards the door as he sensed more people entering the infirmary. They paused for a while and he could hear a low murmur of conversation before he heard the footsteps move closer to the room in which he was enclosed. The door was then opened and the unexpected figures of Ginny and Tonks walked through the door and closed it behind them.
"Ginny? Tonks? Why are you here?" Harry said
"Wotcher Harry, no need to get all defensive, we're here to help." Tonks said, her hair a happy and vibrant pink, secured in short pigtails, with a labret sitting beneath her lips. Ginny ran up to Harry and pulled him into a relieved hug.
"You're okay, and yes I know all about the vamp thing and that's part of the reason I'm here now." She proclaimed, pulling back from hugging Harry and looking at him.
"I know you need a temporary blood donor until you find the right person, and I'm here to make sure you don't go off on an unrestrained feeding rampage or something- and don't you even think of refusing me cause I had to talk my mum and my girlfriend into it, okay?" Ginny gave a firm look that had to be inherited from her mother when she saw the expected doubtful look on Harry's face.
Harry was having a dilemma. Here was his willing donor, and his body was screaming at him to go ahead and drink, to take what he needed to keep sane and strong. His conscience was having a hard time of it. Ginny was the sister he never had, and he felt himself responsible for the deaths of her father and brother, as well as the maiming of Ron. He also briefly had the thought that it might be some way to gain his affections, before he kicked his ego and his intelligence in the arse, Ginny had gotten over him years ago—and hadn't she said something about having a girlfriend?
"Girlfriend?" Harry asked stupidly, as it seemed the easiest question to ask at this moment in his befuddled and angst-riddled teenage brain. He seemed quite surprised when both Ginny and Tonks burst out laughing until they could barely breathe.
"Trust a guy to ask about lesbian relationships in an otherwise serious conversation," Tonks said when she calmed down enough to speak. "Though I can't blame him, I prob'ly would too." She added with a sly little smile. With a very surprising speed, Harry put two and two together and smiled, comprehension dawning on his face.
"The two of you?" He asked, and those in question nodded almost shyly. "How long has this been going on?" He asked, forgetting about his current problems in the face of a great curiosity.
"Since just after Kingsley died." Tonks replied, more quiet and sombre than many people had seen her. The grief at the casualties of war surrounded the three, and they were all caught up in their own worlds for a while before Ginny forced herself to get on with what she came here for.
"Now Harry, you have to feed, and I've got my girl here in case anything goes wrong—she is an Auror though and will stop you from hurting me if you get a bit carried away with your first feeding and all." Harry nodded with a strange mix of resignation and hunger.
"Alright."
Tonks gave a quick squeeze to Ginny's hand as she walked up to Harry. He gave her a reassuring smile and went to stand by her.
When Harry bent his head to her neck the pulse beating there was the only sound he could hear. It was all embracing; a primal rhythm that had begun with the beginning of time. His incisors instinctively lengthened and he felt a rush of power as he pierced the flesh waiting to be feasted upon.
As he started sucking the coppery blood he could remember the knowledge he'd gained from his sire when he was turned. The hunt, the kill, the power now encased in his wiry frame. Memories that were not his own flashed through his mind, and he knew they were from the new line he now belonged to, the vampiric ancestors he could now lay claim to. He saw lives that spanned generations, lives that changed history and was almost overcome by the knowledge of his role in it all.
He then felt the golden cord of his soul pull at his awareness and took his head away from Ginny's pale neck. He stepped back and Ginny leant against Tonks for support before she was seated on the bed and handed a vial of blood replenishing potion. She downed it quickly so as to refrain from tasting it too much, and looked questioningly at Harry.
"Are you alright?" Ginny asked.
"I'm the one who should be asking that. I'm sorry, but I got a bit carried away." Harry looked contrite and guilty at this, wishing he'd never taken Ginny up on her offer. He did feel much better for it though, more alive. He'd felt he'd been in a somehow tense daze since he woke up in this infernal room. He couldn't wait to get out of here. The stark white walls were driving him crazy. He then somehow was able to sense the sun setting and wondered if his new room in the dungeons would be ready yet. He thrummed with energy and began pacing the room again, almost forgetting the silent couple sitting on the bed. He suddenly remembered their presence and turned towards them.
"Sorry, zoned out for a bit there. Are you sure you're okay?" Harry asked worriedly. Ginny smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll probably sleep a bit better tonight too, it was kinda tiring. Speaking of such, I think I'm going to go up to the dorms and get some sleep, McGonagall said it'd be alright. Where are you staying, you can get out of here now can't you?"
"Yeah, McGonagall and Snape have set up some rooms in the dungeons to facilitate for my condition. I haven't seen it yet though."
ooooo
Severus waited until Minerva had transfigured up the fittings for the brat's new room near the Slytherin common room down in the dungeon. She nodded her approval at her own work and walked out of the room into a little alcove that would serve instead of a portrait. He checked to see that she had left and with a wave of his wand changed the blatantly red and gold adornments of the room to a deep Slytherin green and silver. If the brat was going to invade his territory he wasn't going to defile it with anything Gryffindor that was for sure. With a smirk that wouldn't look out of place on a cartoon villain, Severus followed Minerva out of the room and sealed the door behind him.
ooooo
Poppy walked into what she had dubbed Harry's room and was glad to find that the Weasley girl was fine. It was under duress that she'd let her in anyway, only her concern about what would happen if Harry didn't feed had convinced her to allow Miss Weasley in.
Harry looked much healthier and more beautiful than ever before. There was an otherworldly, fey light that seemed to attach to his presence, proclaiming his allegiance to the side of light for all to see. She quickly took all this in and proceeded to ignore it, just as a proper nurse should. She glanced at the empty vial in Tonks hand and the colour in Ginny's cheeks and was glad the metamorphagus hadn't spilled it before she could give it to the younger girl.
Another reason she had come in was because the sun had just set, and she thought it would do both Ron and Harry good to see each other. She couldn't count the times she remembered seeing one or the other waiting at their fellow's bedside whilst recovering from and injury caused by one dangerous thing or another.
"Mr Potter, I was wondering if you'd like to go out and see Mr Weasley? I'll just stay here with these two and take Miss Weasley's blood pressure. Well, off you go then Mr Potter, Mr Weasley will need to be getting some sleep soon." Madame Pomfrey shooed him out of the room as Harry had just been revelling in the news that he could get out of there. He hadn't seen Ron since he was put out of action after the ministry debacle. Harry quickly walked towards the bed where he sensed that Ron was, and was surprised and delighted that Hermione was somehow here. He hadn't seen or heard from her since the end of their last school year.
"Ron, Hermione." Harry greeted his best friends as he pulled open the hangings around the redhead's bed. Hermione jumped up and gave him an enthusiastic hug before pulling back and looking at him in awe.
"What's happened to you? You look so different!" And gorgeous, Hermione added silently, neither she nor Harry noticing the glare and scowl combination coming from Ron on the bed. His jealousy was brimming and barely reigned in- he loses a leg and Harry becomes the man of every girl's dreams. Harry just smiled ruefully; glad to see his friends again.
"Hows the leg going Ron? That would really suck mate." Harry said to Ron as he gracefully sat himself down on the edge the mattress. "When did you get here, 'Mione?" He added. Hermione started rattling off the list of events that had lead to her return to Hogwarts and Harry listened on with great interest, noting a few of the parallels between her experiences and his with the Dursleys. He didn't notice how the expression on Ron's face was darkening by the second. When Hermione had finished her near-tirade Harry looked at Ron to see if he'd answer the question.
"Ron?" Harry prompted.
"Oh, yeah, I'm just bloody great. My dad is dead, my brother is dead and I just lost a leg. Of course I'm fucking great." He said bitterly, ignoring the pained and sympathetic faces worn by Harry and Hermione. "What happened to you anyway, did killing agree with you?" Ron said harshly, looking at Harry's now stony face, and ignoring the shocked gasp coming from his girlfriend. A shadow of anger and pain flickered across Harry's eyes until he decided to hit back with news of his own.
"Oh, yeah, I just loved getting killed and turning into a vampire—a great prize for ridding the world of Voldemort don't you think? Immortality for my pains. I'm stoked. I'm frolicking in summer sunshine—oh, hang on, I can't do that anymore, can I?"
Hermione's eyes widened in shock and for once she couldn't speak. For a moment anyway.
"What! How did this happen? When did this happen? Are you evil? You don't seem evil...Explain." Harry almost smiled at Hermione's reaction before he realised that could easily be taken the wrong way.
"I was sired by a vampire just after I shot Voldemort, and—"
"You shot Voldemort? That's what killed him in the end?" Hermione interrupted, intrigued and amused by the irony.
"Yeah, ironic isn't it?" Harry said with a somewhat evil smile. "Back to answering your previous questions, no, I'm not evil. You know that spell you found when researching ancient magics for extra credit for Flitwick? One of the curses in there was adapted to give me my soul back before I went on any killing rampages or anything like that. So I'm not evil, I just have to have willing volunteers to let me feed once or twice a week—Snape can make a potion that suppresses my need for blood to a much more reasonable level. Ginny just donored for me a few minutes ago and yes, she's okay, she's in there with Tonks and Madame Pomfrey and has had a blood replenishing potion so no-one has to worry." At this statement, Ron had had enough.
"What is with you Hermione? Why are you taking his word for this? He's a vampire! He's evil! He just feed off my sister! And you believe him? He thinks he's so fucking high and mighty, killing You Know Who and now he's going to live forever. He's going to be the next dark lord. Stay away from him. And you Potter, get away from me and never come near my family or me again."
Harry looked at Ron fuming, and then glanced at Hermione for support. Her eyes were pained, and her glance said to leave her to deal with Ron. He could tell that at least he hadn't lost a friend in Hermione. He looked once more at Ron and seeing a lost cause got up and stormed towards the doors that led from the hospital wing to the rest of the castle. Just as he reached the doors Snape pushed through them, but stopped when he saw a furious vampiric Harry Potter storming towards him. He turned his glare on full power to deal with this newfound irritation—he was meant to be the scariest person in Hogwarts—and forced the Potter boy to meet his gaze.
"Your rooms are ready, Mr. Potter so I suggest," Here he raised an eyebrow "that you follow me. You may as well make use of them now that the inconvenience of getting them ready had occurred. You always must be the exception to every rule, mustn't you Potter." Severus stopped there however when he saw a glower that outsmarted his own sent in his direction and decided to lead the ungrateful youth to his new rooms.
The next year would certainly be an interesting one, despite Severus' heartfelt wishes for a break. He'd have to down a whole lot of Firewhiskey to forget the shame of being out-glared by boy wonder that was for sure.
Please please review, thats what keeps this story going despite my horrid foe, writers block... I'll be forever greatful, I write this for you so your feedback makes it a better read!