Chapter 15: The Kidnapping
Author's Note: I promise if it's the last thing I do I'll finish this story. Time has been really tight lately but this is about the half way point in this story so at the rate I've been going I'll have it done sometime in 2007. No, I'm hoping to do a lot of work on it during the Christmas holidays. Thanks for your patience!
The weeks seemed to drag by for everyone at Hogwarts, especially for the older students. All things considered this had been one of the most uneventful years at school any of them had ever seen. Except the incident in the school crypt there was almost nothing going on. It was becoming downright dull at the school and while many were grateful for the reprieve, a few in particular were extremely restless.
The only excitement to be found was "Professor Elanus' Scavenger Hunt" as most of the students referred to it. Elanus and Remus had assigned several more additions to the kits made earlier in the year and by Halloween many of the sixth years had decent sized boxes full of articles used in the defense of the dark arts. One of the students had suggested they write down how to deal with certain situations on small cards. They called it the "Slythern Recipe Box" after the student's house.
Even the first years had begun assembling their own simple kits for various situations and many of the other professors had suggested additions where necessary. It had become a competition of sorts among the students over who had the most complete kit.
While this kit building had been a nice diversion it just didn't suffice. The normal amount of gossip had dwindled to the point that the only rumors around school were about what Maria and Madam Hooch had fought over in the last flying lessons class.
As Halloween neared the students became more and more excited as almost everyone knew by now that Samuel and James had connections with the Weasley twin's joke shop. Samuel had been secretly giving small, and relatively harmless items to various students. He seemed to prefer giving them to the first years who saw it as their chance to get even with the 'oppressive upper classmen'. This was mostly an excuse for playing jokes on prefects.
Two weeks before Halloween Hermione was making daily trips to Dumbledore's office to complain about popping door jams, transmuting candy and various other jokes that had been played upon other students. The only person who seemed unaffected by the rampant prank pulling was Gene and the theory was that James and Samuel had forbidden anyone from bothering him. The truth was that Gene after raising three boys had a second sense about practical jokes and in his amusement and curiosity would sometimes touch the often magical devices rendering them inert, much to his disappointment and frustration.
On Halloween morning the school was literally humming with excitement. Everything was decorated with black cats, orange pumpkins and every other sort of Halloween themed decoration one could imagine. Many of the professors placed candy dishes on their desks for the enjoyment of the class and their lessons were mostly entertaining rather then educational. Even ghostly Professor Binns had a scary story to tell that day.
Being one his favorite holidays, Samuel went to great lengths to show his class things about a muggle Halloween and how similar it was to the way wizards celebrated it. He showed them a few plastic muggle costumes and gave a demonstration on how cosmetics were used to simulate wounds, fur, warts and even extra body parts.
After day's last class was dismissed the excitement about the Halloween night feast grew to almost tangible levels. Rumors had been flying about Samuel and Dumbledore making plans for a huge joke that was to be played on the students that evening as Professor Green had been seen entering Dumbledore's office on a fairly regular basis. Sure enough Samuel went to the headmaster's office that evening before the feast.
"Do you care for some tea?" Dumbledore asked as he waved his wand at a small copper kettle, which immediately began to boil and whistle.
"No thanks, I'm saving room for dinner," Samuel replied, "I have reached a somewhat disturbing conclusion about Padme Patil though, and I hate to bring this up today but I feel the sooner you know the sooner a decision can be made."
"I see, has she agreed to the sessions?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, grudgingly at first. She's a smart girl and knows when something is wrong and she finally agreed to see me on a regular basis a few weeks ago. I had some suspicions at first, because in my former line of work you see this kind of thing a lot. Since I'm not extremely knowledgeable in this field I can only tell you what it might be, and what I've seen," Samuel said.
"Go on."
"Padme seems to be suffering from what soldiers in the old days used to call 'shell shock'. Muggle doctors call it 'post traumatic stress disorder', it usually happens when someone goes through a bad experience like the loss of a loved one, an act of violence, war, or even something like a car crash. Their minds get wounded so to speak. It doesn't happen to everyone mind you, nor does someone actually have to go through a painful experience to get it," Samuel said, "Miss Patil seems to be experiencing a lot of the same symptoms people with this problem do. Her symptoms seem to be relatively minor compared to some of the cases I've read about and even seen."
"How did this happen?"
"The best I can figure is that she was in with the students that were helping the wounded during last year's battle. I think she had the misfortune of watching a lot more then one person die a really horrible death. The killing curse tends to do that to people. Now I know there are several older students here that had to see the same thing, but like I said it doesn't happen to everyone."
"What is your recommendation?" Dumbledore asked, "What can be done?"
"Sometimes, but not often, people recover by themselves. It's not unheard of, but it isn't usual, and therapy is usually required. It's my suggestion that she go see a muggle psychiatrist who's both privy to the wizard world and has experience with patients suffering from shell shock. If that's not an option she might find help in someone that's had it and recovered."
"What about Saint Mungo's?"
"It's not a magical problem, and from what I've seen at Saint Mungo's they'll likely do more harm then good. For the most part she's a completely normal teenage witch. I really suggest she see a muggle doctor about this," Samuel replied, "There's no magic potion to make her get well. In fact when I say 'recovered' I mean to say that they learn how to deal with the problems and no longer experience them as badly. It's something that sticks with them for the rest of their life, even with help."
"I see, you do know that I'll have to inform her parents of this?" Dumbledore asked.
"That's what I told her. She said it was alright with her," Samuel said and then chuckled, "She's really a bright young woman, she told me that the only way she'd get better is if she admitted to herself there was a problem. I think whatever doctor gets her will have a model patient."
Dumbledore nodded, "Well if that is all then we should go see what the house elves have prepared for us for this year's feast."
Samuel nodded and opened the office door for the headmaster and the two found their way to the Great Hall. The feast was already prepared and the smell of roast chicken and beef made their mouths water almost as fast as the sight of bowls filled to the brim with boiled mushrooms and the platters of scalloped potatoes. The first course was exquisite, bested only by the decadent desserts that followed. Cakes, pies and pastries of all sorts filled the tables and the students were not shy about helping themselves.
When the meal was over the students heard a suitably spooky tale from the headmaster complete with magical illustrations and the help from some of the ghosts that called the school home. The students were then dismissed to socialize before retiring to their dormitories. Three older Slythern boys had cornered a few younger Hufflepuff girls and Gryffindor girl in one of the school's many halls.
"Hey," one of the Slythern boys said, "Why don't we go down to the crypt."
"That isn't allowed!" the Gryffindor girl said, "You saw what happened to Jim when he went down there."
"Bah! Janie, you know he was already missing that arm. Besides all that Professor Green and his cousin destroyed those things. I just want to see what's left of them," The boy said, "Unless you Hufflepussies are scared?"
"We're not scared Wyatt! And don't call us that!" one the Hufflepuffs said defiantly.
"Ooo, is the little Hufflepussy going to hurt me?" the Slythern boy asked, "Come on guys I want to see some dead zombie."
The three Slythern boys ran down the hall towards the crypt stairwell. "Let's go," the Hufflepuff girl said.
"I don't think this is such a good idea," Janie said.
"There's nothing down there, and I don't want to give that boy another excuse to call us that!" the Hufflepuff said, chasing the three Slythern's down the call. The rest of the girls followed close behind. The Slythern boys stopped at the end of a deserted hallway and waited for the girls to catch up.
"Thought you weren't coming," Wyatt said as he fumbled around for something at the end of the hall.
"Scared?" Janie asked, shifting her weight to her right foot, "We're waiting."
Wyatt sneered, "I just have to find the right brick is all," he said poking his wand into holes in the mortar between the bricks. "There we go," he said as a door appeared on the wall. "Ladies first," Wyatt said, opening the door. Janie crossed her arms and raised her left eyebrow at Wyatt, then peered into the door. A dark stone stairwell led down into the bowels of the school so far that Janie was sure she couldn't see the bottom. She snorted and drew her wand from her robes, "Lumos!". The end of her wand began glowing an intense white light and she made her way down the stairs.
Turning her head back she saw that no one was following her, "Come on you babies, or are you all 'Slyssies'?". The stairwell only got darker the further she descended. Her only reason for not turning back was that she could hear several sets of footsteps behind her. Finally she reached what she sincerely hoped was the bottom and not just another landing on the stone staircase.
Raising her wand high over her head she could see she was in a large circular room with three doors leading in different directions. They had large brass signs above them that seemed to indicate what was behind them, but they were written in a language she didn't understand. One sign read, "Mulheres", whatever that meant. Another had "Lagarto do Trovão" printed on it and the third read "Câmara Da Morte".
"What do they mean?" one of the Hufflepuff girls asked.
"I think that one says 'women'," another of the Hufflepuff girls said pointing to the "Mulheres" door, "I think it's supposed Spanish, but it's spelled wrong. It should have a 'j' in it instead of the 'lh". The first word in the other door definitely means 'lizard' but the rest doesn't make sense."
"So it might not actually say 'women' then?" Janie asked, "Where are those boys?"
"Boo!" Wyatt said, pouncing on one of the Hufflepuff girls.
"How mature," Janie said dryly, "Alright boys where do we go now?"
"Through the 'mull here's' one," Wyatt said as he opened the Mulheres door. Inside was a slightly smaller room with two doors with identical labeling as those in the first room. The other side of the door they just came through was labeled "Homens". Wyatt scratched his head for a moment before heading through the door labeled "Câmara Da Morte". Inside was a foot thick stone slab raised about four feet off the ground by magic of some sort. A hole in one of the walls led out into the crypt proper. New looking red bricks coated in a grey sort of plaster littered the floor on both sides of the hole.
"Here we are," Wyatt said, pointing to the hole, "My uncle told me about this passage, they sealed it up when he was in school here. The dark lord's rumblings last year apparently broke apart the plaster."
Wyatt carefully crawled through the hole and into the crypt itself. Janie followed quickly after him as did the rest of the children behind them. This part of the crypt looked like it hadn't been touched in decades. Everything in sight was covered with a thick layer of spider webs and dust. The dust on the floor stirred around the students as they moved through the various corridors. They only occasionally stopped to point at a name on a niche in the wall they recognized. Finally they came to an intersection in the hallways that looked newer and more recently used.
Wyatt stopped and rubbed his chin for a moment and looked to his left and right and hummed thoughtfully. Janie stood beside him with her arms crossed, her wand still clenched firmly in her right hand.
"Lost?" she asked, ticking her glowing wand up and down in time with her tapping right foot.
"No just thinking a moment, right this way," Wyatt said leading them to the left. He slowly approached another intersection in the tunnels and grinned. "This is it," he said excitedly as he rounded the corner. On the ground was a headless and slightly desiccated corpse.
"This is it, the monster that Professor Green killed," Wyatt said excitedly, "Exploded its head from the looks of it. I'd give anything for that kind of power."
"I'd give anything not to even think about what that means," Janie said as she examined the corpse, "This guy has been dead quite some time," she said, tracing her fingers around what was left of the skull. "No brain tissue," she said.
"Ewww, you're touching it," squealed one of the other girls.
"This isn't any worse then the stuff Professor Sprout and Hagrid have us do," Janie said, "I think it's interesting." Janie looked at the corpse a few moments longer before looking up at Wyatt. "I think we better go, someone will be looking for us and we don't want to get in any trouble
"Aww is the little Hufflepussy afraid of getting detention?" Wyatt sneered.
"You know infantile remarks like that are not the way to a girl's heart right?' Janie replied, "Who came up with that "Hufflepussy" thing anyway. It sounds like something my seven year old little brother would say. He's a squib and really slow in the head just so you know."
Janie expected Wyatt or one of the other Slytherins to come back with some stupid retort that she had already planned how to respond to. Instead there was only silence. She looked up from the corpse she was examining and looked around. "Wyatt? Miranda? Where'd you go," She called, "This isn't funny, I don't know the way back."
"Your friends can't hear you little one," a silky voice said from the shadows. Janie shuddered involuntarily and her right hand instinctively whipped her wand up as she'd been taught to do in dueling class. Her left hand deftly pulled open a loose knot that held her dark arts defense kit closed.
"Who are you, where are they?" Janie asked moving her wand back and forth slowly. Her other hand slipped into the pouch at her hip and pulled out a vial of flash serum she'd made in Potions.
"You're a smart one, and powerful too I sense. Or you will be some day. Do you know what I am? Do you think a vial of bright liquid will repel me?" The voice hissed, moving closer.
"This isn't funny. I don't know who you are or why Wyatt put you up to this but I demand you stop it now," Janie said, stomping her left foot on the ground.
"Stop it now? Very well," the voice said. Suddenly the shadows began moving and a tall and very pale man coalesced out of the darkness. Janie barely had enough time to notice the strange clothing he wore before she smashed the vial in her hand on the ground. There should have been a bright, but harmless light and a noise similar to that of a flock of guinea fowl during mating season. Instead there was only shrieking from the man and the intense aroma of garlic. "Garlic oil?" Janie thought as she noticed the smell. I had splashed all over her robe. Not wanting to question why the strange man was shrieking like he was she ran down the catacombs in a random and quick fashion looking for the stairs out.
As luck would have it the stairs that spiraled up into the castle proper were just a few corridors away. She bolted up the stairs, stumbled into the hall and ran wildly until she found the first professor she could. As fast as she was running she nearly knocked Professor Snape over. Snape groaned in disgust at the smell of Janie and the garlic oil which she had rubbed on his robe.
"Man," Janie wheezed, "Crypt, Wyatt, Gone."
"Calm down," Snape said, "What happened."
Janie made frantic waving motions with her arms, almost poking Snape a few times in the process. Finally she caught her breath and managed to say, "We were in the crypt. Wyatt, some other Slythern boys and some Hufflepuff friends of mine. We found the zombies, and someone took the rest of them."
Professor Snape groaned and shook his head, "I'm sure it was a joke. Your friends will show up soon enough," he said in a vain attempt at consoling Janie.
"No," Janie said frantically, "It's not a joke," she said slinging garlic oil around.
"What's wrong?" Elanus asked, walking up behind Snape.
"This girl insists something happened in the crypts," Snape replied stiffly, "Nothing more then a Halloween prank I'm sure. When they turn up, and they always do they will be punished."
"Of that a have no doubt," Elanus said, smirking a bit, "Why don't we have a little fun and track them down and scare them ourselves though?"
Snape raised a curious eyebrow and smirked slightly, "You think this might not be a joke. I think you're mistaken. Go ahead and have your fun but I'll have no part of it."
Elanus snorted and did an about-face then walked of toward where he had seen Samuel last. Samuel and Snape seemed to have a similar opinion on the matter but Samuel decided it was worth at least checking out. After all the crypts were currently restricted to professors and students sneaking down there was grounds for detention. He'd also become increasingly agitated in the last few weeks. Samuel brushed his nervousness off as excitement. Something told him that there was more going on then what it seemed, no matter how certain he was that the Slythern boys had played a joke on Janie.
Not wishing to make the same mistake twice, Samuel quickly retrieved his armor and put it on. This had to be done in a hurry and with a lot of help from Elanus as they made their way to the crypt's main entrance. Samuel was careful to keep his hand on the pommel of his sword as he followed Elanus down the dusty tunnels underneath the castle. Elanus stopped at the corridor where they had defeated the creatures two months prior.
"This is not good," Elanus said calmly.
"What's wrong?" Samuel asked.
"The bodies of those things aren't here anymore," Elanus replied.
"So what?" Samuel asked, "Dumbledore must have had them removed."
"No he didn't," Elanus said, "I told him an expert should come look at them. Unfortunately the man I had in mind is in France. He insisted that we leave everything exactly as it was until he arrived. Flitwick and I came down here and placed charms on the area so nothing could disturb it much."
"And now the corpses are gone," Samuel said, "Are you sure we're in the right place?"
"Yes," Elanus replied.
"Did the charms keep the bodies from being moved?" Samuel asked.
"They could be moved a little, just not away from where they were. Mostly it was to prevent rot, fire, water damage and similar damage. The charms aren't active now though and it would have taken a pretty powerful wizard to dispel them," Elanus said, "Or an Opposite."
"I don't think I could dissipate charms like that," Samuel said.
"Uncle Gene could, certainly, but I told him about it and he promised he wouldn't come down here," Elanus said.
"I don't think James has been down here, and he's the only other person in the school that I know of that might be an Opposite," Samuel replied.
"I think I've pretty well ruled out Opposites in the school already," Elanus said, "It had to have been a wizard. The real problem here is, we have no idea where the bodies are, where the students are, or why there aren't any tracks."
"Cleaning spell explains the tracks," Samuel said, pointing at the dust on the floor, "I see our foot prints but I don't see any others, not even the girl's where she ran out. The dust on the floor is pretty even which could be a sign of a dusting spell."
"Yeah," Elanus said, "My mom used to use it before enchanted dusters. It just kicked the dust in the air, you had to have a wind charm to blow it out of the house. If you didn't the dust would settle right back down on whatever you tried to get it off of."
"Exactly, they covered their tracks," Samuel said.
"Not very well done either," Elanus commented, "There are only two exits out of here that don't lead to the castle."
"Where?" Samuel asked.
"One leads out into the forest, and the other is under about ten feet of mud at the moment," Elanus replied, "A landslide during my years here sealed it off."
"A landslide you say?" Samuel chuckled, "Well I suppose we check out the other exit. What does school policy say about missing children?"
"I'm not really sure," Elanus said, "But if we don't get those students back really quickly they'll probably shut the school down."
"It's going to be a long night then," Samuel said, "Shall we?"
Elanus nodded and walked down the tunnels, looking carefully down each intersection until he came to what looked like a stone ventilation shaft of some sort with a recently broken wooden ladder leading up almost fifty feet to a heavy iron grate. Samuel and Elanus looked up the shaft with more then just a bit of irritation.
"Let me guess, you didn't bring your bag of tricks either eh?" Samuel asked.
"Nope, I figured this was just a prank," Elanus replied.
"How did they lift that grate up and break the ladder at the same time?" Samuel asked, squinting at the barely illuminated grate, "And carry several children up. Are you sure this is the only way out?"
"Quite sure," Elanus replied, "I guess they flew."
"I think we could probably lift that grate off with not problem if we had something to stand on," Samuel said.
Elanus took off his robe, spread it out on the floor and waved his wand at it. The robe stiffened and rose a few inches off the ground. He stood on top of it and instructed Samuel to do the same. Quickly the robe rose off the ground higher and higher until they nearly had to duck to keep from hitting their heads on the grate. The two men wrapped their hands around the iron bars of the grate and lifted with all their might. Slowly they lifted the grate from its resting place and climbed out of the hole. Elanus snatched his robe from the air and wrapped it around himself again.
They stood just inside the dark forest outside the school grounds. The October night air made their lungs feel cold and the wind nipped at their exposed skin. Elanus lit the tip of his wand and carefully examined the ground around the grate. "This way," he said, pointing deeper into the forest. Samuel followed closely behind his cousin, right hand wrapped tightly around the pommel of his sword.
"Any idea what we're looking for?" Samuel asked.
"Vampires," Elanus replied grimly.
"Are you sure? Tell me you're joking."
"I never joke about vampires, believe me, I wish I was. See that grey residue on the ground there?" Elanus asked, pointing to a lump of grayish white sludge on the ground.
Samuel knelt down to examine the sludge, "Smells like burning garlic and skin."
"That's what it is. That girl must have somehow doused a vampire in garlic essence from her kit. It causes a violent allergic reaction when they come in contact with it. That slime is a sort of vampiric pus that drops off the vampire to rid it of the garlic. The damage to the vampire isn't permanent, and when the sun rises it will burn up so very few people have seen this stuff," Elanus commented.
Samuel snorted in disgust and stood back up, "Lead on then," he said. Elanus nodded and made his way down a narrow but fresh trail made by half a dozen pairs of little feet as they were being led through the forest. The two made very little noise as they moved, a skill that they had both honed in Texas while hunting rabbits with little more then sticks and occasionally a sling shot. After about a half hour of tracking Elanus snuffed his wand and held his hand back and motioned Samuel to stop.
They crouched down and peered past a few trees into what looked like a small clearing. Four adult sized figures were circling around what appeared to be six frightened children. The larger figures seemed impatient and waiting for something. "Where is he?" one of the figures muttered. "He'll be here," another one said a bit more calmly.
"Shall we strike?" Samuel asked Elanus in a whisper.
"There's another one I think," Elanus whispered, "We want them all at once."
Samuel nodded and gripped his sword tightly as he watched the figures circle around the children. He felt cold all of a sudden, as if he were crouching in a pool of water and it had just soaked through his clothing. Elanus shivered audibly and turned around quickly, whipping his wand around. He winced once and fell silent falling on the ground with a thud. Samuel instinctively closed his eyes a second then in one fluid motion he drew his sword with one hand and turned around, thrusting it deeply into whatever had silenced his cousin. The sickening sound of flesh and muscle tearing accompanied Samuel's sword thrust.
A tall man stood in front of Samuel, pale and gaunt. Samuel's sword stuck out of his chest and a smile was on his face. The man wrapped his left hand around Samuel's sword and began pulling it out of his chest. Samuel reacted quickly and jerked the sword up and with his other hand punched the man in the face, staggering him back a few paces.
"Excellent form, and a fine blade, but I fear the pathetic secrets of Asia will not save you here," the man taunted. Samuel raised an eyebrow although it was more in confusion then intrigue. "I see you find it intriguing that I know where you learned the art. I know many things," the man said.
"I must say I am amazed at your perception, vampire," Samuel said, carefully hiding the sarcasm in his voice.
"Who was your master?" the vampire asked, moving around slowly, obviously trying to gain some advantage.
"Kasahara-Chan," Samuel replied, keeping his face straight, "One of the best sensei in all China. He taught me the ways of China's best and oldest samurai warriors."
The vampire narrowed his eyes and advanced towards Samuel, "Then I will send him your head so that he will know he failed in teaching you the sword." Samuel choked, trying not to laugh and moved in a more defensive posture. The vampire lunged at Samuel; grinning a wicked smile as he did. Samuel narrowly avoided the vampire's claws and returned with a slash from his sword.
Samuel intuitively studied his opponent as they exchanged blows. He found it hard to keep the vampire away from him as its wounds didn't seem to slow it down or even bother it. Many of the wounds Samuel had inflicted on the vampire were now closed completely and most were healing rapidly. The vampire didn't seem to have any particular form to his attacks. Samuel figured the vampire had no real training and was relying on its greater strength and speed to overcome him. What the vampire lacked in training, it certainly made up for in experience. It was obvious the vampire was no stranger to a fight. In life he had probably been quite an impressive tavern brawler. Maria would have cut it to ribbons and James would have found this whole situation laughable.
There were other concerns besides the berserk vampire attacking him. What of the other vampires? Why was Elanus unconscious? Why weren't the vampire's companions attacking him too? Samuel began to think back to his training. He knew he had to kill the vampire as even if he hacked all its limbs off it would still heal eventually. Even though he was familiar with vampire vulnerabilities there was not much he could do. He didn't have a wooden stake, silver or garlic. He wasn't sure that would work either as he was certain he'd got the vampire through the heart with his sword. That should have killed it unless he removed his sword. He supposed he could have missed, and the wound was already healed so he couldn't tell. Samuel was also finding it difficult to get in a position to grip his sword with both hands.
An idea then presented itself. He just had to remove the vampire's head. His sword wasn't really heavy enough to do that one handed and Samuel wasn't really certain he even had the strength in one arm anyway. Samuel's training didn't exactly cover the removal of heads during combat either. Mr. Esteban had taught him a few tricks though, one of which just might work. Samuel felt down the edge of his cloak with his left hand and slipped a finger into a small loop inside the hem. He had asked Mrs. Weasley to put it there for just such a purpose. He backed up and began talking to the vampire again.
"I must confess I lied to you earlier," Samuel said.
"What do I care?" The vampire asked.
"Well your ignorance is quite astounding. I thought it would be best if I educate you before you kill me so you don't make this mistake again," Samuel said.
"So you admit defeat," the vampire reasoned, "What mistake?"
"Well for one," Samuel said, backing up as he did, "It should be obvious to anyone that samurai are from Japan, not China." The vampire snorted in response and lurched at Samuel, who stepped quickly out of the way, keeping the vampire at arm length. "The other thing that should be fairly obvious to anyone who knows anything about Asian cultures is that the suffix 'Chan' is also Japanese. If I remember right it is used to refer to a girl not a man. I'm sure there's more to it then that though."
"What does that matter?" the vampire asked.
"It would if you're ever in Japan, I thought you should know," Samuel said. "Sensei is a Japanese word as well, I believe, and I have never in my life met anyone by the name of Kasahara. I think he wrote an origami book. Those aren't even the most glaring examples of your ignorance though. Should I tell you what is?"
"Why not, you're about to die anyway," the vampire replied.
"I don't know a damn thing about Asian swordplay. My teacher was from Spain, any idiot could see this is a European style sword," Samuel said. The vampire angrily slashed his claws at Samuel again. Samuel swung his left hand up and wrapped his cloak around the vampire's hands and gave a sharp pull which sent the vampire staggering to the ground. Samuel quickly grabbed his sword with his other hand and said, "I guess you weren't going to kill me after all," to the vampire before cleanly removing its head as it tried to get to its knees to stand up. Samuel knelt down and wiped the ichor off his blade on the vampire's clothing and turned to find his cousin.
Elanus began to regain consciousness as soon as the vampire was slain. He stood up, still somewhat dazed and almost instantly darted for the children. Samuel ran after him only to find that the other vampires and the children were already gone. No tracks marked their passing nor did any other visible trace.
"Damn!" Elanus shouted, clenching his fists in rage. Samuel placed his hand on his cousin's shoulder, "We'll get them back."
"Lumos!" Elanus said angrily. The tip of his wand lit up a bright golden color and then abruptly went out.
"That can't be good," Samuel remarked, pulling a leather pouch out of his cloak. He took out what appeared to be a small plastic cylinder and bent it in half and shook it. The tube began glowing a bright green and he held it out in front of him, "There's a mostly dead vampire back there, I think he'll be coming back unless we stake him. The forest never gets very bright."
Elanus muttered something under his breath and pulled a small pocket knife from his pocket and began cutting a small branch off from a nearby tree. He sharpened the stick and furiously rammed it into the vampire's heart. Not willing to take any chances he stomped it in with his foot and broke off the piece sticking out of the corpse. Samuel shook his head, "This is going to be a hard one to explain to Dumbledore."
"Don't talk to me," Elanus snapped as he drug the vampire's corpse out into the clearing. Samuel brought the head out into the clearing as well and hung it on a sapling that grew out of the middle of the clearing. Elanus managed to gather enough fallen wood from the forest to elevate the body off the ground.
Elanus snatched the light stick from Samuel's hands and led the way back to Hogwarts in silence. Dumbledore and a few of the professors were waiting on them as they arrived. Storming past the professors, Elanus almost knocked professor Snape over. Snape called out and drew his wand. Samuel grabbed Snape's hand before he could do anything and shook his head at the professor, "Bad idea, let it go." Severus relaxed his arm somewhat and Samuel let him go.
"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.
"Vampires, they kidnapped several of the students," Samuel replied, "I killed one of them. It made Elanus go unconscious or something. He's pretty mad about it. The other vampires got away, with the children." Several of the professors gasped and began talking amongst themselves.
"That is an interesting device, Professor Green," Snape said referring to the glowstick Elanus dropped, "What is it? And how is it that a muggle device works in Hogwarts?"
"It's a chemical light stick. Sort of an emergency light. I found they were the only thing that worked during my training. It seems the wards around Hogwarts don't affect chemical reactions," Samuel said.
"Why did you need it?" Dumbledore asked, "Was Elanus' wand damaged?"
"No, he lit it up but it flickered gold and suddenly went out. He couldn't light it again," Samuel replied, "We couldn't see our way back."
"This is bad," Flitwick said.
"I fear we'll find that is a sad understatement," Dumbledore said.
