Harry walked calmly down the slightly over grown path, steadily moving deeper and deeper in to the foreboding forest. The hunger pains had started this morning, and Harry needed to feed. He could have put it off until it was completely dark out, but the sun was about to set, and the semi darkness, mixed with his speed, was enough to slip in to the forest unseen. Besides, he needed to get out and keep his mind off things for a while. The stares were coming even more ever since the boggart incident two days ago. Apparently, Harry had an evil twin brother who had been trained in the Dark Arts by Voldemort himself, and is now out to get him.
Harry pushed the thoughts out of his mind and turned all of his focus on to his surroundings. He made no noise, his breathing controlled and his steps light as he moved towards the small pond that Sasha had told him about. The snake had been exploring and hunting in the forest every day, but would always return before Harry went to sleep, curling up on the pillow by his head. His dorm mates, as expected, had been surprised by the snake, to say the least. Harry had calmly explained to them that the snake was not evil, and was his familiar, so they better get used to it. The explanation didn't really help, so he had shut the hangings to his bed and locked himself and Sasha inside for the night.
Harry's mind popped back to the present as he came upon the pond he had been searching for. The shadows of the dank forest were protectively wrapped around him, completely hiding his physical presence from the world. He looked to the pond and found a medium seized deer lapping up water from the opposite side of the pond. The fangs painfully shot out of Harry's gums, sensing the coming meal. The light in Harry's jade eyes tripled in intensity and cast an eery green glow over his face. Harry could see like it was broad daylight, and his fangs were now lowered completely, ready to absorb the fresh blood.
Just as Harry began to step out of the shadow, the stag's head shot up, obviously catching his scent. The deer definitely wasn't waiting to see who it was. It shot off with an incredible speed, expertly dodging trees as it ran through the densely forested area. Harry didn't hesitate at all, and shot off after the deer. He had to run around the murky, bog like pond, unwillingly giving the deer a head start. He turned the corner and took off after the deer, tracing it only by scent, because it was now completely out of sight. The ground scrolled under Harry's feet as he moved with agility far beyond what any human could master. To any outsider, Harry was only a passing blur of movement as he wove in and out of the dark tree's in his path..
Although the stag was still running wildly through the forest at top speed, it was painstakingly easy for Harry to close the gap between them. With a practiced ease, Harry grabbed the stag by it's antlers, bringing it to a full stop and breaking it's neck all in one fluid motion. With a soft thud, the lifeless body of the reddish brown stag fell to the ground, it's dead eyes still showing the shocked expression it had worn in it's last seconds. Harry dropped to his knee's and forcefully brought his head down to the stag's neck, and sinking his fangs straight in to the jugular. Harry slurped at the artery with an animalistic fever, never coming up for air until he could feel that he was full, the fresh blood coursing through his veins with a renewed vigor.
Harry's fangs retracted back and the glow in his eyes faded out in to the normal level. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, eyeing his blood soaked robes in disgust. He slipped off his robes, shortly followed by the t-shirt he was wearing underneath. Slipping out his wand, he held out the clothes in his free hand and began casting cleaning charms on them. Once cleaning off the offending items, making sure he didn't miss anything, he slipped them back on and started walking back from where he had come from, following his scent so he wouldn't get lost.
The sun was now completely set, and the sky was now completely black, angry storm clouds looming in the distance. Harry could hear the movements of creatures all around him, most nocturnal creatures just waking up and leaving their nests to start the hunt. The tree's creaked threateningly at Harry as he calmly walked past, his eyes flashing at any tree that began moving it's branches towards him. The forest was so densely populated with the tree's that if they tried to turn on him, his only chance would be to take off at top speed and hope he can dodge every branch that comes at him.
Harry was half way out, almost back to the murky pond, when he heard a rustling to his right. He froze in mid ste. He had been hearing sounds like that around him all night, but this one was much closer. He slipped his wand out of his sleeve, preparing for any chance of a confrontation. The rustling sound grew closer, and Harry could only step back as a giant spider scuttled in to the path ahead of him, eyeing him with all eight of it's ugly eyes. Harry's eyes flashed menacingly, bringing his wand arm up in to a defensive stance. The spider was in his path, and he wasn't sure what he could do to remove it. Surely a stunner wouldn't work, would it? He had no clue what magical properties the spider held. But he did know that it was a spider, and spider's are much faster and stronger than their size gives away. Harry was sure he could outrun it, the giant of a spider couldn't use his full speed in an area so densely packed with obstacles, could he? Harry couldn't risk the chance, so he stood still, hoping that Sirius would forgive him for breaking his promise about illegal spells if the spider attacked.
"My children have informed me that a strange creature has invaded the forest, yet you look, and most certainly act, like a human." it growled out, it's eyes narrowing on the wand and it's pinchers repeatedly snapping together. "What are you?"
"I am many things, none of which are any business of yours." Harry said in a carefully measured, neutral voice, not moving at all to acknowledge the threatening move made by the spider.
"All who enter my territory are my business." It said, scuttling a little closer. "I am afraid, you will not live past this night."
In that moment, Harry realized he had been focusing so hard on the monstrosity in front of him, that he had not noticed the scuttling of movement all around him. But now it was to late to do anything, the area around him was covered in thick webbing, effectively blocking any hope of escape that he had. The spiders had obviously witnessed his speed, and were not taking any chances. He was now enclosed in their trap, and although he was confident in his ability with a wand, he knew one spider 'egg' could hatch hundreds of them, and this spider appeared old, how many eggs had been hatched in this forest? If he took this spider out, how many would come down on him to avenge their leader?
"I mean you no harm," Harry said, attempting to talk his way out of the situation. "I was not aware of your presence in this area, I will avoid entering from now on."
At this, the spider let out a low growling noise that sounded almost like a laugh. "I cannot deny my children a free meal when it so willingly enters my domain. What could you possibly offer us?"
Deciding that he had only one more option, Harry took a deep breath, and stared straight in to the monster's eight beady eyes. He allowed the light in his jade eyes to flow out to their full potential, and they glowed menacingly, the intense light almost completely blinding the spider, inducing a scuttle backwards in surprise. He knew that this was his last chance at escape, and so he spoke out in a venomous tone, "I can offer you life."
"You cannot offer us what we already posses." The spider grunted out, attempting to see through the blinding green light.
"Allow me to reword that." Harry said, "I will spare your lives."
At this, the spiders all around Harry began scuttling closer, snapping their pincers menacingly at the death threat to their leader and themselves. The leader made a low grunting noise, silencing them, before looking back to the green light. "You will kill us all? I hold no fear of your kind."
"Are you so sure?" Harry said, and then he continued in parseltongue, hissing in the same menacing manner, "Sasshaa come quickly. Every spider around him scuttled backwards, recognizing the hissing sound for what it was and eyeing him fearfully. The fangs shot out of his gums once more, and Harry let out a vampiric hiss, flashing his fangs in plain sight. "Do you fear my kind?" Harry rasped out.
The enormous spider in his path was the only one that seemed able to even partially pull himself together, the others backing away several yards, losing faith in seeing the fear that loomed in the eyes of their leader . "You cannot stand against us all." he growled out.
But just a second after the spider had spoken, a low, pain filled grunt came from one of the spiders surrounding them, and it dropped dead, acid burning at it from behind and rapidly eating through it's insides. "I will not be alone in standing against you. My kind do not take kindly to threats against their own." Harry bared his fangs again, and let out another hiss as he took a step closer.
Another grunt of pain sounded out, closely followed by the familiar sound of a dead body hitting the ground. The leader backed away from Harry's step forward, and two more bodies fell dead. Harry's eyes flashed once more, and he murmured an incantation under his breath, directing the point of his wand straight in to the air. A fierce white light exploded from the tip, only lasting for a second, but momentarily blinding every spider in sight. This was the breaking point, and the spider's broke out in to a full panic, all scuttling around the webs and shooting away at top speed in the direction from which the leader had come. The leader, who was left forgotten in the panic, began climbing a web behind him, leaving the trap that had enclosed him with Harry.
"Immobulus!" Harry shouted, pointing the wand at the grizzly old spider and putting far more energy in to the spell than he would have for a normal human. The spider froze where it was, still climbing backwards towards the top of the web. Harry approached the beast, his eyes flashing in anger. The old spider eyed him with a fearful look in his eyes as Harry stopped less than a yard away from him, a tear of saliva dripping from one of his pearly white exposed fangs. "You must know I am a student at the school. Dumbledore has so graciously allowed your pitiful existence in this forest, and this is how you treat him for his over trusting gesture?"
The fear in the spider's eyes intensified, but the curse on him would not allowed him to respond. Harry shook his head in disgust, "Incendio." he whispered. The giant of a spider erupted in fire, the hot blue flames licking away at him and spreading over his body at a painfully slow speed. Harry felt the familiar spark of pain as he retracted his fangs, and sparing no second glance to the burning spider in front of him, he turned and walked out through the hole Sasha had burned in to the web.
"Are you unharmed?" Sasha hissed out, slithering up his leg.
"Yes." Harry answered shortly.
Sasha was surprised by Harry's strange rudeness to her, but rested on Harry's shoulders, staying silent as Harry picked up his trail again and began calmly walking out of the forest.
As he walked, the glow in Harry's eyes slowly lowered back to normal, and as his mind cleared, he thought about what he had just done. He could have let the spider go, it wouldn't have bothered him again. Yet he didn't. He spared it no mercy, not even a quick death. He had killed the monster in cold blood, and he had actually enjoyed it. He had felt the exhilaration in the pit of his stomach as he cast that spell. The rush. It was the same feeling high he got when flying on his firebolt, but this was twice as intense. Harry let out an involuntary shiver, and his thoughts drifted to his conversation with Remus two days before.
"It wont happen." Remus said, placing his hands on Harry's shoulders and directing him to sit down in one of the many chairs in the staff room. "You have a choice, Harry."
Harry looked up at him, his normal air of confidence still missing. "What if I don't? What if I just don't have the will to resist it?"
Remus bent down in front of Harry and clasped his shoulder, "You're the strongest person I know."
"Am I?" Harry said, looking like he would cry out of pain for the first time in years. "Do you know what it feels like while I'm hunting?" Remus gave Harry a compassionate look, and sadly shook his head, half wanting the answer, and half not. "It feels good. No, it feels great. It's an addicting rush, and while I'm draining whatever innocent creature it is that I've killed, all I want is more, more until I'm completely full."
Remus sighed, calling back memories from long ago when he had sat with another vampire, and comforted him when he was at his weakest, telling him about the thirst.
"Do you know what I used to do?" Harry went on, his eyes glossy with unspilt tears. "Every couple weeks when the hunger returned, I would hold out. I told myself that I wouldn't go do it again, that I would never kill again, that I would never like that twisted high it gives me. I told myself that I would die before I did it again. Do you know what it is? The thirst?"
A stray silver tear slid down Harry's pale cheek, and Remus reached up to wipe it away in a comforting gesture. Never before had Remus noticed how fragile Harry was. His lithe body was shaking, his strength and confidence dissipated in to nothing, leaving only the scared 13 year old child. Remus gathered Harry up in his arms, and took his seat, holding him close. He wanted Harry to stop, he couldn't bare seeing the pain on the face of the boy he had always thought of as a nephew, or even a son. But he knew Harry had to get it all out. And a minute later, he continued.
"The hunger pains aren't bad the first few days, only come for a few seconds once or twice a day, just a slight hollow feeling. But when I put it off, they get worse. After about a week, the pains get really bad. It feels like..like my entire body is cramping up all at once, like my muscles are all turning inside out and trying to crush my bones.. It only lasts for a few minutes or so, but it hurts so much ... I usually gave in before it got that bad."
Remus felt tears leaking down his cheeks. He clutched Harry tighter to him, and he felt no warmth. It had always been a constant reminder of what Harry was. He was half human, but he still never generated as much heat as a normal human should.
"But a few times I've tried to stick it out. Do you know what happens when I don't respond to the pains? The thirst starts. It comes slowly, creeping up on me and getting worse and worse every hour of every day. I used to sit in the library and read to keep my mind off things, the pains still coming every few hours. Then Sirius would come in to see what I was doing, and when I see him, picking up the scent of the blood flowing through his system, the thirst comes. It clouds my mind and tells me to sink my teeth in to his neck and drain him until I'm full. And it makes it seem like it wouldn't be much of a sacrifice, to kill the most important person in my life, just to get rid of the pain. It tells me to do it, but I would push it down, and retreat to my room to be alone before I gave in. But the thirst keeps creeping up, and the pains keep getting worse. It keeps coming, and soon it can take control. I'll be sitting somewhere away from anything living, and then it comes, and all I can think about is finding blood and slaking the thirst. I start running to find something to drain, anything that's alive, even Sirius. But I could still manage to break out of it and push it down when I get to close to someone. It keeps getting worse, though. The more I avoid feeding, the more it takes control, clouds my mind and forces every rational thought out, leaving only the most animalistic of them.
"I've heard of vampires who won't take life, vampires who beat the thirst. You know what they do? Before they lose complete control, they isolate themselves. Lock themselves up in a room in which they could never break out of. And then, when the thirst completely overcomes them, they go insane with it, and all they can think about is getting blood, by any means possible. But they can't, and they slowly die of hunger, clawing away and attempting to get out until they breath their last breath.
"So do you know why I stopped avoiding the hunt? I tried .. tried doing it, and I almost did. I was going to chain myself to the wall, cast unbreakable charms all over, break my wand, and stay there until I died. But at the last minute, I hesitate, and ran to the forest before the thirst took complete control and I killed Sirius or some other person. I realized that I couldn't beat it, so I started feeding every two weeks like vampires are suppose to when the hunger starts. And when I sink my teeth in, when I'm draining the animal, that's when I get the rush, a twisted high like no other. Vampires go crazy, killing anyone they meet, just for that addicting rush." And at that, Harry broke, unable to go on any further.
Remus gave another deep sigh, and attempted to comfort Harry, pulling him tighter in to his embrace as the boy's body convulsed and shivered, breaking down in to heaving sobs.
"But you recognize it, and you fear it," Remus whispered in his ear. "and that is why it will never take you."
He had stayed with Harry for hours after that, until the boy had been able to completely compose himself again, pushing everything down and brining out that brilliant, confident boy that everyone knew him to be.
Harry shivered at the memory as he approached the end of the forest, seeing a few beams of moonlight peeking through. His thoughts drifted back to what he had done to the spider. He had only brought out his fangs and glow to give off a more menacing look, but when he called them out, the thirst had come. No, it wasn't the thirst, because he had just fed, and he wouldn't be hungry for at least a couple weeks. It had been some other instinct, not strong like the thirst, but something that clouded his judgement none to less, pushing him to protect himself.
He wasn't expecting it. He could've pushed it down if he had known it was coming ... right? But this had been the first time that his instincts had kicked in while he wasn't hungry. He had read that a vampires instincts can come out to protect them when they're in danger. He had never been in complete danger, but that must have been what happened, his instincts were telling him to protect himself. But his instincts weren't just pushing him to protect himself, they were pushing him to be violent and cruel with the opposition. That wouldn't happen again though, his instincts would never get the better of him, he could deny the thirst by hunting, and he could push down this other, weaker instinct.
Vampires all over could live a normal life, just as werewolves could. Not all of them are murders, feeding on other wizards. Harry had always wondered why other vampires fed on humans, he guessed it was because they received more of that addicting rush out of the kill. But even if Harry didn't have the will power to withstand the thirst, he had enough to never get addicted to that rush. No, he could keep everything under control. He could feed regularly, and push down that violent instinct when he was in danger. If other vampires could live normally, so could he. Remus had said he was the strongest willed person he knew, but at the moment, he felt like the statement was a contradiction of the truth.
As he made his way back in to the castle, he pushed the unsettling emotions down to where he couldn't feel them. After all, there was no point allowing the emotions to eat away at him when there was nothing he could do about it. Harry would have to live with it, and if more problems arise, he could deal with them as they come. Yet even as he pushed the emotion down, he couldn't seem to stop the thoughts of his previous encounter with the spiders from sitting in the back of his mind, this new violent instinct, this representation of his greatest fear, haunting him.
Draco sat in the Transfiguration room, eyeing Harry as McGonagall tested him. He had arrived early, like he did to most classes, especially any with the Gryffindors. As it turned out, Harry had also come early, McGonagall wanting to test his level of skill in her subject. Draco looked on as Harry performed all of the first and second year level transfigurations flawlessly, his face neutral and almost bored as he displayed no sign of concentration at all.
It had been three days since the boggart incident, and the confident, powerful Harry was now back. The boy was seemed completely unaffected when the DADA class had come back to finish their practical lesson with the boggart that morning, although he hadn't fought the boggart again. And thanks to Longbottom's work on the boggart, the rumors about Harry's evil twin would be forgotten as soon as the new encounter worked it's way through the rumor mill. Draco had even been helping the rumor a bit, something he usually left to Pansy.
Draco was broken out of his thoughts by some students rushing in to the room. He checked the time and realized that the class was about the start. He looked up to McGonagall, who had a very pleased look on her face, and sent Harry to his seat so she could begin the class. Harry's eyes shifted over the back of the class, but Draco had already sat down there, and his Slytherin friends had joined him, so the boy sat in the front. This allowed Draco to watch Harry through out the class, almost entranced by his fluid movements. He still had that presence, the one that made you think he knew every move you made, maybe even what you were thinking. Draco had the feeling that if he threw a ball of parchment at the boy's head, Harry would most likely reach back and catch it. He pondered doing just that for a moment, before deciding that it was a bad idea. He didn't want to get on Harry's bad side, it would move him further from his goal. What his goal was, he was still unsure, but he didn't want to cause the boy any harm, especially embarrass him by throwing things at him in class.
Although from what Draco had learned about the boy, Harry would probably turn around, raise a rhetorical questioning eyebrow, and then turn back, his cool exterior never leaving. He probably wouldn't even exact revenge, or throw an insult at him like any other Gryffindor would. He had never seen the boy even get frustrated, much less angry. He could get the Weasel fuming like mad with even the smallest of insults, yet Draco felt like he would never be able to get Harry riled up, even if he wanted to. No, the best he could probably do would be to get the boy annoyed. He thought back to Diagon Alley and why Harry had insulted him. Thinking back, it was probably because he was seeing red when he left the store. Only his godfather seemed to be able to do that to him ... but when he was mad, Harry seemed quite capable at pissing people off. Even worse than his words, were his motions. First, it was the way he seemed to relaxed, so at ease under Draco's imperial presence. Then, after Draco had first spoken, he seemed to find Draco unworthy of his attention, and had turned his eyes back to the street. Then when he seemed to realize that Draco wasn't going away, he gave off an exasperated look, and began insinuating that Draco was an idiot.
Somehow, the boy had completely assessed what Draco was and where he could hit him the hardest, then acted it out perfectly. Maybe this was what had drawn Draco in, his appreciation for Harry's talents. But ever since Harry had arrived at school, he hadn't spared Draco a second glance. Actually, the only one he had found worthy of a second glance was Granger, who had been having animated conversations with him at every meal in the great hall for the past few days, sometimes even leaving with him to walk back to the Gryffindor dormitories. Draco felt jealousy rise up inside him at the thought that the mudblood seemed to be the only one that Harry ever directed a smile at.
The class passed all to quickly, and Draco soon found himself following Pansy and Blaise to the great hall. He followed his two friend's lead and took a seat across from them, his gaze immediately searching out Harry across the hall. He found him sitting with Granger again, leaning to the side to read something out of a book she was showing him. His cheek was almost touching with Granger's as he leaned in to read whatever it was that he seemed so interested in. He looked down at the book for a second, his eyes sweeping across the page, before he smiled and leaned back, saying something to Granger. She giggled at his comment, and began talking once more. Neither of them seemed to be eating much, Granger having a full plate of food in front of her and slowly eating away at it, and Harry picking some food off her plate every one of a while, grinning back at her.
Getting a sudden idea, Draco turned his gaze back to his friends. "So, have either of you heard anything about Potter?" he asked in a low voice, leaning across the table slightly. His two friends eyed him strangely at the comment, but they seemed to accept it as curiosity, and answered him truthfully.
"Not much really, besides that whole twin thing of course, and we saw that ourselves. I did hear that his familiar is a snake, but I'm not sure if that's true or not.." Blaise answered.
"A snake? Really?" Draco asked, more to himself than to Blaise. "I'll have to ask around and see if I can find out anything else about that.."
Draco turned to Pansy, who held a thoughtful look on her face, "Well ... Millicent and I had detention with the giant last night, we were taking care of his stupid giant pumpkins in the garden, and I thought I saw Potter on the grounds heading towards the forest. At least it looked like Potter's form, looks like a strong wind would blow him over, doesn't it? Anyways, I looked back, but he had disappeared. Millicent said she never saw him, but I know I did. So we watched for a few minutes, but we didn't see anything, so I guess he must've slipped in to the forest some how.. Maybe he was exploring or something?"
"That's impossible," Blaise interrupted, "He couldn't be in the middle of the grounds one second, then completely gone."
"I know I saw him." Pansy glared, "Maybe he used some sort of cloaking charm or something. Draco saw McGonagall test him, and he was really good, right? And I heard a Hufflepuff say that he was perfect at everything when Flitwick tested him. He probably stole some book from the restricted section and found a powerful invisibility charm that was put there because it was to easy to cast and the teachers don't want us sneaking around."
"Don't be an idiot, Pansy." Blaise snapped, "The more powerful a charm, the harder it is to cast. And even if their was such a spell, don't you think we would know about it? Dumbledore is suppose to be one of the only one's who can do it without a cloak or a potion. And before you start on that, Snape would be the only one here who could brew a invisibility potion, they're extremely hard. And I doubt he has a cloak, only old wizarding families would have one, and none of us have even seen one before."
Draco pondered on the topic for a few minutes, allowing his friends to continue their banter, until he finally spoke up. "Let's keep this to ourselves. It would be nice to have something on Potter incase we ever needed it. Pansy, make sure Millicent doesn't talk, ok?"
Pansy nodded, and Draco went back to his dinner, his thoughts still on the boy across on the hall, and what he was doing in the forest so late at night. Draco had always been scared of the forest, hearing all the stories about the nasty creatures that inhabited the area. It seemed that Harry was not afraid of entering the forest, which wasn't very surprising at all, the boy seemed to be fearless. But why would he even enter in the first place? Draco brain stormed through out dinner, trying to find any possible reason. But in the end, he couldn't come up with anything besides 'exploring', like Pansy had suggested.
Just as Draco was about to give up, following Pansy and Blaise out of the great hall, an idea struck him. He picked up his pace, leading his two friends and two body guards straight down to the Slytherin common room. As soon as the portrait had swung open to reveal the dungeon like room, his eyes were scanning the various tables, searching for a possible candidate.
"Hey Nott!" Draco called out across the room. Theodore Nott looked up from his homework, happy to be addressed by the unofficial 'Prince of Slytherin'. Draco approached the boy and took a seat across from him at his table. "I've got a favor to ask of you.."
A/N: OK, this chapter pretty much explains all the attributes of a vampire. I was really unsure of how to do the scene with Lupin, and rewrote it a couple times. Did you guys think it was confusing? I was trying to get across that the 'thirst' was an instinct that forced a vampire to feed, slowly taking over if they ignored it. So were you totally lost with all that 'vampire instinct' stuff? I need some feedback this time, I'm considering rewriting that scene again if it's to confusing for everyone.
Anyways, thanks for reading :p