Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or the Carpathian novels (gee don't I wish), I know the timing is wrong, but go with me on this…the way these stories are looking, they are turning into a trilogy. So the time line is going to be a little screwy. Sorry about that. PG-13 for language.

Oh, and Sigurd is MINE! No one can use him until I am done…until then email me if you want to use another of my characters. Oh, Dark Harry is mine too. And yes, Dark Harry did come from the idea of Dark Willow off of BTVS. So sue me. But beware… I have about 18 cents in pennies (rose a whole 5 cents! Niff, ain't that toe tweet(if you say that out loud it is even funnier)) at my disposal at the moment. I am a VERY poor sixteen-year-old who happens to get really weird ideas from all over the place. Okay I will quit rambling now.

Dark Norse

Chapter 3: Hunting

Sigurd watched warily as the vampire again sidestepped a lash of lightning as it washed down. Sigurd was getting tired of fighting, it was about time to just kill the stupid being and get it over with. Playing with vampires had just about lost their allure.

Just as he was about to pounce on the vampire, he disappeared. "Damn!" Sigurd muttered under his breath, the language of his people coming naturally to his lips, even after all this time away from his homeland, the Carpathian Mountains.

Sigurd had been chasing this particular vampire, he called himself Alanis, for the better part of a year. He was one of the last master vampires, and Sigurd was the only one who could defeat him with relative ease. Sigurd was one of the strange Carpathians, if one could call any Carpathian normal, in that he had lost his emotions and color well after most and he had now been alive for approximently five thousand years, one of the longest lived on the planet. Only outdone by his brother Rune, who was six thousand years old, but he had his lifemate already. A Carpathian woman who was as lovely as the rain in the moonlight.

Sigurd was getting to the end of his very long rope. It had been okay at first, especially after Rune had gotten his lifemate. Sigurd had been able to survive on Rune love for Katherine. Now, it was difficult to do anything. So, in a last effort to be helpful, Sigurd had followed Alanis to this mountain range. Silently daring him to kill him, so he would not have to falter at having to do it himself.

But now the bastard had vanished in thin air, not even leaving a trail. But, all vampires had a signature. Sigurd sniffed the air around him, breathing in the scent of the master vampire. Catching the direction the scent went, Sigurd shifted into the form of a Arctic Wolf, running full out south, toward the Carpathians were that he had felt earlier, and toward the vampire just out of his clutches.

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Harry was pacing the Headmaster's office. Not really paying attention to the ramble of Draco and Dumbledore discussing the whereabouts of the Death Eaters, until they started talking about Hermione.

"Well, we searched the areas that she was supposed to guard, and not only was everyone dead, but the most damage was a particular spell residue that we think caused the deaths of the villagers. It was as if someone had passed through time…" Draco sounded matter-of-fact, but only Dumbledore caught the guilt underlying in his tone. Draco was as affected by this as the rest of them. He was just better at hiding it. Harry was the one to cut off Draco.

"What? A time spell is supposed to be impossible. How could one do it?"

Dumbledore spoke in that calming tone that had kept Dark Harry from coming out many a time. "Technically, it is not impossible. We just say that, because if we didn't, students and dark wizards alike would fool with the spell. It is only used on inanimate objects, like Time-Turners, never living beings, because no one knows what will happen."

Dark Harry finally came out. Fawkes warbled a warning to the surrounding people, though they could see for themselves what was going on. "I told you Malfoy, if you couldn't find Hermione or the person who did the spell disappear, that I would find her myself. I suggest, Ron, that you inform Snape that his dream is going to come true. At least until I find her. And you can't stop me, I want to see you try, Malfoy." Dark Harry disapparated from the office. No one could stop the shiver that ran down their spines at Dark Harry's statement of no one getting in his way. Woes betide any that had the lack of wits to try.

"What did he mean when he said that Snape's dream would come true?" Draco asked, though he had an inkling, he didn't want it to be true, for that would mean that Harry wouldn't be coming back, and he couldn't control him from that far a distance.

"It means, that Harry just resigned the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Know any good Potions masters?" Ron was still staring at he spot where he had last seen his friend.

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Hermione had just finished explaining where she had come from and how she didn't know how she got there. She left out the part about her being a witch, and all that delt with wizards. Fortunately, she had taken several classes of Muggle Studies and she was Muggle-born. Otherwise she would have been in trouble.

Gregori talked to Raven and Johnatan by a common thread. "She isn't telling us everything. Maybe we should probe her. Raven, you are the best at that."

"I don't know Gregori. She seems so sad. I might find things that I don't want to ever see. You know my past, I don't want to experience that again. Ever."

"We could call Mom. She is good with that, or Mikhail could do it." Johnatan was quick to offer his mother, as long as it wasn't him. He didn't want to know what was in a girl's head.

"Good with what?" Savanna came through the door leading her youngest daughter by the hand. The beautiful woman startled Hermione. Was no one at least a little plain? Hermione had to suppress her discomfort at all the people around in the small space. But, those gathered immediately understood and gave the woman some much-needed space.

"Can you read her?" Gregori asked his lifemate with a softness he saved only for her.

In answer, Savanna tried to get into the petit woman inner-mind. Strong shields blocked her. Looking at Gregori, she passed her concern to him. Gregori saw the girl in a new light now. A human was able to repel telepathy. What about compulsion? "Hermione?" Hermione's head looked up into the eyes of the one called Gregori. She felt drowned in them, so she quickly shut her eyes, but unfortunately, she couldn't shut her ears.

"Hermione. It is for your own good. Sleep." Gregori used the strongest compulsion he had. Hermione didn't even look up, she passed out onto the couch.

Savanna didn't need to be asked to try the girl again. The shields were down. And as she looked into the woman's memories of the past, she was overwhelmed by the things she discovered. This woman, was a witch. And she was psychic, but apparently didn't know it. Hermione had the power of sigog, learning at such a fast pace that it was inhuman. Basically, a sigog picked up information in others brain and stored it in hers for later use. And Hermione didn't know she possessed the talent! What had she picked up from them that she didn't know she possessed? Did she know what they were? Did she know about vampires? Shape-shifters? What did she know?