A Vampire in a Wizard's World
by Sarah Black
Chapter five
Sally's nose was severely offended. What on earth was that smell? It was completely horrid and potent enough to nearly knock her out. She reached up to pinch her nose in a fleeting attempt to block the stench out. No such luck. Perhaps if she tried to focus on something else? Listening was her only option as there was nothing of interest to look at in the room she was occupying.
"Ginny! I'm surprised at you. What were you thinking? Did Fred and George put you up this? You're going to straight to bed when I'm through with you!" The loud lady, Molly, was yelling again. It went on and on. She tried focusing on the smell again, but it had faded and wasn't strong enough to pull her attention away from the lady's shrill cries.
Sally had nearly resigned herself to an eternity of listening to Molly yell when something happened.
The door opened. The light from the corridor flooded the room and she was temporarily blinded.
"Good afternoon. I see you've shaken the stunner off. Severus must have forgotten that your kind tend to be, shall we say, resilient when it comes to magic." It was the werewolf. She recognized his kind teacherly voice in an instant.
She couldn't think of a graceful reply in time so she stammered out a weak, "hello." She could see him now, having gotten used to the light. He wasn't at all like she would have imagined a werewolf would look like. She had thought he would be hairy and fearsome, instead he looked sort of harmless and... nice.
The silence was becoming awkward. He was staring at her. She suspected that she looked bedraggled and dirty so she didn't really blame him. Although, weren't Brits supposed to be all polite?
Deciding to try to shake the man out of his reverie she took action.
"So, you're the one who's going to take me to get registered." She boldly stated, sounding a lot more confident than she felt.
Her plan worked, the man looked surprised and the silence was successfully broken. Also, he smelled nice.
"Indeed, did Severus tell you all about it then?" He sounded interested. She was enjoying herself, finally a normal conversation. She smiled at him and nodded.
"Something like that." She couldn't help it, the flirtatious tone in her voice had just jumped in there.
Remus cleared his voice and started looking everywhere except at her. She almost giggled. Then she remembered at that she didn't really look her best. She imagined she had dirt all over her and bits of debris in her hair. Her clothes were probably torn too. She felt her self esteem plummet.
"Remus?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't mind her using his first name. No such luck.
He looked at her now, startled and a little annoyed. "How do you know my name?" He asked her sharply.
"Um, I heard the loud lady call you that." She answered, feeling sheepish. She refrained from using the woman's first name. He didn't seem to appreciate the effort. Her answer seemed to make him feel better, his posture eased up and he looked relaxed again.
"I see. Would you like to accompany me to the Ministry then?" He asked her, obviously wanting to get her out of the house as soon as possible. She, on the other hand, was mortified at the prospect of leaving the house, looking like she imagined she looked.
"Actually, would it be all right for me to shower first? Maybe have a change of clothes too? I must look a mess. I mean, I don't really know how I look because I can't see myself in the mirror for some reason. Is it maybe a trick mirror? Because, you know, I've never not seen myself in a mirror before..." She ranted until she was too embarrassed to continue. The man had to think she was crazy now.
"I'll have to ask Molly, but I don't think she'll like the idea. She's concerned about her children. I might be able to convince her if you promise not to bite anyone." Remus replied, sounding almost amused. Perhaps he didn't think she was crazy after all.
"I promise." She might as well play along with this vampire situation. She was actually starting to believe it after the mirror thing. She'd never heard of a mirror that didn't show reflections. Besides, she could see Remus reflected in the glass just fine. There was no point in denying it any longer. She was a vampire until proven otherwise. It wasn't some odd dream her deranged mind had cooked up. It was real. She couldn't explain any of it any other way.
"I'll have a go at talking Molly into it. Wait here." He gave her a small tired smile and left, closing the door behind him. It was dark again. She wrapped her arms around herself, engaging in her favourite activity. Self pity.
She blocked the world out and let herself think all those thoughts she hadn't let herself think before.
Why me?
What did I do to deserve this?
I'll never see my face in the mirror again!
And so on and so forth until Remus came back carrying a towel. She took it and followed him to the bathroom door. She felt like she was in a trance or more like auto-pilot. She hardly even felt amazed when Remus used one of those wooden stick things to fill an ancient looking bathtub with steeming water for her. She was so absorbed in her self pity that she barely waited for Remus to make a hasty retreat before she started to pull her clothes off.
Once in the water she felt a little better. She allowed her mind to drift, processing the events of the last few days. Had she really woken up in a tomb? Been tortured by a mad snake person? Did she really have no reflection at all?
She looked down at her body. At least she could still see it. She had a fairly nice body. She had always been rather proud of it, despite numerous stretch marks from puberty and all the scars on her knees from her active childhood. She glanced at her thighs and knees, intending to glare at the flaws on her skin. To her surprise they were gone. The silvery scar tissue had disappeared along with her reflection. Upon closer inspection her skin was completely flawless. Quite a bit paler than it had been a few days ago, though. She touched her arm with her fingertips feeling the smooth perfect surface. She ran her palm down the front of her thigh revelling in the sensation. Not only was the skin on her thighs unmarred by strech marks, it was also much firmer... A quick check of her breasts gave her the sudden urge to buy lots of silky underthings. Her body was perfect.
The delighted smile which had appeared on her face vanished when a sudden knock on the door interrupted the exploration of her skin.
"I don't mean to rush you, but we should get going soon." It was Remus' voice behind the door. She frowned at the interruption but sped things up a little.
"I just have to wash my hair." She called, hoping he'd leave her to it. Thankfully, she next heard his retreating footsteps.
She looked around for shampoo. She didn't see anything she recognized. She only saw very old fashioned bottles, made of coloured glass, standing on the edge of the tub. She shrugged and picked one at random, hoping none of the had anything dangerous inside. The liquid inside the light blue bottle she had picked, turned out to be bright pink and florar smelling. Sally decided this was clearly a good sign and dumped a bit of it in her hair. She remembered that she was in a hurry, so she didn't spend time massaging her scalp and spoiling herself like she usually did when she took a bath. As a result she was done in no time.
When she had dressed in the clean clothes she found on a chair she looked in the mirror again. Depressingly there was still no reflection. She left the bathroom with a sigh, feeling a little better than when she had entered.
"Remus?" She called, hoping she wouldn't be forced to look for him.
It was as if he had been waiting for her to emerge, because he walked around the corner almost the second she called.
"Good, you're done." He gave her that tired smile of his and motioned for her to follow him. "I hope you don't mind, but we have to leave right away." He continued when he was sure she was following him.
"I don't mind." She told him, trying to keep up with him. For someone who looked so tired he walked pretty fast. She had to jog to keep up. Suddenly he stopped, she didn't notice until it was too late and nearly crashed into him. That would have been most unseemely. Thankfully, Remus appeared to have rather quick reflexes and caught her before any bones were broken.
"You remind me of Tonks." He told her with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't sure, but he seemed to be suppressing a smile.
"Who's Tonks?" She asked conversationally.
Remus flushed a little as he answered, "she's a... collegue."
Sally smirked to herself when he immediately changed the subject.
"I'll need to blindfold you again and I must warn you to be very quiet as we pass those curtains." He said, looking serious and apologetic.
"What's behind the curtains?" She asked as she let him blindfold her. He was very gentle and somehow managed not to pull on her hair or anything. She was amazed. Her mother hadn't been that gentle.
"A painting of Sirius' mother." He stated. He looked completely serious too. She didn't know how to react so she just nodded and tried not to laugh.
She was beginning to suspect that this world she had somehow been thrown into was completely insane. However, as she had no way of getting out of it blindfolded as she was, she decided to keep playing along.
For a while, everything was pretty uneventful on her end. She knew they had left the house (and the painting) and were now walking outside somewhere, but that was it. After Remus had told her about the painting he hadn't said much else. A few, "watch out"s and "to the left"s but nothing substantial.
Just when she was about to rip the blindfold off out of sheer boredom Remus' footsteps stopped. She presumed the rest of him had stopped too. Her brilliant theory was proven right when he took the blindfold off, just as gently as he had put it on.
She thanked him and blinked a few times. It was dark out. She wondered how long she'd been in that house.
"We really must hurry, it's late and I'm not sure about the Ministry closing hours." Remus told her, looking worried.
She rolled her eyes, but sped up despite herself. A ride on the tube later they were hurrying towards a shabby looking telephone-box. Before she had a chance to ask Remus what on earth was going on he had dragged her inside and dialled a number.
She felt her mouth drop open in shock when an invisible woman started speaking. It wasn't coming out of that telephone at least. The woman's voice told them they were welcome to some Ministry and asked them to state their name and business. She stared at Remus who looked like he did this every day.
"Remus Lupin, visitor, here to take..." he looked at her questioningly. She realized that he wanted her to tell the disembodied voice her name.
"Sally Carlyle." She told the voice uncertainly. Remus smiled at her and kept talking to the woman.
"Here to take Sally Carlyle to the Vampire Registry." He finished. The disembodied voice thanked him and shot some badges at him through the returned coins chute. He pinned one to his robes and handed the other to her. Her badge read: "Sally Carlyle, Vampire". She stared at it blankly. It was as if those three words grouped together were the final straw. Just because she had decided to go along with this whole, her being a vampire thing, didn't mean she was ready for a badge!
The process was making her dizzy.
She felt a little like she thought being on drugs must be like. The ground started sinking. It was like being on an elevator. Except no mirror, no light and no annoyingly mellow elevator music.
She felt like screaming or fainting or making some such grand dramatic gesture. Instead she started crying. She hated crying. It was so weak. Pitiful and useless and weak. It accomplished nothing. Yet she couldn't stop.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Remus' hand pat her awkwardly on the back. She got over the shock quickly and decided that comfort was worth throwing her dignity out the window for. She turned to cry on his shoulder and feel comforted. His slow breathing was soothing and his awkward little pats felt nice.
She couldn't help wishing that none of this had ever happened and that she was safe at home. Dealing with essays and normal things.
Too soon there was light illuminating their feet, telling her she had to pull herself together.
"Will you be all right?" Remus asked her, his voice expressing concern. She whispered a little "yes" and whiped her tears away. She knew that her eyes were probably red and swollen so she tried to shift her hair so it covered more of her face. When Remus stepped out of the strange elevator they'd been on she followed him, head hanging and shoulders slumped.
Sally floated off into a dreamlike state, not really taking in her surroundings. She wondered what she would be doing had she left the strange man who had flown into her apartment be. Perhaps she'd be watching TV? Or having a nice, long, unhurried bath. The corners of her mouth lifted a little at the thought. Perhaps she'd be out dancing. What if this would have been the night, the night she'd been waiting for. When she would meet some wonderful guy who'd sweep her off her feet and what not. She let out a little dreamy sigh.
Remus was busy showing his wand to some desk person and didn't notice the vapid look on her face. That was probably I good thing, she thought. He'd most likely think she was out of her mind, her moods swinging from miserable and weepy to dreamy and vapid. Worse yet, he might assume it was a girl thing. She didn't like it when men chalked everything she did up to her being a girl.
Remus started to move towards some proper elevators. She followed him into one. It was empty except for a very sleepy looking man who was holding a tray of moving china.
Couldn't she ever do anything because she was simply a person? She continued her train of thought, absentmindedly noticing that one of the tea cups on the tray was wrestling with the sugarbowl.
Remus exited the elevator when it arrived on: Level Four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office and Pest Advisory Bureau. Sally listened to the elevator announce this and raised an eyebrow. Goblins? She thought to herself, remembering David Bowie in Labyrinth.
She noticed they left the elevator before the sleepy man did and was glad for it. Being alone in an elevator with Remus didn't seem to be very healthy for her dignity. She was sure she wouldn't start crying again if there were other people around.
"Watch out." Remus told her nonchalantly as a paper aeroplane flew passed her nose. She wondered briefly who had thrown it so well but decided she didn't really care. A few minutes later Remus announced that they had arrived.
Sally looked at the heavy oak doors, feeling dubious. What on earth was in there? It turned out to be a slightly empty looking office. There were only a few people scattered around in their seperate cubicles, clearly working late. Remus didn't spare them a glance. He walked straight towards another set of oak doors which led to a corridor, which led to another door on which was a brass sign.
Sally read it out loud, not knowing if she wanted to burst into tears or into laughter.
"Vampire Registry" she looked at Remus who looked as if all was right in the world. He opened the door and held it for her. She rolled her eyes at the gesture but walked through the door without a fuss.
It was a smaller office than from before, but it was still rather large. Surprisingly there were more people in this place than there had been in the much bigger room. Before she had a chance to admire all the interesting moving pictures on the walls her attention was pulled towards a woman who had walked up to them.
"Hullo, Remus. You confused? Werewolves are next door." The woman said, humour in her tone and her eyes sparkling with mischeif.
"No, I'm fine. I'm here on purpose, actually. I've brought you a new one. Her name is Sally Carlyle." He looked at Sally and smiled.
"Sally, this is Maggie Pinewood." He introduced them and pushed her gently towards Maggie. She realized he wanted her to shake hands with the woman and quickly complied.
"Pleased to make your aquaintance." Maggie told her sincerely as they shook hands. Before Sally had a chance to say 'likewise' the woman had let go and was focusing on Remus again.
"Has she fed?" Maggie asked him seriously. He shook his head hesitantly.
"At least I don't think so." He looked at Sally questioningly.
"No, I haven't eaten in ages." She told them, suddenly aware of how incredibly hungry she was.
Maggie made 'tut tut' noices. "Well, we'll have to feed her, now won't we. Thank you Remus, for bringing her. She seems friendly enough so we'll be able to handle her easily. Give my best to Molly, will you?" Maggie said all this very quickly while she practically pushed Remus out the door.
"Take care." was the last thing Remus said to her before Maggie closed the door in his face.
Sally felt a little lonely without him, and more than a little confused. Why was he leaving her in this office? Maggie was pulling on her arm, telling her to: "Come along, now." so she did what anyone would have done in the same situation. She came along.
Author Note: Thank you for the reviews. Hopefully you'll like this chapter too. Coming up is how vampires are registered and what happens afterwards. I'll try to update soon, but exams are coming up so I can't promise anything. Thanks for reading.