"Sanaz, you freak, get off of me!"
Sanaz caught Hermione's flailing arms and shoved them down with inhuman strength--Hermione cried out in pain.
"Oh for god's sake why are you so surprised, darling? You're a lot less perceptive than I thought you would be...Oh, now there's going to be the stammered 'w-what are y-you' without thinking...Dear dear me. I'm a harpy, sweetie...do you remember what harpies do?"
Hermione tried to think, distracted by the huge red wings that had suddenly unfurled from Sanaz' back. "King of Crete," she babbled. "They stole all of his food, or something--"
"Mm, no, sweetie...That story is just a coverup for what really happened--harpies taloned him and drank so much that he was barely alive by the time the Argonauts came by. Vampires drink red blood cells, harpies drink plasma. Vampires cause exhaustion, fainting, lung failure, internal bleeding...harpies just cause blood clots and gangrene. The King of Crete had multiple heart attacks."
Okay, crazy American harpy who's going to give me a heart attack sitting on top of me, grinning. Way not good. "Get the fuck off of me, Sanaz!"
"Why should I? It's very rarely I get to feed on such young blood...did you wonder why Dean Thomas was sick last week?"
Hermione remembered him being a bit pale. "You drained him?"
"Don't be such a drama queen...I just fed." Sanaz pushed Hermione's head up, revealing her slim neck. "Mm...lesbian plasma. Best kind."
Hermione shrieked as a long-nailed finger slit open her jugular vein: immediately, Sanaz' mouth latched onto the wound.
She'd read loads of Anne Rice (by The Vampire Armand, she was convinced that it was not an aging Catholic woman who wrote them), and it was definitely not like the descriptions of getting bitten. No neck-gasm for her. Instead, there was a horrible sensation as Sanaz separated the plasma from the blood: immediately her limbs felt heavy, her brain fuzzy. Sanaz' tongue was like a huge cold needle that kept diving into the wound and freezing it. As she grew weaker, the harpy on top of her grew stronger.
Finally, Sanaz sat up and grinned her scary grin. "Also unlike vampires, our blood does not have healing properties...if we get cut, we stay cut. That's where wands come in." She brandished the wand: "Halux!"
Hermione sat up, panting, arms feeling like they had molten metal flowing through them.
"Mm...and if you get the bright idea of telling anyone...well, that wouldn't be too bright, would it? I'll out you."
Hermione blinked, masaging her neck. "Surely you could think of a worse punishment?"
"Not really, love. The wizarding attitude to homosexuality over here is quite nasty...in fact, over three-quarters of the wizarding homophobic hate crimes reported each year are tossed out of court. No one will care if all the Slytherins start calling you a lesbo whore, because they'll be doing it too."
This was true, Hermione realized. Very, very, true.
"So if you tell anyone then you'll have to quit school early...awright, baby?"
"Yes," managed Hermione.
"Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Buh-bye." She suddenly disappeared--Hermione could hear wings flapping in the gloom of the tower.
Hermione sat there, shaking, tears running down her cheeks. That had happened in under five minutes. God.
She got unsteadily to her feet, nearly tripping over her robe. Angrily she tightened it, cursing her happy gullible manner. I fell for it.
She walked slowly to the trapdoor. It was still lunchtime. Food would restore her blood.
Harry was waiting for her at the end of the ladder. "That was fast," he commented.
"Shut up."
Harry was quite a lot more perceptive than she was. "What hap--"
"I said shut up, Harry."
Harry shrugged, perfectly willing to leave it alone.
"I'm really hungry," Hermione mumbled, and strode downstairs.
Five minutes later, a flushed Ginny Weasley ran up the stairs to the North tower.
One could see a Victoria's Secret bra strap poking off of her shoulder.