A/N: Hey, it's me again, with the promised chapter. Hope you enjoy! Give me suggestions, opinions, whatever, and I promise I'll take them into consideration, alright?

Disclaimer: (Refer to prologue. It's too much of a hassle for me to repeat the same thing in each chapter. :P)

Chapter 1: Burdens

Dumbledore sat in his office, staring at a letter in his hand. There were two odd things about it. Firstly, it was not parchment, but normal white paper. Secondly, the words were not handwritten, but printed.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry frowned slightly as he reread the letter again. How curious...

Hearing footsteps outside his door, he called out, "Come in!"

Hermione Granger, Head Girl and loyal friend to the Boy Who Lived, stepped into view. Taking a seat before his massive claw-footed desk at his beckoning, she politely accepted his offer of tea. "Professor, what did you want to see me for?"

He chuckled. "Always one to—what's the Muggle term, ah yes—cut to the quick, aren't you, Miss Granger?"

Her cheeks coloured slightly. "I'm sorry, Professor. I've had a bad day."

He nodded kindly. "I quite understand."

They drank their tea in silence, until Hermione could no longer withstand the suspense. "Professor, your purpose in summoning me?"

"Oh yes." The comfortable, light-hearted atmosphere in the circular office quickly became very serious as the Headmaster leant forth. "It has been brought to my attention, Miss Granger, that there is a Slayer in our school. She has been called after the...death of the previous one."

"A Slayer," she repeated slowly. She remembered reading about them in the school library, and had felt a sense of intense admiration for them, to have the courage and ability to stand against the far greater numbers of darkness. It was probably the inherent poet in her who found such a tableau tragically romantic. "And you want me to inform her about her calling on your behalf?"

He shook his head. "No, Miss Granger, it's not that." Holding a hand up to forestall any further reply from her, he continued, "My dear girl, you are the Slayer."

It took a minute for his words to sink in and another for her to fully comprehend them. And when she did, all she could do was sit up very straight and gape in a very uncharacteristic way at the old man sitting opposite her. "S-sir? Are you sure that it's not a mistake? I can't be the Slayer...it's just not possible."

He chuckled again, but it was more out of irony than amusement. "No, my dear girl, I am certainly not mistaken. You are the reigning Slayer now."

"But...Professor...why me?" The look of frustrated bewilderment, an expression he had seen on the face of Harry Potter far too many times, made his heart ache.

Clearing his throat, he continued speaking, feeling the need to explain this to her, as well as himself, "It is not I, or the Watchers' Council, who decides such things, but a higher power. I believe the Watchers' Council call it The Powers That Be."

"I don't understand."

He reached out and patted her hand gently. "It's a little hard to take in. Perhaps I should ask Messrs Potter and Weasley to escort you back to your room?"

The suggestion seemed to rouse her from her daze. "Oh no, thank you, Professor. I think I can make my own way back."

"If you say so," he replied, although his expression belied his disbelief. "This arrived for you." He held out a well-worn brown leather-bound book.

He watched her leave his office with a heavy heart and sat back in his chair, sighing with the air of one who had seen too much in his long lifetime. "Why do they choose to put these burdens on such young shoulders?" he bitterly muttered to no one in particular.

She did not remember taking the book, thanking the Headmaster and making her way out of his office, but somehow, she found herself in the sitting room she shared with the Head Boy.

Grimacing to herself, she hurried into her room, not at all feeling up to an encounter with a certain arrogant, blonde Slytherin by the name of Draco Malfoy at the moment. In one of Dumbledore's harebrained (and that's putting it mildly) policies about inter-house harmony, he had elected the Head Boy and Girl from opposing houses. She and Malfoy had fought every single day since the start of the school year, until they had agreed in an unusual moment of solidarity that it would not do for fellow students to see the Head Boy and Girl at loggerheads with each other. A truce of sorts had been made; with them refraining from insulting each other as much as possible and dividing their common room into half to minimise chances of territorial clashes.

Maybe the boy does have some sliver of decency in him, she mused absently, then shook herself very hard. It was Draco Malfoy, for heaven's sake! The boy was evil, period. No questions asked. Perhaps the shock had given her brain damage.

Looking fearfully at the tome in her hands, she decided she could put off reading it until after her evening bath. As she placed it on her nightstand, her cat Crookshanks emerged from underneath the bed and rubbed his squashed face against her calf, meowing. Obediently, she scooped him up and scratched behind his ears, smiling as the feline expressed his approval in very vocal terms. "It's been a very strange day, Crooks," she murmured to him.

Supremely unconcerned, he simply purred and nudged at her hand, ordering her to continue her petting. To his great displeasure, she placed him back down on the floor instead. "I'm sorry, Crooks. All I want now is a good hot bath."

Sniffing audibly, he marched out of the room with his tail held high, hoping Mrs Norris may be in a more sociable mood than yesterday, and that nasty Filch fellow was off in his bed, where all humans should be at that hour.

The lovely warm scented water did nothing to soothe her frazzled nerves and she had to climb out eventually to keep herself from turning into a wrinkled prune. Puttering around her room, she took her won sweet time brushing her hair, arranging the few items on the vanity and basically occupying herself with other mundane chores before finally admitting to herself that she could no longer delay the inevitable much longer. Sitting down on her bed with a sigh of resignation, she picked the book up and read the title stamped on the cover in gold leaf: VAMPYR

Whew, that was a long one! Thanks for reading right through to the end. And review! (lol)

Right, now for the thank-yous:

freakinred- thank you so much! I feel so very flattered :)

rckt-grl6- here's the chapter, hope you like! (btw, cool name)

Galixia- Umm...I get what you're implying, I'll think about it, but don't get your hopes up. Thanks for reviewing!

xx becky xx- Thank you! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations, and that of your friend's too!