Chapter 3

Eye for an eye, drink for a drink

The fire turned a hazy green in the room and Roxanne clutched the knife tighter, so the handle dug into her palm. The fireplace was tall enough for a child to stand in it, but the man that stepped out of the flames had to duck, while holding a heavy tray. He had whispery dark brown hair that was swept back and he was very tall. Sharp features seemed to curl around large grey eyes.

"Goodmorning Roxanne," said Blaise Zabini, and he placed the silver tray on the ground in front of her. It made a clattering sound on the wooden floor and she could see it was quite full, as usual. But as usual, most of it would be thrown on the fire.

Roxanne acted as though no one was in the room, her head hung low, staring between Blaise's legs at the flickering flames.

"The Dark Lord said I was allowed to drink from you again," said Blaise, ducking down to look at Roxanne's face, but still she paid no attention, she barely even blinked.

Zabini frowned and grabbed the pillow away from her, revealing the silver knife in her hand. He stared at it but before he could react, Roxanne jumped at him and with all the force she could muster, wrenched up his black shirt and dug the knife into his bare stomach. He cried and stumbled backwards, clutching his side. Just as he was about to wrench the knife out of his flesh, Roxanne came at him again and pushed him so he fell backwards into the flames, and he was quickly engulfed.

Panting, with her eyes wide and hands splattered with blood, Roxanne fell back onto her bed, looking at the screaming body of Blaise Zabini. He writhed and squirmed until he rolled out of the fireplace, extinguishing the flames on the carpet, and lay there still, facing Roxanne. His gray eyes were wide open and staring at nothing.

Roxanne fought to catch her breath back, if she hadn't been so sleep deprived she would have broken down, but her mind was on auto-pilot, and she had succeeded. Never again would he feed from her like he had done last week. Her hand automatically went to her wrist, where two small cuts could be seen, red and sore. She had to act quickly; they would realize Zabini wasn't back. Vigilantly, Roxanne kneeled down beside the smoldering body and searched the inner pockets of his shirt for the Floo Powder, hoping it hadn't gotten burnt. Most of his shirt fell away at her hands so she began looking in the pockets of his black trousers. The smell of burnt clothes, hair and flesh was disgusting, but Roxanne was desperate to get out of the room. Her hands fumbled in pockets clumsily but it wasn't long until she found a small leather bag. She almost laughed with relief until-

"Thought it'd be that easy, did you?"

Roxanne screamed and fell back as the head of Blaise Zabini moved to look at her. Even as she stared in horror, the hair on his head began to grow back and the burnt skin was replaced with a new clean layer. Roxanne crawled to the fireplace and threw a handful of Floo Powder in the fire. It roared emerald flames but before she could step in, a hand grabbed her ankle. With strength rivaling that of Hagrid's, she was pulled away from the flames, which were to be her only way out.

"You'll have to do better than cutlery and flames," said Zabini, with a snarl in his voice. She kicked her leg at him but he grabbed that one as well, and pulled her over away from the fire, so her gray dress was pulled up around her waist, showing gray pajama trousers. She scrambled to stop it from going higher, grazing her elbows on the rough floor. Zabini pulled her against the wall like she was a ragdoll.

"D-don't!" she cried, angry tears pouring down her face, which hadn't seen water for days.

He ignored her and put her in the same position he had exactly one week ago. One hand went for her neck and pinned her against the wall, causing her to choke, while he knelt on her legs so she couldn't kick.

"D-don't, please!" she begged, punching at him with her free hand, for he held the other.

And still he ignored her, a hungry ignorance taking over him, and his face transformed. His skin became gray and leather-like, his brow bulged slightly and the skin around his eyes darkened. He pulled her wrist to his mouth, which was also bulging slightly, and opened it. Four sharp teeth glinted in the dull light, two at the top and two at the bottom.

Roxanne uttered a choking scream and she writhed and struggled, still hitting him with her free hand. Though she had seen this face a few days ago, it still sent fear racking through her body. With sudden speed, Zabini bit her wrist and began sucking the blood that poured out. He had not hit the major artery, but so much was dribbling from the two wounds that it dripped down his chin and onto the wooden floor. Her hand that was beating him fell limp by Roxanne's side and his grip relaxed on her neck, as he sank deeper into the lust of drinking fresh blood.

But Roxanne had put so much effort into planning today's escape, she couldn't let him win. Three weeks she had spent in this room, given food every two days that was plentiful, but she barely ate any of it. Since Zabini last fed from her she had been planning this escape, knowing full well that a weakness of vampires' was silver and fire. She hadn't known whether the knife was silver or not, but clearly it hadn't been.

With newfound strength and determination, Roxanne wrenched his hand away from her throat and punched him full on in the face. She had been surprised at her own strength, especially when he lifted his head and she had clearly really damaged his nose.

"Now that was uncalled for," he said with a hissing lisp, due to the bulge of his mouth. With the same inhuman speed, he lunged at Roxanne and sank his teeth around her mouth. She hit out but he held both of her arms down, and she could feel her own blood trickling down her throat, along with some of his own cold blood from his nose. She choked and lurched involuntarily. He sucked on the blood that was trickling from around her mouth and then he bit her tongue, but she bit back, harder. He growled in pain and lifted his head back, his nose and mouth area covered in both their blood. He was looking at Roxanne with an unreadable expression on his face, which was slowly turning back into his usual features.

Roxanne coughed and heaved, though she did not throw up. Zabini stood up and wiped his lower face with his sleeve.

"You put up quite a fight, but you'll regret that," he said, still giving her a strange look that she could not distinguish.

"You may as well finish me off!" she shouted, though it was muffled by sobs of pain.

"I don't need as much blood as a fully-fledged vampire," said Zabini, walking over to the fireplace. He picked up the leather pouch and threw the last of the Floo Powder into the fire. "Enjoy your food, while you like that kind. Kitchen!" And he was engulfed by green flames, leaving Roxanne lying on the cold ground, furiously wrapping cloth around her bleeding wrist.

She coughed and heaved again, swallowing back the sour taste of bile. With the fabric she had ripped from the bottom part of her dress, she wiped at her mouth, only to rub away the clotting blood and cause the holes to bleed again.

She leant back against the wall, crying, utterly defeated. The room swirled around her so she shut her eyes, so as not to throw up.

"Where are you?" she asked, talking to no one in the room. Then she fainted.

"We've had this discussion before, Harry. It's almost impossible to find out where she is because You-Know-Who could have taken her to anywhere on the planet," said Mr Weasley, in a relatively calm voice.

"She's been trapped there for over a month! It just seems stupid that I'm not allowed to help look for her," he said, throwing his fork down moodily.

Mr Weasley didn't reply but went back to his paper, rustling it unnecessarily loud. Or maybe it was just because the kitchen was strangely empty and quiet. Bill and Fluer were still on their honeymoon in San Francisco and Hermione was with her parents in France. The holiday had been delayed for three weeks but it was clear that she was glad she could go. Harry wished he could get away from the wizarding world for a month. He was glad, however, that tomorrow he'd be allowed to use magic. His 17th birthday was in exactly one hour and he was planning to stay up. Partly because he couldn't sleep, but he also wanted to try out his freedom around the house.

He stood up and placed his plate and fork in the sink, before going to the sitting room where all the comfy chairs were. The huge Family Tree glowed in the darkness before the lights automatically came on. Harry automatically went over to it and he found Roxanne's name instantly. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but the crown over her name seemed to be glowing more than usual, as was the one over Malfoy's. He picked at the silver threading angrily. He was one person that right now he actually hated more than Voldemort. It was selfish of him, but that didn't stop him feeling how he did.

He would have to go back to school without Roxanne and then get people pestering him, asking whether they found her yet or maybe she left on her own accord. Harry had already thought about this. What if she did leave by herself? What if this was some plan she had brewing in her mind to help Harry defeat Voldemort from the inside? Or even worse, what if she had joined him? Perhaps she was on his side all this time and she had only gone to Hogwarts to ease information out of people who trusted her…

Harry shook his head and quickly stood up, getting those thoughts out of his mind. He knew for a fact that that one, at least, wasn't true.

The morning after Roxanne had suffered under the hands of Blaise Zabini, she woke up with a strange feeling in her forehead and stomach. It was something she had never felt before, but it made her want to vomit and eat something at the same time. She sat up and found it hard to move her lips as they were caked with dry blood. The sensation in her brow and tummy writhed and squirmed and seemed to take over organs and limbs closest. The slight light from the window caused her to blink and her eyes to water. The tray of food near her feet had a glass of water on it, which she used to wipe the blood off her wrist and face. The food looked unappetizing except for a side portion of ham, which she ate with haste.

Exhaustion took over her body and she crawled back under her covers, nearly instantly falling into a deep dreamless sleep.

The next morning she slept on, and through that day. The next day she did not move and the next she only turned over. For three weeks she went on like this, in a deep slumber of which she looked like she would never wake. But finally, a fresh scent wafted in and woke her.

Roxanne opened her eyes to find Blaise Zabini crouched beside her bed, a grin on his thin lips.

"Hungry?" he asked, and held up a beaker.

Roxanne groaned and shifted her weight, feeling her muscles strain and some bones crack due to staying in the same place for days upon days.

Zabini smiled and placed the beaker to her lips.

"Don't worry, I went through exactly the same thing," he said, tipping the cup. But she wasn't listening. She drank the slightly warm liquid with delicious gusto and when it was gone she snatched the beaker from his hands and began licking the rim.

"You won't feel yourself for a while, but eventually you'll win and be able to take control," continued Zabini in a slightly bored fashion.

Having licked and scraped the beaker dry, she let it fall to the ground.

"Win what?"

Blaise chortled and sat on the bed near her knees. "You have no idea what's happening do you?" Roxanne stared at him blankly, and absentmindedly licked her lips. "Don't you wonder why you slept for three weeks?"

"I did what?" she asked, sucking her fingers now.

"Hmm, I received a severe punishment as well. No food for the length of time you slept. The Dark Lord wasn't planning on this to happen, and he blamed me, naturally. It was my fault. Lost the fight."

"What are you on about?" snapped Roxanne, annoyed with his riddles.

"It does make you stronger though. There are more bonuses than drawbacks. Roxanne, do you know how someone becomes a vampire?" he asked, leaning back on her upright knees and staring at her.

She opened her mouth to reply with a smart retort but instead she shook her head dumbly.

He scoffed, "Hogwarts never fills you in with the vital information. A person has to drink the blood from a vampire. The change usually takes about a month, but most sleep during it."

Roxanne's eyes widened and she began shaking her head in disbelief.

"No – that's impossible-"

"I did tell you that you'd regret attacking me," he said, smirking. "But at least you're not a fully-fledged vampire, just a…well less than a halfling. You see, when I was bitten, the vampire had already fed and so his blood was a mixture of his own and this other mortals-"

"You're lying, I don't – you – you're lying!" she cried. Her hands flew to either side of her head and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"You just drank a pint of blood, is that enough proof?" he snapped.

Roxanne's eyes flashed open and she uttered a deep throaty growl, which was meant to frighten Zabini, but he laughed.

"You'll be fighting with the beast inside you for a while, but because you're more human, you'll be able to control it. Count yourself lucky."

"Lucky?"

"And you have me to help you, since I know what its like," he added, a malicious smile playing on his lips.

Roxanne pushed herself in an upright position and threw her hands at his neck, bearing her teeth. In one quick movement, Zabini pushed her back to her pillows and held her down by her throat so she spluttered.

"Don't even try, I'm stronger than you'll ever be," he said, moving nearer to her so their noses almost touched. His nostrils flared and she could feel his breath wash over her face. "One thing you have to keep in mind is to never drink too much blood. Our system can't take it and it'll kill you. You'll have urges now, you'll be able to smell the flow of life source through other people and you'll want to bite them, but you'll have to control yourself. Got that?"

She shook her head from side to side violently and he squeezed tighter.

"Got that?" he repeated, putting his face even closer. She snapped her jaws at him like an angered animal. Zabini grinned and his gazed wandered over her raised lips and bared teeth. "Shame you're Malfoy's, I've always wanted a vampiric partner."

"Malfoy's?" she spat, and her hand flew to Blaise's own neck. He wrenched it off effortlessly and held it by the side of her head, pressing her hair 'till it hurt.

"Yes, Malfoy's. You're not to be touched until he's out. You have to be…" his gaze went down her body and then back up to her eyes, she felt like she was being x-rayed. "Innocent."

"What?"

"Not too bright at the moment, are you?" he said, laughing breathily. "For the prophecy to properly be fulfilled, you have to remain a virgin until you and Malfoy are seventeen. Both of you do, actually. Imagine being a seventeen year old virgin?" he added, more to himself than anyone. "I lost mine at fifteen…"

"So, if I wasn't a virgin, the prophecy wouldn't come true?" she asked, suddenly calmed. Something was brewing in her mind, something that would surely get her out of here and ruin Voldemort's plans.

"Something like that-"

"I heard different," she cut in suddenly, and he frowned at her.

"Oh?"

"I was told by my own parents that if I was a virgin, it would go wrong," she garbled, choosing her words carefully.

"That doesn't make a lot of sense-"

"Something to do with innocence ruining the…the, um…"

"Your fate?" he finished, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes! That's it," she said, nodding.

"No, I swear it was the other way round-"

"I think I would know!" she said, her voice high. She was grabbing at loose strings here. "Either way, it's ruined."

"Why?" he asked, snapping his gaze back to her emerald eyes.

"Because I'm n-not a virgin," she said, trying to put on a proud voice.

Blaise looked momentarily surprised. "Really? But the Dark Lord said-"

"He was wrong, wasn't he?"

"I should inform him," said Blaise, and he made to get up, but Roxanne grabbed his forearm.

"Y-you don't have to go just yet," she said in a whispery pleading voice.

"No he has to know – if I were to keep this from him…"

"Its too late now," she said urgently, pulling him back. With strength she never knew she had, she pulled his head closer and kissed him firmly on the lips.

Blaise pulled away and smirked, a sort of dominant expression taking over his handsome and pale features. He moved his body on top of Roxanne, the duvet the only thing between them. He kissed her again, placing his hand on her neck, which soon traveled lower under the covers.

Roxanne drew in a sudden gasping breath and she pushed him off her.

"I can't do this…not to Harry," she whispered, her eyes wet with tears. No matter how desperate she was, she couldn't carry out what was in her mind. Even if it would guarantee her safety, betraying Harry was something she couldn't do. Again.

Zabini stood up angrily and left without another word.

And so she didn't see him for another two weeks, and by then, a pounding continual sadness beat against her heart and her very being as she imagined students of Hogwarts buying their equipment and boarding the Hogwarts Express to look forward to a year at school. Pessimism had taken over her once hoping frame of mind and she was convinced she would never see that school again. She had lost track of the date, even the time, as there was no clock and the window only gave away the bear minimum to tell her whether it were night or day, but even then it could be a bright night or a dull day. Hours crept by but for all she knew they could be minutes, seconds even.

She barely left the comfort of her bed and even the strangers who delivered her food often spoke her name or tousled her duvet to make sure she wasn't dead. Like Zabini had said, she felt like she was battling another person inside her mind and body. It was the kind of person who loved to be hated and enjoyed seeing others in peril. Every time someone came through the fireplace, Roxanne had to fight to stop this being from launching itself at the victim's neck. Not that the creature wanted to feed, she had sufficient undercooked meat and cups of what Roxanne was guessing to be cow's blood, but to hurt and cause pain. Roxanne had decided that this was not a part of her, but a whole different person. It was easier to accept. Whenever she dreamt of ripping people's throats out, she blamed this other person inside her, this other characters, the evil twin. Once, a few days after Zabini's last visit, the creature had emerged and taken Roxanne prisoner, instead of the other way round. It was like she was observing a movie, watching a character wreak havoc and yet she couldn't prevent it, only shout and warn.

This monster had clearly been horrified to find she was stuck in rather a small room for two people, even if they were in one body. She had flung herself at the chest of drawers and knocked it over, threw the carpet into the fire and tried to smash the windows. Eventually tiring herself out, she had sat on the other side of the room (for she disliked the fire) and had actually began to listen to Roxanne, who was screaming inside her head.

"Wait until your boyfriend finds out you're schizophrenic," the creature had said out loud, using Roxanne's voice but it was deeper and coarser, as if she had a sore throat. But it hadn't been an angry taut, more like a simple comment.

Zabini's not schizophrenic- Roxanne had thought in a confused tone, deciding she had finally gone mad in here.

"His position is different. I don't suppose you've been noticing what's in that pathetic excuse for blood you've been drinking?" the creature had asked.

…It's cow's blood-

"They seemed to have forgotten how keen a vampire's sense of smell and taste is. Not that I know a lot about spells and charms, for I only have your insufficient knowledge, but its some sort of personality-altering concoction-"

Impossible!

"This is the Dark Lord we are talking about," the being had replied, with a sort of dense proudness in her thick voice. "He doesn't use magic, he manipulates it."

Why would he want to change who I am?

"You're not co-operating. It would be something simple, just a mental persuasion of which you' be oblivious to. But clearly it was meant for a normal mortal-"

I don't understand!

"Let me continue then!" the being had snapped, "it was meant for someone who was not part vampire. It seems your human side and immortal side have split into two different people, creating me."

A silence had followed, of which Roxanne was trying to sieve this information through her tired brain.

"No doubt in knowing which one of us is the smartest."

It isn't schizophrenia.

"Then what?"

I don't know, multiple personality disorder perhaps-

"Whatever you wish to call it, its incurable. Don't touch anything they give you, drink from yourself if you get desperate."

The being had then disappeared, perhaps gone to sleep as the dull light in the window informed Roxanne the sun was rising, and she now had full control of her body. She was rather shook by the whole ordeal of talking to herself, and yet not even verbally. This person shared her body, and yet was thought differently from her, used Roxanne's knowledge in another way, which did in fact seem wiser and older. Roxanne often wondered if she had a name, or if she was even a she, but she also refused to let her out. She was determined to grow stronger in controlling this other person and promised the being that when she had, she'd let her out. Perhaps this other stronger being might even help her in escaping.

Strangely enough, Roxanne could not communicate with the other creature like she had talked to Roxanne. But one name sprang to mind which she surmised was her name; Tambrey.

The name was so familiar, like it was Roxanne's nickname. And she knew if someone were to call it out in a crowd, she would turn around and shout back, "Yes?" It was a strange, but a somewhat comforting thought. She was not alone in this room, physically yes, but not in any other means.