Chapter 9 (In the dark this is a shiny vampire)

Red walked up the stairs to Elwood's office. He knocked on the door and without a word from the elf, stepped inside. "I put the kid down stairs and gave him a vial of my blood for protection." Red sat down and crossed his legs. "You were right on the money. This town is crewing with Death Eaters. I had to hide him from one on the way there." Elwood looked at Red and sighed.

"You and I have been on this earth long enough to know when trouble is coming Rudolf. When James called me telling me that he sent a runaway to this place, I knew it had to be bad. James never does anything for nothing… He called this afternoon. Now he wants us to pay him to keep quiet about this." Elwood shifted in his chair and held up the morning paper. "Rudolf I am at a loss for ideas here. We can't pay him and if we don't we can't keep all these kids safe."

Rudolf stood up and leaned on the desk. "Elwood I know you have some strange need to protect that boy because he looks like your late son… And I owe you my life, so let me handle James. My way of course and don't even ask me what I plan to do, trust me you don't want to know." Rudolf's pink eyes met Elwood's blue ones and for a moment the two kept eye contact. Elwood stood up and nodded to Rudolf. "Just don't kill him if you don't have to." With this the elf left the room and headed to the lower levels.

(Moments later)

Red took to the dark streets, his long curly hair clung to the sides of his face as he walked calmly down the road. In less than a minute he was being tailed by a Death Eater. A small smile crossed his lips as he took to an alleyway. Stopping in it he waited for his tracker to show himself.

"You're very brave for a human," the Death Eater's voice snickered as he showed himself. He was cocky and really not afraid to show what he believed to be the upper hand. Red or Rudolf laughed quite evilly as he dropped his hood and open his clock to reveal a sparkly red little outfit. His pink eyes turned a deep shade of red. Rudolf raised his hand and became a shiny beam of light.

"And you are really quite stupid for someone who claims to be a high race." The man was frozen in place, blinded by the light coming for Rudolf. Rudolf walked slowly up to the Death Eater and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "You just cornered yourself a 5,000 year old vampire. Who hasn't had a bite to eat in almost 3 months. I was going to eat someone else tonight, but I think you'll make a nice little meal instead." With this he dropped the man's hood to reveal a man Harry Potter would have recognized as the ex-questioner for Buckbeak. Rudolf's teeth grew and he sunk his teeth into the man's neck and sucked him dry.

Rudolf then dumped the body in a trash can and made his way to the bar called 'The Cats Meow!' Pulling his hood up and closing his cloak he prepared on the street corner. Seeing his reflection Rudolf walked swiftly into the bar. "James" He called out cheerfully as if calling out to an old friend. The fat man behind the bar head shot up and he looked horrified to see Rudolf in the doorway. The bar was empty as well. Rudolf closed the door and with a swipe of his hand all windows and doors were hidden behind a dark cloud.

"Red, I… I didn't know you were in town. It's so nice to see you." James said naively as he rubbed his pudgy hands together. His fat face was changing to a pale color, as his eyes bugged out of his head slightly. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, I think you know what brings me here James. You know Elwood is a good friend of mine, even if he is an unsolvable goody two shoes. And I don't take kindly to folks trying to blackmail my friends." He waved his finger so a chair landed in front of him. "Sit down fat boy, it time to play hard ball." James was no where near strong enough to resist Red's voice command. There were very few people in the world that could.

James sat down in the chair Rudolf had moved. He paled more at the tone in Rudolf voice. "Look into my eyes James." James brown eyes met the light pink eyes that seemed to let off a slight glow. That was all it took for James to be completely under Rudolf's control. "Have you told anyone other then Elwood about the blond boy?" James shook his head no. "Are you going to tell anyone about it if we don't pay you?" James seemed to be struggling, but he roared a 'yes'. "Who are you planning on telling?" James was fighting pretty hard not to spill the beans, but he couldn't, Rudolf's hold was too powerful.

"There was a blond man in here, said he was the kid's father. I told him I'd keep my eyes out for the boy." A look of annoyance crossed Rudolf's face, He leaned down so he was only inches from James' face.

Rudolf's voice was light and almost too quiet to hear. "James say good bye."

James felt a tear run down his cheek. "Good b-bye."

Rudolf stood up and walked to the door "Oh and James please explode" As if there was a time bomb inside James, he blew up guts and blood went everywhere. Rudolf looked at the pair of legs that was all that was left of James. The vampire lips curled up into a smile. He walked up the stairs and on to the street. He snapped his finger as he crossed the street and 'The Cat's Meow' set fire to itself. Within two hours the whole building would be gone. Quite calmly, Red walked back to the church as fire trucks passed him, a look of triumph played on his face.

(The day after)

Draco sat quietly across from Hermione, he was half asleep. Even after Red had left him alone he couldn't fall asleep. With a thump his head hit the table. "Shit!" He shouted as he rubbed his head. A slight giggle escaped Hermione's lips.

"What's so funny?" He snapped at her as he got up from the table. She got up as well. "I am sorry I laughed D, it's just you looked so cute right before you hit your head. It reminded me of someone else I know." For a moment Draco's ego got bigger, but it stopped when he remembered he was wearing the necklace that made him look like someone else. 'Hey but that doesn't mean I can't flirt with her... HEY! That's a great idea.'

"You think I am cute huh?" He smiled slightly as their eyes met. She blushed as his hand brushed against hers. "I think you're cute too." The blush deepened.

"I um… Thank you D." As their eyes locked, both of them seemed to have forgotten they weren't alone. Ying look down the table at them.

"Gee, get a room all ready." Both of them jumped at his voice taking their seats. There was a long silence before Hermione spoke up. "Ying, D can you show me where you two were attacked? I think if I see the place maybe we can find your brother."

Draco looked down the table at Ying, who simply nodded at him. The three got up from the table and made their way to the door. At the door, Ying stopped. "You guy meet me at the front door, I have to tell Father Elwood where we are going." With that, Ying left Draco with Hermione. The two walked slowly to the front door.

"Hermione can I ask you something?" Draco found himself asking her. They stopped at the door; she turned to look at him.

"Sure D, I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have."

He smiled at her. "Why is this kid you're looking for so important to you? You said he wasn't a friend, so if he's not a friend and you don't even like him why would you look for him?"

She looked at him for a long time. "Draco Malfoy is probably one of the people in this world I hate the most. However he is in a lot of danger right now. There are a lot of bad people out there trying to kill him, because he refused to join them. Their afraid he's going to join the good guys and spill whatever secrets he may know about them." She took a deep breath. "As much as I hate him, I can't not try and help him." Their eyes locked.

"Why can't you?" He almost snarled at her.

"Because D, he could help save a lot of lives. Draco's not the kind of guy to care about anyone other than himself, but he needs help now, so maybe he will give us the information we need for protection. That is why I have to try and find that prat." A look of hatred filled her face.

Draco turned away from her. He was seething with anger. 'How dare she try and use him! Here he was thinking it was just her Gryffindor honor that made her. But now she telling him she trying to use him for information. Information to help her and her stupid friends look even more like heroes!' Draco was so angry he felt like he was going to explode.

"Well that's a pretty slimy reason to pretend to care…" He felt like he couldn't control himself. "You only want to find this guy, so you and your friend can use him to look good. And here I thought you were a good person." He then stormed out the door and up to the gate.

Hermione stood in the door not knowing what just happened. D had seemed like a level headed guy and without warning he exploded and over what? She wasn't quite sure. He had said she was trying to use Malfoy to make her and her friends look good… "But that's the kind of thing Malfoy would say."

5 hours later the three were in the woods on the edge of town.

Draco hadn't said a word to Hermione since the scene at the doors of the church. They were looking around in an area Ying said he and his brother Yang had been attacked. "Did this guy shoot at you three?" Draco couldn't answer anything as he really didn't know what had happened.

"Yes, he had a gun he was a muggle after all. So it was the only weapon he had."

She nodded as they look at the ground for something. "How long ago did this happen?" She was attacking like a crime scene investigator. "It was three days ago." It was like a light went on over her head.

"Which way did you all run?" She asked

"D and I ran towards town, then D broke off, heading north. I went east. Mark went that way…" She smiled as she walked down the path Ying had pointed out. After a bit they split up to look for a cave or somewhere Mark could have hid from the hunter.

Draco found a river and walked up stream. Not to far up the river he found what they were looking for. At first he thought it was Ying, but the hair told him other wise.

"Is your name Yang or Mark?"

(Hermione)

Hermione cross a small wooden bridge. She then walked in the woods next to the river. She didn't get far when she saw to figure standing in the river. She would have walked out if it wasn't for what one of the two identical people were saying.

"Is your name Yang or Mark?" D asked, The other man turned around.

"I am…Mark! Who are you and why do you look like me?" D raised his hand.

"I am a friend of your brother Ying. We came out here looking for you. As for why I look like you, I am pretending to be your brother D. See I am hiding from someone myself." D reached up and removed the necklace. When Hermione saw who D really was she almost fell over.

'Draco! That's why he got so mad!...That sick twisted freak! How dare he make me think he was someone else! Oh he is going to pay!' She stormed out into the open.

"YOU BASTARD!"