I would like to thank sassw14, S.O.K., ladyraebef, person, nemati, SheWolfe7, chaser1, Klover P, Jennifer, and Saetan for reviewing.

darkangelgep: I'm glad you think I'm writing this fic well and the romance is between Harry and Tom/Voldemort/whatever other names he's got. I've been wanting to write one for a while...

bitchmonkey2000: I've never liked Ginny either, she always struck me as a pointless person...god knows why I put her in my fic...

Faber Wolffe: Okay, my vampires go like so: you've got a childe and you've got an heir, a child is a basic vampire--turned through blood exchange, gets power with age, etc. An heir though is heir to both the title of the sire and the sire's power, so that when the heir is fully turned he has the same powers as the sire and doesn't have to wait centuries to get it. The whole feeding blood to the heir thing opens up a connection between the heir and the sire so that there can be a power transfer. The power tranfer takes anywhere from a couple of months to years depending on the power being given to the heir, and once the power tranfer has taken place the change will be finished and you'll have a vampire with the same power as the sire but younger. Werewolves are your normal lore, no changes made, though I would love to have Remus control the transformation.../glares at J.K./

Chapter Eight

Voldemort carefully watched Severus, he knew the man was a spy, but not how you would think. Severus had managed to successfully infiltrate every powering the war except the vampires, Voldemort had, unfortunately, realized this too late. For when he became aware of the important role he played in the game as a power Severus had already been initiated into his ranks.

Severus, though, was very in tune with the game, almost abnormally in tune with the game. Voldemort was properly wary of him, but that didn't stop him from seeking the man out for advice. Severus was very good at giving advice, if nothing else.

But now, Voldemort found himself not needing the advice, because he knew what was going on. He'd been told that when you played long enough you found that the game and winning it was secondary to losing and managing to survive. Like the werewolves and vampires, both had long ago lost any sort of influence in the "real world" and were reduced to nothing more than dangerous animals, but both had managed to survive as powers in the game and were favored to win if you yourself didn't.

As Voldemort watched Severus he wondered what his side was planning on doing once Potter returned from wherever he was...with that vampire. Voldemort wondered if everyone would support him, or if there were still those who would fight the boy's power. This led him to wonder if the boy would manage to see how he was being used, if not then the light would win the game and the boy would be killed after he realized, too late, that he had chosen to support the wrong side.

And it was always a shame to see someone with so much power die.

Voldemort's thoughts were pulled from his head as a small scroll held together with a ribbon made of red and gold swirling together. It was a summons to the ancient meeting ground of the players of the game. A neutral ground where alliances were created and broken, announcements were made, and powers were ultimately removed from their places of prestige.

He looked up and saw Severus had received one as well. Smirking, Voldemort opened the scroll and read the summons.

Sin was still staring at his own summons by the time Harry found him in the den.

"What's that?" Harry asked as he plopped down on the floor in front of Sin.

"An official summons," Sin replied distractedly, "you'll be coming as well."

"Coming where?" Harry asked tilting his head slightly.

"The meeting grounds," Sin said, "you'll have to wear the suit I got you." Harry grimaced. "You'll be presenting yourself as my heir and future vampire council member you will have to look the part. Unfortunately, this means you'll be exposed to the very people I'm hiding you from, I wouldn't have, normally, presented you after you had enough of my power to defend yourself, but I have to bring you because that's the way the game is."

"Why are they meeting?" Harry asked curiously.

"I believe the werewolves are going to rejoin the game as a power," Sin replied, "that's the only thing I can think of for having a meeting in the middle of a time out."

"A time out?" Harry asked, "Is everything like that, like a game?"

"It's called the game for a reason, Harry," Sin told him with a smile.

Harry flushed and Sin stood up placing a hand on Harry's head before walking toward the door.

"I'll send a house-elf up to help you get dressed," Sin told Harry, "you'll need the help, considering the problems you had in the fitting."

Harry pouted at Sin and lay back on the floor, listening to Sin's footsteps becoming fainter.

Harry followed behind Sin who was abnormally tense, reaching out for Harry when he was more the two feet away and glaring at anyone who looked at him. It wasn't a fun experience.

Harry fell behind again and Sin grabbed his wrist and pulled him up to Sin.

"Stay nearby me," Sin commanded before releasing him.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"Out of the house," Sin replied glancing back at Harry and grinning.

Harry raised an eyebrow.

Sin placed his hand on Harry's lower back and gently pushed him in the right direction. He was directed over to a group of seven chairs, very nice, expensive looking chairs. Four of them were occupied by women and men in their early twenties, and behind them stood four other people about the same age, a couple of them were a little older looking than Harry.

"This is where the vampire council sits;" Sin told him, "only they and their heirs can attend these meetings."

"Why not everyone?" Harry asked curiously, looking around the room to see who else had arrived.

"Because word of mouth is more interesting," Sin replied, "wouldn't you think?"

Harry shrugged and replied, "I suppose so."

Sin smiled softly at him, and led him to the fifth chair, where Sin sat down. "You go stand behind the chair," Sin explained. Harry nodded and walked behind the chair, Sin carefully watching him.

A woman sitting next to Sin turned to him and started up a conversation in a language Harry hadn't ever heard. Harry looked over to the other people in the room and was surprised to see Remus and Professor Snape talking to each other and in an amiable way...surprising really.

Dumbledore and several members of the order were standing off in their own side of the room waiting, and staring across the room at about eight people.

Then in the final place in the room was a group of six people talking quietly amongst themselves. Remus was walking toward them now that he was done talking to Severus, and Severus walked back over to the group Dumbledore and the order were watching.

Sin finished his conversation with the woman next to him and looked up at Harry and said, "The meeting will start as soon as the rest of the council gets here."

"Always dramatic, those people are," The woman next to Sin added with a friendly smile, her voice was heavily accented, but Harry still couldn't pick out where it was from. She smiled and held out a hand to Harry and said, "I'm Eliza."

Sin nodded his permission to Harry and Harry took it exchanging his name.

Eliza looked impressed with Harry and turned to Sin saying, "He's powerful."

Harry raised an eyebrow that was what? The umpteenth time he'd heard that? Sin smiled with pride and nodded his agreement with Eliza.

Then the two of them lapsed back into a conversation in that language.

Eliza's heir must have caught Harry's confusion because she smiled and said, her voice holding a heavy French accent, "It's Portuguese."

Harry nodded absently and zoned out, coming out of his stupor three times when the other members of the vampire council arrived. He received analyzing looks from each one of them, and in returned they got glared at steadily by Sin.

Then the meeting began with a lot of ceremony and speeches...it reminded Harry of the time his school had taken a field trip to a cathedral and they went to a morning mass. Harry decided to do what he'd done then, zone out and/or look around.

Then the entire place fell into silence and Remus made his way into the center of the room, Harry then decided it was time to pay attention. Remus started off with a greeting that was obviously all for ceremony, but this unlike the beginning of the meeting was short.

"When the game commences this fall the werewolves will join as a power," Remus announced to a silent room. After he'd announced this Sin and Eliza flew into a conversation in Portuguese, but they weren't the only ones that were talking about it. The order members looked stricken, and Dumbledore looked like a parent exasperated with a rebellious child.

"I'm guessing this has something to do with you..." Eliza's heir whispered to Harry. "You're too powerful not to have some outcome in the game."

This comment brought a sharp glance from Sin, who after studying her for a moment went back to his conversation with Eliza.

Eliza's heir giggled at Sin's protectiveness and she looked back to the middle of the room, Harry followed her gaze and noticed that Remus was still there, just waiting for the conversation around him to cease.

"I wonder what else he wants to say," Eliza's heir asked no one in particular...Harry wondered if he should ask her what her name was...and then if she would give him her real name. Harry blinked wondering where that last part came from.

But all Remus had to say was that he wanted to talk to the vampire council...anti-climatic, really.

Then from Snape's corner of the room a middle aged man stood up and made his way into the center of the room. He started off with the same greeting Remus did and then said that the lost were going to form an alliance with the werewolves when the game resumed. Dumbledore looked ready to curse.

"I wonder what they're up to?" Eliza's heir asked.

Eliza nodded slowly in response and then said something to Sin in Portuguese, Sin nodded and glanced at Harry before returning his attention to the center of the room. The floor remained empty and then everyone stood and walked out, then the room was empty except for Sin, Remus, and Harry.

Sin smiled at Harry and said, "Go talk to him, he wants to make sure you're okay."

Harry nodded slowly and walked over to Remus, it was somewhat unnerving to see something from before he met Sin, since everything he'd seen since meeting him was new and unusual.

When Harry got to Remus he was immediately enveloped in a hug and had the life squeezed out of him.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Remus asked as he slowly released Harry.

Harry nodded.

"Good," Remus breathed, visibly relieved. "How's he treating you?"

"Well, enough," Harry replied, fidgeting in his shoes.

Remus pulled Harry into a hug again and sighed, "I've been so worried about you."

The two of them stood there for a few moments before Remus released him and asked, "Are you going to go back to school this year?"

"When does school start?" Harry asked slowly, feeling the crushing force of his old life coming down on him again. Here, actually talking about school, made it seem oddly real and permanent, and made the reality of him almost being a vampire and playing the game seem like fantasy. Harry didn't think that was the way it was supposed to be.

"It starts in a couple of weeks," Remus replied, taking in, for the first time, Harry's new clothes and more confidant demeanor.

"Sin said I would go back," Harry said slowly, "but that I'd be later than everyone else."

Remus nodded and hugged Harry again. "I'll see you soon, then Harry. Take care of yourself..."

"I will," Harry replied smiling softly.

"I'll hold you to it," Remus replied, placing a kiss on Harry's forehead. "I also like what you've done with your hair."

Harry smiled, confused, and thanked Remus saying goodbye. Remus turned and walked away and Harry reached and grabbed a lock of hair wondering what he'd done with it.