The Age of Innocence is Just Beginning
By Phoebe Halliwell
Chapter three
The following day Draco and Harry arrived at Hogwarts to drop Piper off with Minerva and pick up Severus who had collected weapons pretty much over night for them to use.
Samantha hadn't come home like both Harry and Draco had hoped that she would, Harry had wanted his daughter to sneak in and just go to bed without a fuss but her bed had not been slept in that night.
Breakfast had been a miserable affair, all the guests had gone home after dinner leaving them alone, Harry couldn't believe that it had come to this, he had never wanted to see David again, it was one chapter of his life that he never wanted to open. It was then that a thought sprung into his mind, he considered it for a moment as he made sure he was fully armed but pushed it to the back of his mind for more thought later.
"Are we all ready?" Severus asked, he didn't look happy about going up against a group of vampires without a licensed vampire hunter but it was unlikely that they would be able to get hold of one at such short notice and besides that Harry wasn't so sure that he wanted this incident broadcasted across the wizarding world as soon as the price was high enough for the vampire hunter.
"Yes, well, as I'll ever be." Harry said, he really didn't want to do this; David was a part of the past, a past that he never wanted to go back to.
"Then let's go." Draco said. The plan was to floo to Diagon Alley and walk the rest of the way there, it wasn't far, only a tube ride or so but they couldn't risk being arrested by muggle police for carrying lethal weapons and no doubt locked up in a mental institution for carrying stakes and garlic and telling the nice police man that they were off to hunt vampires.
The only comforting thought that Harry had was that whatever the outcome of today was his children would be alright and Piper would have a loving family to support her as she grew up, it wouldn't be her parents or her grandparents but her aunts and uncles. He knew that they would not abandon her; he had raised them better than that.
"Don't worry love, everything is going to be alright, I promise you that." Draco said as Severus stepped into the fireplace and flooed to Diagon Alley.
"You shouldn't promise things that you won't be able to keep Draco, you'll only let me down." Harry said, he couldn't even manage a small smile.
"I won't let you down again Harry" Draco said, he stepped into the fire place and flooed after Severus, Harry soon followed.
It was half an hour later that they found what they were looking for, there were no grand doorways or lavish paintings marking the way into the vampires main base of operations, there weren't even guards on the door, not that their could have been in daylight but even so Harry was slightly disappointed with what they had found.
It was just a plain steel door, locked with a keypad of numbers and a place to swipe a card. There would be no dramatic kicking the door down that was for sure, Severus assessed the door to be solid steel.
The wall around the door however was just plain brick, a slight oversight of those inside but one that Harry, Draco and Severus were pleased to have discovered, there were now two options, one sneak in by removing the bricks, they were all slim enough to fit through the gap that was for certain, option number two however was to knock and wait, which would be the polite thing to do.
"I say we knock and wait" Harry said, "I'm not overly keen on being caught trespassing on vampire territory, they may not give us a chance to explain why we're in there."
"That's a fair point, but sneaking in gives us the element of surprise against them, however Harry is probably right, we only need to talk to David, if they refuse then we can use that as plan B." Severus said, thinking about what would be the best course of action.
Everyone agreed with this, so Harry knocked loudly and firmly on the door and waited for an answer. It came a few minutes later, behind the door there were scraping sounds, like metal scraping against metal and the door opened. There was no one inside only neon lights and another steel door, the walls, ceiling and floor were all steel which meant they had made the right call when it came to getting inside.
The door closed behind them, sealing them in the small room, they would all be lying if they said they weren't a little bit scared, the only reassurance that they had was the many weapons on their person.
A robotic voice that sounded awfully cheery for a vampire lair suddenly spoke to them from know where, startling all three men. "Please state your name and business."
"Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape here to see David Fisher" Severus said loudly and clearly.
"Thank you, please wait while your request is processed." The cheery female voice said, and the three of them waited, it wasn't long before the door in front of them opened and three important looking vampires greeted them.
"We are intrigued as to why three gentlemen such as yourselves, including Harry Potter of all people would come here to see one of our own, I know it is not to kill us, although you do carry weapons I think that they are more for your own peace of mind than to hurt any of us, although the blonde one, I presume the Malfoy, does have rather violent thoughts when it comes to David." The most lavishly dressed vampire said, he was male and wore a suit of red satin, with a black suit. He had the unmistakeable air of elegance around him, as did his two companions. Both of which were female, and wore long cloaks over their outfits.
"I need to speak with David on personal matters, he used to be a boyfriend, Draco is currently my husband, Severus is just a friend."
"And what pray tell are the personal matters leading up to your visit, we cannot permit you to enter here without first clearing the reason for coming here with myself and my associates."
"David and I had a child, he does not know of her but yesterday she insisted upon finding him and left the house, I was concerned for her safety and wished to come here before she found you." Harry said grudgingly.
"Ah, you are the wizard responsible for the memory charm placed upon him, we knew it was powerful and could come from no ordinary wizard, but to come from Harry Potter."
"It was actually me that cast the spell." Draco said.
"Then the children of the two of you must be most powerful, to come from such powerful wizards they must hold such power, and power is desirable." One of the female vampires said, a hungry look in her eye.
"Don't even think about it." Draco snarled, Harry elbowed him in the ribs, he didn't think that enraging the vampires was the best course of action, especially seeing that they were on their turf. The vampire who had spoken merely chuckled.
"Too late my dear," She said, "He is strong willed, it is certain that he would make a …"
"But they are not here for that, they are hear to speak to David and that is what they will get," And now directing this to the three wizards continued: "However if you ever consider being turned into a vampire, eternal youth and super strength and all that then we will not refuse you, although do come back to us we wouldn't want some novice messing it up."
"Thank you for the offer but we're quite happy as we are, now are you going to let us see David or not?" Harry asked, trying to keep the impatient tone out of his voice.
"Of course, follow us through."
Severus, Draco and Harry did as they were told and followed the three vampires through the door, which was then sealed behind them, the passage that followed was lit by horrible neon lights, at the end of the passage it led down some steps and then opened up into a cavernous great hall.
"We have inhabited here for many years, although it was a place of safety, a refuge if you will for most of that time, it is only recently that we have made it more secure and a more permanent place of accommodation, with additional rooms and of course coffins and a blood store."
Harry looked closer at the walls in the hall and the only way to describe it was to say that it was like the owlery at Hogwarts, there were nooks in all of the walls all the way up to the ceiling with coffins placed within them.
"We can house up to three hundred vampires here at any one time," The male vampire that welcomed them said, Harry was a little annoyed that they hadn't given their names, but he didn't want to ask. They were attracting a lot of attention at this point, the hundred or so vampires that were currently residing here were curious of who these wizards were.
"David is usually found at the blood café when he is not sleeping, he is wanted by several vampire hunters and one bounty hunter so he must keep a low profile for the time being and therefore cannot step outside of our refuge to hunt." The male vampire explained.
"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Harry said as they entered into a smaller room of the great room, where several vampires were sitting at a bar drinking what looked to be blood from crystal glasses, with the . On the wall were the various blood types available to be purchased along with some food items that looked as if they would have made any human sick with food poisoning should they have cared to try them.
"David, you have guests." At these words David looked up and when his eyes met Harry's he almost dropped his drink, there in front of him was Harry Potter, ex-boyfriend and next to him was Draco Malfoy, who had had him kicked out of Harry's life.
Before Harry, Draco or Severus realised what was happening David had launched an attack on the unsuspecting Draco.
Okay, I know I'm cruel with the cliff hanger but I couldn't resist. Don't forget to leave me a review, Phoebe.