Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Only the plot of this story and maybe a few random made up slytherins are mine.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I was so happy seeing as my first two fan fics haven't been so lucky! If you did like this one however, there is one rated M, and another under K+. Both can be found under humor!
The Vampire EpidemicChapter Two: What's Under the Patch?
The sounds of the great hall seemed louder to Draco. He almost reached up to cover his ears but that would've been strange. His neck was throbbing uncomfortably now and he wished he had gone back to the common room that had been moved out of the dungeons because it was…unsanitary. Meaning a sewer pipe busted and their old home smelled of human feces. But of course, Dumbledore was working on it.
Draco sat down and realized that if he really concentrated on Potter and the golden Trio, he found he could hear exactly what they were saying…and…Mrs. Weasley said Ron's rash ointment would be flown in tomorrow. But where was the rash? Draco didn't want to know. He stopped listening because Blaise had stood and joined Draco at his end of the table.
"Ello Mate," Blaise said clapping him on the back. "How are you doing this morning?"
"Why is everybody talking so loud?" Draco asked quietly, yet his voice still seemed to raise double in volume. Blaise looked at him strangely.
"That's right," he said finally. "You were bitten…"
"Keep it down!" Malfoy snapped.
"I am! Jesus Draco, I'm never loud! I'm practically whispering!" he said with his brow furrowed.
"It's alright," Malfoy said, scooping some eggs into his mouth. "Not your fault my hearings been turned up to maximum levels. I can hear what Potter and his friends are talking about, and I really wish I were deaf, although it's all good black mail. I never knew about those three, but they're not a bit of roses."
"Can I see the wound?" came Crabbe's deep voice from behind him.
"Not here you can't," Draco spat at him. "Sit down you big oaf. I'll show you after breakfast after we get our schedules."
Pansy joined them and snuggled in next to Draco. He took a deep breath and ate faster, hoping he would be able to leave early. All conversation of Draco's new condition was stopped immediately.
"So what do you reckon happened with Malfoy?" Harry asked, eating a piece of bacon.
"Harry, it's all over school. He apparently defeated a vampire all on his own. Rumor has it he was even bitten, but I'm sure if that were the case, he wouldn't be in school with us still. Like the other two slytherins that were turned," Hermione said, not looking up from her paper. She was looking for the article about the vampire attack but nobody had heard of it yet. They would when the two missing children's parents were informed.
"Ah Granger, you little piece of information. You don't miss a thing do you?" Draco sent poison dart glares in her direction. "Your ears could be small satellites that tap into everything you can use to pin against, I evil Malfoy."
Hermione felt a sudden shock of pain jolt into her head. It was very hot and it made her eyesight black for a moment, like when you stand up too quickly and you get really dizzy. When her sight finally cleared, she found herself staring right at Malfoy who was still sending her all the glares he could. He looked ill.
He broke his gaze away without even wording 'Mudblood' in her direction and itched at a square patch on the right side of his neck.
"What the bloody hell is that?" she wondered staring at it, when Ron broke her train of thought.
"Looks like that vampire might've left a doozy of a hickey on our friend over there," he muttered shoving toast into his mouth. Draco looked up again, his eyes piercing Ron. It wasn't that often that Ron stumbled onto something smart, but when he did he was usually right on the money. Harry didn't want to turn around for fear he would be obvious. He'd see it eventually though.
"Why is it I feel he can hear everything we're saying?" Hermione asked. The trio exchanged looks and fell silent again.
Draco went back to his eggs, which were now cold, when the plates cleared and he was relieved, for he wasn't really all that hungry, and his gums hurt. In their place, on each golden plate, a small piece of paper was folded. He picked it up and stood. It wasn't long before his dorm mates followed him from the Great Hall.
His rapid footsteps along the corridor echoed loudly in his ears and it got even louder when the three boys came running up to him. Yes, he had been fitted with hearing aides and he was only sixteen! (Not literally of course!) This would take some getting used to.
He got to their new common room door.
There were two nights in shining armor standing on either side of what looked to be a blank wall. Their axes formed an X across the hidden entrance.
"How is life young Slytherin?" came a deep voice from inside the chest of the armor.
"Life is just peachy," Draco muttered, glaring at the armor. Its axes were taken away from the entrance and it opened to them. Draco entered the room. It was lighter than before above ground level. He went up to the dorms to find that the windows had been repaired.
He threw himself onto his bed and snuggled into his pillow feeling very tired all of a sudden.
"The wound Draco," Blaise said sitting down at the foot of his bed.
"Oh right," Draco muttered sitting back up. He pulled the square back away from his pale flesh and the three boys leaned in, and then gasped in unison leaning away.
On his neck were two very deep puncture wounds. The holes themselves were about two inches away from each other, and they were red and swollen around the edges. The skin around the bite itself was whiter than Draco's normal complexion and the skin looked dead.
"That bad is it?" Malfoy muttered. He reached into his nightstand drawer and pulled out a mirror. What he saw made him feel nauseated. "Well that's going to leave a fucking mark," he whispered. He replaced the square piece of gauze with a new one.
"They weren't able to heal it were they?" Goyle asked thickly.
"Well seeing as I still have two gaping holes in my neck, Greg, I'd say that's the case," Draco muttered a bit sarcastically. Thank you captain obvious! He was already cranky.
"When vampires inflict flesh wounds, the wound itself becomes cursed. Impossible to cure in a matter of seconds with a swish and flick. You have to take a potion repeatedly to get the wound to heal fully. Usually cursed wounds leave scars like Potty down in the Great Hall," Draco tried to explain. He could sense Potter if he tried and the boy hadn't moved his skinny twig bum. "And mine most likely will too. Snape's making me a potion to help the wound heal, and to er…" he trailed off.
"To what?" Blaise asked staring into the gray eyes of his friend.
"To stop me from developing blood lust," Draco whispered.
Blaise looked worried as Draco's eyes began to water. But these tears were no normal tears, not at all, they were jet black as they dropped onto the bedspread. When they landed, they crystallized and turned into small black diamonds.
"That's one thing I didn't know about vampires," Blaise said. "They sell this small black gem in Nocturne Alley. They call it Vampire tears. They say they're rare."
Draco sniffed. "You can have them all," he said wiping his eyes turning the tears into diamond dust. The changes were well under way. He felt like an idiot for crying in front of his friends, but as they sat there he began to feel cold. And that horrible thought that he was dying right there in front of them was enough to give him a panic attack.
"It's alright," Blaise muttered, patting Draco's shoulder. "Don't worry, we won't say anything."
"That's not what I'm worried about. What if Dumbledore, the foolish old git, is wrong and when the change is complete, I loose all sense of myself?" Draco asked. Blaise shook his head.
"Don't know mate," he replied. "I don't know anything about that…"
"And from the sound of it, I'll have to take that God awful potion for the rest of my damn life. And vampires don't die unless they're set on fire or left to bake in the sun. And since I don't have that allergy, I get to die the painful way!" Malfoy said bitterly. "And dying while being baked to death would be painful too."
"Yeah but you don't have to worry about that right now do you?" Blaise asked. His dark eyes were interlocked with Draco's. "Come now, we'll be late for class."
They opened their schedules to find that it was double potions with the Gryffindors. Draco didn't know whether this was good or not. He usually enjoyed seeing them get in trouble for obviously stupid reasons, and he absolutely loved watching Potter's mouth open and close like a dying fish, when he wants to retaliate but can't.
Something told him he wouldn't much be in the mood for that.
When they entered the classroom, all heads turned to look at the Slytherin King of sixth year, all in his glory. Yet it wasn't the awestruck looks he usually got, it was a shocked open-mouthed look.
Whispers broke out everywhere and he sat down not to far away from Potter and his companions. Draco now had a good idea of what Potter must feel like every time the magic wonder enters a room. He didn't like it.
He felt eyes on the back of his head, and Draco turned to find all three of them staring at him.
"Can I be of some assistance to you?" he asked glaring at them.
"Are you alright Malfoy?" Potter asked staring fixedly at him.
Malfoy was clearly caught off guard. He looked puzzled then he blanked out for a moment and then he stared at Potter for a bit and furrowed his brow. They looked at him waiting for an answer and he wanted to tell them. They stared at him comfortingly and he felt like they knew exactly what he was feeling. They'd all probably experienced pain, Potter more so than the others.
So he flipped around in his seat and scooted towards them. This time it was the trio who looked shocked. He put his hand to the right side of his neck and pulled the gauze off to reveal the wounds. Hermione gasped and Ron just gaped. Harry however looked as if he were in deep thought.
Onlookers were dumb struck as well. It was then that…
"Malfoy, you're bleeding!" Granger cried standing up. His gums felt as though they were on fire. He stood up holding a pale hand over his mouth. Something was pushing through the gums. His two canine teeth fell onto his tongue and were replaced with two sharp ivory teeth. He spit the two teeth that had been pried loose onto the desk.
"Dear God this is a harder transformation than it seems," Draco spat. His blood tasted so good when it ran down his throat, and that's when Snape came through the door.
Well if his classmates hadn't seen the wounds they certainly had seen that. Pansy looked horrified.
Snape came to the scene and grabbed Draco by his jaw and turned his face so he could get a good look at him. His pupils and cornea were visibly lined in blood.
"Come with me boy," he muttered. And they disappeared into his office. The whispers erupted again.
"You're almost fully changed," he said, checking the size of Draco's fangs to see how badly he'd been infected. They were a good size. Large level of contamination, which meant the vampire had been old. He then reached his hand up and grabbed a vile from the shelf.
"Drink this, it will keep your cravings at bay," Snape muttered.
"How did you know I was having cravings?" Draco asked.
"You can see it in your eyes, the demon trying to take over. But your blood is too pure for that. There's too much will in you to live. You will not fall victim to the animal raging inside of you," Snape said, his black eyes boring into Draco's.
Draco took the cork out of the vile and downed the potion in one quick gulp. Snape looked a little disapproving. The boy was the master at taking shots.
"Well that's a bit poetic of you Professor, don't you think?" Draco asked with a smile. Snape glared. His throat felt hot from the potion.
"Go to the hospital wing," he snapped. "Get those bleeding gums checked out."
"Yes sir!" and Draco was off in better spirits. Why he didn't know…
A/N: Alright! If you liked this chapter, I have another one in the making! Please R and R if you want more! A special thanks to any people who do.