Lovers In a Dangerous Time

Chapter Two

Light Up My Room

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Harry sat on his bed, pushed up against the wall and in a tight ball. His hands around his knees as he sat listening to the sounds of voices just outside his door. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying but he could hear Lupin's low, somber voice as he explained to Mr. & Mrs. Weasley just why they couldn't go into Harry's room. It was unnerving him to hear so many people talking then suddenly bust into sobs or hysterics in the case of Mrs. Weasley. Harry knew what was going on, everyone in the house was suddenly fearfully of him, and he didn't blame them. He was afraid of himself.

How could this of happened? All he wanted to do was say a few words to his departed parents then leave. He should be sleeping peacefully at this very moment with dreams of his future in his head. But instead he was coming up with various plans on how to escape the Burrow without anyone noticing. He didn't really feel like a prisoner but he certainly felt trapped. He couldn't go anywhere near the people he cared for most, how could he! He was sure that the moment he caught sight of them he would want to hurt them like he tried to with Ginny.

The long hours of the night seemed to fall away quickly as a slight pink and orange sky started to lift from the East. Harry turned his head to watch the sunrise but was instantly greeted with searing pain to his eyes. He shut his eye lids and covered them tightly with his hands. This seemed to help for a moment until the sun started getting even higher in the sky. Soon the same skin ripping pain greeted the back of his hands and large blisters began to boil on his skin. He shrieked with disgust and pain then quickly grabbed a large ,thin blanket and pulled it up over his head.

As the sun continued to rise and the blisters increased despite the blanket covering him, Harry couldn't take it anymore as he called out, "Will somebody help me please!"

Harry could hear the lock on the door flip open and the door handle creak. Lupin slowly entered the room and looked around. "Harry, what the..."

"The sun! It's burning me!" Harry protested loudly.

"Merlin's beard, Harry! I didn't even think about it." Lupin said as he quickly ran to the window and conjured up a large black curtain to block out the sun completely. Once satisfied that all trace of sunlight was gone he turned to Harry who was sticking his head out from behind his blanket.

"Look at my skin." Harry said as he pushed the blanket down farther and examined his blistered hands.

Lupin sat on the edge of his bed and looked over at him. "Sorry about that, I didn't even think."

"It's not your fault, I had no idea either." he said sadly. "I guess it's true then, I really am a..." Harry couldn't bring himself to say the words.

"A vampire? Yes, I'm afraid so." Lupin replied. "I'm sorry this happened to you, but it's not the end of the world, it's just something you will have to get used to. But I was wondering, do you remember what happened to you last night?"

Harry thought for a moment, "It all happened really fast actually. I was leaning over my parents headstones when a strange voice called out to me. I turned around and he starts strangling me with one hand and biting my neck." Harry shook his head as if trying to jog his memory. "Then he slit his arm, no...his wrist. He cut open his wrist, pushed me to the ground and smeared his blood over my mouth. Next thing I know he's gone and I was withering in pain."

Lupin frowned, "His name? Can you remember his name."

Harry thought hard for a moment, he knew that the vampire had told him, "It started with an M, Manico or something."

"Malincov." Lupin corrected.

"That's it! Do you know him?" Harry asked eagerly as he jumped out of bed to face Lupin directly.

"I know of him, he's gets a sick pleasure out of turning people against their will. As far as I know he was a Voldemort supporter too." Lupin said. "He's not someone to mess with Harry, so be careful."

"Be careful! He attacked me and left me for dead, I'm going to make his life hell." Harry said as a sudden fire burned in his stomach, "Besides, I need to leave this house anyways...hunting him down will give me something to do."

Lupin watched Harry sadly as he sat down on the bed and looked defeated. "You don't have to leave this house Harry, haven't you noticed that were in the same room and you haven't tried to attack me yet. You show great self restraint, you always have, becoming a vampire isn't going to change that."

Suddenly the door creaked open again and Harry's heart jumped as he saw two of the most beautiful green eyes come pushing into the room. Lupin jumped up and tried to push Ginny away but Harry was to quick for him. "Please don't make her leave, I want to talk to her."

Lupin looked between the pair of them, clearly unsure if he wanted to leave them alone so he compromised, "Alright but I'm standing outside the door until she comes out." Lupin left the room, leaving Harry and Ginny alone.

Ginny closed the door behind him then walked over to sit by Harry on the edge of his bed. She lifted his hands to look at the swollen blisters that had formed there. "Oh Harry, what happened?"

"It seems the sun has become my new mortal enemy." Harry said sarcastically. "How bad do I look?"

"You look horrible." Ginny replied truthfully. "Your eyes are bloodshot, you have dried blood on your face and your clothes are torn to shreds. The blisters don't help any."

"Gee, thanks." Harry said with a smile and panicked when he saw sudden fear in Ginny's eyes. "What, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just saw your teeth for the first time." Ginny replied trying to force her self to stay put and not back away from him.

"My teeth?" Harry said as he reached up and felt, two rather long sharp teeth were protruding from his upper set. "Oh, that's funny, they weren't like that just a few moments ago, I've been checking."

Suddenly Ginny leaped up from the bed and gave a startled cry. Harry's face had contorted, showing the full extent of his teeth, his eyes turned red and an immense longing seemed etched in his features. Harry had no control over his actions as he stood up and took a few steps towards Ginny.

"Harry, NO! It's me, it's Ginny. Try to control yourself. I know you can, Lupin said all you have to do is learn control!" Ginny pleaded.

But before Harry had a chance to respond, Lupin sprang open the door and pulled Ginny out as quickly as he could. Lupin shot Harry a rather nasty look before he left the room slamming the door shut as he went. Harry could hear the locks on the door close and Lupin preformed a sealing spell around the frame. What tugged at his heart most was the sounds of Ginny sobbing frantically as she ran down the stairs and away from his room.

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The next several days were some of the loneliest and miserable days of his life. The only human contact came in the form of Lupin or Mr. Weasley bringing him meals several times a day and the short conversations he held with Ginny through the door. It broke his heart to hear the sadness in her voice when they spoke, he felt like he was locked in jail and denied visitation rights. On the third day of his vampire existence his hunger had become so strong he was ready to start eating the pillows on his bed, it wasn't until Lupin had made his morning visit did he find out why.

"Harry." Lupin said softly as he knocked on his door. "I'm going to come in."

"Not afraid I'll rip you to shreds are you?" Harry responded sourly.

Lupin walked in holding a large box, balancing a plate of eggs and sausage on top of it. He handed Harry the plate, closed the door then sat the box on the ground. "Good Morning Harry, well good morning to you anyways."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked as he forked a sausage.

"Well, it's eight o'clock at night actually. I don't think you have realized that your sleeping pattern has changed. You sleep during the day now." Lupin said as he leaned over and opened the box.

"That explains why nobody comes to talk to me when I'm awake, there all asleep." Harry said.

"Yes, well not tonight. Hermione arrived here about an hour ago. The whole family is downstairs talking with her."

"How is she? Is her leg okay?" Harry asked eagerly.

"She's fine, it just took her longer to heal than normal cause of the extent of the damage. She broke her leg in several spots and tore several muscles. But she's fully healed now. In fact that's why she's here, to see you." Lupin explained. "Here, Ron gathered up a bunch of your clothes." Lupin said as he tossed Harry a t-shirt and some jeans.

"Won't do much good, I'm as dirty as can be, nobody has let me out to shower yet." Harry said as he raised his arm and sniffed.

Lupin laughed, "I know, we just didn't think about it until yesterday we have been busy trying to figure out how to handle you."

"Handle me?" Harry said indignantly. "Everyone is afraid of me?"

"We only fear the unknown Harry. None of us knew exactly what was happening to you so we were unsure how to react but thanks to Hermione we understand a lot more, and you will too once you shower." Lupin said.

"Shower? Your letting me out?" Harry asked as he shoved a sausage in his mouth.

"Your not a prisoner Harry, but yes we are letting you out. Your to finish your dinner, I mean breakfast then go down the hall and clean up. When your done, come downstairs so we can show you what we found out. I think you will find it rather interesting." Lupin said as he stood up and went to the door.

"Will Ginny be here?" Harry asked.

"No Harry, she is with Fred and George helping out in their shop tonight. We will explain why when you come downstairs." Lupin smiled then walked out the door, leaving it hanging wide open.

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For the past few years Harry had mostly been living at the Burrow, but down the hall in the same room as Ron. The room he was currently held up in normally housed Charlie, Ron's older brother while he was helping out the Order. Ginny told him yesterday that Charlie was currently staying with Bill and Fleur in there small house just down the hill from the Burrow. However this room showed no evidence of Charlie ever living there. A small musty desk was pushed into the corner of the room. The flower wall paper was pealing so bad that the original wood backing was showing through. The only other item of furniture in the room was the bed that smelled of something you would find in a potions shop, it was by far the worst and most depressing room in the house.

Harry snatched up his box of clothes and exited, thankful to be out of that room and unsupervised. Harry paused for a moment in the hallway to listen to the voices of the many people downstairs before he walked to the end of the hall and into the empty bathroom. He shut the door and sat his box down on the closed toilet lid then looked in the mirror. Even though he had washed up most of the blood on his face the first bathroom break Lupin gave him he still looked worse for the ware. His hair hadn't been combed in days and his skin was as pale as ever. Harry had to remind himself that he would probably be this pale forever now.

He was happy to see that his teeth looked perfectly normal, so site of fangs what so ever. He had assumed that they only appeared when he was ready to take blood, a idea that continued to sicken him each time he thought about it. After a long examination of his current appearance he striped off his clothes and threw them away. He reached behind the shower curtain, turned on the water and waited for it to heat up before he got in.

Once his rather long, hot shower was completed he stepped out and toweled off. With the towel wrapped around him he went back to the mirror and cleared the mist off with his palm. He realized he didn't have his wand for the first time when he wanted to shave off his three day old stubble. He went looking around the bathroom for a razor but was unsuccessful. This is a house full of wizards, why would they have a razor. He thought. But something about the word wizard stuck in his mind. Do I still have my magical abilities?

Harry tried hard to move a bottle of soap using wandless magic but he was still so weak from lack of movement over the past few days that the bottle didn't even budge, it sat there mocking him as he pulled a comb over his wet hair. He continued to try to move that bottle of soap as he pulled on his clothes and sat the edge of the tub to tie his shoes. With one last glance in the mirror and one more go at the soap he readied himself for whatever he was about to hear downstairs.