Lovers In a Dangerous Time

Chapter Three

Call and Answer

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Harry slowly edged his way down the stairs, keenly aware that many faces were watching him cautiously from the living room. With each step he took his heart pounded and his palms smeared sweat on the railing. He suddenly had the desire to turn around and run back into his room. He knew these people were only here to help him but he didn't like suddenly being on display, he felt exposed.

As Harry reached the last step he noticed Mr. Weasley had stood up. "It's okay Harry we just have a bit of information for you. Come on in and have a seat."

"Your not afraid I'm going to hurt you?" Harry asked the room at large as he took one step into the living room. He couldn't help but squirm under the many pairs of eyes of Lupin, Tonk, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, Ron,the twins and Hermione.

Hermione who was sitting on the couch with her legs propped up over Ron's lap, laughed at Harry. "Don't be silly, your not a monster now. I'm more afraid of you falling and breaking your nose than of you attacking us."

Hermione's joke helped to loosen the atmosphere in the room. Harry released a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding then walked around a table to sit down on one of the kitchen chairs that had been dragged into the room. Still keenly aware that everyone was watching his every move but grateful that this little meeting wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.

"Hand me those books Ron." Hermione said as she pointed to a rather large stack of books on the table that Harry hadn't noticed before. "I sent Ron off to Diagon Alley while I was in St. Mungos to get some books on vampires, I have been doing a little research."

Harry tried not to laugh, it was so like Hermione to be sitting in a Hospital reading instead of resting. "Oh yeah? Find anything interesting?"

"Loads actually." Hermione said proudly. "There is a lot here that I doubt you know about. That's why were doing this so we can all be better informed."

Harry leaned back in his seat and made himself comfortable, "Alright, I'm ready."

Hermione opened a rather large red book that read, A Vampires Guide, by Ima Sanguine. "First of all, Ginny and Lupin filled us all in on what happened that night. But more importantly Ginny said when she found you, you appeared to be dead. I don't know if you remember but you actually did die."

Harry furrowed his brow then looked at Hermione quizzically. "How is that possible?"

Hermione cleared her voice then lifted the book to read a passage, "When a vampire is turned he will experience slight discomfort as his human heart shuts down and stops. At this time he will cease to be human. Upon awakening a new heart will form in the place of his old one allowing him to be forever immortal. This death and rebirth process is vital in the formation of a new vampire. Should this process be interrupted for any reason he will die and never reawaken."

"Slight discomfort, I'd like to show that author exactly what slight discomfort felt like." Harry said as he remembered the intense pain of nights before then went on. "Your saying that I have a new heart now?" Harry asked, repulsed at the idea.

"Right, the only things that can kill you now is a stake to the heart, fire or sunlight. And sunlight can only kill you if you stand in it directly, like sun bathing. You can actually be out in the light as long as you cover as much of your body as possible, I think a good thick set of robes should do it." Hermione said with what she thought was a reassuring smile.

"Right, so stay away from people with sharp chunks of wood, a lit match and trips to the beach, got it." Harry said sarcastically.

"This passage also goes onto state that any non-life threatening injuries you sustain will heal automatically."

"That explains why I haven't a scratch on me." Harry said as he placed a hand on his ribs that he was sure was broken at some point.

Hermione picked up another book, this one was old and title less. She flipped to a marked page and read, "A vampire only bears it's fangs when ready to feed on blood. A vampire must feed on blood from a human at least once a week or more to live comfortably otherwise they will become tired, sore and extremely weak. A vampire can live on normal human food but nothing will ever fill him like blood will." Hermione said as she put the book down. "This book goes on to say that you do not have to take blood directly from a person. You can drink it out of a cup and be perfectly fine. They suggest that you find someone willing to donate blood to you to lower the chances of injuring someone."

"Right, I'll just walk up to people and say, 'Excuse me, but can you slice open your finger and fill this cup up for me, thanks. Who exactly is going to want to do that for me?" Harry asked.

"We are, mate!" Ron said. "This other book said that it's easy for wizards to give blood. They list a spell that will extract blood painlessly. The spell is normally used for medical reasons but as long as it doesn't hurt we are willing to help you out." Ron said and to Harry's surprise everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

Harry looked around the room, "I can't ask that of you..."

"You don't have to ask." Mrs. Weasley said sternly. "You would do the same for any of us."

Harry couldn't think of a response at the moment so he turned his head back towards Hermione who was flipping through another book. This one was small, thick and covered in a strange blue leather. A large heart adorned the cover along with what looked like a mouth with fangs. The spine read, Love and Blood. Harry couldn't help but snicker at the thought that is was some sex guide for vampires and was stunned beyond believe when he realized he wasn't far off from the truth.

"Now I don't mean to embarrass you with this but there are a few other things you should know." Hermione said as she picked up the blue book and read with a slight smile on her lips, "Vampires tend to be the most violent when it comes to matters of the heart. When a vampire is near his lifemate he will crave that persons blood beyond all others. It is a hard emotion to control but it can be mastered with practice. This need doesn't come from hunger but from sexual lust for the other person."

Harry's eyes grew several inches as he listened to Hermione read from the book, "What exactly does that mean. And what is a lifemate?" All around the room everyone was silently laughing, none more so than Tonks who was resting beside Lupin on the floor.

"Well it means Harry that the person you love most, is going to make you do crazy things. When your around that person you are going to want to take their blood but not for food, for...something else." Tonks said as she buried her face into Lupin's arm to hide her laughter.

Hermione straitened up and tried to look serious, "It's a sexual thing. This is why we asked Ginny to not be here tonight, to avoid an awkward moment." Hermione tossed the blue book to Harry. "Here you can read more on your own."

Mr. & Mrs. Weasley looked highly uncomfortable over the conversation that clearly involved their only daughter but Mr. Weasley swallowed his pride to say, "If you hurt her I'll push you into the backyard in the middle of the day."

Harry gave a feeble smile in Mr. Weasley's direction, "If I hurt her I'll push myself outside." Desperate to change the current subject he looked at Hermione and asked, "I was wondering, am I still a wizard? I mean I didn't loose my powers did I?"

"Well, I was wondering that too. According to our old Defense Against the Dark Art's book..." Hermione said as she gave Lupin a respected smile, "You are not human but not a wizard either, but that didn't really make any sense to us so we figure the best way to find out is it test it."

"Alright, who has my wand?" Harry asked as he shot Lupin a knowing glance.

Lupin leaned to one side and pulled out both his and Dumbledore's wand. He got up and walked both of them over to Harry, somewhat hesitantly. Harry pocketed Dumbledore's wand and put his own in his right hand. Harry waited for Lupin to sit back down before he decided exactly what he was going to do. Thinking back to that stubborn bottle of soap up in the bathroom, Harry raised his wand and said, "Accio soap."

At first it seemed that nothing was going to happen and Harry's heart sunk at the prospect of losing his abilities, something that was so much a part of who he was. Then suddenly the sound of something bumping in the wall then swooshing down the stairway made his heart skip a beat. Coming towards him with alarming speed was his enemy, the bottle of soap. Harry reached out a hand and grabbed it with clear happiness on his face.

"Well, I guess that solves that mystery." Hermione said cheerfully. "I think that Defense book needs a new edition written containing a rather large correction."

"Good, but perhaps another time you can tell us exactly why you have Dumbledore's wand." Lupin said as he eyed Harry suspiciously "Any more questions, Harry?" Lupin asked.

"Yeah, are you going to keep locking me up?" Harry asked, looking Lupin directly in the eyes.

"Well now that we know more and that your not going to start attacking us..." Hermione started.

"Well except for Ginny, you pervert." Ron said with a smile but recoiled as he saw the look in Hermione's eyes.

"Now that we know your harmless," Hermione said, waving Ron's comment off. "There is no need to, but we still have a problem."

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"Your sleeping patterns. Either your going to have to stay inside most of the day and sleep at night with the rest of us or we are all going to have to change our sleeping habits and become night people." Hermione said.

Harry shook his head, "That won't work. Mr. Weasley has to work during the day, and now that the war is over I'm sure the rest of you will be looking for jobs. I will just have to get used to being indoors most of the time." Harry was slightly unnerved by the looks of relief spreading across the many faces before him but knew that they were not looking forward to changing their habits.

"That's fine, we will do what we can to make you comfortable around here. We can place thick curtains up over the windows and..." Mrs. Weasley said but was cut off by Harry.

"That's very sweet but I don't want to put anyone out. I'll start looking for a place of my own so you won't have to worry about me." Harry said.

Mrs. Weasley was about to protest but was stopped by Mr. Weasley, "Not that I don't want you here Harry because I do, but I think it will be best for all involved if you did find your own place. Just for now so you can have some time to get used to your new...situation."

"You can stay with us Harry." Tonks chimed in, "We have plenty of room for you."

"Maybe just until I find my own place." Harry said. "That is if you don't mind living with a vampire."

"Not at all." Lupin said. "I would be honored to live with the biggest hero of our time."

This statement jogged something in Harry, something he hadn't thought about until now. "About that, what's been going on? I mean everyone knows right?"

Ron laughed and tossed Harry a newspaper that he had tucked to his side. Harry opened it and read out loud,

Where is Harry?

By Rita Skeeter

The hero, Harry Potter has finally saved us all. Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days then you know by now how Harry defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort. But what happened to Harry? Attempts have been made to contact him and get a personal interview with the hero himself but little is known of his whereabouts...

Harry stopped, he didn't really need to read anymore. "If their trying to find me their not looking real hard. Doesn't most of the wizard world know that I'm friends with all of you?"

"Yeah, Rita herself came here the other day looking for you. We told her we didn't know where you were and to buzz off." Ron said, laughing at his own joke at Rita's animagus form of a beetle.

Suddenly a faint knocking came from the front door. Tonks, who was closest got up to answer it. Everyone watched her as she opened the door and leaned her head out. Harry's heart sank as he saw her whispering to Ginny, clearly letting her know that Harry was still downstairs. Harry didn't care very much about what everyone else thought, now that he knew why he had this desire to attack her he was sure he could control himself. He got up, put his newspaper and book on the chair and walked over to the door. Tonks tried to stop him but he pushed himself outside despite her protests. He shut the door behind him and turned to look at Ginny.

"Hey, so how did the meeting go?" Ginny asked as she impulsively backed away from him.

"It went fine, I really appreciate all the research Hermione did. It means a lot to me." Harry replied.

"So then I guess she told you about..." Ginny trailed off as she played with the hem of her t-shirt.

"Yeah, she did." Harry said as he took a deep breath and went on. "Look, now that I know why I'm so crazy around you I think I can better control myself."

"Oh Harry, that book said that you only want to attack me because you love me. Is that true?" Ginny asked with clear lust in her eyes as she dared herself to inch towards him.

Harry pushed aside his urge to take her blood, he could feel it rising inside him but he dared himself to gain control. "Of course it's true, how could I not. Look at you, your beautiful."

Ginny smiled then flung her arms around him, kissing him softly on the cheek. "I love you too Harry. I know we can work through this together. The more time you spend with me the more you can control it, right? We will just have to spend every second of the day together wont we?"

Harry held her tightly, the sent of her hair and the feel of her skin made him ache all over. He couldn't help but think that it was the strangest sensation he had ever felt. He could feel his blood heating up and almost boil as the skin of their arms made contact. When she kissed his cheek his face burned with an unnatural heat. It was painful beyond measure to touch her but it was also the best thing he had ever felt in his life. He knew in that very moment exactly what a lifemate was. He didn't need some stupid love book to tell him that she as meant for him. The magic and heat coursing through them was proof enough.