I don't own Hellsing or Harry Potter, and I'm not making any money from this.

Ever since her cousin had been allowed to go out on his first mission, Constance had lusted after the opportunity. Now, it looked like she was thrust into the middle of a combat situation against her will. This was her chance to prove herself and show she knew what she was doing. She just hoped and prayed that she actually did know what she was doing...

"I have to let someone know what's happening." she said, more thinking out loud than anything else. She looked up at the group of shocked and befuddled wizards standing before her. "Someone needs to go wake up your parents."

"I'll do it." George said. Of all of them he was the one who understood the most, so he was less overwhelmed by it.

They both moved toward the trap door of the attic – George to awaken his parents, and Connie to go get her bag from her room. However, not everyone was so keen on jumping and running.

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Fred said, upset about having been left out of something. "What the devil is going on? Someone had better start talking!"

"We don't have time!" Connie exclaimed, whirling back around. "There are god knows how many monsters coming this way, and I have no idea how long it will take them to get here! Now, if you lot want to just stand there looking stupid, you have at it. I have work to do."

With that, she turned back around and climbed down through the trapdoor after George. Behind them, everyone else was scrambling to follow. Constance paid no attention. On the fifth floor, George made a bee-line for the master bedroom and entered without knocking. She continued running down the third floor where the room she was using was located. Her trunk from school still lay on the floor. She hadn't bothered to do any unpacking aside from pulling out a change of clothes. Not wanting to waste any time rifling through it, she simply maneuvered the trunk up onto the bed and dumped out all the contents. Upstairs, she could hear the voices of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley demanding to know what George had woken them up for. Fred was up there as well, continuing a rapid-fire questioning of his brother. Harry, Ron, and Ginny had followed Connie all the way down to her room and were staring at her from the doorway.

"Connie, please." Harry pleaded. "What's..." he froze and went wide eyed when her frantic rifling through her close revealed her handgun. "Holy hell, Connie! That's a gun!"

"You have one of those fire-leg things?" Ron squeaked. "Wha..."

"It's a 'firearm', Ron." Constance spat in irritation. "Now shut up!"

She finally located the jacket she had worn on the journey and dug around in the pockets for her phone. Figuring that the house line might be busy, she bypassed that idea and punched in her father's cell phone number instead. He picked up on the first ring.

"Connie?" Edmund's voice came over the line. "I was just about to call you. Listen..."

"Daddy, Persephone told me that vampires are coming here!" she shouted into the phone before he could finish.

"We know." he told her. "Your aunt got one of her feelings and we found them. I need you to listen to me very carefully. Syn and Seras are on their way right now, but they aren't going to get there before the vampires do. You're going to have to dig in your heels and try to keep everyone safe until they get there. Do not go out hunting them down. You stay where you are, fortify the house as best you can, and get everyone ready for an evacuation. Do you understand me?"

"I understand." she said quickly. "But, why are they coming here? Wouldn't they go for the village if..."

"They probably have if they're making ghouls. We don't have all the details yet, but it looks like they're after Potter." Her father interrupted. "Are the parents there?"

"George just woke them up." she reported. "Hang on."

Constance felt a chill run down her spine. These things were coming after Harry? She pushed past her friends standing in the doorway and ran upstairs. The twins and their parents had just gotten down to the fourth floor – everyone looking confused and on edge. When she saw Mr. Weasley, Connie ran up and thrust the phone toward him.

"My dad needs to talk to you." she said. "It's important."

Since Mr. Weasley didn't know the first thing about how to use a phone, she held the device up to his ear and instructed him to talk. The man gave her an odd look, then focused on what he heard coming through. Constance couldn't make out what was being said, but it sounded like Edmund was giving him a basic rundown of the situation. Mr. Weasley's face was white as he pulled away from the phone. When she put the phone back to her ear, Connie's dad gave her another warning to stay out of a fight if she could help it and to be safe. With that, the line went dead.

"Molly, start packing a bag. We have to get ready to leave." Mr. Weasley told his wife. He then looked around at all of his children and Harry. "All of you. Now."

Connie couldn't recall ever hearing such a firmness in the man's tone before. Apparently when Mr. Weasley got serious and began handing out orders, everyone stopped asking questions and obeyed. Before Mrs. Weasley went back upstairs, he lowered his head to whisper something to her. The woman's eyes went wide with fear and she quickly nodded and rushed back up to their room. While everyone else scurried around to pack up what they would need to take with them, Mr. Weasley took hold of Connie's arm and gently pulled her down the hallway so they could speak privately.

"I'm not going to ask you what this means because I imagine we'll get an explanation when this is over." he told her in a low voice. "Your father said you know what you're doing. What do we need to do?"

Thank God the man had enough common sense to not go into a panic. Constance took a deep breath. "If we leave the house before our people get here, we'll be sitting ducks." she told him. "We have to hold out as long as we can. The ghouls will probably hit first, so everyone needs to stay on the upper floors. If we destroy the staircase, they wont be able to get to us."

Mr. Weasley gave her a solemn nod of understanding and went off. It seemed he was going to take care of the destruction of the staircase himself. The sound of splintering wood and heavy objects falling to the floor a few moments later confirmed Connie's suspicion.

Since all of the younger people in the house had just gotten back from school, they didn't have much work to do as far as packing went. They could simply grab their trunks and enchant them to be smaller and lighter. After Constance got all of her things shoved back into her trunk – sans her gun and small supply of ammo – she thought of something. Getting rid of the staircase would keep them safe from the ghouls, yes, but there were vampires to worry about too. They wouldn't be stopped by something so simple. Any opening the creatures could get through would have to blessed. The girl dragged her trunk out into the hallway, then raced down to the second floor. Mr. Weasley was still down there urging Ginny to hurry up. Constance went right past the bedroom they were in to the landing that had once been connected to the stairs. Working quickly, she blessed everything she could think of – openings between the walls, the windows, and the sections of floor that were now open to the level below. It was as she was finishing up the last segment that the first wave of ghouls attacked the house.

At first, it was only a series of loud bangs on the door. Then came the distinctive crack of wood breaking and Connie caught sight of a grayish looking arm thrust through a hole in the kitchen door. She didn't see much more than that because Mr. Weasley grabbed her and pulled her back.

"Upstairs." he said firmly. "You too, Ginny."

The two girls ran back up to the stairs, Ginny dragging her trunk from school behind her. Everyone else had congregated on the third floor. Mrs. Weasley, now dressed, was listening to the sounds of the break-in with horror in her eyes. She waved at her daughter the moment she saw her and pulled the girl protectively into her arms.

"They're inside the house?" she asked. She looked over the girls' heads to Mr. Weasley, who had followed them up. "Arthur?"

"I got rid of the staircase, so they wont be able to reach us up here." he told her.

"So we're just going to let the things wonder through our house doing whatever they please?" Ron exclaimed. "Ghouls are like inferi, aren't they? I mean, we could kill them with fire..."

"Bloody brilliant idea, Ron." Fred said, making a face at him. "Set something that moves around on fire inside a wood house with a thatched roof?"

"The whole house would go up and we'd be burned alive before we could get out." George said, finishing his brother's sentiment.

Two floors below, more ghouls must have poured inside behind the first one. The chorus of eerie moans grew louder with each passing second. Everyone jumped when something glass broke downstairs. A lamp or something knocked over, no doubt. Harry's eyes traced over the walls frantically, then settled on Connie.

"You have a gun, don't you?" he questioned, pointing a finger toward the weapon she had strapped to her hip for safekeeping. "Can't you just shoot them?"

"I have a limited supply of bullets, Harry." she told him. "We don't know how many ghouls are down there and there are still vampires to worry about. I'm not about to waste ammo on something that can't get to us when we might need it later."

"But how are we supposed to get out if we can't get downstairs?" Ginny asked worriedly. "Climb out a window?"

Constance shook her head. "No, they'll be outside too. And once the vampires get a fix on us, there would be no way for us to outrun them. We have to stay here and wait for the evac..."

"Hush!" Mr. Weasley said quietly, holding up his hands to stop the argument.

It appeared that he had heard something downstairs. When everyone closed their mouths to listen, Connie could make it out as well. In and amongst the sounds the ghouls were making, there were voices. That didn't bode well because ghouls weren't capable of anything more than moans and groans.

"Well, well, well, it looks like someone's done their homework." a male voice declared snidely. "And a barrier is up too. Very clever."

It sounded like the vampires had arrived.

When his team arrived in Brighton, they found that the attack was focused on the North side of town. Their targets had only a small lead on them, so they hadn't had much time to work. Seeing as how there were only a handful of ghouls they could see, Mihnea left them for the human soldiers to handle. He had no idea which house Granger lived in, so he would have to search for it.

In the end, it wasn't that difficult to find. The Grangers lived at the end of the street all the ghouls were originating from. There was even a wooden, hand-painted sign bearing their name hanging over the front door. The white frame was splintered and the door itself hung pathetically on it's hinges. Mihnea felt the weight of worry climb up into his throat. The vampires were already inside and judging from the screaming pouring forth from the gaping hole left by the destroyed door, they had found the family. The boy drew his gun and bolted inside, hoping that he wasn't too late.

All the lights in the house were out, but his enhanced vision allowed him to see well enough to identify his surroundings. The front door opened into a small entrance way with a staircase at the end. Mihnea's senses were overwhelmed by the scent of blood and death. A woman's body lay sprawled out and motionless about halfway up the stairs. The hair was the same, but the face was too old to be Hermione's. It must be her mother. To the left of the entrance way was the living room. A side table was overturned and an antique porcelain lamp lay shattered on the floor. There had been a fight in here. Near the windows bathing the room with pale moonlight, he found the second body – this one an older male, still in pajamas with his throat torn out. Beyond the living room was what had to be a dining area. He couldn't actually see anything yet, but he could hear the sounds of struggling. Extending his senses beyond the room he was in, Mihnea picked up the presence of three people – two vampires and one human. There was little doubt as to who that human was.

"I'm not telling you where he is!" Granger's voice rang out, angry and terrified at the same time. "I'd die first!"

"It doesn't matter anymore." a resonant male voice proclaimed. "If he isn't here, then we know where he is. As for you dying..." he paused, as if turning to speak to his companion. "She does look tasty, doesn't she?"

Another voice, this one female, scoffed. "I say we keep the little bitch alive until they wake up." she said. Her tone then shifted to a mocking parody of gentleness. "Mommy and daddy are going to be hungry."

Something about the entire situation was so twisted and evil that Mihnea couldn't stand it. There were some people in the world that deserved to be tortured that way, but Hermione Granger wasn't one of them. It seemed that the vampires were so wrapped up in their taunting of the girl that they didn't notice Mihnea's presence. That was fine by him. He could use the element of surprise to his advantage. When a comment was made about it being a shame to let such a 'pretty little thing' die a virgin, he felt his fangs lengthen and his claws come out. He'd heard more than enough out of them. As Granger let out a high-pitched squeal of pain at something they were doing to her, Mihnea grit his teeth together and rushed forward. Taking only a split second to locate his target's positions, he fired at the female holding Hermione captive. It was a shot to the neck – not enough to kill, but certainly enough to put her down and out of the fight. The moment she felt the vampire's grip on her loosen, Granger jerked free and bolted through a free swinging door into another room. The female vampire hit the floor, clutching at the gaping hole in her throat, while the male snarled and whirled around to face the new threat. Mihnea didn't have time to fire a second shot before he was knocked to the ground.

The two of them struggled, growling and clawing at each other like animals until the boy managed to get into a more defensible position. Once he was on his feet again, Mihnea dragged the vampire up by the collar of his coat and shoved him up against a wall. Summoning up his shadows, he directed them to impale the bastard through the chest. The vampire went rigid, a wet, pained sound escaping his lips before he crumpled to dust. Mihnea then turned his attention to the female. She was still gripping her neck wound, trying desperately to crawl backwards with small, weak motions. From what he could make out of the bloody mess between her fingers, the damage was enough to kill her if she didn't get a massive amount of blood quickly. She could still speak, but just barely. Mihnea walked right up to her and crouched down. He wanted this thing to see his face before he put her out of her misery.

The vampire's shining golden eyes widened in confusion as she picked up the scent of something she had never encountered before. "Wha... are..." she sputtered, blood dripping from her lips. "Monster."

The last word was spat out like a curse, and Mihnea's eyes narrowed in anger. If they weren't red before, they would be now. "Me?" he asked her. "You attack a defenseless family, threaten to rape a little girl then feed her to her parents, and I'm the monster? Go to hell, bitch."

Without another word, he quickly rose to his feet and slammed his booted foot down into her face. The blow was hard enough to crush the skull and destroy the brain – killing her. Mihnea sniffed in satisfaction at the new pile of ash on the floor. He then did a quick scan of his surroundings and found that Granger was still nearby. Probably hiding in the kitchen. He decided it would be best to leave her where she was for the moment. He had some work to do that the girl didn't need to witness.

While he didn't much like the idea of shooting her parents, it was something that had to be done. The attacking vampires made it sound like they would turn into ghouls. It was possible they were bluffing to scare Granger into submission, but he hadn't yet encountered a vampire who wasn't willing to actually do it. It was best to be safe. When Mihnea went back to the living room, the body there showed no signs of movement. He leveled Venom at the man's head and fired a single, well placed shot. He did the same for the woman on the stairs – noting that in both cases, the bodies turned to dust. It was better for them to be put down that way, rather than being given time to reanimate. If anything, it would save Granger the horror of witnessing her parents turn into mindless eating machines that wanted to kill her. Mihnea quickly shook that thought out of his head. He couldn't think of them as her parents. They were just bodies. Anonymous victims that had to be taken care of. Using any other terminology for them would force him to think about the fact that he hadn't arrived in time to save them. Had the circumstances been different, the notion wouldn't have entered his head. But this attack involving the family of someone he knew – albeit not very well – just made it feel... different. Closer to home in a way that made him uncomfortable.

Pushing the sensation to the side, Mihnea placed his gun back into it's holster and turned on his heel to fetch Granger. As the only survivor, she needed to be evacuated. Upon entering the kitchen and seeing her nowhere, he traced her scent to a what looked like a small closet. A broom cupboard or pantry perhaps? He moved to open the door.

"Gran...?" he began, but the question ended abruptly when he found himself hit with what felt like a wildcat loosed from the bowels of hell.

"Stay the bloody hell away from me, monster!" the girl screeched as she surged forward to attack.

The wind was knocked from his lungs and Mihnea hissed in pain as sharp, hot fire rushed through his left arm. Jesus Christ, she had a knife! It looked like something in Granger had snapped and she was determined to go down fighting. The boy had to keep his arms raised to block her from hitting anything vital.

"Granger!" he shouted at her, hoping she would recognize the sound of his voice, if nothing else.

It had no effect. The wild-eyed girl continued kicking, punching, clawing, and stabbing with that damn kitchen knife she'd armed herself with – managing to land several good slashes to his arm before he got close enough to grab her. Not able to think of a better way to calm her down, Mihnea maneuvered her struggling form across the room and pinned her against the refrigerator.

"Hermione Granger!" he said in his deepest, most intimidating tone of voice.

For a brief moment, the girl froze and stared at him. Mihnea took advantage of the opening to to bore his gaze deep into hers. He reached out for her mind.

"Go to sleep." he commanded.

Granger blinked and a small flash of recognition crossed her features. "You...?" she mumbled before her eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious.

Mihnea carefully allowed her dead weight to slip slowly to the floor so she wouldn't be injured. Her pajamas and robe were drenched through with blood. However, it appeared that she herself bore nothing more serious than a few bruises and scrapes from being roughed up. All the blood was from him. Once he got her down to the floor, the boy immediately rolled up his sleeve to assess the damage. The entire operation hurt like hell and once the wounds were revealed, there was too much blood to make out anything definite. All he knew was that something important had been hit. His arm didn't just bleed, but spurted in time with his heartbeat. Along with the blinding pain at the smallest bit of movement, there was a numb tingle than ran from his elbow all the way down to his fingers. An attempt at making a fist was successful only in spraying blood into his face. Mihnea could scarcely get his fingers to bend.

Damn it to hell. He thought. His mother was going to throw a god awful fit about him letting himself get hurt on the job. Leaving Granger where she was, he fumbled through the kitchen, searching for a dishtowel. He located one in a drawer near the sink and wrapped it tightly around his arm. He then pulled his shirt sleeve back down and buttoned it to keep the makeshift bandage in place. That would have to do until he got back home. His eyes closed and he leaned up against the counter to catch his breath and allow the pain to recede before doing anything else. However, a loud meow caught his attention. Mihnea's eyes slid open to find a large, fluffy orange cat pawing at Hermione and glaring at him in accusation. He'd almost forgotten the girl had a cat. It must have hidden away upstairs during the attack.

"I had to put her to sleep so she wouldn't kill me." he told it, knowing the feline would understand. Cats were just as intelligent as people, though very few believed it. He pointed to himself. "I'm a good guy."

The cat – Crookshanks, he remembered – studied him consideringly for a moment, then meowed again. It looked like he believed him.

"I have to get her out of here." he said, thinking about what his next move should be. "Where's her room?"

Crookshanks' tail twitched and he turned to march out of the kitchen. Mihnea took a deep breath to prepare for the coming pain, then pushed himself away from the counter to follow. The fluffy feline led him upstairs, coming to a halt just outside the second door on the right of the hall. At the top of the landing, the boy saw why Granger had come at him with a knife rather than defending herself with magic. Her wand was laying on the floor, snapped clean in two. He bent to gather up the pieces, then continued on to her bedroom.

He remembered Connie mentioning something about the girl having plans to go skiing with her family over the holidays. While he wasn't sure of when the trip was supposed to happen, hopefully Granger would already have a few things packed up. She didn't seem like the sort to put things off to the last minute. Sure enough, sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed was a light blue, medium sized duffel. It was the sort that was big enough to carry enough clothes for a week or so if packed right. Using his good arm, Mihnea grabbed it and set it on the bed long enough to tuck the broken wand pieces in an exterior pocket, then slung it over his shoulder to take it back downstairs with him.

Then came the hard part. Mihnea hadn't figured on getting Granger and her things out of the house while injured. He had to figure out the best way to carry her and the bag without dropping her. The weight itself wasn't an issue, but the bulk of two large objects was potentially problematic. His left arm was practically useless at the moment and the loss of blood was beginning to make him feel dizzy and off balance. He wound up hooking the strap of the duffel over his head so he wouldn't have to worry about it slipping off. He then maneuvered Hermione into a position where he could fold her over his right shoulder to carry like a sack of potatoes. Once he was relatively comfortable that he could make it back to the truck without dropping her on her head, he turned to leave. For the second time, he was confronted by Crookshanks. The cat had jumped up onto the island in the center of the kitchen, and was watching him expectantly. Damn it. He had a bloody cat to worry about too. He should just leave it there. God knows he had enough to do without wasting valuable time on an animal. But... a thought of Pixie popped into his head. If something happened to him and she got left behind, he'd be mad as hell. He grit his teeth in frustration, then slumped.

"Alright, look here." he said with a huff, giving Hermione's cat a serious look. "If you're coming, you're going to have to stay close and keep up. I can't carry you too."

The creature appeared a wee bit miffed that his mistress was being carried while he was denied, but the expression lasted only a moment. Crookshanks leapt down from the island and followed along a few steps behind as Mihnea finally made his way out of the house.

One of the few complaints Constance had about the Burrow was the thinness of the walls. It always seemed that if you wanted to have a private conversation, you had to take the time to put up wards first. But now, what had been an annoyance in the past was proving useful.

Everyone upstairs held their breath, refusing to make any sound once they heard the vampires speaking. Though they were two floors below, the lack of accessory noise allowed Connie to hear them better than she would otherwise. There were three distinct voices – all male. There could be more vampires than that present, but even just three was bad. But the most disturbing thing wasn't that there were multiple vampires and God knows how many ghouls inside the house with them. It wasn't even that the monsters quickly identified that all of them were upstairs. No... rather, it was the fact that the creatures sensed that there was a magical barrier blocking their progress, and they didn't seem the least bit upset about it. It sounded like these things thought it was funny. That didn't give Connie a very reassuring feeling. She had done everything right, hadn't she? There was no way they could...

A loud cracking sound interrupted her thoughts and everyone jumped. It was the exact same sound that had been made when then the ghouls broke through the door – only this time closer. It was difficult to tell exactly where it was coming from, but not knowing what it was was frightening.

"What are they doing?" Harry whispered.

Everyone shook their heads, not able to come up with an explanation for the noise. Were they down there busting through the walls or something? That's certainly what it sounded like. But there would be no point to doing that if what they wanted was upstairs. Suddenly, almost as quickly as it began, everything fell silent again. Even the moans of the ghouls lowered to what could be called a whisper. Everyone went back to holding their breath again, looking amongst each other in bewildered worry. Mrs. Weasley's arms around Ginny tightened. Something wasn't right. Constance's hand instinctively went for the gun at her side. The feel of the metal was reassuring in a small way.

Then, out of nowhere, a hand burst up through the floor, sending shards of wood flying in every direction. Holy shit, that's what the sound was! They were breaking through the goddamn floor! Everyone scuttled back away from the menacing looking hand, but Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were too close to get back in time. The pale fingers wrapped around Ginny's ankle and roughly dragged her down.

"Ginny! No!" Mrs. Weasley screeched, surging forward to grab at her daughter.

The redheaded girl's eyes went wide with the horror of what was happening and she screamed as the creature holding her leg refused to let go. Everyone else jumped to join Mrs. Weasley in keeping her from being pulled through. But the vampire's inhuman strength was too much, even for all of them combined. Ginny seemed to realize that their efforts weren't working and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Please!" she cried out, her arms flying out to grab at Harry and Fred's shirts in a vise-like grip. "Don't let me go! Plea..."

The last plea broke off and ended in a pained scream as the vampire's strength finally won out. Ginny slipped through everyone's fingers and disappeared through the now enormous hole in the floor. The creatures below saw that the girl they had gotten wasn't the person they wanted and the one that had grabbed her now pushed both arms up through the hole. They planted themselves firmly on the solid floor like it was going to pull itself up into the hallway with them. Moving without thinking, Connie drew her gun and pointed it down through the hole and fired. She knew her bullet had hit true when the ghostly colored flesh of the arms suddenly exploded into a cloud of dust. Beneath them, an angry sounding growl erupted from the other two vampires. Knowing that they wouldn't stop until they had Harry, Connie pressed her palms against the floor and performed another blessing – sealing the hole and every inch of the floor to block them. Why hadn't she thought to do that the first time? She'd never heard of a vampire breaking their way up through a floor before.

"Let me go!" Ginny's voice screeched below them. It sounded like she was fighting to get loose.

There was only one way to see what was going on and that was to run down to the staircase at the end of the hall that led down to the second floor. Everyone rushed toward it, but Constance somehow managed to push her way through to the front. She hadn't blessed anything on the third floor because she thought the vampires wouldn't be able to get that far. She grabbed Ron's arm and jerked him back just as one of the vampires began running up the stairs. Holding out a hand to direct the energy to it's target, she muttered a blessing to block the top of the staircase and the opening around the landing. It found it's mark and the blessing sealed over the area before it reached the top. The vampire snarled at them in fury when it ran full speed into the invisible barrier. The girl lifted her gun and was about to blow the damn thing's head off when the vampire holding Ginny suddenly came into view.

"Put it down, or the girl dies!" it shouted.

Constance faltered. She had a clear shot at the vampire now at the foot of the stairs. But there would be no way to shoot both of them. The vampire holding Ginny was holding her in front of him like a shield. Even if she killed the first and got a clear shot at the other's head, Ginny would be dead before she had time to pull the trigger. George pushed his way past Fred and grabbed her hand, pushing the gun down toward the floor. Connie didn't dare let go of it, but the monsters seemed satisfied that it was no longer pointed in their direction.

Ginny was kicking and struggling like a madwoman trying to get free. The vampire holding her made a face of irritation and grabbed a handful of her hair to jerk her head back, then gave her arm a painful twist to make her settle down. When Ginny cried out in pain, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gripped the banister so hard their knuckles went white.

"You let my baby go!" the woman shouted in a venomously angry voice. She moved to draw her wand, but her husband grabbed her before she got it out of her pocket.

"Molly, you cant!" he told her. "You could hit her!"

The boys stared on in horror, not sure of what to do as their father turned his eyes back toward their attackers. "What do you want?"

The vampire at the foot of the stairs pushed his dark hair back out of his face and strode toward his companion, keeping his gleaming red eyes trained on them the entire time. His pacing gave Connie the impression of a shark slowly circling it's meal.

"The boy." he said in a frigid tone. "The one with the lightning scar. Give him to us."

"Like hell!" Ron and the twins shouted.

Mr. Weasley shot them a look that warned them to be quiet, then went back to the vampires. "You can't have him." he said firmly.

"Then the girl dies." the one holding Ginny spat, putting a hand on her forehead as if preparing to break her neck. "Give us the boy and we let her go."

The other vampire nodded as if to assure them of their sincerity. "We want nothing to do with you. Give us what we want, and we'll return your daughter and leave you alone."

Harry was staring at the scene in shock, absorbing the fact that all of this was done in an effort to get to him. He swallowed deeply. "Let me go." he said quietly, looking around at the others. "You can't let them kill Ginny."

Even though he had said it quietly, it looked like Ginny had heard him. She struggled in the arms of her captor. "NO!" she shouted. "Don't you dare let him come down here!"

Connie whirled around to face him. "The bastards are lying, Harry." she hissed at him. "The second they have you, they'll kill every one of us."

The boy looked frantic, appearing to think all of this was his fault somehow. "But..."

"Be quiet, Harry." Mr. Weasley said, holding out an arm, but not looking away from the monster holding his daughter captive. "You're not going anywhere."

Below them, the vampires sneered at them. "I would listen to the boy if I were you." the lighter haired one said. He ran a finger down the side of Ginny's cheek suggestively. "Such a pretty girl. Is her life worth sacrificing for his?"

They were in a complete deadlock. The vampires obviously weren't going to budge, and none of them were about to hand Harry over. The only viable option was to find a way to get Ginny away from them. When the monsters saw that no one was moving to give them what they wanted, the dark haired vampire – whom Connie was beginning to see as the 'leader', let out an exaggerated sounding sigh.

"Have it your way then." he said, then motioned to the one holding Ginny. "You can eat her."

The lighter haired one's eyes lit up with delight and Ginny closed her eyes and whimpered as her head was jerked back to bear her throat. Someone had to do something! Not really sure of what she was doing, Constance decided to take initiative and get involved. She jerked her gun arm back up and took aim at the one she had a clear shot at.

"If you kill her, both of you are dead." she warned.

Everyone surrounding her went wide eyed. "Connie!" George hissed at her. "What are you doing?"

"Keep your mouth shut!" Mrs. Weasley warned. "Arthur! Stop her!"

"Stay out of this." she said, refusing to be distracted. "I know what I'm doing." she looked back at the vampires, an idea forming in her mind. It was completely insane, but given that there were no other options, it might be the only thing that would buy them some time. "You think you can come in here acting all big and bad and expect to get whatever you want? We all know that you can't do a goddamn thing. If you kill her, you wont have anything to bargain with anymore, you sure as hell wont get Harry, and I'll blow both of your brains out before you can blink. So you go right ahead. Do it."

"She's lost her bleeding mind!" Someone exclaimed, though Connie had gone past the point of being able to recognize who it was. She was too locked into the moment. Someone grabbed her and tried to take her gun away, but she shoved them off, refusing to look away from her opponents.

On the floor below, both vampires went still at her words and focused all their attention on her. She had just called their bluff and they knew it.

"You." the leader said, starting up his back and forth pacing again. "Who are you? I've never heard of a witch who carries a gun..."

Connie narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think I'm a witch?" she challenged. Keeping their attention on her was distracting them from their threat to kill Ginny.

"The home of pure-blood wizards is an unlikely place to find someone who isn't a witch." the vampire replied, his expression both challenging and thoughtful. "We were told to watch out for spells, and yet I didn't see you use a wand to put up this barrier. Who are you?"

"I'm someone you seriously don't want to mess with." she told him.

Suddenly, she felt her anger at the situation change to an icy intensity. The power had shifted. It was subtle. So subtle that perhaps the others hadn't felt it yet. But Connie noticed and grabbed onto it with both hands. She had taken control. And God it felt good. So this is what it felt like, to hold influence over a monster... Something in the air changed. Constance wasn't quite sure what it was, but when she paid closer attention, realization struck her. The ghouls downstairs were growing louder. They had sensed something and wanted to go after it. That smallest of signals was enough to give her hope and strengthen her growing resolve.

"I'm going to give you to the count of three." she said in a tone that would surely make her mother glow with pride. "You're going to let Ginny go, or I'm going to start shooting. And I'll warn you right now, I don't miss very often."

In the back of her mind, she made a silent plea to Persephone that if she had to shoot, the spirit had better not let her miss. She had no idea if the gun spirits could communicate that way, but the weapon in her hand grew warm – almost like she had heard her and was giving her assurance that she wouldn't allow any bullets to go astray.

Apparently sensing that she was serious, the lighter haired vampire tightened his grip on Ginny and pulled her up off the floor to make a better shield for himself. The leader of the pair just narrowed his eyes.

"You wouldn't dare." he said. "What makes you think a little girl like you could actually hit one of us?"

"I've already killed one of you." she reminded him. "And I'd be careful what you say, if I were you. This 'little girl' as more resources at her disposal than you can imagine. Try me."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr. Weasley blink. She had used the exact same phrase her mother had when he had seen her, and there was no way he didn't recognize where it came from. As she prepared herself to begin her countdown, the ghouls downstairs let out a series of loud and agitated groaning sounds. Gunfire rang out and everyone around her ducked, confused and terrified about what was happening. The two vampires on the second floor both blinked in shock and looked back to see what was going on.

"What the fu..." the one holding Ginny began.

He was so surprised that he actually lowered the girl a hair, leaving Constance a clear shot to his head. That was the best opportunity she was going to have. Not wasting a second, she squeezed off the trigger and sent one of her bullets flying into his head. His body crumpled to dust and Ginny hit the floor with a sputter of shock. She quickly realized she was free and attempted to scuttle backwards. Meanwhile, the other vampire whirled back around and he saw the girl making her escape. He moved to catch her before she got too far away, but a large, dark shape flew up from the lowermost floor and blocked his advance. The shadowy mass swirled together to form a massive black dog with three pairs of glowing red eyes. It crouched low to the floor and snarled, making the vampire skid to a halt in horror. Almost as soon as Baskerville appeared, more shadows arrived, these twinning around the monster's limbs to drag him down to the first floor. Connie lost track of him once he disappeared under the landing.

Baskerville made no move to follow the screaming vampire. Instead, he turned around and prodded over to a horrified looking Ginny. The girl sped up her attempts at crawling away and when the dog was close enough, she raised her hands as if to fight it off. But the hellhound just ignored her attempts at shoving it away and walked behind her to take the collar of her sweater between his teeth.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley and all of her brothers cried out in horror.

Everyone besides Connie drew their wands and pointed them at the animal, while Mr. Weasley ran toward the stairs as if to go down there to rescue her from what they perceived as a new threat.

"Stop!" Constance shouted, seeing what they were doing. "Don't attack him!"

She didn't think any kind of spell they cast would actually hurt him, but it might make the hellhound angry. Down below, Baskerville was dragging the squirming, terrified girl backwards toward the foot of the stairs. Once there, he let go of her sweater and padded back in front of her, planting himself between all of them and the space where the vampires had broken through to the 2nd floor. It looked like he was making sure that if anything else managed to get upstairs, it would encounter him first. When they recognized what the creature had just done, everyone faltered, though they didn't lower their wands.

"Wha... what is it doing?" Fred asked.

"He's protecting us." Connie said.

Ron was still staring at the dog with wide eyes. "But... that thing looks like the Gri..."

"Baskerville isn't the Grim, Ron." Constance said. Why did everything he see automatically become that damn omen?

On the stairs, Mr. Weasley was keeping an eye on Baskerville as he continued down to get Ginny. When he reached the bottom and slid his hands under her shoulders to help her up, the hellhound glanced back to watch him. Both Ginny and her dad went still, but when they saw that the creature made no move to come toward them, Mr. Weasley went on with slowly pulling her up the stairs. Ginny could get up onto her feet, but the leg she had been dragged down through the floor by didn't look like it would carry much weight. Once they reached the top, Mrs. Weasley rushed over to hug her daughter and give her a good look over to make sure she was okay. It seemed that the girl's ankle was sprained and could be fixed with a few healing spells - though she would have to keep weight off of it while the magic settled in.

On the lowermost floor, the gunfire had finally stopped, but it sounded like there was still a fight going on. Constance could hear the voices of Seras and her aunt talking to someone. That vampire they had dragged downstairs was still alive and they were demanding to know who had sent them. But the monster refused to tell them anything. Then what only could have been the vampire let out an ear-splitting scream of agony and everything grew quiet again. Everyone winced at the sound, then looked around at each other. Mrs. Weasley shot a worried look at her husband.

"What just happ..."

"Connie!" Syn's voice rang out, cutting her off. "Are you up there?"

Thank God. Constance thought. If her aunt was talking to her, then the fight was probably over. "Yeah!" she called down. "Everyone's up here. Is it over?"

"We've cleared them all out." the woman replied. "You can come on down."

With the assurance that all the vampire and all the ghouls had been taken care of, Mr. Weasley directed everyone to get their things and head down to the second floor. No one seemed very keen on being anywhere near Baskerville, but when they got to the top of the staircase, the hellhound ran off toward the hole in the floor he had come up through and jumped down. With him gone, everyone was more comfortable with continuing their advance downstairs. On the second floor landing, Fred and George jumped down first to help get Ginny down without hurting her injured leg too much. Mr. Weasley followed, then Ron, Harry, and Connie handed off the trunks and Hedwig's cage to them. Once Ron and Harry jumped down, Mr. Weasley held up his arms to assist his wife and George did the same for Constance.

The entire first floor of the house was a wreck. Furniture was overturned and broken, the kitchen door was shattered into dozens of pieces, large bulletholes peppered the walls, and piles of ash lay everywhere. Standing near what was left of the kitchen table, Syn was decked out in full Hellsing uniform, twin guns strapped to her hips and ear-piece in her ear. Baskerville was nowhere to be seen. When she saw Connie, the woman paused in talking to the other soldiers and waved her arms at her.

"Thank God!" she said, pulling her into a strong hug. She pulled back and smoothed the hair down on both sides of Connie's face. "We've been worried sick. You're okay?"

Constance nodded. "I'm fine, aunt Syn. But..." she stopped and glanced back toward the girl Fred and George were holding upright between them. "Ginny. She got pulled down through the floor and her leg's hurt."

Syn opened her mouth to say something, but Mrs. Weasley went wide eyed in disbelief. "Aunt Syn?" she demanded, looking back and forth between them. "You're her aunt?"

"I am." Connie's aunt replied, turning her attention toward the woman. "I'm assuming you're Mrs. Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley nodded uncomfortably and she not so subtly shifted position to put herself between Syn and her children. Syn noticed, but didn't comment on it. Mr. Weasley took a small step forward and cleared his throat.

"Miss Newsom." he said giving a small nod of acknowledgment. "I remember you."

The woman inclined her head as well. "I remember you too." she paused for a moment. "It's... Arthur, right?" when he replied that she was correct, she looked around at the others then went on. "Look, I know this is very confusing for all you, but we're here to help you. Hellsing's soldiers have just arrived to clear the remaining ghouls out of the village, and there's a truck not far from here that's ready to take you to a safe location."

"And just how are we supposed to believe that?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking suspicious of her. "You're a Newsom."

Connie's aunt focused on the woman for a second time, looking like she wanted to do nothing more than tear into her for being ignorant. Thankfully, she held herself back. A little. "With all due respect, Mrs. Weasley, you're a witch, and I was raised to never trust a witch or wizard. But for the past few years, I've been forced to get over that and deal with you people anyway. Now, you don't have to like it, but my orders are to evacuate your family and that's what I intend to do. I can knock you out and drag your ungrateful ass out by force if I have to."

Mr. Weasley realized that the woman was serious and gave his wife's arm a squeeze to make her be quiet. "That won't be necessary." he said.

"Good." Syn said with a sniff. She then looked past them toward the sitting area of the house. "You finished with that bastard yet, Seras?"

Constance gave a start. She hadn't seen the draculina yet and had been wondering what she was up to. When Seras appeared in the doorway licking a few stay drops of blood from her fingers, the girl figured out what it was. It had sounded like the vampire refused to cooperate with their demands for information, so Seras must have eaten him to absorb his memories. She hated doing it, but sometimes circumstances forced her to.

"I've got everything." she replied, her voice making everyone turn to look at her. Seras' gaze focused on Constance and she quickly came forward to hug her like Syn had. "Thank God you're okay!" she gushed. "Sir Integra would skin us all alive if something happened to you!"

The boys all looked gobsmacked by the appearance of a short, voluptuous blonde with a giant cannon strapped to her back. When Seras straightened and turned to look over at them, their expressions changed to barely contained worry. While the draculina, like Pip, could usually keep up a normal appearance, her fangs came out and her eyes changed to a vivid red when she'd been in a fight. Sometimes she could quickly change them back to their normal blue, but if there was still a threat around, they remained that way.

"Vam... pire..." Ron mumbled.

Seras shook her head. "I work for Hellsing. I'm not going to hurt you." she looked back at Syn. "We need to move. There's another vampire in the area and he knows we're here."

Syn nodded in understanding then said something to her about staying behind with the men to handle it. Someone needed to stay with the Weasleys during transport in case another group of vampires tried to hit them en route. Seras agreed to remain with the men and pulled her Harkonnen off of her back before running back outside to begin her hunt for the vampire they knew was still around. Aunt Syn then got everyone organized in preparation for their trek to the truck. Trunks were shrunk down and placed in bags or pockets, and Harry agreed to let Hedwig out of her cage so she could fly along behind them. The bird was smart and would be able to find him no matter where he was. The twins kept Ginny's arms over their shoulders to help her walk. The journey to the truck wasn't a long one. It was just down the hill from the Burrow. When they arrived, the two soldiers who had remained with the vehicle to participate in the evacuation helped them up into the area at the back and then they were off.

Now that everything was pretty much over, everyone was so quiet. It was the sort of silence that made a person nervous because it implied that there was a lot of thinking going on behind it. George had no problem sitting near Connie, but the others were still giving her weird, considering looks. Trying to determine exactly what all of this stuff meant about her. The girl hated it, but wasn't sure what could be done about it. Toward the front, her aunt was on the radio, talking to another team that had been sent out. The only way Constance could ignore the uncomfortable silence was to pay attention to what she was doing. She watched as the woman frowned deeply, then assured the person on the other end that she would 'find out'.

"What's going on?" she asked when Syn made her way back to where everyone else was sitting.

Her aunt shook her head, still frowning, and peered over at where Harry and Ron were. "Are you Harry Potter?" she asked.

Harry gave a small start and looked up at her. "Um... yes?"

"The family you live with... are they the Dursleys at Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging?"

The boys eyes widened in recognition. "How do you know that?" he asked.

Syn's lips pulled into a thin line while everyone looked at her. It was clear from her expression that she didn't like what she was about to say. "I hate that you have to find out this way, but we found your uncle. He's dead."

Everyone went wide eyed in shock and Constance gaped at her. "They hit Little Whinging too?" she exclaimed.

"There were several groups of vampires out looking for him tonight." her aunt explained. She turned back to Harry and frowned again. "The report I just got said that your uncle was found inside your house and it looks like he was the only one there. I know this is a lot to deal with at once, but do you know where your aunt and her son could be? We need to find them and make sure they're okay."

Harry's face was a ghostly shade of white. He swallowed deeply and shook his head as if to clear out the thoughts running through it. "I... I don't know what plans they had." he said. "But... Uncle Vernon has family up North. That's the only place I can think of..."

He gave Syn the address and she went back to the radio to tell the soldiers to go there and make sure that his aunt and cousin were there and were safe. Ron quietly told Harry he was sorry about his uncle, to which Harry just shook his head. He was too shocked to say much of anything. This was bigger than Constance had thought it was. Vampires attacking the Burrow and now they find out that they had hit Harry's house too? A chill went through her as she thought of something.

"Hermione!" she said, looking at Syn, who had just gotten off the radio again. "If they went to Harry's house and the Burrow, they might go to her house too..."

Her aunt held up her hands. "We already sent a team to Brighton." she said.

The woman then made a face like there was something she knew that she didn't want to say. Everyone noticed. Harry and Ron both perked up, wanting to know what was going on.

"Hermione, is she..." Ron began.

"She's fine." Syn told him. "We got her out of the house. From what I understand, she's unconscious at the moment, but you'll be able to see her when we get back to manor." she paused again. "She was the only survivor."

Harry and Ron both went silent and the others looked down. Constance's chest was filled with a new tightness. Harry's uncle and Hermione's parents were gone. Even with their luck at having gotten through the attack relatively unscathed, there were still casualties... She hung her head.

Across from her, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley exchanged a look of understanding at what the children were probably feeling. Mr. Weasley cleared his throat.

"We're being taken to a manor?" he questioned.

That sounded like as good an opening as any. If she was going to come out and admit everything, she might as well do it now.

"Hellsing Manor." Constance said before her aunt had a chance to speak. She looked up to see the woman studying her. She could tell this was something she wanted to say, so she remained quiet and let her do it. The girl swallowed. "It looks like you guys are going to be staying at my house for a while."

A.N: So... remember that 'rubbish' prediction made from Connie's palm about a catastrophic event and a large secret revealed? I think it just happened. O_o

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