Hermione and The Lost Boys

Disclaimer: I don't own The Lost Boys or Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Thank you everyone for the favorites, follows, and alerts! Sorry this chapter took so long, anyway enjoy!

Chapter 9: The Final Night

"Hermione?" A quiet voice pierced the dark and silent room.

"Hmmm?" The witch in question was lightly dozing finally, and so she hoped the other wouldn't ask anything that would pull her into full consciousness.

"Do you think this world's like a dream?" Ginny cuddled closer to the other girl having decided to share a bed for the night. It felt safer that way.

"A dream… How do you mean?" Hermione mumbled sleepily.

"If you nearly die in a dream you wake up…" Her voice sounded so loud to Hermione even though she was still only speaking at just a whisper.

"You don't think we haven't been close to death?" The brunette's voice was more awake now, regretfully.

"I dunno…"

"Even if we haven't that's not something we should try putting to the test." She felt the other shift and sighed, "Ginny?"

The redhead stopped moving her body, but the other girl felt her head move. She was nodding.

"Yeah, you're right…"

This wasn't one of the times to joke about 'always being right.' Instead, the older girl simply said, "Try and get some sleep, okay Gin?"

"…Okay."

Sleep didn't come for either for a while after that and once it did the two sleep fitfully. When one wasn't having a nightmare they were being woken by the other who was. It was Hermione's worst night in ages and it wasn't helping that her mind was combining the war and the recent slaughter she'd seen.

The next morning Hermione was up first again and desperately wishing for a Pepperup Potion. She settled on the hotel's complimentary coffee which was nasty but so were most potions. She'd grit her teeth and bear it.

Hermione frowned at the normal phrase that had somehow made her uneasy. Was the mere mention of teeth now enough for her mind to think vampires? Well then, maybe it was a good thing her parents were no longer around. Shaking her head and pushing away the bad thoughts, she poured out the rest of her coffee in the sink before deciding a shower would help wake her.

The shower helped some and by the time she was out and dressed the clock read one o' clock. Her sleeping schedule was completely out of whack she mourned briefly before pushing it away as it wasn't important just then.

"Ginny?" She called out while approaching the sleeping girl. Her hair was a frightful mess, most likely from all the tossing and turning the night before. Hermione stood beside the bed and tried to shake her awake. "Gin come on, do you want some breakfast?" Glancing over at the bedside table clock she amended, "Or lunch?"

The girl grunted but stays face down.

"I guess I'll just go grab the both of us something. Hopefully, you'll like it." If not, it wasn't her fault the other was pulling a Ron two mornings in a row. Granted, neither slept well the night before so it wasn't like she didn't get it.

Hermione was tired as well but as much as she'd love to lay in bed and forget about the world she didn't have the luxury.

As she went to leave a hand shot out and grabbed her arm startling her, "Ginny!"

Hermione's free hand gripped her chest where her heart was pounding fast at the sudden action. Just what she needed, a heart attack over something so harmless when she'd been dealing with psychotic vampires the past couple of nights.

"Ginny… you gonna give me back my arm?" She asked with a small tug of said arm. The redhead was still face down shaking her head childishly. Hermione sighed, "Okay then wanna tell me why?"

The other girl mumbled something unintelligible into the pillow making Hermione raise an eyebrow and snort, "Sorry Gin, not fluent in pillow talk no matter how much Ron tried to teach me otherwise."

This caused the other witch to turn her head and let out a small laugh.

"You said that on purpose," the lazy witch accused.

"Did I?" She totally did. It was a lame joke but then again Ginny wasn't a tough crowd when it came to it. With brothers like the Weasley twins you'd think she'd have a better tolerance but that wasn't the case.

Ginny's slight smile faded too fast. On a normal day she might've fallen out of bed laughing or started to rib Hermione over Ron, but this wasn't a normal day.

"Can... can we just stay here until the movie runs its course?"

"Unfortunately, no. We need to make sure things don't go wrong," She calmly told her friend.

"Michael's one of them. Nothing's going to go wrong now." Ginny was unmoving in her mindset that this one change would be all that was needed.

"We can't know that for sure. All it takes is one of them getting offed and then we might never get home." Hermione wasn't sure if that's how it worked. After all, maybe only one of them needed to survive for them to get home.

Ginny let go of her hand and sat up, "I've been thinking about that actually."

Hermione looked confused, "About what exactly?"

"This world, this movie. How is it even still here?" Ginny asked frowning.

"I'm not following." The bookworm was trying to wrap her mind around what the other was thinking.

"I mean the two of us used our magic to create it I get that. Somehow, we did this." She motioned to the space around her, "But this spell can't last forever. No spell can. So I thought even if we don't fulfill the objectives the spell should come to an end on its own in time either way."

Hermione blinked and considered the other's idea while taking a seat beside the other witch. "This theory has merit, Ginny. You're right. No way this spell could keep going indefinitely, not without a source."

Ginny grinned, "See I'm right. We don't have to do anything else and we'll still go home."

The brunette sighed, "I don't know why I didn't think of this before and it's a logical thought... but Ginny, even without a source or doing as the spell intended we have no idea how long the spell will maintain itself if we cease trying to break it."

The Weasley girl frowned, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that while it seems most likely that this spell would stop when the movie ends, I don't think we can count on it for certain. The spell could last for months or even years."

"Years!? There's no way we put that much magic into the spell! No way," the younger girl exclaimed in disbelief.

"You're probably right but we shouldn't chance it." Hermione had read enough sci-fi books in her time. Some interesting time-travel theories had made her realize that this spell could be conserving magic by making time move faster in this world. For all they knew an hour might not have passed back home. She wouldn't mention this though as it was just another boundless theory. Frankly, she was getting tired of theorizing.

Ginny huffed and crossed her arms petulantly.

"You're the one who said we couldn't keep debating everything because we'd talk ourselves in circles," Hermione reminded her gently. The other girl didn't respond. "The only way forward is to see this through until the end and doing our best to end it ourselves. I'll go get us some lunch while you get dressed." Hermione stood back up. "Is there anything in particular you want for lunch?"

Ginny looked down at her lap, "My mum's cooking."

Hermione sighed, "Hopefully you'll be eating it again really soon."

She didn't answer so the older girl took her leave to go get them some lunch. She ended up settling on some soup and sandwiches. It kind of seemed like homemade food so maybe it'd help the homesick girl if even a bit.

Ginny stayed in the hotel room all day insisting that they could do nothing until the night rolled around but Hermione disagreed. She checked out the Emerson household under a disillusionment spell and learned that Lucy was upset that Michael had left in the middle of the night. When she had called Sam during her dinner with Max she'd found out her youngest was home alone, so she politely told Max that she needed to return home.

So, the date was still cut short, but he wasn't run out on. Lucy had stayed up most of the night waiting for Michael to return home but fell asleep in the chair waiting. Sam told her about hearing bikes and seeing lights which made the woman fear that her son was making the wrong sort of friends. Her fear of drugs wasn't completely unfounded as his newly liquid diet could possibly qualify.

The only one in the whole house who suspected vampires was the grandpa and the only thing Hermione had to go on was the sudden pointy fence he was installing. It was likely her most accurate theory since this whole mess begin.

From there she went to the Frog's comic book store and didn't even need to hide herself to spy on them while she browsed their very tiny collection as she and Ginny had ruined most of it. The boys had themselves a theory that it was the werewolves and ghouls on the city council that had burnt their supplies to stop the word from spreading. Yeah, they weren't going to be staking any vampires anytime soon she thought to herself before going to her last stop of the day.

The cave.

Even going in invisible during the day wouldn't guarantee that the boys would remain unaware that she had come there but the witch felt the need to check up on Star and Laddie. If everything seemed fine with them too then she'd finally concede to Ginny's thoughts of everything going according to plan. Once Hermione was standing outside of the cave during the day, she could admit it wasn't nearly as intimidating or as mystical seeming. The same could be said once she was inside. It was still the same but the torches and candles weren't lighting up the cave. Instead, the sun helped to illuminate some of the main area. Well now it made sense why they slept farther back in the cave.

Although the light getting through was enough to see the cave, it was not bright by any means. Being careful not to trip over whatever the vampires may have left lying around, she made her way the bed and shifted the curtains to see Star there fast asleep with Laddie.

Both still half-vampires given that they could sleep in here. Either of them would be a better target for information than a full vampire; it was easier to use Legilimency on someone while that person was awake. In fact, Hermione had never tried to read someone asleep before but she knew it could be done. Eye contact wasn't strictly necessary but it did make things a whole lot easier, not to mention gave a clearer picture. This would make things more vague but it was better than nothing.

Hopefully, she could poke around gently enough not to wake the sleeping girl.

Prodding around as gently as possible, she discovered that Star had been in the cave when the others had arrived with a newly turned vampire Michael. The girl was beside herself and ran from the cave and didn't return until so close to dawn she'd almost fallen asleep on the way to her bed.

Nothing showed she had any plans that might interfere with Hermione's own, so she left the other brunette's mind and glanced at the sleeping child. He probably had more information about what happened when Michael arrived in the cave with the others but in good conscience she couldn't delve into the little boy's mind no matter how curious she was.

That done, she headed back to the front of the cave but stopped short and looked back considering something that the witch knew was stupid and something Harry or Ron would do; not someone sensible like herself.

Even Ginny would scold her if she knew what the other was even contemplating doing. While she debated, her feet made the decision for her and before she knew what she was doing her legs were leading her further into the cave. At some point it got too dark for even her adjusting eyes to see more than a step-in front of her, so she bit her lip enough to draw blood and whispered, "Lumos."

Without a wand to hold the light the result was a small glowing ball that would be about the size of the tip of her wand. It was more than enough to get by with as it moved when she did and stayed within arm's length the whole time.

Even though the witch was disillusioned, it didn't mean that the cobwebs -which she could now not just feel but see clearly- couldn't touch her. So, she had to bat her way through them to continue on. She would probably have spiders in her hair by the end of this. If that was all Hermione had to worry about at the end she would be grateful because she was venturing further into the vampire's lair, into their resting area, and that was a completely dumb thing to do. And Hermione wasn't dumb. Not usually. Lately, her sanity might be something she needed to reevaluate.

Hermione was beginning to feel claustrophobic when the space she had to get through meant she'd have to crawl. Somehow, the witch couldn't see them doing this every time they went to their resting place. There had to be another way to get there but, sadly, she didn't know it.

Finally, Hermione was somewhere somewhat familiar and she carefully lowered herself down and used her Lumos to look around. The ladder was there as expected. It was conveniently placed propped up against the cave wall. Maybe it should be more inconvenient.

Hermione may have to suggest they remove that at some point just to be extra careful. It was practically screaming 'climb here to stake vampires'. Though it was a convenient thing for the movie, otherwise they'd never reach the sleeping vampires, it had no purpose now.

The witch knew what was above her as she'd watched the movie enough. Still, she braced herself and took a few calming breaths before raising her hand to direct the Lumos up. There they were hanging upside down fast asleep just as she'd seen them in the film, only so much more real. There was a difference though. Another vampire was hanging there; Michael.

That might have been the stranger part, but she barely spared a glance at the new addition instead turning her eyes to David. She gazed up at his sleeping face and noted that, despite the fact that he was clearly sleeping in a way that told her he wasn't human, he didn't look quite so threatening or evil when he was sound asleep.

Hermione frowned at the thought and shook her head.

"Snap out of it," she whispered to herself in the silent cave. Her stupid childish crush had been gone for years, and even if there was part of that lingering it would have died the first night that she met him.

He was a killer.

Worse even than a Death Eater.

She needed to get out of this cave and clear her head.

Hermione turned to leave but then stopped and looked back. Something inside of her was warning the witch to take more precautions before leaving. Did she know any useful spells that would help and would they even work on vampires?

Licking her lower lip that she'd not healed yet, it was an easy thing to reopen the wound. She focused on a health monitoring charm. She didn't have a wand to light up or vibrate and they were technically dead, but if it worked then she'd know if they became injured.

It wouldn't work on the dead but the undead? Well at least she tried. Looking away, she refused to look back up at them, at him, again. Hermione was telling herself that this was all just to satisfy her insatiable curiosity and now it was done. She left as quickly as she was able, all the while, telling herself that that was all this was. There was nothing else to it.

She didn't care about any of them, least of all him.

Hermione was perfectly fine with denying the pull she felt to David with her dying breath if it came to it.

Hopefully, it wouldn't, she thought troubled.

"Finally! I was starting to worry," Ginny pounced on Hermione as soon as she returned," there's no way checking Michael's family and the comic book shop should take so long."

Hermione sighed tiredly, "I brought dinner…" She held up the pizza box. "The line was long," the brunette finished unconvincingly.

Ginny raised a hand to the girl's bushy hair and pulled out something that could be part of a cobweb. "Got this waiting in line, did you?" She eyed the other witch suspiciously.

"Alright, alright. I might've gone one other place," Hermione admitted feeling guilty. Not about going there but about putting herself in unnecessary danger. Who knew how deeply they slept during the day? They could've woken up and then what? She knew she was lucky and would be forcefully reminding herself not to push it anymore from here on out.

"You went to the cave, didn't you?" Ginny grabbed the pizza box and walked away angrily.

"Yes… I went to read Star's mind." The redhead jumped onto the bed pizza box in hand and proceeded to dig in irritably "I went in disillusioned and she was asleep if that helps."

The other chewed her pizza furiously before answering with a glare, "No Hermione. That doesn't help! This is the second time you've done this!"

Hermione slowly approaches the bed, "Done what?"

"You know what! Last night we had a plan and you," She pointed her cheese pizza at the girl in a not so intimidating picture of anger but still made Hermione feel bad, "Added something in. Something I didn't agree on that was dangerous and planned to carry it out all by yourself."

The brunette sat on the edge of the bed watching the girl devour the pizza. The older of the two wondered if she was even tasting it.

"Then today you tell me your plan, but you left out the cave because you knew, like last night, I'd say it's too dangerous!" She set down the box and looked at her friend, "Hermione I don't know how things work when you're with Harry and my idiotic brother but with me you need to tell me your 'whole' plan and we 'both' need to agree got it?"

Hermione looked down at the blanket. She knew Ginny was just upset because she was concerned but if she had told her the other girl would've flat out refused. It was the whole 'it's better to ask forgiveness than permission' thing.

"I. Said. Got. It?" Ginny asked forcefully making Hermione look up into her serious face that reminded her way too much of Mrs. Weasley.

"I understand what you're saying, Ginny."

"I sense a 'but'. There better not be a 'but'." She eyed her friend in frustration.

Hermione laughed somewhat humorlessly if only she knew how many risks Ron and Harry had taken on a daily basis she'd already have gray hairs. "I know I take too many risks, Ginny. I'll try to tone it down but some of it is necessary."

Her glare hardened, "Last night and today weren't." Well, Hermione had to agree with the today bit at least. That was unnecessary. "Though that's not even the issue here. If you want to take some stupid life or death risk then convince me that you need to and then, and only then, will I agree otherwise. Stop being stupid!"

Hermione winced. She deserved that. Lately, her actions hadn't been the most rational and, in cases like today's had been, completely senseless. For a minute she debated telling Ginny about her little trip into the back of the cave but one look into her fiery chocolate eyes and she decided against it.

"Okay from now on we'll talk things through. Maybe I've gotten too impulsively Gryffindor-ish lately."

Ginny scoffed, "Maybe?"

Hermione looked up at the ceiling, "Alright fine. Definitely. I've been the worst kind of Gryffindor but I promise I'll tell you everything up front from now on. Especially if it's something dangerous… even if I think it's the only way or needs to be done and that you'll try and stop me from doing it. I'll tell you anyway."

Ginny nodded, "Good. Now you better remember you said that."

"I will." Hermione sighed, "I'm used to leading and not being questioned. I'm sorry, Ginny. I do it without even realizing it."

Sure she could also follow Harry's lead at times but usually not without question, not because she didn't trust him. Questions were just part of her inquisitive nature.

"I know," Ginny leaned forward over the pizza box to give her a quick hug, "don't worry. I love you anyways, infuriatingly obnoxious traits and all."

Hermione frowned but patted her back slightly, "Thanks I think…"

Once the redhead pulled back enough that she was looking at Hermione dead in the eye she said, "This still doesn't mean I'm sharing the pizza though."

While Hermione was processing those words the other girl moved back, grabbed the pizza, and ran off into the bathroom. Brown eyes blinked at the closed bathroom door. That was when her hunger made itself-known and she reminded Ginny that a locked door can't keep a witch out.

The sun had set over an hour ago and Hermione was pacing nervously while absentmindedly fiddling with the TV remote to give her hand something to do. Usually she would use her wand for this but, as she didn't currently know where in the world it was or even if it was in this world, the remote control would have to do.

Ginny's eyes followed the other girl's form. She was sure was going to wear a hole in the carpet at any minute now. Huffing, she jumped off of the bed startling the brunette. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! Calm down, everything is fine."

"But-" Hermione started but the other girl cut her off, holding up her hand in a 'stopping' motion.

"No, you checked everything and everyone one out. Nothing will go wrong. Just relax and soon we'll be back home."

Hermione didn't stop her fidgeting, though her feet were now rooted to the ground. "You can't know that. Something might've happened since today and I should be out there making sure-"

"No, nothing is going wrong. Now sit down you're making me nervous." She walked over to her friend and grabbed her back, her arms pulling her unresisting form to the bed where she made them both sit.

Hermione sighed, "It just tonight's the final night of the movie. I want to make sure things go right."

Ginny rubbed the other girls' arms with her palms in a comforting gesture. "And they will. Nothing is going wrong."

The redhead's words were more confident sounding than Hermione was sure either one of them felt.

"We haven't seen them since the night before last," she told the younger witch.

"That's a good thing," Ginny voices nonchalantly as she let herself fall backwards onto the bed while closing her eyes.

Hermione didn't disagree, though she didn't agree either. Instead, she asked a question that had been bugging her since Ginny convinced her to stay in and wait out their supposed last few hours in this world. "What about Paul…?" Hermione needed to know where Ginny was standing on this issue. It was something that needed to be talked about before the night ended.

Ginny opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. It was such a boring color. Even the pattern was dull. Honestly, she didn't want to think about the monster masquerading around as a hot guy but she couldn't not answer if she was going to keep the other witch at the hotel riding this out with her.

"If for some reason the spell doesn't end tonight then, and only then, will I do it. I'll sleep with that… with him," she paused and threw her arm over her eyes to block out the plain dreary ceiling. It was really a depressing ceiling. She missed colors. The Burrow was colorful.

Ginny continued since, knowing Hermione, her explanation wasn't enough for the other movie-traveler, "Hopefully we got the whole intent thing wrong. I didn't actually give voice to the intent either. At least not aloud so… yeah. It might just be voiced intent is what I'm trying to say."

Hermione didn't want to point out what could go wrong if Ginny waited to fulfill her possible solo portion of the spell until after the film ended but given how against the idea she was Hermione wasn't going to push it.

Even with her own strange compulsion to see David, she wouldn't know how she'd react to having to get that close to him. So Ginny's hesitance was understandable.

Hermione just hoped that her drunken mental intent hadn't been taken into account. If everything went well they should know the answer to that soon enough.

Sitting back up, Ginny broke the tension, "You know after this is all over I think I've decided to date someone boring and completely unremarkable." The redhead looked thoughtful before continuing, "You probably know a fair few guys like that huh? You could introduce me." She grinned unrepentantly.

Hermione's confusion fell away at the last bit and she glared, "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Kidding, kidding, kind of…" The younger girl rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Anyhow, let's watch telly to pass the time." Ginny snatched up the remote that was lying limply in Hermione's grasp. "There's gotta be something that'll make time fly by."

Not long after, Ginny found MTV and was fascinated having never seen such wacky videos with a strangeness that her brother George would surely find captivating and would no doubt get inspired by. Not only that though. She found the 80's muggle music to be quite catchy. That is why she had no plans of removing herself from in front of the TV tonight. Except an hour into her newest hobby she did just that.

Sitting up she yawned and stretched, "I'm gonna go grab a snack at the corner store. Want one?"

Hermione had only just been able to relax and immerse herself into the music videos a few minutes ago and now her redheaded friend was crawling out of bed making her lose the new-found comfy position. The brunette wondered if she was doing it on purpose.

Looking at the bedside table clock, she stated, "It's only been a couple of hours since we had the pizza."

Still, she wasn't about to let the other girl, who was quickly throwing on something presentable, go out on her own.

As Hermione made to follow her by climbing off of the bed the redhead waved her off, "No. You stay put I'll only be a few minutes. No sense in both of us having to get dressed again. Besides, it's my snacks I'll get them."

"I don't mind and if I come with you. You'll be able to buy more since I can help you carry the bags." In Hermione's opinion, it was a sensible argument. Plus she didn't want the younger girl out of her sight, at least not tonight of all nights.

Knowing the reasoning behind this Ginny rolled her eyes. "You worry too much. I'll be right back."

Hermione groaned, "Why'd you have to say that? Now I have to go with you."

Ginny frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"You never say I'll be right back in a horror movie. People who say that never come back. It's a rule."

The redhead flipped her hair behind her shoulder with a small scoff, "Don't be silly. Besides this isn't a horror-" Ginny cut herself off while Hermione looked at her knowingly.

"Horror movie rule or not I'm going and you're staying right here, got it?" She commanded but Hermione protested anyway. Only for Ginny to grin wickedly, "Don't make me curse you into staying put."

"As formidable as your curses are, you'd have to catch me first and you just gave me a heads up." The older girl countered.

"I'd catch you off guard eventually," Ginny teased before her mirth faded. "Just wait here will you? And if I'm not back in fifteen, no ten minutes, you apparate yourself down to the store and raise all kinds of hell on them 'kay?" Hermione didn't look happy, "But that won't be necessary, I promise."

"You're so stubborn… but this is getting us nowhere. Fine. I don't get why you are so against me going, just hurry back," Hermione relented and Ginny clapped happily.

"I knew you'd see it my way."

"You remember that we had a safety talk before? Well, that doesn't just apply to me you know…"

Ginny barely refrained from rolling her eyes, "If someone tries to jump me they'll be the one regretting it."

"Just be careful and I'm putting a tracking charm on you whether you like it or not."

Ginny nodded with a, "Yes mother."

Hermione snorted, "If Mrs. Weasley were here you'd not have won this round."

"True but I'd put up one hell of a fight going down," Ginny added with a chuckle at her overprotective Mom. She missed her… and it had only been a few days.

After the spell was cast, Hermione watched her leave before deciding to see if she could watch her from their window. The brunette hadn't looked out of it before to see what was visible, so it wasn't impossible that she could watch her friend leave.

Hermione made it to the window across the room and peered out, only she doesn't see Ginny. No, staring up at her second story window is none other than David. He's calmly standing there staring at her all, but his face and hair are consumed by the shadows of the night. The tip of his glowing cigarette does nothing to help with the lack of lighting.

How did he know where they were? Why was he here? Those and several other questions flew through her mind as she backed away from the window but not enough to miss him move before he was suddenly right outside of her window.

Right he can fly.

The floating vampire simply pushed the window open with ease and stepped inside. Why hadn't she noticed that it was unlocked? Second story or no she should have checked it. Not that a lock would have made any difference had he truly wanted inside.

"What are you doing here David?"

He casually glanced around the room. "Thought I'd drop in. It'd be rude not to after you went out of your way to come by earlier today." David's tone was conversational, friendly even, but she was no fool. He was not here to simply return her visit. Was he angry at her intrusion? Most likely.

Was that all though or was there more? Still, that was more than enough to get her on his bad side and, frankly, after that event at the bowling alley she wanted to remain far away from that side of him. Hermione should've known her poor decision would come back to bite her. Hopefully, not literally though.

Playing it cool, the witch kept her attention focused on the vampire before her. "Guess I was curious. I could apologize if that's what you want."

Of course, she didn't say that sincerely as he wasn't here for an apology.

He chuckled and stepped closer and it took all of her considerable Gryffindor courage not to back up. Showing a predator fear was never a good move.

"You know why I think you were there?"

Hermione met his gaze unflinchingly, "Pray tell."

"You were admiring your handy work."

That caught her off guard.

"My what?" She asked not bothering to hide her confusion.

"Michael."

She was barely able to contain her reaction. How did he know she had anything to do with his becoming a vampire?

"Who?" Hermione asked. She was doing a pretty good job of playing dumb, but he wasn't buying it.

"Maybe I should let you deal with Star. I'd save myself the headache," David joked.

She didn't know how to reply so she kept her mouth sealed as he kept on talking, "I can't seem to get and stay in your mind," he tapped his gloved index and middle finger to his temple as he spoke the word, 'mind', "but Michael is one of us now, so I can see into his."

Hermione was still at a loss of words when he spoke up again, "You and your little friend dropped him off on that beach last night during his frenzy knowing what would happen. You knew he'd feed and you helped that happen. Why?"

How did she even begin to answer that?

"I took a vow… so I decided to remove the possible threat. He seemed like the type to fight the change and not wanting to possibly be seen as remiss by magic, I stepped in. Half-vampires could be dangerous because they have something to gain with you dead or well deader, don't they?"

Hopefully, he bought it. It was the closest thing to the truth that she was comfortable revealing. He took a step closer and she leaned back but kept her feet firmly planted. His hand reached up to play with an unruly lock of hair at her shoulder. She pretended that didn't affect her.

"Then why not Star too?" He asked, and she can't tell if it's because he bought what she was selling or if he was playing along. It wouldn't surprise her if it were the latter.

"As much as she wants to be human she's not looking to save herself. She's waiting to be saved so I didn't think it was necessary."

"You read her right. She's no threat. But I wonder what you could have read that made Michael appear to be one. Care to share?"

Hermione didn't answer instead her eyes flickered to the clock wondering how long it'd been since Ginny left. She was unsure if she wanted her friend to be late or come back to help her distance herself from the vampire in front of her.

David smirked when he saw where her eyes darted to. It was time to let her in on a little secret he decided gleefully.

"Waiting for your friend? It could take her a while. She's very busy debating which chips to buy. Currently it's ranch Doritos versus cheese Doritos. Personally, I think she should choose ranch but if you asked Paul he'd choose cheese every time," he laughed at her dumbfounded expression.

Hermione was well and truly taken off guard. David was talking about chips? Then the rest of the words processed and her barrier slammed back up.

"How do you know what Ginny's doing right now?" Her question was suspicious, and the jerk had the audacity to find this amusing making her want to punch his perfect face. It quite reminded her of Malfoy at that moment, and not the semi-decent version of him after the war either.

Instead of answering he continued to infuriate her by talking about something else, "You know, I couldn't figure it out from your friend either and her mind is much easier to penetrate than yours."

Hermione's eyes narrowed, "You've read her mind?"

Sure, Ginny wasn't as good at mind magic but to think that he got past her barriers... That could be a problem. Just how much did this vampire really know? He backed away, letting go of the strand of hair in the process with a shrug, before seating himself on the fake leather armchair near the window he'd climbed through. However long ago that was. Time seemed to slow down when he was nearby.

"Just bits and pieces here and there. Nothing of much interest, however," He paused and Hermione's watching him watch her. He's probably just doing this for dramatic effect and damn him, but it was working, "putting in the idea to get a snack wasn't too hard."

"Wait… you mean you compelled her to leave?" That was a scary thought. It was kind of like he was using the imperius curse on her and if he could use it on Ginny…

David was barely able to contain how mesmerizing watching her reactions was to him and not only that, "The two of you are giving my powers a workout unlike anything they've ever had. Tonight, you wanted to leave the hotel. I thought it'd be easy enough to prey on that want but I couldn't. My suggestions didn't stick but she wanted to stay in and a brief nudge was all it took on her. It worked even though I can barely read her mind…"

"Is there a reason you're telling me this?" Hermione asked warily.

"I'm only telling you what I want you to know and nothing more. You're doing the same." He knew she wasn't telling him everything. That wasn't surprising. For a minute the room was silent making Hermione shift and realize that she was in her night clothes, an oversized tee-shirt.

Not the time to think about this she scolded herself. Think about something else. So, she asked the first thing that came to her mind, "Where are the rest of your friends at tonight?" Once Hermione asked she realized that she was genuinely curious. "And why aren't you with them. I didn't know that you ever did anything solo."

He raised an eyebrow, "Because you know so much about us."

He was right she didn't. An hour and a half movie couldn't tell her everything there was to know, just the basics.

"They're teaching Michael the ropes, I'll be joining them later."

"That makes sense…" This was awkward. She was running out of things to talk about and staring at him was weird, but if she took her eyes away he might try something.

"Want to join?" He stood up swiftly only making her watch him closer. Was he about to leave?

"Um, no thanks. See I'm not really into death and dismemberment," she deadpanned making him laugh and this time it felt more real than any of his others tonight.

"That so? Too bad. We could've had a killer time."

She shook her head, "Your vampire humor is lacking."

"Marko's is worse," he told her in complete seriousness.

"That's hard to believe." As the words left her mouth she noticed something frightening. Was she actually having a real conversation with him?

Slightly amazed, she nearly asked him if that's what they were doing when something happened. It was strange and she couldn't explain it, but she knew that…

"Something's wrong." Her thoughts came out without her consciously deciding to voice them and David looked at her with a more serious expression.

"What are you talking about?"

He eyed her and his surroundings as if trying to see or feel what she was talking about. Suddenly it came to her what this feeling meant, "It's one of the other vampires. Something's happened."

David's expression while, serious before, turned downright scary. "What do- How do you know that?"

Hermione was trying to pinpoint which one it was and how they were hurt but was aware enough to notice the vampire growing rapidly more irritated in front of her, "I cast a spell to let me know if one of you got hurt but I wasn't sure if it would work what with you being what you are. But apparently it does and-"

That's when David's eyes widened. He felt it too then. Hermione rubbed her chest over her heart and felt as if something had just gone horribly wrong and the vampire's next words and their sorrowful tone only served to strengthen her belief.

"…Marko."

Author's Note: Review, maybe? Like the cliffhanger? Any thoughts?