"Hermione, I don't really feel all that great about leaving Ginny behind."
Hermione huffed again. "You said that already. For the fifth time. I love you, Ron but you're getting repetitive."
"It's an honest worry!"
"It is but your sister can handle sitting in the hotel room until we get a new place. Fred and George are supposed to be with her soon."
Her boyfriend sighed through his nose, "Normally, I'd agree but it's Harry she's watching. The guy attracts trouble even when he's not doing anything."
Her stomach churned as she glanced at the setting sun from inside the train. It was packed with all sorts of muggles and the air was slightly stuffy, not helping her in the slightest. Ron wasn't wrong. Harry was a magnet for unfortunate happenstances.
"Well we can't do anything about it now," she snapped before immediately regretting it.
Her mood had taken a sharp nosedive ever since they'd left the hotel. Her mind just wouldn't stop churning out all the worst possible outcomes this whole situation could have. And there was still the slight ache of her healing wounds. Potions and spells could only do so much before it had to be left to the body and dear merlin did she wish she could have some sort of super regeneration. She remembered being glad about not feeling the Skele-Gro at work. She wanted that back. Whatever spell had been used to numb her leg had worn off about half an hour ago and the whole limb was constantly throbbing to the beat of her heart. It was distracting, disorienting, and agitating. Not to mention the flashes of phantom pains where splinters had decorated her skin like a porcupine's back.
The look on Ron's face made her feel even worse.
"I'm sorry."
His lips pinched, whitening under the pressure. "Me too," he whispered just loud enough to hear over everyone. "I just… I worry. The world is… dangerous. Even more so now with everything that's going on and I just have this… gnawing in my gut that something is wrong. I'll try to… I just…"
I know, Hermione wanted to say. She didn't. Her hand found his and clenched it tight as the sun disappeared on the horizon.
It was another hour before they got to the station and disembarked. It was well and truly dark by then and Hermione couldn't stop the jittery way her hands shook and fidgeted or the swirling tornado of thoughts trying to swoop her out of reality. Getting lost in her own head would be disastrous. She was the smart one, the one that always had a plan. The boys relied on her and she couldn't let them down. It was a responsibility she'd gladly accepted at eleven years old when she wanted -needed- acknowledgment. Now it weighed down her shoulders and forced her to move forward.
As much as she wanted to trust the adults -and she trusted Dumbledore she did- she just couldn't. It had been proven time and time again that doing things their way was faster because nobody listened. At Hogwarts it had been a bit of an ego booster. She'd been better than the adults, which was amazing… but now she just wished they didn't have to be doing this. The Order wasn't doing anything -and just like always Dumbledore didn't listen-, the Death Eaters were running rampant, and the Ministry was the worst case of corrupt government she'd ever heard of.
She sucked in an unusually arid breath. It… hadn't rained in the last few weeks had it?
"Mione?"
She jumped, fingers brushing the wand in her thigh holster. "What?"
"You okay, babe? You look a million miles away."
Ron was staring at her with wide hazel eyes and her mouth upturned into a soft smile. "Yes. Yes, I'm okay. Just thinking, you now?"
"Do I ever," he snorted. "You think too much to be healthy."
She giggle snorted, her hand covering her mouth to abort the sound. "I'm pretty sure you'd die if you ever used your brain, so I have to think for the both of us."
"Hey," he snickered in fake affront.
Her shoulders trembled with laughter, temporarily relieved of their crushing weight, and she couldn't help but be thankful for her amazing boyfriend. A lot of people wondered how they could be together and sometimes she did too… but these little moments reminded her why she fell in love with him in the first place. People were flawed, she'd learned. It was okay to not be perfect. And Ron was very far from perfect but he did have the few bright shining qualities that outweighed the imperfections.
Merlin, she couldn't see herself doing anything near as well when he wasn't there to distract her. What a confusing paradox.
"Alright. Alright. Now that you aren't shouldering the burden of the world, where was this hostel you were thinking of?"
"Right! It's down this way, not too far. Only a mile or two. I think we can walk."
"You just don't want to conjure more money for a cab."
The witch whacked his stomach with a backhand and he staggered back with a chuckle.
Michael sighed and leant sideways in the air taking on a relaxed posture while he watched Paul flit around sniffing like a mutt. His hair was flying every which way in the wind and Michael could sort of understand why he decided not to cut it. Those were some pretty gorgeous locks. His own hair had never been too much of a big deal to him, except maybe to pick up chicks, so he'd had no problem cutting it down a bit to style it. It sat closer to his head in nice waves that could be easily styled as messy or suave.
Marko, who was sat next to him on thin air chewing on his thumbnail, had had his mullet chopped off in a rather cruel prank by Sam when the older vampire had tossed one of his comics in the ocean. That started a prank war that Paul and Michael had both joined in on that lasted two years before David grew tired of it and threatened to mutilate them. Marko had still kept the hair, though, tight ringlet curls framing his face. He had just started two side braids behind his ear in the last few years and they were only just long enough to brush his shoulder.
David had gone completely short only keeping some length up top that he could spike and Michael could definitely say it fit him. The mullet had worked as well but after it was cut off the eldest seemed even more imposing and intimidating. Dwayne, yea there was no touching that glorious mane unless you had a death wish. And Sam… Well, he'd gotten his head shaved during the Prank War in return for Markus' haircut. It was only just starting to get back to its former length, so the kid had settled on short spikes, like David, but with shorter hair on the sides of his head in the meanwhile.
It was strange to think about how they changed; their haircuts and their clothes. Though, they still stuck with mostly punk biker themes, except Sam and his dratted pastels but not even David could change his mind on that. Obviously vampires had to change with the times if they wanted to walk outside amongst the food, but he had never given it much thought until they started doing it. Before, the concept of a vampire, to him, was a body trapped in time so they looked out of place, out of time. Which was completely wrong on so many levels as he'd found out when he'd been adopted into the coven. Still, it was strange to see aspects of them change while their faces and bodies didn't.
"How long do you think he's gonna look like a hummingbird," Marko muttered with a frown.
Michael snorted. That was a pretty apt description of the punk darting to and fro above the throngs of people trying to get onto trains everywhere.
"Probably until he gives up. I think the only one that could actually follow an old scent through this would be you."
Marko's nostrils flared and he gagged before shooting a smirk over his shoulder. "I don't think I'd even want to, man. Even from up here the smell is just… ugh."
"You already ate."
"And?"
"Glutton."
"Always!"
They snickered at each other before turning back to Paul. The vampire had sifted seamlessly into the crowd and was poking around on the ground and in corners. A lot of people were giving him strange looks and skirting around him.
"He's the absolute worst at being inconspicuous."
"You can say that again."
"He's the absolute worst at being inconspicuous."
Marko shot him a look that said 'really?' and 'bitch please you aren't funny'. Michael grinned unrepentantly right back.
"Sometimes I forget you have the shittiest sense of humor out of all of us. I don't even know how you were able to form that with all of us discouraging it. You're worse than the brat and his sassy sarcasm. It's a wonder you're still alive."
"Hm. That's debatable."
"True."
"Ha!" They both looked back down at Paul who was triumphantly throwing a fist in the air standing in front of one of the ticket operators. He darted backwards and careened around a corner with unnatural grace until he was around fewer people. Then he shot up into the air while leaving a suggestion behind that he was never there in the minds of the people that saw him. "I am awesome," he crowed as he stopped in front of them.
The excitement his brother was exuding was infectious and Michael couldn't help but be just as exultant over whatever he found.
I found the teller the girl talked to. It was hard considering they blend in so well but they guy remembers her because she looked so melancholy with some shiny new scars on her with an obvious limp.
Michael let his fangs drop at the thrill of the hunt. They had just picked up the trail.
"Let's get over to Manchester, boys!"
"Cool. Who has a map?"
Both Paul and Markus shot him a look this time. His humor was great. He had no idea why they got so annoyed.
His fangs glinted as he grinned at them.
Ron watched the furrow between his girlfriend's eyebrows grow larger and larger as time passed. Each ring of the phone seemed to last for eternity until the next arrived bringing with it a sense of dread. Hermione slammed the phone onto the metal box it belonged to and stepped out of the booth with a huff.
"I don't understand why the hotel isn't answering. I made sure there was always someone on night staff before we left!"
"They could be away from their desk doing… something."
He wasn't exactly sure what the people at hotels did besides give guests their rooms. But there had to be a reason for them not to answer the the phone. His gut clenched the more he thought about it, that uneasy feeling from before coming back full force. Ron was pretty sure that something was wrong even if he couldn't tell what. He glanced back up the stars noting the strangely bright red tinged star. He bit his lip gnawing on it almost unconsciously.
"Hermione… I think we should go back."
"What?" Her brown eyes shifted from the ground to him. They were only half focused and he just knew that she was thinking in that place he couldn't reach again.
"Go back. We should go back."
"Ron, that's over an hour away on train and we'd still need to get back to the station. Oh, Merlin," her face shifted, looking absolutely crestfallen, "if something actually has happened we wouldn't even be able to get back there in time."
"We could apparate."
"That would just place us at even more risk!"
"And if my family is in danger!? If Ginny or Fred or George are actually hurt? Isn't it worth it? They weren't able to track us at all yesterday and you used a lot more magic than just apparating."
He was almost yelling now, his hands angrily slashing through the air to get his point across. He needed her to understand. He couldn't apparate with people yet, could barely do it himself without concentrating, so she was his only hope. What if his family was in danger? They were so far away it wasn't even funny. They were worthless over here!
"I- I know, Ron. I know. I'm sorry. We… yes, we'll go back. The same alley should be safe. I have to get-" And then she devolved into muttering, patting her thigh as she'd done for the entire walk to the hostel.
Then she sucked in a sharp breath and offered her hand, her eyes burning with determination. Something about her shifted then, the air around her becoming more… steely?
"That's my girl," he grinned as he reached out, relief and eagerness and an undercurrent of dread pounding through his veins.
He never got the chance to step forward, a loud whoop slicing through the air. It sounded eerily similar to a werewolf on the hunt.
"Hey friend, been looking a while for you."
A tall blond with wild hair and a white leather jacket dropped between them a sharp grin on his face and blue eyes shining with malicious glee. Ron could feel his muscles lock in place, skin breaking into goose pimples immediately. This man was dangerous, a predator. He was the prey. Should he run? Could he run? If he didn't move would he be left alone?
Hermione's yelp startled him and the wizard cursed himself for still being such a coward. He was a bloody Gryffindor for fuck's sake!
"Get out of the way, mate, and I won't hurt you."
False bravado never sounded worse as his voice shook.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the predator in front of him because he knew as soon as he did the blonde would pounce. But he was worried about Hermione and he could see her standing off against another male. This one with wavy black hair and blue eyes almost the same shade as his. The men both looked perfectly at ease contrary to their wizard counterparts.
"Hurt me? Man, I would love to see you try," he laughed, eyes crinkling and teeth flashing.
Ron's gut clenched at the show of teeth and he had the sudden foreboding foreknowledge that he knew exactly what this guy was. Unfortunately, his wand was tucked into his back pocket and he couldn't make a move fast enough.
"Hermione, are you okay," he questioned still warily eyeing the blockage in his path. Merlin, but he wished there were more people out and about. Where had they gone? Weren't more people around only minutes ago? Even Vampires had laws to follow, right?
"Fine," she snapped. And he could hear the fear in her voice even as the curt answer seemed angry. She'd only just healed from the strange explosion at the Dursley's and now the worst case scenario seemed to be happening. She had to be majorly stressed at the moment.
"What do you want," he hissed at the same time he heard Hermione curse under her breath. Her bushy hair shifted slightly blocking the other beast's face.
"Aw don't be that way," blondie drawled, hand pulling out of the pockets of his black skin tight jeans to show in a classic surrender position bringing attention to the many chains he had hanging from his hips. The wizard didn't believe it for a moment.
Did he push for an answer? Ask about Harry and the Dursley's (because they had to be, at least, affiliated with the vampires that left the blood if they were able to track them down)? Wait for his opponent to make a move?
He didn't know. The outcomes of each of those options were frustratingly blank. He knew nothing about these guys; not if there was backup, not how they attacked, not even what kind of vampire they were. It was absolutely killing him to be this useless. He needed information to plan strategies, not being dumped headfirst into situations with impossible odds. That was more Harry's forte. Fuck.
"Hm. See we heard from a little birdy that you know where our pack mate is?"
And then there was a third one, strolling down the sidewalk with a little grin on his hufflepuff-esk face.
"Shit. What the bloody hell are you talking about?"
The littlest and newest vampire stopped a few yards away, eyeing them with amusement. His fingers fiddled with the finger-less black glove on his other hand. His jacket was garishly bright with a multitude of colors and words stitched onto it. "I guess I can explain. Maybe you'll actually tell us what we want to know. Wizards are frustratingly immune to lower levels of suggestion after all."
Ron swallowed, feeling it painfully scrape down his throat. There still wasn't enough information to act even though his fingers itched and twitched to actually do something. Impulsivity might get them killed here.
"It might," Hermione scoffed.
Marko stared at the two wizards. They were practically taught as bow strings waiting to be fired, quivering with the urge to shoot but not being able to without a clear shot. It was extremely amusing.
Paul had been so very excited when he'd picked up the scent again in the Manchester station and, lucky for them, the idiots had walked instead of taking a cab. It had made their jobs so much easier. And then they'd caught them right before they were about to leave and rain on the bloody parade Dwayne, David, and Sam were likely to be having. Distance always did mess with their mental connection so he couldn't hear anything from them but he could feel the blood rush that came from a party. Tonight was going extremely well for them.
"Sure sure! See, a really long time ago there was this little kid, poor abused little orphan with no home, left behind by the only family he ever had. And one day, he finds a new family! And they take him and care for him and what happens? A nasty old magic user tears him away from his happy life and dumps him back with his abusive relatives. And wouldn't you know it, but his new family wasn't very happy and… They. Want. Him. Back."
Each word was announced harshly and slowly before he let his features shift to emphasize the last harsh syllable.
They both were staring with wide eyes, the women practically tearing up with realization slowly dawning over her face. The male on the hand, his eyes and mouth only grew harder and tighter. They probably weren't going to get anything out of that one then.
The female is more susceptible, Michael. If we can get her to lower her guard we might be able to get more information about what's happened the last decade. Paul, keep an eye on him, he looks about ready to explode on us.
Michael shifted in acknowledgment, his face becoming softer, more understanding and human looking. Paul just grinned, shifting his stance, his arms lightly crossing over his chest to be ready for anything.
"Sorry about that," he growled, allowing his human features to slide back on. "Sometimes I just get a little emotional thinking about it. He was really precious, you know? We'd like him back."
"We don't know what you're talking about," the ginger sneered.
"Oh, but I think you do! Paul over here," the blonde gave a cheery little wave with his arms still crossed, "happened to see you walking into that forsaken house with our missing member."
"Harry is not a vampire," the wizard barked, his hands clawing as if wanting to grab something.
"Hm, no of course not. He never got the chance to finish the change. He was stolen from us."
"You," the witch started, "have no right to him. Not without him having drunk any blood before."
Marko grinned. She knew the laws. He could work with this.
"Of course, you're absolutely right my brown eyed beauty. The thing is, he did drink blood. He was half while he was with us."
Ginger looked about ready to throw an apoplectic fit, his hazel eyes burning with a holy fire. But he held his tongue at the woman spoke up in disgust. "As a child?" He turned his attention back to her. "Child vampires are forbidden!"
"But he wasn't a full vampire," Michael cut in, his lips pulling into a soft frown. "He was half so he would be safe but still be able to grow. There were no plans on turning him until he was much older."
She studied him with a gimlet eye, her entire posture screaming disbelief.
"I can show you," Marko murmured, stepping closer. He offered his hand as skin contact helped him immensely with what he was about to do if she gave in. "Memories will prove me right, you know."
He caught her doe eyes with his own and sent out a subtle suggestion, looking for cracks in her mind barrier. Most wizards had one. They had found that out the hard way. Only David was proficient enough with the mind arts to overcome a natural barrier with any ease. The rest of them had to either brute force it, which was uncomfortable for both parties as magic fought back, or they could try to slip through after getting them to lower their guard.
Right now all he needed was for her to agree. Her barriers weren't anything above natural for her power level so he highly doubted she had any training in the art and would, therefore, not feel him rooting around while he showed her his own memories.
"Get away from her!"
Paul shot forward wrapping the wizard up in a bear hug to prevent movement, with one hand covering the teen's mouth. The witch shifted but did not break his subtle compulsion to look at him. Marko smiled softly, internalizing his minor victory while his brother's watched eagerly.
"Memories?"
"That's right."
There, a crack formed of doubt. His suggestion slipped in and wrapped around her mind like a vice. She bit her lip and held out her hand. He grasped it making sure it was light but strong enough she wouldn't be able to pull away if she tried.
Paul watched the exchange curiously. He'd participated in a few brute force sessions, which he excelled in, but only David had done it with such precision and grace before. Marko was going to be a gloating little shit about this later, even if he'd needed extra contact to help him get to this point.
I think I might set Sam on him so he doesn't stink up our guest room with his victory, Michael snorted.
I'd pay to watch that. It's been awhile since he's gone after Marko and not me.
Hm. Gimme $20 and I'll make sure it happens.
Paul sent a glare over the wizard's shoulder. They were about the same height which made holding him slightly awkward but vampires had killer strength for a reason. Prey should not be able to escape.
I'm not actually going to pay.
You sure about that? You know I can make it happen.
He hesitated. It had been a while since the Prank War and he was sort of itching to see something like that happen again but… if they didn't get Daniel it wouldn't be worth the hassle. David and Dwayne would be huge killjoys.
Only if we grab Daniel. He finally decided. And any consequences are gonna be on you.
Marko needed to have his ass handed to him by a little gremlin again. It had happened to him way more than he'd like and the score needed to evened.
Done!
For some reason the vampire felt like he'd stepped into a trap but he couldn't figure out where it had happened. A worry for another time.
Hey, Paul. I think your magic man is gonna- Shit!
The freckled teen had successfully pulled out his wand and it was glowing with a burning light. Paul reeled back with a pained hiss, his skin smoking and burning the longer he was exposed. All three of them retreated, flitting behind the hostel's side wall to get away from the magicked sunlight.
"Shitty fucking ow," Michael muttered, carefully prodding his face.
Marko turned and bared his fangs at Paul with and angry throaty growl. "What the fuck was that!? You were supposed to keep him restrained!"
He could vaguely hear the fuss the wizard was still causing in the street. He ignored it in favor of his brother. "I didn't even feel him reach for it! He was squirming around so much… Oh shit. Kid's smarter than I thought."
"He made every move feel like he was trying to get away when he was actually going for his wand. That's a lot smarter than some of the other wizards we've encountered," Michael agreed.
"Ugh. I wasn't finished looking! I only got about three years worth of memories… Fuck. We got complacent because it was going so well."
"When will we learn from our mistakes," Michael quipped.
They both glared at him. Paul snorted then, relaxing his shoulders and rolling them to release some tension as his burns started to slowly heal. "I'd rather not have David rip off my face or have Dwayne throw me back into the ocean so tell me you got something juicy at least."
"Well, her memories were really jumbled and there were blank spots and spots that seemed to be almost… overwritten? Dunno. But I think this Dumbledore guy is probably our best bet."
"So we have a target?"
Michael spoke up then, with a grimace, "Yea, if you guys want to go after the bastion of the Light or whatever. Remember? That guy is like Jesus to these British wizards. Long beard and garish clothes. Definite manipulative streak that can't be proven?"
"Oh right. Sanguini mentioned him before he went to that party a few years ago."
"And he's cropped up in a few memories from others," Marko groaned. "David isn't going to be happy."
Michael hummed thoughtfully, "Well, I mean we got what we came for and we were aware that they could throw sunshine in our faces so I think we did better than the way it could have gone."
"Sucks that the sunscreen potion got ruined." Marko glared daggers at Paul who chuckled nervously before coughing. It's not like he meant to knock the cauldron over. He'd been trying to get away from Dwayne so he wasn't tossed in the ocean. Fat lot of good that did him.
They all paused as the feeling of extreme victory came from Dwayne, flooding through their bond. It burned through their minds until they couldn't help but revel in it as well. He had Daniel.
AN: Whoa! That was something, huh? What's happening over with the others? *whispers* We'll never know...
Tell me what ya'll think!