Author Notes: I've no idea how I'm updating, but I want to finish this fic before July. You can suspect why. LOL Still, it might be hard as I'm doing my master's in TESL at the same time I keep a job, plus taking care of two toddlers. Thank you for your patience.

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Ch. 25: A Dark Date

When out in the woods Ginny had no idea where to start looking for Harry. She realised she was acting madly, but couldn't help it. The others stared at her, waiting for her to lead them somewhere, anywhere. But Ginny had no idea where to. Out in the woods they wouldn't survive without water or food. They had to be somewhere and Miosotis had to step into the situation with facts. "Okay, so you don't want to be in Yapheth's house, but we'll have to be somewhere plus in case you have forgotten, full moon is approaching. I won't be myself in a full moon. What are you going to do about it?"

"Can we return to her? To Sappho?" Ginny was extremely frustrated with herself, but saw Miosotis smile weakly.

They didn't just spend days with Sappho. They were to spend months and Ginny was furious, but Sappho kept telling her to control herself and that the time wasn't right for her. Apparently, the time had been right when the witch-vampire had sent her to search for Yapheth, but as Ginny had left Yapheth's house she had slowed things and now the time wasn't right for some strange reason Ginny couldn't grasp. She wanted to find Harry, but she didn't want to be a distraction to him and Sappho had stated that if she left now, that was what she would be, a distraction."

XxXxX

In the morning after Halloween night, Hermione didn't look too good. It was obvious that she desperately wanted blood and couldn't control herself. She was a fighter, but sometimes the impulses were stronger and it was unavoidable to try biting her friends and former Hogwarts' teacher. Still, with the help of them all, including the two vampires, she somehow coped and on the morning of November 3, Hermione was declared a strange type of hybrid by Yapheth. Even to him, it was odd because he had never in his centuries seen a case like hers, even if it could be said that she was his own creation. She was eating normally and was smiling at last. The girl felt human again and the impulses had truly subsided. Not that it was easy because during the previous two days she had tried to bite Snape three times, Harry was stuck with four, and Ron made the record with a number seven. It made sense as the young Weasley wanted so much to be with his loved one.

The teens kept practicing non-verbal spells and Defense Against the Dark Arts for the following weeks and by mid December they were qualified as non-verbal spell casters. Harry was going to start intense training in controlling the powerful magic that resided inside of him with Severus and training in wandless magic with Yapheth.

During all that time, Yapheth left them every once in a while and always came back with smuggled blood bags from Blood Banks that were for him and Reginald. Severus was always alert, but the vampire assured him that he could recognise if he was being followed plus it wouldn't make sense for anyone to follow the likes of him anyway. It wasn't as if anyone knew who he was, what he was, or who he could be hiding if that were the case.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Harry was practicing non-verbal spells by himself in the woods when a strange black owl approached him. He looked to both sides to check if there was anyone around, but there was no one else. The owl landed and Harry got the note that was attached to its leg and read it:

Harry!

It's me, Ginny. I wanted to give you a special Christmas present in person.

I want to see you so much, Harry. I've missed you. I'm in Ireland because

of the rumours of you being here. Hope they are right as now I am here too.

I will be waiting for you at Ice Palace Hotel in Dublin, room 306,

which is on the third floor. Just go directly to the room at 2:00PM.

Don't be late! I love you. And don't tell anyone where you are going.

It's a private date.

Harry felt strange about that note. Had Ginny gone insane? Why would she send such a message all of a sudden? Plus a black owl? Something was wrong and he didn't like it. It was Christmas Eve and it would be human for Ginny to want to see him, but not like this, not with the situation they were in, and she would never send a message like that, risking interception among many things. Going away without telling anyone would have been tricky too and maybe in the past he would have been reckless, but not this time. This was definitely a trap and he didn't think going alone would be smart. He had to at least have Snape with him or even Yapheth, someone strong enough. Dwelling on the strange situation Harry searched his surroundings anew and then quickly saved the note in his jeans' pocket.

XxXxX

Ginny couldn't believe months had already passed by and she was still in Sappho's house. Cassius and Theseus had seemed happy, roaming around the surroundings of the house in their natural forms while Miosotis had been back to working with Sappho in different spells and potions. Ginny didn't have much choice than to join the strange sessions, wondering if it would do her good to at least keep learning some spells while she was with the vampiric witch.

Yule was approaching so fast Ginny couldn't believe it. She was nervous, anxious to know something about Harry and wanting to go out again. She believed it was time to go to Yapheth again and was surprised when Sappho agreed.

"Yes, it is time for you to leave again. Take care of yourself." The words were simple, but Ginny felt they had so much meaning inside them it was almost like magic was entangled in Sappho's words.

In the morning of Christmas Eve Ginny left with her companions. They used Apparition to go to the woods where Yapheth lived, but something was not right. They appeared farther than expected and Miosotis readied her wand and whispered: "It was like something interfered with my Apparition magic. No idea if it was Yapheth's doing."

A spell hit the branch of a tree and startled, Ginny gasped. She didn't even have to tell them to run. They all did because they had no idea if they were surrounded and it was just logical. Cassius threw Ginny to the ground as a spell came her way. He wasn't harmed, but the act slowed them down. Miosotis counterattacked quickly with several spells as cloaked wizards approached them. It helped buy time for Ginny and Cassius to stand and run again. They all ran as fast as they could, Theseus in the lead as the fastest even in human form, not looking back and hoping Yapheth's house was close, but instead, it felt like they were actually running farther and farther from their destination.

XxXxX

Harry felt strange as he placed the note on the dining table for everyone to see. He just sat and waited for any reactions from the group and almost jumped at the first reaction.

Snape took the note abruptly in his hands and frowned. The calligraphy was familiar. He was a very smart man who remembered the repugnant kinds of writings of his students and this wasn't the writing of any student. He couldn't exactly point whose style was it, but his instincts told him he had seen such refined and rounded writing between the Death Eaters. He cursed himself as he couldn't exactly match the writing style with any of the Death Eaters, but he was certain he had seen such calligraphy before among them. "This is a trap."

Harry wasn't stupid to think otherwise and almost wanted to make a sarcastic remark because Snape's tone almost seemed to accuse him of thinking the note was indeed from Ginny, but he controlled himself. "I know that, but… Is it possible that they have her?" There was both nervousness and hope in his bright green eyes combined with a slight degree of fear.

Severus couldn't really answer Harry's question and he sent a questioning gaze in Yapheth's direction. There was a minute of silence and Yapheth shook his head. "There is no way to know for sure."

Harry felt himself growing impatient, his eyes traveling from vampire to teacher. It was almost as if he was a child waiting for a guardian's consent for a school trip and the sensation was revolting and nauseating. "Then we go to make certain, right? Right?" His eyes went from Severus to Yapheth again as he awaited their answer. "If they have Ginny, they'll kill her if I don't go!"

"Not necessarily, Pot- Harry," Snape replied with bitterness in his tone of voice. Remember the letter is not a menacing one saying something like: 'Potter, we'll kill your bloody girlfriend if you don't come to this place.' The letter is an invitation to a phony date. Dates can be cancelled or if one is not interested, one has the option to not go. Period."

"So we're just not going?" Hermione asked.

"Hey! That's my sister out there if those bastards have her! We can't just ignore that stupid note!" Ron's face was taking the same colour of his hair as he spoke.

"I'll go and check," Yapheth stated mildly as he abandoned his chair, but Harry also stood up.

"Not alone. I'll go with you." Harry's eyes were fixed on the vampire's for a few seconds until Yapheth acknowledged him with a nod, but the rest of the group did not seem to agree.

"No!" Hermione reacted, standing up too. "We'll all go! We'll be together! If you are going into a Death Eaters trap, chances are you'll be severely outnumbered! It would be suicidal!"

"I agree with Hermione," Ron stated almost casually as he stood next to her.

Reginald kept looking at everyone, seemingly lost, not saying anything and not knowing if he could agree with anyone. His big sky blue eyes simply kept gazing at every reaction coming from the ones with him in Yapheth's house.

Snape rolled his eyes before standing. "We'll all go, but we'll follow a plan and if someone can't follow it I'll send such a disobedient person back via portkey." He plainly showed them a coin he had already prepared as a portkey for emergencies. The coin was to immediately send anyone to Yapheth's house if willed to, no password needed.

At thirty minutes past one, Harry found himself getting very impatient again. It wasn't just snowing. There were blizzards outside so for the moment they couldn't go anywhere. All of them were warming themselves in front of a fireplace and drinking cups of soup. Yapheth's hot soup was dark red, but Harry had decided not to ask.

The minutes were running and they wouldn't stop running when all of a sudden Ron said they were out of milk, bread, and cheese among other things. Harry saw this as almost silly when they had been thinking of a possible rescue mission rather than food, but Ron insisted they had to do groceries after the mission. Harry kept looking out the window until he saw the blizzards had come to a stop. It was still snowing, but they were all ready to leave.

In minutes, they were outside and Disapparated using wards Severus had worked on to conceal the Apparition magic. Harry had been a bit angry when he learned they could do that, but Severus told him that the other times he couldn't use all of those concealment wards Apparating all of them at the same time plus when they were running from Aurors it was almost impossible. When fleeing, there simply was no time while this time they had time to plan and use any shields they could. Snape had to almost angrily explain to Harry that Death Eaters could easily do the wards too because they weren't under any pressure of being pursued.

Harry found himself quickening his pace with the others toward the designated hotel. They were ten minutes early, but anxious. They spoke quickly when outside of the hotel and Harry was to go inside as if he were alone, with Yapheth being carefully concealed behind him. In a flash, he found himself going up the elevator while wondering where in the world Yapheth actually was and seconds later, Harry was in front of room 306. Harry knocked and the door opened, but there was no one there. It made him nervous and his eyes were rapidly scanning the hotel room looking for some scene like a tied-up Ginny and considering a hotel room is not supposed to open as it just had.

He studied the room again and carefully sat on a chair in front of a desk that had the usual hotel phone on it and waited. He heard noise coming from inside the bathroom and quickly readied himself with his wand and stood from the chair. Harry felt breathless when Ginny came out of the bathroom, looking extremely pretty with a light blue jumper and a knee-length dark blue skirt that had black checks in it. She also had tight black leggings warming her legs and black boots. Her long and straight red hair was loosely falling on her shoulders and she was smiling very warmly at him. Harry thought he could melt under that smile, but he remained stiff with his wand held firmly on his right hand, his eyes never leaving her frame. He even had strange thoughts about Ginny doing something like this, almost confusing himself about whether it was a trap or not until he remembered something. "Ginny… Where are your friends?"

She giggled in a very unlike Ginny way. "This is a date, Harry! Did you expect me to date you with my friends here?"

Harry decided to test her, still. "And who are your friends? Their names?"

For a moment, it seemed some sort of alarm flashed in the bright brown eyes Harry had grown so fond of, but the flicker only lasted some seconds before Ginny answered in a confident tone. "Cassius and Theseus. Why?"

Harry sighed almost relieved. He did remember those names from the time she had come to get him out of St. John Manor with the two strange boys and thus, he started to lower his wand. "This is too reckless, Ginny. You wanting to see me like this. I mean, date when the whole wizarding world is in danger? When Voldemort is moving so fast towards domination?" He saw Ginny wince horribly at the mention of the name Voldemort and that was very odd. Ginny wouldn't wince like that at the name. "You all right?" His hand tightened around his wand again, although he didn't lift it. He just stared at her as she slowly approached him and wrapped her arms around his waist, delicately putting the right side of her face against his chest, as if listening to his heartbeat.

"I've missed you. I wanted to see you so bad…" There were tears in her eyes as she said the words. She then cut the embrace and placed her palms on his chest and looked at his eyes. "Have you missed me too?"

Harry was feeling suddenly very uncomfortable with her. Something was off and he tried to figure it out, but couldn't. He started to wonder if Yapheth was inside the hotel room with him and if Snape and the others were all right outside in the cold snow. He wondered how long he would take in the situation he was. "Well… Yeah, of course I've missed you, but… We… broke up for a very important reason and for that reason we are not supposed to date… Reckless… Madness…" He wondered if he was repeating the words for himself, to remember the true madness of the situation.

"When did you become such a wimp, acting so mature-like?" With the words she lifted an eyebrow in a goofy manner that made Harry think he was getting a glimpse of the real Ginny. She used the tips of her fingers to teasingly tickle him around the ribs, getting a small laugh out of him. "Should we go then?"

"Where to?" Harry asked, almost feeling silly about his paranoia.

"Just out for a walk!" she exclaimed as she flashed another breath-catching smile at him.

"Ginny… We can't just walk outside! That would be making ourselves easy targets for anyone after us plus it's very cold and snowing! Are you okay?"

She rolled her eyes looking bewildered. "Fine, we stay here then!" She said it so loud it seemed she was announcing it to someone. "What should we do then? I don't have food in here, you know? So kiss me!"

Harry made a distance between him and Ginny as he saw her strangely licking her lips. The sudden rejection made her eyes go wide. He had no idea who this girl was, but it was not his Ginny. "Who are you? Where's Ginny?"

"It's me, Harry! What in Merlin's name is wrong with you?" she replied with a bored gaze.

"You're not Ginny," he stated with his eyes looking ablaze. "What have you done with Ginny? How did you get something from her?"

"She's dead then! Does that make you feel better?" There was a smirk on the Ginny in front of him. "You surprise me, little Harry! You are smarter than you look!"

"She is not dead!" Harry affirmed.

Ginny started to laugh mockingly and Harry heard the magic curse word coming from another person in the room before he had any time to react. In seconds he had dropped his wand and was writhing on the floor from the pain exploding inside his body, but the curse was removed immediately as he heard Ginny's voice saying: "Remember he has to be unspoiled for the Dark Lord so we can't have too much fun with him."

Harry looked from the floor as he panted and saw cloaked people in the room that he had no idea where they had come from. They were surrounding him and the girl that had Ginny's appearance started to change. Little by little, the long red hair darkened turning to black. The young features changed into those of a mature woman and that woman had bags under her eyes. It was a woman that seemed to once have been beautiful, but that years in Azkaban had damaged her so much her beauty had been almost lost. He should have known from when she had suddenly said 'little Harry' who the fake Ginny was. It was none other than Sirius' killer, Bellatrix Lestrange, along with other Death Eaters.

"How?" Harry voiced throatily what he was wondering.

"Remember the janitor?" Bellatrix said almost sweetly, crouching next to the fallen boy. "It's amazing what you can do with a single hair that falls to the floor while you are cleaning!" She laughed madly, pointing him with her own wand now.

Harry felt himself going sick as he saw more wands were pointed at him while his was on the floor next to him rather than safe in his hand. They wouldn't hurt him much, it seemed, but he wondered where the hell Yapheth was as a second dose of the Cruciatus curse hit him.