A/N: Hi again all! Okay, no shooting the author because she disappeared for a month. *frowns* It wasn't my intention to leave this story alone for so long, but between the move, graduate classes starting (both taking and teaching), and driving to visit friends who live nearby, I just haven't had the time nor the energy. I will make a promise not to leave this story in hiatus, but it may be a bit between updates. I've basically taken to trying to write half a scene or so per day, but right before papers are due it may be less. *cries* In any case, thanks so much everyone for your support! Remember, reviews are love! Oh yes, and still looking for a beta, should anyone want the task, so any mistakes here are mine.
Oh, and a Disclaimer: No, I do not own any of the characters or the universe in which they inhabit. I just like to play with them sometimes. JKR and others own everything, I own nothing, and I will never make money off of this little bit of fantasy. :)
Chapter 5 – Dark Bloodlines
Draco couldn't help but purr with pleasure as he felt Harry – his Harry – return to the flat. After briefly glancing at the red-headed mortal to ensure he was safely out, he began directing tendrils of magic towards where he felt the floo to be. The tendrils looped around Harry before they began gently tugging him in the direction of the bedroom. And oh, it seemed Harry was at least more intelligent than Draco had previously given him credit for. He seemed to be delaying, as if sensing the magic floating towards him. How sweet.
Finally, FINALLY, he saw Harry walk through the door, and Draco's world shrank to three things: the sight of Harry's rough and darkened skin, the vein below it protruding slightly; the sound of Harry's heartbeat as it seemed to quicken in anticipation; and that fine merlot scent of his life-force wafting into Draco's undead nostrils. Before Draco could even make a command for Harry to come forward, the dark-haired man did, kneeling on both knees in front of Draco before curling fingers into Draco's silver hair. Draco's very being seemed to ignite with fire when those fingers tugged at the blonde locks, pulling him down, silently BEGGING Draco to just take that first sip, to feel that first trickle of warmth down his throat…
"Harry! Don't! Fight it! His thrall will consume you if you don't fight it!" A frightened alto voice seemed to pierce through the hungry haze of Draco's mind.
'What?' Draco thought to himself, his pupils constricting as his world seemed to come back into focus. 'What does she mean it will consume him? He WANTS this! I can see it in his eyes!' Draco again locked eyes with the emerald eyed man kneeling before him. And it was true, Draco did see want, desire, hunger…But he kept looking. Beyond the want he could see a flicker, something fighting the haze that otherwise dominated Potter's mind.
That was it! He was using it! The thrall! He had felt it often enough at the hands of other vampires. It was what he had hated most. Not because it didn't bring pleasure. Oh, it most CERTAINLY did that. It turned the most excruciating tortures into the most exquisite rapture. Until it was over of course. Whip lashes that had felt like the tickling brush of feathers would begin to burn with a cruel sting. Bite marks that had felt like the most erotic kisses began to hiss in fiery fury.
He had done it, the one thing he swore he would never do. He had done it once, to protect his family, when he had taken the Dark Mark and engineered a way to let Death Eaters into Hogwarts. And now he had done it a second time. He had become the very thing which he had hated the most.
Breaking from his own haze, Draco forced a shaky hand up to Potter's chest and pushed, firmly but carefully, forcing the man away from him. He broke eye contact and curled into himself on top of the duvet, the self-comforting position a luxury he'd not been allowed in a good long while.
"Please, Harry," he allowed his shaky voice to reach out into the room beyond himself, "Please…just kill me…"
Harry stood in front of the cringing vampire, wand at the ready but shaking furiously. 'What the hell just happened?' he couldn't help but think. At one moment Harry felt some baser part of himself kneeling in front of Draco – and when had he become Draco? - practically BEGGING to be bitten, to be used, to be taken. At the next, that rational, sane ('Boring' he heard his mind whisper) part in the back of his mind had fought for dominance. Or had it? No, it hadn't. He hadn't pulled away from the vampire at all, but had been pushed. Wait? Malfoy pushed him away? That didn't make any sense, did it?
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by the growl darkly emanating from the redhead beside him. "You little piece of SHIT!" Ron screamed in Malfoy's face as he pushed his wand only inches from where the blonde was still curled on the bed. "This is the fucking THANKS we get?!? Harry saves your bloody life, brings you into his bloody home, and pampers your WORTHLESS ARSE, and FOR WHAT? For you to take the first opportunity you can to BETRAY him?" Malfoy, to his credit, didn't answer, but only curled deeper into himself. Harry couldn't help but notice that the vampire began trembling violently, and had just made up his mind to interrupt Ron's tirade when Hermione stepped in for him.
"Ronald," she whispered into Ron's ear as she gently placed her hand on his forearm, pulling it and his wand out of striking range of Malfoy. "Calm down. Look at him, just LOOK at him. The poor thing looks scared out of his mind."
Ron snorted. "Good," he replied, although he finished bringing his wand down. "Little shit DESERVES it, using his thrall like that on people who have DONE HIM NO HARM!"
"Ron, cut it out!" Harry finally managed to voice his thoughts. "Just calm the fuck down! I mean, look, he hasn't even FED tonight, he isn't in restraints, and he has yet to actually go for either of our jugulars. Heck, he didn't even go after mine, I almost forced him into it!" Harry couldn't help the furious blush that crept up his cheeks at the memory. "He seems to be a bit more in control of himself now, so if you could please do us the favor of trying to do the same?"
Ron was still steaming but seemed to be pacified, at least temporarily. "Maybe so, mate," he responded begrudgingly, "but I would still feel better if he were back in restraints, especially with 'Mione in the room." Harry frowned but nodded. He pulled himself up to sit on the bed next to Malfoy, who immediately cringed away from his side. Harry's frown deepened.
"Malfoy?" Harry asked hesitantly, trying to vocally urge Draco's eyes to meet his. "I'm going to put you back in restraints now, okay? I don't want to hurt you, but you're going to have to uncurl, or else I'll have a spell do it for you." Malfoy seemed to shiver more, but eventually followed directions and uncramped himself from his position. With a few whispered words he was back in restraints, albeit it with more room to maneuver in the bed.
"Much better," Harry said, attempting to praise the shaken man as he would a small nervous child. "Now, I know you haven't fed yet tonight, so let's—"
"No," the strangely husky voice cut in. "I won't do it." Finally, Malfoy turned his head towards Harry. "I won't give into what I hate, Potter." The intensity in Malfoy's grey eyes caused a blush to reignite on Harry's face, but the words he spoke only confused Harry more.
"What do you mean, Malfoy? You need to feed. It's the only way we have of controlling your rationality at the moment."
"I seem to be surviving right now," Malfoy replied snarkily, although with less venom than Harry would usually expect. "Besides, I'm sure you would rather not be having me suck you free of your bodily fluids…"
'That's what you think—' Harry's mind responded. Harry jumped a little at his own train of thoughts before putting them to abrupt halt and stuffing them towards the back of his mind. Turned out the little bit of Occlumency he knew did have SOME advantages…
"I still don't understand," Harry finally started. "What do you mean you won't become what you hate? You are what you are. You. Are. A. Vampire. It says nothing about you as a person." Harry glanced over at Hermione who seemed to raise her eyebrows, but whether it was in surprise or sheer impressed astonishment Harry didn't know. At least Harry knew he'd have her support in this one.
"I know how it feels," Malfoy's whisper invaded Harry's thoughts once again. "I know what it feels like…to lose control of yourself…to feel like what you want least is that what you want most. That's what the vampiric thrall does to you. It turns pain into pleasure, but in the end it doesn't matter. The victim suffers anyway. I never wanted to become that creature. But I have." Harry met the grey eyes again, only briefly, before Malfoy turned his head away. For that brief moment, Harry thought he saw them glistening.
"I am the one thing I hated most." Malfoy took a shaky breath. "I used the thrall on both of you to get what I wanted." His voice trailed off at the end until he was speaking in just a whisper. "That's why. Please…just….just do it. Kill me. I don't want to live with what I've become."
Ignoring the fuming and tensed muscles of her husband, Hermione slipped past him to sit on the bed at Malfoy's feet. She tenderly placed a comforting hand on the vampire's ankle while sneaking a glance at her husband. He looked about ready to explode, but to his credit he said nothing. "Malfoy," she whispered sweetly, "Take a step back and just look at yourself for a minute. Tell me, how are you physically feeling right now?"
Malfoy glanced down at the hand on his ankle before meeting her eyes. "Like my veins are on fire, like my stomach is so empty it may never know what it feels like not to be hungry."
Hermione nodded. "And what are you doing at the moment? Are you pulling at your restraints, demanding to be set free? Are you sending your thrall out now, forcing Harry—or any of us—to allow you to feed?" Malfoy quickly turned his head away and stared resolutely at some fascinating spot on the ceiling. Hermione couldn't stifle a small smile.
"That's my point. Yes, you let your instincts override your better judgment there for a few moments, but you did no one any lasting harm and you calmly and rationally allowed Harry to restrain you, something I've NEVER heard of from a fledgling vampire before. You are already in better control of some of your powers than many vamps are for MONTHS after being turned." Harry nodded in respect at her words, and Ron just frowned a little in acknowledgement that she might be right.
"And you know what? I actually think it's probably a good idea to let him go a little bit without feeding. He won't starve immediately and it will give us some time to go over some information. In the meanwhile, he can have some experience fighting for control of the urges. Harry, how strong are the wards on the flat?"
Harry snorted. "Neither Voldemort, nor Grindelwald, nor Albus Dumbledore himself could get through the wards on this flat, I assure you." Harry took his home security VERY seriously, especially with reporters from the Daily Prophet constantly trying to infiltrate his living room for some up-close-and-personal interview on what the "Saviour of the Wizarding World" was up to next.
"Yes, but could a fledgling vampire get OUT?" Hermione asked.
Harry shook his head. "Not bloody likely. I've upped the security even more since Malfoy's been here."
Hermione nodded once in acceptance. "Good, then place a tracking charm on him, just in case he does manage to get out, and then come with us to our house. I've got a lot of information in my office that I didn't get to take to the Ministry tonight, and we could go over our new strategies for the upcoming weeks, with what's happening and whatnot…"
"Wait, so you were in that meeting with Kingsley, too?" Ron asked, finally deciding to rejoin the conversation as they went to safer topics.
"Oh yes," Malfoy's voice seemed to have regained its—amazingly welcome—snark. "What exactly WERE you two doing that was more important than taking care of me, hmmmm?"
Harry sighed, and the original irritation he'd felt upon arrival at the flat was back in full force. "Shit…with all the drama I forgot to tell you. I'm really sorry, Malfoy, but…well…"
"They've declared open hunting season on all vampires," Hermione said in her matter-of-fact way.
"WHAT???" Ron and Malfoy said simultaneously, earning each of them a glare from the other. "What the fuck do you mean OPEN hunting season? That's fucking INSANE!"
"We KNOW, Ron! That's why I was so pissed off earlier." Harry's face was blood red again, and this time it was NOT from embarrassment.
"They're just acting like a bunch of scared children," Hermione interjected. "Apparently this afternoon a group of vamps attacked Hogsmeade—" A muted gasp seemed to come from both Ron and Malfoy with that revelation. "—And as if that weren't bad enough, it happened in broad daylight."
"Well, SHIT!" Ron exclaimed. "No wonder they're pissed. With Hogsmeade being so close to Hogwarts, it makes the vamps seem more likely to attack Hogwarts, and if they're doing it during the day—"
"—Then they have the ability to go after students when they aren't safe in the castle," Malfoy interrupted. "Please tell me the word hasn't gotten out about the attack, because if it did then this hunting season will be even worse with scared parents being pissed the hell off."
"No, thank Merlin," Harry responded. "At this point the public doesn't even know that the laws have been passed, although I imagine they will begin to by sunrise. The Daily Prophet won't sit on this for long. Too good a story."
"We tried to stop the Wizengamot, to tell them they were being irrational. I mean, REALLY…The only vampires that are going to be in danger from this law are the ones who are LEGALLY REGISTERED. I mean, really, who else would KNOW one of DarkStar's hive? By the time someone would get close enough, they'd pretty much be dead." Hermione's voice had taken on that flustered tone that meant she just didn't understand why not everyone saw the way she did.
"Well, fuck," Malfoy jumped in. "And here I was pissed off about everything, but at least looking forward to re-emerging in the wizarding world again. Now I'm pretty much fucked. Here I'll sit in Potter's humble little flat while the world goes around hunting me because of something I had absolutely no control over. Sort of like the Dark Mark come again." He glanced down at his left forearm in disgust as he studied the red skull and serpent there.
Hermione looked up at him in confusion. "Malfoy, you mean to say you still have the Dark Mark?"
Malfoy glared at her as if she were an imbecile. "Why, yes, Granger, I was under the impression that the damned thing happened to be permanent. Why wouldn't I still have it?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "First of all, it's Weasley now, so you might as well get used to it. Secondly, you shouldn't still have it. The turning SHOULD have rid your body of all physical defects, including the Dark Mark, and for that matter, the gashes on your legs." She began twirling her finger through her hair as she sometimes did when absorbed in a problem. "This is definitely something I need to add to my list to research." She turned back to Ron and Harry before nodding to each of them and standing and stretching.
"So, you'll be okay in here for a few hours while we go try to get something figured out? Are you sure you don't need to feed?" Harry asked Malfoy, the concern etching unusual lines into his face as he moved to join her.
Malfoy sighed. "I'm fine Potter. Go do your duty and…what was it?...save my worthless arse?" He looked pointedly at Ron.
Ron scowled. "Listen Malfoy, I won't say I know what you're going through, because I don't. But there is something about me that you need to understand. I don't trust you, and I don't like you. You've never been anything but a prat to me. I don't fight for you, but for those people who really ARE innocent and whose lives will be threatened by this law. And mark my words, if you betray me—no, if you betray Harry or Hermione—I will be personally enacting those hunting laws myself. Are we understood?" Ron's magic vibrated off of him with his annoyance, but he seemed satisfied when Malfoy gave a sincere nod. Ron walked out of the room.
Harry sighed. "We'll be back in a few hours, Malfoy. In the meantime, there are a few old Quidditch magazines in the bedside table. Your restraints ought to give you enough room to move around a bit, even if you can't leave the bed. When I get back we'll see about the whole feeding bit."
Malfoy nodded at Harry, though Harry could see from the fire burning in his eyes that he was still in pain. Harry nodded quickly before following Ron out the door. Hermione was just about to follow when she heard a tiny voice coming from the bed.
"Gr-Hermione?" Malfoy called in almost a whisper. Hermione turned around to look back over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. Malfoy seemed to huff. "Well…Thanks…" He tried giving a small smile, but it came out as a smirk.
Hermione returned the smirk. "No problem…Draco…" With that, she left the room and headed for the floo.
"Wow, you guys have already done a number on this place!" Harry couldn't help but be impressed at the changes the Weasley's had made to their home office. Hermione's desk and bookshelves still took up over half the room, but the other half had been cleared out and lined with what looked to be antique nursery furniture. Harry took one hand and ran it longingly over the dark cherry of the crib and lost himself in thought for a moment.
"Yes, well, Hermione's mum insisted on giving us all this old family furniture, seeing as how she's an only child and they've no one else to give it to." Ron beamed with barely contained excitement.
"Yes, well, muggle or not I think it brings a lot of warmth into the room, don't you think so, Harry?"
"What?" Harry jumped as if startled as he seemed to refocus on reality. "Oh, yeah, the furniture's really beautiful, 'Mione." He smiled wistfully at her before shaking his head to regain some semblance of attention.
"So, now that we are temporarily free of both Wizengamot and overly dramatic ferrets, what information have you dug up for us?" Ron collapsed into Hermione's desk chair, earning him a glare from his wife.
Hermione scrambled through some notes sitting on the desk before turning around and planting herself on top. "Well, at first it was sort of slow going. I mean, I've been helping you guys research vampires for MONTHS with all of this DarkStar mess, and I hadn't really found the sort of information that might help. I finally talked Madame Pince into loaning me a few books out of the Restricted Section at Hogwarts, and got a little bit more information at least…" She paused to take a look at the notes she had jotted down earlier in the day.
"I think the first thing we really should do, if we're going to help Draco, is to figure out what vampiric race he belongs to." She lifted a quill to her chin in thought before moving on. "Of course, we know that ALL vampire races have certain traits: allergies to sunlight, the need for blood for sustenance, the use of the thrall, certain regenerative abilities, etc. But there are further traits that are passed down from sire to fledgling, and they all take root in four basic lineages."
"Wait wait wait…You mean we've been chasing after this nest of vamps for MONTHS and they may have abilities we don't even KNOW about??" Harry's eyes widened and his temper began to flare.
Hermione took a luxurious sigh. "Honestly, Harry, it's not like it's common knowledge. The vampire underground has become much like the wizarding world. What once was a very stratified class system of pureblood versus muggleborn—who rarely if ever interacted—has now become a system still fraught with prejudice, but on the whole united, so much so that even the most pureblood families can trace their lines back to muggles at SOME point, even if the interaction is very small."
"So you're saying what, that we have half-blood vampires now?" Ron interrupted. "Do they ALL have a multitude of powers we don't know about?" Ron began to worry his lip just slightly.
"Not quite, Ron," Hermione continued. "It's not like a vampire can have two sires. It's a one-to-one exchange of blood. Having more than one vamp turn a single victim would most likely interfere with the turning process, either killing the fledgling or driving him insane." Her eyes widened as if she had just encountered a new thought, but apparently decided to drop it. "In any case, what it means for us NOW is that as the different vampiric races have come in contact with each other, they've begun to have mixed nests. It has created equality among the vampire underground, but at the expense of a lack of skills. A vampire who is not trained by a mentor in one's special abilities soon lacks the ability to use them at all. Vamps living together have a tendency to essentially combine their minds, and any special skills that one vamp may have are simply forgotten because of the rest who don't."
Harry met her eyes. "So what you're saying is that we need to discover what race Malfoy is because it can help us discover his unique strengths and weaknesses, but because he is lacking a mentor vamp that would be knowledgeable about possible skills, even if we KNEW his race, he may not even be able to discover what those strengths and weaknesses are. It's a circular problem, Hermione. I don't know what there is that we can do at this point."
Hermione bit her nails for just a minute, dropping her eyes away from Harry and Ron. "Well, there is a way we could get him in contact with possible mentors…"
"Oh, no you don't Hermione Jane Granger-Weasley," Ron hopped out of the chair to stand in front of his wife. "You are not getting anywhere NEAR any more vampires than you have to, and ESPECIALLY not now that they are probably so pissed off and frightened about these hunting laws."
Hermione sighed in exasperation and rested her forehead on Ron's shoulder. "Ron, I have no intention of putting myself into anymore danger than necessary. But please hear me out on this one." She began worrying her bottom lip between her teeth before she raised her head again and divided her attention between Ron and Harry.
"Well, it's just…I think we might be able to kill two birds with one stone." When Ron gave her a confused look, she added, "That is, to kill two kneazles with one mandrake." Ron's eyes flashed in recognition and encouraged her to continue. Hermione sighed and looked straight into Harry's eyes. "You're not going to like it."
Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Just out with it Hermione. Your ideas are generally brilliant, so let's just hear it."
Hermione seemed to pique at the praise and regained a little of her confidence. "Well…I was thinking…Well, with the Wizengamot having lost its mind, there are going to plenty of perfect ordinary law-abiding vampire citizens who are going to be scared and looking for protection now that the Ministry has done away with theirs. And if their only option for safety is to join DarkStar's hive…"
"Then we've got a huge mess on our hands. But what can we DO about it?" Harry looked at her with impatience, practically willing her to get to the point.
"Well, Harry…Just imagine…If the vampires had somewhere safe to go, somewhere with wards that say, Albus Dumbledore himself couldn't break through…" She grinned in amusement at her best friend.
Harry frowned. "You want me to offer up my FLAT as a safe house?"
Hermione hopped off the desk, shoving past Ron to smack Harry on the arm. "No, you buffoon! GRIMMAULD PLACE…The place has been all but empty since Gin…" Hermione saw Ron wince, which only gave her more courage to continue. "Since Ginny passed away the house has been relatively empty."
Harry looked at her skeptically. "What makes you think I'd even ALLOW that?"
"Well, for one, because you're Harry Potter and you must therefore ALWAYS be doing something that protects people. This would be one way to do that. Secondly, if we got enough vampires to flee with us to one house, we might be able to find a mentor for Malfoy. And for that matter, we might find vampires willing to fight with us against DarkStar and his hive." She smiled grimly. "The only way to fight prejudice is to prove how it is faulty. If perfectly normal vampires see a way to align themselves with good people, to prove that they are not the monsters that most witches and wizards see them as, they will take it." With that she finished her argument and looked into Harry's eyes. "So…what do you think, brilliant plan?" She grinned sheepishly up at Harry.
Harry gave a small smile, but it quickly leveled out. "I think it's a brilliant plan, 'Mione, it's just…" Harry gazed off as if into the distance for a moment before turning to face her again. "No, forget I said anything, it's a brilliant plan, 'Mione. I can see to the wards on Grimmauld Place. Ron, how about you put that big mouth of yours to use."
Ron scowled at Harry. "And WHAT may I ask is THAT supposed to mean?"
Harry grinned and punched his best friend in the arm. "Well, if we are going to be opening a safehouse for vampires, I suppose we better figure out a way to get the word out. Preferably before the Prophet wakes most of England tomorrow morning."
Ron gave a curt nod. "I'll head back up to the Ministry now. Maybe I can sweet-talk that blonde in the Magical Creatures department who can get me some contact information for the prominent registered vamps in England." Hermione scowled at him before smacking him on the arm playfully.
"So long as it's all talk and no action, Mr. Weasley." She smirked at him, which led him to quickly cover her lips with his.
"I promise, 'Mione. See you in a few hours, mate." With that he headed back towards the floo to head towards the Ministry.
Harry sighed. "I suppose that means I'm on my way to Grimmauld Place. Or better yet, I've got the spells for the wards memorized. Why don't I write them down for you and let you go get started on them. Someone needs to check on Malfoy and your husband will kill me if it's you." He grinned playfully.
"Yes yes, Harry, I get it. You don't want to go to Grimmauld alone. I'll head over that way now. You know, I don't know why I didn't think to look in the Black libraries for information earlier anyway. You can catch me up once you've checked on our ferretty friend." Harry hugged Hermione in thanks before heading to the floo and back to his flat.
Harry stepped through the floo and almost stumbled over his own sofa before he regained his bearings. He shook the soot off of his robes before heading back towards the bedroom. Immediately he could feel that something had changed, that something was just not right. There was a feeling of emptiness, of incredible cold.
It wasn't the vampiric thrall. Now that Harry knew what that felt like he imagined he would recognize it again, and this was no pull, at least, not in the same way. He did not feel like something was reaching out, trying to draw him into some darkened hole or pit. This was just a vast EMPTINESS, leaving Harry with the inexplicable desire to do SOMETHING to fill it up again. Make it less cold. Less dead…
With a start Harry rushed into the bedroom, and what he saw made the shivers racing down his spine increase. Malfoy was still secured firmly to the bed, but his body was writhing, much like it had been after tasting Ron's blood just a few days ago. The pale skin was no longer cracked and steaming, but seemed to be bright with an almost blue translucent glow. Harry cautiously but quickly went to the head of the bed, making sure to stay outside of fang's reach.
"Malfoy? MALFOY!...Draco look at me!" With that the vampire's eyes opened, but they were not the sparkling grey they had been earlier in the evening. The whites of the vamp's eyes had gone to blood red, and his black pupils had expanded to completely cover the grey of the iris. The vamp said nothing, but locked eyes with Harry as the auror took in the sight before him. Harry could see the elongated fangs, which had been barely noticeable before, extending down into Malfoy's bottom lip, cutting small holes in the sensitive flesh. The blood that oozed slowly out of the holes was a deep black.
"Fuck," Harry whispered as he felt himself going into full-blown panic. He looked around the room hastily for the conjured goblet, but it was nowhere to be found. Ignoring the small voice in his head that was telling him he was an idiot, he quickly rolled up his left sleeve to expose his wrist. He set the wrist in front of Malfoy's face and made a single command.
"Drink." As if having been waiting for the permission, the vamp's ravenous fangs lifted quickly to meet the veins in front of it. The vampire clamped on, and to Harry, all the world was suddenly pain.
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