FFOmega

Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 10

Baretta lay in his bed, his mind far from the girls that were trying to make a show of undressing in front of him. The first girl he had picked up had attempted to arouse him the whole ride on the motorcycle. As she was doing now, as he lay in the bed still fully clothed while her friends stripped in front of the bed.

All this, and he was not looking at them. His hand did roam the girl next to him, squeezing in all the right places that made her moan and groan, all while not looking at her, and yet, he did not look at them, or seem overly amazed with his luck in the situation.

The girl from the motorbike, the one with the long, dark hair and the illegally short skirt, which was currently on the floor with the rest of her clothes, lay in nothing but French-cut pink panties, with her hand working its way around his body.

And as the two other girls, who had been making out neared him, she stood and moved out of the way at their dismissal, almost submissively. His hands reacted quickly and the two women were staring at his guns. And with a smile, he held them there. "Fucking vampires. You bitches need to watch who you are picking up."

"Who…"And then they seemed to peer at him closely, and then hiss and back up against the wall. "Fallen!"

"Always hated that name. But, won't matter much." The vampire on the left leapt toward him. And as her mouth opened to try and rip into him, she found the gun in her mouth. He smiled sardonically and pulled the trigger. The bullet shot though her skull and into the vampire directly behind her. The first vampire seemed to explode from the head, but there was no blood, and she simply sunk down to the ground, and began to leak dust. The other vampire had a similar reaction, but looking up from the wound in her stomach, she caught another bullet between the eyes, and she fell to the ground.

The first girl had stood there, in shock. She was scared, and worried he would turn the gun on her. However, he was busy kicking the fallen body of the first vampire off of the bed. "I know you are a human, and I won't kill you, have no worry." She sighed slowly, and made to pick up her clothes, but he shook his head. "Oh no you don't. You started something, and I would very much like to finish it." She smiled prettily as he pulled off his duster and set the guns on the bedside table, well within his reach.

She slid into the bed after turning the light off, the only light in the room was the soft moonlight filtering in through the window. And soon the sounds of her shouts and happy screams echoed through the neighborhood, and hours later, he left chuckling, hopping on the motorcycle and speeding away from the house, satisfied with himself.

-----

Harry stood in the Hospital Wing, staring at the still body before him. She was silent, but breathing, and that was all he cared about. Madam Pomfrey informed him that the baby had been lost, as she had suffered a bout of the Cruciatus, and the pain had put the baby's nervous system into arrest, and its brain had shut down. He had sobbed uncontrollably at this, for some unknown reason to him. And as he broke down, something in Severus Snape's eyes shifted.

His jaw fell, before he spoke in a calm voice, telling how Voldemort let the women who became pregnant out of his legion, or more or less, said he let them. In truth, the magic on the seal that was the Dark Mark was not enough to bond the souls and the life forces of two beings to him, and therefore the combined power of mother and child would break the connection.

"Bellatrix had been intending to use the child to break the connection between she and the Dark Lord. She wanted to start over. Her husband was gone, and she had seen too much destruction. And she wasn't stupid, she saw the way the war was swaying, and with whoever the psycho bitch that is out there killing Death Eaters is, it would only be a matter of time before she made it to the Dark Lord. She wanted to get out, and that child was her way." Snape sighed sadly. "And she wouldn't tell who the father was. And because of that, an over-zealous rookie Death Eater with an itching to get into the inner circle, blasted her with a Cruciatus. And the baby is dead. And not only is the Dark Lord not happy, but he dissolved the connection, and ordered me to get her help. He was torturing the rookie when I left, and he ordered me never to allow her back."

"But why would he help her? And why would he order her not to come back?"

"The Dark Lord can not show weakness. He rejected her from his fold, but he knows the damage she took. He knows she is barely likely to survive this, as a mother who is a witch has a deeper bond with her child than one who is not, as she feeds the child through not only her body, but her magic. And although the child is barely anything as of yet, the connection is already deep enough to make this affect her more than normal."

And Snape turned his back. "I will leave you." And with that, he left the Hospital Wing. And as he did, Harry held onto Bellatrix's hand as he sat on the bed beside her body, and he was gripped with too many emotions at once. And he couldn't stand it, and he broke down, while wrapping his hand around the cool metal of the bed frame, and with a shout, the metal bend in under his hand, and seemed to darken significantly.

And as Blaise spoke his name softly, he turned to her. And his hair was whirled around his face, covering the top half of his face, but his mouth seemed to bare fangs of some kind, and he was radiating this energy that even Blaise could feel pushing her very being back. His arm, which still gripped the metal bed frame in an all-too-tight grip, showed his veins, and his forearm muscles were so defined that she swore she could see the serrations in the muscles, and could see the beating of his heart as it pushed the blood through his veins.

And then he seemed to shake himself, and melt back into the Harry she knew. The energy stopped flowing, and he blinked several times, and his eyes seem to fade from a different color, to the green again, letting her know that when his hair had hidden his eyes from her view, something had happened that changed them. But they were not the same as before. They were the same color, sure, and they were, to anyone looking, just his eyes again, but there was something behind them. Something deep within them. And she only recognized it because of how closely she had placed her heart into him. And it chilled her. Because for those few seconds until his eyes seemed to come back clears as ever, she was truly scared. Because he truly looked so lost and crazed with sadness.

And as he laid down next to Bella in tears, and Blaise snuggled up with him laying against her, with her back to the head frame, and Harry against her. He held to Bella with one arm, while his other hand held on to Blaise's with a death grip. And he drifted off to sleep.

-----

Kyoto stood at the door of the night club, rolling his eyes, saddened at the complete depravity of the whole situation. Jamie had sent him out to have some fun to calm down, as he had been worked up about wanting to go see Harry, but was restricted from the castle by everyone he spoke to, especially because it seemed that Professor Snape had to be on call with a potion, and they didn't need another conflict between the two, regardless of its good or bad nature.

So he stood to the door of the night club. The bouncer had let him in immediately, not even asking for identification. Kyoto strolled in to hear thumping music known as "techno" apparently, and it was a distraction that allowed him to mentally tune out to the point that he missed the blade to his back. Until it started to push against into him and against his skin. And he heard whispering. "Out to the back alleyway. Don't try anything."

"You could have just asked…I'm all for it. Let's go!" And he walked to the back alley, walking away from her blades, a bounce in his step. She shook her head, slipping the scythes back into the holders for them, shaking her head at how fast he seemed to want to go to his death.

As she entered the back alley, she saw him still dancing slightly to the music. He went from slight moving to a move where he ran a few steps forward and did a no-handed back flip and landed on his feet, before he seemed to be about to do another move when he saw her. He pushed his white hair back behind him, thankful that it was stick-straight again, as he really had looked like a girl with his hair all spiraled and curly, and that irritated him. He looked at her as she came into the alleyway, leaning against a wall as he did and rifling through his pockets.

She was a nice height, good average height for a woman, and she had incredibly long, dark hair. She wore a one-piece black leather-looking cat-suit of some kind. She had a blue denim jacket on over the top of the suit, as it was made more like a tank top on the top, and she would be cold without it. She wore a silver locket around her neck, and a holster was on her waist, where two small hand-scythes, or sickles, hung. She was shockingly pretty to him, with her ashen skin. She had a shape most women would kill for, chest just contained in the top of the suit, and her hips pushing to be released from the tight confines.

She looked at him, as he pulled out a small lighter. And flicking it back and forth, they had a stare-down. Thinking she heard something behind her, she turned to look behind her. As she turned back around, she saw him standing right up in front of her, the lighter casting an eerie light on the underside of his face, as the flame was a bluish-white color. "Hey cutie. What was it you wanted me for?" He asked, and his voice was between flirtatious and bored.

She stuttered for a moment before yanking out her scythes, and placing them in a scissor-type style at his neck. However, he didn't seem too scared, as the other Death Eaters had. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a moderate-sized bottle of vodka. At her raised eyebrow, he shrugged. "Bartender isn't very observant."

"They keep that behind the bar."

"So, he was really unobservant." And he undid the top on the vodka by simply making a hole in the top of the bottle with his nail and yanked the top full off. And it was then that she saw the nails and the other odd things about him. But she was unnerved by not being able to see where he was looking because of the dark sunglasses. So she told him to take them off. "You sure you want that?" She bit the blades in toward his neck more. He nodded and did so, and she gasped at his eyes.

However, he seemed more focused on the shadows behind her. In a smooth motion, he batted the scythes down from near his neck, and pulling the lighter out and went back to flicking it. Suddenly he raised the bottle toward his mouth. "You might want to point those somewhere else, like behind you." Was all he said before he took a huge drink of the alcohol. She turned and saw nothing, and felt him slip away from her. However, before she could turn on him, he moved beside her, and spewed the vodka from his mouth, and into the flame oh his lighter, making a fireball of sorts, a flamethrower effect that showed her what was in front of her. And she gasped.

About 10 or so figures stood there in front of them. And it took her a moment to realize what they were. "Vampires."

"Yep. The scum of the spawn of Heaven and Hell." Kyoto replied, cracking his neck and then hands, and then doing a no-handed back flip once more, getting loose for the fight ahead, apparently.

"Speak not as such, filthy human. You are nothing but food to us, do not lose your place."

"Human? That's a laugh. 'Creatures of the Night' my ass. You are all pale imitations of what you came from. For Hir's sake, you descend from Opacus, of all people. He may have been a good, upstanding, evil bastard, as far as Angels go, but you aren't even Demonic, you are Heavenly in nature. So…go save some little kid from falling off a bridge, and leave the darkness and the evil to the Demons. Asswipe creatures."

The vampires hissed in indignation. "Who are you, speaking to vampires this way!" She asked him.

"You first."

She rolled her eyes, but figured that the person would be killed and fed on in moments so she saw no reason to not tell him. "Lulu. That is all you need to know. I am Lulu, a Dark Mage."

He smiled. "Damn, couldn't have had a Light Mage here with these vamps, I suppose?" She made for her scythes again, and he smirked. "Kyoto Nox. Demon of Darkness, also known as Shadow at times."

She looked at him, and then watched as he did a dance to the increased tempo of the music which could be still heard thumping from outside the club, and then leapt forward. She cast a fire spell, lighting one of the vampires on fire, which gave her time to watch as he kicked on of the vampires in the chest, and rotated in the air and hit another in the chest, before landing on that vampire's chest, jumping off of it, crushing its chest in, and back flipping in the air, to do a spinning kick of some kind in the air. And with his hands as he landed, he parried a diving vampire, and then jammed his hand, fingers first, into the head of the figure. And with his hand still in its head, he spun around, using the creature as a bat of sorts to clear out some of the vampires closing in.

The light dies, and casting another Fire spell, she burned another vampire, and found herself standing back and watching as he literally beheaded a vampire with one kick. Soon he was almost done and she had been watching him so long, that she missed the vampire who had snuck up on her. And as it made to sink its teeth into her, Kyoto turned and kicked the head of the beheaded vampire up into the air, and with a roundhouse to it, sent it flying forward, and into the throat of the vampire attacking her. Since the vampire had been beheaded with its mouth open and fangs at full extent, the fangs sank into the neck of the fellow vampire, who fell to the ground, shaking.

Blasting it with a Firaga, she spit on it before turning to find Kyoto dancing while he was fighting them. It was then that she realized that it was all a game for him. And after finishing the last one, they came out of the alleyway.

Came out to find what seemed like a Death Eater meeting inside the club. And they were uninvited guests. And were recognized and placed on Voldemort's list of people to watch out for. So they were spotted and had many a wand trained on them. And at the head of the meeting, seemed to be a man with long blonde hair. Lucius Malfoy. But he had changed. And with a sniff, Kyoto laughed.

"Vampire…Ha. Shitty species to be Turned to, but, whatever floats you boat." And then he whispered to Lulu out of the side of his mouth, "Get those things ready. You are going to need them. Your spells take too long to cast here, I can try and give you enough cover to get a few out, but I can't promise anything."

"We know who you are, Demon. We also know, through intelligence, that you have a relationship of some kind with Potter. That will end tonight. But do not worry, he will be behind you shortly, and you can both be damned to Hell soon enough."

These words seemed to set something off in Kyoto. His eyes narrowed, and his bones seemed to all grate and crack for a moment. His general appearance seemed incredibly feral, in a beautifully, and sickeningly graceful way. "What did you say?" His voice was intoned, but loud, like he was speaking in an echo. His hands seemed to have forced his claw-like nails out even more, and he was radiating a dark energy that was literally cold. And suddenly a decidedly sick smirk appeared on the man's face.

"You, Vampire, will be the last to taste the blood of your comrades from my claws. Yes, you may drink all you like, as I reach down your throat and pull your intestines out, before feeding them back up your ass. Bet you might get a kick out of that." And then with a flash of darkness, he was gone. And suddenly the music started again. The Death Eaters had cleared the club out apparently, and staring at the laptop on the DJ's stand, he smiled, thankful that the club was into the newest technology, and therefore had computerized DJ equipment.

Clicking on a song he liked, the man who called himself Shadow stood there, with a CD in his hands. And with a grin and a nod to Lulu, he leapt toward one of the Death Eaters. They had all been stunned by his sudden disappearance, as, according to their Lord, he had no conventional magical abilities.

And with a downward slash of the CD he had cracked in half, he cut into one man's face. The man screamed, before everyone around him lost their standing ability, as their kneecaps were kicked in the opposite direction as they were supposed to bend. Shadow grabbed one man by the head and placed his hand behind the man's neck, and pushed, hard, and the neck broke, before, still holding the head, he jumped over the man, and then flipped the man over his own body, carrying him up and over, before he slammed him, neck first, into the ground. And laying there, dead as a doornail, Shadow kicked him in the lower back, sending him into the path of a Killing Curse.

Jumping and flipping in the air, he landed in a sitting position on a man's shoulders, but on his front and not his back. The momentum carried them forward, or backward in the case of the man who was being used as a chair almost. And as soon as they hit the ground, having ducked under a few bright blasts of light, Kyoto slammed his foot into the man's face. Crouching low, he did a shoulder-charge, taking out both of one man's knees, before lifting him and using him as a shield.

And then it happened. Lulu had finished the spell she had been working. It was a weave of Ultima along with Flare. There was no reason to do so, but it would increase the power. And as she launched it, the first line of Death Eaters were blown up. Literally. And this turned some attention back to her. Taking the scythes in hand and twirling them for a moment, she climbed up on the bar and leapt. She slashed a man's arms almost off, and in the same movement, spun around and cut through two man's wands, and furthermore, their hands, horizontally as they had raised them to cast spells. Ducking a spell by falling back into a acrobatic maneuver called a "bridge", she collapsed it as a Death Eater made to physically kick her. The leg flew over her, and she swept the other leg out from her position on the ground, sending the man sprawling on the ground.

Bringing her legs in, she kicked out, sending herself into an immediate standing position. She cast a "Protect" spell on herself to protect from all the flailing of limbs around her, before dodging a curse with a one-handed cartwheel, followed be a no-handed cartwheel, while launching the now joined scythes, which had joined to make a chakram, an almost circle with the joined handles in the middle and the blades on the outside, a spinning bladed disk. The makeshift circular blade flew through the air and cut through a man, and gave another a chest wound, before it began to come back. As it did, she held a hand up and blasted out a Dark Thundara spell, and the deep colored lightning blasted through several Death Eaters.

As the blades came back, she focused on catching it. Before she could, she took a cutting curse to the arm. This took her concentration off the blade long enough for it to get too close for her to do much of anything. But suddenly it was send high into the air, and when it came down as two separate weapons, she caught them.

Her savior was Kyoto…or Shadow at the current time. He held a staff, which she wondered about its appearance, as the Darksteel was similar to one of the metals in the alloy her scythes were made from. He slapped one man on the head before pushing the staff back behind him, hitting another man in the stomach. Spinning it like a helicopter, he caught several men in the faces, and they staggered back for a moment, but found themselves on the ground when the high spinning turned to a low sweep that took them all to the ground.

One man that tried to run up to Shadow after casting a disarming spell was hit in the face with the staff as it flew toward him, which shattered his nose, before bouncing off his face. Shadow was up with the staff in hand again immediately, catching it from the air. He slammed the man on top of the head as he landed, before tapping it on the ground while pushing a button, the blades shot out from the top.

The blades had a red tint to them, almost like blood, yet they had yet to be used in that fight. But as Shadow cut a man across the arm, fairly deeply, Lulu watched, as she parried spells of varying power with her scythes' metal, or by getting someone between her and the spell, as the man fell down screaming, and seemed about ready to die from the pain such a non-lethal cut seemed to cause. Smirking as he leapt high into the air, Shadow flipped around and landed in a crouch, the blades on the pole-arm having cut through an opponent, and its body fell open in halves, revealing the shadowy eyes to Lucius, who stood on the other side, wand leveled.

"Avada Kedavra!" Lucius shouted, and succeeded in blasting a green light from his wand. However, he was less than successful in hitting the figure he was aiming at. Shadow seemed to melt, and then reappeared on the other side of the room, leaning against the weapon he held. "But my Lord said you have no magical ability!"

"Conventionally, true. Only issue is there is a reason I am known as Shadow, dipshit. A very good reason. You should figure it out at some point."

This conversation was made possible by many of the Death Eaters laying in pain, as a spell called "Demi" was cast. They all seemed to weaken substantially, meaning that when Blizzara was cast, there were many a frostbitten and unconscious Death Eater littering the floor.

And as Shadow leapt at the man, the doors flew open, and in came several people, one tall black man with a bald head, another a squat man with a peg leg and a revolving eye. There were others, but these two seemed to be in control. And in their red and gold robes, the presence of the Order of the Phoenix was an unwelcome one. For, the distraction provided Lucius time to be able to shoot through the window of the club, and disappear into the distance. But not before he took the combined brunt of a Fire spell, as well as a cut from the pole-arm Shadow launched at him. It nicked his arm, and the screams of pain were heard, even as the man apparated away.

"You fucking asses." Was all Shadow said, before he left the building, Lulu blasting a whole in the wall and heading off on her own way, even more intent on her quest for answers, but assured in the fact that this man, "Kyoto Nox" was in fact, as close to being on her side as anyone she had met as of then.

"I will avenge you…my child…he will not get away with what he has done to you, to me…" And as she wandered down the street, she passed a vendor on the street, setting up small stuffed creatures he called "moogles." She pulled out her scythes, and within seconds, stuffing littered the ground.

"Wha…"

"They killed my child. They tried to kill me. You will not distribute these to the mass populace, I will be damned." And as he went for his wand, he found the scythe at his neck. "Find a new profession, old man, or I will kill you."

And elsewhere, the insane look on the man's face faded, and before he made it back to the Zabini household, he was once again, Kyoto. And taking a seat on the couch, he sighed softly, before passing out. And his dreams were haunted with deranged laughter, and the sound of banging. Banging on a wall, deep within his mind, kicking and scratching and slamming, trying to break through. And the mortar was cracked. The bricks were missing chunks. And the very foundation of the wall was shaking. And with a pulse, deep colored energy, darker than the darkest black, began to leak out, slowly in the fairly deep coloring of the room the wall seemed to be protecting.

-----

It was a full 4 days before Bellatrix awoke. And Harry refused to leave, and therefore, Blaise was there as well. She found herself staring at Bellatrix more and more. Harry would often times be just close enough to her to be able to feel the heat from her body, if he wasn't touching her. Jamie had brought some clothing for him, as well as his book on Demons, and the book on Pure Blooded Lineage. And he sat there, reading. Blaise got so bored at some point, that running her hands through his hair turned into her sitting there, putting his hair in really weird styles. And that was why, when Bellatrix awoke and looked around to the sleeping boy next to her, with the pretty girl she recognized as Blaise Zabini sitting on his lap, her laughter awoke them.

Harry had one ponytail on the exact top of his head, making him look kind of like a pineapple, and then another two behind those, to make a 'V' shape. And then the hair that was just going past his shoulders was tied together under his chin by another hair tie. He looked very, very weird. And his eyes flew open at her laughter, and she had an unexpected reaction from him. After kissing Blaise on the cheek, waking the girl, who got off of his lap, he dove from his seat and tackled her in a hug. She patted him on his back, and peered down at him as he looked up at her.

And from there, she looked to Blaise, who stood to the side during the whole interaction. She beckoned Blaise over, and then spoke gently to her. "Ms. Zabini, as I understand it, you have been involved with this one here?" Blaise nodded, in confusion. "Would you mind taking a hold of him? I really don't think any of his friends would like it very much if they came in here to see their 'savior' hugging on a Death Eater. It might be harder to take me away to Azkaban with him holding me."

"They aren't taking you to Azkaban." Blaise spoke softly.

"They aren't?"

"As of now, the Ministry knows nothing about your whereabouts. It has come to their attention that you were under Imperius by your late husband. So you are now cleared of all charges, especially since Harry refused to press any." Blaise said all of this with an edge to her voice, especially the part about Imperius, and Bellatrix caught on and nodded.

"Well, I think it's time that we head back." Harry said, standing. "I won't let them take you. Snape explained everything to me, and I will be there for you. Thank you for not telling him whose child it was to be." And he turned to leave.

"Harry…"

"Yes?"

"Would it…would it be alright to give the child a name?" She asked this stuttering. "Just to give some closure on it. Maybe a name that can work for males and females?" She didn't expect him to agree, but he smiled sadly and nodded, turning from her.

"I'll ask you what is was when I next see you. And that won't be in Azkaban, if I have to pay the fines for your supposed crimes myself. This might lose me some support, but at this point, I don't think I care much anymore." And with that he disappeared. Blaise was still there, and Bellatrix called out to her.

"Tell Jamie I said hi, please."

"You know my mother?"

"We were in the same year at Hogwarts. She was…she was the only person I trusted. When she got arranged to your father, and me to…that bastard…it tore both of us apart. She taught me what it was to be a truly powerful and commanding woman. Hopefully one day, I can be like her. And like you." She said with a smirk.

"Me?"

"Yeah. You have Harry there whipped, eh? Do I expect to be seeing Harry Zabini any time soon?" Blaise rolled her eyes slowly, but shook her head.

"No. More than likely, I will end the Zabini name if that ever comes to happen. It's been centuries of people marrying in and taking our name. I'm ready to move away from that." She said wistfully, before smiling darkly. "I'll let her know you said hello. And expect to see me later, asking about embarrassing moments of my mother's. I have to give poor Kyoto some kind of leverage." She muttered as an after-thought, and then turned and left.

Bellatrix sighed before laying back, and almost drifting back to sleep before the Hogwarts staff arrived, and saw her awake, and began the checks on her.

-----

Baretta ditched the motorcycle when he arrived at the airport. He wanted out of the damned country, and as he went toward the metal detectors after buying his tickets, he realized what they did. Shaking his head, he slipped his hand under his duster, and ran his finger down the air inside while muttering. And a tear appeared in the time and space of when and where he was, and he slipped all three weapons into it. And then he walked through the metal detector. And the alarm went off. Cursing to himself, he stepped back, and they took him over to the side and began checking him over.

And finding the many blades in his boots and such, and then finding even more different types of weapons on him, he cursed as they lead him to a room on the side. And placing all of the weapons on the table in front of him, a woman in a white blouse, and a navy blue skirt suit, with a gleaming golden badge attached to her waist walked in, clipboard in hand. She stood across the table from him, feeling fairly safe as they had not only handcuffed the man's arms behind his back, but handcuffed his handcuffs to the steel chair.

"So let me get this straight. You planned on taking an international flight with…2 .9mm Glocks, a switchblade, a butterfly knife, half a box of shotgun shells, 13 hand grenades, a dismantled uzi, 3 pounds of C4, a handful of deactivated area mines, a spool of piano wire, brass knuckles, spiked brass knuckles, a box of nails, 5 personal lighters, a 'Jumbo' sized can of lighter fluid, a set of blow-darts, a pickaxe and a baseball bat." She read down the list, her voice growing more unbelieving as she went. "I would like to know where all of this came from, and what the fuck you were thinking trying to fly with them all." She slammed the clipboard on the table, which also housed all of the items listed, as she leaned down and looked at him.

She obviously didn't know the view down the front of her shirt that she was giving him, otherwise he supposed she would have buttoned the buttons, unless it was some kind of interrogation technique. Rolling his eyes, he stood and reached into his long coat, re-opening the rip, and placing his two handguns, as well as the sawed-off on the table before going back and standing by the chair. Reaching in to the coat, he pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel's, and began to drink from it.

The woman for the most part, was staring at him in shock. There on the table were two handguns, of types that she had never seen before, and obviously had avoided the airport security, as well as a sawed-off shotgun that shouldn't have been able to hide in that coat without it showing. "…How…" Was all she could stammer out.

"Take out the magazines to the guns." She did as he said, and saw nothing but a deep blackness on the inside. As far as appearances went, the gun appeared empty. "Is that glass bulletproof?" she nodded. "Shoot at it." Seeing no problem, she shot the gun at the glass in the room. And it shattered the one-way glass, and the snap-back sent the woman stumbling back into the table behind her. Any normal person that was not trained in firing weapons, could have easily killed themselves by firing the gun. The man smiled.

"What the HELL is this thing?" The man shouted.

"Those…those are personally crafted handguns. All custom. Before a few upgrades some time ago, they were over 50 caliber, so I don't know where they sit at now, but let's just say that they are some fun weapons to have around in my line of work." Some men ran into the door, having heard the gunshot, but she shooed them out immediately.

Before she could ask what his "line of work" was, she looked to the sawed-off sitting on the table. And at the base of it, before the two barrels, there was a golden form of some sort, that looked decidedly organic. And there were golden threads running from it that looked almost like veins from some kind of heart. And as she looked at it, she saw the blob-like form pulsing to a rhythm that was like a heartbeat. "And this?" She asked nervously. She had decided already that, whoever this man was, he was fully capable of escaping if he felt the need to. And her curiosity was overcoming her better judgment.

"That…her name is Apathy."

"Its named…apathy?"

"Her. I said it for a reason. Her name is Apathy."

"You say that like it is a living person."

"Person? No. Living? Very much so." The woman stared incredulously at the man in front of her. He had obviously played some kind of trick on her with the handgun, be she would not be taken for a fool.

"And how is a gun alive, exactly?"

"By having been a Demon at some point, and having the heart of such a creature still beating within her." Was the simple answer. And finally it was all too much for her.

"Who the hell are you! We have been unable to find any files on you anywhere, and you seem to not have fingerprints at all, or any other form of identification."

"Who are you, exactly?"

"I am Agent Rose Brown, Scotland Yard. I am part of the Paranormal Studies Division, and I was called in because it seems that we have a man who doesn't exist sitting here in this room." And when she looked at him again, she saw him juggling three pairs of handcuffs. He had only been handcuffed by two. And as she checked, she saw that her pair were gone as well.

"I am called Baretta. It is of no importance because I assure you, you will find no files on that name, either. I exist, but not in the way you want me to, I assure you. And my line of work, and you have been wanting to ask, is not any of your business. You work for the Paranormal Studies Division, as you said, correct?" Rose nodded. "Then what can you tell me about vampires?"

She narrowed her eyes, and leaned down again. "What do you know about them, is the real question." Upon his raised eyebrow, she sighed. "Vampires are a fictional creature of the night that live forever, and sap the blood from their victims to stay alive." She said this almost as if it was a speech she was to give that was getting old. As she finished this, the man reached into his pocket and tossed something across the table. And laying in front of her, were teeth. They were still attached in some way, and the canines were longer than normal, and the teeth seemed to be permanently tinged with a pinkish color on the tips.

"Then what do you know about the origins of these creatures?" He asked.

"It was said that vampires were created by a man known as Dracula…"

"Not the legend, the true studies I know you have all been looking into. The information from cultures that have been around longer than that stupid book."

Unnerved, she spoke again, this time with a different story. "Vampires were said to come from a fallen angel named Orpheus, and have been around since he first created them. They are regarded as the masters of the night, and the darkest of creatures roaming the earth."

"First of all, his name was Opacus. And second, vampires are scum. Shitty imitations of the Fallen."

"'The Fallen'?" She asked, as the capitalization of the word "Fallen" was clear in the way he said it.

He smirked and took off the sunglasses he had been wearing. His gunmetal gray eyes centered on her, and he let a smirk slide across his face. "Wanna know a secret?" Before she could answer, he spoke. "I hate vampires. They all seem to know about me, however. And those two guns right there, are capable of reducing one to dust very quickly."

"So you know of the existence of vampires? Are you one of them, with a grudge for them turning you?"

"I am…well, I suppose you could say that I am their uncle."

"Uncle?" And finally she began to put the pieces together. The definition of an uncle would be the brother of a parent. And then, by the way he spoke of the vampires and "The Fallen"…

"Yes, there you go. Now, if there is nothing else, I would very much like to be on my way."

"So you are some kind of 'vampire hunter' or something?" She asked, leaning over still. "If so, some of them may be after you, and therefore, you may need to be held in protective custody."

Raking his eyes at the cleavage she was showing him from his standing position, as she leaned down over the table, from the curve of her chest to the arch of his back, he was very much leaning toward allowing them to hold him in her protective custody. "No, not a vampire hunter. They come near me, I kill them. Otherwise, if they leave me alone, I will leave them alone. It's kind of a mutually beneficial relationship. They get to live, I get to not be arsed with killing them." And as he spoke, he began replacing his weapons. As she watched, she finally broke her silence as he slid the baseball bat into one of the inside pockets of the duster. It seemed to disappear as it slid in there.

"How is all of that fitting in there?"

"I have deep pockets." Was his simple answer. And when the last weapon was gone, outside of "Apathy" and the two handguns, he looked at her. "Do you mean to show that much of yourself, or something? Is it some kind of interrogation tactic, or did you just forget to button those buttons?" He asked in a kind of "I really don't care" way. She looked down and saw what she had been showing him the whole time, and a flash of red hit her cheeks, but she put on a brave face, and smirked.

"It might be, or I could have just done this for you." And she winked at him. He slipped Apathy into the holster on his back, which was cut out of the duster as well, and then gripped the handguns.

"Interesting, Ms. Brown." Suddenly the only non-weapon on the table, a cellular phone, began to shake and buzz on the table. Grabbing it up, he answered it, finding it, incidentally on speaker phone.

"Hey, you fucking ass, Harry is back, and I have a very bad feeling about this. A very bad one. But anyways, I left Phearamos in that place where I used to live, and I was hoping you could bring that on the 31st. It's the kid's birthday, and all. And try and craft something for him, ok? He is a Halfling now, and has no choice, he is in this fight with us now."

"You Turned Potter!" Baretta looked less like he cared than he made it to seem he was.

"I had to." The voice from the phone shouted. And Rose's eyes widened as she put it all together. Harry Potter. She had heard the name a few times, and it took her a moment to process, and by then, the conversation had processed.

"I'll see what I can do. Nothing can be done any time soon. So fuck off."

"Bitch." And then the line went dead.

"Who was that?" Rose asked, "And how do you two know Harry Potter?"

"That? That was a Demonic bastard I know. Only person I trust, even a little bit, even though I hate him almost as much as he hates me."

"Why do you hate each other?"

"Think about it. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Demons and Angels don't get along." And with that he nodded to her, and placed his glasses on. "I take it your sister goes to school with him." At Rose's nod, he smiled.

"How did you know I had a sister?" He smiled and tossed her wallet across to her. Apparently he had taken that as well. There was a picture of Lavender in there, that said, "Lavender at Hogwarts, with Harry Potter." The girl had gotten a picture with the boy after a Quidditch game win.

And suddenly the man smiled as he walked out of the room. Just before he was gone, he chuckled. "Gotta love having abilities of space and time. See…you can get your hands on things without having to actually get near them." And she saw as a bit of pale pink material in his hand was placed in his pocket.

And her jaw fell as she felt a bit cooler than she had, and growled before sighing wistfully. The bastard got his hands on her panties without being within 4 feet of her, and her current boyfriend couldn't even get a kiss from her. "Baretta…whoever this bastard is, he is a crazy fuck." She muttered to herself, before sinking down in the chair and sighing deeply, closing her eyes and just relaxing there.

-----

Kyoto was far from happy. He was standing there with Jamie, shopping for Harry's birthday party. Hermione was there as well, as they had asked her along to help, as she knew more about Harry's likes than they did. And here the man was, in a grocery story, feeling up the oranges.

He didn't do grocery stores. He hated them. He ate what he wanted to eat, and anything in the produce department was something he wasn't keen on eating. "Then what do you eat!" Hermione had shouted at him.

"Truth? Demons have a moderate blood thirst, and me myself, I prefer grapes to oranges. Of course, small puppies always taste good as well." This earned him two smacks in the arm. "What!" He tried to sound ignorant about his words, and indignant about the hits. He had called Baretta earlier, and been berated by James about his language on the phone. He rolled his eyes, which got him hit yet again.

Eventually they were out of the store, and back at the house. And the situation got even worse for the Demon. They were all going to start work on the cake, as the party was to be the next day. So they put him in an apron when he walked in to the kitchen, just to get something to drink. And the only apron left only came up to his thighs, and was pink with white lace around the outside.

"Damn you women." He stated, as it was tied to him. And he was rewarded with being pulled down by the collar on the apron, and kissed on the corner of his mouth by Jamie, who turned immediately after and began to work. It was one of those kisses that seemed like she would give Harry or something for working, but it worked perfectly fine for him, and he was generally quiet at the beginning.

But as the cooking got underway, something that Hermione was too book-based to do well, and Jamie was just never good at, he took over. Pushing them out of the way, he began to work, cutting with speed and without looking, as he instructed them on things to do. He was a presence in the kitchen, much like they saw Harry had as well. It was a confidence of having cooked for years.

They made little jokes about it, as he pulled his hair up and back to be out of his eyes and away from the fire and boiling water he was working with. And for all purposes, he looked too much like a woman. A very tall, horribly flat-chested woman, but a woman nonetheless. Blaise came into the kitchen and began laughing incredibly loudly as she saw him. She disappeared soon enough, saying she had to go back up to "occupy" Harry. Hermione was called a bit later, and the girl disappeared. Blaise had come down to get her, and had smiled as she left. "Gonna give you two some time alone, seeing as the food is all on simmer. So…feel free to express yourselves."

-----

Harry was laying off the side of Blaise's bed, his head inches from the floor, and his hair pooling on the floor beneath him. He had noticed that it was a lot slicker and finer, something he attributed to Kyoto, as the man's hair was very…feminine…in consistency. He didn't know whether to thank him or be mad. However, at the time, he didn't care much. The days had past, and he knew that everyone was downstairs cooking for the party the next day, and he was not allowed to go anywhere. He had made a few sketches of what he wanted Blaise's present to look like, as he was given an idea of something he could get Kyoto to make for him to give the girl over Christmas break.

The present he had for her at the time was one that he kept looking at in nervousness. He had read about it, and it was a stone that went by many names. However, one of them was "The Devil's Tear" and it was a very interesting thing. The basis of it was the blood and tears of a Demon, and the blood of the person it was to go to. This was used as a bonding tool to bond a Demon to a person. However, the facts on Half-Demons using this were different. It attached a part of their soul to the person, usually a lover or a family member, therefore allowing that person to be able to summon the Half Demon from anywhere in the world.

Also interesting about it was that it had many different abilities. Harry himself had done some work with Kyoto, and the particular Tear that Harry had created had some abilities to it, such as increased protection on the girl, as well as enhanced abilities to some extent, as she could literally draw Harry's Demonic power from him into her. If anything, it could stop her from dire injury. It also alerted him to when she is in danger, and allowed him to get to her, no matter what was separating them. The Tear was created, and was roughly the size of a ping-pong ball, and looked like a sky-blue diamond, down to the shine of it. He had been assisted by Kyoto, as they broke pieces from it and placed them in a ring. And the obsidian they had placed it in, a material Kyoto said would be sure to carry the Demonic magic without cracking, as it itself was warped in essence, seemed to draw a black glow from the Tear, along with the pure sky-blue. It was a very weird thing to see, as it mixed but it didn't. The colors stayed separate.

He had liked the way it all turned out, and knew that the ring would fit the girl's ring finger on each side, as the band, he had used to check the size on the sleeping girl before the Tear was finished. He intended to place the ring on her right finger if she asked, but if she did it herself, he had no opposition to it going wherever she wanted, even on a chain as he kept his mother's wedding ring.

The door opened with a crash, and Harry fell from the bed. However, before he hit the ground, he had turned in a small flip and landed on his feet, albeit still slightly dazed. It was not an intended reaction, but was more or less a reflex, and he turned to the girls to find Blaise looking slightly impressed, but still fairly apathetic, while Hermione looked shocked. After they all arranged themselves on the floor, Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment, and wrote "Harry's Party List" on the top.

"So…who are you inviting?" Hermione asked, normal ball-point pen poised to write.

"Well…You two, of course. Ron and Daphne. I suppose Lavender and Parvati, and with Parvati comes Padma. Luna, Luna of course. Neville, um…I suppose Dean. Seamus? His mum would probably say no, so no point asking him, and Dean told me a while back that his family was taking a trip to a football tournament, and they won't be back, so forget those two as well. Well…the DA…Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, uh…any suggestions?"

"Cho." Blaise said calmly. At the flabbergasted look on Hermione's face, Blaise smirked. "I'm an evil bitch, what? I want to rub this all in her face before school starts." Hermione sighed before Harry spoke up.

"No, that is a good idea. Make sure that things are alright between us and everything, before school starts." And then he seemed to be thinking. "Well…adults now. I want to invite Tonks, if she counts as an adult. Blaise's mum and Kyoto, of course, and even though they will be here, would be nice to send them an invite, so its not taken for granted. Also…ok, I am going to say these things, and no one can say anything until I am done." He looked for agreement.

"Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix. I want these two here. And if anyone has an issue with them being here, they can come to me. I have business to talk to with Mrs. Malfoy, and Bellatrix…I want everyone to know that she is with me. Everyone should know that I am with her, because if she is here and I show no hard feelings, the only one who might have something to say about it is Neville. And I think I can get through to him."

After the initial shocked looks, Harry seemed to think. "And Professor Snape. He was a lot of help with Bellatrix, and I have a feeling my OWLs won't be enough to get me into his class, so I have little to worry about from him next year."

Hermione nodded. "Dumbledore?" But she was already writing his name down as if it was a given.

"No."

"But Harry…"

"No."

"Fine."

"Aunt Minnie?" Blaise asked. Harry laughed.

"After the last time she was here, do you really want to do that? And you know what…I think we should have grapes around Snape at all times." The two began laughing hysterically to themselves, leaving a confused Hermione.

"Uh…Aunt Minnie…Grapes?" Smiling, Blaise explained her relationship to Professor McGonagall, before telling the girl if she wanted to see what happened, then she could go down and get some grapes, and they could reenact it. Harry said he thought that would be a bad distraction, so he was vague, stating that Snape had had a show put on for him by Harry himself, Blaise, and some grapes. Hermione blushed and nodded to herself.

"So…that's about it." And Hermione nodded, and then folded the parchment, and they spent the rest of the day talking in companionable conversation, Harry glad that the day had ended to well for him, knowing n ot of the frenzy the next day would bring. If he had thought Blaise's party was eventful, his had all the intentions of being an explosion. Literally.

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