Feel my Fangs
Chapter Seven - Vampire Lunch
Dumbledore was emptying his candy bowl at a frightening speed. The Minister of Magic was mopping his brow assiduously in his office. Voldemort was in his humble abode cursing his minions in fits of anger.
All three had just been informed of new vampire activities: the activity of one particular vampire, a new recruit who could do magic. The identity of the new vampire was currently unknown as the informant had been killed before he could reveal a name but he had been able to pass the information that this new vampire could do magic.
Magic, that ephemeral power that left a wizard the moment he was turned. Wizards-turned-vampires could not use magic. Most werewolves would not use magic. Magic was what distinguished the wizards from the so-called half-breeds, the animals.
Thus, the existence of a wizard-vampire was very frightening to the three leaders. The unknown is frightening.
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Harry Potter was looking through Sythe's extensive library. He was currently going through the T section.
"Tangle-Tree Curses, Tarantulas Treaties, Taciturn Titans," Harry read as he trailed his fingers along the rows of books. Harry stopped at a withered book titled "Terror at the Ministry."
He flipped through the book.
"Oh, how to access the Minister's office…Getting around aurors…Penetrating inside the Department of Mysteries," Harry read. He was especially gleeful at a part describing how to get rid of an Undersecretary.
Harry put the book back onto the shelf and wandered into the curse sections. He pulled out a book called "How to Curse your Way out of Deadly Situations" and proceeded to read it.
Two hours later, he proceeded to the kitchens for lunch.
Sythe and Paula were already drinking warm blood soup with peas and chunks of meat. Harry declined soup in favour of a grilled-cheese sandwich and a tall glass of blood. He liked simple meals if he didn't have direct access to fresh blood.
"Say, Sythe," Harry started. " What do you know about ministry take-overs?"
"Not much, we vampires have been keeping away from wizard politics for the last couple of decades," Sythe said. "Ever since that fellow Grindewald tried to get us to join in his fight actually."
"What about you Paula?" Harry asked. "You're always recording things."
"Wizard politics are beneath us vampires. They are never long lasting. They last a couple of decades before being replaced by a completely new government." Paula looked up arrogantly from her bowl of soup. "Despite that, their policies haven't changed for centuries. They are rather quite boring. I study sensational phenomena." Here she looked pointedly at Harry.
Harry fidgeted under her gaze, not looking forward to her next sneaky attempt at experimenting with his abilities.
"You really shouldn't ask Paula on ministry business," Sythe snorted in his soup. "She may act all high and mighty but the fact is that she doesn't understand wizard policies."
He bent his head and whispered to Harry conspiratorially. "Between you and me, Harry, before she was turned, Paula was a stuck-up analytical potions mistress. She spent her time in her labs tinkering with herbs and chemicals. She hasn't changed much. She's still stuck-up and extremely nosey."
Harry laughed.
"When she was turned, the first thing she did was to go down to her labs and perform blood tests on herself!" Sythe added in a theatrical whisper.
"You really shouldn't whisper so loudly, Sythe," Paula looked at him sharply. "And just by the way, I remember that you nearly fainted when you woke up and was told you had been turned. And you were more vexed about not having your books being magically read to you than about losing your magic."
Paula turned to Harry, as Sythe eyes had grown wide and was waving his arms at her to stop gossiping about him.
"Our lazy head of council went around scaring wizards so they would charm his books to read aloud. And when he didn't have a wizard handy, he charmed muggle women to read his books while he sat on his couch," she told Harry. "He was not only lazy, he was a coward and…"
Sythe had clapped his hand over Paula's mouth. "Now Paula, you wouldn't want me tell Harry here about that time you mistook glue for muggle face cream now, would you?"
Paula eyes widened and shut up.
Harry was doubled over and nearly spilled his glass of blood, thoughts about ministry take-overs and voldemort chases put aside for the moment.
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Harry was riding Stanley the Dragon over Diagon Alley. They were above the clouds so Diagon Alley shoppers wouldn't panic at the sight of a wild dragon. Harry was surveying the area through a mirror.
Sythe had given the mirror to him. The mirror could show any layers of a region positioned underneath it. Harry could see up to the core of the earth with this mirror. But for now, Harry wanted to see Diagon Alley going-on's.
"Malfoy and junior Malfoy are shopping," Harry remarked to Stanley. "Isn't junior supposed to be at Hogwarts? Of course, I'm supposed to be at Hogwarts too…"
Stanley snorted and flew in circles so Harry could see where the Malfoys were heading.
"Oh they just apparated away! Now I'll never know," Harry pouted. Stanley snorted.
"Right, a locator spell," Harry brightened and then his face fell. "Shit, I should've listened to Flitwick during that last class."
Stanley snorted again.
"Uh, fake-moody lesson number five: use an easy spell to get what you want," Harry murmured to himself. "Accio Harry's charms manual!"
Five minutes later, a book zoomed into his hand. He flipped through it and then nearly dropped the book.
"Watch the turbulences, Stanley," Harry scolded. "I nearly fell off!"
Stanley ignored him and Harry went back to flipping through the pages until he landed on the spell needed.
"Ok, here goes, Locatotal Lucius Malfoy," he pointed randomly. His wand jerked around until it pointed down, northeast of their directions. "That way, Stanley!"
And Stanley pumped his wings harder and cut through the clouds.
The two found themselves at Hogwarts gates. They couldn't go further because the school wards wouldn't allow anyone to fly through.
"Blast my way through?" Harry thought. "That is what I'm good at after all. But I don't want to call attention to me."
He motioned at Stanley to land in the Forbidden forests and Harry quickly made his way onto school grounds, leaving Stanley to amuse himself.
"Malfoy is probably just bringing junior back to school," Harry surmised. "They must have portkeyed to Dumbledore's office or maybe Snapes. But why did Lucius have to go? What dirty business is he engaging in?"
Harry pulled on his invisibility cloak. He headed to one of Hogwarts secret passages.
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Lucius Malfoy was indeed in Snape's office. Draco had made his way back to the Slytherin's common room.
Harry listened at Snape's door. The greasy git should have silencio'd his rooms.
"…is extremely angry. The negotiations with the vampire community have been going on atrociously. Bell was sent back emptied of blood and his eyes gouged. We've stopped sending representatives," Harry heard Malfoy say. "Severus, the Dark Lord wants you to prepare a potion that will make vampires unable to digest blood. They'll die if they are unable to process the blood. We must neutralize their threat."
"A pre-emptive strike," Harry heard Snape say. "I'll assume I must do it now and sent it back with you to the Dark Lord."
"That is the general plan."
"Very well, it will take no more than an hour as I have the initial part of the potion bottled."
Harry heard Malfoy sit down on a couch and Snape tinker with cauldrons and bottles. He heard ingredients being cut and water boiling.
Malfoy dropped his bomb. "Severus, you've heard of that rumour, the one of a so-called wizard vampire?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"Nothing, just that it is strange that it coincides with the disappearance of the Potter boy no? Didn't he come back to school all weird and then disappeared one night?"
"Potter is an arrogant little brat. He would certainly not have been able to achieve the things this wizard vampire has been heard of doing," Harry heard Snape sneer. "It is most likely Potter was killed in one of his own Gryffindor heedless adventures. No great loss."
"I wasn't suggesting that Potter was the wizard-vampire," Harry heard Lucius say. "But your logic makes a lot of sense. The Dark Lord will be happy to hear about this."
So they thought he was dead. Harry laughed inwardly. He would have to be careful of hiding his identity from now on. Knowing he wouldn't learn anything more, Harry left silently. Harry needed to inform Sythe of the things he'd just heard.
As he was about to make his back into the passageway, he stopped for a second.
"I haven't seen either Hermione or Ron in ages," Harry thought. He stood for a while and then headed towards Gryffindor tower.
He went in behind a third-year through the portrait-hole. He then saw them: Hermione and Ron. Hermione was scribbling on a parchment and Ron was pulling on strands of her hair. She laughed at something he said and sent ink flying at Ron. He made a face and then laughed with her.
Harry looked on at his friends. His heart tightened at the sight of his two best friends who could live on without him. He suddenly remembered why he had left Hogwarts that night. Harry turned and left through the portrait hole, promising never to return.
"Why isn't there anyone coming in?" Hermione remarked about the empty-doorway. Ron shrugged and poked Hermione in the ribs. She turned her attention back to the redhead, thoughts about invisible people forgotten.
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Author's Note: I seem to keep finishing sections with forgotten thoughts. I hope I won't be forgetting things on my midterms. Arghhh. I gotta go back to studying for that molecular bio test. Prof. Lasko is heartless….