In the week after the formal, Anna's thoughts kept drifting back to that last dance. What was that? she would wonder. She was constantly trying to decide if it was what she thought it was (Draco kissed her) or she was reading entirely too much into it (one professor asking another for a dance). Draco showed no signs that anything extraordinary had happened, so that skewed her opinion to the latter, to her disappointment.
She tried to throw herself into work as a distraction, but her thoughts about the kiss/not a kiss ended up achieving the opposite, distracting her from her work. She had decided to introduce her students to the Muggle school technique of the mid-term exam. She gave each class a comprehensive test of everything they had learned since the start of the school year. Now she was regretting it. With only one day of classes left before winter break, she still had an impossible stack of papers to grade. She had meant to have them graded and returned to the students before they left for break, but it was starting to look like she was going to spend her break reading essay questions.
She reached for a stack of 5th year exams she had planned to grade tonight, only to realize that she had left those papers on the desk in her classroom. She sighed and threw her pen down on the desk. It was late, the castle was cold and dark, and she did not relish the thought of walking through it to retrieve the papers, but she needed to keep working. She pushed herself away from her desk, wrapped a warm robe around her and slid her plush slippers on her feet, grabbed a candle from the mantle and headed out to her classroom.
Draco was working on the post-break curriculum for his potions classes when the knock came. Who would be there at this hour? he wondered. He opened the door and saw a house elf standing there.
"What do you want?" he asked the creature.
The elf responded in a trembling, high-pitched voice. "Sir, your chamber was the closest – it's terrible scary sir. I saw it! Ugly thing sir!"
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, impatiently.
"A vampire sir! In the castle!"
"Are you certain?" Draco demanded.
"Yes sir, I saw it clear as I see you standing here!"
Draco cursed to himself, grabbed his wand and ran to Anna's chamber. During the war the vampires had sided with Voldemort and he had used them at times to terrorize Muggle towns. Since then, the vampires had acquired a taste for human blood and would seek it out over magical blood. Which meant the vampire would be heading straight for Anna. Who the hell let it into the castle? He arrived at her door and pounded on it, shouting her name. No response. Damn! he thought. Where the hell could she be? He paced in front of her door a few times. Her classroom, he thought and ran for the classroom wing.
Anna found the stack of papers she needed and headed out the door. She was walking though the hall when something grabbed her from behind, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist and the other clamped hard over her mouth. She dropped what she was carrying and the candle snuffed out. She was in complete darkness with whatever had grabbed her. She tried to scream, but she was held so tightly she couldn't move any air.
Then it started to drag her away. She kicked and fought as hard as she could, but whatever had her was too strong. She was starting to feel faint from lack of oxygen. She was dragged into a niche behind a tapestry hanging in the hall. Her attacker pushed her up against the wall and faced her, one hand still tight over her mouth, as he crushed her into the wall with his chest. His other hand now gripped her shoulder and she could feel the tip of a wand poking into her throat.
This is it, she thought. Someone has come to kill me. Her heart was pounding, her knees felt weak, and hot tears of panic flowed down her cheeks . Then a weak light began to glow from the tip of the wand and she saw that it was Draco that had her. What the hell? her mind raced.
He leaned in and spoke directly in her ear, barely louder than a breath. "Listen carefully" he said. She nodded behind his hand.
"I am not going to hurt you, but you are in danger. Do you understand?" She nodded again.
"I am going to remove my hand, but you must be absolutely silent and do not move. Do you understand?" he asked again. She nodded again, and he moved his hand away from her mouth.
"What the hell?" she yelped out of instinct and he clapped his hand back over her mouth.
"I said not a sound!" he growled in her ear.
"Ok" she managed to breathe against his palm, and he moved his hand away.
"Listen to me" he whispered, now holding both her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "No matter what you hear or see, DO NOT move from this spot or make a sound until I come back for you. Do you understand?" he asked for the last time. He was still pressing her against the wall and now she felt his heart hammering. Oh no, she thought. He's scared too. That realization terrified her more, and she felt the hot tears start again. She nodded her head. "Good girl" he said. He kissed her hair then, a good hard kiss, not an ambiguous brush of lips, and slipped back around the tapestry into the hallway.
Within seconds she heard a horrible, animal-like snarling and growling. She clenched her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms, and forced herself not to move or make any sound. She heard Draco shouting and saw bursts of light around the edges of the tapestry. The fight sounded like it was moving closer to where she was hidden and she shook in terror. Then they seemed to be struggling right in front of her. She heard Draco shout "Avada kedavra!" and saw a brilliant flash of green light around the tapestry, and then silence except for heavy breathing. She recognized that spell from her reading. The Killing Curse. The tapestry moved and Draco was there, his wand held up, the tip glowing with a bright white light. She threw herself at him and sobbed.
"What happened?" she cried into his neck.
"You are safe" he said, wrapping his free arm around her and guiding her back into the hallway. She saw a gory pile on the floor and screeched.
"What in the bloody hell is that thing?!"
"A vampire" he answered.
"A vampire?" she asked incredulously. "Like Dracula?"
"Not quite" he said, guiding her around the mess. "More vicious."
"Why is it here?" she asked.
"Anna," he said and stopped walking and faced her, taking her hand in his. "Someone let it into the castle to kill you." Her face went white.
He held his wand up and said, "Expecto Patronum" in a strong voice. Anna gasped as a large dragon made of light and shadow burst from his wand and hovered in the air.
"Your patronus?" she whispered. It was her first time seeing one. "It's so beautiful!"
"Yes, my patronus" he replied. He instructed his guardian to find Neville, give a description of what had happened, and ask him to meet them in Professor McGonagall's chamber. The creature flew off to deliver the message. He put his arm around Anna again and led her to the headmistress' chamber.
Once they were safely settled, Anna seated on the sofa by the fire, wrapped in a blanket and Draco leaning back against the desk, they explained the vampire and what it's presence in Hogwarts meant to Anna.
"I don't think we are dealing with student pranks" said Professor McGonagall. "Someone means to rid us of Anna for good."
"Agreed" said Draco as Neville arrived with Luna.
"I've asked Luna to join us" Neville said. Luna sat next to Anna on the sofa, gave her a hug, and asked if she was alright. Anna assured Luna that she was physically fine, just badly shaken.
"We have to get Anna out of here as soon as possible" Professor McGonagall said.
"I can go back to my flat in London" Anna suggested.
"No, you can't go there. The flat's address is in the records; here and at the ministry. If someone is after you this seriously, it wouldn't take much for them to find you there" Professor McGonagall said.
"I can't go to my family. I don't want to put them in danger" Anna said.
Draco had appeared to be intently studying the pattern of the carpet. He looked up suddenly and said, "She's coming with me." They all stared at him for a second.
"What?" Anna asked.
"You're coming with me" he repeated. "My mother is traveling for the holidays and I am going to join her, so you are coming with me."
"Uh, and where would that be?" Anna asked, taken aback.
"It's best if no one knows" he said looking at the others in the room.
"You're right" said Neville
"Well, how long to I have to be gone?" Anna asked. She had come to feel at home at Hogwarts and didn't want to face that she was probably going to have to leave for a long while, at least while she was in danger.
"I think you know how long" her aunt replied gently. Anna's face fell.
"If I may," said Neville. "I have an idea how to draw out Anna's attacker."
"By all means" encouraged Draco.
"Anna is leaving school early, before the official start of winter break. So everyone will know she left. We spread the word that she left for Christmas, but will be returning on Boxing Day. She wants to use the time while the school is quiet to do more studying on the Magical world. I think that her attacker will not be able to resist the temptation of her being alone in a mostly deserted castle to try to attack again."
"No fucking way" Draco said. He did not shout, but the tone of his voice was deadly serious. "I refuse to allow her to be used as bait for a trap. She would be absolutely defenseless against that attack. Think of something else, Longbottom."
"Please, hear me out, Draco" Neville said, smiling just slightly at the potions professor's attitude towards this woman. "Anna won't actually be coming back." He addressed Professor Lovegood. "Luna, you have become very skilled with glamour charms. Do you think you could make yourself look like Anna?"
"I'm sure I could. I wouldn't be an exact match, but at a distance it would pass."
"Would you be willing?" Neville asked her. She seemed to understand what he was talking about right away.
"Of course" she replied calmly.
"Luna returns disguised as Anna. She stays in Anna's chambers, goes about the castle as Anna would, not using magic, but keeping her wand concealed on her. The attacker won't be expecting magical defense from her, so he will be caught off guard. I'm certain the attack would come when Luna is alone, but she can handle herself, and Professor McGonagall can assist when the attacker is caught."
"Absolutely not!" Anna shouted. "I will not allow anyone to put themselves in harm's way for me! I agree with Draco, 'Think of something else, Longbottom.'"
Luna spoke up in her soft, yet firm voice. "Anna. Don't you remember? I helped fight some of the darkest, most evil magic there has ever been! I think I can handle whatever is after you."
Anna raised her hand. "No, no. That was entirely different! You were fighting a war for your way of life! You were making a stand for what you believed! This is just you putting yourself in danger for a stupid Muggle who doesn't even belong in your world!"
Luna took Anna's hands. "You are wrong Anna. This is exactly the same thing. We were fighting for the belief that anyone who had been accepted into our world belonged in our world; full-blood, half-blood or Muggle born. We fought because our world is richer and better because of all the beautiful variations that make us a stronger whole. You have worked so hard to learn about us and understand us and you have accepted us as much as we have accepted you. You do belong in our world! Think of this as one last battle of the war we fought so hard. We cannot let the old prejudices begin to rise again, not even for a second." Luna paused. "Anna, it would be my honor to fight this battle for my friend."
"Well said!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall, beaming with pride.
With tears in her eyes, Anna hugged Luna. "Don't do anything stupid!" she whispered into Luna's ear.
"The second Battle of Hogwarts!" Luna laughed. "But this time, I'll try not to destroy the castle!"
A/N - I'm pretty happy with the way this chapter turned out! Like all writers, reviews (positive and critical) help, so if you have something to say, leave a little review! I have the story finished in my head, just hammering out some details. Looks like maybe one more chapter and a little epilogue. Thanks for reading!