The next few weeks passed mostly without incidents. Most classes were going well and steadily getting more interesting. Charms seemed to be one of Emma's favourites, as did Potions, despite Snape's antagonism. Emma had actually been getting so good at potions and charms that she began sabotaging her own concoctions and spells so as to appear as average as possible and not draw attention to herself. In Transfiguration, however, sabotaging was unnecessary. Emma still hadn't made much progress at all and it was really starting to get her upset. She really liked professor McGonagall and felt like she was being a disappointment. As for the other lessons, Herbology, History of Magic and Astronomy, she was doing well, but didn't really enjoy them. Flying lessons were going about as badly as they could. Emma's broom simply refused to even acknowledge her presence. Madam Hooch had tried swapping brooms around to no avail. They worked for other people, just not Emma. As opposed to Transfiguration, this didn't bother her in the slightest.
Defence Against the Dark Arts, however, was still by far the worst lesson. Emma could swear that she'd never heard a single word professor Quirrel had said in any lesson. In an attempt to catch up, Emma had started reading The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, but it wasn't really helping.
As for friends, Emma still didn't really have any. Hermione was the person she was closest to and even they barely spoke more than a few words to each other. Harry and Ron, who seemed friendly at first, had started to ignore Emma now, especially since Hermione was refusing to talk to them after their previous debacle.
For Emma's diet, she was coping much better with the bottles of blood every five days. It kept her thirst in check and she hadn't lost control since, aside from while drinking. She didn't like that the blood was always cold, but was still grateful that she was getting any at all.
On the 12th of October, Emma received her eighth bottle of blood since being at Hogwarts. Since it was a Saturday, she had to wait until midnight before taking the bottle out of her trunk and going down into the common room to make sure it was empty. Emma went to her favourite seat which had it's back to the wall next to the fireplace and had a good view of both the portrait hole and the dormitory entrances and sat down.
Emma put the bottle on her knee, opened the lid and started drinking before she could smell it. She felt her conscious control fade as the vampire took over, as it always did, and she relaxed as she felt the cool tingling spread throughout her body. She'd only just finished drinking when she heard footsteps coming down from the dormitories. Emma's thoughts froze, but the vampire put all senses on alert.
'No, please no!' thought Emma, begging to regain control.
The footsteps got louder and louder the closer they got until a figure rounded the corner. It was Hermione.
As soon as Hermione saw Emma, she knew something was wrong. That definitely wasn't Emma. Emma's eyes were wide open and searching, her lips were curled back baring her, now blood-soaked fangs and her posture was that of a snake about to strike. She even hissed.
'Run, Hermione.' shouted Emma, inside her head. 'Run!'
Whether Hermione read her mind, or was thinking the exact same thing, she turned and bolted toward the girls bathroom, with Emma close behind her. Hermione had the advantage of being on the other side of the room from Emma when she started, but it almost wasn't enough. Emma was fast. When Hermione slammed the door to one of the cubicles, she'd only just managed to lock it when Emma slammed head first into the door and fell backwards.
Emma felt the pain as her nose broke, but still couldn't control herself. The vampire seemed to be thrown off by the blow. It had given up sniffing the air and instead was looking around, searching for it's prey. It could just-about smell Hermione, but couldn't see her, and it was in pain so it slinked backward into the wall, under the sinks and kept watch. Emma could do nothing but hope Hermione was okay.
Hermione was scared stiff. The three-headed dog was nothing compared to this. At least she could get away from that. There was nowhere for Hermione to run now. She was locked in a toilet cubicle with a feral vampire outside. She stood as still as she could, and tried to keep her breathing even since she didn't want to alert it.
It was a good ten minutes, though it felt much longer for both of them, when Emma finally started to regain at least some control of her body.
'Hermione?' whispered Emma, flexing her fingers, still not able to get up.
'Emma?' squeaked Hermione, unlocking her door.
'No, don't! Lock it!' shouted Emma, as she felt the vampire home in on the sound. 'It still has control.'
'Emma?' asked Hermione again.
'I'm so sorry, Hermione. I'm so sorry.' muttered Emma, trailing off. 'I'm so sorry.'
It was another few minutes before Emma could finally get up. She leaned on one of the sinks, turned on the tap and splashed her face with water.
'You can come out now, Hermione. It's safe. It's over.' said Emma.
Hermione tentatively unlocked the door and crept out, keeping an eye on Emma to see if she'd turn again.
Thoroughly ashamed, Emma walked into the common room and fell into her favourite seat, but the bottle of blood was still open. Plugging her nose, which she realised didn't hurt any more, she closed the lid on the bottle with her other hand and threw it violently across the room where it landed in a seat on the far side.
To Emma's surprise, Hermione came up and sat in the seat opposite and she looked shell-shocked.
'Aren't you afraid of me?' asked Emma, feeling awful.
'Not you, no.' replied Hermione, meekly. 'The vampire, yes.'
'I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't hurt you did I?' said Emma, ashamed.
'No, no, I'm alright. It's my fault, I should have known better.'
'Your fault?' asked Emma, incredulously. 'You weren't the one who turned into a dangerous monster.'
'But I knew you were going to feed. I came down to tell you I knew.' said Hermione talking fast. 'I'd read what vampires were like when they fed, so I thought I'd come down before you... but... I'm sorry, I should have waited until tomorrow.'
'Don't you dare apologise, Hermione. I feel bad enough without you blaming yourself. How did you find out, anyway?'
'It's obvious isn't it?' said Hermione, still speed talking. 'You're very pale, you never sleep, you never eat, you never feel the cold, you've got fangs, garlic makes you ill and you stare at peoples necks when you're hungry.'
Emma was dumbfounded that Hermione had noticed all that.
'I never stood a chance, did I?' said Emma in resignation to herself and putting her head in her hands.
After a few moments, Emma let her hands drop into her lap and it was obvious she was crying now. 'I wonder how they'll do it. Does a stake in the heart actually work, or will they cut off my head?' she asked hypothetically.
'What?' asked Hermione, blinking in confusion.
'Hermione. I attacked you. There's only one thing the ministry can do now. They will kill me.' she shuddered. 'When Dumbledore finds out...'
'He's not going to find out. Not from me.'
'I don't understand. I could have killed you... or turned you.' exclaimed Emma, eyes wide. 'How can you even look at me?'
'You're the only friend I have here.' replied Hermione.
Emma didn't know how to reply to that and luckily she didn't have to. A short moment later, Hermione shook her head slightly, her eyes drooped and her mouth gaped open into a big yawn. She looked absolutely exhausted.
'Come on, Hermione.' said Emma, helping her up. 'We can talk about this tomorrow. Get some sleep.'
'Promise?' asked Hermione, yawning again.
'Promise.'
Emma helped Hermione up to the dormitory and laid her on the bed. Hermione was fast asleep before her head had even hit the pillow. Emma closed the curtains around Hermione's bed and went back to the common room to retrieve her empty bottle. She replaced the bottle in her trunk and changed into her muggle dress.
Emma knew that as soon as Dumbledore found out what had happened she was going to be executed and not wanting to leave Hogwarts without exploring it properly, she decided to try the grounds outside, starting with the great lake.
It was barely 1 o'clock in the morning when Emma left the portrait hole, being very careful not to wake the Fat Lady as always. She didn't want to get caught before getting a chance to see the lake so she went very slowly, and very carefully, but she didn't see anyone.
It was still dark when Emma got to the entrance hall. She unlatched the front gate and was nearly thrown backward by the door and the heavy wind outside. It took her a great deal of effort to close the door again. The grounds looked eerie in the dark. It was overcast and raining heavily and the new moon was only a few days old. The Dark Forest was especially unwelcoming swaying angrily as it was in the stormy weather. Emma took a left out of the front steps and made her way toward the lake. It was dark enough that she didn't need to hide any more.
The lake she saw today was nothing like the one she saw on the first day. That lake was as still as glass, this one was turbulent and violent. She slowly walked along it's edges for over an hour, the rain and her drenched hair whipping her face in the wind. It was liberating, to feel so free. She finally stopped at the base of a tree and sat down, facing the lake. There she sat, as still as a statue for hours, mesmerised by the dark swirling lake and the crashing waves waiting for Dumbledore or the ministry to find her.
When it started to get dark again, Emma began to hope, against her fear, that nobody had found out. She was sure Dumbledore could find her out here if he wanted to. She decided to make her way back to the castle as slow as before, taking in everything she could see. She didn't want to miss anything. It was about dinner time when she reached the front gate again.
Emma stood on the mat just inside the door, dripping from head to toe. A few students making their way to dinner were staring at her. She wrung her hair out, oblivious to her audience, and combed her fingers through it to tidy it up a little. After shaking her hands out a couple of times, spraying the floor with droplets, she took a breath and made a run for the dormitories. Not wanting to leave a trail of water leading straight up to the Gryffindor common room that Filch could follow, she took a few detours until she wasn't dripping everywhere before heading back.
When Emma arrived at her bedroom, she took off her still-soaked dress and underwear and threw them on the floor next to her trunk. After putting on her dressing-gown she started to towel dry her hair. It was then that Hermione burst in.
'Where have y...' she said, stopping suddenly, surprised. She took in Emma's appearance and the soaking clothes on the floor. 'Where have you been?'
Seeing Hermione, Emma felt ashamed again and she really wanted to avoid this conversation.
'Hey, Hermione. How was your day?'
Hermione just stood there with her hands on her waist and gave Emma a distinct look of disapproval.
'Oh, all right.' huffed Emma. 'I went to the lake.'
'In this weather? Wearing that?' snapped Hermione, pointing to the dress on the floor. 'Are you mad?'
'It was fun. The wind was a bit strong, but it was amazing. You should have seen the lake, it's beautiful.'
'A bit strong?' said Hermione, exasperated.
She marched over to Emma and put one of her hands on Emma's forehead.
'Ow!' she shouted, immediately recoiling her hand in shock. 'Emma, you're freezing!'
She sat down opposite Emma and just looked at her wearily.
'I... I hadn't noticed.' whispered Emma, suddenly feeling very small.
'I was worried about you, Emma. I didn't know where you'd gone, nobody did.'
Emma didn't know how to reply to that, so she just kept drying her hair, slowly.
'I thought you might do something stupid after last night.' said Hermione. 'Why the lake, of all places?'
'I wanted to see the grounds before I was executed.'
'You really didn't use your head did you?' chided Hermione. 'How would Dumbledore find out what happened last night?'
Emma was beginning to feel smaller by the second. Hermione had obviously given this far more thought.
'I... don't know.'
Hermione looked at Emma patiently, like she was talking to a much younger child.
'There's only two ways. Either one of us tells him, or someone saw us. Right?'
'I guess so...'
'So, I'm not going to tell him, and I didn't see anyone else, did you?'
'No, I guess I didn't.'
'Well then. How is he going to find out?'
Emma nodded, getting the point.
'Okay, good. I hope you won't do anything like that again, or you'll get yourself expelled at the very least.'
'Thank you, Hermione.'
They sat in silence after that until Emma had finished drying her hair, brushed it and put some fresh school robes on. She sat down again by the window between her bed and Hermione's.
'When were you bitten?' asked Hermione after a while, breaking the silence, curiosity evident on her face.
'I wasn't.'
'You weren't? But, all the books I've read say that all vampires are bitten.'
'I know, that's what I was told too.'
'But how?' asked Hermione, clearly confused.
Emma explained everything about her apparent transformation from human into vampire, from how gradual it was, down to the effects it had on her.
'But that goes against everything the books have said!' said Hermione, clearly confused. 'This doesn't make any sense.'
'Tell me about it.' sulked Emma.
'Sorry. This must be hard for you.'
'It's not so bad.' said Emma thoughtfully, 'I mean, I hate that I lose control, that I attacked you but everything else is alright.'
'And garlic?' inquired Hermione.
'Eurgh,' winced Emma, putting her hands to her temples, 'Don't remind me.'
'Sorry,' said Hermione going quiet for a few moments. 'So what do you think caused it?'
'I've got no idea.' frowned Emma.
'Well, let's find out then.' replied Hermione looking chirpy.
'What? How?'
'The library!'
Emma couldn't help but smirk at that. The library was Hermione's answer to everything. She'd started to list off the books that she'd already read on vampires, to make sure her suspicions about Emma were correct, and also some of the books she'd seen but hadn't read yet. Together they made a plan to read them all.
Between lessons, homework, exploring the castle and Hermione having to sleep, Emma and Hermione didn't have a lot of time to read the books in the library, and there were a lot to get through. It had been just under two weeks since they started looking and they hadn't found anything of use. The books were either devoid of any useful details or kept saying the same things over and over.
'This is useless.' whispered Hermione loudly, slamming the book she was reading closed.
Emma leaned back with a sigh, glad to have the break. Hermione looked clearly annoyed, almost as if the library was betraying her.
'It's ok, Hermione.'
Hermione, ignoring Emma, started on a rant about how there should be some books in a school like Hogwarts with the information they needed. Emma wasn't really paying attention, almost daydreaming.
'Emma?' interrupted Hermione after a few minutes, waving her hand in front of Emma's eyes.
'Sorry, Hermione. You were saying?'
'You're doing it again.'
When Emma just looked confused, Hermione pointed to her own neck.
'Ooh.' whimpered Emma, looking away, ashamed.
'You're getting hungry, aren't you?'
'I'm not sure. A little, I guess. It just sort of creeps up on me.'
'Your next feed isn't until tomorrow, is it?'
'That makes me sound like I'm a pet.' sulked Emma. 'But yes, tomorrow night.'
'You should probably tell Dumbledore to make it four days from now on, to be safe.'
Emma just nodded. She really didn't like this part of being a vampire, the dangerous part, so keeping it in check was something she couldn't risk getting wrong. She leaned over into her bag to get some parchment and her quill and wrote a short letter to Dumbledore.
'I'll have to get this to the owlery.'
'It's all the way at the top of the west tower. Can we make it?' asked Hermione, checking the clock on the wall. 'We've only got half-an-hour until we have to be back inside the common room.'
'Sure, we can.' smiled Emma knowingly. 'I know a short-cut.'
They packed up their bags, returned the books to their shelves and walked out of the library, not wanting to upset Madam Pince, the rather strict librarian. As soon as they were out they started running, Emma leading the way.
'How did you find these secret passageways?' asked Hermione breathlessly, trying to keep up with Emma as they slipped into the last one on their way.
'I don't think you want to know.' murmured Emma, slowing down to let Hermione catch up.
'You haven't been going out after hours, have you?' chided Hermione.
'I don't go out at midnight.' said Emma, defensively. 'I usually leave about four in the morning.'
'You know we're not allowed out until six.'
'I do now.' joked Emma. 'Here we are.'
Hermione could only shake her head in disapproval. They were both out of breath when they got to the owlery, even though it had only taken them a few minutes. Emma walked inside and looked for an owl to post her letter. It was dark outside now and most of the owls were out hunting. A young tawny owl glided down from the rafters to a perch next to Emma.
'Hello there.' smiled Emma. 'Could you post this letter to Dumbledore for me, please?'
The owl gave a small hoot and held it's leg out for her.
'Thank you.' said Emma, as it flew off.
They made their way back down to the Gryffindor common room at a run again. Using more secret passageways, they managed to make it with ten minutes to spare.
'Do you think he'll get it in time to get you some more today?' asked Hermione as they climbed in the portrait hole.
'I hope so.' replied Emma.
Emma and Hermione stayed up, waiting until after Lavender, Parvati and Fay had gone to bed before checking Emma's trunk. There it was, the very familiar opaque white bottle. Emma took it out and went down to the common room with Hermione following.
'Is it human blood?' asked Hermione, wondering out loud.
'I don't know.' thought Emma. 'I don't think I want to know either.'
Hermione was quiet for a short while, considering that.
'What does it taste like?' she asked, breaking the silence again.
'Try some if you want,' said Emma offering the bottle to Hermione, and giggling when Hermione's nose turned up in disgust. 'I don't really know. It's sort of sweet, and a bit salty, but I can't really taste it because it's always so cold.'
'Cold? I thought you couldn't feel the cold?'
'Not on my skin, but when I drink this, it chills my insides. It's like they keep it in a fridge.'
'Well,' said Hermione, taking out her wand. 'Try this.'
She waved her wand with a fairly simple swish up, around and down again and then put the tip of her wand to the bottle.
'Calda.' incanted Hermione.
She left the wand tip on the bottle for a few seconds, put it away and then put her hands around the side of the bottle.
'There you go.' she said, beaming.
Emma put her hands to the bottle but couldn't feel any change at all. She looked at Hermione quizzically.
'I'll leave you to it then.' smiled Hermione. 'Good night.'
'Good night.'
Emma waited until she couldn't hear footsteps any more and then took the bottle to the bathroom and locked herself in a cubicle. This was what she did every time now, just in case.
She opened the bottle and started drinking from it and immediately knew what Hermione had done. The blood was warm, really warm. She thought she could just about taste the blood before, but that was nothing compared to this. Her body now relished every second of it while she drank until not a drop remained. The shivering she used to get after drinking had been replaced with a tingling warmth, not unlike pins-and-needles, but not uncomfortable. From her fingers to her toes, her whole body tingled.
The most important change Emma had noticed was how quickly she managed to recover. Within a minute she was twitching her fingers, and within two she was getting up to walk around. This was miraculous. The last time she drank it took her over 15 minutes to get up again. She assumed that it must take the body much less time to absorb the warm blood than cold. Emma was ecstatic, she absolutely had to learn that spell.