Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Violence, Mature themes.

Chapter 6

Hermione was wandering around the edge of consciousness, the blissful time when you are half awake. She snuggled closer to her pillow, and hugged it tightly. Imagine her surprise when her 'pillow' hugged her back. Hermione snapped her eyes open and came face to face with the sleeping visage of her friend, Harry. She noticed that she was sleeping with her head on his chest and his arms were around her, hugging her close to his body. Heat suffused her cheeks, and she tried to get out of Harry's embrace. It took a while to do it without waking up Harry; she knew for a fact that Harry was a very light sleeper. Throwing off her side of the blanket, she looked down at Harry's sleeping form and tucked him in the covers properly before she left for her own dorm. She still couldn't believe the fact that she had spent the night with Harry, in his bed.

Back in her own dorm, she looked at the time and realized that she and Harry had to meet the Headmaster in a little over 3 hours. Deciding o wake up Harry after she had freshened up, she went to take her shower and start the day.

(Break)

Harry entered the Headmaster's office; an hour early and immediately made his way to Fawkes's perch. He saw that someone; probably the headmaster, had transfigured a make shift bed for Hedwig to rest in. Looking at the design, shape and size of it, he committed it to memory, thinking that he would need to do it himself someday. Hedwig had really grown up a lot in one night, before she had rested in his palms; now she was almost as big as his palm itself!

Just as he was about to stroke her head, her eyes opened and she let out an endearing trill, almost as if she was yawning. Harry spent quiet some time talking to her and he noticed that she was able to talk to him using a wider variety of words.

"Good morning Headmaster." Harry greeted, having completely missed his presence; he had been completely focused on Hedwig.

The headmaster chuckled lightly; he remembered he was much the same when he had first met Fawkes.

"Good morning indeed, my boy."

"Professor, yesterday you mentioned that your mentor wished to see me, but you never mentioned their name." Harry said, his hands still stroking Hedwig's head.

"Ah . . .I think that my mentor would like to introduce you directly." Dumbledore said with a smile.

Harry inclined his head, and spied Hermione. She had walked over to the back of Dumbledore's office, directly where the Headmaster kept his books. He could practically see stars in her eyes as she scanned the various titles.

"So where are we going to meet your mentor Headmaster?" Harry asked.

"Your meeting is scheduled at the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore replied.

Harry was instantly on guard. As far as he knew, Ron's father was the only decent human being in the Ministry. And after the various articles that had come out his second year; the whole Heir of Slytherin business; were not flattering in the least. Dumbledore seemed to notice Harry's frown, correctly deduced the reason for it.

"My mentor is not part of the Ministry per se, Harry. And I assure you that she is not a politician. You are supposed to meet her in the Department Of Mysteries to be exact. But that is all I'm going to tell you Harry." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.

Harry nodded with a smile on his face; he hadn't missed to note that the Headmaster's mentor was a woman.

"Miss. Granger, if you would join us, the time for our arrival is fast approaching." Dumbledore said.

Hermione smiled sheepishly as she came towards them. As she came up to them, the headmaster brought out an outrageously bright woollen sock from his robes, and Harry bid goodbye to Hedwig.

"How are we getting there Professor?" Harry asked.

"Ah. . . that reminds me, if you would put up the hoods of your cloak; it would be best if no one recognized you at the Ministry."

The two teens immediately put up their hoods and as the Headmaster gave a quick wave with his wand, Harry felt a tingle of magic that washed over his face.

"Now, I think it's time. Gather around and touch this sock." Saying that Dumbledore held up the sock, and Harry grabbed the sock with two fingers.

"Erm . . .what is this Headma. . ." before Harry could finish he felt a tug on his navel and his world spun. Almost before he could blink, his world righted itself and he was deposited on his hindquarters. He shook his head several times to get oriented.

"What was that Headmaster?" Harry asked.

The headmaster chuckled. "That was a Portkey Harry."

Harry decided then and there that he hated Portkeys. He looked at Hermione and saw that she was standing, albeit crouched down a bit, her face green. The look on her face clearly indicated that she had the same thought as him.

As he got to his feet he noticed that they had arrived in a stone corridor, lined with obsidian stones. At the end of the corridor was a single door. The two teens and one headmaster made their way towards that door. As he stepped inside the door Harry noticed that they were in a circular room with at least twelve different doors. The doors would open randomly and people who apparently worked here would then cross over to a different door. Several of the people shot curious glances at the three of them but didn't give them a second glance.

They waited there for some time and as Harry noticed that there was no one currently in the room barring themselves, Dumbledore brought out his wand and gave it a flick. Stones rumbled as the floor began descending downwards, and as Harry looked up a seemingly new floor slid into place above their heads.

As the floor stilled to a stop, Harry saw yet another circular room, but with only six doors compared to the previous twelve. One door, directly to the right of Harry snapped open and a fairly young woman walked out. She had blonde hair and oval glasses that looked odd on her young face.

As she walked closer his instincts seemed to detect a threat to their domain. He was surprised as he barely contained the growl that almost left his lips. He decided that she was someone that wasn't to be trifled with. He had felt all thin in a mere span of a single second.

"Wrong yet again Albus." She said, her voice sounding soft yet powerful.

Dumbledore smiled ruefully; it was a bit of a private joke between them. He would face the door that he thought her office to be in. He had yet to guess it correctly.

"Please lower your hoods kids, there's no one besides the four of us over here." She said smiling.

Harry lowered his hood, and looked directly in her ruby red eyes. He saw a brief flicker of surprise before her eyes turned warm again.

"Follow me kids, I believe we have a lot to talk about." She said ushering them with her hands. She followed behind them, and as she saw Dumbledore begin to follow them, added, "Albus I believe you have a school that you need to run, I'll bring them back to your office this afternoon. Good day."

Dumbledore sighed resignedly; he had at least wanted to be present when they talked.

Harry walked into an office that resembled the Headmaster's at Hogwarts, although in a much darker tone. Harry and Hermione sat down opposite the woman.

"Now then, before you ask any questions, let me introduce myself. My name is Perenelle Flamel, and I am the head of the Unspeakables working in the Department of Mysteries. I arrived at the night of the attack, a few moments after Albus did, and recognized the signs of a vampire attack. I expressed my desire to take you kids as my apprentice, although Harry will be learning some things that I will not be teaching you, Hermione. You can however, ask Harry to teach them to you later. Any questions?" Perenelle asked.

Hermione who was oddly silent throughout the morning, was the first one to ask her question.

"Are you the wife of Nicholas Flamel?" Hermione asked.

"Yes."

Harry interrupted here. "But Professor Dumbledore told me that the stone was destroyed, and that you had died."

"The stone had indeed been destroyed Harry." Perenelle replied.

"But . . ." Harry trailed off. Thinking about all the facts, and taking into account what had happened to them recently, he only came to one clear conclusion.

"You're a Vampire." Harry stated.

"Very astute, Harry. I have been a Vampire all my life, and so has Nicholas for three years now." She said.

"So you turned him?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. He decided that he had grown bored with living as an Alchemist and asked me to turn him. It was for this reason that we gave up our stone to Albus." Perenelle replied.

Something about how she had said her last statement caught Harry's attention. "Why can't he be an Alchemist as a Vampire?" Harry asked.

"That is a simple one to answer; he lost his magic when he began his life as a Vampire." She said.

The two teens were startled with this new information. Hermione could use magic perfectly well, and Harry was definitely able to feel his magic, it was only his wand that was giving him problems.

Perenelle laughed softly at the startled looks on the two teen's faces. She had thought long and hard on how much to tell Harry up front, and had decided that she would tell him as soon as he was able to protect his mind adequately.

"Don't worry; you are not going to be losing your magic. It has a very unique set of circumstances that must be met, for the event that Harry has undergone. Simply put, Harry has almost all the benefits of being a Vampire while remaining a Wizard. The one thing that is inexplicable, is, he exact nature of circumstances that allowed him to turn Hermione without her losing her magic." Perenelle said.

"What unique circumstances are you talking about? As far as I remember, it was like any other vampire attack that I have read about." Harry said. He was groaning inwardly, he just couldn't believe that whatever happened to him, it was always due to unique circumstances.

"That is something that you are not ready to learn Harry. But you will definitely be informed of it as soon as you are ready." Perenelle said soothingly.

"What do you mean I'm not ready?" Harry asked, a hint of anger lacing his voice.

Perenelle shot him a strict look, and then asked them a question. "What can you tell me about Ligilimency?"

Seeing the confused looks on the two teens, she told them.

"Ligilimency is the art of invading another's mind, and reading their thoughts. Your mind is not protected and there is a risk of you knowing too much before you can protect yourself from it." Perenelle said.

Sufficiently cowed, Harry looked down.

"Now, I'm sure you are aware that Voldemort is not dead?" Perenelle asked seriously.

That caught both teen's attention. Harry had a long history with fighting Voldemort after all.

"What I'm proposing is that you learn to defend yourself, and grow stronger in magical duelling. It won't be long before he will make his appearance again. And the Wizarding world, especially you Harry; needs to be able to fight him again." Perenelle said softly.

Harry noticed a brief look of loss flicker across her eyes, and thought that she must have lost someone to Voldemort.

"Do we have a choice in our decision?" Hermione asked.

"Of course you do. I won't force you to become my apprentice, but after you accept you have to do everything that I tell you to." Perenelle said, a smile flickering to existence on her face.

Hermione looked at Harry's face, and seeing the determined look on Harry's face, sighed. She knew that look well. She also knew that he would do anything to stop Voldemort, and if she had anything to do about it she would be there with him.

"You can think over it tonight and give me your answer tomorrow. But before you go, I have a tale to tell you . . ."

Perenelle then gave them a basic overview of the last war and told them about The Order. She ended the tale with Harry's parent's murder at the hands of Voldemort. The same day that Harry had been given the moniker as The-Boy-Who-Lived.

It was lunchtime as the tale was finished, and by the end of it Hermione had tears in her eyes, listening about all the death and destruction had hit the both teens hard. It however, only provided more determination for Harry to make sure to be prepared for Voldemort.

"Now do you have any questions about living as Vampires?" Perenelle asked.

Looking at the uncertain faces of the two teens she ploughed forward.

"Have either of you fed?" she asked bluntly.

"Blood?" Hermione squeaked out, blushing as she remembered her actions last night.

"Yes. As vampires, you cannot go without Blood for long, although the duration increases with time, as newly turned Vampires you would need to feed at the very least every other day for at least a week." Perenelle said giving a curious glance at Hermione's flushed face.

The two teens sat there silently, avoiding making eye contact with each other.

"So, have you?" Perenelle asked again.

". . . Yes." Hermione mumbled quietly. "I fed from Harry last night; I couldn't control my hunger any longer."

"What about you Harry?" Perenelle asked, nodding encouragingly at Hermione's admission.

"No I haven't, but I will need to do it today. The hunger is making me restless." Harry replied.

"Make sure that you do so Harry. Vampires that go without blood for long eventually start losing their minds. I'm sure you understand the gravity of the situation." Perenelle said.

Harry nodded mutely. He then asked a question that had been pushed to the back of his mind, owing to the discussion that they had been having.

"I can feel my magic in me, but every time I try to cast a spell, my wand refuses to work." Harry said worriedly.

"Hmm . . . would you please hand me your wand Harry?" Perenelle asked a thoughtful expression on her face.

Harry nodded and taking out his wand from under his robes, handed it to Perenelle.

She flicked his wand and the tip lit up.

Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he saw his wand working properly.

"That's curious. Harry you said that you could feel your magic, but it stopped as you tried pushing your magic through it?" Perenelle got up and came to stand beside Harry, she put her hand on his wrist, and handed him his wand.

"Could you demonstrate?"

Harry nodded and concentrated on his magic, he had a much easier time feeling it than he did yesterday. He concentrated on the Lumos spell and flicking his wand cast the spell. Again, the feeling of magic failed to push through his wand and it returned to his magic pool.

Harry put down his wand and turned expectant eyes towards Perenelle.

Perenelle appeared to think for a moment, and then smiled.

"There's nothing to worry about Harry. You just need to get a new wand, your magic seems to have changed considerably after your turning and this wand is simply unsuited."

Harry nodded in relief. Although he liked his wand, its connection to Voldemort was slightly unsettling.

"Now I think it's time that you returned to Hogwarts. She shuffled about in her drawer and took out a pair of glasses, "this portkey will take you to the Headmaster's office."

Harry paled slightly at the thought of taking another Portkey. Just as he felt the tug on his navel, he cursed the existence of Portkeys and swore that he would find a form of Magical travel that he liked.

(Chapter End)

A/N:- So how was it? Good? Bad? Review your opinions people. And, Thanks for reading.