In this chapter- Hermione has a breakdown, Professor Rain comes, we learn about William the Bloody, Narcissa and Draco Talk, the first of many dies.
~
"Draco, can you please some here?" A soft voice called to Draco, who was home from Hogwarts for a weekend.
"Yes mother?" Draco answered, entering her privet chambers.
"Draco darling, I need to speak with you."
Narcissa Malfoy was lying on a large canopy bed. She was surrounded my dark green and blue silk pillows. Draco often thought his mother looked like a goddess, and privately respected her more than his father. She was dressed in a shimmery silver nightdress, but could easily be mistaken for an evening gown.
She had taken sick two dyas prior, and was ailing a bit everyday. The best doctors from all over the world came in and out continuously, but no one-wizard or muggle, could discover what was poisoning Narcissa Malfoy.
She sat upright in her extravagant bed and immediately a house elf, who looked slightly better dressed and groomed then the rest, rushed to her side and arranged the pillows perfectly, so that she could lay upright on them.
"Draco." She began in a strong, but soft voice. "There's a lot you'll learn in life. Unfortunately, a lot of those things you will learn before you reach your eighteenth birthday. There are many things you need to understand, and I'm going to try to guide you in any way I can."
Draco looked at his once strong mother with a confused look. His clear blue eyes were cold to the common on-looker, but his mother knew there was still something there behind them, she saw something still alive, something worth fighting for, even if she couldn't fight for her own physical being.
"Your life is your own love." She murmured. "And you need to know that. You are set up for a great destiny Draco…but it is a terrible one. It is a destiny that is yours only if you want it. There is so much you do not understand about your own life, and so much I cannot even tell you." Narcissa took in a deep breath. A subtle line formed over Draco's right eyebrow, a line of worry, but only to the aided eye.
"Open that drawer, the one in the wardrobe." She raised a lazy hand to the right of her.
Draco walked over to the huge wardrobe and opened the large oak door. On the left was a collection of some of the most expensive dresses in existence, and on the right was a column of drawers.
"The third from the top, love." His mother instructed.
Draco opened the drawer and looked inside.
"It's only Jewelry." Draco said nonchalantly, when in fact, it was probably worth well over four million galleons, an obscene sum that only the Malfoy family could ever poses.
"Take out the red necklace." Narcissa said. "The smaller one, and put your wand to it."
Draco looked through the bright jewels and found two red rubies. He picked out the smaller, brighter one and replaced the drawer, then turning back to his mother he examined it in the light…and nearly dropped it.
It looked exactly like the one Hermione wore around her own neck. The one she had supposedly received from her muggle parents, the ones posing as her true parents.
"Mother?" Draco questioned.
"Just put your wand to the stone."
Draco pulled out his wand and obediently put the tip to the cool, hard surface of the stone, a lethal glow radiating from it.
He waited a moment, and then the stone began to glow a bright, deep red, as if it were on fire, but in Draco's hand, it turned to ice, Draco nearly dropped it yet again in fear of frostbite.
Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped glowing, and to Draco's amazement, where the stone once sat in his hand, an equally lethal looking red book lied in its place.
"Mother?" Draco asked once again. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It is a diary, Draco." His mother said. "An enchanted diary, and it belonged to my many, many greats- grandmother."
"How old would that be, mother?"
"Look on the first page."
Draco did, slipping his wand back into his cloak, he opened the cover, which felt like the stone, and gazed at the first page.
903 AD-
I am on my way to the new school for wizards today, friend. I will be one of the first to enter this school, which is actually bigger than our family manor! Can you believe it? I will be one of the first to be taught under the four greatest wizards and witches of our time. Can you believe it? A girl like I was asked to come to this school, a school that will even have professors who are women! What an utterly amazing notion. I, Riyonan Areian, am to attend Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry!
Draco closed the book with a sharp snap, and looked up at his mother openmouthed.
"903 AD." He muttered. "I had no idea Hogwarts was that old."
Narcissa smiled. "That, love, is how great my ancestor was."
"She was in the first class to attend Hogwarts." Draco said, slightly shaking with disbelief.
"And she became a renowned sorceress, one of the few in history."
"I had no idea….." Draco said again. "Mother, how is that possible?"
"You knew Hogwarts was over a thousand years old, dear."
"I know mother, but now it is right in front of me, but what does this have to do with anything?"
"That diary has the thoughts, words, and spirits of centuries of my ancestors, all female. Myself including. My thoughts of being pregnant with you, raising you, and what happened during my lifetime."
"Everything?" Draco asked, clearly meaning everything to do with the Dark Lord.
"Everything." Narcissa confirmed. "But darling, I must request, do not, under any circumstances, let your father know, don't ever let your father know you have that."
"But why?" Draco asked. He had a deep respect for his father, and his fathers cause.
"He ordered me to destroy it many years ago, when we were first married."
"Why?" Draco asked again. "It's just a diary."
"It's not the diary." Narcissa said. "That's a fire ruby, merely transfigured into a diary by many, many complicated spells. Do you have any idea, or a fathom of how dangerous, or powerful that object could be? Your father wanted it for himself, or no one was to have it. He wanted to wipe out the entire book, and start afresh with the Malfoy name."
"Well then, why not?" Draco said, opening the book once more.
"Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed, then followed up by a fit of coughing. She put a handkerchief to her mouth….blood stained the starch whiteness of the piece of silk. "Draco, that is my family, my entire being and history….a thousand years worth of lives, how can you even think to simply erase it all? Every single soul that wrote in that book, their all still encased there, every soul that is a part of you, love, and its all there."
Draco nodded as though he understood, but he secretly planned on showing the diary to his father.
"Of course mother." He said, and pecked her on the cheek. "Now get some rest."
"I love you Draco." Narcissa murmured as Draco reached for the door. Draco didn't utter a reply until the door had shut, and no one was around to incriminate him of displaying emotion.
Draco returned to his room and slipped the book, which had begun to transform back into its stone shape, into his school trunk that he would be taking back to Hogwarts the following Monday.
"I'll show father the stone in the morning." He thought, before retiring for a mid-afternoon nap.
That evening, Narcissa Malfoy passed away, a look of blissful release on her cold face. Draco decided then he would always keep the stone, the last thing that truly connected him to the only person who ever loved him.
~
Hermione watched as the sun crept upon her bed, getting closer and closer to her outstretched hand. She could feel the coolness of the morning on the skin that was not covered up by the heavy blankets. She woke up like this every morning, and every morning she awoke from the same exact dream.
Hermione rolled on her side, not wanting to face the day. Oh sure, muggle high school was fine, enjoyable even, but it wasn't Hogwarts, it didn't fill her with blissful enjoyment, it didn't make her want to do better than the rest, because the fact was, she, Harry, and Ron were better. They were wizards and witch, magic in every aspect of their being, and they belonged to another world, another world entirely.
A single tear rolled down Hermione's cheek. That tear held everything. The aguish she felt for being forced to leave Hogwarts, the pain she felt for leaving all her other friends, all the hurt she felt for being pushed out a world that had become to be her home.
A knock came softly at her door.
"Hermione?" A voice asked.
Hermione didn't want to answer, she wanted to disappear and reappear back inside the halls of the school she loved. She wanted the world to go away and leave her alone, but most of all, she wanted to go back to being Hermione Granger, muggleborn bookworm, at least then, and she knew who she was, who she wanted to be, and her place in life in the magical world.
The door opened, and Harry poked his head in unsurely, but upon seeing Hermione's tears, he rushed in.
"Hermione! What's wrong?" He asked, his face etched with worry. "Why are you crying?" He sat down on the bed beside her.
"I don't know." Hermione confessed, sitting up in her bed. "I really don't know Harry. Here I am, sitting here in a muggle house, in a muggle nationhood, going to a muggle school, completely surrounded by muggles, and this is were I came from, but I feel so alienated, I'm not a muggle anymore Harry, I'm a witch, and I'm not a muggle born witch either, I'm a full blooded witch, and it scares me. Because I don't know how to act like a full blooded witch, I wasn't raised to be one. I wasn't raised as a Malfoy, and the Patils! And Pansy, I'm not any of them. I can't relate to Ron, even though that's what I am now, and…I'm just so confused. I have a madman after me, and I never did anything to him. Harry, how can you stand it?"
Harry pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back, and she laid her head on his shoulder.
"I stand it, Hermione, because it's who I am. I'm the boy who lived, the boy who, at barely a year old, took down the darkest wizard in years, I lived through it for a reason Hermione, and I'm still waiting for that reason. You're like the girl who lived. Something drove your parents to get you to safety that night, some force that none of us can see, but at one point or another, we can all feel. Now you have to decide weather you want to feel or not, Hermione, you have you have to figure out if there is something out there worth fighting for, and living for. Life is a gift, and you were given another chance, just like me."
Hermione kept her head on his shoulder. "It's nice to know someone understands."
"You're not alone when someone cares, Hermione." Harry said. "And you have two people here all the time that care very much, more than anyone could understand."
Hermione sat up and smiled at him. "Thanks Harry." She said. "I don't know what I would do without you."
"You'd be dead." Harry said with a grin, "Remember the mountain-"
"Argh!" Hermione threw one of her pillows at him. "Wont you and Ron leave it rest?"
She got out of bed and grinned back at him, before disappearing into the bathroom. Harry heard the bathroom door click closed with a very confused look on his face.
~
"Ah." Hermione said, walking towards the school library. "Study hall, God's gift to students."
She was walking quickly around a bookcase when- SLAM
"Ouch! What the?"
"Oww, my head."
"Watch were you're-Ryan!?" Hermione said in surprise. "Ryan Bender, is that you?"
They guy she had just run into backed up and looked down at her.
"Hey, and who are you?" He asked, in a friendly, yet slightly confused tone.
Hermione thought for a moment, then it dawned on her how different she must look.
"Guess." She said, putting her hands on her hips.
He looked at her for a long moment, up, down, then back up, and then his eyes widened in recognition.
"Hermione Granger!" He said. "My God! I can't believe it!"
Hermione smiled, showing off her straightened teeth she obtained just two years before.
"That's me." She said slyly.
"Wow." Ryan said. "You….well….you've changed! What happened to all that bushy hair and those beaver teeth?"
Hermione blushed at the mention of her old nickname. She grinned up at the guy in front of her. She had known him five years ago, but not well. Hermione just now noticed how, well, hot he had become.
He wasn't very tall, only maybe an inch or so over herself. He was well built and lean, and you could tell he dedicated a lot of his time to working out. He had an outstanding tan that just came to him naturally and very dark, curly hair that was cut short and gelled. His eyes were like a liquid brown sugar framed in long, dark, innocent eyelashes, giving him a sorrowful, puppy expression. He was dressed well too, showing off a tight black tee shirt and dark baggy blue jeans.
Hermione stood almost eye level with him and smiled.
"You look good too." She said weakly.
He smiled and took her hand. "It's been a long time, Hermione, and you've really changed a lot. I can't believe how good you look!"
Hermione blushed and thanked him.
"So what have you been up to?" He asked. "You just kind of left, no one knew what happened to you, except for Jared and that Jessica chick."
Hermione wasn't sure she liked his tone of voice when he talked about Jessica, but she let it slide.
"I was sent to boarding school for the gifted." She said. It wasn't a downright lie after all.
"Boarding school." He repeated. "How was that?"
"At first it was horrible." She answered, her eyes clouding over. "I didn't fit in very well at all." She laughed nervously. "But then I met Harry and Ron, and they have been there for me ever since."
Ryan looked at her curiously. "Boyfriends?" He asked.
Hermione laughed. "Oh no." She said. "Their my best friends in the world, and just like my brothers. Dating them would just be gross, but I couldn't imagine my life without them, not at all. They transferred here with me."
Ryan looked relieved, and smiled a curious smile. "All three of you transferred here? Any special reason? Did something happen to your school?"
Hermione faltered for a second, she hadn't been expecting that question, which was very unlike her usually very prepared self.
"Our school is very old." She said slowly, carefully. "It needed some renovations halfway through the school year, so the headmaster sent the students all over the county at various schools. He said it would be a good experience for us. I suppose he's right, but coming back to public school has been very, very weird."
"Oh." Ryan said in a disappointed voice. "So you probably wont be staying long the, huh?"
"I'm not quite sure yet." Hermione answered. "The renovations could take a week, or many months. It's very uncertain."
Ryan smiled. "Well, then in that case, what are you doing Saturday? There is a dance at the old warehouse at ten, you know, the one at the end of town?"
"The one you and Alex Bell scared me and Jessica out of our wits at?" Hermione said, pretending to be angry, putting her hand on her hip. "I know which one you're talking about, I still can't go into dark places alone!"
Ryan laughed a good hearted laugh. "Surely you aren't still angry with me, Hermione?" He asked. "We were ten, its what boys did."
Hermione smiled. "Yes, I know, boys still do it." She answered. "So who's throwing the party?"
"A bunch of seniors." He answered. "My brother Bobby and a couple buddies, but it's an open party, anyone can come. They throw one every other week or so, whenever they get the money, their lots of fun, and you get to meet new people all the time."
Hermione smiled unsurely. "Well, I think I can, but would it be alright if Ron and Harry came too? Their not from around here like I am, and it would be cool for them to meet some new people too."
"Sure." Ryan said grinning. "Do they play any sports? Baseball tryouts are coming up soon."
"Harry might." Hermione said "But I don't know about Ron. We didn't have those kinds of sports at out school."
"I see." Ryan said. "Well, I'll ask them about trying out, and be sure to run it by them. Tell me tomorrow if you want to come or not."
"I can do that." Hermione said with a smile. "I'll talk to you tomorrow then."
"Alright, see you then."
Ryan turned and walked away, and Hermione stood there smiling to herself.
"Wow." She said. "I really must have changed." But as soon as that thought entered her mind, another one did too.
"Why?" She thought. "Why am I suddenly getting all this attention from boys?" She wondered. "First Fred, George, that one Hufflepuff that kept following me around, and…come to think of it, a couple others too! A few Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs, and Draco Malfoy…but Draco had ulterior motives. And now Ryan Bender, possible one of the cutest guys in school….I don't get it, I really don't."
~
"Harry, Ron?" Hermione asked, stepping into the living room.
Harry was lying on the floor on his stomach, math book open in front of him, and Ron was lounging on one of the sofas, room propped up on the coffee table.
Ron looked up. "Hey Mione, what's up?"
Harry propped himself up on his elbows and looked up a her.
"Well." Hermione said, "Were you guys planning on doing anything this Saturday?"
Harry looked at her strangely.
"No, why?" He asked.
Hermione teetered on her feet for a moment, then said. "Someone asked me out for Saturday, to one of the dances at the warehouse, and I wanted you two to come too."
Harry and Ron where up in a flash.
"What's his name?"
"How old is he?"
"Do you know him well?"
"Does he smoke?"
"Does he do drugs?"
"What are his grades like?"
"Does he have a car?"
"Can he drive?"
"Bench seats or bucket seats?"
"What?" Hermione asked, holding up a hand." "Hang on guys, calm down and get yourselves under control."
But Ron and Harry looked anything but in control. They were both looking red faced and Ron was breathing someone raggedly.
"Bucket or bench seats Harry?" Hermione asked, a smile twitching on her mouth. "Honestly, are you my new father?"
Harry blushed but didn't back down. "We aren't taking any chases, you never know." He said, folding his arms over his chest.
"I think you two are just using this as an excuse to play protective brothers." Hermione said, fully smirking. "And rest assured, I knew him when we little."
That definably didn't reassure the boys, but at least they knew he wasn't some twenty three year old pedophile looking to hook up with a sixteen year old girl.
"So are you two interested?" Hermione asked with a slight earnest edge. "Please?"
Harry and Ron exchanged a look, and in a moment, Harry said. "Alright. Ron can take the opportunity to hang out with Jessica."
Ron took the opportunity to elbow his friend. "Yea," He said. "And Harry can scope out that Amanda chick"
Hermione smacked Ron over the head, but she was grinning too. "Boys!" She said. "You're all the same."
Harry and Ron faked wounded expressions. "You mean you love Crabbe and Goyle the same you love us?" Harry asked, pretending to start crying.
"Oiy." Hermione said. "Of course not." She sat on the couch beside Ron. "You two are my first loves, and don't you forget that."
"Even more than books?" Ron said with a sly smile.
"Better not press your luck, mate." Harry said in an audible whisper. Hermione replied by throwing a pillow at his head.
Suddenly a booming sound rang through the house, like a gigantic doorbell in a huge castle.
All three must have jumped ten feet in the air and Hermione rushed to get the door.
"How about that." Harry said. "Looks like we have a doorbell."
Hermione ran through the room and approached the door. She opened it, and, as expected, there stood the young looking Professor Rain, looking as cool and confident as she remembered.
"Professor." Hermione said. "Please come in."
Rain smiled. "Hermione, it's good to see you, how are things? Harry and Ron?"
"Things are going well." Hermione said, leading him to the living room. "We're settling nicely."
"Fantastic." Rain said. "Then I see no need to further delay your makeup work. Hello boys, lets get started."
~
Three hours later, the four people were wrapping up.
"And that," Professor Rain said. "Is how you can immediately identify a vampire."
His eyes glittered mischievously, and he sat back in his chair. Hermione was still at the edge of her seat, taking rapid notes.
She finally looked up and smiled. "This is so different." She said. "But I like it."
"I'm glad your adapting, Hermione. I can tell you, adaptation is one of the most important skills you can ever learn. Some vampires simply cannot live very long, because it is very hard to learn to live in another time. When I was mortal, things were very, very different than what it is today."
"I can imagine." Hermione said, then she remembered something.
"Professor? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Rain said. "School related or not?"
"Muggle school assignment." Hermione said with a grin.
"Ok, go ahead."
"Well," Hermione began. "In history we learned about a man, and I could swear I heard him mentioned in Hogwarts as well."
"That's likely enough." Rain said. "Our history and muggle history often collide. Continue."
"Have you ever heard of a man they called William the Bloody?" Hermione asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
Then there was silence. The three students fixed their eyes on their young looking professor, who suddenly became very quiet.
"Spike." He finally said. "Yes. There is such a man in our history, he is a vampire."
"Is he as bad as they say?" Hermione asked.
"No." Rain said. "He is much, much worse."
You could hear Ron give a small gulp from the couch. "Is?" He asked.
Rain nodded. "Yes." He said. "Spike was never killed."
"How do you know so much about him?" Harry asked, figuring it was a vampire thing.
"Because he is me." Rain said. "I owe him this cursed existence."
Hermione gasped. "He sired you?" She asked, in a barely audible whisper.
Rain nodded. "Yes, many, many years ago, before he became the brutal being his is now. He was a poet, actually, before he changed. He changed for his lover, a woman named Drusilla. She was insane. Literally insane."
"Vampires can be insane?" Hermione asked.
"Of course." Rain said. "They are exactly the same as their living counterparts, except that they have no soul, and their hearts don't beat. We reflect everything that happened in our lives, only with a more evil look. Your soul is the thing that keeps you from killing. Vampires have an instinct to eat, and we eat blood. It doesn't matter from where, or how we obtain it, without a soul you do not have a conscious, and therefore really don't know or understand what you are doing. Drusilla became insane due to another man, a vampire actually, by the name of Angelus. Angelus is much older than myself and Spike. He was the most infamous vampire in history, he was the one other vampires were scared of."
"Was?" Harry asked.
"Angelus has a soul now, and goes by the name Angel. He now lives in the states somewhere."
"This is all so confusing." Ron said.
Rain smiled. "I know, but it is a life I have to live. I have a soul, so there isn't much else I need. Well, I do need to get going, and you three need sleep."
He stood up and he three friends followed suite.
"I'll be back in a couple days." Professor Rain said. "Keep out of trouble."
Harry laughed. "Tell trouble to keep out of us!"
And with that, Rain was gone, like a black cat on a moonless night.
~
As the week wore on, more and more people wanted to know about the three transfer students that came to their school. True, Hermione Granger had been there before, everyone knew that, but she wasn't the Hermione Granger everyone had known. A certain magic followed her, and no one could pick out what it was. It seemed as though she had all the male population looking at her, even though she remained oblivious to it. What was it about those three? That Harry kid was great looking, but modest, and there was always something in his eyes, it was like there was a place inside those emeralds that no one could ever hope to touch, even Amanda Decon couldn't get him to fall for her, a first in history. The tall Ron was liked by everybody. He was good natured and easy going, although you could catch a glimpse of a fiery temper to match his hair every once in awhile. All in all these three were the most sought after people in school, there was just something so magical about them, it was hard to resist.
"Hey Harry!" Harry turned around quickly, his reflexes ready to go for his wand. He relaxed when he saw who it was.
"Oh, hello Amanda." He said.
Amanda had taken it upon herself to pop up on him every once in awhile, at least a dozen times a day. Harry was getting sick of her throwing herself at him.
"Don't sound so happy to see me." Amanda pouted a little, sticking her lip out just slightly.
"It's been a long day." Harry answered with a shrug. "I'm glad it's Friday."
"Speaking of which!" Amanda grabbed him by the shoulders and looked up at him. "You're going to the dance at the warehouse tomorrow right?"
"Yea." Harry answered. "Hermione talked us into going."
"Us?" Amanda asked.
"Ron and me."
"Oh!" Amanda grinned. "Yea, I heard she was going with Ryan Bender, that's fantastic."
"Yea…fantastic."
"What's wrong Harry?" Amanda asked. "You're hardly talking to me." Again with the pouting face.
"I'm just tired I guess." Harry said. "I need to get some sleep."
"You do that then" Amanda said. "I want you to have your wits about you at the party tomorrow." And she was gone before Harry knew what to make of that statement.
Harry walked around in a sort of daze the rest of the day. How the hell was he supposed to keep Amanda from hitting on him like that? He really, really liked Lauren, and every time Amanda came around, Harry actually felt dirty….Harry hated people like Amanda, reminded him way too much of Pansy Parkinson.
Ron, on the other hand, was having a great time with Jessica. And Jessica was playing the part of the patient teacher, trying to teach Ron everything she could about her own world, and of course, Ron returned the favor.
Hermione was coping, as well as expected. She was still confused, and still sad. She missed her home, the place she had grown up so much in, and felt the loneliness inside her growing, but damned if she was going to let anyone know
Oh why is everything
so confusing
maybe I'm just out of my mind
It's a damn cold night
trying to figure out this life
"Hey!" Hermione said, opening their front door. As promised, She, Harry, and Ron were having a good old fashioned muggle movie night, and they invited Jessica and Jared to join them.
And there they were, Jessica and Jared on the doorstep, dripping wet from the rain and each holding a bag.
"We brought a ton of movies." Jared said proudly, holding up his bag.
"And junk food!" Jessica said, grinning.
"Alright!!!" Ron's voice carried into the corridor, and they all laughed.
"Well, lets get this started." Hermione said, still laughing a bit. "What did you bring?"
Jared grinned and reached into his bag. "I have something for everyone." He said. "I've got American Pie one and two, Brave heart ("Harry, you'll like that one." Hermione said.") I've got Ghost ship, House on Haunted Hill, West Side Story, Ever After…"
"Wow." Ron said. "I think that will be all we can get through today."
Jessica laughed. "Come on, let's put in American Pie, I can't wait to see Ron's face when the pie scene comes on!"
Jared and Jessica laughed, them being the only once who saw it. An hour later, three more people were laughing with them.
