AN:
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Italics may be because it is something that Draco is listening or because at the time, they are speaking in another language.
Two weeks. During two weeks I have been the perfect boyfriend for Hermione. I am going with her to all her classes, we study together, we walk through the grounds surrounding the castle and every night I make love to her as if it is the last time we'll be together. Now I hardly drink her blood, not because she doesn't offer it to me, but because I don't want it to become a habit.
Every time I do drink her blood, I insist all the next day that she eats enough to recover from the loss of blood. I know that her friends don't understand me being so obsessed with her health and they joke about it, but they think it's mainly because I force her to do a lot of exercise.
I'm affectionate with her and many nights we stay up late talking in front of the fireplace in the common room with her usually lying over me. Her housemates have become accustomed to having me around and no longer look at me constantly, and they are no longer scared every time I laugh at Ginerva's jokes about Hermione and I.
That girl is pure dynamite and she reminds me of her brothers; they were always the life of the parties. Even McGonagall doesn't say anything about my new habit of spending the night with her students. I guess she thinks like Dumbledore, although something tells me that the old director has a lot to do with her tranquility.
"Draco..." Hermione whispered in a tone that was impossible to be heard by anyone but me. "I think I feel confident enough to ask you a few questions..."
"For example...?" I whispered in her ear, smiling as I watched the glow of the flames against her hair.
"Was it hard for you when...?" she looked up to meet my eyes.
"No." I watched the room. No one was paying attention to us and we were speaking so low they would have to get very close to hear us. "The worst part was to die the way I did. When I realized that the cave was occupied by no less than a dragon, it took me less than two seconds to realize that I was going to die... The dragon's fire burned everything near me. All I remember was seeing his eyes, his mouth and the flare against my face… The pain spread through my body so fast that at one point I was aware of when some of my bones had started to stick out through my skin.
Vince and Greg were very brave when they get me out of there... That cave could have been the grave of all three of us. Next thing I remember is the sound of beating hearts around me, and the smell of blood... Everything was new and wonderful to me, I saw everything with a clarity and definition beyond what I could have ever possibly imagined. I think I spent hours staring at the ceiling because I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen," I smiled at the memory, "and then Lucian appeared and I realized I was wrong. He was the most beautiful being that had ever walked the earth. His voice, the way he walked, his smell..." I closed my eyes to concentrate on the memory of my sire when he appeared in my bedroom for the first time, "... He looked like an angel."
"You liked him, appreciated him even?" She looked at me doubtfully, "Don't you blame him?"
"Never. He did not save my life, he gave a completely new one. Now, thanks to him and his teachings, I can see things in a different way. For me, he is much more important than a father... No sire works so hard with his boys as he did with me. He not only educated me to become worthy of his esteem but he also got many powerful vampires to teach me what I needed to know in order to become what I am now. He has lived over a thousand years and throughout that time he has built friendships based on favors. He claimed a few of these favors for me to receive a good education. I can't blame anything on someone who has given away so much for me, so of course I appreciate him."
"How did your parents take it? They must have been desperate to ask him to do something like that," she said, looking at me with genuine concern.
"They actually thought I was going to die. In that moment they thought that maybe he could give me a few more days of life or even a week. When they first saw me being... what I am…" I wrinkled my brow slightly, "I felt their rejection and I smelled their fear. Only my mother approached me to caress my cheek... it was very hard to feel her hand shaking like a leaf against my skin and to see her eyes filled with tears.
Think of it this way, I could see every tear born in her eyes and slip down her skin. It was so beautiful and yet so full of sadness. There I was, in my house next to my father and in front of the woman that had given birth to me. My mother looked so weak and fragile... She could not take it anymore and she left me there, wanting to tell her so many things...
Lucius stepped forward and started talking to me as if nothing had happened, he asked me how I felt, but he did it in the same way he would ask for the movements of the stock market. I guess that he preferred to keep thinking that I was still the same."
"But you're not..."
"No, I'm not."
"What do you feel when you are surrounded by humans?"
"Thousands of things," I sighed, smiling. "I hear every conversation that takes place hundreds of meters around, I perceive the aroma of the wood, the stone, of your skin and especially the aroma of the blood. I see each of the capillaries in your skin the same way I can distinguish every pore of the stone... I feel perfectly every part of your body that is against mine, I hear your heart beating and I smell your excitement and your fear, I guess your thoughts thanks to the tiny movements of your face. While these movements are absolutely imperceptible for the rest, I see them clearly.
I feel everything, but it's easier when I am still as I am now. When I move it is a torture because you humans are slow, fragile, and some true fools."
She looked at me curiously.
"I'm like a lion in the middle of a pack of gazelles and none of them have realized what I am..."
"Except me."
"Except you." I smiled warmly as I sweetly caressed her lips. "You need to sleep. Within two days you will need all your energy."
I took her in my arms and I went with her to her bedroom. In two days I would go hunting again and I would take her with me so that she could see that she had nothing to fear. I knew that she was afraid. I guess she expected some sort of massacre... I think I'll disappoint her in that regard.
I laid her on the bed while I undressed myself. Now it is a habit for me to walk naked in her bedroom and now nobody dares to enter in the bedroom. That's mainly because they are unable to break down the door, not even with the efforts of all the students together.
"Do you really like this?" she asked me when I approached the bed.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"Being a vampire that pretends to be human? Being surrounded by us and having to limit yourself so much? You can't freely use your powers, you can't drink all the blood you want... I don't know." She shrugged, "Sometimes I have the impression that you're not really happy."
"Hermione, I'm happier than what you think..." I laughed. "Don't you realize that I have the best of my mortal life with the best of my vampire existence?"
"Yes, of course... The dream of your life is to spend time studying and enjoying with a simple human..." She sighed, turning her back to me. "A human who has to waste time every night sleeping.
"Excuse me, miss Granger..." I pulled her toward me so that I could hug her, "you are talking about the most intelligent, beautiful and sexy human I know." I caressed her arms. "I assure you that watching you sleep is not a waste of time for me," I gently kissed her neck, "it's actually very interesting to see how you are able to sleep peacefully beside me, totally relaxed... It is very entertaining. Sometimes it hurts me to have to wake you up."
"Is that why we're almost late this morning?" she asked with a smile.
"Guilty. Now, be a good human and sleep."
She hugged me.
Another class of potions in which my cauldron and Hermione's were the only ones with the appropriate color, aroma and texture, but Severus decided to ignore our efforts, I am thankful that he is not who will judge my N.E.W.T, not that I need to work very hard to get the precision that is required with these potions, but I know that it was a blow to her whenever he rejected her potions. When leaving I made a mental note to tell Severus something, although I knew that discussion would not take me anywhere.
Outside I could still see the last few rays of the dim autumn sun as it set. I take Hermione's waist and I invite her to go outside to enjoy the brightness. She hugs herself as the cold of the night hits her and I wrap my arms around her, but I know that I can't give her any heat; my body just steals the heat of my victims. But she smiles and agrees anyway to take a walk.
It is when we are about to reach the lake when I realize that she is actually trying to pretend that she isn't cold just to please me. I look at her reproachfully for a few seconds; she's not even wearing appropriate clothing to be outside, and I curse myself for not realizing these details. When I put my coat over her shoulders I remember the moment when I did that same thing with my jacket after saving her life after from the werewolf.
Now she looks at me in a completely different way. Instead of curiosity mixed with a good dose of uncertainty, now she has a twinkle in her eyes that oozed love and total commitment.
I leaned down to caress her lips with my own in a soft kiss, and then I noticed the sound of someone approaching us. It was barely noticeable but it was there. I didn't interrupt our kiss but I strayed part of my attention to this particular point. A part of me struggled to get out and look for the intruder even though I knew it was a futile effort. My mind was trying to plan the timing of the attack to see how I could protect Hermione, but the silence was diverted to the castle... That could only mean that she wanted me to confide or that she had understood that it was better to surprise us on our way to the castle.
I did not let my face or my gestures reflect that I was ready to attack and protect ourselves. I took Hermione's waist again to return to the castle. Our walk was short, but the rising cold was a very good excuse to try to return her to the safety of the walls of the castle. Her wand was kept in her backpack so she could not get to it easily; I have to teach her to carry it with her all the time.
The stairs were a few meters away and at the top was a figure. My arm immediately freed Hermione since I wanted her to be able to run. A thin woman with olive skin and long black hair curled her lips as soon as she saw that gesture, and she knew that I had noticed her presence. Hermione was surprised, so I guess that the sudden stiffness of my body was not lost to her. She looked at the stairs, trying to see what had caused my reaction.
"Calm down, English (A/N: She calls him like this)," she said with a sweet voice as soon as the silence that was surrounding us stopped. "When did you realize?"
"At the lake. You passed too close," I answered, still tense.
"I was more than a mile away," she said, annoyed.
"I guess that the age has started to affect you." I smiled, already relaxed since I knew she was not going to attack us. "What are you doing here, Isabel?"
"Lucian hired me," she answered vaguely as she slowly descended the stairs.
"To protect me?"
Her gaze drifted over to Hermione for milliseconds.
"I think I'm more than able to handle that, Isabel," I answered, annoyed.
"Have you forgotten your manners?" she reprimanded me, ignoring what I had just said.
"I'm sorry, Isabel... Hermione, this is Isabel Al Baast, one of my instructors during the summer. Isabel, this is Hermione Granger... my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you, miss Granger," she greeted her politely, offering her hand.
"Nice to meet you, miss Al Baast." Hermione looked surprised when she touched Isabel; I guess she expected her touch to be as cold as mine, but she is different from me in many ways.
"Let's go inside..." I said, trying to hide the smile. "Hermione has to go to dinner and I think you and I have to go to talk to the headmaster."
"It is not necessary. Lucian has already arranged everything. There will be no objection from now on if I accompany you," she informed me while she placed herself behind us.
"Isa, you can't accompany us everywhere..." I sighed in exasperation. "And if you are going to do it, I'd appreciate if you are a little more discreet," I said, looking at her.
"All right... but I am not going to be shaking a stick to pretend that I am a magician."
"Witch," Hermione corrected her, although she had to quickly add more explanation upon realizing the look Isabel gave her. "The correct term to refer to a woman of the magical world is witch." Hermione smiled, "Sorry, I guess that it sounded bad in the way I said it." She flushed.
Isa's reaction was immediate. She looked at me with a very slight smile on her face; she already knew why I was so attracted to Hermione.
"Anyway, let the child squeeze his brain in search of an excuse to explain my presence." She shrugged, "At least, in this way, he does something."
"Here we go."
I affectionately embraced Hermione's waist again and we went up the stairs to enter into the castle. Isabel walked at our side when we were inside the castle.
I suppose that even she was aware that this was a safe place for us. Besides being a completely unexplored and quite uncomfortable terrain for her, she had never liked me to do magic around her and she was always scolding me for relying too much on it and forgetting about using something as simple as my feet, hands or fingers. She had taught me many ways to use every part of my body for different purposes, and surely she was studying every move I made to reproach each of my mistakes later-that was her favorite pastime.
When we entered the dining room many eyes were on us while I accompanied Hermione to her place at the Gryffindor table as always, but this time some eyes stayed stuck to Isabel, who was still in the hallway.
I left Hermione with her friends and I avoided all the questions Ginerva wanted to ask me. I also avoided Lavender's. Just because I'm the boyfriend of a Gryffindor does not mean I have to automatically endure the whole house. I tried to get out of the dining room to talk privately with Isabel, but she stood still where she was-she would never leave Hermione alone.
I sighed and told her to accompany me to the Slytherin table. That livened up the entire male staff, especially Blaise, who saw how we sat between Crabbe and Goyle and got back to his meal. It was as close to a quiet place as it could be. They did not bother us. They were too focused on their food.
"Your girlfriend?" she said in Spanish, the language she had taught me.
"Yes, I know," I snorted. "Don't think much about it and tell me one thing... Is it not a little extreme of Lucian to send you to protect her?"
"No. He's worried about you. You will soon have unwelcome visits and he does not want you to have your mind occupied thinking about her," she informed me.
"I guess he knows I don't trust anyone else to protect her." I smiled. "When?"
"We're not sure, but there is movement on both sides." She ate some food so at least I would not have to explain why she does not eat; I appreciate that detail. "Maybe he can give you more information tomorrow during the hunt."
"He is coming with us?" I said, looking at Hermione. "I promised her that she could come with me."
"That's not true. You probably only mentioned it... I know your kind. It is practically impossible to get you to make a promise." She looked at me, "I don't think there is any problem if she comes with us while you hunt. He and I will take care of her."
"She is going to ask you thousands of question-she is very curious." I smiled, amused when I pictured Hermione harassing Isabel with questions.
"She knows what you are and she is intrigued by what I am." She watched her while she continued eating light snacks.
"That is logical. We don't look alike and that disconcerts her," I explained "Have you thought about where will you rest or do I have to think about that as well?" I asked to annoy her.
"No, English, I know how to take care of myself without help. I don't need you to find me a refuge," she snorted. "Anyway, I don't think you will let me rest a lot, right?"
"During the day you don't need to be on guard. Nobody would be crazy enough to attack the castle and I still believe that I can take care of her during the evenings."
"I don't care what you think. You are not who will pay my bill." She smiled a little wider.
"Draco, are you not going to introduce us to your friend?" Blaise asked behind us, patting my shoulder friendly.
"Isabel, Blaise. Blaise, Isabel," I introduced quickly. "Now go away."
"Come on, Draco!" he protested in an exaggerated way, "you're not still pissed because I wanted to play a joke on your girlfriend, right? That's old news..." He turned to Isabel with a smile, which I assume he thought was fascinating. "He's a little possessive, you know? Are you going to study here?" he asked as he bent down so that his face was the same level as hers. Blaise definitely wants to die young.
"No," Isa replied.
"She just came for a few days. She was in the hospital with me this summer," I explained quickly.
"You're too young to be a healer..." Blaise said, trying to win her over with compliments, "and you look very healthy."
"I guess the doctors did a great job with me." She addressed me in Spanish to ask, "Do you appreciate him a lot?"
"Not exactly. Do I need to remind you of the rules we have to comply?"
"Not exactly. Nothing prevents me from having fun while doing my mission."
I stopped paying attention to Isabel and to whatever she had planned for Blaise. I guess she will only have fun with him since she knows perfectly well that, in the case of my roommate, his attraction is only because of his hormones and the big effect that our presence has on them. I chose to concentrate again on the conversations of the Gryffindors, knowing that she would be watching Hermione no matter how relaxed the atmosphere was.
As always Ronald was dedicated to avoiding Hermione, but today it was costing him a lot more effort because he wanted to ask her hundreds of questions about the beautiful woman who accompanied me. She tried not to stare more than usual at the Slytherin table. I guess she did not want to draw too much attention to Isa. She does not understand that Isabel is perfectly capable of passing unnoticed if she wants, but right now she is enjoying all the attention.
Ginerva has already started her attack-I knew she would not disappoint me.
"Who the hell is that chick?" she asked curiously. "Doesn't it bother you that she is sitting with him?"
"They are friends, Ginny. It is normal for her to sit with him at his table," she said wearily.
"What's she doing here anyway? Is it not unusual for the director to allow such visits? Where will she sleep?"
"I don't know, maybe she'll come to sleep with us. Draco said something about a threesome the other day..." Hermione replied in a calm voice, Ginerva looking at her with mixture of horror, surprise, and amazement. "I really have no idea, Ginny!"
"Thank goodness! If you were thinking of a trio I want to be the first person you think of bringing in."
"Ginny!" Harry shouted immediately.
Ronald continued eating as if his sister had not said anything.
"Relax, Harry, she's just trying to entertain me so that I don't think about Draco sitting with a completely unknown girl. She doesn't know that it's something that I don't care about. Draco is not going to seduce another girl in front of me, Ginny..."
The redhead gave her a meaningful look.
"Please, you just have to see how she pays more attention to Zabini than to Draco! You definitely have to start learning how to think better of people."
"Never. My motto is, "think wrong and you will be right""
Hermione shook her head.
"I don't like how they behaved when they were talking-they have too much trust each other..."
"Leave it, Ginny... Please, they are just friends!"
I smiled to myself. I could tell by the speed at which her heart was beating that she was actually tormented by something. Was she worried about my familiarity with Isa? Probably.
When Hermione got up, both Isa and I got up as well. Nothing, not even Blaise would get Isa distracted. The three of us went to the door and I was amused by the look that Ginerva gave me from her table. I winked at her and I could not resist torturing her mind, giving her something to think about so I hugged the waists of both girls... It was superficial, but fun.
I led them to a nearby room where we could talk freely of everything that Hermione was struggling to ask us. My girlfriend looked askance at my teacher. I guess it will be quite a surprise when she finds out that she is here just for her.
"We can talk here without being disturbed." As we entered I made the same enchantments that I made every night in Hermione's bedroom.
"Can you explain something to me?" Hermione asked immediately.
"It is possible that some members of our society will soon want to ask me to join them and Lucian thought that he should take care of what is supposed to be my biggest weakness..."
"Your weakness?" She did not understand.
"You," Isabel said quietly.
"Me?" she asked, astonished.
"Isabel is here to be your bodyguard."
"Bodyguard?" She was stunned. "I don't need any bodyguard."
"I agree, darling... but I recognize that I'd feel better if Isabel stays with you when I have to go meet those pains in the neck." I sighed and leaned against the wall. "She is one of the best in her field and I know that no one would be able to hurt you if you are with her."
"What do your meetings have to do with me? Why I am your weakness?" she asked, looking for an answer to many more things that she was unable to ask.
"You are my weak point because if one of them does not accept my absolute refusal to join them, they may decide to force my decision by threatening you. They may even dare to enter the castle while I'm speaking with them to kidnap you," I explained to her calmly. "Isabel is the best to protect you; I would not trust your safety to anyone else. I told you that she is the best in her field and in the same instant she agreed to protect you, you have become her top priority. No one is going to be able to bypass her."
"You know that any of my clanmates would have shown the same dedication and care to protect her. I guess that the fact that I have been your teacher makes you think I'm better than them," Isabel said with a smile.
"Not only that, Isa. I know that Lucian would not have chosen you if he did not know that you are the most suitable for the job," I said again.
"What is your specialty? If I can ask..." Hermione said, curious as always.
"I leave it to you, English," Isa excused herself smiling.
"She's a killer." I decided to be direct since it is not worth lying to someone as perceptive as Hermione. "Her clan has been specializing with the passing of time in the art of assassination..."
I saw her frightened expression.
"And I assure you that for them it is an art, so that's why I know that you are safe with her if her mission is to save your life. She is the best in her field because she is the most dedicated, so putting your life in her hands is the same as if I were to leave you in a sealed vault..." I smiled. "At this point there is nothing more precious to me than you, and I would not want to lose you because of the machinations of my race."
"I'm an adult witch. No offense, Isabel, but I don't need babysitters," she protested. "Has it occurred to Lucian that her presence here can be an inconvenience for you to continue your human facade?"
"As you could see, she can pretend to be human much better than me. Her touch is not as cold as mine and she does not mind eating food, which I still consider a horror..." I grimaced to prove it. "Anyway, she's not going to compromise anything. She will be limited to being near us and probably in a few days you will not be aware that she is here."
"I came tonight because I needed him to do the introductions. It is safer for you to know that I'm around. You'll be safe..."
Coming from her it was as if Voldemort were telling someone not be afraid of him.
"I will not be inside the castle most of the time, I will just watch you from a distance and I will calculate all the possible paths of those that will try to kidnap you. I can't believe that there are people stupid enough to try it. I guess I don't have to tell you that I will follow the same rules as Draco; I will not drink the blood of any student, and trust me when I say you that my word is stronger that his..." She gave me a reproachful look.
"I could not help it... and you know it."
"I love how you've mastered Lucian's gift... You two are able to find a breach in every promise..." she recognized with narrowed eyes.
"I guess that is because we don't follow a code as strict as yours," I said smiling.
"I asked him... I guess that also counts..."
Hermione sighed. She had too much information in her head and I know she wanted to ask more questions but she was holding back because she did not know Isabel.
"We'd better go to sleep," I suggested, walking towards her to encircle her waist once again.
"Wait a minute... Where are you going to sleep?" she addressed Isa, who looked suspiciously at her. "You're supposed to be Draco's friend who came to see him. You have to pretend that you sleep somewhere..." She looked at me curiously. "She can't sleep with us and she is not going to sleep with you. Tomorrow morning we can say that she is sleeping because she is tired from the trip or whatever..."
"I can move around during the day without any kind of problem and it would be perfectly logical for me to go to sleep with him since it is supposed that we know each other from the hospital's burn unit." Isabel shrugged, "I can pretend that I slept in his room tonight and then he'll think of something else..."
"No. Sorry, but if you two sleep in the same bedroom, people will think that he is no longer with me and I don't want to endure gossip tomorrow... I'll have enough with your presence as to have to be thinking of excuses..." Hermione protested, trying to find a solution to the problem. Isa looked at her in disbelief with a raised eyebrow because of the silly excuses of my girlfriend.
"Isabel, I remind you that this is a school full of young gossipers that turn the lives of some people into real hells... Think that it resembles an Elysium, but without the assassination attempts," I explained. "The simplest solution is that she sleeps in my bedroom and I sleep in yours like every night. Nobody will be able to say that I've slept with both of you at the same time if you are in separate rooms at Hogwarts where it is impossible to Apparate." I winked at Isabel. "I can even tell Blaise to show you my old bedroom-he'll love that..."
"Okay," Hermione accepted. "I can't wait to throw myself into the bed and sleep."
Of course I knew that was not true. She was going to ask me question after question, but Isabel didn't need to know that.
We left the room when the students began to leave the dining room, so it was not difficult to find Blaise and ask him-in front of everyone-to be the host of Isabel and to accompany her to my old bedroom because I was not going to use it that night. That made it clear that she was just my friend and that there was nothing between us.
Isabel decided to smile delightfully at Zabini while she thanked him that he had agreed to be her host. Anyway, I know that what she would really do during the night is inspect the castle in order to find all possible security breaches.
I left with Hermione without looking at Isabel and I concentrated on pretending an unconditional love for Hermione. We entered the tower and went straight to her bedroom. As the doors closed I saw how the anger began to show in her face.
She said nothing as she changed her clothes and left the books on the table while I watched her from the doorway, waiting for the outburst.
"Is she your lover?" she asked finally, unable to hold it anymore.
"No, and she has never been. She was just my instructor, nothing more," I answered honestly.
"She knows you very well... or so it seems." She looked at me with folded arms.
"We know each other very well, and we are something similar to friends... It's rare that two vampires can be something similar to friends."
Her shoulders relaxed a little bit.
"The type of relationship that you and I have is not also very habitual, Hermione. It's too hard to have this kind of relationship in our world because everyone is looking forward to killing everyone else... I only know two vampires who feel something similar to love for each other, and I assure you that it is so strange that it is the least amount one could expect from them. Lucian is a rather peculiar vampire and that is why I'm not a very common vampire..."
She slowly relaxed.
"It is also not very common for a vampire to fall in love with a human... no matter how exceptional she is..." I smiled, approaching her cautiously; I didn't want her to continue being angry. "That is why Lucian knows that you are very important to me. He does not want me to lose you because of those mad vampires." I affectionately stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. "You're the most beautiful thing in my life and I will not lose you for anything," I said before I gently kissed her.
Her anger was completely eradicated when she put her arms around my neck. "You are dressed..." she joked as she kissed me.
"I wanted to take care of your questions first..." I said, undressing myself with her help, "because now I'm going to make you forget everything." I picked her up in my arms to take her to the bed and I took away her nightgown.
"Do you think you can make me forget everything?" she challenged me, amused.
"I'm sure I can divert your attention for some time to much more enjoyable things." I smiled as my hands roamed her back, something I knew she loved.
"Draco..." she sighed beneath me. "Can I ask you something?" she asked hoarsely.
"Whatever you want..." I said while kissing her shoulders.
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This is the longest chapter I've translated so far, the chapter has 11,500 words, so I have decided to upload it in two parts. I will publish the second part before the end of this week. The day depends of how many reviews I get.
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