I hope you like the way I described the attack and involved Dumbledore without telling too much. Enjoy.

Facing a Vampire Attack

Early the next morning Harry got a message from Agent Sinistra that M had given the go-ahead signal with the plan and that she had 008 train the other agents to be able to interfere in a fight if needed. The security of Harry and the other students was the top priority. Harry contacted Dray over the communicator and informed him about the plan. After that he went to Dumbledore's office. He looked at the gargoyle.

"I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore in a matter of utmost importance." He told the gargoyle, knowing it was able to forward the request to Dumbledore.

Soon the gargoyle sprang aside and Harry stepped on the rising stairs. He walked up to the door and knocked before walking inside.

"Harry, that's a surprise. What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Good morning, headmaster. I have come with a problem that includes the safety of all students, especially mine, during the planned Hogsmeade weekend in December." Harry said.

Dumbledore's looked changed to serious immediately. He motioned for Harry to sit which he did.

"What exactly is the problem, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"You remember the problems with the vampires that were after Julia Thornston two years ago?" Harry asked.

"Of course. We massively improved the strength of our wards to keep out any dark creatures that could be associated with her criminal father that could want retribution. I personally coordinated the plan to hide Julia here with the magical arm of the CIA. Did something new happen?" Dumbledore asked concerned.

"From what I was told, they don't know that Julia is still here. But I need to explain a bit more. I did a lot of research on vampires when Buffy asked me for my help and afterwards as I didn't want to face a potential danger without sufficient information. When Buffy Summers, the slayer and free CIA agent, told me about the problem two years ago and asked me for my help to get her to Professor Slughorn's party, she also told me about a vampire she was cooperating with and whom she had left to keep watch over Sunnydale, her hometown. As Sunnydale is the location of a hellmouth, she didn't want to risk the vampires becoming too bold while she was absent. Now there is a massive difference between magical vampires and non-magical ones. Each of them has more physical power than a normal human and some gain a few magical abilities like hypnosis when they are turned. The vampire Buffy worked together with is one of a kind among the non-magical vampires as his soul was restored in a Gypsy ritual somehow to punish the vampire for his sins. From what I could find out he was once known as Angelus, a particularly cruel vampire, but since he got his soul back he faded into the underground.

"Now a big part of the magical vampires isn't bothering with the non-magical vampires and they see them beneath their station. They either have contacts that arrange that they get blood bottles or they attract willing feeders whom the grant boons for being the source of fresh blood for them. They normally can blend into the muggle world better than most wizards and witches as they depend on having access to blood sources. With their long life spans they have all the time in the world to amass riches and live in luxury. Now and again a few get really power hungry, but as that normally is dangerous for those of their kind that simply want to live in peace they are usually stopped by their own people before they become too big of a problem.

"Last Hogsmeade weekend I was contacted by a magical vampire called Dray who does some freelance work for governments that pay him and his group well, he didn't tell me details. The important part is that when they were investigating in another case they found plans for an attack on Hogsmeade in December. Among the vampires the black sheep are known and also their helpers. Which includes Julia's father. They also know who was involved in bringing him down, no matter what kind of involvement it was. Buffy is one of the ones that got a warning, the CIA of course and now I was warned.

"As those vampires that Dray's group investigated were associates with Julia's father, Dray assumed that either Julia or I are the intended target. He contacted Buffy and she told him that those that are after Julia and her mother still don't know where they are and are searching Australia and Canada. So the most probable target is me. Dray would like to meet you and assist in planning a counterattack on the vampires when they come to get me. The problem we see is that if I don't go to Hogsmeade the vampires will just attack the villagers and other students there. I don't want to let that happen and I won't just hide away. Dray offered to train me to help me prepare. But with the numbers they suspect to be involved, even if he fought at my side things wouldn't work out. I am good and I can take care of a handful of vampires on my own, but not thirty or so at the same time." Harry said.

"That's a serious problem. I'm glad you informed me. We will have to cancel the trip in December." Dumbledore said.

"I don't think that will be enough. They could just wait until a later date and attack when we don't expect it. We have a chance here to prepare and take them out without them suspecting anything. If you would allow it, Dray could tell you more about it. He is currently staying at the Forbidden Forest to avoid the sun. He needs you to key him into the wards to be able to talk to you or you to come to a location where he can meet you safely." Harry said.

"Hm, you say he is waiting in the Forest." Dumbledore said.

"Yes, I thought that would be the easiest place for him to stay still being close to Hogwarts but not being found out. You know how people react to vampires. We didn't want to cause a panic." Harry answered.

"Okay, why don't we do it right now? We can meet him in the forest and I'll key him into the general wards of Hogwarts for today. After that I will decide how to proceed." Dumbledore said.

Harry nodded and followed the headmaster out of his office.

Fifteen minutes later they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They walked inside a bit until Harry felt the wards ending.

"Thank you for seeing me, Professor Dumbledore." Harry heard Dray saying.

He looked left and saw Dray stepping out from behind a tree.

"So you are Dray?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. I assume Harry already informed you about the problem?" Dray asked.

"That he did. I'm really concerned about the news you brought. I'll key you into the wards of Hogwarts for today and we can discuss the matter in my office. Harry said you thought there would be a problem with cancelling the trip." Dumbledore said.

"Yes. But I think it wouldn't be smart to discuss this all in the open. You never know who might listen." Dray answered.

Dumbledore nodded. He waved his wand in the direction of the wards and Dray felt the barrier that kept him out opening. The three returned to the castle and Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore signaled them to sit down and ordered tea.

"So what are the exact details of what you found out Dray?" Dumbledore asked.

"In a case two weeks ago, my co-workers and I came upon documents that outlined plans for a massive vampire attack in Hogsmeade. As I have been in England before I knew that it was the village close to Hogwarts. Then I remembered hearing that Buffy Summers went there to protect a girl two years ago. I called her and she confirmed her involvement in a case here. She agreed with me that the most probable targets for the planned attack would either be Julia di Fances or Harry Potter. She contacted the CIA and told me, after confirming that I had worked with them in the past and didn't belong to those that were after the girl, that from all reports there was no indication that the vampires that were protected by di Fances, had found out about her staying here. So that left Harry Potter being the main target.

"With the numbers that were indicated to be involved in the attack, at least thirty vampires, all non-magical and none older than one hundred and fifty, we knew we needed to warn Harry of the attack. Considering that no normal wizard can take on a vampire without training I came over to offer support. Those non-magical vampires are pests and spread far too quickly for the liking of magical vampires. They are a threat to our continued living in the shadows, therefore we decided that taking action was our best choice. With a few stops to avoid the sun, I reached Hogsmeade. From the villagers I heard that at the weekend the Hogwarts students would come there, so I waited for Harry to appear there. As he is famous, especially after winning the Triwizard Tournament, I could spot him easily and make contact. That the day was cloudy was a massive advantage. I told him about the danger he was in and offered my help in training him. But we also talked about the need to protect the students in case the vampires will just attack others if they don't get their main target. We can't hope that in December we will have a sunny day at the weekend where the students will visit the village, with the normal weather here in Scotland that is very improbable." Dray explained. Harry's instructions had been pretty detailed on the plan they had come up with to deceive Dumbledore to not blow Harry's cover as a secret agent and still get protection for the students.

"Hm, that indeed is troubling. Harry said you didn't think stopping the whole trip would gain us the results we need and that it would only endanger the students more?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. Vampires don't just give up. We are used to wait if necessary. After all, we are immortal, so waiting a bit doesn't really matter. If they are after Harry, they will either just attack the villagers, demanding he comes out to face them, or wait until a later time, when he doesn't expect them. Which can be much more dangerous. Now we have an idea what the plan is and when they will strike. We can prepare the battleground and quickly put them in a position of disadvantage. I have thought about using methods of immediate travel to get the students to safety." Dray said.

"Yes, that could work. We have the floo, apparition, but that can only be done by wizards and witches that are of age, and portkeys, which would only be an organisational problem." Dumbledore said.

"Good. Can you supply all the students that will visit Hogsmeade at the weekend in December with those portkeys and perhaps the villagers too and have them transported to a safe location? I don't know if everybody will be able to apparate safely under duress and the floos will not be enough and the villagers and students could be cut off from the locations. The most problematic thing with non-magical vampires is that they don't have a soul, and don't feel regret for their actions. If they notice that they have been led into a trap, they will try and take hostages. They won't care if the hostages are hurt or die. They will only be shields to them or leverage to get away. If we can take away that possibility for them, we can set up something and win." Dray explained.

"Hm, while that will be a lot of organisational work, it can be done. We can equip the students and the villagers with portkeys to Hogwarts to get them out of danger. But we would need support to fight against the vampires." Dumbledore said.

"Well, Buffy is busy and can't help us, the same is true for Faith. Those are the two slayers I know of. Perhaps you could contact the watchers here in Europe to see if there is a slayer here that could help." Dray said.

"Isn't there always only one slayer?" Harry asked confused.

"That is a popular miscalculation. The potential to become a slayer lies in many girls. But only when there is the need for one to awake it will happen. Normally that is when the former slayer dies. But as I told you, I know two slayers in America. Faith got a bit trigger happy and was put on the shit list of the watchers. I think the correct number of slayers is one per continent or something like that. I'm not really sure. At any time there are really few." Dray explained.

Harry nodded and pondered how to do this.

"So the best bet would be to see if we can get the help of a slayer, set up a team of fighters that are trained to kill vampires and train me up so I won't be killed when they attack." Harry summed it up.

"That seems to be what we need to do." Dray confirmed. "As I said, I would offer to train you in fighting against vampires. We only need a place where we can train undisturbed and I need a place to stay during the days."

"Yes, well, I think the easiest for you to stay close without me having to key you into the wards permanently, Dray, would be the shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. It is believed to be haunted so nobody would disturb you there. Additionally there is a tunnel from the Hogwarts grounds to the shack. Harry could use it to meet you and get the training done." Dumbledore said. "Will you manage that with your overall time management, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. I can schedule the Quidditch training two days during the week after dinner and get the training with Dray done after dinner for two or three hours the other three days. That will leave me with enough time for my homework. And as the attack will be in December, I will have more than enough time for studying for my NEWTs." Harry replied.

"Good, then that's settled. I will see if I can get some experienced fighters to bolster our ranks." Dumbledore said.

The next month Harry trained extremely hard with Dray in the Shrieking Shack and with anybody the MI6 could offer to get ready to face the vampire threat. Aurora gave him a time-turner that the scientists had created after Aurora had borrowed one from the school stocks for highly talented students that wanted to take too many classes after the choices for electives came up. They were used on special cases. So now Harry repeated the time he spent during Quidditch training to fight with other agents to be ready for any vampire that could attack him in December. He got regular updates on how the MI6 agents were faring with their own preparations for the fight and it was encouraging to know that he would have at least ten highly capable agents fighting by his side next to Dray and whoever Dumbledore could come up with.

All of their werewolf agents would be included as they were naturally faster and stronger than normal witches and wizards. MI6 had started helping them get an understanding with their werewolf sides to fully profit from the physical improvements. Their Potions master had even managed, after closely analysing the wolfsbane potion and donated werewolf blood, to improve the formula for the wolfsbane to help them not only keep their minds, but also undo the effects of the transformation on them afterwards. The one thing they needed to do after the night was sleeping a few hours and they were fully operative again without the former tiredness and pain of the transformation. The werewolves working for MI6 had been delighted hearing that. It enabled them to be just like everybody else with a little change one night a month.

Dumbledore had informed him that the portkeys were authorised by the Ministry secretly. Minister Bones had been really cooperative and had offered her ten best aurors to support the operation. The names on the list were as far as Harry knew the crème of the crop of the auror corps and he would be happy to have them at their side. The one thing that needed to be figured out how to do was getting the students to Hogwarts without them making a fuss.

Professor Dumbledore stood in front of the students at the Great Hall. It was time to give instructions for the Hogsmeade trip. The teachers after discussions with Minister Bones and the head of the DMLE Rufus Scrimgeour and the head auror Kingsley Shacklebolt had decided to let everything look like an emergency drill, suggested by the Ministry to be ready in case something really bad happened. Reason was supposedly a catastrophe over in America where an insane wizard had killed dozens of students during a school trip before anybody could bring him down. To avoid anything like that happen to Hogwarts students they would all be given special school portkeys that would bring them to Hogwarts when they were activated.

The explanation took ten minutes and then the students were allowed to ask questions. After half an hour all questions were answered and the heads of houses called their students forward one by one and year by year to make sure every student had a portkey. They stressed the importance of the portkeys being on their person all the time, which was easy as they were necklaces that the students were told to put on at once and to never leave the grounds without them. Otherwise handing them out would be futile. They were told that the portkeys could either be activated by them using the password 'safe haven' or by a teacher who realised a danger to the students. Professors Flitwick and Sinistra would be accompanying the group and if they thought it was necessary to evacuate the students they could do so by using the activation phrase which only they would be told.

Nobody needed to be told that Harry would have a special necklace, one that only he could activate. He also would be able to activate the group evacuation; it would be put down to him being headboy. The Order of the Phoenix had reactivated its most battle-experienced fighters as had the DMLE. Since Harry's warning Minister Bones and Head Auror Shacklebolt had personally made sure, one by giving very clear orders and the other by putting his aurors through the grinder, that all aurors that would be on call for the Hogsmeade weekend were in top form and could go up against any dark creatures that might turn up but vampires in particular. A handful of aurors would be in Hogsmeade, patrolling as if it was nothing out of the norm. Which it wasn't as after taking up the Minister post Amelia Bones had set up regular patrols of aurors in the major magical environments like Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley and Platform 9 ¾, especially on days when lots of witches and wizards were around there.

Harry was looking out for any sign of trouble. He was armed with weapons that would work against vampires, meaning Gryffindor's sword and a number of stakes. The sky was covered with clouds that unloaded the snow they held over the village. If not for the imminent danger he would have enjoyed the picture Hogsmeade covered in snow showed. He knew that Dray was waiting close to the Shrieking Shack. Training with the vampire had been hellish but now he at least had a chance to go up against higher numbers of vampires than to or three which had been about the number he could safely take on before. Non-magical ones that was. Harry had learned the hard way that magical vampires were another level altogether. The speed Dray used in their spars was truly inhuman. There were ways to enhance the natural speed of all vampires with magic and the older magical vampires all knew them.

Harry had been taught the basics. Without the vampire traits he would never measure up to a powerful magical vampire in that regard, but any non-magical vampire was now beneath him or for the really old and powerful ones about his equal. Harry was very happy about that. The speed was the main problem in fighting vampires. You could deal with the physical strength with good tactics and reflexes but the speed was what made them truly devastating.

The trip had now gone on for one and half hours. Harry was sure that soon the attack would start. He was walking around in company of Hermione and Ron. Ron still hadn't got up the courage to ask Hermione out. Harry thought if he didn't do it soon he would miss his chance. Once they were out of school they would probably see each other less often. Well, if Hermione didn't take up the job offer of the MI6 that was. She was tempted to accept it, he knew that. She had asked him about a lot of things concerning how working there was. The major problem was that she wouldn't be able to talk to anybody about it. Harry only pointed out that it wouldn't be any different if she became an Unspeakable. In the end it was her decision. Harry only hoped that she would accept because they could really need a researcher as brilliant as her.

And while under Minister Bones prospects for muggleborns had massively improved at the Ministry, there were still a lot of stones placed in their way by the system. Too many laws subtly disadvantaged them and those that created the laws knew how to play them out perfectly. In fact there were about two hundred years of bigoted laws that needed overworking. Even Minister Bones hadn't been able to simply void any laws passed in the last two hundred years. It took time to unravel the mess that was their law books. Too many were connected and enabled loopholes for the other.

Harry heard a soft tapping on the receiver he had in his right ear. That meant that Dray had sensed the vampires that were about to attack. He subtly slid a small stake into his hand without revealing it. Then he spotted movement from the corner of his eye and jumped to the side, avoiding the attack completely.

"Get everybody out, Hermione." Harry ordered. "I'll deal with this."

"Okay, be careful." Hermione agreed and called for all students to go back to Hogwarts causing a mass departure via the portkeys.

Ron tried to hit two other attackers with stunners but they moved too fast for him. Harry spoke the password to get all other students and the villagers in a two mile radius around him back to the school. Hermione and Ron were taken away with a few stragglers that hadn't reacted immediately by saying the code word to activate their portkeys.

Now only the trained fighters were here.

"You knew." One vampire with a distorted face snarled.

"I did and I won't let you hurt any innocents here." Harry stated.

"It doesn't matter, you will be dead very soon." The vampire replied and jumped at Harry only to be shocked when Harry moved faster than him and rammed a wooden stake into his heart, making him turn to dust.

Harry immediately turned on the others. The sword of Gryffindor, which he had hidden in a sheath on his back, and the stake flashed at high speeds, taking the vampires completely by surprise. Others now also were fighting and Harry could see Dumbledore using a fire whip to take out one vampire. Harry meanwhile used a nifty little trick that Dray had shown him. While you couldn't use spells with a sword, a goblin forged one like that of Gryffindor could be used to fire off elemental attacks. So another group of five vampires that targeted Harry got a taste of flying fireballs when they got too close. The fire burned them to ashes in under a minute.

Once he had taken out the five vampires he looked around to see where he could help. He saw that most other fighters were hard pressed against their superior foes. Even without magic the vampires avoided the spells shot by most aurors and the old Order fighters were completely useless. The MI6 agents were teaming up on a vampire each and therefore got the upper hand. Not to mention that they were the ones suited best to deal with the physically devastating fighting style of vampires. Most wizards depended too much on their magic to be effective against an opponent like this. Dray meanwhile was taking out his opponents with ease.

Harry tried to direct attacks on Order members that were clearly outmatched to him. He got one vampire that was about to kill Dedalus Diggle with a fireball and then took on another one, ramming a stake into his heart to the shock of the old man. The fight only lasted ten minutes but it had devastating effects. Five dead Order members, two dead aurors, four injured aurors, one severely whom was immediately portkeyed to St. Mungo's and two slightly injured MI6 agents.

Harry saw Lionel and Remus organising the treatment of the injured ones before leaving to not stand out too much. Especially Lionel didn't want to be put under scrutiny. If anybody noticed the similarities with Sirius Black it would be bad. During the fight nobody had a chance to look closer but after it was another matter.

Harry looked around the village. At least ten houses were damaged. Well, with magic they would be repaired soon enough. His personal count was eleven vampires. He thought only Dray might have more. The aurors took reports of all fighters and then one left to report to Madam Bones. Dumbledore looked at Harry in shock. It was clear that he hadn't expected that Harry was such an accomplished fighter. Harry could see that he wanted to question him about it but Harry would block as much as he could. He would give his description of the fight and then ask to be left alone so he could concentrate on his studies as it was his NEWT year. He really didn't have the time for long questionings.

The question was if Dumbledore would simply take that statement or try something to get back in Harry's good books.

That's it for this time. I don't know yet if I manage to get the next chapter up in two weeks as I'm really busy with work and don't have the next chapter ready yet. I will do my best though.