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Weapon (Possession Chpt LXX)
Chapter XIX - Alliance..?
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Sirius lay back on the grass. It was such a nice day and Remus' little slip of the tongue just made it perfect.

They'd been moving together in the past but he would have understood that if, after fourteen years of separation when he'd been in Azkaban, Lupin had moved on. He'd been grateful that the werewolf was still willing to be his friend but this was so much better.

'We'll just take it slow,' he replayed the words through his head. It would be enough.

He knew Harry wouldn't begrudge him this...

Harry?

The sun suddenly seemed cold.

Sirius frowned... there was something wrong, he could feel it. "...harry..?" he whispered, sitting up.

"Sirius?" Remus questioned.

"Something's wrong," he said, his eyes wide as he looked back at the castle. He trembled.

There was a pulse of darkness and Sirius received a vision of Harry. "No!" he gasped involuntarily. His godson was unconscious, lying in his own blood, gasping for breath. -Where?- He snarled at the shadows, already running for the castle, aware that Remus was following him.

He loved the werewolf, he truly did, but his godson was his life.

The shadows didn't answer him but they did guide him as he careened through the corridors. Harry had been in a class room but there were so many class rooms.

Sirius was gasping himself when he broke through the door of the room, skidding to a halt just in front of Harry. The shadows had gathered around their Master, staunching the blood flow as they flickered around him. They didn't seem worried. Sirius frowned as he sensed that and wondered at the incongruence of the situation. He would have to question them later. For now, Harry needed to see Madam Promfrey.

After a quick initial examination, in which he confirmed that most of the wounds had been healed and that it would be safe to pick his Godson up, Sirius scooped Harry into his arms, ignoring the blood that his robes adsorbed liberally.

Remus skidded to a halt at the door then gasped when he saw what had happened.

"He was attacked?" The werewolf leapt to the obvious conclusion.

"In a manner," Sirius responded, listening to the shadows whisper. "Let's get him to Madam Promfrey."

---

Dumbledore sat at his desk. He wasn't really paying attention to the paperwork in front of him as he thought about the situation. It was only end of year paperwork anyway and if the situation with Tom wasn't resolved it wouldn't mean a thing. He would do it, he just needed to think about this for now.

With a sigh he placed his quill in its holder, leaning back to look up at the ceiling. It was ornate, the patterns were soothing. He didn't know which Headmaster had installed it but he traced the patterns out with his eyes. It helped him to think.

Tom had been attacking. That much was easy. What was not easy was how they could retaliate.

The dark forces had always had the advantage in this manner. They had no, or very few set bases which could be attacked, while the forces of light had to defend all their infrastructure and buildings. It was frustrating but it was the way it had always been.

He supposed he could pressure Severus into revealing the location of the Dark Lord's fortress but in the long run such a thing would not be beneficial. Tom would just move to another place. This way, if they needed to he could still make a dedicated frontal assault with the Order.

For the moment though he needed to determine some way of fighting. When the students returned, they'd be checking all of them for the Dark Mark, that went without question but it still left all summer. And when the Ministry came to the Order, he needed to have some suggestions on what to do.

There was only one way he could see to combat Tom. They could hunt for Death Eaters, and everyone they ferreted out was a small victory, but for good morale. They could not afford many more battles as the one just past. By the time they knew about it, it had been too late. The public was beginning to worry. And a worried public was a scared public, and when scared, they were... well... stupid.

Those who would usually resist, would give into the Dark Lord, in an effort to remain safe. They did not see that turning to the dark was not going to work; it was not going to keep them safe.

The Order and the Ministry had to fight that fear, and quickly. It could be done. They just needed a few victories. But for that they needed to intercept the Death Eaters mid attack... and without a ranking spy on the inside that wasn't going to work...

Severus was good, but the Dark Lord knew he was spying. Dumbledore guessed Tom was keeping him alive because he sensed he could use the potion master further.

Albus shook his head... At the moment, they had no way of getting a spy into the Dark Lord's inner circle. Right now, as useful as Lucius' Rebellion had been, it had put Tom on the alert. He would not be trusting many, if any of his servants. They were probably marshalled just before the attack. None would have had knowledge of what was coming.

They could still deal with that though... They just had to get there faster. And that meant they had to do two things: one, improve communication lines so that no outpost or building could be attacked without a central headquarters knowing, and two, they had to have a task force ready and waiting to respond to the attacks, whenever they came...

But...

"We don't have the people..." Dumbledore whispered... Right at the minute they didn't have enough people of a high enough skill to stand any chance against the Dark Lord or his Death Eaters. They had enough... but not enough to pull together to make any kind of fighting force. They had to remain where they were. They were needed where they were.

"I do though."

Dumbledore started at the soft voice, grabbing his wand as he looked back towards the door.

"You..."

"You don't have enough people... Oh you will, in time... but right at the moment, you don't and that is where you will lose."

Never let it be said that Dumbledore could not recover quickly from surprise. Indeed, so controlled was he that often he never even showed surprise. "So what do you suggest?" He asked urbanely.

"An alliance."

"A large suggestion."

The being sat down and smiled at the ancient wizard, white teeth perfect. "This is a large situation."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't believe we have been formally introduced," he said.

"Hehe! True, although I did meet you once... many, many years ago."

"Truly?" Albus asked. "Never mind... I am Albus Dumbledore," he said, introducing himself formally. "The Head of the Order of the Phoenix, Hogwart's Headmaster..."

"You needn't tell me your ranks. They mean nothing to me. I am Xeoaph Casitial, elder vampire."

"And you want to ally with us?"

"Want? No. Need? Yes."

"Why? You and your kind have never shown any interest in our battles before."

"Because your battles have never had the ability to affect us before."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed dangerously as Fawkes trilled.

Xeoaph sighed as he heard the threat in the phoenix's song. "The Dark Lord Voldemort is not a Dark Lord, he is the Dark Lord. He makes Grindlewald look like he wasn't even trying."

"Tom..." Dumbledore paused, seeking the right phrasing. "Tom is very strong," he admitted. "But there has been nothing that makes him different from the others..."

"You don't truly believe that, do you?" The vampire asked with a scornful laugh in his voice.

"So what do you see?" the ancient wizard asked.

"I see the shadows obeying him."

"That's not possible."

"I have felt their power searing through me. I have seen their servants answering his call. How else can you attribute that ability to your Lord Voldemort, unless he is the true Dark Lord?"

"The shadows are the power of Gryffindor," Dumbledore objected. "And the Heir of Gryffindor lies with me."

"The shadows might be his power, but they aren't obeying him."

"They will in time."

"Time you don't have."

Albus was silent. He didn't want this but it would help enormously, and they could use it as an opportunity to look inside vampirying society, to truly see what it was like. "Alliance, huh? Until what is achieved?"

"Until the Dark Lord is defeated. I thought my support of Malfoy would have made that clear."

Dumbledore smiled. "I wondered about that... I was curious as to what Lucius had paid you."

It was Xeoaph's turn to smile. "No payment... not yet... I will extract it from his line in time."

"Yes... well, I doubt you will be able to get it from him."

"True."

"After Tom is destroyed, what then?"

"Ah, you were never one to neglect the future," Xeoaph snorted happily. "After that we continue the way we were. You wizards will try to destroy us, and we will continue to feed."

Dumbledore nodded. He hadn't really expected any other answer.

Xeoaph growled. "Dumbledore," he spoke crisply, firmly. "I want Voldemort dead. I want him dead more than I've ever wanted any human dead before. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for me, I'd kill them, drain their blood and throw the body away. His power makes that a little difficult, the shadows make it impossible. I am so concerned because he not only has the power to dominate your society but to destroy mine. It would take longer, true, but with the power of the shadows, our eventual fall would be assured. This is for us, a pre-emptive strike, nothing more. I don't care about wizards, I never will. I care about my children and for that I will stand beside you until he is dead."

"And you can't go to the Ministry."

"True. The Order will have to broach our alliance to them."

The old wizard looked around his office. The paintings were nodding slightly. This was an unusual situation and even though they didn't know exactly what was happening, the previous Headmasters knew enough from what they could determine about the world, enough that they agreed with the Vampire's suggestion. Fawkes' burning eyes were narrowed and the phoenix was looking at Xeoaph carefully, his magical eyes examining every inch of the Vampire Elder as he seemed to measure something. Finally he spread his wings, small motes of flame falling from them before he trilled once again.

"All right," Dumbledore said, holding out his hand as he put his wand down, slipping it back inside his purple robes. "An alliance."

The Elder Vampire reached out, pale blue eyes meeting twinkling blue. "An alliance, until the Dark Lord Voldemort is dead."

"Yes," Albus smiled. "Sherbet Lemon?" he offered his guest.

The offer triggered an odd memory. "You're still addicted to those things?"

"They are..."

"Albus..!" The shout echoed up the stairs, and the sound of running feet followed it. "Albus!" Remus yelled as he entered the room.

Brown eyes swept around the office at the odd scent and the wand was drawn in an instant as Lupin snarled, werewolf blood in him tingling at the being sitting there calmly. "What is he doing here?" He snarled.

"I could ask the same of you, dog," Xeoaph responded, lengthening his nails as his eyes glowed with power.

Vampires and wizards did not get along but Vampires and werewolves usually killed each other on sight.

"Both of you calm down!" Dumbledore snapped, flicking his wand through the motions of a containment charm. "Remus, Xeoaph is my guest. Xeoaph, Remus is a trusted member of the Order."

The vampire snorted before he turned away, dismissing Remus with an obviously superior glance.

"Remus, what did you come for?" Albus asked pointedly.

Lupin growled again, containing the werewolf within him as he slowly lowered his wand. "Harry," he said. "Harry's been attacked."

Blue eyes snapped wide. "Here?" the Headmaster asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. Perhaps you should ask the vampire to see if he knows anything."

"I and my kind have done nothing to Mr Potter," Xeoaph snarled. "Why would I or my kind want to destroy the one who can kill the Dark Lord?"

"Perhaps because you have now allied with him?"

"I always knew werewolves were stupid," the elder vampire said, his eyes burning. "You think after I backed Lucius the Dark Lord will allow me to ally with him..? Oh, I forgot... werewolves don't think."

Remus growled again and Dumbledore sighed, once more raising his wand.

"Both of you," he said with the full power of his voice, invoking every nuance he could. "Enough!"

"Fine," Remus turned away. "Dumbledore," he added coldly. "You should know, this isn't going to sit well with the werewolves."

"A threat?"

"A statement of fact. Come, Harry is with Madam Promfrey." Remus began back down the steps, shaking his head. They might never have said the word ally but he could already see that the deal had been made. Dumbledore had to have known allying with the vampires was not a way to get the werewolves on side.

Did everyone truly think so little of them?

Brown eyes narrowed, suddenly the new offer was seeming better and better... He had to know more.

Dumbledore turned back the vampire. It was obvious he was going to need to speak with the Ministry soon if they wanted to have any hope of keeping the werewolves on side. Despite enmity between vampires and werewolves, they would need both to win and they couldn't be seen to be treating one ally better than another. Remus had spoken the truth. "I must attend to this," he said softly.

"Yes, Mr Potter is very important."

"Why didn't... why didn't you take him when Heprah gave you the chance?"

"No matter what you might think," Xeoaph said as he rose. "We don't take children."

Dumbledore looked back at him sceptically. "I have seen the memory, you know. You offered it to Heprah."

The vampire elder sighed. "As much as I might have liked to have taken young Harry Potter as my own, I am aware of the trouble that would have caused me."

They began walking through the corridors, heading towards the infirmary. "It's never as simple as you wizards think it is to make a vampire."

"I thought it was relatively easy."

"The process is," Xeoaph said clinically. "Selecting who will and will not become a vampire is difficult. We live forever, human, we cannot afford to have those who are unsuitable within our ranks."

"Ah," the Headmaster said delicately, letting the matter drop. Nothing had come of it, after all, except for one charm the Dark Lord had broken.

As they entered the Infirmary, Xeoaph paused, pale blue eyes opening wide. "Of course," he murmured, looking at the unconscious boy on the bed, "it would have been worth the trouble."

If Harry had been beautiful as a child not yet eleven, he was now stunning. The vampire sighed appreciatively. Pale, flawless skin, jet silky hair and cherry lips. A small lithe body with enviable muscle tone. For a being who would be and who possibly already was one of the most powerful in this world, his body seemed too small but it was unimaginably beautiful. Even the tattoo on his chest seemed there to enhance his beauty.

"Definitely worth the trouble," Xeoaph sighed again as he made a small gesture at the large black dog that was slowly uncoiling from its guarding position at the foot of the bed, hackles raised, teeth bared.

He frowned as the slight jolt of power was repulsed by the dog. All creatures of the night were bound to obey him. He repeated the gesture as the dog growled, black eyes somehow burning.

"Can't control a dog?" Lupin laughed mockingly, laying one hand on Sirius, bending close to whisper in his canine ear, "Dumbledore wants him here."

Xeoaph watched with interest as the dog turned to growl at the Headmaster. It was quite obviously not a normal animal.

"The Order will ally with the Vampires," Dumbledore said in a tone that brooked no questions. "There is no choice. You know that."

Through it all, Madam Promfrey continued to work, ignoring the tableau playing out around her.

The dog lowered its head, glaring up at the ancient wizard. The vampire got the impression it would have moved further but there was a stirring from Harry and the animal's attention was diverted as it turned to its master, as they all turned towards the only one who could fight for them.

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