There was something in the back of Percy's mind that had been niggling at him since he'd overheard that conversation in the hospital wing. He was now sure it was related to vampires in some way. Returning to the library he checked the Daily Prophet index for Vampires and Summer, 1987 and found a couple of related articles.

Saturday, 1st August 1987

VAMPIRE ATTACK IN MUGGLE RESORT

Last night a nest of dark vampires attacked a muggle holiday resort in Zagreb in Yugoslavia, resulting in several deaths. The magical authorities were alerted by a muggleborn witch and wizard who were staying in the resort with their families. The nest was exterminated, thanks to the efforts of well-known vampire slayer, Octavius Havelock. Among the fatalities was the father of the young witch, who herself was seriously injured. (further details on page 18)

Monday, 3rd August 1987

VICTIM OF VAMPIRE ATTACK RECOVERING

The 15-year old witch, whose identity is being withheld, is no longer in danger, according to healers in Zagreb. It is presently unknown whether she will undergo the transformation into a full vampire.

Percy made some notes then looked up some books on Vampires. "Vampires: A History" by John William Polidori" and "Memoirs of a Vampire" by Elizabeth Bathory" had some interesting information. Percy realised how little he knew about the mysterious creatures.

"Those books can't be taken out of the library" warned Madam Pince.

Percy took out an auto quill that his great Lucretia had given him for his birthday and set it to taking notes from the two books as he was reading. Polidori was a vampire hunter from the early 19th Century. Elizabeth Bathory was a witch who'd been transformed into a vampire sometime in the 17th century. She was still around and a professor at Durmstrang.

"Are there any books on vampires, I can take out?" he asked.

"I believe there's a chapter in Magical Races of the World. 3rd stack on the right, 2nd shelf from the top"

"Thanks"

Percy picked up Magical Races and left.

In the Common room, Percy examined photographs of Gryffindor's quidditch teams for the past four years.

Charlie had been starting seeker from his second year. He was the only member of the main 1984-85 team still at school, although Amanda Tippett had been a reserve that year. The 1985-86 team included Amanda, Jeremy Hardcastle and Catriona Ferguson.

The 1986-87 team was the same as this year's one. He looked at the description of the photo of Gryffindor winning the 1987 quidditch cup.

The victorious Gryffindor Team: Keeper Adam Lovelace (1984) - Chasers Amanda Tippett (1982), Jeremy Hardcastle (1983), Catriona Ferguson (1983) – Beaters Damien & Dominic Ridley (1984) and Seeker Charlie Weasley (1983). This is the third successive year that Gryffindor have won the cup.

Catriona was laughing. Her eyes sparkled with delight. She looked completely different than she had at the last match.

Of the many intelligent magical races in the world, some are more closely linked with the dark arts than others…" Professor Havelock was saying. "However, none are inherently evil. Over the centuries, however, a great deal of prejudice has become entrenched in the minds of many people. Myths and legends with varying elements of truth have become accepted as fact among wizards and muggles alike." He waved his wand, and a pile of scrolls flew out of a nearby cupboard. "Here are individually bound copies of the 12 chapters of 'Magical Races of the World'. As an end of term project, I would like you all to take one race and learn all you can about them. Their good points, their bad points, their magic, their interactions with wizards, everything. If want to take more than one in order to decide which you'd like to focus on, that's fine but remember we only have 10 of each and there are 16 of you."

Percy was excited. This project would give him an excuse to found out more about vampires. The others all took three or four scrolls. The vampire one was popular, and Percy relieved to get hold of the last copy.

The rest of the lesson was spent practicing simple jinxes and counter-jinxes, which resulted in a lot of sneezing, hiccoughing and laughter.

Back in the common room, Percy began to make notes. He was keen to get started as soon as possible.

"Hey, Percy!" said Oliver. "Could I borrow that History of Magic Essay of yours on the Goblin Wars? The one you got 89% on."

"Huh!" Percy was puzzled. "Why?"

"Did you know that Goblins had a quidditch team back in the fourteenth Century?" Percy didn't, but then it wasn't something he'd ever thought about.

"I'm going to do my project on them. The only non-humans to play quidditch. "That essay Percy?"

"Ok."

"Who wants to spend more time on goblins. We get enough of them from Binns", said Thomas. "I was thinking about doing vampires, but I changed my mind to werewolves."

"Are werewolves more or less likely to be evil than vampires?" asked Steven, curiously.

"Werewolves are regular wizards, twenty-six days out of twenty-nine, but for the three nights around the full moon, they turn into mindless monsters. The bite from a transformed werewolf turns you into one… if it doesn't kill you, that is", Thomas explained. "Although, my Aunt Cordelia's a healer and she's been trying to develop a potion that will allow a werewolf to keep their mind during the transformation. My dad was hunting a particularly nasty werewolf when I was home at Christmas. I picked up some of the gory details from his mind when he was too tired to block me."

"You can read minds?"

"Only surface thoughts. My mum's much stronger. You can't keep anything from her."

"It's c-c-called legillimency. it runs in families. How c-c-come your aunt is t-t-trying to help werewolves anyway? M-m-most p-p-people c-couldn't c-care less."

"Maybe because she can turn into a wolf too"

"Your aunt's a werewolf?" Steven asked.

"No, she's an Animagus, like Professor McGonagall. You know, that cat thing she did in our first transfiguration lesson. Only Aunt Cordelia turns into a wolf"

"I'm torn between Merpeople and Veela", said Mary-Anne. "

"My great-uncle Felix is married to a Veela, Great-aunt Louise", said Genevieve, looking up from a book. "I have a number of part-Veela cousins. Think I'll do my project on something else. Haven't decided what though, vampires, maybe.

"I accidentally turned myself into a mermaid a couple of years back, except real ones seem to be quite ugly compared with the stories I used to read", continued Mary-Anne.

"Well, of course they're ugly to us. They are part fish, after all", said Leona.

"Merpeople in muggle stories are usually beautiful people with fish tails", Mary-Anne told her.

Leona laughed. I'm going to do Centaurs. They're fascinating creatures"