A Vampire's Soul

A Vampire’s Soul, chapter twenty-seven

Pairings: Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione, slight Harry/Ron, Harry/Remus, slight Harry/others, other male/male, other threesomes and foursomes (het and slash); Harry/Ginny/Draco/Luna in this chapter (but not too graphic)

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Vampires, so there’s blood mentioned; violence; death; Slash; Het, and multi-partners. ALSO, there will be a few OCs, only because I need them for the story/plotline, but Proudfoot is a name mentioned in book six, I just don’t know his personality.

Words: About 9,070!!! (My biggest chapter yet!)

Notes: There’s Original Characters in the fic, and I apologize (And if you don’t like it, tough Twinkies). Harry’s role in the Daywalkers’ world is growing, thus there needs to be Daywalker characters (as well as other Werewolves). This is post-HBP. There are SOME spoilers for Deathly Hallows in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters, nor do I own anything from Dracula or from any other show. I do own all the other characters in this story that isn’t in the Potter books. I also don’t own the name of the third type of vampire.

Chapter written: August 25th – September 9th, 2007

.-.

Everyone arrived for the meeting an hour later. The meeting room enlarged to accommodate every person, and more chairs appeared. At the head of the table sat Harry, and on Harry’s right was Draco, sitting rigid and haughty. Ron and Hermione sat on the other side of Harry, and from there were others that were friends of Harry’s or were close to him in some way. There were only a few members that were missing, but that was only because they’d died since their last meeting. Everyone in the room knew it, but didn’t want to talk about it.

“Is everybody here?” McGonagall said, looking around the room. When it was noted that everyone was indeed there, she spell locked the door and placed a strong Colloportus spell on it. “All right,” she said. “Mr. Potter, you have the floor.”

Harry stood. “Thanks, headmistress.” He glanced at them, and when his gaze fell on Draco, Draco smiled slightly and nodded to indicate that he was ready. “All right. Hello, everyone. I’m not too sure why this meeting was called, so I’ll let Professor McGonagall and Remus do most of the talking. I just want to say thanks for coming. I know you heard about my accidental poisoning, and how I was cured, so I won’t get into that. Let’s just say that I’m not the only Daywalker here now.”

Most eyes turned to stare at Draco, and Draco coughed into his hand, cheeks going red.

Harry sat. “Ok, the meeting can begin. Professor?”

“Thanks, Potter,” she said, and stood at the front of the room next to Harry. “I called the meeting because of recent events that had taken place. While Mr. Potter had been struggling with his sudden poisoned body, You-Know-Who decided to take action and storm Hogwarts. Fortunately, he didn’t count on every person and thing there to retaliate. You-Know-Who himself didn’t stay long. He called a retreat twenty minutes into the fight, and it was very thankful that he did. Many of us ended up in St. Mungo’s because of the attack, a couple of us had to go in for Creature-induced injuries…”

“What?” exclaimed Harry. “What kind of creatures?”

“I was getting to that, Potter,” said McGonagall. “Not only did You-Know-Who bring his Death Eaters, but he also brought a few creatures with him: Werewolves, giants, and vampires…”

Harry and Draco’s heads turned to stare wide-eyed at her. “Vampires?” said Harry.

“Werewolves?” hissed Draco, looking a little more pale than usual.

“Yes,” said McGonagall primly. “Greyback’s clan was there, wrecking havoc, as well as a handful of vampires. They were going to stay and wait for the full moon, but then something happened: You-Know-Who suddenly called a retreat, and we could hear him like he’d magnified his voice and told everyone that there was somewhere else more important to be at the time, and then they left.”

“The Black Forest,” said Hermione suddenly. “That’s why they were there. But why?”

“I think I have an idea,” said Remus, coming over to stand next to Harry’s other side. “I have a feeling that somehow he found out that Harry wasn’t at Hogwarts, that he was in the Black Forest, so he decided to go there instead.”

“To get me,” said Harry. He had a feeling that werewolf attack wasn’t normal.

“What about the other vampires?” said Ron. “Who are they?”

“We do not know, Mr. Weasley,” said McGonagall. “All we knew was that they weren’t normal Daywalkers.”

“They were corrupted Daywalkers?” said Draco.

“It’s possible,” said Remus. “They definitely weren’t the kind of Daywalker that Harry or you are. Actually, I have no idea if Voldemort knows about Harry being a Daywalker. Still, I think we’re about to have quite a fight on our hands.”

“Did they look like they had their souls?” Harry asked McGonagall.

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “They didn’t seem to be mindless killers, like the soulless ones I’ve been told about. But we did wonder if maybe they were under You-Know-Who’s spell.”

“Can Daywalkers be put under the Imperius Curse?” Hermione asked.

“I don’t know,” said Remus. “Harry, is there a way you could talk to the head vampire about this? Maybe he has some idea about those corrupted vampires.”

“Yeah, I’ll ask him,” said Harry.

“Speaking of which,” said Hermione suddenly. “Doesn’t Draco need to be initiated into the Order of the Dragon?”

“That’s right,” said Harry, not sure why he hadn’t thought of it first. “I was asked to join up right away. I guess we’ve been so busy training that it hadn’t crossed our minds.”

“Draco will probably have to when you two get back to Castle Dracula.”

Luna suddenly raised her hand. “Harry, I’d like to go with you, if that’s ok with you. I’ve always wanted to see a Daywalker initiation.”

“Is that all right with you, Draco?” Harry asked. After all, Draco was the one getting initiated, not him.

Draco shrugged one shoulder. “Sure, why not.”

“Oh, thank you!” said Luna, beaming. Ginny was sitting beside her, looking somewhat gloomy and staring at the table in front of her. Harry hoped that she wasn’t too angry with him.

“Ok, was there anything else?” Harry asked. He wanted to keep the ball rolling, because there was no telling when he and Draco would suddenly want blood again.

“Yes,” said McGonagall, but she was looking a little uneasy. Harry stared at her, hoping she would continue. She shifted slightly, and then moved one side of her robe away to reveal a long, thin sword. Harry just caught himself from gaping at her.

“This…” she started, voice a tad shaky, but then she cleared it and her voice became strong again. “This is yours, Harry.”

“The sword of Gryffindor…” said Harry just above a whisper. “But how…?”

“Dumbledore had put in his will that it is yours, but the Goblins had been giving me a right tongue-lashing…”

Draco coughed and those with perverted minds also coughed, or blushed brightly.

McGonagall gave them all stern looks. “Let’s not be immature now, gentlemen.”

Harry looked around. Sure enough, it was only guys that had their minds in the gutter. Although, Hermione and Tonks looked as if they wanted to laugh, but restrained themselves.

“Anyway, as you were saying, Minerva…” said Remus.

“Right. Anyway, the Goblins didn’t think the sword was Dumbledore’s right to give away, and that it should be given back to them, but I had asked… that is to say… persuaded them, as it were, to lend Mr. Potter the sword.”

“Does this have anything to do with the tongue-lashing?” Draco said cockily.

“Mr. Malfoy, please!” McGonagall gasped, face going red. “This is hardly the time or place to be talking about such things.”

Draco smirked. “Sorry, Professor. I couldn’t resist.”

“Keep your mind focused, Draco,” said Snape a ways down the table.

“So, why did the goblins want to take the sword?” Harry asked, wanting to stop any sort of argument that may have occurred between his soulmate and Snape.

“Because it is Goblin-made, that is why.”

“Just because it was made by goblins doesn’t give them the right to keep it,” said Ron, surprisingly.

“Ron’s right,” said Hermione. “The sword comes to the aid of any Gryffindor, not to the aid of any goblin.”

“Correct, Miss Granger,” said McGonagall as though Hermione had just answered a question correctly. Then she held the sword out for Harry to take. “It is yours by right, Mr. Potter, but don’t be surprised if a goblin does try to take it from you. Guard it well. Although, I do not know why Dumbledore wished you to have it.”

Harry carefully took the sword by the hilt and examined it. There was no blood on it, but he could tell that there were still traces of the basilisk’s venom there. He glanced at Hermione, and she seemed to have read his mind, because she nodded enthusiastically, smiling broadly. Harry brought the sword back to the table, and as he set it down in front of his chair, many craned their heads to get a good look at it, and some sitting at the far back even stood to get a look.

“Too bad there’s no scabbard for it,” said Harry absentmindedly.

“We could buy one,” suggested Draco. “Or have someone make one.”

Harry only nodded because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Remus had told me, Harry, that you came into possession of a quill that could be important,” said McGonagall. “Is it all right if I take it with me to examine?”

“What-? Oh, right,” said Harry. He didn’t have a reason not to, and maybe McGonagall could figure out just what it did and if it was special at all. “I’ll get it for you after the meeting.”

“Thank you, Harry,” she said kindly. “Now, was there anything else we needed to discuss?” She turned to Remus.

“Oh, yes…” said Remus. “There seems to be no trace of Sanguini. We don’t know what happened to him, and he hadn’t been around his usual places lately. Does anyone have any ideas of where he could be?”

“Last time I saw him he was in the Black Forest,” said Harry.

“Maybe while you’re doing your training there, you could have a look and see if you can find him,” said Remus. He had been told about Harry’s training, and that his next lesson would consist of him going into the forest to fight actual soulless ones. He’ll be heavily guarded, of course, in case anything went wrong, but Harry was sure that he would be more prepared to take them on now that he’d had more training.

“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye out,” said Harry.

After a few ideas were bounced around about protection and other things, the meeting was over and everyone slowly made their way out of the room. Harry stayed back, along with Draco, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Ginny. It looked like Ginny really didn’t want to stay behind, but Luna kept hold of one of her hands, and Ginny didn’t look like she wanted to argue.

“Are we all going to Castle Dracula?” Luna asked.

“Um,” said Harry. He glanced nervously at Ron and Hermione. He didn’t count on them wanting to come, but he supposed that now that he was a Daywalker, and they weren’t about to leave his side now because of the war and the fact that he nearly lost his soul, they wanted to stick close to him again. After all, they still wanted to help him in defeating Voldemort.

“Yes, we are,” Ron spoke up when he noticed that Harry wasn’t saying anything, but he looked at Harry and Harry nodded to show that he agreed with him.

“Well, don’t come crying to us if you don’t like it there,” said Draco.

“Why would I come crying to you two?” Ron said, looking rankled. “If we’re friends of Harry’s, they shouldn’t be harming us, right?”

“They shouldn’t,” said Harry. “I just hope that one of them doesn’t decide to sink their teeth into you.”

Ginny seemed to have frozen with fear, but then Luna tightened her hold on Ginny’s hand, and she suddenly came to. She looked around at them wide-eyed.

“Why do I have to go?” she asked.

“Because I want you with,” said Luna. “And because Harry and Draco might need us.”

The way that Harry and Draco will need Luna and Ginny wasn’t lost on most there, but Ron was staring at Luna in confusion. Harry decided not to enlighten him.

“Right, shall we go, then?”

.-.

The group of six Flooed to Castle Dracula after Harry gave McGonagall the quill to look over. Evidentially, they knew that Harry and Draco would be back, but they didn’t know that they would bring some extra people. Once Ginny and Luna arrived Ginny hid behind Luna, Ron, and Hermione. Ron tried to reassure her as best he could, while Luna was staring at the Daywalkers that were there to greet them.

“Good afternoon,” she said politely, bowing to one of the elder Daywalkers. “It’s nice to finally meet you all.”

“Hello,” said the elder. “I’m Donald Moon, an elder here at Castle Dracula. You must be friends of Harry’s?”

“Yes,” said Luna, smiling. Ron and Hermione nodded their heads too, but Ginny stayed still, staring warily at the elder.

“Ah, you must be Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger,” said Moon. “Harry told us about you. Not much, but I take it by the way he talked about you two that you’re very close.”

“We’re his best friends,” said Hermione. She bowed in respect, and Ron followed, realizing that he should do just what Hermione did.

“Of course, the Blood Dolls,” said Moon. Ron and Hermione blushed lightly. “And you two ladies are?”

“Luna Lovegood,” said Luna. “And this is my friend Ginny Weasley. She’s Ron’s little sister.”

“I see,” said Moon. He tried to greet her, but she hid her face into Luna’s back.

“She isn’t comfortable around vampires,” Luna told him.

“Ah, how unfortunate.” Moon glanced over at Harry, and Harry gave him a tight smile. He looked back at Ginny. “I assure you, miss, that we’re not barbarians.”

“D-doesn’t matter how polite you are,” said Ginny, her voice quivering. “You—you’re still monsters!”

“Ginny!” gasped Ron and Hermione. Harry and Draco gave her a scathing look.

Moon, however, just laughed softly. “Oh, you’re one of those kind. It’s all right, I fully understand. Well, if you’re that uncomfortable around us, you could always go home.”

Ginny looked as if she was about to do just that, but then Luna gripped her hand again and kept her from moving.

“She’ll be fine once she realizes that she really has nothing to worry about.”

“I do hope so,” said Moon. “But I will try to make her stay a more comfortable one. Is there a specific reason you are all here, or are you just here to be with Harry?”

“We swore to Harry that no matter what, we’ll be by his side and help him defeat Voldemort,” said Hermione.

“Ah,” smiled the elder. “How admirable. Well, you’re welcome here for as long as you want, but do tread carefully: you may meet up with a very thirsty Daywalker unexpectedly.”

Ginny whimpered at this and squashed herself up against Luna, shaking gently. Luna patted her hand reassuringly.

“I expect Prince Vlad would want to initiate Draco into the Order,” said Harry.

“Ah, yes, that’s right; he did mention that to me the other day. Yes, if young Draco here wouldn’t mind joining the Order of the Dragon, we would be delighted to have him.”

“Well, what do you think?” Harry asked his soulmate.

Draco shrugged a shoulder. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Splendid,” said Moon, clapping his hands together. “I’ll go inform our master straightaway. Do feel free to relax in our sitting room here, or the lounge.”

As Donald Moon left, they all followed Harry and Draco to the couches that were situated in a horseshoe shape around the fireplace. The large, roaring fire was still burning away in the hearth, a few candles were lit here and there, and sitting high up on an old English wardrobe was a black raven. Harry guessed it was Vlad’s raven, Edgar.

“Ohmygodwhat’sthat?” Ginny shrieked, pointing up at the raven.

Draco laughed softly into his hand. He was actually starting to like being a Daywalker, and it was rather silly to think he was ever scared of them or becoming one of them. Seeing Ginny and the way she was acting around them made him wish he had never been like that in the first place; he was surprised Harry actually didn’t take him by force when he had the chance.

“That’s Edgar, Prince Vlad’s raven,” explained Harry.

“Vlad! Vlad!” the raven cried, and Ginny jumped in shock and grabbed hold of Luna around the waist, burying her face into Luna’s shoulder.

“It knows a few words,” said Harry, grinning. It was odd to see Ginny scared of a mere raven, but he guessed that anything to do with vampires made her uneasy.

“Harry,” Hermione hissed low into his ear. “That raven knows the word…” she glanced around quickly to make sure the others couldn’t hear her, although she didn’t need to worry about Ron since he already knew. “Horcrux…” she finished, very quietly.

Harry’s eyes widened. That was news to him. “Really?” he said. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious,” said Hermione, nodding. “I would demonstrate, but…” she looked at Ginny.

“Oh, yeah,” said Harry. Ginny and Luna didn’t know about the Horcruxes, but yet, he still had to ask Luna about what Rowena Ravenclaw’s prized possession was.

It was weird that Vlad’s raven would know the word Horcrux. He wondered where Edgar picked it up. Could it have been around Voldemort? But why would it? Maybe Prince Vlad knew about Horcruxes and that was how the raven learned the word?

“I wonder how many other words it knows,” Ron said, a curious look on his face. “Should we test it out?”

Draco actually looked like he was curious, too, so Harry shrugged his shoulders and said, “All right, what words do you think it knows?”

Everyone silently contemplated this, and then Luna stepped forward, looked at Edgar, and said, “Gellert Grindelwald.”

“Gellert! Gellert!” the raven cawed, sounding surprisingly happy to hear the word. “Gellert! Gellert!”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks of horror and surprise.

“It knows Grindelwald’s name?” said Ron, exasperated. “Bloody hell…”

“Blood! Blood!” cried Edgar.

“Ok, now that’s freaky,” said Ron as he inched closer to Hermione and further away from the raven.

“The raven knew Grindelwald?” said Harry, still stunned. “But, how? I thought he was that dark wizard that Dumbledore defeated.”

“He is,” said Hermione. “But maybe… well, maybe the name was said a lot. I mean, it’s crazy to think this raven used to belong to Grindelwald. If it did, it’s a pretty damn old bird.”

“Or, maybe,” said Ron slowly, “this raven was a newly acquired pet? I mean, Grindelwald is just in prison, right? He’s not dead.”

Harry spun on his heels and stared at Ron, bewildered. “What?”

“Er, didn’t you know?” said Ron, blinking in astonishment. “My dad told me, a couple years ago, that Grindelwald isn’t dead, just in prison. I had asked my dad about it once, because I was curious, and he said that Grindelwald ended up in his own prison that he built to hold his opponents. Maybe Grindelwald had Edgar, as a pet, before he was sentenced.”

“It’s possible,” said Hermione. “But we really don’t know for sure. I mean, the raven could have picked the word up from anyone, just like… you know, other words.”

Harry looked over at Ginny. She was looking just as gobsmacked about all this as the rest of them. But whether she was surprised by the fact that Grindelwald was only in prison or because of the raven knowing the name, he didn’t know. Harry wondered what other words the raven had picked up from being around others.

Curious, Harry stepped forward, met the raven’s unnerving stare and said, “Voldemort.”

The raven cocked its head back and forth. It stayed silent.

“Ok, so it doesn’t know that word,” said Harry, relieved.

“Which is a good thing, right?” said Draco.

“Right,” said Harry. He stared at the bird, wanting to keep seeing what other words it picked up, but he knew that he couldn’t just stand there wasting time figuring the raven out; he had to have a quick afternoon nap (and maybe some blood) before he started more training. He was going to need it.

Draco suddenly nudged him, and when he looked over at Draco, he was gesturing his head at Luna, who was trying to comfort Ginny still.

“Oh,” said Harry, realizing what Draco was hinting at. As casual as he could, he moved to stand in front of Luna and said, “I have a question for you, but it’s sort of private.”

“Ok, Harry,” said Luna. She slowly dislodged herself from Ginny’s side, and followed Harry to one of the rooms that Harry guessed they’d be using; Draco following close behind them. When Luna left Ginny’s side, Ginny decided to stay close to Ron and Hermione, not trusting the shadows in the room.

Once in the bedchamber, Harry and Draco shut the door, and Draco stayed next to it as Harry and Luna sat on the edge of the bed.

“So, what do you want to know?” Luna asked.

Well, there was no other way to ask, so Harry came out with it. “I was wondering if you had any information on Rowena Ravenclaw and what her prized artifact was.”

“Oh!” said Luna, eyes twinkling. “I think I know what you’re asking. Yeah, Ravenclaw had always treasured her diadem, which bequeaths wisdom upon its wearer, but I do not know where it is—it disappeared without a trace.”

“Would any other Ravenclaw know its whereabouts?” Harry asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Luna slowly. “Many have tried to find it, but they all failed. Is Ravenclaw’s diadem important to your quest?”

Harry tried not to smile too excitedly, in case it frightened Luna, so he pursed his lips together tightly and said, “Yes, it’s very important. I wish there was a way to know just what happened to it…”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” said Luna, patting Harry on the arm. “After all, you’ve got years to figure it out now, right? Now that you’re immortal, I mean.” She sighed forlornly. “Sometimes I wish I had all the time in the world…”

Harry wasn’t sure what to say to that, but he felt somewhat better knowing what was the actual Ravenclaw artifact. He was pretty sure that was the actual Horcrux he needed to find. He looked over at Draco, who had been watching and listening to them silently. Draco looked inquisitive, but Harry knew he couldn’t say anything out loud about it; even if Luna was a good friend Harry didn’t think she should get wrapped up in the Horcrux hunt.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he said to her, and then he hugged her. Luna hugged back. Harry tried to ignore how close his mouth was to her neck and how lovely her blood smelled beneath her skin.

“You’re welcome, Harry. Ask me anything any time!”

.-.

Harry and Draco had a three-hour nap in the bedchamber they had just talked to Luna in. Harry told his friends that they needed some rest before training, so they let them be. He wasn’t sure what Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna did while they slept, but when they awoke and decided that they were hungry, they sought the four, arguing along the way down the hall about who they should bite.

“I still say we should just take Weasley and Granger,” said Draco. “You haven’t really had their blood in such a long time anyway; besides, we had Ginny Weasley and Luna’s last time. I think it’s time for different blood.”

“I agree, but I don’t want to take Ron or Hermione’s blood. I’m sure one of them will let you take theirs, but I won’t—I want to see if Ginny will let me have hers.”

“You’re really asking for it, aren’t you, Potter?” Draco said, picking up the pace. Harry lengthened his strides to catch up to him; he had a feeling that Draco was trying to find Ginny first, or maybe even Luna. Draco hadn’t have Luna’s blood yet. “If you even think about biting Weasley’s sister, he’ll have your head! Possibly severed and on a spike.”

“Ron wouldn’t kill me over that,” said Harry. “He didn’t kill you.”

“Yeah, but he wanted to, and the only reason he didn’t is because…” Draco paused, realizing the flaw in his case.

“…because I’m his best friend,” Harry finished, giving Draco a smug grin.

“Shut up, I’m only trying to reason with you here…”

“What does it matter if I take Ginny’s blood or not?” Harry said. “You don’t really care that much for her, do you?”

“Well, no, but if Weasley tries to behead you because you bit his sister…”

“But he said that he wouldn’t mind, because he trusts me more.”

“Oh shut it,” growled Draco, not happy with losing the argument. Harry grinned from ear to ear.

When they suddenly found themselves in a room that looked like it could be the recreation hall, they paused just inside the threshold and looked around. There were a few pool tables on one side of the room, a few tables with cards on them, and even a ping-pong table. Thirteen slot machines lined the opposite side that the pool tables were, and there was a small juice bar in a corner by the playing card tables.

“What in the world do vampires need with all this?” Draco asked.

“Amusement?” Harry ventured. “Come on, Draco; they may be undead, but they’re not soulless, are they—I mean, we?”

“No, but still…” but Draco shrugged, not caring one way or the other. “Maybe we could play a bit of pool or cards sometime after our training, for relaxing purposes, of course.”

“Of course,” Harry grinned. They turned and walked out of the room only to bump into Ron and Hermione. “Hey!”

“Hey, Harry, we’ve been looking for you,” said Hermione.

“We’ve been looking for you too,” said Harry.

“Well, we’ve been looking for you to tell you that we need to get back to Grimmauld Place, and we don’t know when we’ll be back.”

“What?” Harry said, feeling somewhat let down. “I thought you two were going to stay here with me this time…?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Harry, really I am!” Hermione frowned. “But something has come up… but don’t worry, Ginny and Luna are still here.”

Harry and Draco exchanged a knowing, eager look.

“What has come up, though?” Harry asked.

Hermione shifted her weight a bit and looked at Ron. Ron was frowning. Harry stared at him, calmly awaiting his answer.

“There was another attack—but it wasn’t at Hogwarts, it was at Hogsmeade. Er… my dad, Kingsley, Moody, Tonks, and George got hurt.”

Harry gaped, his stomach suddenly feeling as if it had dropped out of his body, and his chest ached. “What? Oh God, you’re kidding! How…?”

“Death Eater attack,” said Hermione, looking even more upset, eyes watery. “And there were eyewitnesses who saw Greyback being among them, along with a couple vampires, which I think were those corrupted ones that were at the Hogwarts attack.”

“Are they at St. Mungo’s then?”

“We think so,” said Ron. “But we’re going to Grimmauld Place first to see if we can contact McGonagall and see what’s going on. I’m sure they’ll let me and Hermione go to St. Mungo’s, but… I dunno if it’s safe enough to do so. There’s talk that they might strike there next.”

“Why would Voldemort want to attack a hospital?” Harry growled.

“Because he likes spreading fear?” Hermione said. “It’s a sad affair, no doubt…”

“Look,” Harry said quickly, his body telling him to hurry the bloody hell up because he needed to feed. “I think I know about the other Horcrux, but I’m not sure yet and I was hoping you’d help me with finding things out.”

“Like where it is,” said Draco.

“Yeah,” said Harry. “Because it’s lost and no one’s been able to find it.”

“I would love to help you, Harry, but it will have to wait until you’re done with your training for today, wouldn’t it?” said Hermione.

Harry knew she was right, but he didn’t like it. “Yeah, I suppose. Well, don’t take too long, then… come back tomorrow if you can.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said, smiling a little, but her eyes were still sad. She took Ron’s hand into hers and they started for the sitting room where they will be using the fireplace to get to Grimmauld Place.

“Don’t you dare get hurt,” said Harry as he watched them take a handful of Floo Powder. “Either of you; I mean it.”

“We won’t, Harry,” said Hermione, giving Harry a quick, awkward hug. Ron hugged Harry too, and then they were gone within the green flames.

.-.

The news of who got hurt in the Hogsmeade battle put Harry in a more despondent mood. The monster in him seemed to growl and demand that he feed at once, but if he tried to bite someone now, he was afraid he might go too far and drain them dry.

Draco was somewhat worried, but Harry guessed that it was mostly because he was worried for him. Taking a trip to the kitchens, he thought about what he should do about finding the lost diadem. Perhaps after his training he should go see Professor McGonagall and see if she has any clues to its whereabouts. He chewed at a sandwich that he had quickly made, thinking deeply, and swirled a glass of stag blood before taking a deep draft. Draco sat beside him, drinking a small glass of dragon blood.

“There was nothing you could have done, you know,” said Draco suddenly. Harry looked up from his sandwich and raised a brow.

“About what?” he asked.

“About the raid on Hogsmeade,” said Draco. “I know you’re beating yourself up about it.”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe, but I wasn’t just thinking about that.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “Care to enlighten me?”

Harry took another bite of his sandwich, chewed for a while as he thought, and then swallowed. He looked back up at Draco, who was watching him patiently.

“Just about everything, really,” he finally said. “Ravenclaw’s diadem, where it might be, who to go to for answers, where I should start looking, how I’ll do with my training tonight, whom I should bite – you know, the usual.”

“Ah,” said Draco, looking somewhat amused. “The great working mind of Harry Potter. You know what? You think too much. You just need to take this one step at a time. First, we worry about the things we can do something about, and then we go about doing what we can about the other things.”

Harry had to admit, Draco had some rather good pointers. If he wasted his time thinking about the things that he couldn’t control right now, he would go stark raving mad. The one thing he knew he had to do before they got back to their training session was to take someone’s blood, that was why they were eating and having some of their favorite animal blood in the first place.

“You’re right,” he said, though he was surprised to admit it. Draco looked pleasantly shocked to hear it. Harry smiled; his fangs gleaming in the candlelight. “Whom shall we bite, then?”

“Why don’t I take Lovegood this time and you take Miss Weasley?”

Harry shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

.-.

As they began to search the castle for Luna and Ginny, an owl arrived at the ballroom window (where they were at the time). Draco took out his wand and did a spell that opened the window, since it was too high to open himself. The owl, Harry soon realized, was Pigwidgeon. It flew straight for him, zigzagging along the way, and landed in Harry’s hair. Draco laughed, and Harry couldn’t help smiling as he plucked the little owl off his head. He immediately read the missive.

“What does it say?” Draco asked.

Harry’s eyes were still moving back and forth across the parchment, but when they finally stopped, Harry was breathing a sigh of relief. “Ron and Hermione say that Mr. Weasley, Tonks, George, Moody, and Kingsley will be OK in a few days. But Kingsley and Moody got the worse of it while protecting the others, so they might have to stay a bit longer.”

Draco nodded, clearly not sure what to say to that. Draco wasn’t really on good terms with any of them, but he didn’t wish them ill will either, thanks to being Harry Potter’s soulmate.

Harry folded the parchment up and stuck it into his pocket. “Come on. We have the perfect reason to find Ginny and Luna now.”

Draco smirked, nodding, and together they left the ballroom. The only other places they hadn’t searched yet were most of the bedrooms.

“I wish there was an easier way to find them,” Draco commented after a while, as they checked the fifth bedroom they came upon.

That made Harry pause in his steps. “Wait a tick, you may have something there, Draco.”

“What?” said Draco, not seeing the whole picture.

“We’ve already taken their blood, right? Well, we can control their minds and make them come to us.”

Draco’s eyebrows rose, partially in shock at Harry’s nerve and partially at how easy it could be. “You’re serious?” he said. “All we need to do is concentrate on them and they’ll come to us?”

Harry nodded. “Yes. But you have to concentrate on Ginny, and I on Luna.”

He thought Draco was going to back down by the shocked look on his face, but Draco was suddenly grinning and said, “All right, let’s do it!”

Both grinning devilishly, they began to concentrate on the girls.

‘Come to me,’ Harry thought hard, picturing Luna in his mind. ‘Come to me, Luna…’

He wasn’t sure if it worked, but about a minute later, down the hall, a door opened and out stepped Luna, followed by Ginny. They were walking perfectly normal, as if they were just out for a stroll, but their faces were blank as if they were under the Imperius Curse.

Luna stopped in front of Harry, and Ginny stopped in front of Draco. The two Daywalkers glanced at each other, shocked and amused that it actually worked, and then they scooped the girls up into their arms.

“Shouldn’t you be carrying Weasley?” Draco said as they walked down the hallway.

“We’ll switch when we get to a private room,” said Harry. He was somewhat surprised that they hadn’t bumped into any other Daywalkers yet. Perhaps they were all out on another feed. Then again, Prince Vlad had mentioned getting ready for Draco’s initiation, so they were probably doing that. It was sometime tonight, after their training session, and Harry found he couldn’t wait for Draco to join them.

They found a bedchamber with an enormous bed. Harry hoped that whomever it belonged to didn’t mind if they used it for their own purposes. Harry had a feeling they wouldn’t mind. He gently placed Luna onto one side of the bed, and Draco put Ginny on the other.

“You know, I don’t think I’d like to have sex with them while they’re in this state,” said Draco. “Maybe we should get them out of their trances?”

“In a moment,” said Harry as he began to undress. “I’m sure Luna won’t mind, but if Ginny freaks and decides to make a run for it…”

“So, are we taking their blood first, or afterwards?”

“Maybe it would be best if we did it like before, with Luna,” said Harry. Getting naked was becoming more and more comfortable every time he stripped in front of others.

“Oh, you mean have hot passionate sex, and then bite them around the height of orgasm?” said Draco with an amused smirk. “Sure, sounds good.”

Harry loved Draco as a vampire; he was so much more amenable. It probably helped that they were being shrewd.

Deftly, the girls were stripped of their nightclothes, the bed sheets flung aside. There was one window in the room, and the sky showed that it was getting dark—perfect for fighting soulless ones—and the moon was just starting to shine. Dusk was beautiful to Harry, and it made his body and soul hum with a pleasure that he’d only get from flying or accomplishing something all on his own. Slowly, the girls began to become aware of their surroundings. They—Harry and Draco—didn’t want them to come to their senses immediately, worried that they’d panic and bolt, still nude.

Luna didn’t seem to mind that she was lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, but Ginny looked dazed and confused, and Harry couldn’t help his protective nature and gently leaned down so that she could see his face. He hoped that he didn’t look too menacing as he stared down.

“All right?” he asked softly. Ginny’s brown eyes widened further, and Harry wasn’t sure if she was shocked or scared. “Ginny?”

“What—what’s going on? Harry?”

“It’s all right,” he tried to reassure her. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

Ginny tried to pull some bed sheets over her, but she slowly began to realize that there were none on the bed to use. She blinked owlishly up at him as she tried to cover herself with her hands.

“You’re not going to—surely you won’t…”

“Won’t what?” Harry said, leaning more forward on the bed. It was then Ginny realized that he was naked too. Her face became a very dark red, and then it spread throughout her entire body until she looked as if she had sunburn.

Luna seemed much more at ease about being naked in bed with them. She was smiling up at Draco as he stared down at her, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

“Are we having sex now?” she said, smiling softly. It took Draco aback, but then he was smiling back, eyes gleaming with apparent lust.

“If you wish,” he said gently.

Luna brought her arms up slowly and laced her fingers behind Draco’s neck. “Oh, I do so wish.” Then Draco was kissing her, and her body arched up against his.

Harry couldn’t help watching. He had brought one leg over Ginny’s body subconsciously; her body was still flushed, and he could smell her blood as it pounded through her veins hard from both excitement and fear. Harry hoped to ease her fear as he brought his face down to hers and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head away.

“Don’t—you have Draco… you shouldn’t be…”

“It’s all right,” he tried reassuring her. “Draco and I already talked about this.”

“You shouldn’t—I don’t think we should…” Ginny tried again.

“I thought you liked me.”

“Oh, I do, Harry…”

“But?”

Ginny’s cheeks colored again and she looked away. “But… you’re a vampire…”

“Daywalker,” he corrected automatically. “And what’s so bad about that?”

“You’re undead,” she said, as if it would completely explain her feelings.

“So I am,” smirked Harry. “But I’m still me, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, but…”

Harry got closer, and Ginny couldn’t help staring into his eyes, which were now glowing eerily. She tried to look away, but found she couldn’t. Was she being hypnotized or was it just the way Harry looked that made her unable to divert her gaze?

“All right…” she said softly.

Draco was already sucking one of Luna’s nipples into his mouth, a hand on her other breast. Luna brought her legs up to wrap around Draco’s waist, showing him that she most definitely consented. With one hand tangled in Luna’s hair, and the other on a thigh, he gently started to push forward. Harry stared as Draco entered Luna, stopped, and then bent down to kiss her neck. Harry glanced down to see that Ginny was staring too.

“All right,” Harry breathed, and he brought one of Ginny’s legs up, ready to repeat what Draco did with Luna, but then came to a halt when he suddenly remembered something. Ginny was a virgin.

Ginny had her eyes screwed shut, as if getting ready for Harry to breach her, but when he stopped she looked up in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Harry pursed his lips together, eyes searching her face. “You’re—you’ve never done this before, have you?”

Ginny blushed. “I nearly did, actually… but it never happened.”

“Who?” Harry couldn’t help asking.

She looked away, surprisingly at Draco and Luna. Draco was slowly moving his hips, and Luna seemed content that he was.

Finally, Ginny said, “Dean.”

Harry’s eyebrows rose. He was somewhat shocked, yet not. If she’d had said Michael Corner, he would have thought maybe he had tried to force her, but Harry knew Dean; he was a good guy.

“Why didn’t you?” Harry asked.

“Because,” said Ginny quietly. “I couldn’t—I didn’t think it was the right time. I felt that I loved him, but…”

“But not enough,” said Harry, nodding in understand. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

Ginny looked back up at him. “I know you would never love me the way I wanted you to, now that you have Draco… and that you’re a vampire…”

“Daywalker,” he corrected her gently. “But it shouldn’t have mattered that I became one if you really loved me that much.”

Ginny sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m sorry, Harry. I really did want to love you, in that way, but…”

Harry silenced her with his mouth. She kissed back, but it seemed sad somewhat. “Yeah,” said Harry. “I understand.”

He did love her, but not enough to be serious. It wasn’t like how he felt about Draco, or Remus, or even his Sire; and looking into her soft, brown eyes, he saw that she knew that too. But yet…

“Do you still want to?” he asked her.

She knew what he meant and nodded. “I want my first time to be with someone that I truly love, even if I don’t have a chance…” she looked away for a moment, but then looked back up at him, seeming to gather her courage. “Will you-?”

“Yes,” Harry whispered. “But I don’t want to hurt you.” And he really didn’t, contrary to how he felt a few minutes ago. But that was his monster acting up, not his soul.

She smiled wetly at that, eyes shining. “I know… and I’m sorry that I was being so… you know, about your vampire status. I don’t know why I’m so unnerved around vampires…”

“Maybe you’re afraid of fangs,” offered Harry, smirking. His own fangs gleamed in the low light. If Ginny were a Muggle, she would probably be afraid of needles.

Ginny smiled, and it was genuine. It had been a while since he’d seen her smile like that. “Yeah, maybe… maybe something happened in my childhood that made me so afraid of vampires.”

“But I’m a Daywalker, so it should be different.”

“You still drink blood,” she pointed out, nearly laughing.

Harry snorted. “You’re right…”

The bed creaked harder, and Harry looked over to see Luna hanging onto the edge of the headboard and pushing her hips up faster against Draco’s, her head tossed back and eyes shut. Draco gripped the back of Luna’s head, fistful of hair, as he pounded into her. Harry looked back at Ginny.

“Do you give your consent, then?” he asked her, and he really hoped she said yes.

Ginny smiled, and then spread her thighs wider. “Yes, Harry… I do.”

Smiling back, Harry did everything he could to make her first time pleasurable.

.-.

The wind in the Black Forest howled as Harry, Draco, and their guard walked to a clearing. It was suspected the area was near a soulless vampire’s dwelling. The scent on the air was filled with death, so Harry guessed they were on the right track. There should be a few soulless ones close by.

“Remember to keep your mind focused,” said Moon. “Don’t back down. The second they start screaming prepare to be surrounded by more.”

“Right,” said Harry. He felt the cool metal of the cestus beneath his sleeves and was itching to use them. The smell of the soulless ones that lingered around the clearing seemed to make the monster in him restless, and the look on Draco’s face mirrored him.

“Stay close to me,” Draco said, pulling Harry closer by the elbow.

“I will,” said Harry.

Their guards backed off from the clearing to hide. Harry was surprised by how many had decided to come and watch over them. Not only was Donald Moon there, but so was Scrimgeour and Neal, whom were up in a sturdy oak; Nicholas, Proudfoot, Patrick, and Stoker were behind a thick shrub; and Henry Stone, William Price, Asa Nodes, Ethan Daniels, Irene Sculptor, Jack Savage, and Vega Manns were scattered among the shadows. Vega didn’t need to come, but since Proudfoot was also with, he felt the pull of being close, even though he’d lost his right to be Proudfoot’s soulmate.

It seemed to take forever, but suddenly there was a shriek, and five soulless creatures were suddenly upon them. Harry immediately closed his hands to make fists and two long, silver stakes emerged from under his sleeves. Draco did the same, and together they slashed and stabbed at the soulless vampires. Harry ducked one’s claws and brought the stake upward; it stuck through the creature’s chest and it—the soulless one—immediately turned to dust.

Some soulless ones didn’t turn into dust right away when hit; some of them shrieked, alerting more, before collapsing onto the ground and bursting into flames. They’d been told during their training that some soulless vampires were different because of the way they’d been Turned or how long they’ve been soulless. Those that have been around a long time gain strength the more they kill and drink fluids, so it took a while longer for them to die. Those that were newly made usually just dissolved into dust or exploded on impact.

Draco had the luck of finding one that did just that when he sunk his stake into its heart. Bits of the creature were everywhere, including in his hair. He freaked out for a second, but that was all the time he had to do so, because he was suddenly surrounded. Harry had two trying to hold him down and bite him at the same time, but the moment he saw that Draco was in trouble, he swung both arms around in a circle and slashed both soulless vampire’s across the chest. They became nothing but ashes.

“Draco!” Harry leaped like a jungle cat and impaled the first soulless one through its back. He never thought he’d be so vicious, but he found glee in causing the soulless creature to scream out and burst. Pieces of flesh and acidic blood splattered everywhere. The other soulless ones didn’t seem to care that their comrade was killed and continued to try to bite Draco. Another handful of soulless ones came from the sound of the other one screaming, and before he could destroy any of the others surrounding his soulmate, he was being piled on.

“Get off me!” Harry shouted. One nearly sunk its fangs into his neck, but then, as Harry tried to shake it off, he was suddenly transforming into a jet-black wolf and burst out from the melee to reach Draco. Harry wasn’t sure why his body suddenly transformed like that; maybe it was because the monster in him panicked for some reason.

The soulless ones didn’t care that he was a wolf now, and went after him. After knocking away one of the soulless ones from Draco, Harry transformed back and struck the other one with a stake. Draco had been struggling against the thing’s grip, and was relieved that he could move again once it turned to dust.

But he had no time to thank Harry, and they were back into the fray again. Many of the techniques they were taught during training became extremely handy, and they were able to destroy the last of them before they could shriek and call out for more reinforcements.

Panting and dripping with sweat, Harry and Draco stared at each other, a grin on their faces. They were just about to close the gap between them when they were interrupted by someone applauding.

They looked around, wondering if it was one of their guards, but surprisingly it wasn’t.

“Oh, bravo, bravo!” said the mystery person in a yew tree. “Most entertaining, I must say!”

Harry and Draco stood still, staring silently at the person. Harry wondered if their guard was going to just watch and see what this stranger did or come out of hiding.

There was a shadow over most of the person’s body, but you could still see an outline; he looked thin, lanky, and graceful, with long hair. The legs were dangling over the branch and swinging back and forth in child-like amusement, and Harry could swear he could see the person smiling.

“Who are you?” Draco said, possibly fed up with the silence.

“Oh, how rude of me! I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I? But, alas, I won’t.”

“Why not?” Harry asked.

The person—Harry suspected a guy—laughed, but it didn’t seem like an evil laugh; it sounded more amused… like a jester.

“Because, my dear Chosen One, I don’t want to… yet. I have enjoyed the show you two put on most spectacularly. I daresay I’m quite impressed. I guess you really are everything I have heard, and a bag of chips.” He mockingly snapped his fingers in a letter ‘Z’.

“What do you want?” Harry said, not amused.

“That’s quite a weighty question, dear Boy Who Lived. Or shall I call you Boy Who Unlived?” he laughed.

“Shut up and tell us what you want!” Draco snarled.

“Hmm, not very friendly,” said the stranger. “I thought all Malfoys had impeccable manners?” he sighed sardonically. “I guess there’s always one in every family.”

“Well, if you’re not going to tell us why you’re here, or who you are, then we’re leaving,” said Harry, aggravated. “So, goodbye.”

They turned to leave, and just as they were to the shrub that Scrimgeour and Neal were hiding behind, the person called out: “Don’t you want to know what happened to Sanguini?”

They stopped and slowly turned around. Draco didn’t really seem to care one way or another about Sanguini, but Harry was glaring hard at the stranger.

“What have you done with him?” Harry snarled.

“What makes you think I did anything to him?”

“How else do you know about Sanguini?” said Harry, his anger slowly rolling to a boil. “Tell me!”

He could swear the stranger was smirking as he stayed silent for a moment, but then he finally spoke.

“He’s dead.”

“NO!” shouted a sudden voice from a bush. They looked over at the sound, and there stood Vega, pointing a threatening finger at the stranger. “You’re lying!”

“Now why would I do such a sinful thing as that?” the stranger larked. “Besides, what does that matter to you?”

Vega ground his teeth, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He seemed speechless, but then Harry realized something: Vega’s eyes were wet.

“It matters to me, because he was my Sire!”

Heavy silence fell for a minute, and then the stranger started to laugh.

“Oh, how precious!” he howled. “You Daywalkers still have that old Sire and Fledgling tradition going? How sweet!”

“What do you mean, what ‘tradition’?” asked Harry. “I thought it was something that you couldn’t help.”

“It isn’t, unless you let it.”

“I don’t understand.”

The stranger laughed again. “Of course you don’t! You’re Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Wizard With His Figurative Heart On His Sleeve, the Daywalker With the Glowing Soul! It’s not something you wouldn’t mind!”

“The Daywalker with the Glowing Soul?” Harry said, bemused.

“That’s what they’re calling you, from what I’ve heard,” the stranger said. “Anyway, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, since Daywalkers still have their human souls, they still feel. Get it yet? Or should I spell it out for you more slowly?”

“Speaking of spell,” said Draco, wiping his wand out and aiming it at the stranger, but the stranger merely laughed.

“Do you really want to do that? I could just freely tell you where to find Sanguini’s body.”

Draco lowered his wand.

“All right,” said Harry, glaring. “Tell us.”

“Is that any way to ask?”

Harry sighed, feeling even more annoyed. He glanced at Vega quickly and noticed that he looked as if he’d been turned into a statue—an ice statue, from the looks of it.

“Fine. Please, could you tell us where we could find Sanguini?”

“Hmm,” said the stranger, sounding as if he was thinking about it. “Oh, I suppose, since you asked nicely. His lifeless body is about a mile that way”—he pointed to his right—“and I would go quickly before more soulless vampires show up.”

“Thanks,” said Harry through gritted teeth. For nothing, he wanted to add, but bit his tongue. The others came out of hiding and cautiously began to move in the direction that the stranger had pointed. Harry wasn’t sure he should trust him, but from what Harry figured the stranger was outnumbered, so if he made one wrong move, they would kill him.

Well, Harry wouldn’t specifically, but one of them would.

They stuck to the shadows as they made their way through the forest. Most of them kept looking back to see if the stranger was following them, but they couldn’t tell. Draco was glued to Harry’s side during the walk, and Scrimgeour was on his other side. He wanted to ask questions, but didn’t dare in case the stranger could hear them, if he was following.

Finally, they saw it: Sanguini’s body. The stranger hadn’t been lying.

Vega let out a sharp wail and dashed forward. Asa and Patrick tried to stop him, but he slipped out of their grasps and fell to his knees beside Sanguini’s desiccated husk, sobbing into his hands. They stayed a few feet away, watching. At first, they had thought it was a trap, but it obviously wasn’t. What was the stranger playing at?

Harry turned his head away, unable to bear watching Vega fall apart any longer. Draco put a comforting arm around him.

“What could have done such a thing?” said Asa, sounding horrified. “He’s—he’s been sucked completely dry!”

“No soulless one could have done this,” said Moon sadly.

“Could it be…?” said Patrick, alarmed.

“Indeed, it could,” said Moon. “It must have been.”

“What?” said Harry, staring at Moon with sad eyes.

Moon hung his head. “The legend of that other type of vampire; a Dark Daywalker.”

TBC

AN!: I have officially caught up to myself in the story (next chapter isn’t finished yet), and I have loads of homework to do, plus I’m going to MOCC this weekend (but because of homework overload, I may not, I’m not sure), so I won’t have much time to finish the next chapter. That’s how it’s looking right now, anyway. So, if the next part isn’t out next Wednesday, please don’t be angry with me! RL is really pounding away at me right now, so I haven’t had much time to read or write fic. I will try getting the next part done, but if not, then look for it the week after that. Yes, I may have to start updating every two weeks instead. I’m really sorry about all this, but right now it can’t be helped.