Shades of Ebony

Disclaimer: Need I say it
again? I don’t own Harry Potter, the
only things that are mine are Kerenza, her family, and Erebus.

Thank you to those few, very few, people who have reviewed.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I’m not going to be updating this very often
if I don’t get more. :(

Chapter 6

I
awoke late that Saturday morning to a jolt of pure pain.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It shot through me and I held my hands over
my mouth, trying not treamream. The
sweet copper taste of blood filled my mouth.
It slipped between my fingers and over my hand.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Suddenly a pair of strong arms wrd ard around
me, pulling my hands away from my mouth, and catching the blood into a dish.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Gently Erebus stroked my now sweat soaked
hair away from my face. More blood came
and I began to shake. My body felt like
it was on fire.

Softly
he began to speak, “Hush, shhh Kerenza, it’s alright,
let it go.” Still shaking, I began to cry, clinging to him tightly, “It’s
almost over.” He said soothingly and suddenly a bleeding wrist was forced to my
mouth. I was forced to swallow a
mouthful of his blood and he pulled back, holding me close and stroking my
hair, “You should start feeling better soon, get plenty of rest this weekend.”
He said, laying me back in bed, “When you wake up take
a nice hot shower, it will help.”

“Uncle
Erebus.” I managed to rasp out as he began to walk to the door.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He looked back at me in question, “Please,
help me there now, I can’t lay here bloody.”

The
bowl of blood he had caught from my lips was in his hand.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He sighed slightly and nodded, making the
blood disappear. He walked back over to
me and picked me up, carrying me into the bathroom and stripping off my blood
covered nightgown. I didn’t blush,
didn’t worry that he would do anything, he had always been there, class=GramE>gave me some of my first baths when my parents were out on
business. Gently he began to bathe me,
washing away all the sweat and blood.
With a sigh I tipped my head back, leaning it against the edge of the
tub.

“What
happened?” I asked softly, mdy tdy throbbed slightly but it didn’t hurt.

Gently
he washed my hair, “Your body is changing, we’ll have
to do something about hiding your teeth until they begin to retract on their
own.” I scowled, not having noticed
anything different about my teeth. He
chuckled softly, “Run your tongue over your teeth.”

Slowly
I complied, my canines were razor sharp and hung down a little further then
they had before. I closed my eyes and
let out a little groan, “What the hell?”

“I
know that you know what they’re for; you’ve seen mine enough times.” He said
with a little laugh, “You should have expected that you would get some of your
own.”

“Why
now? I already have Dumbledore on my
case, this will just give him more reason to kick me out, then
I can’t do what I’m supposed to.” I said with a groan.

“More
reason? What did you do?” He asked,
narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Nothing,
he’s just looking for a reason to kick me out, has been since the
beginning. He called me up to his office
the other morning andovedoved the glamour.
I’m not happy Uncle Erebus; he’s trying to get into things he should
just keep out of. I don’t know what to
do. If he finds out about this then he
will kick me out.”

He
looked thoughtful for a moment, “I’ll speak with some of my contacts, in the
mean time I’ll take care of your teeth and hope that the fool will not try to
remove my glamour, if he tries he won’t be happy.” He said, brushing his
fingers over my teeth.

I
ran my teeth over them, “They don’t feel any different.” He sighed and held up
a little hand mirror, “Alright, they look different.”

“Now
have a nice soak.” He said, refilling the tub with fresh water, “There
shouldn’t be any more pain for a few more days and those will be hunger
pains. When that happens I shall take
care of it, I’ll see what I can do about that fool Dumbledore.”

I
sighed, “Uncle Erebus, why were you looking for someone?”

He
brushed a lock of hair back from my face, “I’ll tell you the story over Yule.” He
said before walking away.

class=GramE>“Stupid vampire.” I grumbled, “Always keeping me in the
dark.”

It
was another twenty minutes before I got out of the bath. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> My nightgown was ruined, stained with droplets
of crimson blood. I would have to get
rid of it before anyone saw and began asking questions.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Holding my hand over the stained silk I
muttered a few words. It burst into
flames, dissolving into nothing in a matter of seconds.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> I sighed and pulled on my robes.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Pansy was already gone for the day.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Sighing to myself I walked out of the dorm,
making my way to the Great Hall. open the doors I walked in, looking for my friends.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Harry and Draco were seated side by side as
always. I smiled slightly and walked
over, sitting next to Harry.

“Hey
Kerenza, you slept late.” Harry said.

I
nodded, “I know, I wish I hadn’t.” I said, getting some food, I wasn’t really
hungry but I needed to eat something.

Draco
scowled slightly, “Something wrong Kerenza?
You look really pale.” He said in concern.

“I’m
alright.” I said, taking a bite of food, “Well, at least I’ll be alright, I
hope.”

He
continued to look concerned, “I don’t believe you.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> You can tell us when we get down to the
common room; I’m not going to let you get away with keeping something like this
from us.” He half smiled but I knew he was very serious.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> It looked like I was going to have to tell
them what was happening to me. I trusted
them, knew that they wouldn’t tell, “Why is Dumbledore looking at us?” He
asked, finishing up his breakfast.

“I
have no idea but he’d better mind his own business.” I growled lowly, I wasn’t happy;
my day wasn’t turning out well. As he
got to his feet to walk over I got to mine, “Let’s go, now.” I said before
walking out of the Great Hall.

Draco
and Harry looked at each other, going after me quickly, I was sure that they
still wanted to ask me what was going on.
I knew at that moment that I was going to spend the rest of the school
year avoiding Dumbledore.

class=GramE>“Tenebrae Angelus.” I said to the
wall leading to our common room.

It
slid open and the three of us walked inside.
With a sigh I plopped down on the deep green couch, “Alright Kerenza,
tell us what’s wrong.”

I
sighed, “I’m changing.” I said cryptically.

“That
doesn’t explain much.” Draco was doing all the talking out of the two.

“You
remember seeing Erebus the other night, right?” They nodded, “He’s a vampire, a
very old vampire. The core of my wand is
his blood. I don’t know the whole story
but he’s been searching for someone for a long time and apparently that someone
is me. I’m becoming a vampire.” I said
softly.

“That
is so cool.” Harry said excitedly.

I
smiled slightly, “It’s not very pleasant.”

“So
you’re going to be a vampire?” Draco asked.
I nodded, “Two dark creatures in one.” He smiled, “That’s pretty rare.”

“He’s
going to tell me the whole story over break.”

Harry
looked really excited, “So when can we see what you really look like?”

I
laughed, “Well, I look the same, my skin is darker and I have fangs now.”

Draco
absently began to play with Harry’s hair, “So what are you doing over
Yule? Going home?” I nodded, “You should
come visit.” He smiled, “I wish Harry could come but I
don’t know if my parents would let him, Yule is always a family thing.”

“I
know how that goes; it always is for us too.” I replied.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> For the rest of the day we relaxed and tried
to think of what could be hidden in the third floor corridor.

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