Blackeyed Girl

Sorry updating took so long, there where several complications.

Also I realise there has not been much dirty action in this troy so far. I guess it just isn’t that kind of story. But there will be some erotic tension a few chapters ahead. And of course there is Snape and his mysterious girlfriend…



This chapter as you might notice is not betaed. Anyone wanting to beta further chapters for me please get in touch via a review. I would be very glad about new beta help. If not however I will still continue to post chapters unbeated since I have quite a few ready and they start to get dusty lying on my hard drive.



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Chapter 8

Don’t Talk To Strangers



Eleanor closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She felt a little bit at peace and free from what ever was restricting her as they walked through the dark alleyways, his hand searching hers.



“Tell me”, she said, “what is it like, being a vampire, being undead?”



“It\'s not the way people make it sound”, he answered quietly, “It\'s rather pitiable. ...But I am not complaining. What happens happens. Wishing it hadn\'t doesn\'t change anything, right?”



“No, I know it doesn\'t. Things are just the way they are.”



“Exactly.”



“I really want to know… what it is like to die.”



“Everyone does. But I don’t think I can answer that. I died to become a vampire, that\'s different. I mean, the way I died has nothing to do with how other people die...when they just die... when they don\'t come back. I could describe to you what it was like, but it won\'t make a difference to you. Besides... dying is kind of a personal thing. I don\'t really like talking about it.”



He squeezes her hand involuntarily. She watched his profile as they walked, that youthful and yet sunken face, the long nose and the long black hair and that slinky, long, awkward body.



“How old are you?”



“21.”



“I mean including your vampire years.”



“What does that matter when I do not age any more?“ he looked at her briefly and continued, “I am still young... young enough to still be under constant observation... with a chaperone... I have not proven yet that I am in control of my cravings.”



Eleanor looked to the ground: “If you bit someone... you would be locked away or something?” Sanguini didn\'t answer so Eleanor took that as a yes and continued, “So you are doing well? You obviously haven\'t bitten anyone yet.”



Sanguini still remained silent as he walked beside her. Eventually he said: “I haven\'t been without my chaperone before.”



Eleanor looked to the ground, nervousness overcoming her again.



“I can smell you, you know… I smelled the other girls too...”



“So?” Eleanor said, trying to sound strong.



Sanguini suddenly stopped and let go of her hand as though it was burning him.



“It\'s ugly! Girls are ugly!” he said with a sudden harshness.



Eleanor stepped back.



“Sorry”, he said then. Eleanor observed him suspiciously. He was struggling with something.



“Did you mean that?” she said quietly.



He shook his head looking away fighting with himself: “No, sorry.”



“It\'s okay”, she said. Watching him struggle made her suddenly felt stronger. She felt sorry for him and she felt she understood on some abstract level. She knew what it was like to struggle inside.



“Sanguini, you\'re nice.” He looked up at her puzzled. “I like you. I know you are alright.”



She nodded as though to assure herself. Somehow, she hated to see him suffer. He seemed so innocent to her, so tragic. And she somehow could feel how he was feeling. She held out her hand to him. He looked at it as though scared of it. But then he took it and jerked her closer to himself into the dark shadow of a house. They stumbled against the wall. A dog somewhere started barking violently. Sanguini pulled her towards himself. He was breathing hard. She pushed herself away from him again, gaining a little bit of distance between them, but she fixed her eyes on his.



“You\'re alright!” she repeated but Sanguini seemed to loose himself, his eyes fixed on random things around them and then rolling back into his head.



“Go! I can smell you!” Eleanor pulled away but his grip on her was firm, “go...” he said again but his arms did not let her. She saw his face emerging back out of the dark and a sharp, piercing pain shot into her neck.



Eleanor screamed in terror and pain. She could hear him drink hungrily next to her hear. She could hear him swallow her young blood. Then she saw the darkness spinning around her and drifted into unconsciousness.



*



Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna stormed into the castle as fast as they could after running up the hill but it was at the staircase that they divided. Harry, Ron and Neville were about to dash up the staircase while Hermione, Ginny and Luna turned left to run downstairs to the dungeons. As they realised this they stopped.



“Dumbledore!” shouted Harry desperately.



“No! Snape is her guardian! We need to tell him!” Hermione argued



“Let\'s keep him out of it, Mione! What good will it do to tell him?!”



“Don\'t be stupid, Ron! We can\'t keep him out of it! Dumbledore would tell him immediately anyway!”



“Are you going to hang around here and argue about this?” said Ginny in disbelieve, “We are going to tell Snape. You do what you want but it would be best if you just go to bed or do you want to get Ellie into trouble for hanging out with you?!”



Harry looked at her startled, he had completely forgotten this. He looked at Ron and Neville. Of course simply going to bed and leaving it all to the girls was not an option.



“Look we go tell Dumbledore. We\'ll just say you told us what happened and asked us for help.”



Ginny frowned annoyed: “Yeah what ever.” She turned around and ran down the stairs without another word. Hermione and Luna followed her.



They hurried down the staircase into the dungeons towards Snape\'s office, hoping he was going to be there but even before they reached it they almost collided with Snape who came around the corner.



“Professor!” shouted Ginny, “Eleanor! She was bitten! She is with Rosmerta!”



“Bitten?” Snape asked his eyes widening.



“A vampire!” Hermione shouted, “You must come quickly!”



Snape followed them not saying or asking another word until they had arrived back at the Three Broomsticks minutes later. Snape barged in and Rosmerta stuck her head out of the backroom waving him inside. Hermione, Luna and Ginny followed him.



Eleanor was lying on a bench covered with jackets and coats between boxes and bottles of stock for the pub. A towel was pressed against her neck and it was soaked in blood. Her wrists had tee towels knotted around them, too. Those were equally bloody. Eleanor was white as a sheet and unconscious. Snape rushed forward as he saw her and felt her temperature. Everyone else stood around him watching in silence. Snape softly pulled down her chin to examine her mouth. He closed it again and removed the towel to look at the wound. Blood still oozed out of it. Then he checked her pulse. Nobody dared to make the slightest sound. He pulled his wand from his cloak and pointed it at her bite wounds, one after another, muttering almost silent spells.



The girls exchanged worried looks as they watched.



A few minutes later Snape got up and said as he continued to watch Eleanor\'s unconscious figure.



I need some fresh towels and a blanket. She needs to stay as warm as possible for the way up to the castle.



Rosmerta hurried out of the room instantly.



Now Snape turned to the girls for the first time, his eyes glittering angrily: “What happened?”



“We don\'t know”, said Ginny stepping forward, “We were here having a good time. Eleanor went outside but she did not come back and then we heard that the vampire was outside alone and we thought we better check on her but we couldn\'t find her. And then we heard her screaming and ran after it. When we reached them Harry.... Harry found us and he fought the vampire off. He ran away.”



Rosmerta came back with more towels and a blanket and Snape took them off her, his eyes still fixed on Ginny. Then he turned towards Eleanor and wrapped her into the blankets and tying the towels around her wounds. He flicked his wand at her and made her hover in mid-air.

He nodded his thanks to Rosmerta and made Eleanor\'s unconscious body float before him out of the pub and back towards the castle. The girls followed him with some distance.



“Hmm”, said Luna all of a sudden quietly, “I thought you wouldn\'t mention Harry at all. Clever that, how you said Harry appeared out of nowhere to fight off the vampire, really clever, it sounds so suspicious that he must believe it because of course we would not invent that to hide the fact we were with Harry all along, it would be too bad a story. What was impressive Ginny.” Ginny exchanged looks with Hermione and frowned apologetically: “I wasn\'t gonna. It just slipped out and I didn\'t know how ...”



“We\'ll just stick to the story. I make sure Harry knows what we said. If we all stick to it there is nothing Snape can do, no matter how stupid it sounds it\'s possible after all. Besides, Harry did save her, Snape is bound to give him credit for that.”



“I wouldn\'t be to sure of that”, argued Ginny and they fell silent again.



When they reached the castle Harry was standing in the entrance waiting for them. Snape pushed him roughly aside.



“Out of the way, Potter.”



Hermione hurried over to him and whispered: “Where is Dumbledore?”



“Couldn’t find him. Apparently he’s away.”



“Snap! Well, Harry, just so you know. We said you met us outside the Three Broomsticks and we asked you to help us find her and then you fought the vampire off.”



Harry nodded and hurried forward as he saw Snape turning towards the dungeons with Eleanor.



“Professor! She needs the hospital wing!”



Snape stopped and turned around, his eyes glittering darkly at Harry.



”I know what she needs, Potter. Thank you for your concern”, he hissed dangerously quiet.



Harry was about to argue but Hermione put a soothing hand on his shoulder and whispered: “He knows best what to do Harry. He’s going to help her.”





When Eleanor came to and opened her eyes she saw the blurry outline of Snape moving around the room, retrieving something from a cupboard and poring it into a steaming caldron. She looked around. She was lying on a narrow hospital bed in a large study in the dungeons. When she tried to tilt her head a pain hit through her neck up into her head. She moaned.



Snape turned around and came towards her.



“Don’t move. Your wound will open again.” He bent over her and pressed his hand on her forehead to check her temperature again. “You lost a lot of blood. That is why you feel so weak. You will feel this way for a while until your body has build up your blood levels. You need to be careful. With not enough white blood cells your immune system is down.”



“Why is everything so blurry?”, she asked quietly.



“The little blood you have left is contaminated by the vampire bite. Right now it is infecting your entire body. It will stop once you have taken the potion. But it needs another 2 hours before it’s ready.”



Eleanor remembered: “Is he okay?”



“Who?”



“Sanguini, is he okay?”



“I am sure he is feeling just fine right now”, said Snape, sarcasm in his voice.



Eleanor struggled to speak again: “He didn’t mean to do it. It was my fault. Please tell them to be nice to him if they find him. It wasn’t his fault, it was mine.”



“Of course it was”, Snape said and turned away from her back to the potion.



“No, I mean it”, she said feebly. Snape didn’t turn around as he answered:



“It is not uncommon for vampire victims to feel responsible… especially women.”



“But I… I tempted him… I did. I didn’t know it then but… I shouldn’t have walked with him. I knew it was risky and I didn’t care… I didn’t think what I was doing to him, I was just selfish.”



Snape had stopped working on the potion, listening. He waited but Eleanor didn’t say anymore. He turned around slowly and walked towards her bed. He looked down at her coldly.



“What did you do? How did it happen?”



“I… I went outside and he was there and we talked. He asked if I wanted to walk with him. And I did. We… connected… but then he became strange and he said… he said he could smell me, he said it all the time… and then he wanted me to leave but I didn’t. I refused, I thought…. I thought I could help him… I thought I could give him strength… by trusting him. We were so alike. I liked him… I could not leave him behind like that.”



“Are you stupid?”, Snape asked dryly.



Eleanor closed her eyes and turned her face slowly away from him.



“Girls are easily taken in by vampires. But I thought you were smarter than this. Vampires can smell the innocence of a near by young woman. It is something that is very hard for them to resist. And he is a young vampire without his chaperone. The way you behaved was entirely irresponsible with complete disregard of your own safety. I cannot believe that you are this stupid. I am ashamed of you.”



Eleanor pretended that she did not hear him. She felt like vomiting.



“Well, that was certainly the last time you visit the village without an adult to accompany you.”



“That is just as well”, she whispered to herself and a tear ran down her cheek out of her closed eyes. Snape had heard her and only looked down at her without any compassion. Hardly ever had he had such high thoughts of a student and she had greatly disappointed him. He could not understand what had been going on in her mind to behave the way she did.



The next day Snape sat sunken into a chair opposite Dumbledore’s desk. Dumbledore observed him quietly. Both men were silent. Then Dumbledore spoke:



“She is feeling better?”



Snape nodded, not meeting the Headmaster’s eyes: “Her blood is clearing fast. But she is still weak. She will have to stay out of class for at least another 4 days.”



It was quiet again.



“I told you this would happen, Severus.”



“How could I possibly have foreseen that there was a vampire in town, on a rampage without his chaperone and that she would throw herself at the beast?!”



”Now, Severus, lets not be irrational. That is not what happened and it is not what I meant and you know it. I am not blaming you for not seeing this particular … accident coming. But I did tell you that Eleanor has underlying problems, and that you ignoring those leave her to deal with them by herself. And that is what she did.”



Snape shook his head: “By getting herself killed or turned into a vampire? I am sorry if I didn\'t believe her to be that stupid!”



“You know what kind of effect vampires can have on young people. She is fifteen years old and she has a lot on her mind right now. Don\'t you think you are a little too harsh?”



“She should have known better...”



“Of course she should. And she probably does know a lot better, but she is still a teenager, looking for someone or something to identify with... I can tell that she sees herself in you. But you don\'t give her the chance to get to know you.” Snape rolled his eyes. “Thank goodness she was able to make a few friends in Miss Lovegood and Miss Weasley but that is not enough for a girl her age.”

Guild suddenly crawled over him. He had known that it was wrong to make Eleanor stay away from Potter. He knew there was no decent reason for it other than that he could not stand seeing them together.



“Perhaps she saw something in the vampire”, Dumbledore continued, “And that is what should make you interested and perhaps... a little bit concerned?”



Snape looked up at Dumbledore. He was right, he should find out what it was that made her feel so attached to the vampire to make sure he could crush it, to make sure this would not happen again. He could see the day when Eleanor grew older and brought home vampires, werewolves and giants and ...



“Severus!” Dumbledore stopped him as he was exiting the office deep in thought about all the frightening possibilities. Snape turned back to face the Headmaster.



“I know you condemn the way your father treated you. Do remember what it was like to be her age. If nothing good came from his treatment of you, your memory could now be of value to you.”



Snape frowned, nodded and attempted to leave again but Dumbledore held him back once more.



“Oh and Severus, as I understand it Harry Potter was the one who fought the vampire off and saved her. Perhaps you should thank him?”



Snape hesitated in the door, but he did not turn around, nor did he speak. After a moment of hesitation he left.



When Eleanor awoke from a long deep sleep she saw Snape leaning against a wall next to her bed, his arms crossed and looking at her. She fixed her tired eyes on him and they locked.



“Why did you do this?” he asked, “what was it about that vampire that made you blow caution to the wind?”



She blinked but she did not answer.



“Tell me!” he shouted. She only shook her head and said quietly:



“Non of your business. It’s private.”



He stepped towards her, a cold glare on his face: “You are fifteen and you are my ward. Nothing is private.”



“I may be your ward. But I don’t know who you are. Daddy always said ‘don’t talk to strangers.’” She swallowed, as she was about to cry. Then she turned her face away from him. She felt vulnerable and alone. When she was physically weak like this she did not feel that she could keep it together. All she wanted was her mother to hold her. But she was alone in this world. No one would hold her.



“I was wondering…” said Snape after a long pause, he sounded odd, so unlike himself, it sounded like he was struggling, “when you feel better… if you want you could… help me with some work… some potions I have to make… complicated potions… well I could use a…if you feel like it you could help me.”



Eleanor did not turn back to him. She hesitated, then she said: “Okay.”