A/N- Hello again to you all! You know when I first decided to write this for my younger sister, I didn't think it would be popular at all. I'm simply amazed at the number of reviews people have left for me, especially since it's my first fan fiction. I really appreciate every single review I receive, and I love sitting down with my cup of tea in the evenings and reading the things you all have to say. So thanks very much, you guys are absolutely wonderful! Another shout out to Mulder, who may as well chuck on a pair of fairy wings and grab a wand of her own…she has been that helpful to me. Authors boring note over, on with the story. Happy reading and let me know what you think!
**Islanzadi** J
She had woken up abruptly at three in the morning and wasn't quite sure why. A strange feeling plagued her but she couldn't quite define what it was, she sighed into the darkness of her bedroom trying to get her sleep-ridden mind in order. Her first idea was to check that her daughter, Jessica, was sleeping soundly in the next room. After creeping into the bedroom and placing the blankets properly on the small sleeping figure, she crept downstairs to retrieve a pen and a piece of paper, and then she sat down on the couch. She tried to concentrate on what she wanted to write about, who she wanted to write about. But for some unfathomable reason the ideas that had gripped her so tightly when she was on the train had left her. She wasn't sure how long she sat there for, but whatever feeling had woken her up had now left her. She sighed, knowing that trying to go back to bed would be futile and instead padded into the kitchen to put the kettle on. As she stared out of the window listening to the steady whine of the heating water, rain started to fall. She rolled her eyes and the words 'pathetic fallacy' flitted through her mind. The rain started to land on the window with a sudden speed that shocked her slightly, and then out of nowhere a large crash seemed to shake the kitchen and the sky was lit up with a bright white lightning bolt. She was mesmerised for a moment, then a smile of excitement spread across her face. She rushed out of the kitchen and back into the living room where her pen and paper were waiting anxiously for her to share her secrets with them. She picked up the pen and started her frenzied writing. The words 'Lily Potter', 'James Potter', 'Hermione Granger', 'Ron Weasley' and 'Dumbledore' were written around the page, and in the middle she finally wrote the name that had been on her mind on the train, she finally knew what it was. Harry Potter, then next to the name she scrawled a large lightning bolt. She sat on the couch for a while after that, feeling as if she was somehow connected to something she couldn't see and wondering where on earth this was all going to take her. She was oblivious to the sound of the teakettle screeching in the distance, and to the fact that the rain had stopped. There had only been one lightning bolt.
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Harry woke abruptly and felt a sensation of being watched. He grabbed his wand and looked around warily, but there was nothing dangerous he could see. He glanced at the clock and groaned, it was five am and absolutely pointless to try going back to sleep. He lay there for a while just thinking, mostly about Ron and Hermione, though his parents and Dumbledore flitted through his mind too. He wondered what everyone in Grimmauld place had been up to and if any other disasters had plagued Britain while they had been away. He briefly entertained the thought of contacting Mrs Weasley to ask her, but then remembered that it was three in the morning over there. Probably not a good idea. The feeling of being watched was still there and he wondered for one horrible moment if it was Voldemort. But he knew at once that wasn't right, though how he knew that he couldn't have put into words. He lay there for a little while thinking about nothing and everything, only to be pulled out of his reverie by the sound of a knock on the door. He looked at the clock in confusion and was surprised to see it was now six o clock. The sun rose at 7.06 am in the winter so they had little over an hour to get ready, have breakfast and leave for the fortress. The feeling of being watched had left him now, but what was bothering Harry was that now he felt strangely comforted. He shook his head in confusion and headed for the shower trying to put the incident out of his mind. He had more important things to worry about right now.
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The sun was rising over the Poienari fortress and as Hermione lifted her head to welcome the warm rays, she heard a heavy beating sound, and once the blinding light had shifted from her eyes she could see what the loud noise was. Directly in front of them was a man dressed in white, perched atop a ruby red dragon. The dragon was beating its wings leisurely and hovering right next to where they were standing. A noise behind her caught her attention from the dragon, and when she turned around she saw eight other people walking slowly towards them. They were dressed in blue clothes that looked very fine even from a distance. Hermione fought back a derisive snort and wondered why they would dress like that in the middle of winter. But as the group of strangers moved towards them Hermione could see that they were in fact a lot warmer looking that they were. As if sensing Hermione's train of thought Susan quickly whispered-
"We should probably invest in something like that. I feel like an Eskimo in all these clothes…if they don't try to kill us we should definitely think about asking them…"
The beating sound behind them slowly subsided and the group turned around to see the dragon perched almost casually next to the fortress. Harry had no idea how on earth that kind of control could be maintained. If he had brought Norbert up here he would probably put Harry down then fly off to try and find more unsuspecting people that had wooden fences. There was a brief flurry of conversation in a foreign language as the man in white approached them, and then all of the new faces were upon them.
"Why have you come to our sacred fortress? What is it that you want?" asked the man in white. He was quite tall and he had very broad shoulders. Harry would have guessed him to be about thirty years old, though the dark moustache on his face made him look older than he probably was. His eyes were a very dark brown and commanded your attention and respect. Harry noticed that two of his fingers were missing from his right hand and the mangled tortured stubs added to his intimidating presence.
"We are here to request information, and if you would give it, your aid," replied Charlie in a strong voice.
"You are magicians. Surely you do not need our aid?" inquired the man in a harsh voice, though Harry thought he saw his brown eyes dancing slightly with humour.
"We are not magicians," said Mad Eye, his voice tinged with irritation "we are wizards and as you probably know the wizarding world is on the verge of a huge battle against Voldemort-"
"We know all of this," interrupted the man in white. "Tell us what your story and we shall discuss if we think you are worthy recipients of our knowledge and help." The group looked at each other, wondering who should be the one to do the talking. Mad Eye was about to open his mouth again, but Hermione elbowed Harry sharply in ribs. Harry rubbed his side slightly and began to tell the group of strangers their tale. The man in white listened as Harry spoke of the events unfurling in Britain and of their plans for the final battle. After Harry had finished telling them of their meeting with the vampire, the man in white was silent for a few long minutes. Then he motioned silently for the rest of his group to follow him so that they could discuss how they should proceed.
"So…" said Neville, nervously eyeing the dragon behind them. "think that's a tame one?"
"It's fine," said Susan, waving an impatient hand "I hope they can help us. That woman with the long silver hair kept looking at us as if she was expecting us to try and bite them at any moment,"
"Well," said Ron "considering they hunt vampires that usually do try and bite them all the time, that's not too much of a surprise is it?" Susan rolled her eyes.
"They have remarkable control over that dragon," said Hermione softly "that's one of the main reasons we're here isn't it? To learn their methods of control so that when we need to use Norbert we can do so without any unfortunate repercussions."
"If by unfortunate repercussions, you mean being killed or thrown off the dragon in midair…then you'd be right," grinned Charlie. Hermione was about to reply to his smart arse comment, but the group suddenly fell quiet. The Order of the Dragon was approaching them now, and the woman with the silver hair looked like she would like nothing more than to throw them into the air herself.
"You have our help," said the man in white, holding out his hand for Harry to shake "I am Alexandru, defender of Mankind." Harry shook his hand and wondered if he had given himself the last part of his name "I am also known as the White Knight, head of the Order of the Dragon," He then shook hands with the rest of the group and then introduced the other members. Harry realised that the part of Alexandru's name that he had wondered about earlier was simply what his name meant. There was a tall man with long blonde hair called Horatiu, which meant 'time keeper' in the Romanian language. Then there was Bodgan who looked like he was twenty years old in the face, though his dark brown curly hair was streaked with grey, his name meant 'gift from god'. The other two men were Anghel, which meant 'messenger' and Sorin…who looked like a cross between Ron and Bill Weasley. Sorin's name in the Romanian language meant 'red hair' which earned a chuckle from some people, though Luna found it quite hysterical and the poor girl had to be pulled to her feet by a very red faced Ron. The grouchy silver haired woman was named Romena the 'wise guardian', and she looked older than anyone Harry had ever met, though her eyes burned with inner youth. Helena was a slim lady who looked about twenty years old too. She had long brown hair that reached to her waist and very delicate features, her name meant light. The last two women were Viviana, full of life and Celestina the heavenly. Viviana looked like she was about to burst because she wanted to talk so much and Harry knew immediately that her name was well fitted. Alexandru explained that there were more members of the Order of the Dragon, but Harry had a hard enough time remembering the names of the people in front of him let alone ones he hadn't met yet. He changed the subject quickly by asking about the control Alexandru had over the dragon, and in reply he pulled out a long necklace with a dragon fang hanging on it. After closer inspection Harry noticed that the fang had been carved slightly and watched as Alexandru put it to his lips and blew. No sound came out, but Harry could tell from the reaction of the dragon that it was paying attention. He blew on the whistle again and the dragon crawled closer to them.
"We use these to summon the dragons when we need them, but it is a two way process. You have to give something to the dragon so that you can use the whistle. For this we partake in a ceremony that brings your chosen dragon and you together," explained Alexandru
"Well…what do you have to do?" asked Ron, not entirely sure he wanted to know.
"We do not speak of it. You, your dragon and an elder of the Order of the Dragon participate in this ceremony. To speak of the details leaves you weak and vulnerable to your enemies. After we create the bond with the dragon our minds are wiped clean. Only the Elders know of the rituals," replied Alexandru.
"So if the Order of the Dragon perishes, the secrets of the dragons die too," said Hermione softly.
"That's correct," said Alexandru smiling at Hermione.
"But I can't take part in a ceremony like that because I'm not a member of the Order. So how will I control Norbert when I need him?" asked Harry anxiously, visions of Norbert getting pissed of with him and throwing him into the air were flashing through his mind.
"Time will tell," said Helena softly. The rest of the group nodded wisely, but Harry had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. He looked around and was relieved to see that Susan, Ron, Charlie and Neville also seemed to be clueless. He would ask Hermione later…
"The vampires that wish to fight against you and join Voldemort are the younger vampires of this society. They are ignorant and feel that they can gain power; it is our job to stop them before they leave for England. Last night we received information that they will be meeting in Bran castle before they depart, but we do not yet know the date of departure. We have members of the Dragon out trying to find information. We can only hope that we find them in time, though it will be dangerous to face that many vampires. Your help and sorcery shall be helpful indeed," said Alexandru strongly.
"It's not sorcery mate," said Ron conversationally "it's m--"
"So you'll contact us when you have that information?" asked Harry whilst giving Ron a warning look.
"Yes, where are residing?" asked Alexandru.
"We're staying at the Irina villa," said Hermione anxiously "but how will you contact us? We don't have any telephones and I doubt you have owls."
"We have our own means of communication," chuckled Viviana. Then the group left so quickly that Harry briefly wondered if it had been a dream.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" asked Hermione "I mean, do you think we should trust them? We've only just met them and we really don't know too much about them…"
"Don't think I haven't done my homework," said Mad Eye gruffly "Do you think I'd get us into trouble like that?"
"N-no," stammered Hermione "It's just that we were trying to find out information about the vampires and now we're going to fight them all. I just hope that we can trust them when it comes down to it,"
"We can," said Charlie "besides, it's better that we fight them here before they leave for England to join Voldemort than have another bunch of violent creatures in the final showdown. The less of those we have the better, don't you think?" Hermione nodded, though she still chewed her bottom lip in deep thought.
Mad Eye disapparated, leaving the rest of the group behind with excited smiles on their faces. All except for the clueless Hermione.
"You hungry?" murmured Harry into Hermione's ear. She jumped at the sudden intrusion but then smiled widely at Harry.
"Now that I'm not vomiting every two minutes I could eat constantly. Where shall we go?" she asked breathlessly.
"A pregnant woman's love for food is an amazing thing," said Charlie with a smile.
"I have no idea where we'll go yet," said Harry quietly "But you trust me right?"
"Of course I do," said Hermione simply "But why? Are you planning on having me eat something disgusting like horse? Because I won't do it, I'm telling you right now…" Harry laughed loudly, then whispered into her ear-
"Close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to,"
"Erm…ok," she whispered nervously. Harry then disapparated, followed by the other men. Luna quickly pointed her wand at Hermione, and the dress that she had tried on the previous day appeared on her petite frame. Susan pulled out a small bag, which had the words 'glitteringly gorgeous' embroidered upon it. She pulled out a handful of glittering silver power and blew it off of her hand and onto Hermione's unsuspecting face.
"What are you doing to me? Harry? Can I open my eyes now?" asked Hermione, her voice dripping with suspicion. Susan laughed silently to herself then quickly aimed a spell at Hermione's hair. Luna laughed hysterically as her hair literally stood on end and began to smooth itself out, but the finished job was wonderful. The girls stood back to admire their work. Hermione stood in a breathtaking princess cut dress. It was beautifully detailed, with glittering beadwork along the bodice and around the trim of the dress. Over the top of the dress was a white hooded cloak, with matching beadwork. Hermione's hands began to move to touch her stomach, so naturally Susan and Luna began to fumble with their wands to stop her. Luna froze her hands an inch before she touched her dress, but Hermione already had a knowing smile on her face.
"Erm," said Susan quickly "pretend you have no idea what's going on," Hermione didn't say anything, instead she squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and tried to breath deeply.
"You're not scared or angry are you?" asked Susan uncertainly.
"No," whispered Hermione "I've never been happier,"
"Why are you keeping your eyes closed?" asked Susan again.
"Harry told me to," said Hermione simply. Then she smiled so radiantly that both Luna and Susan had tears in their eyes.
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Harry stood outside of Peles castle with a ball of excitement in the pit of his stomach. He was surrounded by the epitome of renaissance architecture, there were tall towers built in marble, stone and wood surrounding him. Large statues adorned the entranceways, and as Harry looked around he could see small balconies joining one tower to another. It was like something from a fairytale, though lately it seemed as if his life was like something from a fairytale…or a horror film, depending on whether you wanted to focus on Hermione or Voldemort. Ron clapped his hand on his shoulder and startled Harry out of his thoughts.
"This way," he said "you want to get all set up before she arrives,"
"Yeah," said Harry quietly "I sort of wish this could be perfect for her though. You know, have her dad here to give her away. Have everyone here to see us get married, know what I mean?"
"She loves you Harry," said Ron seriously "Hermione doesn't need all of that stuff. She has you here, that's all that matters. It's about you two anyway, not everyone else."
"You're right," sighed Harry "cheers,"
"No worries," said Ron with a grin "Now hurry up and follow the rest of them before she gets here." Harry nodded then dashed off after Neville and Charlie. Ron stood pacing for a while and couldn't help a rueful smile. Who would have ever thought things would end up this way? He heard a crack in the distance and about five minutes later Susan, Luna and Hermione came into his vision. Susan and Luna wore light periwinkle silk gowns, and Hermione was the vision of an angel in white. He found his eyes watering slightly and brushed them very quickly. He couldn't believe his best friends were getting married, but if anyone deserved to be happy it was them. He had never been able to say out loud how much he loved the both of them, nor was he ever likely to, it was one of those things that didn't need to be said out loud. The bond between the three of them was never questioned, it was just something that was and they put their entire faith into their friendship without questioning it. It was amazing how much had happened since that first day on the train, and how much still had to happen. He watched as Hermione walked towards him and vowed that he would keep her safe and do anything in his power to stop her pain when Harry died. He brushed off those thoughts quickly and let his eyes linger on Luna…then he shifted them away again though he had a sheepish grin on his face.
"Hi Ron," said Hermione when she was finally standing in front of him.
"Alright?" asked Ron.
"Never better," grinned Hermione. Ron grinned in return and offered his arm to Hermione. She smiled a smile that lit up her face and eyes. She had never looked so beautiful as she did right now. Ron waited as Luna and Susan walked in front of them and he followed behind them with Hermione.
"Nervous?" asked Ron jokingly.
"Not at all," said Hermione serenely "I've never been so sure of anything in my life. Ron…do you think you could stop staring at Luna's arse and listen to me?"
"Sorry…" said a very shamefaced Ron. Then they looked at each other and laughed, one thing was always certain…wherever Hermione and Ron were there would definitely be bickering.
Harry waited in a magnificent room, surrounded by statues, paintings and amazing historical artifacts. He knew Hermione would love it and he fixed his eyes on the door and tried to contain his anticipation. When the door finally opened he felt his heart leap into his throat. Luna and Susan emerged carrying bouquets of white lilies. Harry smiled fondly at the flower, knowing it was something Hermione had thought of. He could scarcely believe that they had ever been friends. How could he have not seen her? How could he have been so blind to have missed what was right in front of him? He smiled as she entered the room, feeling his heart swell at the sight of her. He couldn't believe how breathtaking she looked. He wished he had known how he felt about her sooner, how much time could they have spent together? How many months, years? But at least he had her now; at least he knew what it was like to be truly in love. For that he would be eternally grateful no matter what happened.
The minister stood in front of Harry and Hermione and began his opening speech. Harry had absolutely no idea what he was talking about; his eyes were trained solely upon Hermione. He didn't know how long they just stood and stared at each other for, but the minister gave a discreet little cough to start them on their vows. Hermione flushed a light pink colour and Harry thought it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. He cleared his throat to speak the words that truly came from his heart.
"Hermione, with free and unconstrained soul
I give you all I am and all I am to become
Take this ring, and with it my promise of faith, patience and love,
For the rest of my life,"
"Today, Harry" spoke Hermione in an emotionally charged voice "I join my life to yours,
Not merely as your wife
But as your friend, your lover and your confidant,
Let me be the shoulder you lean on,
The rock on which you rest,
The companion of your life,
With you I will walk my path from this day forward."
"What have I to give you Hermione?
The promise to take you as my only love from this day forward,
To stand by your side, and listen when you speak,
To comfort you when you cry,
And to join your laughter with my own,
Take this ring, and be my wife,"
"As freely, Harry, as God has given me life,
I join my life with yours,
Wherever you go, I will go,
Whatever you face, I will face,
For good or ill, in happiness or sadness,
Come riches or poverty,
I take you as my husband, and will give myself to no other,"
Luna, Ron, Susan, Neville and Charlie watched as they placed rings on each other's fingers, and then pronounced them man and wife. Hermione glowed with happiness and Harry kissed her so soundly that the minister gave another little cough to get them to break it up. Everyone laughed loudly at this, though Ron and Luna laughed the loudest. Harry held Hermione's hand whilst leading her out of the castle and stopping to put his hand firmly around her waist.
"Ready for the wedding night Mrs. Potter?" he asked mischievously.
"Of course Mr Potter, though if you want to be technical it's wedding afternoon. The question is, can you handle it?" she laughed wickedly.
"We'll see…" he grinned, and then with a crack they were gone.
"Well we should definitely all go out to celebrate their wedding," said Ron slowly, avoiding Luna's eye contact in case she thought drinking in the middle of the afternoon unwise. To his surprise she didn't react too much to his suggestion, which he took as a good sign.
"I agree," laughed Charlie.
"There's a pub up the road," offered Neville with a smile.
"Men," grumbled Susan. Suffice to say the merriments continued well into the night for both parties.
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Susan awoke the next morning and could feel her skull trying to split itself open. She grabbed a pillow and put it over her head, willing the pain to go away. How much did she drink last night? An image of her dancing with Luna on a table in the pub flashed through her mind and she squeezed her eyes in an effort to will the image away. She knew she ought to get up and find Luna. She probably already had a potion brewing and her head was practically screaming for it. She went to move her leg but found that it was trapped under something. Intriguing. She began to wiggle it a bit and realised that it was a person she was trapped under. Hmm, no point in going out to find Luna. Apparently she had decided to crash in Susan's bed last night. Maybe she could persuade her to help make a potion with her at the very least…Luna would definitely need it too, no doubt about it. She reluctantly opened her eyes to the brightness of the day and realised that she didn't recognise the room she was in. This was not a good sign... She turned over to try and prod Luna awake and then stopped as her eyes caught the sight of bright red hair.
"Eh?" she mumbled to herself as her hung over brain tried to piece together what she was seeing, the second it managed to, she yelped and leapt up from the bed. After grabbing her wand off of the bedside table and quickly summoning her clothes, she made a run for the door. The second she was out of the room she pulled on her clothes and then ran down the stairs. She had barely got down the first staircase when she whacked head first into Luna. This certainly wasn't going to help her hangover. Not surprisingly, Luna seemed to find this quite funny.
"Ah! There you are!" said Luna, still giggling a few minutes later "I thought you might like some potion. We were rather drunk last night I'm afraid."
"Um, yeah I think we were," mumbled Susan, taking the potion gratefully. After she had swallowed the disgusting concoction and her brain had stopped trying to break free from her skull she could finally think clearly. Maybe it was a good idea if she didn't mention what had happened…she didn't want to seem irresponsible after all. Not to mention that he probably didn't like her like that, I mean for some blokes shag was just that…a shag. She mentally shook herself for being such a stupid cow.
"So, how was your drunken shag with Charlie? Everything you had imagined?" asked Luna vaguely. Susan tripped suddenly on the stairs due to Luna's frankness, which sent Luna into another bout of crazed hysterics.
"Very funny," mumbled Susan, as she scrambled to her feet again. "Who else knows?"
"The question you should be asking, is who else doesn't know? Other than the happy couple of course…" laughed Luna dreamily.
"How embarrassing," said Susan.
"What's embarrassing?" came the voice of Charlie from the top of the stairs. Susan's face went past the red stage and ascended to the valley of purple.
"I, erm, just fell down the stairs." said Susan quickly, and then wanted to hit herself for saying that out loud. Charlie laughed and walked past them, then stopped to quickly whisper-
"I hope you're not still drunk," Susan looked up and the look in his eyes made her knees tremble. She had never been so grateful for having a wall behind her before. Charlie laughed softly and carried on walking down the stairs. Susan allowed herself to be led to her room by Luna, where she promptly screeched when she saw what she looked like in the mirror. This was going to be a bad day…
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Harry rolled over and smiled as he saw Hermione sleeping soundly next to him, her face covered by her hair. Harry moved her hair away from her face and kissed her softly on the lips, then the cheeks and then slowly started to trail them down her neck. Hermione sighed softly and her eyelids fluttered open.
"Mmmm," she said sleepily "how is my husband this morning?"
"I've lost count of how many times you've called me your husband already," chuckled Harry "but I'm very well. Did you sleep ok?"
"Wonderfully," she mumbled, then snuggled into Harry and raised her neck to invite more of his kisses. Harry was only too happy to oblige…but at that moment something quite unexpected happened. A strange crackling sensation filled the room, almost as if it were filling with electricity. Harry sat up and grabbed his wand quickly, but before he even had time to react there were bright red sparks dashing from all areas of their room. Harry watched in amazement as the red sparks glittered brightly and began to move to the centre of the room. Once in the centre of the room they began to merge together, first changing from an indistinguishable blob to a face. A minute later the blob had developed a great gaping mouth filled with fangs and little horns. It was a bright red dragon, made out of something similar to fireworks.
"Not too discreet," said Hermione quietly. The dragon's mouth opened wide and spirals of blue and yellow sparks came out, drifting whimsically into the air to spell out a message. Harry read the message intently:
Bran Castle at half twelve
"Every girls dream honeymoon. Battling with bloodthirsty vicious vampires…" joked Hermione, as the dragon's mouth began to close and the sparks lost their glow, eventually disappearing altogether.
"Well," said Harry quietly, with a mischievous glint in his eye "it could be worse, we could be on some boring holiday learning about facts from some tour guide…"
"I'll have you know that I rather like tours! They give you all the important information you need, as well as some entertaining tidbits that…what are you laughing at? Harry? Oh shut up!" she scolded lightly, throwing her pillow firmly onto his face, and then making a mad dash for the bathroom before he could retaliate. However, sports weren't quite Hermione's forte and so she lost quite badly. Not that she minded.
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The group met up in the courtyard of Bran Castle. It was filled with tourists, so much so that they were having a hard time staying together. A very tanned middle-aged man barged into Susan in his haste to join his partner, who was waving to him excitedly. His American accent flitted across the mumbles of the crowd.
"I'm super excited you could meet me here! Isn't it great?"
"Super excited?" muttered Susan, looking at the rest of the group "Do you think he is, perhaps, a super tosser?"
"Susan!" reprimanded Hermione lightly "Let's forget about him. I don't understand why they asked us to meet here. I mean…look at this place! It's too crowded, why on Earth would vampires want to meet here? There must be something we're missing…"
"That American bloke is looking at us really oddly. Do you think he's a bit touched in the head?" asked Ron, looking anxiously at the tanned man.
"He's waving at us to follow him. Who the bloody hell is he?" asked Harry curiously. Luna's looked of confusion suddenly gave away to a bright smile.
"Look carefully at his eyes! It's Alexandru! I wonder how he managed to do that without magic. They really are quite fascinating…"
"That's incredible. What's even more incredible is the discreet way of getting our attention," muttered Susan.
"Now now Sue! What's got your knickers in a twist this morning?" asked Charlie with a grin.
"Nothing," said Susan, immediately going red again. "Lets just go figure out what this super bloke has to say…"
As they approached the man, Harry noticed that there were several other people simply hanging around the courtyard. He figured that they too must be disguised like Alexandru. The castle surrounded the small courtyard they were standing in, and directly in front of Harry was an archway leading into the castle. He looked up at the dark wooden balcony above the archway and saw two more people staring intently at him. He looked at the others, and was surprised that no one else had pegged these strangers as being part of the Order of the Dragon. Even though he was about to face an unknown number of vampires, he couldn't help but feel surrounded by history. He had never really though about anything like that before, but the castle just seemed to scream it's age at you and the design begged you to listen to its secrets. As they neared the archway, the two men followed another group of tourists. Hermione mimicked pointing to some of the cream stonework on the castle wall, and after a few seconds of pretending to look at it, they moved on after the two men.
They passed through a large chamber with an ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and a large decorative table in the middle of the room. Then they walked through another room, filled with carvings and wonderful artwork on the walls. They gave the pieces enough of a look so they didn't look suspicious before moving on. Harry finally saw the back of the 'American' man's head. He was heading out of the room with the other man; only now two women followed them. They appeared to be chatting animatedly. Harry signalled everyone else to follow him, and he moved to the back of the room to another archway. There were so many tourists around that Harry held onto Hermione's hand to keep her with him, and then Hermione and the rest of the group made a chain. Mad Eye excluded of course. Harry manoeuvred them through the crowds and led them into a small stone hallway, lit only by flaming torches.
"Why are these dodgy areas always lit with fire?" asked Harry.
"It would hardly look alluring if they had light bulbs hanging from the ceiling would it?" joked Hermione quietly. Harry's chuckle caught in his throat as he saw a large group of tourists in the middle of the stone archway, and directly behind them were seven strangers, the American man and his partner. Harry and the rest of the group walked casually past the first group of tourists until they were level with Alexandru and his group. Alexandru's shape shifted slightly, then settled again as he turned around and casually leant against the stone wall behind him. He was making a joke in an overly brash voice that Harry was sure American's didn't use. At least not from what Harry had seen on the telly anyway. Alexandru suddenly started talking about the flaming torch, and before Harry knew what had happened he was falling into a pit of darkness.
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Hermione lit her wand as she was falling, and managed prepare herself for the drop to the floor. She heard the tell tale thuds of everyone else landing on the floor and wondered how far away the vampires were and if they were already in trouble. She would at least like to have the upper hand for once. She saw the rest of her group light their wands, and with their accumulated light she could see the room. It was a simple room in the shape of on oval; there were no torches, no decorations and nothing else filling it. At the end of the room was a small hallway, with stone steps leading into a corridor above it. Mad Eye, Alexandru, Charlie, John and Harry took the lead. Hermione stayed directly behind Harry with Ron, Luna and Susan. The walked up the stone stairway quietly, and the corridor they reached was so narrow it could only fit three people walking side by side. There were no torches up here either, and the darkness was so absolute that the wands light seemed to only go a foot in front of them.
"There are enchantments upon this castle," whispered Mad Eye gruffly "The light from the wands isn't strong enough."
"Dracula has powers to rival your basic spells. But if you can resist his basic enchantments, your more potent spells will hurt him. But only sunlight or a stake will kill Dracula, not even your powerful curses," said Alexandru quietly.
"Will he be here?" asked Susan worriedly.
"Dracula? Of course not. It has been my life's work to destroy him and I know that he is a prize too big to simply be handed to me. No he is not here, it is simply the lesser vampires that are here today,"
"The weak always try to stick with the strong," said Harry, referring to the Vampires and Voldemort but thinking about Peter Pettigrew and his father. Alexandru looked like he might say something back, but whatever it was on the tip of his tongue was cut off by a fierce hissing sound. Harry raised his wand in the direction of the hiss and heard Mad Eye shout-
"Luminarium!"
The hallway was lit momentarily, and in those few seconds Harry could see vampires hanging on the walls, dangling from the ceiling and rushing at them from the front of the corridor. Then the light faded and he hard Hermione desperately shout-
"Remember they are immune to sunlight!" He heard a few mumbled curses, and then the next thing he knew the corridor was filled with different coloured sparks, all in the shape of dragons. The dragons lunged at the vampires, and Alexandru, Helena and Bodgan leapt forward with wooden stakes and began driving them through the hearts of the vampires. The hissing noises filled the corridor, but now were punctuated with the angered and pained screams of their enemies. Anghel, Sorin and Viviana handed out stakes, and Harry buried his wand into the pocket of his robes. He heard a hissing noise directly behind him, and he turned around quickly to bury the stake into the vampires' chest. Unfortunately he hadn't done this sort of thing before, and it missed and hit the vampire in the arm. Harry felt himself being flung backwards into the wall, where a pair of arms gripped his waist. He could hear the hissing noise in his ears, far too close for comfort. He thought-
"Protego!" and the vampires were flung forcefully away from him. He smiled grimly…magic to get them away, a wooden stake to kill them. He heard a screech from Hermione and turned around, his heart suddenly in his throat. Was she in trouble? Where was she? He looked worriedly around, and then his eyes spotted her surrounded by six vampires. He moved forward to help her and had barely gotten to step number two when he realised that she wasn't screeching in fear. She was making a rather funny noise as she rammed a stake into the vampires' heart, with much better precision than Harry had. He watched as she shielded herself, froze the vampires and then took care of them quickly.
The hallway was filled with the sounds of spells being shouted, the colours of the dragons and the screaming of the vampires. Harry immersed himself in the job at hand, over and over again. But it seemed like no matter how many they seemed to get rid of, there were just as many waiting to attack them. He was starting to feel extremely tired, and he could tell the rest of them were too. The rest of the group and the Order of the Dragon were in a circle, and Harry was in the middle with Ron, fighting off the vampires that seemed to be dropping from the ceiling. How long had they been doing this for? It seemed like and endless amount of time, and it looked as If they had hardly made a dent in the population of vampires meeting here today. Hermione ducked out of the circle and joined Harry and Ron in the centre, she cast a quick spell on them and Harry immediately felt better. His limbs no longer felt like lead and he felt energised again, though not as much as he would like. He opened his mouth to thank her, but at that moment a vampire fell from the ceiling and lunged at her quickly. Harry couldn't think, he couldn't breathe; he simply leapt towards Hermione with Ron following shortly after him.
What happened next, no one expected. Harry and Ron had reached for their wands to get the vampire off of Hermione, when a sudden white light filled the room. It wasn't the bright white light that surrounded them when Harry, Luna and Susan had combined their patronuses, but rather a soft creamy light that felt pleasantly warm to the skin. It spread through the stone corridor and the vampires fell like dominoes. The Order of the Dragon and everyone else went into action immediately, driving stakes through the vampires' hearts at an alarmingly efficient pace. Harry had the pleasure of destroying the vampire that had been on top of Hermione, and this time he did not miss. He was momentarily shaken at the things he had done these last few months, the horrors he had seen and the things he had been forced to kill. Then he looked at Hermione's grateful and rather embarrassed face and felt all of that melt away. He would kill a hundred times over to keep her and his child safe, and if that made him an awful person then so be it. Ron, Harry and Hermione shared a hug, and then broke quickly apart when they noticed they were surrounded by complete silence. Harry stood up and helped Hermione to her feet, and the wound his arm around her waist in a protective manner.
"You are more than worthy for our help Harry. Your name means 'army power', meaning you are a powerful leader. But you are more powerful than even your name suggests, and more so because you have the love of your friends behind you. Never doubt the power of love and friendship for you have seen its power today," Said Alexandru in a calm and serious voice.
What? Love had done that? How on Earth could he, Ron and Hermione have caused all that? Without using a spell or anything?
"Sometimes the heart acts when the mind can't possibly understand a way out of the situation. You always know the solution to a problem, whether you realise it or not. Every single person has a power inside of them, it just takes belief to utilize it correctly," said Romena, her old harsh face unusually calm and pleasant. It was almost more of a shock seeing her look like that than it had been to see the vampires materializing out of stone walls. He made a mental note to always be very careful in enchanted castles from now on.
"Almost everyone has that kind of power," said Ron tiredly "except muggles and squibs. They have no power at all…"
"We do not possess magic like you, and yet we use the power, do we not?" asked Alexandru.
"It's true Ron," said Luna excitedly "everyone has some kind of power. Even muggles! Every time they have a dream that then happens in real life…magic! Every time they think about the phone ringing and then it does…magic! When they think about someone and then they just so happen to see that person the same day, it's magic! Every small thing they attribute to a coincidence is always much more than that, but they never want to see it. It's too strange to think of something that small being something that magnificent, but it is! You have to believe in things before you can use them. Magic is all around us all the time, it just depends on how you use it,"
"The girl is wise beyond her years," said Romena quietly.
"Well at least we got rid of some of them. Maybe enough to make a difference in the end, what do you reckon Harry?" asked Ron hopefully.
"We'll see Ron," said Harry tiredly.
"You must get some rest now. Tomorrow we shall take Harry and teach him how to use his dragon, then you must prepare to lead your followers into battle," said Alexandru decisively.
"Um, I don't really think-" began Harry uncertainly, but was cut off when Alexandru simply bowed and walked away.
"We shall contact you tomorrow," chuckled Viviana lightly, then she hurried up the rest of the departing group.
"Looks like you made some friends Harry," said Mad Eye gruffly, the he too turned around and started to walk in the direction the Order of the Dragon was walking in, followed by Charlie, John and Neville. Hermione leant into Harry and whispered-
"Think we could get back to that honeymoon now?"
"I think that could be arranged…" replied Harry with a cheeky grin.
"Oi you lot," said Ron, looking suddenly nervous "How the bloody hell do we get out of here?"
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A/N- Just in case any of you were wondering, I expect there to be another four or five chapters and then the story will be at an end L If everything goes to plan…which it hardly ever does…