Blood Bound: A Vampire Tale
Disclaimer: Everything concerning Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. I own nothing, nor is this done for any purpose except my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of anyone reading this. There is no attempt to make any profit.
I wish to extend a grateful thank you to my beta readers, Amanda and Prof Roz. Any mistakes left in this story are due to my last minute revisions.
A/N Conversations in italic print are telepathic in nature.
Chapter Eight
Arthur Weasley took two days to try to decide what to pass on to the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix. The logical person to contact was Kingsley Shacklebolt, even though he was still doing double duty providing security for the Muggle Prime Minister.
It was a couple of days more before Shacklebolt could see him. At last they got together over a quick dinner in the Leaky Cauldron. Business in the pub was not normal, but at times there were a few gathered there. Tom, the bartender, provided them a cozy booth in the back where they had some privacy.
Arthur opened the conversation by asking if Kingsley had seen the reports on the attack at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Shacklebolt indicated that he had, remarking that Fred and George had done extremely well for themselves considering the sheer number of attackers. He also remarked, "Most of the 'Death Eaters' involved were new. Two-thirds of them didn't even have the Dark Mark. They would have earned it by capturing the twins."
"What did You-Know-Who want with my sons?" asked Arthur.
The tall Auror chewed his roast beef thoughtfully before he answered. "We're not exactly sure. You-Know-Who didn't tell them, he just issued the orders. There is still some speculation that he is searching for Harry, your sons know him and …," he ended with a shrug.
"No word on Harry?"
"No."
Arthur looked into Shacklebolt's eyes, "What if I told you that there is some information that was left out of the reports on the attack?"
Kingsley's face clouded with something like anger. He placed his silverware down, and set his powerful hands flat on the table before him. "There could be serious repercussions for withholding information in an investigation of this magnitude," his voice was low and dangerous.
"The twins are protecting their younger brother, Ron. The situation is not sinister, but it is extremely personal. I've approached you so that the information will be available to those who need it without it appearing in the Daily Prophet."
"What do they know? I will guarantee that what you tell me will be on a need-to-know basis. However, if it is truly serious, I might not be able to protect them from Scrimgeour."
"Fred saw Hermione Granger in the shop that night. She is a vampire. Your reports should cover that there was a pair that moved away from the main body of Death Eaters, probably Hermione and her sire. Given what I told you at our Sunday meeting, I'd bet that her sire is Harry Potter."
Arthur was stunned by the expression that crossed the Auror's face; Kingsley appeared to be having trouble breathing. "By Faust's staff, please, not now … and two of them."
"What's wrong?"
"Vampires are bad enough, but vampires that can use magic? If what you say is true, well think about it, didn't you ask what could kill six Death Eaters and not use magic? Harry couldn't have been a vampire for more than a week. Dumbledore was over a hundred, and you know what his magic was like, imagine what Harry or Hermione could do after three or four hundred years of study. Even You-Know-Who would be like a child against them."
"They never tried to hurt us. We think that they were actually in the house."
"That's because they haven't been vampires very long. As the years pass, they will become less and less human, give them a century, and you won't recognize them. Vlad Tepes was the last vampire wizard, and the even Muggles have heard about that one."
Arthur looked puzzled.
"They called him Dracula, it means 'son of the dragon' in Romanian." He shook his head and added, "It can equally mean, 'son of the devil'."
Suddenly, the Auror was no longer hungry. "I need to look into some things, and I'll get back with you." He stood and left in a great hurry.
Arthur sat back in the booth. This had not gone as he had thought it would. It seemed to him Harry was trying to carry on his fight against Voldemort. It broke his heart to think of two teenagers that he loved as much as his own children were out there, probably confused and frightened. He could not understand why they had not sought his help.
A few days later Kingsley called Arthur to his office. He was livid. "We were standing on the answer all the time." He handed Arthur a Muggle police report. "The very night we learned that Harry was missing, we got a report of that massacre. I never even thought to follow up on it."
The report described a bloody killing in Little Whinging. Four men had been literally torn to pieces in a rooming house. The officers could not believe their eyes, and could only determine how many victims there were by piecing together all the parts. The most telling evidence was in a footnote appended to the report. All of the items missing from the Dursleys were recovered in the apartment.
"Meet me in Little Whinging in the morning; we need to close the investigation," the Auror said brusquely.
The next day Arthur met Tonks and Shaklebolt at the police station. After talking to the officers that had investigated the killings and Harry's disappearance, Arthur asked about the Dursleys, he found out that they had left town after receiving a rather large insurance settlement.
They took a car to the rooming house. In the car, Arthur was introduced to a scruffy, hard-bitten little wizard named Carstairs. His dark brown hair was closely cropped, and he sported a scar running from his left eye to his chin. In spite of his sloppy demeanor his eyes were keen and bright.
"Carstairs is a vampire hunter for the Ministry; he's one of the best. Killed about twelve so far," said Tonks. Tonks appeared uneasy around him. "He's also from the States, that's why he talks funny," whispered Tonks.
The rooming house was a square, unappealing place, with a flat roof. Carstairs made a cursory examination of the room; he then announced his intention to go up to the roof. "Vampiahs don' nahmally kill like that, they'ah usually veahry prah'cise." Carstairs speech had an odd cadence and he seemed to scoop each word or phrase with a rising inflection on the last syllable.
Once outside he made a careful examination of the surface of the roof. "Heah," he said pointing to an odd spot on the tar. "Ye see wheah the tah 'as melted. You-ah vampiah likely killed 'im self. Sat and watched the sun come up."
"They do that?" ask Arthur, "Why?"
Carstairs shook his head, "Don' know fah shuah, but it must get lonesome after a coupla' hundaht yeahs, all ye knew is gone. Was t' live fah?"
They continued to search the roof for more clues, more out of habit rather than doubting what the vampire hunter had told them. Tonks found an old, soft hat with a wide brim. There were scorch marks on it.
"Lemme see that," demanded Carstairs gently. He gestured with his wand as he spoke a soft incantation. The inside of the hat glowed blue. "That's youah vampiah's all rah't. Don' undahstand how, but theah bodies me-tab-olize blood, tu'n it into Ammonia. If they've woan somthin' foah awhile ye can detect it. Ain't no doubt about it, Mr. Shacklebolt. Theah was a vampiah heah, but he won' be causin' ye moah trah'ble."
The group made their way to the street. "How do you kill them, Mr. Carstairs?" asked Arthur.
Carstairs opened the trunk of the car and withdrew a large case. He tapped the case with his wand and gently opened the lid. Inside the case lay a large crossbow made of gleaming mahogany. Carstairs then showed Arthur a bolt made completely of heavy, greenish-brown wood. "What kind of wood is this?" he asked.
"Lignum vitae," Carstairs answered. "Iahnwood some cawl it."
"Ironwood," Arthur turned the word over in his mind. "Lignum vitae, that's also Latin for 'wood of life'?" he added thoughtfully. Carstairs nodded. "Did a vampire give you that scar?"
"Nay, Mistah Weasley. T'was cuttin' some Iahnwood, 'n tha axe handle busted." He grinned.
"How do you find them?"
"Crahm' rahpo'ts mostly, if you find a rahduction in crahm', especially gang activities, without a' incrah'es in police prah'sence, might have a vampiah. Usually a yowan. Most all you ever kill are the yowans; lessen you find a la'ah. Then ye can stake 'm and cut off theah heads, else drah'ag 'em in tha sun. Vampiahs rah'ly kill, but gangs and crah'minals ah tahgets of oppuhtunity, all of 'em out late," he laughed. "Wo'd gets arah'ound, the crah'minals move on, and the vampiahs do too."
Arthur was struggling not to look sick. It was hard for him not to imagine either Harry or Hermione shot with one of those bolts, or found and ignominiously staked and beheaded. The fact that Carstairs took such a delight in the grisly aspects of his work made it hard to like him.
Arthur thanked him, and he gratefully Apparated back to the Ministry. In the light of these new facts and Shacklebolt's fear of the situation, Arthur was unable to contain himself. He quickly contacted Remus and McGonagall asking for a meeting of the Order.
He, Fred, and George met in McGonagall's office with Tonks and Lupin.
Since Harry's disappearance, Lupin appeared worse than ever. It was as though his heart had been torn out; all that was keeping him together was his relationship with Tonks. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face deeply lined, and he had gone prematurely gray at the temples.
"What did you want to tell us, Arthur?" asked McGonagall crisply.
Arthur looked uncomfortable, the last thing he wanted to do was cause Remus further pain. "I have some rather bad news about Harry Potter," he looked at Lupin. "Are you sure you want to hear this? We could carry on without you."
"Is what you know definite? I've found all the speculation about Harry's disappearance the hardest thing to take." Lupin's voice shook as he said this.
"There is no absolute certainty at this point, but all the circumstantial evidence points to my supposition being correct."
"I'd rather know than not, what happened to Harry?" Lupin replied.
"Worst news first, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are vampires. Hermione was seen by my son, Fred, the night their store was attacked."
McGonagall and Tonks cried out in surprise and shock. Lupin looked as if he was having trouble breathing, "Poor Lilly and James, to think that so much promise has come to this. How do you know?"
"The night Harry disappeared; he took Ron to meet the Knight Bus. About this same time, four men broke into Number Four and killed Harry's aunt. Subsequently, the four Muggles were killed, literally torn to pieces. If Harry were on his way back home, they probably attacked him at that time. We know that the four were the ones that killed Harry's aunt, the police recovered the Dursleys belongings there."
"We know that there was a vampire in the area, we found his hat at the building where the four were killed. He must have been furious, what if he saw the attack on Harry and it provoked him into a killing rage? A fight of four against one might do that, he took revenge for what they did to Harry. Why he made Harry a vampire is anybody's guess."
"When Harry rose as a vampire, he tried to go to Hermione Granger. For help or trying to find something familiar, I guess. He arrived after her parents were killed, but before the Aurors. That is why her folks had wounds on their necks; Harry wouldn't know that he couldn't close the wounds once they were dead, a fledgling vampire's mistake. Hermione was injured, we know because of the amount of her blood that they found; but still alive enough for Harry to make her a vampire as well. I believe that You-Know-Who had her family attacked because he lost contact with Harry's mind when his body died and the Grangers were easy targets."
"He tried to attack us as well. He lost six Death Eaters in that assault. At last, Harry and Hermione were trying to come to us, but were thwarted by the Death Eaters. That morning my daughter-in-law said she smelled a vampire. She is part Veela, and that is an innate ability of theirs. For some reason they fled after winning that fight. I believe Harry and Hermione came to the wedding, they said goodbye to my son, Ron, by planting a dream in his mind. They came to the defense of Fred and George, which is where Hermione was seen. I know that she is a vampire, and given what I know of what went on before, I suspect that Harry is too."
Lupin nodded his agreement, "It makes sense."
"Kingsley is a member of the Order; I think he should be aware of this as well," said McGonagall.
"He already knows. That is why I came to you; he is preparing to destroy them."
"Maybe they should be destroyed, I can't imagine Harry or Hermione enjoying drinking blood or attacking people to get it," said Lupin miserably. Arthur looked at him incredulously.
"What do you want us to do, Arthur?" asked McGonagall.
"Help them, they've done nothing but try to defend us."
"What can we do? There is no way to bring them back to life," McGonagall replied.
"Then, at least, don't try to kill them until we have had time to assess what kind of threat they represent. It seems Harry is still trying to fight You-Know-Who, let's try to help him."
After a minute of silence, Tonks said, "I'd vote for that. Until I know what kind of threat they really are, I won't take action against them."
At last, they all agreed not to actively hunt Harry or Hermione, and to shield them from the vampire hunters and Aurors if they could.
"Remus, why are vampires and werewolves such enemies?" asked George.
"I've never met a vampire, but I'm told that they are incredibly alien. Even though we are cursed, we still operate as a part of this nature. That includes the realms of life and death. Even though our transformation is forced, we are a part of life, of nature. A vampire is something that comes from 'outside' to inhabit and control a body at the time of death, they trap a soul that should move on. They possess some kind of anti-nature that creates a mindless fury within the beast that we become at the full moon. In the meantime we are their food like everyone else."
The meeting quickly broke up. As they walked toward the Apparition point, Arthur was somewhat pleased at the outcome of the meeting. As he looked up at the moon he wondered where Harry and Hermione were and what the future held for them all.
End Part One<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>