Okay, I'm back with another chapter. And for those of you who are fans of Darknight (you know who you are), he will reappear in this chapter.
I own Darknight and the plot. Everything else belongs to J. K. Rowling…unfortunately.
----
Voldemort growled menacingly as he gulped down the third headache potion the course of a few hours. His mental battle with the Potter brat had left him physically exhausted, and when he awoke, he had a headache so strong he could barely see straight. A soft knocking emanated from his door.
"What?!" he snapped. The door creaked open to show a young Death Eater whose name he couldn't remember at the moment.
"I have information on Harry Potter, my lord," the young servant said nervously. "I heard that Harry Potter is suspected to be a vampire, and was probably the one who killed Bellatrix Lestrange, something that the other members of her strike team could not say for certain. The Ministry has issued an arrest and/or elimination warrant for him." The Death Eater gulped before adding, "this was two weeks ago." Clutching his head, Voldemort beckoned the shaking Death Eater closer. When the man was halfway into the room, Voldemort whipped out his wand and cast a Cruciatus curse on the unfortunate servant, who writhed on the floor in anguish.
"Why did you not tell me this before?!" Voldemort roared, instantly regretting it as the pain in his skull intensified.
"I am sorry, my lord," the Death Eater gasped. "I planned to tell you after the Mudblood's execution, but you had fallen ill, and this was the first opportunity I had to speak to you." Voldemort growled, but was too pained to do anything more, and waved the Death Eater away. So, Potter was a vampire now, eh? That would explain his greater than normal Occlumency shields; no wizard save Dumbledore could have resisted his mental attacks. A hunch gnawed in the back of the dark lord's mind.
It was time to summon a recent acquaintance for a meeting.
In a cave in some far distant land, where it was dark most of the year and the ground was covered by snow and ice for just as long, a cloaked figure watched as another one finished tying a string around a square package, shrinking it and placing it inside a pocket.
"Okay, that part's done," the second figure said, before turning to the first figure. "I don't like Riddle any more than most people, but why did we need to turn the boy? What good can he do?" The first figure sighed tiredly.
"The boy was charged by fate to be the one to vanquish Tom Riddle. Unfortunately, his mentor failed to give him the necessary tools to accomplish such a task. Our curse is not one I would bestow upon anyone lightly, but I felt it was necessary at the time." The second figure raised his eyebrow.
"And now?" he inquired.
"And now, although it pains me greatly, I feel that it is still necessary." A soft vibrating coming from the pocket of the second figure interrupted their conversation. The figure pulled out a small pendant cast in the shape of a serpent, vibrating and glowing red.
"I am sorry, but I must leave," the second figure said before Disapparating with a crack.
"So basically, we tried to do the task that Dumbledore told us to do, but we got jumped by a vampire. I chased it off, but not before it bit you, I panicked and turned you. Is that correct?" Harry asked, pacing nervously.
"Yes, Harry," Hermione said. They had no doubt that Remus and Tonks would inquire as to why Hermione was a vampire, and spent the day fabricating and rehearsing a cover story. After all, they didn't need to know that Harry was the one who turned her. They both glanced anxiously at the clock, which read 7:42. Ten minutes later, they heard a rapid knock coming from the front door. Harry walked over and was about to open it when he realized that there was a small possibility that it wasn't them.
"What did my boggart turn into back in third year?" Harry asked through the door.
"It was a dementor, because of the memories of your parents' deaths that they brought out," a muffled voice said from the other side. "What did I give you when we first met?"
"A piece of chocolate. You had to assure me that it wasn't poisoned before I would eat it," Harry said, opening the door, showing a tired-looking Remus Lupin and green-haired Nymphadora Tonks. Harry noticed that she seemed larger than the last time they met. Harry stepped aside to let them in before closing and locking the door. For a moment, the four people just stood in place, staring at each other awkwardly, before Remus slowly extended his hand. Harry carefully took it, and Remus pulled the younger man into a hug.
"Thank Merlin you're okay, Harry," Remus whispered, tears falling from his eyes. Seeing that the relationship between the two men was still intact, Hermione and Tonks hugged each other, but Tonks tensed at Hermione's touch.
"You're a lot colder than I remember, Hermione," the older woman said, rubbing her arms to warm them up. Hermione laughed awkwardly, rubbing her neck where the bite scars were.
"Yeah, we ran into some...complications," she said evasively. Tonks grunted in discomfort as she straightened her back, and Hermione squealed in delight when she saw Tonks' swollen belly. The two men instinctively whipped their wands out to their position, but saw Hermione pulling Tonks into another hug.
"What was that about?" Harry asked, sheathing his wand.
"She's pregnant, Harry!" Hermione said excitedly. Harry looked at Tonks closely, and saw that her belly was larger than normal, but he thought it was just his imagination.
"Congratulations, old man," Harry said, clapping Remus on the shoulder. "It is yours, right?" he added.
"Of course it's his," Tonks said, grabbing Remus by the hand and pulling towards her. "I swear, the man makes lo-" she began, but was interrupted by Harry and Hermione.
"Too much information!" they shouted simultaneously.
"So, how's the rest of the world been since we've been gone?" Harry asked as they sat down and Hermione brought them water. Immediately, Remus and Tonks' smiles faded.
"Not good, Harry," Remus said. "Scrimgeour was killed and replaced with one of Voldemort's puppets. Now, all Muggleborns must register at the Ministry of Magic, with Umbridge at the helm." Hermione looked ready to explode, but Harry held her hand, and her anger simmered down. "Voldemort has also taken over Hogwarts, with Snape acting as Headmaster." Harry and Hermione shared a knowing glance with each other. Remus looked between the two vampires.
"Is there something I should know about?" Remus asked.
"Well, Snape won't be running Hogwarts, because...well, come with us," Hermione said, beckoning the others to follow her. When they reached the room that Snape and Malfoy were being kept in, she opened the door. Dobby heard the door open and turned his head to them.
"Greetings, miss - AAAAAHHHH!!!" the house elf screamed as he saw the two vampires standing in the doorway.
"Dobby, it's okay, it's us," Hermione assured the frightened house elf. A few more words of comfort, and Dobby calmed himself down enough to continue guarding the two prisoners. Harry glanced to Remus to see a murderous look on his face.
"If I put you two in the same room, will you promise me you won't kill him?" Harry asked. "We haven't interrogated him yet, and it wouldn't do for you to kill him before we get all we can from him." Remus took a few deep, calming breaths, and nodded. Harry turned to Dobby. "Dobby, can you move Malfoy to a separate room for a while, please?" Nodding, the house elf snapped his fingers, and he and Malfoy vanished into thin air. As he, Hermione and Tonks left the room, Harry turned to Remus. "Remember, we need him alive. Have fun," he said before closing the door. Remus cast a locking charm on the door and revived Snape. The greasy man seemed disoriented for a moment, but quickly got his bearings, and glared hatefully at Remus.
"Lupin," Snape spat. Remus flashed an uncharacteristically malicious smirk as he approached him.
"I've been waiting a long time for this, Snivellus..." Remus growled, cracking his knuckles threateningly.
While Remus "talked" to Snape, the other three walked back down to the common room of Grimmauld Place.
"So, has anything good happened?" Harry asked as they sat back down.
"Actually, yeah," Tonks said thoughtfully. "The other day, we found a bunch of Voldemort's prisoners standing out in a field. One of them was one of our new guys, Charity Burbage." Hermione gave a gasp of shock.
"Professor Burbage? The Muggle Studies professor?" she gasped, nearly in tears. Tonks simply nodded.
"She disappeared a few weeks ago," Tonks continued. "After we calmed her down, she said that she was about to be executed, by Snape of all people," Tonks said, spitting at Snape's name. "But right before he could do the deed, Voldemort suddenly started acting strange, and sent her back to her cell. A couple weeks later, the Death Eaters just let her and all the other prisoners free without explanation."
Before she could continue, they heard a rhythmic thumping on the window. Harry walked over to the window and opened the curtains to see a bat repeatedly banging against the window, holding a large package awkwardly in its mouth. Harry opened the window, and the bat came tumbling into the house, finally crashing onto the table. Hermione and Tonks inspected the downed bat while Harry grabbed the package.
"It's fine Harry, just a little dizzy from hitting itself," Hermione said. Nodding in understanding, Harry untied the string and ripped the paper off of the package to reveal a simple wood box with a letter on top. Setting aside the letter, he opened the box to reveal a small tiara, elaborately designed and covered with small blue sapphires. Hermione looked into the box and gasped. "Harry, that's...that's Ravenclaw's diadem!"
In the main meeting chamber of Riddle Manor, Voldemort was tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for his acquaintance to appear, and he did not like to wait. The dark lord heard several high-pitched screeches coming from the shadows, and a pale form dressed in black robes walked into the pale moonlight, giving him an almost ethereal glow.
"So, Darknight, you have finally saw fit to appear," Voldemort snarled. Darknight flashed Voldemort a patronizing smile.
"I would have appeared sooner, Lord Voldemort, but unfortunately, I had other things to attend to. Contrary to popular belief, we vampires do have lives, you know." Voldemort's hand instinctively twitched towards his wand. Normally he would punish people with such flippancy, but he found out during their first meeting that vampires were immune to his favorite method of torture, as well as his favorite curse of all time, the killing curse.
"I have heard from my sources that my nemesis, Harry Potter has been turned into a vampire," Voldemort growled. "I demand to know who was responsible for it." Darknight simply shrugged innocently.
"This is news to me," the vampire lied smoothly. "I am but one vampire among thousands, and not even the highest level one. Surely you cannot expect me to take account of everyone's actions," he continued. Darknight's casualness only served to infuriate Voldemort even more.
"Then if you will not tell me that, then I demand that you give me an answer about our alliance!" he yelled.
"Your proposal is interesting, but my master needs more time to consider it," Darknight said simply. "After all, my master has only my people's best interests at heart. I am afraid that you will have to wait a while longer."
"Eight years I have waited!" Voldemort roared. "I demand an answer! Avada Kedavra!" In his anger, Voldemort instinctively cast the killing curse at Darknight, which impacted him with no effect.
"We are immortal, Lord Voldemort, as are you," Darknight said, continuing as if he had never been shot. Although not for much longer, he added mentally, "and Britain will not disappear tomorrow. So I ask you, what is your hurry? I will return when you're not in such a grouchy mood," he continued. Accessing one of the few magical skills he gained as a vampire, Darknight dissolved his body into a swarm of bats, which flew away into the night through the open windows. With no one to torture, Voldemort could only scream in rage.
Lord Voldemort was in a very bad mood.
----
All right, that's chapter eight for you. I hope you enjoyed it.
Harry and Hermione getting the diadem through the post may seem kind of too easy, but I don't know how they got it in Deathly Hallows (and probably never will). But it seems apparent that Darknight has been looking for them too, since he seems to want Voldemort dead as much as everybody else does.
Don't forget to read and review!
-->