Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. If it were we would be celebrating a very different epilogue, you know. Anything you recognize from Twilight movie or book belongs to Stephanie Meyer and Summit Entertainment. The legends about vampires and their explanations are taken from "The Twilight Companion" by Lois H. Gresh.
A/N: Chapter 7 is here. I'll describe the Burrow better, and you will see it is pretty different from the one depicted in canon…
Thanks to my great beta Gingercat!
The Cold Ones
Chapter Seven: Christmas Visit, part II
Harry leads me, hand in hand, up a flight of stairs. As we go, I can't help looking around and notice how beautiful this house is. I understood with such a large family the Weasleys were frugal, but looking at this house they are most definitely among the wealthiest wizarding families around this area.
"It's only a cover" Harry says, seeing the surprise etched on my face. "All vampires are supposed to be rich, so the Weasleys keep a poor profile to hide even better their true nature. But they are quite well off, and I've done my part too. One of the conditions I had for Arthur once I grew up a bit and knew of my story was that he allow me to pay for my own things. Of course, growing up I've never needed food" he jokes, "so that wasn't something I had to pay back, but I stood my ground about my Hogwarts books and things" he explains.
"My parents left me well off, but I don't care for money" he adds then, after a moment of silence. Then he takes my hand again, and we move to a nearby room.
"This one is the guest room. Never been used before, as you can well imagine" he chuckles, "and with a couple cleaning spells it has become spotless again. I hope you like it" he asks, a bit uncertain, and looks sideways at me.
I grin, and move closer. "You could have asked me to stay in a coffin and I'd have loved it, as long as you were there" I say, cupping his face with my hands, and see him rolls his eyes at my words with a smile, "but I assure you that this room is perfect" I whisper, before closing the gap and kissing him.
We have become better at this "snogging with a vampire" thing. I learned to rein in my urges a bit, and he pushed himself a bit further toward the limits of his control. So a repeat of that first time when he suddenly jumped away from me never happened. I suspect this is also because that first time we had such a desire for the other that we couldn't totally control ourselves, but now that we are snogging regularly the urge is less demanding.
I start moving backwards, until my knees meet the bed and I pull him down there with me. Our tongues are slowly exploring each other's mouths, I do my best to stay away from his teeth though. Running my hands through his locks of hair, I sigh when he trails kisses along my neck, shuddering as I think it would be so easy for him now to bite me and turn me into a vampire too…the mere thought sends thrills down my spine, and I let a small moan out.
"Eager, aren't we?" he teases me, before going back to kiss me on my lips, his hands roaming on my sides, and slipping under my shirt. I feel goosebumps forming on my skin at the contact with his cold hands, but he doesn't stop, going further up, until he cups my breasts through the bra.
I can feel my nipples hardening, and I moan again. "Not fair" I mumble, and he chuckles. "All is fair in love and war" he says, before kissing me again.
Merlin, if this is only the start of this holiday, I can't wait to see the rest!
--
Eventually, we stop fooling around. As much as we wanted to go further, we both felt it was still too early. It was especially hard for him to stop, because as he had told me one day while we were chatting, vampires are intensely sexual creatures. Put it in simple words, one could say they are always horny.
He says it's the smell of the blood that arouses them, and the more they like the smell, the more they become aroused. Considering what he told me about how my smell was like a drug for him, you can easily understand how aroused he gets during our little encounters, and believe me I've felt proof of that more than once. But I know he won't force me to do something I don't want to, so I'm not worried.
As we lay on my bed, snuggling together, Harry runs his hands through my hair, soothingly caressing my head.
"I love to do this. Your hair is so beautiful, and soft to touch" he admits, and I look up at him smiling. "I love when you do it" I say, making him grin. "So, do you like this bed we conjured for you, or do you prefer we get you a coffin instead?" he teases me about my previous comments, and I swat lightly at him.
"Prat" I pout. "It's not my fault every book or movie about vampires I know about has you lot sleeping in coffins all day and living in pretty dark castles. Not even the wizard ones tell the truth about you"
"That's because humans are too afraid of us to research properly. But hey, you could write a book on the truths about vampires, after all you love books, isn't that true?"
I blush, and nod. "But I don't think it would have a great success, being the only one to contradict the popular belief" I reason. "Plus, I'd have to say I learned it from a real vampire, and everyone would bug me to know who this vamp is so they could probably kill him…too much trouble. I'm just happy to know the truth myself, and let the others believe what they want"
"Well, if you put it that way, then you should know that according to the legend, vamps sleep in a coffin because we are thought to be the living dead. The legend also states that we have to bring a coffin with us when we travel, and not any coffin but our own, with some of our native country soil in it, to boot" he says, and I can see the mirth in his eyes, and hear it in his silky voice. Thinking of it, it is a bit ridiculous.
"Of course, you can see that this causes a bit of a problem, both when packing for a trip" he chuckles, "and when the coffin, being wood, deteriorates over time" he continues, still running his hand through my brown curls. "Also, have you ever wondered how come vamps supposedly sleep in a coffin, with dirt in it, and they always exit with clothes completely straight, no wrinkles, no smudges of dirt whatsoever?" he asks me.
I can't help but laugh. That's preposterous!
"Ok, I get it. So the legends about the coffins are bollocks" I say. "What about the black cloaks?"
"Do you see me wearing one?" he asks back, and I get the hint. "I prefer you in Muggle clothes and wizard robes anyway" I admit, blushing the tiniest bit.
He smirks. "Handsome, uh?" he jokes, but I can feel it's not just that. Vampires are known to be vain, and while I can see this wasn't a trait of Harry's character per se, being a vamp brings it out anyway, albeit decidedly less in people who weren't vain as humans.
"You don't know how much" I say, looking him directly in the eye as challenging him to mock me for this admission. He laughs, and stands up.
"Come on, I still have to show you my room" he says, pulling me up with him. It is only a few steps away, and as he opens the door I notice there's no bed. Of course, since he doesn't sleep.
I walk in, and notice the walls are lined with music disks, both Muggle and Wizarding.
"You love music?" I ask, surprised. He nods, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He's so cute when he acts like that. "So, what were you listening to?" I ask, turning the Wireless on. The latest versions have a function that through a spell allows the playing of music disks, it's a pretty interesting charm in fact. I think it was invented by a German witch a few years ago, and since then it has been perfected. Only recently it has been applied to the Wireless.
I close my eyes as I listen to the slow song playing. I can't recognize it, but I know I've heard it before, only I don't remember where.
"It's " he says, as I feel his hands taking mine. I look at him, questioning his intentions when he turns me for a twirl.
"What?" he asks, seeing my dubious face.
"I don't dance" I say. I've never liked it, to tell the truth, even if my mother tried making me do it when I was only a little girl.
"I could make you" he confidently says, and I roll my eyes. "I'm not afraid of you" I retort.
"Shouldn't have said that" he says with a mischievous grin and a glint in his eye that promise nothing good, and the next thing I know is that I'm on his back and we are in the air out of the window, before Harry lands graciously on the ground and sets off for the nearby woods.
There, he climbs up one of the tallest trees, and I have to admit I am a bit afraid of falling, but I know he won't let me get hurt. Once we reach the top, I look around and gasp at the beautiful scenery. The landscape is all covered by snow, like a white blanket set over the grass and the trees. I can spot a frozen pond if I look in the distance, and on my right I can see a village not far away.
"Ottery St. Catchpole, Muggle village" Harry explains, seeing I'm watching that way.
"This is unbelievable" I whisper, a smile on my lips. "It's absolutely crazy, and I thought nothing could amaze me this way anymore after 6 years in the Wizarding World"
He chuckles, and pulls me closer as we sit on a branch.
It's weird to be chatting while sitting so high up on such an unsafe thing like a tree branch that could snap any moment under our weight, but I don't feel scared, despite my usual fear of heights. I'm with Harry, and that's enough for me to feel safe.
--
That night, at dinner, I have some of that pasta Molly has been preparing all afternoon. It smells delicious, and I can't help wondering how she became such a good cook if she doesn't do that on a regular basis.
Anyway, I compliment her. Taking a small second helping, I feel Harry's hand on my thigh, and glare at him. He looks at me innocently, and doesn't lose a beat in the conversation going on as I eat. I feel a bit self-conscious about being the only human in a family of vampires, but everyone is so kind that I can't feel bad about that. Well, everyone apart Ginny who keeps glaring at me.
It's annoying, to say the least. The way she hates me one would think shagging Bill is not enough for her and she wants to bed Harry too but she can't because I stole him from her…bitch.
After my dinner, Luna and Ron excuse themselves to go hunting, while Bill and Ginny retreat to their room, to shag I'm sure. The twins say they are going to experiment a bit on the pranks they are preparing for when they will open their shop, and I see Molly sigh. I guess she doesn't approve of her sons' choice of future career.
Harry and I stay for some time in the living room chatting with Arthur and Molly, before I head to bed. It has been a long day. Harry walks me to my room, and once there he kisses me goodnight.
"I will see you tomorrow" he says, but I see he doesn't want to leave me just yet. So I decide to be bold, for once, and invite him in.
"We can chat a bit before I actually fall asleep" I explain, and he nods. We both know it probably won't be the only thing we will be doing, and I'm very aware of that because I still need to change into my nightwear. Which is why my invitation was pretty bold, since I plan to change in front of him.
I am a bit self-conscious about my body, especially when compared with the vamp beauty of Luna and Ginny, but as I strip to my underwear I can see Harry gulp, his eyes glued to my body like he has never seen anything more beautiful. It's an empowering feeling, although I am a bit embarrassed at showing myself to him this way, which is why I put my pyjamas on pretty quickly.
"So…"I start, sitting on the bed near him, a bit nervous. He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear, gazing directly into my eyes. "You're beautiful" he says, and the intensity of his voice tells me he truly means it.
"Thanks" I say, so softly that I almost don't hear myself. But I know that his vamp hearing won't let him miss it. He kisses me with such a passion, and I of course kiss him back, plunging my tongue into his mouth. I slip my hands under his shirt, running them over his abdomen, the well defined muscles of his chest. He's not hulking as some other blokes in Hogwarts, but he's far stronger than they will ever be, even if his muscles don't give much indication of it.
I can feel his hands on my back, under my pyjama top, and then slipping past the waistband of my bottoms, caressing my bum through my panties. I feel a shot of warmth pooling between my legs, and right now I wouldn't mind at all if he had his wicked way with me.
He, instead, brings his hands back out of my PJ bottoms, but never stops kissing me. I can see the sheer willpower he has to use over himself to not shag me senseless, and I love him much more for that. He respects me so much, like I'm some sort of goddess, and I can't understand why. He's far more special than I'll ever be.
After a while, we finally manage to get a grip over our emotions. Still breathing hard, I rest my head on his shoulder.
"Don't go just yet" I plead, and he nods. "I'll stay here all night, if that's what you want" he whispers, and I know he means it, because he can do it.
"That would be nice, but I won't force you to" I say. "For now, let's just chat a bit, ok?"
"You want to know something about vampires, don't you?" he smirks at me and I blush. He can't read my mind, or he says he can't, but he has learned to read everything else about me, it seems.
"I was wondering if the belief about you lot fearing crosses and holy water is bollocks too. As of now, nothing I knew of vampires is true…"
"Well, that is partly true, you know. We don't really fear those things, but we are, after all, undead, and thus religion doesn't sit very well with us. According to it, we are freaks and creatures of the devil, so to avoid any possible trouble we steer away from churches and such. But not out of real fear, no" he says. "And if you're wondering, no, we don't fear garlic either. Of course, it makes for really bad breath so please if you eat it don't kiss me or brush your teeth first" he jokes, and I punch him in the shoulder.
"Ouch" he says, feigning to be hurt. "You're pretty violent you know" he frowns, but I know he's just teasing me.
"Big baby" I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughs, and pulls me closer.
"Get to sleep, babe" he gently says. He has a point, it's way past three in the morning. Time flies when I'm with him, but I am knackered. Sighing, I close my eyes and promptly fall asleep.
--
As I walk down the stairs to get to the kitchen and have some breakfast, I hear Harry and Luna talking in her room, or at least I think it is.
Curious, I stop and try to listen.
"I've seen it, Harry" Luna says. "I've seen her as one of us"
"But your visions aren't sure, Luna" Harry says, with a pained voice. "They can change, we know that, so it's not for sure"
"No, it isn't" Luna agrees. "But it's a possibility, and you should start to come to terms with it" she advices him. I hear steps coming toward the door, so I quickly make my way downstairs to avoid getting caught eavesdropping.
So Luna has seen me as a vampire? I know I should feel scared, and shocked, but I'm not. It's something I've been thinking about since Harry and I got together, and I don't think it would be so bad, especially because he's dismantling all the worse points of being a vampire one by one with his explanations. I really don't see why he thinks me being turned is such an anguishing prospect.
Anyway, I decide not to mention what I've heard. Not for now at least.
"Hey, Hermione" Ron greets me. "We are about to play a pick-up Quidditch match outside, you up for it?"
"You lot play Quidditch?" I ask.
He shrugs, grabbing his broom. "It's the typical wizarding sport, isn't it? And we are wizards too" he winks at me.
"Ok then, I'm in but I warn you, I'm a disaster" I say, following him outside. Everyone else is already there, minus Harry and Luna who are following me now.
"You can be the referee" Luna suggests with a smile. "Just say what you see". I nod. Refereeing is much better.
"Good morning" Harry says softly, coming to greet me with a kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back, losing myself in the sensation.
"Oi, love birds, we have a match to play!" Ron shouts, and we part, blushing. I see Ginny still glaring at me.
I'm growing more and more certain that she wants to shag Harry in my place.
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