A/N: More than one story, writer's block, and school. Not to mention being sick…I'm serious this time; expect quicker updates (assuming my life doesn't get messed up again)!
If you don't like Manipulative! Dumbledore / Evil(-ish)!Dumbledore, then turn back now! Also, BARELY-superpowered Harry coming up next chapter. And heed the rated M: This story is going to be VIOLENT.
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
-Peter T. Mcintyre
Pierced By Betrayal
"He is becoming confident in his powers," the man shrouded in shadow said, his hair hanging in front of his eyes.
"I know," the other man said, pinching the bridge of his nose. His half-moon spectacles glinted eerily in the moonlight. "It is thanks to your legilimency that he has not yet discovered that we know his secret."
"I think it also has to do with his arrogance," the first man said with a malicious sneer on his face. "Always arrogant."
"We must move before it is too late. He must be killed," the man said gravely, stroking his white beard. "He cannot be the face that everyone looks up to if he is undead. It is unacceptable. Not to mention what might happen once he defeats the Dark Lord. It's too risky to keep him alive."
"Agreed," the man in shadow said, his sneer growing into a nasty grin. "How shall we do it? A stake to the heart while he's in class?"
The older man heaved a great sigh and said, "No matter what sort of feral animal he is now, the vampire was the great Harry Potter at one point. It would not be right to dispose of him in such a dishonorable way. We shall give him a full vampire sacrificial ritual."
The man in shadow grimaced, his thought of the idea very clearly displayed on his face. "I understand," he finally said, trying to suppress the anger in his voice. "I will capture him as soon as possible, along with the girl."
"Good," the man with the spectacles and beard said, his eyes now glinting along with his spectacles. No moonlight could make a man's eyes glint in that manner. "And Severus, be careful."
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Hermione glanced around at the edges of where the light was shining from her wand. She was breathing as quietly as possible as she made sure to quietly walk for the edge of the forest. Once she got there she would be home free. She gasped and whirled around as she heard a twig snap behind her, only to see nothing. She swallowed hard and took a step forward while continuing to look over her shoulder, grunting as her foot caught on a root. She braced herself for impact, cringing and drawing her hands in to her chest to prevent a broken wrist. But then a pair of strong arms caught her and her eyes shot open to find a pair of familiar green ones gazing right back, a grin on his face. She felt her face heat up and her heart rate spike, a lazy smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Harry cleared his throat and stood Hermione on her feet, sure that he would be blushing brilliantly if he could. Since being turned into a vampire two weeks ago he had really begun to notice Hermione in a more-than-platonic-manner, paying attention to everything from her long, thin legs to her flared, womanly hips, flat stomach, plump lips, not-quite-bushy hair, and even her slightly-smaller-than-average but noticeable, attractive chest. And he didn't know if it was her shampoo or bath soap or just her natural scent, but some smell that he couldn't quite put his finger on was just so…intoxicating.
Hermione swallowed, trying to coax some moisture into her dry throat, and shakily said, "G-good job, Harry. You've improved so much in the past week."
Harry grinned and softly kicked at the ground, the praise making him feel warm. He trained every night, focusing on both finer skills such as controlling his massive strength for the purpose of blending in and amplifying all of his powers in preparation for the upcoming fight against Voldemort. Hermione assisted him in his exercises every other night, usually not getting in bed until one or two in the morning. She and Harry would go deep into the forest and he would count to one hundred to give Hermione a head start, then go after her. If she made it out of the forest or managed to stun him before he could touch her, she would win, and if he managed to get to her before she stunned him, he would win. It was the first time Harry had won and he was elated, even if it was only because she had tripped and fell.
Day by day he was growing more confident in his powers and his self-control, a routine setting into place that involved Hermione letting him feed from her two or three times a day. He had yet to feed from anybody else, knowing that Hermione trusted him and he wasn't forcing anybody to do anything against their will. His self-control had increased exponentially along with the knowledge of how strong he was, allowing him to blend in more easily (not to mention the fact that forcing himself to breathe was now becoming second nature to him).
Harry came out of his thoughts to find Hermione staring at him oddly; he had been standing in the same spot without moving for over a minute now, after all. He cleared his throat and said, "Erm…shall we go back, then?"
"Good idea," Hermione said, starting back towards the castle, her heart still pounding. This past two weeks had also been very eye-opening for her in terms of her relationship with Harry. Despite the fact that he was a vampire, she was beginning to find herself more attracted to her best friend than ever. He knew she would never hurt him, and he had the looks and a slightly-different, more serious and quiet personality than ever. For some reason she found that very attractive.
They walked in silence all the way up to the castle, Hermione thinking about the trials to come as Harry tried to smell what mood she was in, keeping quiet when he realized she was in her 'immersed in thought' mood.
Hermione stopped him as they were passing by the base of Gryffindor Tower. "Harry, wait," she said, looking up at the common room window. "Have you been working on your levitation at all?"
Harry suppressed a groan as he looked up at the window, too. Ever since he had fallen out of a high tree and ended up floating a foot off the ground as Hermione screamed in fright, she had been continuously pushing him to work on his levitation skill. It was almost as bad as when she nagged him about homework. Harry hadn't been working on it at all because it was unnerving to him to be flying with nothing supporting him. At least when he was riding a broom he knew what he was doing and knew how to control it. When he was using his vampire magic to fly he was flying on will and power alone with nothing between him and the ground. The fear wasn't really logical considering that 1. He wasn't relying on anything but himself to keep him from being a smear on the ground and 2. A broom really wasn't that much protection if he really thought about it.
Nevertheless, he didn't wish to see Hermione's disappointment when he said no. So, logically, he said, "Sure have!" enthusiastically.
"Great!" she said excitedly. "Let me see it! It would be great if we could just go straight up there, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah," said Harry weakly. Here goes nothing, he thought, clearing his mind and focusing on his magic pushing through his feet against gravity.
Nothing happened after a couple minutes and he began sweating (figuratively, of course), fearing Hermione would see through his lie. He gave one final, desperate push and wobbled as he rose into the air, his eyes shooting open in shock. It was the first time he had willingly levitated and he made sure not to act too surprised, putting a smug expression on his face as he nervously tried to gently let himself down from 10 feet up, failing as he fell to the ground in a heap.
When he stood back up with an apologetic smile on his face it was to find Hermione tapping her foot and giving him a disapproving look. "Harry, I'm going to ask you again," she said sternly, making Harry's smile falter. "Did you practice your levitation?"
Harry swallowed hard, knowing he had definitely been figured out. "No," he whispered, casting his eyes at the ground.
He heard Hermione take a deep breath and she brushed past him, making his heart clench. She seemed to be more sad than angry, which made Harry confused. Why would she be sad? "Hermione," he said, making a grab for her arm. She pulled her arm away, a look of utter disappointment on her face. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know that my levitation practice was that big of a deal to you. I-I'll practice."
"I do care about you honing all of your powers, Harry, I really do," she said quietly. "But that's not what's bothering me."
"What is it, then?" he asked, feeling slightly reassured when he grabbed for her hand and she didn't pull away. She didn't make any move at all, though, which wasn't exactly the best of signs.
"I…I've helped you, stuck by your side, and I help train you," said Hermione solemnly. "Do you know how much it hurts that you feel the need to lie to me?"
The words were like an icy knife through Harry's heart as a thousand pound weight seemed to grow in his chest. "I-I don't-"
"But you just did," said Hermione. "If you haven't practiced something, then fine. I just wish you could trust me enough to tell the truth."
Harry had to suppress a smile despite the situation. "Erm…it wasn't exactly a trust issue, Hermione."
"Then what was it?" she asked in genuine confusion, her impatience growing.
"I hate disappointing you and I was afraid you were going to chew me out," Harry explained with a tentative smile.
Hermione wasn't smiling. "Well, you made me twice as disappointed as I would've been by lying to me. And about the chewing out thing. When I was younger, I was definitely more mature than you and Ron combined," said Hermione. Harry nodded in agreement; it was true. "But now…now we're adults. I've tried to ingrain hard work into your head for six years and now it's up to you to decide where you want to go in life. If you don't want to work hard, that's fine. I just wish…I-I just wish that if you can't work hard enough for yourself, than can I be selfish and ask that you work hard for me?" Harry felt his throat tightening. "Because I don't know what I would do if you died."
Harry raspily said, "I already have died," trying to lighten the atmosphere just a bit.
Hermione let out a small laugh as she wiped the tears out of her eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it. I…I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," she admitted quietly.
Harry sighed and said, "Even when you're not chewing me out you somehow manage to make me promise to work harder."
Hermione gave him a small smile and a gentle hug, linking her arm through his as he tossed the invisibility cloak over the two of them. It was weird to think that just five years ago, the two of them plus Ron could fit under the cloak with room to spare. Now it was a very tight fit with just two of them.
They quietly walked up to Gryffindor Tower and Hermione gave him a lingering kiss on the cheek before going up the girls' stairs to go to bed.
Harry pulled out his wand and summoned the books he had regarding vampires that he had checked out from the library, not to mention a few that he had stolen from the restricted section. He had to discover if he had any more hidden powers. The possible power he was most interested in was the power of transformation, the only reference of which he had found had been referring to the muggle vampires transforming into bats. There was nothing on magical vampire transformation except for the fact that the consequences were unknown, thus the process was exceedingly dangerous.
The book he had found the most interesting so far but the least helpful was titled: 5,000 Little Known Facts about Magical Creatures. He had learned very much from it about all magical creatures but there seemed to be no organization to it, making him at least glance at every single fact to find out if it concerned information about vampires. He had read about half of it the night before and decided to try to finish it this night, flipping through page after page and only coming across a handful of vampire facts.
He came across three total, in fact, the first two of which he already knew. The last one, however, was both interesting and confusing.
Vampires are the only known magical species that are able to Shadowalk. This quality makes them nearly invincible in the dark and can only be counteracted by forming a ring of luminescent crosses around the vampire. It is the only form of ward that can hold back vampire magic at all, yet it is highly ineffective unless the vampire is restrained, for they can simply jump out of the ring.
"Shadowalk?" Harry muttered to himself, pulling out the wizarding terminology dictionary.
He quickly flipped to 'S' and tried to find the word 'Shadowalk', only to come up with nothing. He then tried to find 'Shadow Walk', only to come up short again. He went to the 'W's in a final, desperate attempt to look up the word, searching for 'Walk, Shadow' only to find nothing once more.
With an annoyed growl he slammed the book shut once more, scowling as he saw the sunlight filtering through the window on his left. It was early morning, meaning he would have to go to school while constantly having to pay attention to where the sun's rays were and making sure he was breathing and making sure he kept his hunger in check and constantly watch Snape and Dumbledore to make sure they weren't catching onto him. If it had been possible for him to tire, Harry would've been absolutely exhausted after every school day.
He fluidly moved up the stairs and grabbed his school bag, stopping when he met Ron's surprisingly shrewd eyes, which narrowed almost to the point that they were slits.
"So, Harry…" he said, trailing off.
"So, Ron…" replied Harry a tad awkwardly, wondering what his friend wanted.
"I see you didn't come to bed last night…just like every night for the past week," said Ron with a strained smile on his face.
"Oh yeah," said Harry, trying to blow it off. "My nightmares have been getting worse at night and I've been sleeping in the Room of Requirement so I don't wake you guys up."
Ron looked at him in disbelief. "That's why I saw you and Hermione walking out of the forest together last night," he said knowingly.
Once again, if Harry could've blushed he would've. "That was nothing," he said quickly and defensively.
Suddenly, Ron's face contorted into an expression of rage. "You don't feel guilty at all that you're fucking your best friend's woman behind his back?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ron," said Harry. "Hang on a second. You think I'm doing…that…with Hermione?" he asked incredulously. "We're not even like that, and you aren't either, which means you have no claim on her." He smelled Ron's figurative hackles rising, the challenge to be the alpha when it came to Hermione rising. The other boys, who were getting dressed, stopped to watch the show. Harry knew that if Hermione heard what he was going to say next she would slap the piss out of him, but Ron needed to be taught a lesson. He was getting annoying and cruel towards Harry and he needed to learn his place. Not to mention the fact that testosterone levels were high and boys tended to do stupid things when that happened. "And trust me, if I was fucking Hermione you would notice because she would be walking funny."
Ron's face turned beet red as Seamus and Dean laughed raucously. "Yeah, w-well…" Ron had nothing, and idiotically shouted the first thing that came to mind, "well you can fuck that little slut all you want, because that's all she is! I don't care!"
Harry stepped up to him so their chests were almost touching, going deathly silent. "What did you just call her?" he said quietly. Dean and Seamus were holding their breath as Neville shook in fright.
Harry was definitely exuding an evil aura, but Ron was too arrogant and confident to notice as he looked down on his shorter rival. "You heard me," he replied quietly, bunching his fist at his side. Harry could smell the change in his mood and tapped into his thoughts. "You want to make something of this?" If he says yes, I'm going right hook.
"I'll beat the shit out of anyone who calls Hermione a slut," said Harry, lowering his head in preparation for the imminent fight.
Harry ducked as Ron's bunched fist sailed over his head, throwing him off-balance. Harry stuck out his foot and gave Ron the tiniest bump, sending him crashing to the ground. He didn't want to hurt Ron too badly despite what he said about Hermione, and hoped that he might have noticed the vast difference in their power.
But Ron stood back up. I'll just knee him in the stomach! Harry sidestepped, staying completely serious and bringing his hands behind his back. The middle of the dorm was pretty spacious and the Seamus and Dean cheered them on as Harry lazily dodged move after move, aggravating Ron by gently poking him while simultaneously dodging his attacks.
Ron was breathing and hard and stopped swinging for a second to say, "I can tell you haven't fucked her." He stopped to take a few more breaths. "You haven't even thrown one punch. You aren't a real man anyway. Just another pussy."
Harry didn't know why, but he let the remark get to him. Had it been anybody else, he probably would've just laughed it off. But because it came from Ron, a former friend who he had been close to and still considered at least a small part of the trio despite what he had told Hermione a few weeks ago, it cut deep.
So when Ron threw his hardest haymaker at Harry he ducked and drove an uppercut straight into Ron's gut, hitting him so hard that his feet left the ground. His breath left him in a whoosh and Harry smelled that he was in pain as Ron crumpled to his knees, somehow finding the strength to stand back up. "Looks like the little girl might just be a woman after all."
Seamus and Dean were in shock following Ron's words and Neville covered his eyes, not wishing to witness another death. Harry caught Ron's speeding fist in his palm, smirking at him as his eyes flashed red. He brought his leg up and kicked down swiftly at the top of Ron's kneecap, the taller boy crying out as the force made his knee let out a sickening crack and his leg bend backward. Neville, who had been peeking through his fingers, had completely emptied the contents of his stomach before Ron had hit the ground screaming in agony, and both Dean and Seamus turned a bit green themselves.
Harry stood over Ron, no remorse whatsoever in his eyes, and coldly said, "Between you and me, it looks like you're the one who screams like a woman."
He walked out of the dorm with three pairs of eyes watching his back in awe. He headed down to the common room and out the door, not slowing down when Hermione called, "Harry, wait up!"
Harry's shoulders slowly hunched and he was sure people were staring at him as he walked past them, the fact that he had just broken Ron's leg without a second thought threatening to make him gag now that his adrenaline had died down. As soon as Hermione had caught up to him and touched his arm, he slowly looked over at her with wide eyes.
"Harry, are you okay?" she asked with concern filling her beautiful brown eyes.
Harry wordlessly dragged Hermione into an empty classroom and spilled his guts, even telling her about what he had said about her ("I don't know what made me say it, I didn't even mean it! It just seemed like the best thing to say at the time!") to which she surprisingly responded without anger ("I understand. You were subconsciously staking both your territory and dominance. Your natural teenage tendency to do that has been amplified by your vampire nature.").
"But wait," said Harry, confused. "You're not my territory. I don't even think of you like that."
Hermione tried to hide her emotions, forgetting that Harry could easily feel that she was slightly disappointed and confused as to why. "It doesn't have to be romantic," explained Hermione. "It's just…trust me, part of you was claiming me as yours."
Harry nodded and continued, finishing with when he left the dorm. "The worst part, Hermione," he said, slightly afraid, "is that a tiny part of me enjoyed it. I enjoyed having that much power, and I enjoyed beating the crap out of him. I enjoyed the fact that I knew that there was no way he could beat me, and I enjoyed toying with him."
Harry knew this greatly concerned Hermione, whose eyebrows furrowed in thought. "You…you just need to work on your self-control," she said almost unconvincingly. "Don't make beating people up a habit and if you do have to, try finishing it as quickly as possible."
Harry sighed and nodded, surprising Hermione when he wrapped her in a tender hug. "Thanks, Hermione," he said into her hair. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd be lost," she said truthfully, not boasting at all.
"I know," he said with a grin on his face. Then he said, "Sorry I made you miss breakfast."
"It's alright," Hermione replied, stepping away from him and hoisting her bag higher up on her shoulder. "I can eat my apple really quickly after potions."
Harry nodded and exited the room with Hermione, heading down to the dungeons to attend their potions class. They sat side-by-side right next to the exit, just as always.
Harry's eyebrows met in the middle as he smelled the classroom, an unidentified scent filling his nostrils. Snape had a twisted grin on his face and a vial of clear liquid on his desk, his eyes flicking in Harry's direction more than once before he had even sat down.
"Something weird is going on, Hermione," said Harry under his breath, giving her hand a quick squeeze to let her know that it might've been a little more than weird. "I think we might be in danger."
"You think Snape found out?" Hermione asked as she pulled out her potions notebook, trying to act natural.
"I don't know," said Harry slowly, the room seeming to grow smaller. "All I do know is that Snape keeps looking at me weird."
"That isn't weird though, is it?" asked Hermione, looking around to find everything normal. Both the Slytherins and Gryffindors were chatting with their friends as they took their potions supplies out, acting as they always did. Dust clung to almost everything as always, one of the selling points of Snape's classroom. And pickled things were floating in their jars as usual. Everything seemed to be normal from what she could tell. Even Snape's malicious grin as his eyes kept settling on Harry wasn't anything to get nervous about.
"I don't like the feeling of this," said Harry. "Something's wrong."
Hermione's hand squeezed his under the table reassuringly. "Calm down, Harry. Maybe Professor Snape just has a particularly horrible lesson planned for us. Everything is fine."
Harry relaxed a bit, though his eyes didn't stop flicking from place to place. "Yeah…" he said slowly. "Maybe you're right."
He pulled out his potions kit and went to work on setting it up, feeling Snape's eyes in him every few seconds. If he had been so determined to not look at his vile potions professor, he would have noticed him surreptitiously sliding his wand out of a pocket hidden in the back of his robes.
"Today, class," he said a little more cheerily than normal, "we're going to learn how to brew holy water."
Hermione, who must've paid more attention to Harry's mood than he had thought, immediately jumped out of her seat, wand at the ready. But Snape was prepared, immediately blasting her back with a shouted, "Stupefy!" She was slammed back into the stone wall by the force of the spell, making Harry cringe as he heard a snapping sound.
He shot another one at Harry as most of the class screamed and drew their wands out in response, the Gryffindors pointing theirs at Snape while the Slytherins pointed theirs at Harry, who instinctively shot his hand out to ward the hex away, almost crying out in surprise as a black, smoky substance materialized around his hand and deflected the stunning spell. Vampire magic. The deflected stunner hit Malfoy square in the face, sending him crashing into the potions supply cabinet and knocking it down.
Harry looked down at his hand in shock as the black smoke (which actually had small purple lights floating through it, making it look like the night sky) dissipated, quickly whipping out his wand as he reflexively rolled under another stunner. Harry fired a return stunner as he stumbled along the wall to the door, feeling behind him with one hand as he kept his eyes on his opponent. Snape snatched up the vial of clear liquid and advanced on him, unstoppering it as Harry found the doorknob and turned it.
Everything seemed to go in slow-motion as Snape flung the contents of the vial in Harry's direction, the clear liquid glistening despite the dim light. Harry sprang out of the small opening caused by him opening the door, but cried out in agony as a single drop hit the back of his left hand. He stumbled through the hallway, mentally apologizing to Hermione for leaving her behind (he knew she wouldn't be punished too badly) and physically cringing as he looked at the back of his hand, where what Harry now knew was holy water ate its way through his skin like acid.
The wound healed slower than normal, more painfully than normal as he clutched his hand and raced through the hallways, not knowing where he was going to go. It was daylight out, so there was no way he could make a break for the forest. He couldn't apparate through the apparition wards and felt for some reason that if he knew how to Shadowalk he would've been fine. But right now his best course of action was to find Professor McGonagall, who he had an odd feeling would help and shelter him if only he could get to her.
He practically flew through the halls, appearing as a blur to Filch and Mrs. Norris, who were patrolling. His senses were kicked into overdrive as he weaved through the shafts of sunlight streaming in through the windows while his nose and ears simultaneously tried to locate any reinforcements coming to help Snape.
If only he had been in any other class, McGonagall's classroom wouldn't have been on the other side of the school. If only he had been in any other class, he mused, he would be boredly reading the professor's mind while Hermione diligently took notes next to him instead of running for his life.
But that didn't matter at the moment as Harry took a corner at breakneck speed, wishing he hadn't taken the fastest route as Dumbledore came into view, a giant cross made of magic behind him. Harry quickly turned back the way he came to escape that way, but another cross appeared to block his exit.
He turned around to face Dumbledore, whose wand was trained on him. One false move and Harry knew he would be going from 'undead' to just plain 'dead'.
"So, vampire," said Dumbledore, the usual kind twinkle in his eyes absent. "It is here that you meet your end."
Harry couldn't help but think that he had been right to not tell Dumbledore. Harry sighed, preparing himself to hurt his former mentor who now viewed him as a stranger. "No, Professor," said Harry with more confidence than he felt. "I can't allow that to happen. I still have tasks that I must accomplish."
Dumbledore's eyes softened as he said, "I see Harry somehow managed to find a way to keep at least the smallest part of himself present inside your feral brain. Don't worry, Harry. I will slay this monster and let you rest in peace."
For a second Harry thought he was in a weird dream, then realized that even someone as grand and wise as Dumbledore could be swayed by popular belief. Harry would have to knock Dumbledore out for the good of all mankind. He needed to stop Voldemort no matter the cost.
Harry shot towards Dumbledore, just barely managing to duck as a stunner shot right over his head. Dumbledore then moved with surprising speed for his age, twirling to avoid Harry's outstretched hand. Another stunner shot out of Dumbledore's wand and Harry raised his hand again, this time managing to will the vampire magic to materialize around his hand.
Harry was only allowed a fraction of a second of shock as Dumbledore's stunner shot right through the magic, slamming into him and making him see no more.
A/N: I know I'm evil. If you wish to flame me about Harry's vampire magic materializing, remember that this is not only my own version of the vampire, but this is a vampire mixed with magical blood. It's an AU vampire no matter how you look at it.
I hope you enjoyed it and please review!