Red Passion - HP - Draco/Hermione - 22/31
Title: Red Passion
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: Mature (R)
Links: Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4 + Chapter 5 + Chapter 6 + Chapter 7 + Chapter 8 + Chapter 9 + Chapter 10 + Chapter 11 + Chapter 12 + Chapter 13 + Chapter 14 + Chapter 15 + Chapter 16 + Chapter 17 + Chapter 18 + Chapter 19 + Chapter 20 + Chapter 21
Summary: Post HBP. A vampire saves Draco from death and introduces him to a dark world. With Hermione Granger on the menu, can Draco save his enemy and his own soul? Eventual DM/HG.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Written for profitless entertainment.
Warning: Blood, violence, and eventually scenes of a sexual nature.
Author's Note: Story goes AU after the events of Half Blood Prince.
Wordcount for Total Story: ~65,900 words (varied by chapter)
Chapter 22
Draco turned the corner off of Privet Drive, crossing the narrow roadway, and glancing back over his shoulder with a look of distaste. Though the distance sound of a muggle siren had only slightly disturbed him, he could not help but feel that speeding vehicles were not the only things moving about in the darkness, just out of eye sight.
I told bloody Potter not to follow, he nearly growled. He rolled his eyes at that thought. As if Harry would ever listen to him. Still, the other wizard had been oddly compliant by the time he sent Draco away; though worry had been apparent on Potter's face, he'd seemed somewhat...excited when he realized that he would be meeting with Hermione soon enough.
Draco hadn't told Potter where they were to meet. Obviously the letter had said something about a location. That or Potter's going to have a very confused expression on his face right about now.
Draco chuckled to himself. Then the wind was knocked out of him by a metal bar across his abs.
The wizard bit his tongue to stop from crying out, realizing in an instant that it wasn't a bar but an arm around his stomach. And that Hermione had decided to pick him up.
"Are you insane?" he hissed, squinting as his surroundings moved far too fast.
She drew to a stop behind a wall of unmaintained hedge. Her eyes were fierce but not directed at the wizard. She stared out past the small leaves, glaring daggers at the nearly silent night beyond. There didn't appear to be anyone else on the yellow-lit sidewalk.
"I felt another vampire," she whispered.
Draco's blood ran cold. The first vampire who popped inside his head was Darien, but he chided himself for the moment of panic. Darien was dead, after all.
"I don't know who," Hermione answered, before he had the chance to ask. "Get inside-go through the kitchen door."
The vampire was on his tail as he moved towards the side door. The house between the hedges was not very different from the one on Privet Drive, though its lawn was not so well trimmed and its paint was rolling off like dead skin. It was empty of inhabitants, but, as the furniture and goods within told, only for a holiday. The general shabbiness of the square dwelling seemed to be the result of time and its owners' lack of caring.
Hermione nudged him through the doorway when he paused in the dark room. She quietly shut the door behind them and grabbed his elbow, gently leading him to the interior hallway, lit by a single lamp on the telephone stand.
"Someone was watching when you left earlier."
Draco raised a brow at the accusation. "I didn't see anyone."
"I know," she sighed, rolling her eyes at him, "but you sensed something." She slumped down on the carpeted floor, her back against the wall and her curling hair casting a shadow over her cheeks. Draco leaned against the wall, joining her. "It obviously wasn't the vampire, though, since he would have been asleep then. Perhaps someone from the Order?"
"I didn't see anyone, I said," Draco bit, aggravated.
"Your subconscious was worried," she said, knowingly.
"Have I mentioned how much I love your all-access pass inside my cranium?"
"It's not all access, Draco. Quit whining."
The vampire groaned, pulling her legs beneath her and throwing her hair back with a sweeping gesture that looked far too graceful for the task. An elastic band managed to hold back the massive mane. Draco watched her with open curiosity. Though she could have only of woken a quarter hour earlier when the sun had finally set, she'd already changed into casual muggle clothing and applied a layer of darker color-some sort of make-up, he assumed-over her white face. She was still far too pale, but the make-up made her appear at least somewhat living. It was a comforting effect in the dull lamp light.
"Did you raid the house?" Draco sneered. "Back to your thieving ways?"
"There weren't any clothes your size," she answered, looking bored. "You'll have to make do with what you have on. You'll probably have time for a shower before we move on. I could clean your clothes."
"You don't have a wand."
Hermione blinked, dumbfounded. "But we have a laundry machine. You honestly know so little about muggles? Do you think we all use wash-boards?"
It was Draco's turn to look confused. "What?"
"Never mind." She shook her head. "Tell me about your meeting with Harry. He's coming."
Draco noticed that the last part hadn't been a question. In fact, the vampire didn't really need to ask him any questions about the meeting. The wizard had felt her presence the entire time. He realized, with a slight feeling of ease, that she was trying to keep herself out of his head at the moment.
"The meeting place was in the letter?"
Hermione nodded. "In a way. Harry will understand."
"Good for him." Draco snorted in annoyance. "Well, care to fill me in?"
"Afraid you'll get lost?"
Draco jerked his head back, hitting the wall behind him in frustration. "Let me guess, you'll send me a little 'mental note'? Why don't you just 'tell' me now."
"Why?"
"I'm sure this is rather fascinating to a mu-muggleborn like you, but frankly, not everyone enjoys having their heads screwed with." Draco straightened up, suddenly remembering why he was so angry. "Speaking of which, what gave you the right to force me into telling Potter the whole bloody story?"
"You didn't tell him the whole story."
"I told him more than I would have liked."
Hermione cocked her head, a look of pity on her face. "I'm sorry I made you feel vulnerable."
"Vulnerable?" Draco stood to his feet, glaring at the witch. He neck was itching but damned well refused to scratch it at the moment. "I didn't feel vulnerable! The information wasn't necessary."
"What would you have preferred to tell him?"
"That you're a vampire! That's all-he didn't need to know about Darien and our shitty situation."
Hermione slid her back up the wall, not breaking eye contact with the wizard. "And you think that would have worked out well? Come now, you know him so well. Tell me, would your half-assed explanation sate him? No."
Draco looked down like a scolded child, his cheeks hot with anger. He opened his mouth to speak.
Quiet!
He looked up, alarmed at Hermione's mental cry.
"Someone's coming," she whispered against his ear, moving closer. She pushed him through the doorway next to the table and left him, turning off the lamp and moving to the second room, closer to the back door to act as guard.
Humans, her voice informed him.
Draco felt his heart beat slow ever so slightly when he heard her. He swallowed hard, lifting a wall of panic over his thoughts to block her out. He could feel Hermione trying to break through, but he shut his eyes, listening to the sound of the back door opening instead.
A small grin crossed his face when he realized that she couldn't get to his thoughts if he tried hard enough to keep her out.
"Are you sure it was the same boy?" a woman's voice asked.
Draco nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. He put a hand against his lips to mute the curse at his lips. He didn't dare look out the doorway to the hall, so he hugged the wall instead. After a moment, he realized that Hermione hadn't attacked the intruders yet and calmed down. Had she recognized them?
"Harry said it was his cousin's friend, but Arabella didn't recognize the boy," a man replied.
The voice was one Draco recognized right away. The werewolf. He felt his body grow rigid at the realization. If it was Remus Lupin speaking, then he could only assume that the somewhat familiar voice of the woman with him belonged to his unclaimed cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. Shit-the Order. The vampire was right, damn it.
"You think Harry lied? Why?" Tonks asked.
Draco sucked in a breath, realizing that the pair was moving closer, past the table. When he cocked his head forward, he could see the back of their robes.
"Something was on his mind. He was acting strange. As for the why, I can't be sure," Lupin replied. Draco watched the man reach out and touch the lamp gently. "Warm. Someone was here."
There was the strange, whistling sound of an inhaled breath. And Lupin stopped in his tracks.
"You smell something?" Tonks asked. "Is that a wolf thing?"
Lupin released a strained chuckle. "Doesn't quite work like that. But, yes, I thought I smelled something."
The wizard had paused and squatted down, picking something up off the ground. He held it out to his companion.
"A vial?"
"Potion," Lupin replied. "Something with clovers fighting the rancid scent of aged bloodroot. Probably some sort of healing potion."
Draco tapped his hoodie's pocket, eyes wide when it flattened.
"Looks like the bottle's nearly empty," Lupin continued. "Smells a bit like blood replenishing potion."
Oh, for Salazar's sake, I can't believe I dropped that...
"In a muggle home," Tonks noted, her voice lower. "Good thing you followed your instinct."
Draco released a shallow breath when the duo continued to move, turning to investigate the staircase near the front of the house. The wizard peeked out past the doorframe. He could still see Tonk's hair, blue in the faint light from a window, as she stood on guard, surveying the living room. Draco glanced back over his shoulder. Two red eyes glared at him from within the next room.
He felt Hermione pleading him to stay still, but he moved one arm out of the shadows, touching the lamp's small table. A pad of paper and a short pencil were sitting next to the telephone. He pulled them down, jotting down a sentence.
He glanced back again and a sharp pain shot between his eyes. He sucked in a shocked breath, nearly falling against the legs of the table.
Stop it, Draco! Don't do this!
Draco glared down the hallway, knowing the vampire could see him perfectly.
Fuck off! He slid the notepad down the hallway, away from Hermione. It came to a plopping stop a pace from Tonks' boot.
The auror had heard the sound and a bright wand's light swept down the hall and over Draco's stunned face.
"Stuplify!"
A vivid flash flew towards his head, barely missing him. Before a second curse could be fired, a blazing pain ripped through his shoulder, shocking a scream out of his lips. Blood sprayed the side of his face, and he was pulled through the shattered backdoor and into the night.
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